The Red Letters - of death and condemnation!

I'm assuming everyone knows what a "Red Letter" edition of a Bible is. It's where the words of Jesus are printed in the color red (representing His blood). Fascinating words, are they not, those words in red? They're the very words of Christ, right? And so it's all about how to live the Christian life then, right? After all, He's the Messiah! And whatever words the Messiah spoke, we just do it and we're on the right path, right?

Let's back up just a bit and look at something else. Actually, let's look "ahead" to Paul's writings, which of course were written years after Jesus' death and resurrection. He says some interesting things that have helped me to see a lot clearer when it comes to some of the words of Jesus. Regarding God's law, Paul called it "the ministry of death" and "the ministry of condemnation" (see 2 Cor 3:7-11). Paul talked much about the purpose of the law. It was a "tutor" to lead TO Christ, but once faith has come, the tutor's (law's) job is done and we are no longer under it (Gal 3:24-25). And the key verse that turned my thinking upside down in such a way in which I can never go back is Romans 3:19, "Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God."

The law was meant from the beginning to be the ministry of death and condemnation. It was not meant as a source of life, but of death. It was not meant as a way to live a godly and holy life, but rather through it we died and were then made alive together with Christ (Gal 2:19-20). Its purpose was to speak to those who were under it, stopping their mouths and making them guilty! All of this is important, but I want to focus on that one phrase, "that every mouth may be stopped."

Now that we know what the law's purpose was, we can look back and see how Jesus used the law when speaking to people. They didn't have Paul's epistles, and Jesus was very clever and skillful with His use of the law, so we're very fortunate today to have Paul's epistles to understand all of this! Let me give a few examples of what I'm talking about.

In Jesus' encounter with the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23), the man asked Him, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Now, we know through Paul's epistles that we cannot obtain eternal life through keeping the law, right? But yet Jesus answered the man, "You know the commandments, 'Do not commit adultery,' 'Do not murder,' 'Do not steal,' 'Do not bear false witness,' 'Honor your father and your mother.'" Huh? And what about this - Another time "a certain lawyer" asked Jesus the same question (Luke 10:25-37). Again, two commandments came up. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind," and "Love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus replied to the man, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live." Again, I say, "Huh?" Paul said in Gal 3:21 that there is NO LAW that can give life!

But if we put all of this together I think we get the bigger picture. The law was meant to make everyone guilty and it was meant to stop mouths! Jesus used the law perfectly with these two men, and He used it perfectly and skillfully elsewhere as well. Follow the "certain lawyer" story all the way, and the man sought to "justify himself" by probing Jesus a little bit further about the meaning of those laws, and Jesus told him the parable of the Good Samaritan. We've often looked at this parable as a "Christian teaching," but look, it was spoken as an answer to this man who was seeking to justify himself! It was a mouth-stopping parable! "My neighbor" is EVERYONE, including my worst enemies.

Keep all of this in mind when reading the "Red Letters" (the words of Jesus). Very often it's not a "Christian teaching" that He's giving, but rather it's the ministry of death and condemnation! But you say, "Joel, Jesus didn't come to condemn, but to save!!!" And you're very correct! The thing is, often it takes a mouth-stopping, guilt producing word to bring people to the end of themselves and their self-reliance, and their trust in their own works, and that acts as a tutor that leads to faith and salvation!

The answer is always B - 4/30/08 - "Tutorage"

What is the correct wording of Galatians 3:24-25?

A. "Therefore the law is our tutor that keeps us in Christ, that it might help us to live right. After faith has come, it helps us all the more."

B. "Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

C. "Let's listen to a couple of songs from Tenpole Tudor!"

(This was a band formed in the 70's who had a few popular hits in Britain. These two songs came out the year we moved back to the States, and the songs have stuck in my head all these years.)

Tenpole Tudor - Swords of a Thousand Men


Tenpole Tudor - Wunderbar


Gee golly I just don't get why this band never became as popular as other bands from the British Isles, such as U2 and The Police. (Hmmmm) (???) :) All I know is that as a 12 year old boy, I really dug 'em.

Big Difference 5 - We have been forgiven

It's been almost a month since my last "Big Difference" post so I guess it's about time for a new one! This one was sparked by thoughts from Steve McVey's video from today (see below), as well as yesterday's blog post from Darin Hufford entitled "Going for the Worship." Both men mentioned how things changed at the cross. As Hufford puts it, "God hasn't changed from the Old to New Testament, however THINGS have."

In case anyone is new here and is not aware of where I'm coming from, I'll just state that I think it's of utmost importance that we Christians understand what the Old and New covenants are and how they are not the same and how there are huge differences between them! Also, that we are not living in a mixture of the two covenants, but we are under the New Covenant alone. The Old Covenant was a precursor to the New Covenant, and with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, everything changed dramatically! We entered into the era of the New Covenant.

It's also important to note that just because Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are accounts of the life of Jesus and are placed in the section of the Bible that we call "The New Testament," that doesn't mean that it's all New Covenant teaching! Again, it wasn't until the cross that things changed. Let me make a hopefully obvious point: Jesus' life as a man on the earth was all lived before the cross! The New Covenant came into effect at Jesus' death (i.e. the cross).

Jesus came into the world, "born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law" (Gal 4:4). And we know that "the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor" (Gal 3:24-25). For the past few weeks, I've been working on a series of posts that will delve much deeper into all this. But for now let me just say that in many, many cases, Jesus was speaking words that were aimed at those who were under the Old Covenant/law.

Jesus, before the cross (still under the Old Covenant) masterfully used the law as a tutor (as it was meant to be used), digging deep into the real meaning of the law (not simply going around citing the Ten Commandments), penetrating the hearts of those who perhaps only had a surface view of the law. I should also add that Jesus also spoke a lot of New Covenant talk, and it's of utmost importance that we learn to distinguish the difference. Much has been revealed to us in the New Testament epistles about the reality of the New Covenant in which we live. If you ever read something in the epistles that seems to contradict anything that Jesus said, please note that none of it is wrong or contradictory! The words simply represent two distinct covenants. As you read and learn, please remember which one you are under!

One of the things Jesus said (before the cross, speaking to those under the Old Covenant) is the conditional promise of God, "if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Matt 6:14-15).

IF these words are meant as a condition that Christians, under the New Testament, are to heed, then I'd like to suggest that there are a lot of people in the church who are not forgiven! Do you know what that implies??? Have you ever thought through the ramifications of teaching this Old Covenant teaching in the church?! I've heard it taught time and time again. What's sorely missing if we look only at the face value of Jesus' words, is the truth of the New Covenant teaching that with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ we have been forgiven of all sins! In fact, our sins have been taken away.

IF this forgiveness condition is still in effect, then did the cross really change much of anything?! Were sins really forgiven? Was sin really taken away?

There are so many New Testament verses that testify to the fact that in Christ we've been forgiven, not based upon the condition that we forgive others, but based upon what Jesus accomplished on our behalf. I refer you to this excellent, scripture only post from Bino last year. Here are just a couple of examples:

"And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Col 2:13-14).

(Again, where did things change? The cross.)

"I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake" (1 John 2:12). (I might add that these words from John, as well as other words from him and other NT writers, are part of the reason I hold a different view than many of John's previous words in chapter 1, vs. 9 about confession and forgiveness... but I'll save that for another day!)

In the end, please hear me correctly and please don't get me wrong. I take all of the Bible seriously. I take all of Jesus' words seriously! But again I think we must learn to discern which of His words apply to New Covenant Christians and which of His words apply to those who were still under the tutor of the law. There's a big difference!

Here's Steve's video from today.
"Lie #92 If You Don't Forgive Others, God Won't Forgive You."


*For an explanation of this Big Difference series, see the original post.*

Revival

The church wants a revival... of sin. Well, at least that's how many in the church act! However, I think that many or most of those who are supporting a sin revival don't realize that that's what they're doing... and therefore I should try to be fair and say that I realize where they're coming from, because I once thought the same way.

What I'm talking about is the preaching of the Law in the Christian church. I've talked a lot on this blog about the purpose of the Law so I won't go into great detail right now, but I'll just give a brief overview of New Covenant revelation about the Law. When the Law came, several things happened: The Law became a curse for everyone who did not keep it (see Gal 3:10-14) - and no one has kept it; the world was confined under sin (Gal 3:21-23); the world was condemned (2 Cor 3:9); sin abounded (Rom 5:20); sin was made exceedingly sinful (Rom 7:13); sinful passions were aroused, bearing fruit to death (Rom 7:5); the Law aided in the revival of sin (Rom 7:9-11); the Law acted as a tutor that would show people the true depths of their sin and condemned state, leading them to the Savior, Jesus (Gal 3:24-25).

The New Covenant teaches us that all of these things (and more) are the true purpose of the Law.  The Law doesn't aid us in Christian living. In fact, it's just the opposite! The Law won't help a person who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit any more than the Law will help a person who doesn't have the Holy Spirit. That was never meant to be the Law's purpose. All of this said, remember that the Law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good! (Rom 7:12) I'm not putting down the Law. I'm not saying that the Law itself is not good. In fact, the Law is so holy and just and good that the only thing it can do in a relationship with sinful man is to condemn and to do all that the New Covenant reveals about it, as summarized in the above paragraph.

But yet the church continues to teach and preach the ministry of death and condemnation as valid ways to aid in holy Christian living. That makes no sense! New Covenant scripture has given us revelation and enlightenment about the true nature and purpose of the Law, and yet we seem to skim right over it, and make the absolutely-new-and-fresh New Covenant out to be nothing more than Old Covenant Part 2. And that's sad, because the Law can do the same thing in the mind and life of a person indwelled by the Spirit that it was meant to do only in the life of an unbeliever. It can bring about feelings condemnation and fear. It can still aid in the arousal and revival of sin. In Christ, there is no condemnation. Christ has set us free from sin. So why do we teach and preach the very thing that is meant to bring these things on?

You may think that since a Christian is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, then something as holy and just and good as the Law should be viewed as a gift from God that goes right along with His Spirit in us, helping us walk in all holiness and goodness. But it doesn't, and it won't! Any one of us who has been a Christian for any length of time knows that we still sin, right? So, as Christians who have the Holy Spirit living in us, we're still able to operate independently of the Holy Spirit, right? If we were co-operating with the Holy Spirit at all times, we would never sin, right? And so even though we're no longer "in the flesh," as Paul plainly states in Romans 8, we can still behave as if we were walking according to the flesh. We can still make choices that are not in accord with our true nature of righteousness and holiness.

So what brings this on? What leads us to sin? One obvious reason is that we're tempted by our own fleshly desires (our desires that we have apart from our union with God) and we don't put to death the deeds of the flesh by the Holy Spirit, as per Col 3:5. But one HUGE thing that gives rise to independent living - living as if we were still in the flesh, apart from God - would be the teaching and preaching of the Law! If we look at what the Law's purpose is (see again the second paragraph above), why would we EVER want to preach this to people who have come to know Christ and have escaped the fleshly lifestyle of living by the Law?