Tag Archives: law

Out In The Cold

Christian life, , ,

OUT IN THE COLD

“Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.” Romans 2:25-29.

Paul took great pains to ensure that his Jewish readers understood the place of the law in their lives. Being a Jew was much more than having the outward and physical sign of the covenant in their bodies. It was an issue of the heart. Like his Master Jesus, he needed them to understand that they were all lawbreakers, no matter how much they viewed themselves as the privileged covenant people of God.

Like the Pharisees who were Jesus’ persistent opponents, defending their natural birth into the nation of Israel was of no use if they did not back it up with obedience to the terms of God’s covenant. It would be the same as thinking that natural birth in a country would be enough to keep me out of prison even if I committed a crime.

The thinking of the Jews whom Paul addressed then is, unfortunately, the same false teaching that deceives millions of people today. False religions teach people that the way to please their god, or the way to get rid of sin is to subscribe to a certain religion and to do certain things, rituals or rules that relate to the body but cannot change the heart. Eat or do not eat certain foods; wash here or wash this way; offer sacrifices of food or blood; bow so many times, or bow this way etc. What can any of these things do to alter the state of the heart, or remove the guilt of the soul?

The prophet Micah, in the Old Testament, struggled with the same issue.

“With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He had shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:6-8.

What value is there in washing the body, putting the right kinds of food in the mouth or offering sacrifices to an inanimate block of wood or stone? What evidence it there to prove that these rituals have any effect on the guilty conscience? Of what value is circumcision, as a mark of membership if it does not issue in obedience to God, or offering sacrifices if they are an excuse to keep on sinning? All the adherence to religious practices in the world cannot and will not change the heart.

Paul was slowly building his case for the hopelessness of all human beings. Not even the Jews, who had thousands of years of history – God actively involved in their lives, revealing Himself to them, cutting covenant with them, intervening in their lives with many miracles,  protecting and providing for them, governing and guiding them – were any better than the Gentiles because they were just as guilty of ungodly behaviour as their uncircumcised neighbours.

Worst of all, although the Jews probably did not even give it a thought, was their arrogant attitude towards the Gentiles whom they despised. It was their very pride in their privileged birth that cut them off from God. “God opposes the proud but shows favour to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5b. So, instead of living in God’s favour, they had cut themselves off from Him because of their arrogance.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

Guilty As Charged

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GUILTY AS CHARGED

“All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them). This will take place when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.” Romans 2:12-16.

What is this “law” Paul kept talking about? Did he mean that things like not eating unclean foods or not wearing clothes made of mixed fibres would be the standard by which we will be judged? What about all the rigmarole of animal sacrifices, or for how many years we must plant our fields and for how many years we must leave them fallow? All of these things and many more were included in the law.

Is the law he referred to only the Ten Commandments? If the Jews keep all ten commandments, will they be safe from God’s judgment? What about those he called “the Gentiles”, all the people who were not part of God’s covenant people and who did not know the Ten Commandments? How will they be judged? How can God be just if they are ignorant of His standards?

Although the translators used the word “law” to translate “torah”, torah actually means “teaching” and God’s teaching reflects His nature. When God gave His people His torah, He was introducing Himself to them and the telling them what He is like. To the Jews He gave His teaching and the rest of the world who did not have His teaching, had the law of God written on their conscience as does every human being.

So, Paul made it clear that everyone has a standard by which he will be judged. God has not given us the right to set up our own standards because He is our Creator and we are accountable to Him. The standard for the Jews is the law of God written in stone and expanded in His covenant given to them at Mount Sinai. The standard for the Gentiles who do not have the written word, is the law of conscience written on their hearts.  Just as Paul said in Romans 1, people are without excuse.

Because God is absolutely just, He will judge everyone by His own nature, whether His standards are written on stone, in a book or on the heart. God’s nature has been fully revealed to us in His Son. Jesus came from the Father in human form to show us the Father.

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom also He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.” Hebrews 1:1-3.

The problem is that, whether we are Jew or Gentile, when we look at Jesus we realise how impossible it is to live up to God’s standard. Even if it were possible to keep the letter of God’s law perfectly from now on, we are guilty because we have already broken His law, and we have not understood or kept the spirit of the law which is the inward attitude of the heart.

Why is Paul telling his readers these things? Just to make them feel bad? I don’t think so. What would be the point of that? His intention was to show them that there is not one human being who can perfectly measure up to God’s standard; all are guilty; all are condemned and there is no hope for them if they think they can measure up to God’s demands by their own efforts.

Religion tries to tell us that we can, but God shows us that we can’t. We will have to look elsewhere if we are to have any hope of escaping God’s wrath and experiencing eternal life.

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

 

 

Caught In The Act!

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CAUGHT IN THE ACT 

“But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’  John 8:2-5 (NIV).

How convenient! Just when they needed some way of catching Jesus out on some (perceived) breach of the Law, one (or some) of them “happened” to come across this woman in a little liaison. Would these guys stop at nothing to nail Him? Makes you wonder, doesn’t it! Was this woman part of their trap? Were they willing to sacrifice her to get their way? And what of the male member of the conspiracy? Where was he? It takes two to tango.

In this whole debacle, what kind of a god were the religious leaders representing? Was this the God who rescued them from slavery in Egypt; the God who led them; cared for them; protected them; fed them and entered into a marriage covenant with them in the wilderness and gave them the Promised Land? Is this the God who taught them about loving Him and loving their neighbour as themselves? Was God’s Law intended to turn them into monsters or to show the world what kind of God He really is, gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness?

Jesus was, along with rabbis Hillel and Shammai, a rabbi with authority. How often did the common people not wonder at His authority because He showed, them by His words and works, the true nature of God, and they marvelled. The other rabbis perpetuated the tradition of a God of law and justice who wreaked vengeance on those who stepped outside the Law, especially the way they interpreted the Law. They made a fetish of the Law and twisted the nature of God to suit their distorted version.

Jesus’ yoke was different. He portrayed a God of mercy and compassion, one who was on the side of the poor and oppressed. He was not out to destroy but to restore. He had forgiveness and mercy for those who repented and healing for the sick in body and mind. His kingdom was built on love, God’s limitless and unconditional love for all people, and man’s love for each other because all barriers had been removed.

The Jewish leaders hated Jesus because He made God too nice. It didn’t suit them because a “nice” God took away their power to control the people through fear and stripped away their cloak of hypocrisy.

How insensitive these men were! Imagine them dragging this poor, half naked, wretch  in front of Jesus, flinging her down on the ground and loudly demanding that He pronounce His “Guilty!” verdict on her or else…! ‘Come on, Jesus. We caught her IN THE ACT! Moses said we must stone her. What do you say?’ They were confident that they had Him. If He showed mercy to her, He would be deliberately acting against the Law of Moses. If He agreed to their stoning her, He would be applying their yoke, not His own. He would be going against His own authority and bowing to theirs.

Was Jesus caught off guard? Would He have an answer that would vindicate Him and be merciful to the poor victim who lay trembling on the ground, waiting to hear her fate?

I can imagine the self-satisfied grins on the faces of these men as they looked at one another in triumph. ‘We’ve got Him now,’ they must have thought. ‘There’s no way that He can wriggle out of this one!’ In full view of their audience of people eager to listen to the gracious teaching of the rabbi whom they admired and followed with expectation and enthusiasm, they waited for their answer.

But they didn’t know Jesus. He knew exactly how their minds worked. There was one small part of the Law they had forgotten….

A Hornet’s Nest

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A HORNETS’ NEST!

“‘And that’s when I met Ananias, a man with a sterling reputation in observing our laws — the Jewish community in Damascus is unanimous on that score. He came and put his arm on my shoulder. ‘Look up,’ he said. I looked, and found myself looking right into his eyes — I could see again!

“Then he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has hand-picked you to be briefed on His plan of action. You’ve actually seen the Righteous Innocent and heard Him speak. You are to be a key witness to everyone you meet of what you’ve seen and heard. So what are you waiting for? Get up and get yourself baptised, scrubbed clean of those sins and personally acquainted with God.'” Acts 22:12-16 (The Message).

Mmm! Paul was very careful to emphasize Ananias’ credentials, a Jew from Damascus who had good standing in the Jewish community there; but that did not take away from the fact that he was also one of those who followed Jesus in the “sect” they called “the Way”.

Just as Paul was looking for every way to defuse the situation, the crowd was waiting for him to indict himself by his own words. Up to this point there was nothing in his story to condemn him, so they allowed him to continue.

“‘Well, it happened as Ananias said. After I was back in Jerusalem and praying one day in the Temple, lost in the presence of God, I saw Him, saw God’s Righteous Innocent, and heard Him say to me, ‘Hurry up! Get out of here as quickly as you can. None of the Jews here in Jerusalem are going to accept what you say about me.’

“‘At first I objected: ‘Who has better credentials? They all know how obsessed I was with hunting out those who believed in you, beating them up in the meeting places and throwing them in jail. And when your witness, Stephen, was murdered, I was right there, holding the clothes of the murderers and cheering them on. And now they see me totally converted. What better qualifications could I have?’

“But He said, ‘Don’t argue. Go. I’m sending you on a long journey to outsider Gentiles.'”
Acts 22:18-21 (The Message).

Paul’s credentials in his old, pre-Christ life were also impeccable. He was so zealous for the law that he was willing to kill those whom he considered traitors to Moses. Strange, isn’t it, that he was murderously defending the law that said, “Do not commit murder”! He was oppressing those whom the law defended against oppression! He was making decisions for those to whom God had given the right to make their own! Isn’t this how religion works?

He had turned his religion into an idol which he worshipped with such fanatical zeal that it had turned him into a heartless monster and as blind as a bat to the truth. He had long since lost the understanding of the true God — the God of his fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who established a covenant of love with them and taught them, through the provisions of that covenant, to care about people and to protect them, not to destroy them because they had believed in their Messiah about whom his Scriptures had spoken.

It had taken nothing less than a face-to-face confrontation with Jesus to convince Paul that he was dead wrong about Him. Now Paul was trying to convince people who were as equally blind and stubborn as he had been, that Jesus was their Messiah! His journeys through Asia and Europe had not yielded much fruit among the Jews. It was not likely that it would be any different here in Jerusalem.

Paul was standing next to a hornets’ nest and at any moment they would break loose and strike!

Follow Jesus

Bible Study, , ,

FOLLOW JESUS

“The apostles and leaders called a special meeting to consider the matter. The arguments went on and on, back and forth, getting more and more heated. Then Peter took the floor. ‘Friends, you well know that from early on God made it quite plain that He wanted the pagans to hear the Message of this good news and embrace it — and not in any second-hand or roundabout way, but first-hand straight from my mouth. And God, who can’t be fooled by any pretence on our part but always knows a person’s thoughts, gave them the Holy Spirit exactly as He treated us, beginning at the very centre of who they were, cleaning up their lives as they trusted and believed Him.

“‘So why are you trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don’t we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as He did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?'” Acts 15:6-11 (The Message).

Thank God, someone had the good sense to examine the simple facts instead of formulating doctrines based on reason and not truth!

We don’t know what they were arguing about but, whatever it was, it got them nowhere until Peter came up with his story. It is dangerous to make experience the criterion for a doctrine, for example, we know that Scripture is full of stories of miracles that God did then, but we cannot say that God no longer does miracles today simple because He may not have done a miracle for us.

At the same time, when we match our experience with Scripture, we know that we stand on solid ground, because God confirms His word to us through experience.

Peter had the wisdom to match his experience with God’s Word to realise that the answer to their dilemma was right there for them. God Himself had supplied the answer by giving the Gentiles the gift of the Holy Spirit in the same way He had fallen on them so that they would be in no doubt about their salvation. This was God’s confirmation that salvation comes by faith alone and not by any additions to faith with which the Pharisees wanted to burden the Gentiles.

They themselves had not fully understood the complete and final work of Jesus on the cross; otherwise they would not have made this such an issue that it warranted a church council to settle it. In spite of the fact that it was settled there in Jerusalem in unity, the Judaisers continued to dog the footsteps of the apostles as they carried the gospel across the Gentile world.

It is still very much alive today and still robbing many people of the truth of Jesus’ simple invitation, ‘Follow me!’ He did not come to set up a new religion and He certainly did not burden His followers with the rules and rituals that we see in so many “denominations” today.

For example, for whole groups of people, the church is a building — not the people who are the temple in which God dwells by His Spirit, and is treated with superstitious reverence as though bricks, stones and mortar are somehow holy. Priests and ministers are the professionals and the laity subject to them and their superior knowledge and wisdom. Where do we find this in God’s Word? All God’s people together are a royal priesthood.

I suspect that many sections of the church are still enslaved to the old covenant with its rules and rigmarole; altars, sacred garments, dietary laws, symbols, etc., and have never stepped into the freedom of God’s grace, resting in Christ alone for His gift of righteousness which no amount of effort on our part can earn.

What a tragedy that the spirit of the Pharisees is still very much alive in the church and doing what the Pharisees tried to do to Jesus — kill the truth!