Archive for September, 2006

The reading chosen for this day appears to be in direct contradiction to the message of Christianity. The three readings for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost are Isaiah 50:4-10 (Gave my back and cheeks); James 2:1-5, 8-10, 14-18 (Faith without works is dead) and Mark 8:27-35 (Peter’s confession). The passage chosen to elaborate is James 2:17 reading, “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works is dead.”

How can one possibly reconcile this verse with those of the apostle Paul who reveals that we are saved by grace, through faith, apart from works lest anyone should boast? Once more the distinctions between Law and Gospel come to our rescue keeping in mind the queen of theology which is context.

For example, I could have one conversation about proving that a person with two legs is a human being. Soon thereafter I could have another conversation proving that a person with one leg is a human being. And then I could have a third conversation proving that a person with no legs is a human being. Are these contradictory statements? No, not if the people of whom I am speaking have two legs, then one leg and then no legs because of war.

So also, to whom is Paul and James writing? Paul is writing to those who insist as did the Judaizers in that day that becoming saved takes more than faith–it takes circumcision and the following of other ceremonial and moral laws. Paul’s point is to reveal that justification is by faith alone without any help at all from works.

James is writing to those who think that faith is believing that Jesus lived, that He was born of the virgin, died on a cross and rose from the dead. James reminds us that such faith is that of the devils and they tremble because it is NOT saving faith. For saving faith consists not just of knowledge and assent but also of trust in the promises of God connected to the events of Jesus’ life.

However, James is making the point that those who imagine that knowledge and assent are sufficient are in error. For true faith always results in works of God; that is, fruit of the Holy Spirit such as trusting Jesus, love and helping others. Though Paul is correct that faith and faith alone justifies, James is correct that true saving faith always results in fruit of the Spirit or else it is dead faith.

God is the author of both the letters of Paul and James. He never errs nor contradicts Himself. Thus, keeping in mind the two audiences that each of the apostles have in mind, we conclude that both Paul and James teach that faith alone justifies but faith never remains alone as the fruit of the Holy Spirit becomes evident to God as He reads the hearts of those who are motivated through love of Jesus Christ. It is not just Paul who should be considered an apostle of faith; it is also James.

In 2006 the 16th Sunday after Pentecost is on Sunday, September 24 with the following three assigned readings: Isaiah 35:4-7a (God will save you); James 1:17-27 (Be doers of the Word) and Mark 7:31-37 (Healing the deaf). Chosen for preaching on this occasion is Isaiah 35:4 which reads, “Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ‘Be strong, do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.’”

At first reading it appears that those who are fearful-hearted have an enemy that needs God’s vengeance. Perhaps Isaiah is thinking of the Babylonians who are known as those who took Israel into captivity. Or perhaps the enemy is the devil himself from whom we must be saved. How does one decide just what Isaiah has in mind? The decision has already been made for us. It is found in the well-known Reformation phrase, “Scripture interprets Scripture.”

We do not have far to go to discover the decision. It is found in the very next verses. “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.”

However, it appears we have a problem. The enemy appears to be neither the Babylonians nor the devil himself. Instead, the enemy is being blind, deaf, lame and dumb? It gets even worse. For how are such infirmities understood as the enemy? For those in world of ancient Palestine, it was a common understanding that such infirmities pointed to something far greater than disease. They pointed to a curse from God from which no one could save himself.

The real enemy which resulted in the fearful-hearted is none other than God Himself! The fear that lays hold on the heart of every human being is the wrath that comes from God Himself. Who then can save us? If it were only a nation like Babylon or a demon like Satan, perhaps we could hold sway? But against God Himself? No one can offset the curse of the Law that is evident from the fallen world in which we live including disease, hunger and thirst.

Then we hear of One Who has come Who refers to Himself as the Bread of Life and the Living Water. Who is this Who commands the sea to be calm and the blind to see (Mark 7:35)? It is none other than Jesus, the Christ (the Messiah) promised of old as the One by Whose stripes we are healed and by His being forsaken, we of faith need never fear again. Now we truly understand the vengeance with which God comes. It is vengeance directed to His only-begotten as the Substitute for you and for me. “My God, My God, Why have You forsaken Me?” In that way we are comforted by God Himself who according to the end of verse 4, “will come and save you.”

On this 15th Sunday after Pentecost we are going to examine another passage that appears to give Christianity such a bad reputation. The first of three assigned readings is Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8 (Observe my commandments); Ephesians 6:10-20 (The armor of God) and Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (Commandments of men vs. those of God). The passage that appears at first reading to be from a religion of the law is Deuteronomy 4:1 which reads, “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which I teach you to observe, that you may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.”

Who can argue with the apparent commonsensical interpretation of this text that by observing God’s commandments, you will not only live but possess the land? Well, I do and will argue against such a view if it means that by our obedience to God’s commandments we receive life. That commonsensical view not only contradicts the rest of the Bible that we are saved by grace alone and not by works, but also a proper distinction between Law and Gospel.

The solution to this problem came up on a recent broadcast of “Law and Gospel” on AM 850 KFUO (Website: kfuo.org). A listener emailed the question as to whether the word “Law” in the Old Testament always meant works of the Law that merit salvation. The answer is “no” in the sense that the word “Law” has both a narrow and broad meaning. Narrowly it often can be understood as works of the Law that merit salvation. But in the broad sense it refers to the entire Word of God including both Law and Gospel.

The context is clear that the statutes and judgments of God are those which result in a person receiving life. The word “law” or “statute” refers to the Will of God. And what is the Will of God that results in life for the dead? The first verse is found in Genesis 3:15 in which God promises the Messiah through the seed of Eve. Those statutes and judgments which God teaches people to observe to bring life are not the demands of the Law but the promises of the Gospel.

There are no such promises found in any other religion in the entire world. The righteous judgments found in God’s holy law (Word) (verse is nothing less than that God will forgive the iniquities of His people and no longer remember their sins. It is that message which summarizes the Word of God (statutues and judgments) that result in the bringing of life to the dead (unbelievers) through faith in Jesus Christ. Once more, Scripture interprets Scripture.

For further evidence of these distinctions between Law and Gospel, read the Gospel from Mark 7 in which obedience to the commandments saves no one. Instead, what counts to God is the attitude of the heart (verses 21f) which refers to whether or not the individual has faith. Without faith, all good works stench in God’s nostrils; through faith all good works are regarded as fruit of the Holy Spirit.

On the 14th Sunday after Pentecost the three appointed readings for the 3-year lectionary are Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18 (Who will serve the Lord?); Ephesians 5:21-31 (Wives submit to husbands) and John 6:60-69 (Many disciples leave Jesus). For this Sunday we have one of the most well-known yet most misunderstood verses in the Bible; that is, Joshua 24:15 which reads in part, “…choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”

As we have pointed out in prior blogs, every theological passage in the Bible can be interpreted in one of two ways–the wrong way and the right way. Theologically speaking, the two ways are that of self-glory and that of the cross. The theologian of self-glory reads what Joshua has to say and jumps to the conclusion that the verse means that we have free will in choosing whether or not to believe in the true God. The theologian of the cross, however, realizes that no work, including that of choosing, is possible for the unbeliever.

How then do we resolve the tension between the theologian of the cross and Joshua’s own words? Simple. Joshua is not speaking to unbelievers; he is speaking to believers. The proof of that is found in verse 17 in which the hearers make clear that they already believe that the true God was the One Who “brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt.”

Further evidence is revealed in the Gospel from John 6, verse 63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing.” And what was the statement that Jesus spoke that resulted in many of His disciples walking with Him no more? It is John 6:65, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

Rather than give credence to the evangelical theories; that is, the decision-making “theologians” in our day, a careful reading of the text demonstrates that Joshua’s words cannot be used as a pretext for free will in spiritual matters on the part of the unbeliever. While believers do have free will to make spiritual choices, the only way that an unbeliever can believe is through a hearing of the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ as to how God became man, died and rose for you to provide the free, unmerited and unconditional gracious gift of faith.

On the 13th Sunday after Pentecost there are three assigned readings from the 3-year lectionary series including Proverbs 9:1-6 (Wisdom’s house); Ephesians 5:15-20 (Be filled with the Spirit) and John 6:51-58 (Jesus is the living Bread). The text chosen to apply is John 6:53, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.’”

This passage has been one of the most discussed in regard to whether or not it is a reference to the Lord’s Supper. Those who think it is point to the phrases of “eat the flesh” and “drink His blood.” Where else does that take place except in the Lord’s Supper? However, those who disagree with that, point out that if the reference is to the Supper, then those who have not received the Supper have no life in them!

Not surprisingly, the distinctions between Law and Gospel are helpful in resolving this issue. For those who live under the Law, they imagine that they have to DO something in order to be saved. Therefore, the Lord’s Supper becomes their way of becoming saved. However, the Gospel reveals that God and He alone gets the credit for our salvation.

Therefore, to “eat the flesh” and “drink His blood” is something that God can do apart from our cooperation. A few Sundays ago we heard from Jesus Himself that the will of the Father was TO BELIEVE in Jesus Christ. Since such faith brings LIFE, it is therefore Biblical to speak of faith as the agent through which we are receiving that flesh and blood.

The Lord’s Supper is a sacrament much like baptism for those who came to faith as adults. While they have already received the forgiveness of sins through faith alone, baptism becomes God’s means of assuring them that they personally have received the forgiveness of sins. So also, while faith alone is synonymous with eating the flesh and drinking His blood, God in His infinite wisdom has tied that same promise not just to our faith but also to His work in providing us with the true body and true blood of Jesus Christ in, with and under the forms of bread and wine.