Is There Justification For Evil?

"Who can say to Him, 'What have you done?" Job 9:12 

"What's wrong with the world?  'I am. sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton.'"

"We have met the enemy, and he is us!" Pogo, in Walt Kelly's cartoon. 

NOTE: THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF EVIL (MORAL AND NATURAL), I AM CONCERNED WITH THE MORAL ASPECT. 

FIRST:    God justified giving mankind free will when He planted the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and commanded Adam not to eat of it. Notice that there was one, simple rule to follow!   If there had been no test of obedience, one could say that true love and obedience couldn't exist.  It is impossible for evil to exist with free will and no one choosing it.   

Thus, God gave mankind the right to choose evil without being coerced or inclined in that direction and then prevent them from choosing it. If evil had not existed, then we would have no choice but to obey God and wouldn't be freewill moral agents but mere automatons, puppets, dolls, pets, or robots of God. 

The Bible clearly says God allows evil for His own purposes (Prov. 16:4) and even uses it to glorify Himself and can turn short-term evil into long-term good (Acts 2:23:4:28). All things happen according to God's design and plan (Eph. 1:11).  All things are going according to plan!  (Isaiah 37:26).   We must acknowledge nothing can happen without God's permission if we realize God is sovereign.  If God isn't ultimately in control, what kind of God is He?

But we tend to complain to God when we are the victims of evil: "Why me Lord?" Job probably never contemplated God's justice in allowing evil till it happened to him!  He said, "Must we accept good times from God and not bad times?" (Job 2:10).   "God turns the wrath of man to praise Him!" (Psalm 76:10) and that means God has ultimate purposes we cannot know and everything is for the final glory of God (Romans 11:36) for we were created for the glory of God (Isaiah 43:7). 

We wonder if God has done anything about evil and don't realize we can do something ourselves: God made you! Realize that Jesus was indeed the victim of evil and didn't complain to His Father that He had gotten bad karma or something He didn't deserve: remember, Jesus signed up for the Via Dolorosa and the Passion to the cross for our sakes. He was a willing target of Satan. 

We see in the crucifixion, a gross evil event perpetrated by wrongdoers and malefactors doing Satan's bidding via Rome, but God knows what He is doing and that "all things work together for good for them that love God that are called according to His purpose," (Rom. 8:28). But God allows short-term evil for long-term good. As when he told Joseph about his brothers, "Your brothers meant it for evil but I meant it for good," (Gen. 50:20). 

Evil must run its course because there is an angelic conflict in the spiritual arena between God and Satan and we are in the middle of it and sign up as combatants when we get saved. Good overcomes evil and will defeat it in the end, for Satan is already a defeated foe because of the victory of Christ at the cross and especially in His  resurrection, the victory over death itself. We are to equip ourselves with the weapons and armor of God and fight in Jesus' name. 

At the end of history, evil will be cast away into the lake of fire and will be silenced forever. But it is better in God's eyes to have defeated evil with His goodness than never to have allowed it to enter the equation in the first place. This way, all of us can participate in this war in heavenly places and be rewarded for our own victories with crowns and rewards.  

Only in Christianity is evil actually given meaning and given some sense of justification.  But we must not merely justify evil's existence but find what the answer to it is for the sake of argument: we must not just philosophize about it, grin and bear it, or become mere stoics but have faith in face of evil; this means that the prima facie answer is knowing a Person, namely, Jesus, not words of man, but the Word of God!   

In the final analysis, if God were to eliminate all evil in the world immediately, none of us would be left; only God is good.   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Removing God From Your Metric...

 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, "Man has forgotten God." What is meant is that the biggest issue today is whether man can live without God because He doesn't think He is necessary to answer the ultimate and big questions of life any longer, as Nietzsche said, "God is dead," or irrelevant and no longer needed!  Evolution seems to make atheists feel intellectually fulfilled and to be able to challenge the religious establishment and elites.  That's quite a commentary even on today's society and that was many years ago.  

Our technical expertise has surpassed our wisdom on how to best use it. We discover that inventions can be used for evil as well as good; the same thing Alfred Nobel wondered about dynamite. He felt so guilty that he founded the Nobel Peace Prize to compensate all the evil that could be done in his name.   We are rapidly seeing and overseeing our own destruction without any outside help and we can blame no one but ourselves. Will Durant said that "no society has been able to maintain morality without the aid of its religion!"  and George Bernard Shaw is said to have quipped, "No nation has survived the loss of its gods."  You must realize that it was the church that kept the Roman Empire becoming utter chaos and lawlessness. 

What can be done? Man needs to realize his identity in God which he has forgotten: he is in the image of God and hot-wired for dignity, purpose, meaning, fulfillment, self-worth, and self-esteem.  Without God, life makes no sense and if you do not reckon God in the dynamic, man becomes a useless enigma and purposeless lifeform, no better than the beast.  Have you ever observed an ape building a chapel? Of course not! They are oblivious to God because they are not in His image and not meant to worship Him. We have a heart to love God, a mind to know Him, and the will to obey Him; animals do not. 

How can we find our purpose or calling? William James said "the best use of a life is to spend it on something that will outlast it.". We must live for something bigger than ourselves!"  We must not then just live for the here and now and eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die!  We are meant to live in light of eternity!  We have our identity in God! 

This image we have enables us to have the madness of laughter, the tears of joy and sorrow, the communicative ability to talk to God, the rational mind to reason, the morals to be responsible for our actions, the emotions and love to have a relationship with God on a personal level and find joy in God, the free will to decide if we want to serve God, and the intellect to know God. We have many things in common with God too besides that: we have a sense of humor, we are artistic and have an aesthetic sense, and we are musical and especially that we ae imaginative and creative and can think on an abstract level! This is why we are not stupid like the animals who cannot know God.

Bertrand Russell, atheist philosopher, said that "unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless."  We simply come from nothing but blue-green algae scum, we have no divine or ultimate purpose in living, we are headed nowhere after death and this means there is no justice because it is necessary according to philosopher Immanuel Kant that God be the Judge that He can make all things right that were wronged in this life.  Too many people get away with crime and evil and never see justice or their comeuppance and God is necessary to even the score and settle matters on Judgment Day.   In sum, consider the wise  words of Dostoevsky: "If there is no God, all things are permissible."   Soli Deo Gloria! 

Is God Fair?

We are in no position to judge God, but He is our judge and we have no right to question His fairness, for what's fair is what He decrees as fair by its very nature and definition. One recalls the parable of the Prodigal Son whereby the elder brother is dispirited at the grace shown the younger one and thinks it's unfair. He should've celebrated the fact that he had always been the son and never suffered estrangement.

Too many Christians think that it is unfair that criminals who make deathbed conversions can get saved when they lived their whole life for Christ. They should've noted that they get to live for Christ, not had to live for Him. It is a privilege to live for Christ and one should be thankful for all the opportunities and be stewards of them. He has become the recipient of greater reward, as God rewards according to our deeds whether we are in Christ a short time or long time. We don't have to be Christians, we get to be Christians! Many who are first shall be last, according to Christ, and the last, first. The classic example of deathbed conversion is the famed thief or malefactor on the cross on the right side of Christ and to whom He said, "Today, thou shalt be with me in paradise."

In the final analysis, life may not always be fair because some people's portion is in this life and others have to learn the hard way--but God will make it all fair in the end at the judgment and He is just in all His ways. And so, who's to say that inequity defines unfairness? God is the moral center of the universe, thank God! 

Jacob was paranoid: "All these things are against me" (Gen. 42:36). Job had his time of being appalled at his circumstances and sudden disaster: "My worst fears have come upon me." But Paul said of his sufferings: "But none of these things move me" (Acts 20:24). We must never give up the faith that "If God can be for us, who can be against us?" They must come because the same hammer breaks the glass, forges the steal, the same sun melts the butter, hardens the clay--we either become bitter or better through the crucible of suffering or the school of hard knocks because God never promised us a bed of roses. Hardship or Reality 101 is part of the divine curriculum.

But don't break faith or lose heart--God loves us as His children and discipline means we belong to Him ("Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep thy Word," says Psalm 119:67). God's grace is not only necessary but sufficient for us ("My grace is sufficient for thee," says 2 Cor. 9:8). Believers have always inquired, "Why do bad things happen to good people?" [There are no good people!] Let's see why the Bible says, "...Can anyone say to Him, 'What hast Thou done?'" (Dan. 4:35).

Life is unfair, just look at what happened to Jesus. But don't jump to the conclusion that God is ergo unfair. It doesn't necessarily follow, as I intend to show. The question should not be, "Is God fair?" but are you fair? Who do you think you are? Do you trust yourself and your standards enough to judge the whole earth? God is fair is a given and a no-brainer to any person of faith--but we have a struggle when the trial, tribulation, suffering, adversity or temptation happens to us personally, don't we? Like when Job's comforters reprimanded him that he had preached to others, and now trouble comes to him and he can't take it (cf. Job 4:3ff "See how you have instructed many...but now trouble comes to you and you are discouraged....").

God sees the big picture and we only see our own little world! Who has the advantage? To get specific, is it fair that Jesus had to die? Even the objective onlooker realizes he suffered a great injustice at the hand of Rome, yet God is fair and decreed that this should this; He does not tolerate sin but remains holy, and untouched by sin, We tend to put God in a box, like saying, "I like to think of God as a ...." Luther said to Erasmus: "Your thoughts of God are too human." There is always more to God than we can apprehend! "The finite cannot grasp the infinite", the Greeks said.

Job was told, "Canst thou by searching find out God?" There is no "higher law" that God must obey: He is a law unto Himself--autonomous! Only He can set aside His laws. God wants to see if we will trust Him through thick and thin when the chips are down. Let the chips fall where they may, God is in control! He does what is right, He never does what is wrong, because all wrongdoing is a sin.

"How can God be just, and the Justifier?" The Bible says God's ways are unfathomable and inscrutable and no one can discern His ways, "as the heavens are higher than the earth" (cf. Isaiah 55:9; Rom. 11:33). ("How unsearchable his judgments and His paths beyond tracing out.") We sometimes cry out for justice, but do we really want to get what we deserve? Or do we want mercy and grace? Some will receive justice from God, and others mercy and grace (mercy is not getting what you deserve--judgment; grace is getting what you don't deserve--eternal life), but no one will receive injustice.

Grace and mercy are a form of non-justice, but not injustice--there is a nuance of meaning that you must realize here. Karma is disproved by Christ's sufferings--He certainly didn't deserve what He got at the hand of Rome. God tempers His justice with mercy and only give the evil-doer his due or just dessert, and not beyond what strict justice would demand--God is not cruel. Remember, God is not obligated to be merciful, just because He was merciful to one and we have no claim on His mercy and cannot demand it, but can only accept it as a gift by grace through faith in Christ.

People instinctively think that when something goes wrong that God is unfair. They don't think they could possibly be reaping what they have sown. Even Job didn't accuse God of wrong-doing and accepted evil at the hand of God as well as a blessing. What is fair is the question, not is God fair. For Abraham said, "Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?" We don't judge God, he judges us! We don't have some standard of right and wrong and see if God measures up!

What God does is fair by definition because God is fair, period, no if's, and's, or but's. Today they say that art is what an artist says is art! It is similar with God. We say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder too. But God said all creation was good after He created it and we are not to object to His standards. R. C. Sproul says, "God is therefore never arbitrary, whimsical, or capricious, He always does what is right." Amen! Amen! He never acts out of character but is always true to Himself.

Because there is no immediate retribution, we tend to think we have gotten away with something--But God is only giving us space to repent and judge He will--either in Christ or at the Great White Throne Judgment at the Last Day. We want revenge sometimes but must not take the law into our own hands but trust God and His using the government to get the job done. "Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD." No one gets away with anything. What seems like God being unfair is often just suffering the consequences for our own foolishness or sin! 

Either they are disciplined by God as believers and their sins are judged on the cross, or they pay for their own sins in the final judgment for all eternity. The point is this: Something is fair because God says so--to have some other standard other than this self-attesting one would be to appeal to some standard higher than God. For instance, if I said, common sense should be the standard, because that's just common sense. (This is circular reasoning when we appeal to the source we are using as proof itself.)

Now in Psalm 73 Asaph bemoans the prosperity of the wicked--a common complaint against God. But Psalm 17:14 says that some people's reward is in this life ("...whose portion is in this life") and the rule still applies that they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind (Hosea 8:7). We tend to think that if someone gets something, that we also deserve it. If God saves one person, for instance, He is not obligated to save another--He could have elected to save no one! Remember and keep faith in the goodness of God and the profundity or incomprehensibility of God--we cannot figure Him out and never will!

In the economy of God, it pays to trust God and it is more blessed to give than to receive, but also the laws of reaping what you sow and the promised rewards to people who are industrious and work hard are in effect despite being a believer or not. God blesses some people in all ways, but all in some ways, because of common grace given to all--"God is good to all, and His compassion is over all creation" (Psa. 145:9). God doesn't know how to be anything but good. The proof of the pudding is in the eating--"Taste and see that the Lord is good," says Psalm 34:8. God is good all the time! (Neh. 1:7).  Soli Deo Gloria! 

Looking For A Loophole?

"[Since] they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them"  (Romans 2:25, NIV).

By definition, conscience is an innate sense of right/wrong and the ability to apply it to conduct in situations. 

W. C. Fields was said to peruse the Scriptures on his death bed and when asked why he quipped: "Well, it occurred to me that I might be wrong, so I'm looking for a loophole?"  Everyone is in the same boat, susceptible to error (to err is human!).  Only God is infallible or incapable of error and His divine impeccability is one of His traits.  We can be inerrant, but not infallible:  For example, if you scored 100 percent on a spelling test, you were inerrant; but you're not infallible!

Some Christians similar to claiming infallibility (which is pontificating from the chair of St. Peter called speaking ex-cathedra in Latin).  We are to trust no human as infallible, but hold only the Holy Scriptures to that standard, as Augustine wrote Jerome on his convictions.

We all have a conscience or the ability to relate standards to conduct and situations and make judgments of right and wrong.  We are held to be responsible to our conscience, and it either accuses or excuses us  (cf. Rom. 2:25).  But we can indeed have a clear conscience and be in sin or be dead wrong at the same time because you can be sincerely wrong, but this is no excuse to go against conscience as our guide as Martin Luther said, "To go against conscience is neither right nor safe." Jiminy Cricket said to always let our conscience be our guide--but it should be enlightened by the Word of God.

It is obvious that God is a God who cares a lot about right and wrong and He has gifted us with a moral compass as a guide to behavior in all situations (you instinctively know not to bud in line, for instance, unless you've hardened your conscience--if you ignore it, it'll go away!).  Where do we get a sense of fair play, good faith, altruism, courage, good faith, frankness, objectivity, integrity, and sportsmanship?  It's obvious that this is a reflection of God's character.  This is why we learn a lot about life playing sports and through the wisdom of the school of hard knocks in life's spiritual journey.

There is a natural or higher law that all people know, which is supreme over the law of the government.  Being legal doesn't mean it's right, ethical, or moral!   We are responsible for this moral code, whether we admit it or not.  We have a built-in sensitivity to evil and all of us have eaten of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, by virtue of being Adam's progeny.  None of us can claim innocence!  We are moral creatures responsible for our actions and that's where sin comes in; animals are not moral creatures.  We alone are designed to communicate with God with a heart to love Him, a mind to know Him, and a will to obey Him.

Mark Twain was said to say that it wasn't the Scriptures he didn't understand that bothered him, but the ones he did!   We all have some manner of inner moral compass and fabric to convict us.  "If there is no God," Fyodor Dostoevsky's dictum goes, "everything is permissible," and up for grabs, and we are without a moral compass as animals and can act like them, not being accountable and not awaiting judgment.   We all have a sense of "ought" however, and this is evidence for God's existence.

God alone is the moral center of the universe and everything's is relative to Him.  In sum, there is no loophole, all of mankind will be judged by Christ if they are not found in Him, and they will be condemned by their own words and conscience!  In the meantime, judge nothing before the time (cf. 1 Cor. 4:5).  We don't want to be like Israel in Judges:  "Everyone did what was right in his own eyes"  (cf. Judges 17:6; 21:25).  The cross is the only way out by faith in it as the propitiation of our sins, being God's satisfaction or propitiation of justice on our behalf.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Reciprocity

Confucius summarized his system of ethics with the so-called Silver Rule ("What you don't want others to do to you, don't do to them"). The prevalent ethic of America now is the Brazen Rule, that we do unto others as they do unto us.  To be specific, when someone does you evil, return the favor or do the deed in kind (insult for insult, etc.). The worse ethic is the Iron Rule, which is like the law of the jungle and believes in the survival of the fittest, saying that you should do unto others before they do unto you--mind your own business and take care of number one!   It is worse to return evil for good, which is contemptible, and some only return good for good and don't go the extra mile and put in any extra effort or turn the other cheek.

We believe in the Golden Rule that says we should treat others the way we prefer to be treated.  This is the most challenging ethic, the one Jesus proposed and revealed man's depraved heart is to return good for evil and overcome evil with good (cf. Rom. 12:21), much less to pray for those who persecute us and love our enemies.  This can only be done when the love of God has shed abroad in our hearts (cf. Rom. 5:5).  It always pays to take the high road of nobility:  "When they go low, you should go high!"

We don't want to lower ourselves by stooping to the level that our enemy does and not to raise the bar, as Jesus did, and realize sin is not just outward behavior, but in the attitude of the heart.  Love trumps hate and it never pays to engage in hate-speech or any type of bias, because we are to reach out to all in the name of Jesus and not judge "those outside" (Christians are only authorized to judge those inside the church per 1 Cor. 5:12, and will eventually judge angels). We are to realize that we should judge nothing before the time and to realize that God is on the throne and is only using us for His purposes by Providence. When I say that Jesus raised the bar, I mean that no one can meet His standards--the Christian life is not hard, it's impossible,  The standard is perfection, but the direction is the test!  The Bible makes it clear that you cannot say you love God and hate your brother, and, if you see a brother in need, and don't help, how can the love of God dwell in you (cf. 1 John 3:17).

Islam denies that God is love and uses hate to spread its message of submission, and that man is a mere slave of God and subject to blind kismet or fate, and will ultimately face a whimsical and capricious God that will decide their final fate at the judgment.  Philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell said that what the world needs is more Christian love.  Love is what Christianity has going for it and makes it unique, and the karma of Eastern religions keeps them from loving their neighbors and helping them in times of need because that's their karma and they are to be islands to themselves. We believe that God will reward us for all the goodwill He accomplishes through us as His vessels of honor.  We shall receive a reward for our good works if we do not faint or give up and continue faithfully in them as they are ordained for us (cf. Gal 6:9; Eph. 2:10).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Is There Real Freedom From the Law?

"Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes"  (Rom. 10:4, NIV).
"[B]y setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations..." (Eph. 2:15, NIV).


The Law does have a place in the believer's life to be a mirror that  shows us our sinfulness; however, we are not under the authority or tutelage of the Law (Rom. 6:14), which is only a shadow of the real thing--we walk in the Spirit and do the things against such there is no law (Heb. 10:1). I like the J. B. Phillips translation of Rom. 3:20 which reads realistically:  "It is the straightedge of the Law that shows us how crooked we really are."  "By the Law is the knowledge of sin," says Paul. We obey the spirit of the Law, and not necessarily the letter of it.  And we are not to rely on it for our justification nor sanctification because there is a curse on everyone who does (Gal. 3:10).  We don't have to become somewhat "Jewish" to be good Christians, says Chuck Swindoll--not good news to the new "Hebrew movement" sweeping Christendom.

The Law was made for "lawbreakers and rebels" (1 Tim. 1:9) and the unbeliever knows no law, while the believer needs no law. John Calvin said that the believer has the Law written on his heart.  This is part of the New Covenant mentioned in Jer. 31.  The Law should drive us to Christ for mercy and is our schoolmaster to brings us to a grace-oriented way of thinking ("For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty").

Gal. 2:21 says, "For if justification were through the Law, Christ died for nothing."  The Law and the Old Covenant are now obsolete because Christ abolished it in His flesh "with its commandments and ordinances"  (Eph. 2:15).  Watchman Nee, who founded more than 200 churches in China before being imprisoned for the faith, said that the day he was delivered from the Law was a day of heaven on earth.

What basically is legalism, but adherence to the letter of the Law, without regard to its spirit, according to eminent theologian R. C. Sproul.  The Law (which is a revelation of a perfect code reflecting a perfect God) measures men, it doesn't save them.   When given the Law, Israel promised they would keep it, instead of asking for mercy, not realizing the vanity of it.

The first usage of the Law is to convict of sin and that is why Psalm 19 says the Law is perfect (note that it is God's job to do this--not ours), converting the soul--it is good as an evangelizing tool to show people they are sinners.  John Bunyan says, "The man who does not know the nature of the Law does not know the nature of sin.  The world at large is under the law until they are redeemed from its curse."

Paul warned Timothy in 1 Tim. 1:7 about those who want to be teachers of the Law.  The scribes were experts in the Law and Jesus warned of their "leaven."  "But avoid...arguments and quarrels about the Law" (Tit. 3:9).   The Law has no more authority over us than a deceased husband has over his living wife--death cancels all contracts.  "There is, therefore, no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, to those who are called according to His purpose"  (Rom. 8:1).

The Antinomians (literally against the law),  say: "Free from the Law, O blessed condition, now I can sin all I want and still have remission,"  think the Law has no purpose and is in effect a law unto themselves.  Grace doesn't give us the right to do whatever we think is right in our own eyes nor to do what Scripture condemns or what is plain wrong.  They misinterpret the Scripture that says, "All things are lawful [or permissible]..."  (1 Cor. 6:12; 10:13).

 The antidote to legalism and Antinomianism, according to Sproul is a serious and legitimate study of the Word.  The Moral Law, basically the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments, has not been rescinded, because, except for the Sabbath observance, they are reiterated in the New Testament.  What was moral then is moral now.  Many of the 613 commandments and prohibitions are merely elaborations of the Decalogue and common sense deductions.  Christ specifically voided the kosher laws, et al.

 Paul says the Law is good if one uses it righteously.  The Jews couldn't handle the yoke of the Law and the early church in Acts 15 decided not to burden them.  Obedience from the Christian should be a "want to" and not a "have to."  It is not an "in order to," but a "therefore." The Law is summed up in Gal. 5:14 where it says love is the fulfillment of the Law.  Jesus also said that the greatest commandments were to love God and our neighbor.  The Law adjudicates the sinner (points out his shortcomings and failures), but does not exculpate (free him from guilt) him!  The entire Law is summed up in the command:  "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

The Formula of Concord (1577), the Lutheran confession of faith, established the so-called three-fold purpose of the Law:  To reveal sin; to establish decency in the society at large; and to provide a rule of life for the regenerated through faith in Christ, according to R. C. Sproul.   It does have a purpose because of all Scripture, according to 2 Tim. 3:16,  is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Are You An Antinomian?

"Everyone did what was right in his own eyes" (Judges 21:25).  We are not free to do what we want, but what we ought! 

A word to the wise is sufficient from Romans 14:1-5 as follows:  "Accept one who is weak in the faith, but don't argue about doubtful issues.  One person believes he may eat anything, but one who is weak in the faith eats only vegetables.  One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not criticize one who does,  because God has accepted him. Who are you to criticize another person's household slave?  Before his own Lord, he stands or falls.  And he will stand.  For the Lord is able to make him stand... Each one must be fully convinced in his own mind"  (HCSB).

My goal is to refute those who have become a "law unto themselves."  I want to emphasize that the unbeliever knows no law in effect, however, the believer needs no law in effect--a paradox.

We should never label our brothers, but for the sake of argument, let's analyze the issue.  Antinomianism refers to "anti-lawism," or being against law.  It is sometimes called libertinism, hedonism, or living by the philosophy that says, "Freed from the law, Oh blessed condition, now I can sin all I want and still have remission." It refers to moral liberty run amuck or moral laxity to the extreme.    We don't have the right to do as we want as believers and we are not a law unto ourselves--the Bible doesn't sanction a license to sin.  We never have the right to do what is wrong, and we believe in absolute right and wrong, defined by the Word of God, not our conscience--we are not lawless!  Certain of the more than 600 laws are now obsolete and don't matter to Christians, such as tithing,  cutting our sideburns,  mixing fabrics, or charging interest, but if it is serious it is reinstated in the New Testament in some manner.  Recall that Paul said love is the fulfillment of the Law.    We don't have to become Old Testament scholars to be good Christians--you can never go wrong by placing emphasis on the New Testament.

When we strive to obey the Law, we have "fallen from grace."  We don't have to become somewhat Jewish to become a Christian.  Neither justification nor sanctification is through the Law; instead, we are subject to the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ (Rom. 8:1-2).  The Pharisees were guilty of obeying the letter of the Law, and not the spirit of the Law--"As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the Law [how clear can the Bible be?]," says Gal. 5:18. The difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that the former needs no law, and the latter knows no law.   Yes, all the Law can be summed up in loving your neighbor as yourself (Gal. 5:14).

There is a question of definition and morality. Some say are obliged to obey the moral law (in fact we are not "lawless", but have an inner law given by God), as opposed to the ceremonial or governmental codes.   There are many moral precepts laid down in the Law that are relevant and are merely addendum's to the Decalogue and are spelled out to a dense nation that didn't know right and wrong.  There are plenty of sins to worry about already, that we don't have to find some obscure one to preach about--we should always keep the main thing the main thing and preach salvation and deliverance from the Law.  

I have heard it said that if we are under the Ten Commandments (except for the Sabbath observance, which is not repeated in the New Testament). and this has not been rescinded.  There are plenty of sins mentioned in the New Testament (see Romans 1 Mark 7,  or Gal 5:20-21), that we don't need a longer "to-do list" or "not-to-do-list," as it were (Christianity isn't a rulebook if you will).

It is a sound interpretation of Scripture that the New Testament trumps the Old and we should interpret each in light of the other.  The fault of legalists is that they see "sins" and not "sin," or the root problem.  The Pharisees strained at a gnat and swallowed a camel!   They neglected the important areas of love, justice, and mercy while being overly legalistic and demanding about the Sabbath, making it a burden to dread, not a joy.

Remember,  Jesus said, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light."  The early church (referring to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15) did not desire to burden the early church with a yoke their fathers couldn't bear and did not require them to follow the Law of Moses.  Christianity is a new faith and the fulfillment of, and not an extension or continuation of Judaism, which the early church struggled about.  Judaizers were an early heresy and Hebrews was written to combat this.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Cutting It Straight

We are told to "rightly divide the Word of Truth," which literally means "cutting it straight" or rightly interpreting according to proper hermeneutic principles. I have heard that we should interpret the Old Testament in light of the New Testament or vice versa. Well, you can sometimes interpret the Old in light of the New and sometimes the reverse. All Scripture is profitable for doctrine and so forth. Examples are Jesus talking about the abomination of desolation and referring to Daniel and about Isaiah talking about the virgin birth and Luke saying Christ fulfilled it. Or Peter saying that Pentecost was the fulfillment of Joel 2.

We have teachers that say, "Where in the New Testament are we told to obey the law?" Is this fair? We are not under the law as it says in Rom. 6:14 (the ceremonial and governmental institutional law) but still must obey the moral code. Morality doesn't change, but Christ said that all the law is fulfilled in loving God and our neighbor. "Love is the fulfillment of the Law." The messianic Jews, though sincere, are plainly wrong, seeking to put themselves under bondage again when they have been set free (cf. Gal. 5:1).

There is the argument that we don't have to obey the sabbath laws because this is the only commandment not repeated in the New Testament. We ought to live in the New Testament and not in the Old Testament. I realize that the only Scripture the early church had was the Old Testament but they also had the prophets and apostles. There are 613 laws in the books of Moses and the only ones that apply to us are repeated in the New Testament. The New Testament is to be looked upon as the fulfillment of the Old. The law does have a purpose: to convict of sin and lead one to Christ. Paul said that if it wasn't for the law to not covet he wouldn't have considered himself a sinner. It is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ says Paul in Galatians.

So, one must be very careful to know the place of the law when interpreting the Scriptures. "For by the law is the knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20). Or "Indeed, it is by the straight edge of the law that we realize how crooked we really are" (J. B. Phillips).

Christianity was a break from Judaism and not another sect of that religion. Thus the New Testament stands alone as the fulfillment of the Old Testament, just as Christ is the fulfillment of the Law. The Old Testament looks forward to Christ while the New Testament presents Christ. The Old looks forward to Christ and We look back to Christ; the important thing is that we are both looking at Christ.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Is Morality Relevant?

I realized the importance of morality when a Christian friend of mine was engaging in road rage. He was going to give them a taste of their own medicine, so to speak. Morality is our duty to God, to others and to our self. We all have a conscience and a system or code of conduct--even prisoners have a prison code (don't steal my smokes)! Some believe that we should do to others before they do to you (the Iron Rule), or do to others as they do to you, or before they do unto you!  (Babylonian morals is tit for tat or the Brazen Rule ( or the desire to take vengeance or to get even--which belongs to God;, or not to do to others what you don't want to be done to you (the Silver Rule).

Most people will rub your back if you rub theirs--but what reward does that deserve?   However, Christ made the highest standard: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" the Golden Rule).  What goes around comes around, we reap what we sow. The Hindus call it good and bad karma. We have rights but also responsibilities to our fellow man. The basis of this is that we are created in the image of God (imago Dei).

Some philosophies like cosmic-humanism believe there is no absolute morality and everyone is moral. "All are moral because we do what feels right for us." Postmodernists believe morality doesn't exist and is only a byproduct of coercion and consensus, like everyone agreeing that broccoli tastes good. Secular humanism teaches that morality is relative. Marxism teaches utilitarianism, that the end justifies the means. Pragmatism, which is in vogue today teaches that if it works it must be Good. Islam teaches that Mohammad is the exemplar. Christ not only taught the highest standards but also gave the highest motive to achieve them. Confucius summed up morality with one word--reciprocity. J. Stephen Lang cites Rabbi Hillel being asked to sum up the law: "Whatever displeases you, do not do to others, this is the whole law." (The Silver Rule).  Nevertheless, morality is nebulous and we need divine revelation, otherwise, it is a fool's errand of speculation.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Origins Of Morality

If there was no morality or justice, we would not know it. Likewise, if there was no meaning to the universe, we would not know it. Does a fish know it is wet? Do animals know they are incapable of moral decisions because they don't have the equipment in that they don't have a will able to obey God? They are oblivious to Him.  Because we have a mind and a will we are capable of moral action. Animals are not responsible nor culpable. 

Many have heard of the saying, "There oughta be a law!" (or on sports, "There oughta be a rule!)  Well, it is to this sense of "ought" that I am addressing here. Everyone believes some things are wrong and some things are right. Have you ever heard of a society that honored cowardice or selfishness?

It was the principles of morality that were attractive to some pagans as they converted to Judaism. The Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle were embarrassed with the immorality of the "gods," e.g., Mars and Venus had sexual intercourse with mortal women. The morality of Judaism attracted many Greek God-seekers or God-fearers. In antiquity might made right and no one questioned the authority of the government to set standards. It was the Judeo-Christian ethic that brought the values we have today. Christians ended the gladiator fights and slavery. It would be another world had Jesus never been born. All the major Universities of Europe and the first 150 American Universities were started by Christians. Hospitals, relief organizations,  orphanages, charities, and humane societies and temperance leagues were influenced by Christians.

Before the Ten Commandments, there was the Hammurabi's Code, but there was no uniform code. People were generally ruled by whim and conscience. The law of the land was an eye for an eye. Jesus put an end to that and brought morality to a new level--loving our neighbor. The Dark Ages saw the "seven deadly sins" (lust, anger, jealousy, greed, envy, gluttony, and sloth) as the evil to avoid according to the Pope. Christian life was performance-based then before the Reformation.

The Golden Rule that Christ taught is the epitome of morality that we can only hope to emulate. Today most people are cynical and believe in "do unto others as they do unto you," (Brazen Rule) or "do unto others before they do unto you" (Iron Rule).  They think recompense and comeuppance. It is like Hindu philosophy that good and bad karma works out our fates or good karma cancels bad.

Of course, there is an element of truth in all religious systems. Islam believes morality is arbitrary because Allah's decrees can change. Without an absolute standard such as God's holiness, there can be no morality. The Christian God is not arbitrary, capricious, nor whimsical, but dependable and immutable. But we know intrinsically that morality exists as absolute standards (is there ever an instance where rape is moral; once could argue when one had no choice, but this isn't justification, just a moral dilemma)?) Justice, love, courage, and mercy have always been admired; while cowardice, lying, and stealing have always been despised. God gave everyone a conscience and we are responsible to Him. "They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness..." (Rom. 2:15).

Today some modern philosophies teach to do what feels right for you. This is nothing but the old apostasy of Israel in Judges 21:25; 17:16 which is described: "Each man did what was right in his own eyes."

The reason behind morality is responsibility. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27). We are not free to make up our own rules as we go along--we always make up a system we think we have kept (acc. to D. James Kennedy). Animals are not responsible to God for moral behavior but we are in the imago Dei (image of God).

When we become the source of our values it is nothing short of blasphemy--it is God's prerogative as the Judge of all mankind. The summation of ethics is to follow Christ, the great mandate of salvation. Today they teach the children they are animals--is it any wonder they act like them?  Soli Deo Gloria!