Gospel Foundations Part 1 - Ashamed of the Gospel

This is the first in a four part series of essays based on lectures delivered at Daniels Bible Church during the month of December, 2014.  They represent my attempt to faithfully and accurate exegete Romans 1:16-17.  Links to the other essays in this series once they are completed will be provided at the beginning or end of each essay, as appropriate.  My earnest prayer is that this work will assist Christians in more deeply and richly gazing upon the face of God and will provide an outlet for non Christians to perhaps encounter the truth of God's word in a life changing way for the first time.  All scripture quotations are bolded for ease of reference and are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 revision unless otherwise specified.

Ashamed of the Gospel

The book of Romans, found in the New Testament of the Holy Bible, is a seminal work of literature.  It has been called by some the greatest letter ever written.  It is a towering epic of theological discourse from the mind of the Holy Spirit inspired Apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul (formerly Saul) of Tarsus.  Even aside from the obvious affiliation with the Christian faith, this book is a grand and dizzying spectacle of complex literary structure which easily ranks among the great classics of history.  But when the truth of its position as the inspired and authoritative written revelation of God almighty who spoke the entire created order into existence by the word of His "mouth", gave life to the first man by the breath of His "nostrils", and rules over His creation with an absolute and unquestioned sovereignty, the book of Romans takes on an incalculable value as a source of absolute truth and wisdom for humanity.

And no passage of this great work expresses its theme better than verses 16 and 17 of the first chapter:

"16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "But the righteous man shall live by faith."

Although only two verses long, this passage of scripture is absolutely loaded with meaning.  Every phrase is worthy of deep investigation and consideration.  I am going to take the phrases one at a time, in order.  First we will consider "For I am not ashamed of the gospel".  But before we dive in and begin to unpack that phrase we need to provide some context to be sure our thinking is in line with Paul's intention here.  

This book of the bible is actually a letter.  It was written by the Apostle Paul in the late fifties to 60 A.D. to a church which existed at that time in the city of Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire.  Paul makes it clear in his writing that he had never visited this church, but in verse 8 of chapter 1 he explains that "your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world."  This gives us insight into the fact that this was a strong and faithful church, apparently not saddled with the kind of gross impropriety which afflicted the church in Corinth (see the book of 1st Corinthians).  Paul goes on to write in verses 11 through 13 that he longed to visit this church for two reasons: first so that he might be able to "impart some spiritual gift" to them, and second so that he might "obtain some fruit" among them "even as among the rest of the Gentiles."  We might say that Paul had ulterior motives in his ministry.  He was concerned with imparting truth yes, but the focus of his efforts in this life were upon obtaining a reward from God in the next.  This is what he is implying with the phrase "obtain some fruit."  After revealing his motives in this manner, Paul further explains that he feels a sense of obligation, or debt, to "Greeks and barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish." By including both the socially civilized as well as uncivilized and the intellectually sensible as well as the imbecilic Paul is intentionally incorporating all of humanity in his view.  In other words, he felt that he owed something to every person on the planet, wherever they might be and whenever he might encounter them.  And because of this feeling of obligation, he reveals in verse 15 that he is "eager to preach" the gospel to this Roman church, with the obvious implication being a concurrent ministry to the general population of the city of Rome itself.

And so we come to verse 16, which is the focus of my examination here.  Paul writes that he is excited to preach the gospel for, or because, he is not ashamed of this gospel.  Upon reading this, two questions come to my mind as needing to be clarified.  First, why does he state it this way?  Why does he feel the need to clarify that he is not ashamed?  Is he just defining his own position clearly or is there something else on his mind here?  And second, just exactly what is this gospel he is referring to?  I will attempt to answer these questions in reverse order.

"The Gospel" is really the core of the Christian faith.  It encompasses and summarizes everything those who have placed their faith in Jesus are to be about and to focus on.  Every believer should be able to explain and defend the gospel from scripture.  But can we all do that?  I'm not so sure.  I fear that in this modern culture of "easy believism" where the popular approach is to dilute all people regardless of their religious worldviews into "people of faith" many professing Christians would not even be able to find scripture to explain the gospel much less be able to defend it to someone.  So rather than simply assume that everyone reading this has a solid grasp of the gospel I will take the time to try to (briefly) explain this central element of Christianity from the pages of scripture.

First, let us examine the word itself.  Gospel is an ancient word that, outside of Christendom, has very little usage today.  In spite of its ancient origins it actually has a quite simple meaning.  It comes from a Greek word meaning glad tidings.  In modern vernacular we might say the gospel is good news.  More specifically, in the context of New Testament historical teachings, the gospel is the good news about the man named Jesus who in the bible bears the title of Christ or "the Christ".  Christ is itself a shortened version of the Greek christos, which in turn is a translation of the Hebrew word mashiyach (or messiah), which means literally "anointed one."  In ancient societies it was traditional to consecrate persons to regal offices by anointing them with oil.  Thus what we have bound up in this word gospel is the idea of good news about Jesus who was consecrated to a royal position.

But why do we need good news?  Is there some bad news that this good news is supposed to counteract?  Indeed there is.  The bad news is that humans as a whole are cut off and alienated from God.  This is because Adam, the progenitor of the rest of humanity, fell victim to temptation in the Garden of Eden.  Genesis 3:6 records the events as follows:  When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.  As we know, this was a deliberate act of disobedience against the express command of God, recorded one chapter earlier in verses 16-17: "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die."  On the surface this was a violation of a command of God.  But on a deeper level it was a defamation of His very nature.  Titus 1:2 tells us that "God cannot lie" and Hosea 14:9 reveals that "the ways of the Lord are right."  Therefore God's instructions are right because they are an extension of His character and to violate those instructions is intrinsically wrong and opposed to His nature.  This is the very definition of sin.  And pertinent to our discussion of bad news, Paul himself explains in Romans 6:23 that "The wages of sin is death."  The news for all of humanity can't get much worse than that.

Jumping back to Jesus, we have identified that He was consecrated and anointed to a royal position.  But what was this position that He was to hold and the purpose that He was to fulfill? Stated plainly, Jesus is the visible representation of God on Earth who is to rule the entire world after first restoring a remnant of fallen and sinful mankind to a right relationship with God after that relationship was shattered by Adam as explained above.  Scripture says much on this topic, but very nicely summarizes it in at least two places, both of which we will look at.  The first is 1st Corinthians 15:1-4:

"1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.  3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

In this writing of the Apostle Paul we find the three central components of Jesus's mission on earth.  First that He was to die as a surrogate to bear the punishment for the sins of humanity.  Second that He was to be buried as a visible and tangible evidence of His death.  Third that He was to be raised to new life as a symbol of the hope of resurrection which is given to all who place their faith and trust in Him.  In this Paul is really just echoing the words of His master, Jesus Himself, who explained these things to His disciples just after His crucifixion at the hands of the Jewish authorities and the Roman government, as found in Luke 24:44-47:

44 Now He said to them, "These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."  45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem."

In both of these sequences we see references to "the scriptures", the "Law of Moses", "the Prophets", and "the Psalms".  This is referring to the Old Testament of the Bible, the special revelation given by God to the nation of Israel.  Through this body of written communication God foreshadowed the coming of the anointed one who would take away sins.  This is an important point because it lends powerful authenticity and credibility to who Jesus was and is.  His life and ministry was the fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecies, as follows in brief:

• The Law of Moses
• Genesis 3:15 - The seed of Eve will bruise Satan on the head, and Satan will bruise Him on the heel.  Jesus's triumph over sin and death signified Satan's defeat while Satan symbolically bruised Jesus on the heel during His torture and death.
• Genesis 12:3 - In Abraham's seed all the Earth would be blessed.  Jesus was of the genealogical line of Abraham and is of course the great blessing of God given to the world.
• Numbers 21:9 - God instructs Moses to raise up a bronze snake to cure the Israelites of poisonous snake bites.  This foreshadows Jesus being raised up on a cross at His crucifixion.
• Deuteronomy 18:15 - Moses told Israel that God would raise up for them a prophet like Moses himself.  This describes Jesus very well, since Moses talked with God "face to face" and was God's mediator between Himself and the nation of Israel, just as Jesus was to be.
• The Prophets
• Isaiah 7:14 - A virgin will give birth to a son who will be Emmanuel (God with us). The synoptic (or historical) gospel accounts are clear that Jesus's mother, Mary, was a virgin when she gave birth to Him.
• Isaiah 9:1-7 - A child will be born, a son will be given, the government will rest on His shoulders.  This prophecy will see final fulfillment when Jesus returns to Earth.
• Isaiah 42:1 - God will uphold His servant, who will be the chosen one in whom God's soul delights.  God says emphatically in the gospels that He is well pleased with Jesus.
• Isaiah 53 - This chapter describes God's servant as one who would bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, and be pierced through for our transgressions just as Jesus ultimately was.
• Daniel 7:13-14 - One like a son of man is to come and be presented before the Ancient of Days (God the father), and to this one will be given dominion.  This is another future fulfillment prophecy.
• Micah 5:2 - One from long ago, from the days of eternity, will go forth from Bethlehem Ephrathah.  This prophecies Jesus's birth in Bethlehem.
• Zechariah 9:9 - A king is coming, endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a colt.  This foreshadows Jesus's bringing of salvation to mankind and His entering of Jerusalem on a foal, which He did.
• The Psalms
• Psalm 2:7 - You are My Son, today I have begotten You.  A foreshadowing of Jesus as "the only begotten of the Father" (John 3:16).
• Psalm 16:10 - You will not allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.  A promise that Jesus would not decay in the ground, but instead rise to new life.
• Psalm 22:1-8 - My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?  The temporary disruption of the unity of God the Father and God the Son while Jesus was on the cross is in view here.
• Psalm 69:1-21 - For my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.  This is exactly what happened when Jesus was being crucified.  He was offered wine vinegar on a sponge to quench His thirst.
• Psalm 72 - Let all kings bow down before Him, all nations serve Him.  Another prophecy that will only be fulfilled when Christ returns to set up His kingdom on Earth.
• Psalm 110:1 - Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.  God the Father promising to subdue all opposition to God the Son.  Yet another future fulfillment prophecy.
• Psalm 118:22 - The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.  The Jews, here depicted as builders, rejected Jesus, here depicted as a stone which ended up as the corner stone of the foundation of this metaphorical structure which symbolizes the kingdom of God.

Although this list is not exhaustive it demonstrates quite well that Jesus was unmistakably identified long before His appearance on Earth.  To summarize that appearance and the gospel message He brought; the good news of Jesus is that He came to enable a way back into a right relationship with God by offering Himself up as a sacrificial scapegoat to pay the penalty for the sins of mankind through His death, burial, and resurrection into new life.

Now then, having defined the gospel we need to go back to the first of our original questions.  Why would Paul state his position in the way he does; "For I am not ashamed of the gospel".  The word ashamed carries with it some very strong connotations.  Noah Webster defined it this way in 1828: Affected by shame; abashed or confused by guilt or a conviction of some criminal action or indecorous conduct, or by the exposure of some gross errors or misconduct, which the person is conscious must be wrong, and which tends to impair his honor or reputation.  That is very strong language indeed!  Phrases such as gross errors, indecorous conduct, and criminal action make it very clear that to be ashamed of something is to view it with a great deal of disdain in one's own personal view.

With this in mind it must be said that we know unequivocally from scripture that Paul was quite clearly not ashamed of the message of his master.  In 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 he explicitly records for our consideration a list of the sufferings he had endured for the sake of this gospel.

Paul says 23 "in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without numbers, often in danger of death.  24 Fives times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes.  25 Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep.  26 I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; 27 I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.  28 Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches."

With a laundry list of trials and persecutions such as this it seems rather painfully (no pun intended) obvious that Paul was not ashamed of the gospel he was proclaiming.  He had certainly been shamed on multiple occasions by his life's work.  But if he had been ashamed of it he would have quit trying long before this.  Why would anyone subject themselves to such intense trouble for the sake of something they were not proud of?  They would have to be either insane or else deeply devoted to that which they were being persecuted for.  In Paul's case it is clearly the latter.

So was this all Paul was getting at when he told the church at Rome that he was not ashamed of the gospel?  Was he making a statement as to his credentials to be able to preach to them?  Or is there something else at work here?  Is there something deeper and perhaps less obvious that he had in mind when he put these words to paper?  To answer that question, let us consider human nature for a moment.  We have already looked at the facts of Adam and Eve's disobedience by violating God's specific instructions.  Although technically only Eve's motivation for disobeying is recorded for us it can safely be assumed that Adam was of similar mind as his wife.  And as it pertains to our discussion the key component of their impetus was mainly their own self interest; namely that they wanted to obtain a greater level of personal advancement than that which had been granted them by God.  Stated simply, their sin was born on the wings of pride just as Satan's had been before them.  Pride and the desire to exalt oneself is the key element which led to their downfall.  That sinful condition of pridefulness still infects all of us today just as it did in Paul's day.  Pride causes us to want to be looked upon with favor by those around us.  It prompts us to be selfish with that which we currently possess and greedy to obtain more possessions.  And it drives us to avoid that which might impugn our own assessment of our reputation, namely embarrassment and shame.  

With that point established, consider the words of Christ in John chapter 15 as He instructed His disciples on what kind of treatment they would receive at the hands of the world by following Him: 18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.  19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.  20 Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.'  If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.  21 But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."  With this teaching Jesus is making it clear that to follow Him, to be His disciple, to be chosen out of the world is to be guaranteed persecution caused by hatred.  In the context of this discussion we can easily connect the dots to see that this vilification by the world will result in being shamed, just as Paul was.

These two elements, our sinful condition of pride and the desire to avoid anything which would lead to a defamation of our ego, and the guarantee of Jesus that that is exactly what Christians will face, presents a clear and immediate conflict for anyone who follows Christ.  And it tends to lead unmistakably, if not checked, to being ashamed of Jesus and His gospel which we are called to profess.  Now, most of us would never utter such a thing aloud, that we might sometimes be ashamed of our Lord.  But if we are honest with ourselves, in the quietness of our hearts, we must admit the truth of this situation.  And lest we assuage our guilty consciences with any sort of reassurance that we are OK and God understands, I call to remembrance Mark 8:38: "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."  Woe to us if we are ashamed of this gospel, this good news, of Jesus Christ.

I believe Paul, and more importantly the Holy Spirit who is communicating through him, understood this point very well.  Therefore I am convinced that this was the real purpose in his statement "For I am not ashamed of the gospel."  I believe he was saying, in effect, "I know your human tendency is to feel embarrassment and shame because of the way the world treats you.  I know you struggle with standing up and representing Jesus to the hostile enemy that surrounds you.  And I am telling you to not be that way.  I am telling you to follow my lead.  I am not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus.  Take your cues from me and my life and let's run this race with endurance and finish strong!"

This is all well and good.  But to people like us, steeped in a culture of self aggrandizement, this may be easier said than done.  How do we reverse a perhaps life long stance of lurking quietly in the shadows of our communities, rarely daring to utter a word in defense of the One we claim to have allegiance to?  How do we become unashamed of the gospel like Paul was?  I believe the bible provides a very clear solution to this problem.  Consider Psalm 119:5-6: Oh that my ways may be established to keep Your statutes!  Then I shall not be ashamed when I look upon all Your commandments.  It really can't get any plainer than that.  The Psalmist is saying, in effect, that if one wants to know how to be unashamed of God and His commandments, and by extension His gospel, then by all means keep reading.  We could actually examine the entire chapter because it is loaded with helpful strategies.  But for the sake of space I will drill down and focus in on and unpack verses 14-16:

14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.  15 I will meditate on Your precepts and regard Your ways.  16 I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word.

• I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches - The idea here is to be exhilarated with lively and pleasurable sensations over the pattern of life or methodology of existence that is defined and prescribed by God, to the point that this is valued equal to every single material possession, experience, or position that it is humanly possible to obtain in this life.
• I will meditate on Your precepts - This means to leisurely dwell in contemplation, turning and examining carefully from multiple angles, the subject of God's authoritative commandments.
• and regard Your ways - The ESV translates this as "fix my eyes upon Your ways".  I prefer that translation because it better conveys the idea of locking a penetrating and intent gaze upon the character, mannerisms, and conduct of the Lord.
• I shall delight in Your statutes - Just as a swimmer luxuriates in the cool water of a swimming pool on a blisteringly hot summer day, the author of this Psalm intends to fully plunge into and immerse completely and totally in the ordinances of God, in such an all consuming way that vision is clouded and obscured toward anything else.
• I shall not forget Your word - What is conveyed here is to adamantly refuse to ignore or cease to care about the speech that pours forth from the Lord.  This is a deliberate decision and act of the will.

The pattern of life that is described for our benefit in this wonderful passage of scripture is one of complete and total subjection of every area of life into the character and under the dominance of God.  Let me illustrate it this way.  Suppose a woman has been dating a man for a few months.  Their relationship is beginning to turn serious.  One day she gets a letter from her boyfriend in the mail.  Upon opening the letter, she reads the following:

My dearest love, lately I have discovered increasing joy over each part of my life that you have recommended I change.  It fills me with joy inexpressible to hear of each new item you select for me to implement into my behavior.  I have also found myself daydreaming for hours on end about each and every one of the commands you gave me last week.  This meditation even made me late for work one day.  I have been so enthralled with you that I've caught myself carefully studying the way you move, the actions you take, and the choices you make.  I've started a notebook and I'm up to page 20 so far with my detailed observations of you.  I'm having difficulty even thinking about anything except what you have most recently instructed me to do each time we are together.  The one thing I'm desperately afraid of is that I might eventually forget even the tiniest anecdote or the most innocuous of words that escape like filaments of gold from your perfect lips.  I love you.

Now, if you were to read a letter such as that what would be a word that comes to mind to describe the man who wrote it?  Liar perhaps, if we take the approach that he is insincere.  But let's suppose that the man's intent is genuine and that he really feels the way he wrote about the woman in question.  Then I think the only word sufficient to come close to the level of commitment on display here is "obsessed".  This man is absolutely infatuated, addicted, and consumed with his girlfriend.  I like the word obsessed here for two reasons.  One is that I believe it sums up all of that in a small amount of space.  Second, because the word obsession and obsessed have definite negative connotations in our culture.  Typically when we consider those words and then apply them to someone it is not in a positive light.  So I think to use them here in view of our commitment level to God causes us to pause, sit up and take notice, and reflect deeply.

That type of deep meditative contemplation is what is needed here.  Because remember, the Psalmist says that by following this pattern of life we can avoid being ashamed of God.  By striving for this level of obsession with our Lord, according to the bible, we can come to the place where, like the Apostle Paul, we boldly go forth in beaming proclamation and fearless defense of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If we make this the pursuit of our lives we will eliminate the systemic tendency that we have to devalue and marginalize the presence of God in our lives.

I trust you will think deeply on these things and seek to draw a full measure of the cup of God's wisdom in these matters, as I have striven to do.

Part 2 coming soon...

"Old School" Regeneration

Recently a good friend posed two questions to me for discussion.  They are: “Were the OT saints regenerated in the Old Testament?” and “Is it Regeneration then Conversion or Conversion then Regeneration?”  Here is my attempt to answer those questions from scripture for (hopefully) your reading enjoyment.

The two questions are obviously linked by the parallel element of Regeneration.  But I believe the first question is the more difficult of the two to answer adequately.  So I will spend the bulk of my time dealing with it.  My answer to the second question will be much shorter because it will rely on the evidence already presented in my attempt to answer the first. 

There are two foundational elements which informed my thinking on this topic from the beginning.  They are what I believe to be the best definitions of Regeneration available.  The first is of divine origin while the second is man-made.

Titus 3:4-7 - ⁴ But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, ⁵ He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Regeneration: In theology, new birth by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to God and His law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and His law, or holy affections, are implanted in the heart. (Noah Webster)

1. Did the Old Testament saints experience regeneration?  I believe that they did.  My argument is based on two key factors: the logic that flows from scripture and the example of King David.  I will deal with the logic first.  In the New Testament regeneration is concurrent with faith and repentance.  It signifies spiritual life being granted where previously there had been only death.  We can see this element of death and rebellion in Romans 3:10-18 - ¹⁰ as it is written,

“There is none righteous, not even one;
¹¹ There is none who understands,
There is none who seeks for God;
¹² All have turned aside, together they have become useless;
There is none who does good,
There is not even one.”
¹³ “Their throat is an open grave,
With their tongues they keep deceiving,”
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
¹⁴ “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;
¹⁵ “Their feet are swift to shed blood,
¹⁶ Destruction and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ And the path of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

In addition to that passage, 1 Corinthians 2:14 reads thusly – “¹⁴ But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”  Romans 8:6-8 further clarifies the condition of man – “⁶ For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, ⁷ because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, ⁸ and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”

In contrast to the above passages which paint a picture of hopelessness we see the New Testament authors expounding the element of faith.  Ephesians 2:8-9 reveals saving faith as both a gift from God rather than from ourselves as well as the primary vehicle through which salvation is given: “⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; ⁹ not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”   This passage along with many others on faith securely interlink both the regeneration spoken of in Titus 3:4-7 above and its metaphor of new birth spoken of in John 3:3 (“³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”)  with the element of faith as not the only, but certainly two of the essential components of salvation.

With faith established as a critical element of restoration with God we must examine whether any Old Testament saints demonstrated this kind of faith.  They certainly did.  In the later chapters of the book of Hebrews we see a stirring account of the giants of faith from the Old Testament.  This list is prefaced by the following statement in 10:38-11:2 – “³⁸ But My righteous one shall live by faith; And if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. ³⁹ But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.” 11 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.² For by it the men of old gained approval.  This is clearly pointing to these people as having the faith which results in approval from God.  The author of Hebrews even goes so far as to say that Noah “became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”  There is no disputing the fact that these men and women were people of faith.  But the question remains, were they regenerated?  I believe they were regenerated, although lacking a precise theological term for the experience and a full explanation of the grace God was extending to them.  It is the only logical conclusion to be drawn from the fact that faith and regeneration are inextricably linked.  If a person has faith then they have experienced regeneration.  If they experience regeneration then they will show it through faith.

Further, it must be clarified that salvation has only ever come via grace.  Even under the Mosaic Law, escape from the wrath of God was never granted on the basis of the keeping of the Law.  The prophet Samuel makes this clear in 1 Samuel 15:22 when he admonishes Saul: “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  Rather than a means of obtaining salvation the Law served rather as an illustration of exactly what happens when man views God’s benchmarks as being obtainable by works.  2 Corinthians 3:5-6 illustrates this point: “⁵ Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,⁶ who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”  A powerful example of this element of salvation apart from the Law is that of King David.  When confronted in 2 Samuel 12 by Nathan the prophet after his horrific sin with Bathsheba and Uriah David immediately responds with the following statement in verse 13: “I have sinned against the Lord.”  Nathan responds, with the full authority of the Lord, just as immediately: “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”  There was no sacrifice.  There was no observance of the “letter” of the Mosaic Law.  There was only David’s contrite and humble heart of faith in his God.  And when we consider that the wages earned by sin is death as explained in Romans 6:23 it seems clear that God was graciously absolving David of his guilt purely on the basis of his faith.  To add to the already overwhelming evidence we find David in Psalm 51 pouring his heart out to the Lord in a prayer of confession and repentance.  In verse 11 of this famous Psalm David penned the following words: “Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.”  The Hebrew word used here is ruwach (roo’-akh) and is the same word using in Genesis 1 to describe the “Spirit of God” hovering above the waters that had just been created.  Admittedly, ruwach can be used to denote simply wind, breath, or mind; but in context we must assume that in both places it is referring specifically and uniquely to the Holy Spirit.  And calling once again upon the foundational passage in Titus 3 the conclusion is that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on King David in the act of regeneration, Old Testament style.

But how can this be?  Doesn’t salvation, and by extension regeneration, come only through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ?  Yes, it certainly does now as evidenced by the teaching of Peter in Acts 4:10-12: “¹⁰ let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health. ¹¹ He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief corner stone. ¹² And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”  But we must remember that God historically has revealed Himself through a sequential process of ever increasing understanding which builds upon that which came before and adds to it without contradicting any of it.  The theological term for this is Progressive Revelation.  The best and most obvious example of this is Christ Himself.  God first foreshadows the Messiah in Genesis 3:15 when He pronounces judgment on Satan: “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”  He then continues to preface His coming through the Law and the Prophets, from the Bronze snake that Moses “lifted up” in the wilderness to the suffering servant seen in Isaiah 53.  But the full revelation of God’s plan of ultimate redemption was not seen until the first advent of Jesus when He was incarnated in human flesh.  This is Progressive Revelation.  So with this in mind, we must understand that each generation of humanity was only held to the standard that had been revealed to them at that time.  Salvation has always been accomplished by the work of the Holy Spirit through the medium of faith expressed as belief in the word of God.  Prior to the incarnation, the word of God was limited to that which was spoken verbally by the prophets and that which was written down.  This word was life giving even before the Messiah came, as in Psalm 19:8 – “The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;  The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.”  Then, according to the principle of Progressive Revelation, the word or logos of God was expanded to include the Word of God in the person of Jesus.  John 1:1-4 puts it this way: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴ In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”  Thus prior to the coming of Jesus faith and salvation, and by association regeneration, were all possible, based purely and solely upon faith in His word and extended to mankind by His grace.

2. Is it Regeneration then Conversion or Conversion then Regeneration?  The answer to this question lies in all of the passages used above to answer the first.  Conversion is understood as the expression of the twin gifts of faith and repentance whereby a person is made right in the sight of God.  But faith and repentance cannot be granted to a dead person because a dead person cannot respond to stimuli.  They must be made alive in order to react appropriately.  And Romans 3:10-18, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and Romans 8:6-8 make it abundantly clear that all men begin in a state of death.  This is where Regeneration comes into play.  Regeneration must occur prior to Conversion so that the soul which was formerly dead and hostile to God can respond out of the newness of life that is now being experienced for the first time.

To summarize, I believe the bible teaches that Saving Faith is a primary component of Conversion and is a gift given by God to enable a person to seek after, treasure, and ultimately exalt Him.  Such a gift of grace would be ineffective if given to a spiritually dead person because they lack any capacity to respond due to their lifeless spiritual condition.  Therefore, Saving Faith must always be preceded by Regeneration.  Because of this necessary sequence of events, I believe the Old Testament saints were indeed regenerated prior to receiving their saving faith in the word of God.  Although the bible does not explicitly state this, I believe it is logically implicit in the structure and nature of Salvation that is taught in the New Testament.

Nothing And Everything

All followers of Christ should have certain core values.  These are the philosophies, practices, and truths which together define the foundation of our worldview, or the manner in which we perceive the world around us; both the events that transpire and the nature or shape of reality which causes those events.  One such core value is Integrity.  The Elders of Daniels Bible Church have chosen to define this as “a discipline of life presented in the Scriptures, modeled by Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, in order that we become blameless in all things.”  That sounds real nice, but what does it actually mean and how does one go about practicing it? 

            The answer to the first part of that question is hidden in the definition of Integrity that we are using.  The key word to focus upon is “blameless.”  It is by being blameless that we can prove our integrity.  Webster’s dictionary defines blameless as “free from guilt”.  Immediately a problem should present itself.  How can we possibly be free from guilt when every single day our own sin convicts us?  Perhaps if we had a day or two here and there that were free from sin we might possibly be able to get a grip on this elusive blamelessness.  Unfortunately, God’s word assures us that will not happen.  1 John 2:5 puts it this way; “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”  “Great”, we might be prone to think sarcastically, “The bible itself tells me I’m a liar if I say that I don’t sin, sin convicts me of guilt in the court room of God, and blamelessness requires me to be free from guilt.  Therefore I’m hopelessly incapable of ever being blameless and thus it is impossible for me to have integrity.  I might as well give up and stop trying.”

            If we were to think thoughts such as these we would be partially correct, but only partially.  We would be correct in the sense that we might as well give up trying to acquire integrity and blamelessness on our own.  Isaiah 64:6 makes it clear that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”  Instead of relying on ourselves to live a blame free life we must look outside of us to the one who already did live a blame free life; the person of Jesus Christ.  Romans 3:21-22 reveals the key to our dilemma: “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe;” It is Christ’s perfect righteousness which is laid on our accounts in the sight of God at the moment we express the faith He has given us through the action of belief.  This is called justification and it is the only way to become restored to a right relationship with God.

            But we’re not discussing salvation here.  We were talking about integrity.  The truth of justification by faith in Jesus, apart from works of the law, helps us to understand how to become blameless in the first place and therefore, with the definition being used here, to have integrity.  But that doesn’t seem to help figure out how to practice this integrity on a daily basis.  In fact, it actually sounds like practicing integrity is irrelevant, since we are already seen by God as blameless.  Paul puts it this way in Romans 6:1: “What shall we say then?  Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”  Said another way, our sins have been covered by Christ’s righteousness, we are already justified in God’s sight, so practical Christian living has nothing to do with any kind of practice of a blameless life full of integrity.  Luckily for us, Paul answers his own rhetorical question immediately in the next verse with the following words: “May it never be!”  And he elucidates further in verses 8-12 of the same chapter.  “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.”  It is a fallacy born of twisting Paul’s words to say that we don’t need to live lives characterized by integrity simply because we have the righteousness of Christ “in the bank.”  The truth is that the righteousness given to us freely as a gift and a life characterized by the evidence of that gift go hand in hand.  You can’t have one without the other.  Anyone who claims that you can is under a satanic delusion that is not consistent with the word of God.

            At ths point someone may say “Ok, ok, ok, enough already!  You’ve convinced me that integrity means blamelessness and I can be counted as blameless and thus as having integrity through faith in Christ.  But you still haven’t answered the second half of the original question; namely, how in the world do I go about practicing this?  Because I sure don’t see much of this evidence of blamelessness when I look in the mirror.  In fact, what I see is failure after failure after failure.  What you’re telling me I already have and what I see in my own life are not jiving at all.”

            The answer to this dilemma is really very simple...

Integrity has nothing to do with the magnitude of your failures, and it has everything to do with the sincerity of your repentances.

            In retrospect this should be obvious.  If justification is granted as a free gift apart from any works that we do, and if being justified grants us righteousness, blamelessness, and thus integrity, then it stands to reason that the living out of that should have very little to do with us.  I say very little because, although as Jesus said in Matthew 11:30 “My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”, the yoke and burden is still there.  We are still required to be obedient.  But the obedience God asks of us is not born of our striving unto perfection.  Rather it is born of our sorrow and broken-heartedness over the sin that we see when we gaze at our corrupted reflection in the mirror.  This grief will be present in the heart of one who is truly born again with the spirit of almighty God living within them.  And it will absolutely cause a person to have an attitude of repentance which serves not as the means by which we obtain righteousness, blamelessness, and integrity but as the evidence that we have already been given them.

            That is how we are to practice integrity on a personal basis.  But is there another dimension of the human condition upon which these principles operate?  Yes, and it is called spiritual leadership.  When we demonstrate integrity as a proof of the righteousness and blamelessness of Christ which has been granted to us, what we are really doing is demonstrating leadership.  

            Obviously this principle applies to a husband and/or father fulfilling his role as the spiritual leader of his family.  But it has a broader application and extension to Christians from all walks of life because every believer, at some point, in some fashion, and to some degree, will be called upon to lead another human being in a spiritual capacity.  It could be an older child with younger siblings.  Or perhaps an employer with his or her employees.  Maybe a mother “training up her children in the way they should go.”  Possibly a teenager in the midst of a Christian culture increasingly seduced by the attractive façade of sin that permeates our society.  Alternatively, an authentic disciple of Christ who has an unbelieving spouse.  Or even just an older Christian who Titus charges to disciple younger ones. Regardless of your socio-economic position, if you are a follower of Jesus you will be called upon eventually to model spiritual leadership.  And when that call comes in what will be primarily put to the test is not your wit, charm, or teaching ability.  It will be your integrity that comes under the microscope, modeled here by the twin facets of blamelessness and righteousness.

            And there-in often lies our problem.  Our contorted and self-centered minds, even as believers, are often the victims of the lies spewed out by the “god of this age” (2 Cor. 4:4), the “ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world” (Rev. 12:9).  In this case Satan will gleefully tell you that because you just completely blew it and sinned your filthy little heart out, you have no business providing leadership in the context for which it is relevant for you.  He will plant a seed of doubt.  A nagging little voice that says you’re not worthy.  An unbiblical and self-pitying conviction that you should abdicate your God-given responsibility to lead others and allow someone better qualified to take the reins.  And it is in those times of self-doubt and self-recrimination that we must learn to brand the point of this essay upon our hearts.  Again:

Integrity has nothing to do with the magnitude of your failures, and it has everything to do with the sincerity of your repentances.

            Christ Himself bought and paid for your soul on the cross.  The will of God has sovereignly placed you where He desires to use you.  And are you so small minded and self-oriented that you honestly believe that your particular flavor of sinning somehow circumvents, nullifies, or invalidates God’s choice of you to be His adopted child?  Wake up!  It’s not about you and your sin.  It’s not about you and your failures.  It’s not about how you don’t measure up.  It’s not about how others are better equipped.  If you could see inside their hearts and behind the closed doors of their homes I absolutely guarantee that you would see a tapestry of failure just as epic in scope and broad in extent as your own.  Stop making much of yourself and your part in this and start making much of God and His power which will work in and through you.

            As stated earlier, I am not saying we should gloss over our sinful failures.  On the contrary, I am advocating that we acknowledge them in the most decisive and effective method available; namely a change of mind followed by a change of action that the Bible calls genuine repentance.  Practicing this on a daily basis will result in your life becoming a model of righteous, blameless, and integrity filled spiritual leadership that will influence, impact, and exhort the people around you by pointing them to Christ through your example.

Living In The Cloud

On May 15, 2014 Don Pfleger departed this life.  He was without question one of the best men I have ever known.  If I was forced to choose one quality that I admired the most about Don it would be his humility.  A man who, according to human wisdom, should have had much to be prideful about simply was not.  I have seen him withstand withering verbal public assaults upon his character and actions without saying a word in return.  I have seen him teach complicated theological truths that were difficult to grasp without ever sensing that he was trying to force his own views onto other people.  I have been behind closed doors with Don in highly sensitive and potentially contentious meetings and never did I get the impression that he was trying to throw his weight around in order to arrive at the decision he desired.  In all of these instances the humility of this incredible man of God has stood out to me in stark relief over the years.

And what a span of years they were.  Don watched me attempt to bull my way through life as an ignorant teenager.  He provided wisdom to my future wife and I as we prepared for the creation of our marriage.  He counseled me to be faithful as I contemplated the destruction of that marriage due to my own selfishness.  He engaged me on a deeply intellectual level through four years of exhaustive classes on theology.  He bared his soul to me in small group meetings, never hesitating to display his own weaknesses.  He showed trust in me by asking me be an intern with the Elders of Daniels Bible Church.  He challenged me to get out of my comfort zone and minister through teaching the word of God.  Through all of this I have continued to sense that Don was deeply interested in my life and was coaching me from the sidelines.  He once said to me, in reference to the Christian life; "You are allowed to stumble but if you ever fall I'm going to kick you in the seat of the pants."

This type of challenging yet loving interaction characterized the impact Don had on my life.  And as I drove home from work after hearing that he had passed away an amazing thought occurred to me. 

Hebrews chapter 11 takes the reader through a whirlwind tour of men and women through the ages who lived by and were known for their faith.  Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, and Samuel.  It reads like a who's who of the Old Testament.  All of these people gained approval from God through the faith He had provided to them.  Yet in their lifetimes they did not receive what was promised because that promised glorification is not complete until all those who are to be saints of God are adopted into His family.  What this means is that we, every authentic disciple of Christ, are joined with these giants of faith in completing the gospel growth that God has ordained for us.  

The Apostle Paul pictures it throughout his letters as a great race to be run and finished.  In this Mediterranean culture steeped in Greek Olympics and Roman chariot races Paul used the symbol of a race to picture the Christian life.  The concept of persevering through trials is symbolized by a runner continuing to run in spite of pain and fatigue experienced in the body.  Finishing the race represents our glorification and completion in being made into the likeness of Christ.  And as it relates to my thought, all of those people of faith mentioned in Hebrews 11 are in the stands as former runners, cheering us on as we stumble, pant for breath, complete laps, keep on running, and ultimately finish our own race.  Hebrews 12:1 explains it perfectly: Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.  

The thought that struck me the other day was this; Don is in that cloud now!  He is a part of the great assembly of witnesses that is cheering for us and exhorting us to keep running no matter the cost.  He is in the stands while we who are alive and remain are tasked with carrying on the legacy left by him and all the other saints throughout history who have preceded us.  Just as he did in physical life Don is, in physical death, still encouraging, warning, challenging, and guiding us.  The only difference is that now, instead of doing it through spoken word he is doing it through our memories of him.  And although we can no longer hear him with our physical ears, God's word makes it clear that he is still very much cheering us on.  

2 Corinthians 4:17 refers to this life and the troubles it carries as "momentary, light affliction."  In no time at all in the grand scheme of eternity this life will be over.  Don, I see the finish line.  I'm not to the end of my race yet and I don't know how long it will take to get there.  But I will see you "soon" dear friend.  I salute you.

Lens Crafters

As I read through the Pentateuch I can’t help but contemplate the vast difference that can be observed between the theocratic law handed down to Israel by God through Moses and the often democratically fueled cultural relativism that seems to permeate the world view of the average human today. And that's really the crux of the issue; one's world view. What is the baseline, the cornerstone, the foundation of how you perceive the world around you. Does it begin with the ascendancy of your rights and prerogatives as a sentient creature? Or is God's sovereignty and prerogatives the lens through which you see His creation?

Our society’s fixation on personal equal rights for all makes it quite difficult I think to read through ancient Israel’s laws without revulsion and disdain.  It’s no wonder really that God is so often portrayed by people today as a bloodthirsty tyrant who has no place in modern society.  The fuel they typically prefer to use for their fire is the many examples throughout the Old Testament of laws which seem backward and uncivilized to our modern minds.  One example can be found in Deuteronomy 17:2-7.  The Law as given through Moses dictates that if anyone is accused of worshiping other gods in the manner of the heathen nations Israel was going in to dispossess, that person was to be immediately executed if the charges were proven to be true.  This particular law concludes with the sentence “You must purge the evil from you.”  I am confident that any average “modern” citizen of the U.S. or any other western nation would be horrified by reading such a thing.

The reason for the harshness of this law is that Israel was God’s chosen nation.  As such they had to be uniquely holy and blameless to the nations around them so as to accurately reflect God’s attributes and thus showcase His glory.  It was absolutely critical for this to work that the Israelites could not, under any circumstances, engage in the despicable practices (including infanticide via burning to death) of the false religions they were surrounded by.  Therefore God knew that any tendencies toward even the “tamest” of these heathen practices would in time lead Israel down a path of forsaking Him and decreasing His glory and thus necessitated purging immediately and with finality. Even if we do not completely understand how summary capital punishment for an Israelite found practicing pagan idolatry can be right and true we must accept that it is because scripture tells us that God is perfectly just and good (Exodus 34:5-7, Psalm 18:30, Matthew 5:48).

Could God have instead implemented a system of counseling a wayward citizen back from the brink of idolatry or any other approach which might seem less draconian to us?  Perhaps, but that’s really beside the point.  God in His perfectly manifested and perfectly synchronized justice and omniscience chose not to do it that way.  He chose to do it in a manner that best exalted His name.  His glory was and is of paramount importance, not that of one of His creations.  And this I believe is the foundational worldview-shaping truth which is anathema to modern unregenerate mankind.  The idea that anyone or anything in the universe should be ascribed greater worth than oneself is a detestable thought to a heart which has always been and currently is in rebellion against God.

So the question is this.  Who built the lens you use to perceive reality?  Was it you or is it God?  The answer to this question has ramifications far beyond your opinion of justice in ancient Israel.  It will shape how you see everything from the doctrine of salvation to church polity, from the role of women in ministry to forgiveness, from judgment among Christians to evangelism.  If your lens was constructed by you then you cannot help but have a problem with the concept of God’s authority.  It may not manifest itself in every area of your theology but it must come out sooner or later.  And when it does it will be in favor of your rights and prerogatives, not God’s.

Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing

My apologies to Mr. Shakespeare for shamelessly stealing part of his line.

Anger.  Is it an emotion?  Dictionary.com seems to think so; it defines anger as "a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong".  Poor Merriam-Webster apparently doesn't know what it thinks about anger.  Its entry for anger points to angry which points back to anger.  Huh?  Perhaps they think that anger is such a common and obvious piece of the human experience that no one truly needs a real definition of it.  I would agree that with very few exceptions visitors to Merriam-Webster's web site already think they know all about anger.  But perhaps anger has been mislabeled, misinterpreted, and misunderstood by humans since that little matter of fruit in the garden.

I have been studying the book of James lately.  A few weeks ago I ran across a pretty familiar passage but this time it decided to jump out and hit me between the eyes.

James 1:19-20 - Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

It sounds pretty simple; we should not respond hastily about anything.  I've always accepted it at that level and moved on.  But what happens if we dig into this passage a little deeper?  

Let me set a couple of baselines for my conclusions first.  I'm not going to spend the time to dissect each of these core beliefs in this post.  But it is essential to at least know where I'm coming from, even if you don't know why.

• God is the only absolute good in the universe
• God and by extension His revealed word are the only absolute truths in the universe
• All of reality is defined by the two preceding statements
• Man, as a being created by God, must align his system of beliefs with God's standard if he wishes to hold a world-view that matches reality

With those items as the basis for progression let's look at the end of our passage first; "for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God."  About God's righteousness Psalm 7:11 has this to say: God is a righteous judge, And a God who has indignation every day.  Immediately we see a contrast.  Man's anger does not produce righteousness.  But God can be both righteous and indignant (i.e. angry) at the same time.  Clearly there must be a vast difference between man's anger and God's anger.  Therefore anything we think we know about anger should be automatically suspect.  With that in mind I go back to our web definitions above.  Anger is defined as a feeling, which is a synonym for emotion.  I believe this is accurate in terms of how anger is expressed and viewed by humanity.  But in light of our preceding conclusion that our own understanding is suspect I believe we should be prepared to accept that we might just be wrong about our understanding of anger.  

In other words, we as humans tend to think of anger as an emotional response to a situation we dislike.  But I am suggesting that anger handled the correct way (i.e. the biblical way) is not an emotional response at all.  Allow me to explain.

First I should note that James is not referring to a specific situation or type of encounter here.  His purpose is to present a series of general life guidelines and how we should respond to them.  There is a theme throughout James of actions speaking louder than words but he doesn't get into the meat of that argument until chapter two and after.  This first chapter certainly has elements of it but the individual vignettes contained here are still mostly autonomous.  It's kind of like a section of detailed proverbs, each of which can be applied in a broad sense.  Therefore it is best understood that our passage is intended to be taken in the same way.

So let's take a look at the progression of responses James and the Holy Spirit chose to use.

1. quick to hear
2. slow to speak
3. slow to anger

Taken independently of each other these three elements all can be understood to mean roughly the same thing as mentioned above; don't be hasty.  But what if they are intended to be followed in a chronological sequence?  I believe that paints a very different picture.  

First, we should always be ready to listen to what others have to say.  This should be the initial response to every situation; to hear what is being said.  Sadly, far too often I don't manage to even get past this first step because my own self importance gets in the way and drives me to spout off with what I think I know.  

Only after we have listened fully should we speak, and slowly at that.  I do not believe this phrasing necessarily calls for an actual decrease in the cadence of words flowing out of our mouths (although it might not be a bad idea sometimes).  Rather it points to an increase in the thoughtfulness and care applied to our choices about which words flow out of our mouths.  Instead of dashing off a hasty rebuttal in the heat of the moment we should carefully and critically assess what we are about to say.  

Words are incredibly powerful devices.  Later in his book James calls the tongue "a restless evil and full of deadly poison".  It is not the physical member of our bodies that is being referenced here but that which flows from it.  Words, whether spoken or written, have the power to destroy people and topple governments.  Consider the case of Egypt these past few years.  A regime decades in power eventually toppled by mere words which led to ideas and progressed beyond the ability of those in power to check.  On a personal level, words once uttered usually cannot be completely taken back.  No matter how much one apologizes or how much biblical forgiveness is sought after the specter of poorly chosen words has the potential to hang in the air like a deadly cloud, souring relationships and fueling resentment.  Throw them around hastily at your peril.
Finally, only after hearing completely and responding carefully should the notion of anger even be entertained.  And James emphasizes slowness even here at the far end of our response spectrum.    

I believe the Holy Spirit belabors the point of slowing down because He fully understands how difficult this concept of deliberate measured responses would be for us to understand.  We of the fast 21st century lifestyles who dash off 10 texts in half as many minutes (conservatively!), air inter-personal drama with all 857 of our Facebook friends, and share with Twitter what we had for lunch.  All while surfing 3 news web sites and scanning the RSS feeds of 5 more with the television blaring in the background.

To sum all of this up here is the revelation that struck me as I read James 1:19-20.  Anger is typically understood as an emotional feeling triggered quickly and acted upon hastily.  But the anger that I see prescribed by James is far from a fast response to stimuli.  Rather, it is a carefully considered and reasoned decision about how to deal with a situation.

Thus speaking to the point of this post, I'm not so sure that biblical anger as found in James should even be classified properly as an emotion.  And I don't know about anyone else, but of the many and varied times in my life that I have been angry not many have looked anything like the process described above.  

Sound and fury, signifying nothing indeed...

Soli Deo Gloria

Please Judge Me

The phrase "don't judge me" seems to be a popular one among young people in our modern culture.  It is typically meant humorously in response to amusement from one's peers when caught doing something ridiculous or strange.  For example, upon being greeted by the sight of a close friend dressed in an outlandish get-up involving hiking boots with speedos the expected response would be laughter.  The friend with the questionable fashion sense might then respond good naturedly with "don't judge me."  In this sense we are dealing with nothing more than humor among buddies.  However, I have also seen the phrase used in concept if not in exact word in and among Christians when being confronted with sin issues in their lives.  This concerns me greatly.  I fear that some Christians resist biblical judgment from other believers in an attempt to excuse away their own ungodly behavior.  Anyone who professes to have a relationship with Jesus must guard against this sinful conduct.

Let me be clear that there is indeed a form of judging which is not in accordance with biblical truth.  This would be what Jesus was referring to in His famous condemnations of Pharisaical hypocrisy in Matthew 7:3-5 and John 8:7.  Unfortunately, sometimes Christians take those passages and apply them carte blanche to any and all situations where they are confronted with their own sin.  They commit the common but inexcusable error of informing their philosophy with only a piece of what God has said about a topic instead of considering additional information He has provided in scripture.  Jesus was not condemning all forms of judging in the Matthew passage.  He was making the point that judging others while at the same time ignoring your own sin is foolishness (see Romans 2:1-11).  Nor was He excusing the sin of the adulterous woman in John.  In fact, if one continues to read the John passage, in verse 11 He tells her to stop sinning herself.

In both cases what Jesus was really doing was confronting the Pharisees' with the truth that they condescendingly judged others while wallowing in their own systematic and unrepentant sin.  The issue with the Pharisaical judging was not the act of judging itself but the hypocritical heart attitude behind the judgments!

Contrary to false teaching that all judging is wrong there is most definitely a proper time and place for judgment and confrontation of sin among Christians.  We already know from the preceding passages that hypocritical judgement is sinful.  But biblical truth doesn't stop there.  To obtain a fuller picture there are a multitude of passages we could draw from.  For the sake of brevity I will briefly focus primarily on only two of them: Matthew 18:15 and Galatians 6:1-5.

Matthew 18:15 is part of a larger passage that deals with the proper procedure for confronting sin in a local church body.  For the purposes of this discussion I just want to focus on the instructions in verse 15.  We are clearly advised that confrontation is the correct course of action when a brother's (or sister's) sin is involved. There is no ambiguity here.  In Galatians 6:1-5 Paul continues the brush strokes found in Matthew by explaining that this confrontation must be done in a spirit of gentle love rather than harsh condemnation.

The complete picture that can be drawn from these various passages is twofold.  First, we as individuals must constantly evaluate our own hearts to be sure we have no unconfessed sin in our lives.  The key word there is unconfessed.  As 1 John 1:8 tells us, we all sin.  If we all sin and the act of sinning itself immediately precludes us from ever judging anyone (as misinterpreters of John 8:7 would suggest) then it would be completely illogical and contradictory for Matthew 18:15 and Galatians 6:1 to also instruct us to confront sin when we encounter it.  Since we know that the bible is God's revealed word and God is incapable of error (Psalm 18:30) then we must assume there is a logical explanation for this impasse.  The answer can be found by continuing to read the passage in 1 John.  Verse 9 reveals that sin once confessed is forgiven and the sinner is cleansed from unrighteousness; thereby making them qualified to pass judgment when appropriate.  In fact, after being glorified that is exactly the role children of God will assume in Christ's kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:2-3).

The second component of biblical judging is the attitude carried by the judge.  The aforementioned Galatians 6 passage as well as 2 Timothy 2:24-26 reveal the proper motivation for someone contemplating an act of Christian judgment.  Is the desire to see a brother or sister restored to union with Christ?  Or is it to build oneself up by tearing others down?  Is the love of Jesus toward a sibling in mind as found in John 13:35?  Or is a cold and unfeeling adherence to the letter of the law all that is in view?  The answer to this question will reveal immediately whether you should be confronting sin or possibly getting on your knees in repentance yourself.

On the flip side of the coin, how should we respond when we are on the receiving end of judgment?  How can we know whether the person confronting us is doing so correctly?  And what if we are confronted with anger or hostility rather than compassion and love?  The simple answer is that we shouldn't worry about any of that.  Only God knows the hidden truths contained in man's heart (1 Corinthians 2:11).  And there are a litany of verses that tell us to receive instruction and admonishment with a glad heart.  1 Peter 5:5 takes the view of being approached by one's elder, or one in whom wisdom is found, and listening to their instruction with humility.  2 Timothy 3:16 reminds that one of the functions of scripture is for reproof.  And my personal favorite is found in Proverbs 13:18 where Solomon goes right for the jugular by revealing the stupidity of anyone who dislikes correction.  It could be argued that a hostile confrontation by a brother or sister may need to be confronted itself in the due course of time.  But wisdom and discernment should dictate that this secondary confrontation needs to be handled delicately and separated by some passage of time from the situation to which we are currently involved in.  So rather than wasting time and energy trying to immediately determine if we are being confronted by someone with a clean heart our best course of action is to receive instruction with humility and then join the Holy Spirit in a serious examination of ourselves to root out the possible sin that may be hiding in our inner man.

As David sings in the climactic verses of Psalm 139, the cry of our hearts should be for God to cleanse us from sin by any means necessary.

Don't judge me?  On the contrary, please judge me!

Soli Deo Gloria