The Rest of the Old Old Story

I often quote from and comment on books that I am reading. Rarely, however, do I purposely do a book review. I want to make an exception for A High View of Scripture? The Authority of the Bible and the Formation of the New Testament Canon (Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future).

I’ve been reading this book for months, I have not been reading it front to back, and I’m still reading and re-reading parts. Therefore, I can’t–and don’t want to–give you a front to back standard book review. I just want to tell you why I believe the book is extremely important.

If you are one of my fellow villagers (i.e., member of Rose Creek Village), then the book’s not extremely important for you. Our life, our experience of God, and the way that we enter into that life and experience prove the book’s tenets every day. I wouldn’t say it’s worth wading through this scholarly, interesting, but not terribly well-written book to get to the history that proves what you already know. If you just love history, that’s one thing. The history is accurate and comprehensive. The author repeats himself too much, though, and sometimes you have to work at understanding his point.

However, for the rest of  you, assuming you are a born-again, Evangelical, this book is a must read. It is very likely that you will not like what’s in it because it tells you the truth about your heritage. And the sad fact is, Evangelical pastors and leaders don’t tell you about your heritage–about what we know about the churches the apostles started–because they don’t want you to know. It would undermine an awful lot of what they’re teaching. One Catholic scholar, a convert from Protestantism, is quoted in the book as saying (roughly, from memory), “No matter what we don’t know about the early churches, what we do know is that they were not like the Protestants.” Allert admits this is true. Anyone who reads them extensively knows it’s true already. Don’t be afraid, though, because it’s even more obvious that they were nothing like the Roman Catholics, either.

The book is a history of how we got our Bible. It is accurate; amazingly so. I hate to sound like a judge of what’s accurate. The author, Craig D. Allerts, knows more than I do about the history of the Scriptures. However, I do know some things, and there are plenty of books–as Mr. Allerts points out repeatedly–saying things that simply are not true. In the areas that I do have knowledge, I can testify that Mr. Allerts is right on, unlike anyone I’ve ever read before. And for an Evangelical writing a book to Evangelicals, he is so honest it’s difficult to imagine how he did it.

I mentioned above that the book is not that well-written. That surprised me, too. I’m not talking about vocabulary, grammar, and punctuation, which were perfect, of course. It is a scholarly book. However, a couple of times I really couldn’t understand his point until I had read several pages into the chapter. He also repeats himself too much. On the other hand, I’m very familiar with at least the 2nd century portion of that history. You may be glad that he repeats his points so much.

You can listen to me harp on the proper role of the Scriptures in the church, but this book will force you to think about it. It is a scholarly book, written by an Evangelical author and published by a respected Evangelical publisher. This is not some fringe book. This is an accurate look at a historical issue that is one of the main reasons that Protestant Christianity fails so badly. Only those who want to blindly continue in a horribly ineffective status quo will ignore A High View of Scripture?.

The spam in my comment section has become unbearable. I’m not interested in deleting that trash anymore, so I cancelled the comment section. In its place, you can follow the link to the right that will take you to a form where you can email me. If it’s something other than personal encouragement, I’d be pretty likely to post it. On the other hand, I refused to approve a long defense of the JW version of the Trinity that someone posted in the comment section, so I do refuse some comments.

This WordPress template is probably great, I guess. it does make putting posts up a little easier. However, I was pretty irritated with its method for dealing with spam. If I wanted, I could have typed in all those awful words that were being posted in my comment section, and any comment containing those words would have been automatically deleted as spam. Oh, joy. I’d rather not. Maybe they could pay someone to type in those words like they paid a programmer to make the program. What’s worse is that there was no option for whole or partial words. So, if I tell it not to allow comments with the word sex in it, then anyone who mentioned they were from Middlesex, England or mentioned the use of a sextant or who knows what else would have their comment deleted automatically.

So the comment section is just gone. Use the link at the right!

I’m borrowing a title from David Servant’s “eteaching.” I figure it’s okay because he’s a Christian and I’m fixing to plug his web site and ministry. You can find their site at http://www.heavensfamily.org. Their ministry is awesome, directed at helping widows, orphans, and the poor overseas, as well as discipling pastors in foreign countries. We’ve met David, and we can tell you it’s place to give money that you will not regret–eternally. You’ll also love his story. He refers to himself as a “recovering pastor.”

Warning, it’s not for the faint of heart nor those who think the American dream has anything to do with Jesus.

Then again, you wouldn’t be at my blog if either of those things applied to you, would you.

David’s eteaching starts with:

An astounding fact: Although the scribes and Pharisees rigorously studied God’s revelation of Himself in the Old Testament, when God appeared in human flesh and simply acted like Himself, they didn’t recognize Him. In fact, they hated Him. Think of that for a moment! Here were men who could quote large portions of the Old Testament, who considered themselves extremely devoted to God, who were Israel’s spiritual leaders, and who were anticipating a Messiah, but when God appeared on the earth, they wanted to kill Him. They were surprised by Jesus, to say the least.

I purposely haven’t written further yet, so that I don’t borrow anything else from his eteaching. I have lots of thoughts just about this paragraph. Maybe you should wait to read mine, though, till you’ve meditated on your own a bit. Why don’t you take 15 minutes, read that paragraph, and think about it a bit. Then read mine.

Okay, if you’re back, this is rabbit trail #1. In meetings I have to avoid going down rabbit trails. Being a bit long-winded, I’m prone to going down them. Writing, however, is a different story. The rabbit trails are often better than the main point, and sometimes they’re the only thing that make the main point interesting.

The apostolic churches–the ones the apostles started, which stuck around in a near-pristine form for a couple centuries–believed that the Law had not been abolished. That’s not real surprising,  since Jesus said in Matt. 5:17 that he didn’t come to abolish it. On the other hand, it is surprising to us, because the writer of Hebrews said that the old covenant is ready to disappear (Heb. 8:13).

The apostolic churches, though, had an advantage. Taught by the apostles, they weren’t confused by things that seem like a contradiction to us. They understood that when the writer of Hebrews said that there is “of necessity a change of law,” that it didn’t mean from one law to another completely unrelated to it. The two covenants, and the two laws, one of Moses and one of grace from Christ, are intimately related. The second covenant and the second law are the fullness of the old covenant and the old law.

It is absolutely essential, if you have any desire to understand the Scriptures or the new covenant that you sign up for when you become Christ’s disciple, that you understand that the new covenant and new law are the fulfillment–nay, better, the fullness–of the old. The old covenant was adapted in thought and words to an earthly kingdom and a fleshly people, a people without the Spirit of God. The new covenant, however, is made with a people who all have the Spirit. In fact, that’s the one key feature of the new covenant. All of God’s people would have the Spirit, not just special people like David and Samuel (Acts 2:16-17).

So, knowing that he would now have a spiritual people and establish a heavenly kingdom, Jesus came to fulfill–to expand or fill up–the Law of Moses. He was ready to make new wine–because he knew he would have new wineskins to put it in.

One way that new wine was manifested was in his statement to Pontius Pilate that his disciples don’t fight with earthly weapons (Jn. 18:36). Israel under Moses fought with earthly weapons because they were an earthly kingdom. Jesus came to establish a new covenant, however, and a heavenly kingdom. His people have beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. They fight with spiritual weapons, and they war against spiritual beings and against the thoughts of men (Eph. 6:10ff; 2 Cor. 10:4-6).

One other way that the new wine was manifested, and the old law brought to fullness, concerns an issue that will bring us off this little rabbit trail. God doesn’t care about food. Food for the belly, and the belly for food, but God will destroy both it and them, says Paul. But the food laws were to prepare an earthly people to become a heavenly kingdom. They avoided that which did not chew the cud nor part the hoof. This law is not gone, but it is changed, as Heb. 7:12 puts it. We are to “eat of,” or to fellowship with, those who ruminate on the word of God and who separate from the world. How do we know with whom we can have unity? How do we know from whom we can separate? If a person does not meditate on the Word of God nor separate from the world, do not partake of them. You can love them, pray for them, and hope for them, but you cannot take them into the body. If they do, then they are clean, and you can “eat” from them. It is not your brother’s doctrine on eternal security that determines whether you should fellowship with them, but their ruminating and parting.

So, I said all that to encourage you to always be ready to stop and meditate on the words you hear, just as I asked you to meditate on that paragraph above. It marks you as a partaker of Christ’s new wine, the changed law of the new covenant.

God desires truth in the inward parts (Ps. 51:6). God asks Job, “Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Who has given understanding to the heart?” (Job 38:36). You can not trust your brain. You must learn to have wisdom in the inward parts. If you trust your brain, God will see to it that you are turned to foolishness. He has no regard for the wisdom of this world.

Quick caveat: this does not mean that you should not reason or think. You should. In the end, however, you must know truth in the inward parts, where God has put it. The heavens do not necessarily testify to the mind that there is a God. Nature around us testifies to the heart, and those who ignore what the creation testifies to the heart will end up fools who do not believe in God, no matter how brilliantly they study nature. A large percentage, perhaps even over half, of natural  scientists are atheists.

Ok, the caveat’s not so quick. Let me do another rabbit trail.

We help those scientists be atheists by testifying with our ignorance and dishonesty that Christians don’t care what’s true. Every day, on the internet and air waves, Christians testify by their refusal to be honest with scientific evidence that we still want to live in the dark ages. Anti-evolutionists have got to be the most dishonest brand of Christians there are. I am regularly stunned by the willingness of anti-evolution Christians to distort evidence, misquote honest scientists, and even pass on stories they know to be false in order to defend a narrow-minded, one-dimensional interpretation of Genesis one that they only apply to part of Genesis one, anyway. In the scientific area, a lot of Christians had better start thinking and reasoning, because they are missing some wonderful truths that God would place in their hearts if they were not so stubborn. Even in today’s advanced scientific world the creation testifies that there is a Creator and teaches us about his power and divine nature.

Okay, off rabbit trail #2.

You must be able to recognize truth in the inward parts. The Pharisees were great students of Scripture. They were wise, but with a worldly wisdom, and God made fools out of them. In fact, it is obvious in Christ that he was highly irritated with them. He was so fed up with them that he complained even about their Bible study: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life; however, these are they which testify of me, but you refuse to come to me so that you may have life” (Jn. 5:39-40).

Jesus was known not to the Pharisees but to common people, whose did not have a confidence in their personal wisdom and personal interpretations of the Bible to blind them to the truth that bursting up from inside them. Down inside them, where God has placed wisdom and understanding, that wisdom and understanding came bursting forth, and they recognized God in our Master. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, their hearts burned within them.

Have you ever paid attention to the fact that those two disciples upbraided themselves at the end of their journey with Christ. “Were we so blind? Why didn’t we recognize him? Didn’t our hearts burn within us while he spoke?” (Luke 24:31-32). Obviously, that’s not a quote, but that’s what they were saying. We should have recognized him by what was within us!

That does not stop today. We are under obligation to recognize Christ when we see him, in whomever he might be. Listen to the words of John the apostle and meditate a bit on what this means:

He that believes the Son of God has the witness in himself. He that does not believe God has made him a liar, because he does not believe the testimony that God have given us of his Son. . . .

Okay, stop right there! What testimony has God given us of his Son? Do you know how this verse finishes? This is an important verse. If you don’t believe the testimony that God has given us of his Son, you make him a liar. That’s scary, because God’s God. You don’t want to call him a liar, I promise you. So what is his testimony?

And this is the testimony: God has given us Eternal Life, and this Life is in his Son. He that has the Son has the Life; He that does not have the Son of God does not have the Life.

That’s the testimony? He that has the Son of God has the Life, and he that doesn’t does not have the Life?

Yes. Have you learned to recognize the Life of God when it comes, or are you separating from brothers and sisters over your Bible interpretations. In other words, are you a follower of Christ or a Pharisee? Before you answer that, consider this. When you see Christ in a brother or sister, do you recognize and attach yourself to him? Or do you ignore him and jealousy against him like the Pharisees?

Pharisaism is the norm among Christians today. We have been taught to be just like them. We bristle, like they did, when we hear that we search the Scriptures, expecting life from them, and all the while ignoring Christ in a human body on earth. Just because he’s in bodies now, and not one body, doesn’t mean that it matters less to recognize him. According to John, the children of God are “obvious” (1 Jn. 3:10). Do you believe that? There may be exceptions to this rule (and there are), but if they’re not obvious to you most of the time, it’s because you’re judging from the wrong place and seeing with the wrong eyes.

Am I making too much of this? Since Paul said that schisms, divisions, and factions will keep you out of the kingdom of heaven (Gal. 5:19-21), I don’t think I’m making too much of this. It’s time to discern the body. We wonder sometimes what it means when Paul says that those who eat the Lord’s Supper unworthily eat and drink damnation to themselves because they don’t discern the Lord’s body. Is he talking about the bread there? Of course not! Look at where that verse is. That’s written in 1 Cor. 11:29. 1 Cor. 12 starts six verses later. Do you think that’s an accident? 1 Cor. 12 is the longest dissertation on the local church (not the universal church, which is called the Bride) as the Lord’s body in all of early Christian literature. It’s division that’s the problem. Paul started on division way back in 1 Cor. 1, and he didn’t forget it. He’s teaching the local body that it must be one.

You don’t get to go to 1st Lutheran on 5th street while your next door neighbor goes to American Baptist on 8th street. Every time you take “communion” you are eating and drinking damnation to yourself because there’s no way you’ve discerned the Lord’s body while you’re doing something like that. Do you understand that divisions, schisms, and a party spirit will send you to hell? That’s right, while you’re condemning your neighbor’s drunkenness, you’re practicing openly a sin that is listed in the same list with drunkenness. Only you’re worse off because you claim to be reading the Bible and understanding the will of God. To whom much is given, much will be required.

Now perhaps God will have mercy on us. I believe that. Many Christians don’t know any better. Others who do know better don’t know what to do about it. God called some kings in the Old Testament good even though they sacrificed on high places. Shoot, God told the first Israelite king that he would be king at a sacrifice at a high place (1 Sam. 9:12ff). However, God also greatly commended those kings who tore down the high places. Our division–our denominations–are a high place, and they’re a high place even in our minds. We must recognize Christ, and we must attach ourselves to him. We must partake of those who ruminate on the Word and part from the world.  It is time to let the wisdom within us rise up and override our exalted Bible interpretations, so that we might be the ones to prove to the world that Jesus is who he said he is by our unity and love (Jn. 13:34-35; 17:20-23).

This is part 2 of a blog I just finished (sort of ).

Many Christians believe that all it takes is one little sin–a white lie or stealing a piece of chewing gum as a child–to send you to hell. Doesn’t the Scripture say, “For whoever keeps the whole Law and yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all” (Jas. 2:10)? It does, but it also says that a wicked man turns from his wickedness he’ll save his soul (Ezek. 18:27). James goes on to say, “He that turns a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death” (James 5:20).

The point is, don’t deceive yourself. If you sin, you’re a sinner. Jesus said, “Whoever sins is the slave of sin” (Jn. 8:34). You need to acknowledge your sin and repent. James is talking about a very specific sin in chapter two, that of preferring rich men over poor men in your congregation. Our congregations today, many who quote James 2:10 to say that people are going to hell for lying when they were 7 years old, are commonly guilty of giving special seats to rich men; exactly the sin that James is condemning in James 2:10. Let’s get the right message from what we read.

Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Did they fall short of the glory of God for backtalking their mother at 9 years old? No, read the chapter. We all fall short of the glory of God because the poison of asps is on our lips and our feet are swift to shed blood. God is a just Judge. He doesn’t burn people in hell for an endless period of time for one act of disobedience to a parent as a child.

But he doesn’t have to worry about that. We provide ample reasons for him to punish us. In us, that is in our flesh, nothing good dwells. God will show us that nothing good if we really come to him. We need to see it in order to learn all future lessons. We have to get okay with being evil, so that we can trust Jesus to make us righteous by the Spirit of God.

The idea that one sin in a lifetime will send us to hell is part of a whole doctrine of the atonement that is based in the Roman legal system. It is not Hebrew, and it is not apostolic. It was developed by St. Anselm during the Middle Ages. The apostles and the apostolic churches give all sorts of descriptions of the atonement, but none of them are like ours.

We Evangelicals commonly believe that we can only be forgiven because Jesus died for our sins. This is ludicrous. I mentioned Ezekiel 18:27 above, but the whole of Scripture describes God as a God of mercy. He forgives sin. He doesn’t need to be appeased by a death in order to forgive sin. That’s contrary to the whole of Scripture. David says it as plainly as it can be said, “You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it. . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you will not despise” (Ps. 51:16-17).

We have always been able to repent and be forgiven. The problem is, we were powerless to continue in righteousness. In us, that is, in our flesh, nothing good dwells. We may keep some moral and religious rules, but in the end we deceive ourselves and fail to live as servants and lovers of those around us. We need Christ, and those who choose to follow him will find him helping them. As it is written, “He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Heb. 5:9).

Jesus died for our sins because we couldn’t find the power to repent of them. He reconciled us to God while we were yet sinners. His death did as much–no, more–for us than it did for God. God was already merciful, even before Christ died. We, however, were powerless to repent and continue before Christ died. Through his death, Christ brought the grace and Spirit of God to us that we might continue.

The problem with the whole idea that everyone is guilty because they might have committed one small sin, which God can’t forgive because he’s “just”–as though “just” could possibly mean sending a person to hot, tormenting flames for all eternity for one small sin–is that if that theory were true, then our sins would all be paid for, and we could go to heaven as sinners. It’s not true, however. There are people who claim it is true, but let’s face it; it’s impossible that they’re correct. They only believe such a strange idea because they concluded it from the “Jesus paid for our sins in a legal sense” idea, which is nowhere found in Scripture. (Look for “paid for sins” or something like it in the NT; you won’t find it.) Once that idea is gone, it’s obvious the Scriptures speak out strongly against the idea that those who continue in sin can go to heaven.

1 Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:19-21, and Eph. 5:5 all say that immoral people who practice the works of the flesh won’t inherit the kingdom. Jesus echoes this in Matthew 7, saying that those who call him Lord, Lord will not inherit the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of his Father in heaven. 2 Pet. 1:5-11 says that we have to keep adding to our faith in order to “make our calling and election sure,” and on and on and on and on.

Through faith, apart from works, we have access to the grace that can make us stand as righteous men before God (Rom. 5:2). With the power of the grace, mediated by the Spirit of God, we can “not grow weary in doing good,” so that we can reap eternal life (Gal. 6:8-9). Entering heaven is not apart from works. Entering heaven is by works, as all the verses above say and every verse on the judgment says (Matt. 25:31-46; Jn. 5:27ff; Rom. 2:5-8; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Pet. 1:17; and others).

There’s an interesting verse in Jeremiah 7. The apostolic churches quoted it all the time, because they were aware God isn’t interested in sacrifices. He’s interested in a broken and contrite spirit. They knew that the offerer’s heart purifies the sacrifice, not the sacrifice the offerer’s heart. Thus, they had no problems with this fascinating passage that stumps us every time:

For I did not speak to your fathers, nor command them, in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. Instead, I commanded them this, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.” (Jer. 7:22-23)

God didn’t say anything in the wilderness about burnt offerings or sacrifices??? How can he say that? The early church explained that those sacrifices were added to help keep the eyes of the Israelites set on God. The sacrifices were for their sake, not God’s sake. They found numerous verses like Jer.  7:22-23, and they quoted them often to explain why they didn’t sacrifice animals like the Jews did.

Another wonderfully interesting passage is the story of Cain and Abel. We Evangelicals generally think that Cain’s sacrifice was refused because it was grain, and Abel’s was refused because it was an animal. The early church, however, knew that God doesn’t care about sacrifices, so they knew that couldn’t be the issue. So it was obvious to them that when John said that Cain killed his brother because his works were evil, then Cain’s sacrifice was rejected because he was evil, not because it was grain. Grain was a perfectly acceptable offering under the Old Covenant, especially if that’s all you had. How much more so in that time before the Old Covenant.

Genesis 4:7 also has God telling that he’ll be accepted if he did good. God didn’t tell him to change his sacrifice. He told him to change his behavior.

This is what God is telling us, too. God has granted to us the repentance that leads to life. Let us not try to offer the sacrifice that leads to life unless we have a pure heart to purify the sacrifice. Otherwise, we may find that God considers our trust in the blood of Jesus to be an insult to the Spirit of grace and accuse us of counting the blood of the covenant an unholy thing. This is what he says of those who sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth.

It’s very important that we change the way we understand the Scriptures. I’m not talking about something new, but about returning to the powerful and eminently Scriptural ways of the primitive, apostolic churches.

The  Bible says in Romans 3:10 that there is none righteous, no, not one.  Why is that?

It is not because all of us have committed at least some small sin somewhere in our lives so that we’re therefore guilty of the whole law. Contary to popular Evangelical belief, a person who commits only one small sin in their lives is a righteous man who will go to heaven based on his works (Rom. 2:5-7; Ezek. 18:27).

Read the verses that follow Romans 3:10. The people Paul are talking about have a throat like an open grave, the poison of snakes on their lips, deceit on their tongue, their feet are swift to shed blood, and destruction and misery are in their ways. Nice, huh? Those are the unrighteous that Paul is talking about.

So, is everyone like that?

We all know everyone is not like that. So why did Paul say they were? I have two things to look at:

1.) Paul is quoting the Scriptures when he writes this passage. All of it, from Romans 3:10 to Romans 3:18, is quoted from various parts of the Old Testament. He’s not just making a statement of his own, and that matters. He’s bringing up some passages to prove a point, not saying on his own that no one is righteous. One of the places he quotes is Psalm 14, where the Psalmist tells us, “They are all gone aside; they became filthy together. None does good, no, not one” (vs. 3). Yet that very same Psalm also tells us, “God is in the generation of the righteous.” I thought there were no righteous!

There are righteous. The Bible speaks in all sorts of general terms about things that are not universal. Not all the Pharisees robbed widows’ houses, but Jesus was not careful to specify that. Many Pharisees believed in him; he left them to figure out on their own that he wasn’t talking about them. (If you want a place to complain about me: yes, I’m saying that “no, not one” does not mean “not one.”)

2.) Even though we may behave correctly outwardly, that does not mean that we are righteous inwardly. Paul said that in regards to the Law he was blameless prior to his conversion (Php. 3:6). Yet in 1 Tim. 1:15 he says he is chief of sinners. In 1 Cor. 15:9 he says he’s not fit to be called an apostle because he persecuted the church of God.

I do not believe that Christians are supposed to live in Romans 7 (where we do what we hate and don’t do what we want to do). Romans 8 is the answer to Romans 7. Romans 7 describes “the law of sin and death.” Romans 8 describes “the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” that delivers us from the law of sin and death.

However, I believe that lesson #1 for every Christian is “that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:18). You will never go anywhere if you do not figure out that you are evil. Yes, you. Jesus addressed his disciples with, “If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask him?” (Luk. 11:13). His apostles didn’t flinch at this; I’m sure they were used to it. We need not to flinch at it, either. You had better understand it because you need the salvation of God. “God is with the generation of the righteous.” Didn’t I quote that earlier and say there’s righteous people? Yes, I did, but you’re not one of them, and neither am I. We really are sinners, just like Paul. Maybe he’s chief; but maybe you or I are.

Get used to that idea because the only righteousness God will accept is Christ’s. He has been made righteousness for us. And Jesus doesn’t produce a fake righteousness wherein he closes his eyes and pretends we’re good. No, as John puts it, “He who practices righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous” (1 Jn. 3:7). Jesus has been made righteousness for us, and that righteousness is visible. Paul said he wasn’t ashamed of the Gospel of God because the righteousness of God is revealed in it (Rom. 1:17). Two chapters later he says the righteousness apart from the Law was “manifested.” Jesus’ righteousness can be seen. Let us be a people, “zealous for good works,” who know how to receive empowering grace by faith (Tit. 2:11-14).

Paul’s arguments in Romans 3 are directed at Jews, but they are a perfect argument to us Christians. At the end of Romans 2, he told the Jews that if they don’t actually keep the righteousness of the Law, their circumcision won’t do them any good; it will become uncircumcision. Then he goes after them in Romans 3. “Look at all this stuff the Scriptures say,” he cries out to them. Then he lists verse after verse stating that people–all people or at least someone–are terribly unrighteous. Then he lets them have it. Here comes the haymaker in v. 19: “We know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law.” “Hey, my fellow Jew,” he is saying, “these verses are about you!!!”

Once he’s made it clear that they are the unrighteous, neglecting to keep the righteousness of the Law even though they’ve done the religious act of being circumcised, he tells them to receive the righteousness of God that comes by faith. Now don’t get confused here. I know Evangelicals often bring on pretend righteousness here. Pretend righteousness doesn’t work here. Those who don’t practice righteousness aren’t righteous, John says, as we saw above. Paul says the very point of Jesus dying was so that the righteous requirement of the Law could be fulfilled in those who walk by the Spirit. So the point is not that righteousness–real, lived-out righteousness–doesn’t matter. The point is that the only way to achieve it is by the Spirit of God. “If by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, then you will live” (Rom. 8:13).

 I’m going to add another blog immediately, because I really want to address the “one little sin” thing. It’s part of a doctrinal system that is, in my opinion, insulting to God.

We’ve been going through Romans in a Bible study on Tuesday and Thursday mornings before work. It’s pretty neat. I want to talk about some of the things we talk about there–for two reasons. One, they’re radical and life-changing. Two, the people at the Bible study already know a lot of those things. I’m hoping to pass them on to people who don’t already know them.

The problem is, John McCain just conceded the presidential elections, so everyone’s mind is on the election, not on our Bible Study in Romans. So I thought I’d tie the two together.

First, just so you have an idea who I am, I voted for Obama. Why? Because my concern was the economy, not the nomination of the next Supreme Court justice. Despite the “tax and spend” reputation that the democrats unfairly have, I believe it’s clear that they’re the party that–currently–cares most about living within their means. Balancing the budget means only spending the money you have. That’s a good way to run a business. I’ve done and am doing some learning about that myself.

A lot of Christians won’t agree with me on that. I voted for a guy that supports legalized abortion. I think abortion is just murder, and I’m astonished that anyone could claim to have a clean conscience while they’re killing a baby. I have no understanding of that sort of behavior at all.

What I want Christians to agree with me on, though, is this: God appoints every president, every Supreme Court justice, and every congressman to their position. He appoints governors and mayors, too. The Scripture says that there is no authority except that which is ordained by God (Rom. 13:1). 1 Peter 2:13 adds that we are to submit ourselves to every established authority of man. He adds in the next verse that they are sent by God. So, like it or not, even an immoral president like Bill Clinton was sent by God.

Okay, I called this “Romans and Romans” because I want to say something from our Romans Bible study, and my political comment was from Romans as well (all authority is ordained by God–Rom. 13:1). So, on to the Bible study comments:

There’s a really neat passage in Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho, c. A.D. 155, which you may have read, but probably not:

If they repent, all who wish for it can obtain mercy from God, and the Scripture foretells that they shall be blessed, saying, “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” That is, having repented of his sins, he may receive remission of them from God, and not as you deceive yourselves, and some others who resemble you in this, who say that even though they be sinners, but know God, the Lord will not impute sin to them. (ch. 141)

Now who are these people who believe that even though they are sinners, but know God, the Lord will not impute sin to them? Justin is talking to Jews in this dialogue, and it is the Jews he is accusing of believing this doctrine. Justin goes on to argue that it is not true, pointing out that king David himself wasn’t forgiven until he repented with mourning and tears.

What does this have to do with Romans? Well, Romans addresses the whole issue of the claim: “I’m one of the elect.” The Jews in Paul and Justin’s time believed that they were the elect of God. They made their boast in the Law, as Paul says in Romans. What most of us don’t realize is that they didn’t boast in keeping the Law; they boasted in just having the Law. Yes, they were circumcised, kept the Sabbath, offered sacrifices, and celebrated the feasts. But do you notice how confidently Paul asserts that they’re hypocrites when it comes to actually keeping the Law? In Romans 2:1, he states that everyone in his audience that judges is guilty of the same behavior they judge others over. In vv. 21-22 he names a couple of those behaviors: stealing and adultery. In vv. 23-24, he tells them they’re lawbreakers and that the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of them. Obviously, he was talking about Jews, and he was confidently asserting that they were lawbreakers.

The reason this was happening is because what Justin described in A.D. 155 wasn’t new to A.D. 155. It was around in Paul’s time, too. They were making their boast in the Law (2:23), but they were breaking the Law and dishonoring God’s name. For them, it was enough to possess the Law and be circumcised. As one brother put it at our Bible study, they were holding to “once saved, always saved.”

Paul addresses this very directly. In v. 26, he tells those Jews that if they break the Law, their circumcision will become uncircumcision. In v. 27, he tells them it works the other way around, too. If Gentiles keep the righteousness of the Law, then their uncircumcision will become circumcision.

God’s not interested in ceremony. If you do not walk in the righteousness that comes from faith in Christ, then your baptism will become non-baptism. There is no partiality with God. We read that often in Scripture, but most Christians don’t believe it when they read it. God will not be partial to you because you accepted Christ. He will ask more of you. You’re supposed to have the Holy Spirit and be walking in the light of life. You will not be judged less strictly than non-believers; you will be judged more strictly.

The apostles try to warn you often. You are warned there in Rom. 2:26, but Paul warns you even more clearly in Ephesians 5.  There, in v. 5, he tells us that no immoral man, unclean person, or covetous man (who is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Then he says something very important. Let no one deceive you with empty words. Don’t be deceived! It’s like Paul knew that men would come along telling you that you can be unrighteous and still go to heaven. You cannot! Don’t be deceived by bloated teachers, full of hot air, speaking empty words to you.

What does Paul use as proof for what he says? He uses a line of reasoning. He says, “For because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.”

Do you see how Paul does not distinguish between saved and unsaved? He’s saying, “If the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience for these things, don’t be deceived; it will come upon you as well.” Peter says it, too, and very plainly. “If you address as Father the one who judges impartially according to each one’s work, then conduct yourself throughout the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Pet. 1:17). God is an impartial judge, and he will judge you impartially as well.

This is the reason for running to Christ. Only he can give you the repentance that leads to life. He can unite you to God so that your arrive at the judgment seat holy and blameless and will not need to shrink back when you see him.

There’s one more interesting passage on this subject I want to point out. 2 Cor. 10:1-14 is one of the best arguments against false security in the Bible, but it doesn’t get noticed much. I’m not sure why. Paul begins in vv. 1-4 by arguing that the fathers in the wilderness, the Israelites of old, were, in a sense, as saved as you and I. They were baptized by being baptized into Moses in the sea and in the cloud, and they had Christ. They drank from that spiritual Rock that followed them, which Rock was Christ.

Verse 5 then tells us that God wasn’t pleased with them, despite their being baptized and saved. Then in the next verse, he makes his intent clear by telling us that they are examples to us, so that we won’t lust like they lusted. He goes on like that to v. 10, and then in v. 11 he tells us again these were examples to us.

What’s his point? He states it as plainly as anyone can state anything: “Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”

Shoot, if you can read all that from 2 Cor. 10 and say, “Well, I know I’m saved because I accepted Jesus on June 3, 1993,” then nothing will wake you up. You’re probably hopeless, and you’ll go straight to hell. Pray that someone is praying for you because you don’t have a chance on your own.

Oh, and some commentary on the passages we’ve been studying is at http://www.oldoldstory.org/commentary/commentary.html. I’m a couple weeks behind, and I’ll probably fall further behind, but I am getting some up. They’re very interesting, in my opinion; definitely not your typical commentary, any more than what’s above is your typical commentary.

Grace be with you!