Blamelessness and the Law

One of my old posts about the Rich Young Ruler recently received an interesting challenge from a commenter. The commenter pointed out an apparent contradiction between my statement (that it is impossible for anyone to keep the Law perfectly) and Luke 1:5-6.
 
Luke 1:5-6 - In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly [Gk. ANEMPTOS] in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord

The commenter went on to draw this conclusion:

Unless you say you can be righteous in God's sight via IMPERFECT obedience to the Law, the only reason you can give for why these two people's obedience made them righteous in God's sight, is because God regarded their obedience as perfect.

Which means Luke 1:6 proves that sinners CAN (and often did) perfectly obey the Law of Moses.

So if you find some passage by Paul that says no sinner can keep the law perfectly, you've either misunderstood, or Paul is wrong, or Luke is wrong.

I answered as follows:

 You've brought up an interesting point that deserves attention. I think there is another alternative to your either/or scenario - is it possible we commonly misunderstand the meaning of "blameless"? You defined it as perfect obedience to the law, but I'm going to make a Biblical case that this is not the true meaning. We are naturally legalistic in our thinking, so we often impute shades of meaning to Biblical words that are not actually there. Open-hearted Bible study is the cure for this, and it's a cure we all need. The Bible is a document with amazing continuity and thematic resonance throughout its pages. God doesn't make mistakes, so things that appear contradictory can't be truly contradictory, and these seeming contradictions (a.k.a. paradoxes) often lead to a deeper understanding as we work through them. We are forced to look at things the way God does, and not with our man-made ideas. If we won't to do this, we can only distrust the Bible.

The approach you have taken is probably very similar to that which was taken by the early Judaizers who opposed the apostles. The Judaizers believed obedience to the Law was the way to righteousness. The tone of the whole New Testament, and indeed the entire Bible, is actually opposite to this, as I am about to show with regard to this word, "blameless."

First, let's consider three verses from David (not generally considered a "sinlessly" righteous man or a "blameless" man in terms of keeping all the requirements of the Law).

2 Samuel 22:24 - "I was also blameless toward Him, and I kept myself from my iniquity."

NOTE: He says my iniquity. So David's blamelessness did not equal sinlessness. David describes himself as both blameless and sinful. Or, better, blameless in spite of being sinful. We can and should carry this connection over to Luke 1:5-6.

Psalm 18:32 - "The God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless?"

NOTE: David's blamelessness did not come from his own sinlessness or observance of the Law. It came from God's direct intervention in his life. He was depending on God, not his own performance (which obviously fell short at various times in his life - yet he said he was blameless toward God).

Psalm 19:13 - Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not rule over me; then I will be blameless, and I shall be acquitted of great transgression.

NOTE: Here blamelessness is described in terms of forgiveness rather than perfection or Law keeping. If blamelessness is a result of forgiveness, then it actually requires one to be a sinner prior to becoming blameless or righteous. This is a strong theme in the book of Matthew, where it is said that heaven rejoices more over one sinner who repents than it does over 99 who don't [think they] need to repent. Paul makes a similar point in Galatians 2:16-17. Again, Scripture has an amazing cohesiveness that can never be broken by any human reason - though many have tried.

Now let's trace blamelessness into the New Testament for some further examples.

Philippians 3:6 - as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless [Gk. ANEMPTOS].

NOTE: This is Paul's testimony of the life he lived before Christ rescued him. He was externally "blameless" and "righteous" in regard to the law, and yet that wasn't good enough. Later he says, "not having a righteousness OF MY OWN derived from the Law, but that which is THROUGH FAITH in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith" (Php 3:9). Romans 7 shows us that somewhere along the line, Paul had a major battle with covetousness, to the point of calling himself "wretched." So, outwardly he may have been blameless all his life, but inwardly there was sin, and the Law provided no resources to change this. Even if there is perfect outward obedience (and apparently there was in the cases of Zechariah and Paul), there can never be perfect inward obedience because every person covets. It's impossible for any fallen human being to completely avoid breaking the 10th commandment, given enough time and opportunity. It happens all the time, but nobody else knows about it.

I Thess 3:12-13 - and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you; so that He may establish your hearts without blame [Gk. ANEMPTOS] in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

NOTE: Here Paul gets to the heart of the matter, which is the heart. Rather than perfect outward obedience, Paul indicates that it is love - as it is given increase by God Himself - which makes our hearts blameless in holiness before Him. As Paul says elsewhere, "Love is the fulfillment of the Law." And love, I daresay, is the exact opposite of covetousness. So it is love, not perfect obedience, that fulfills the Law. And this does not happen SO WE CAN BE saved; it happens BECAUSE WE HAVE BEEN saved, by grace through faith on the basis of Christ's perfect inward and outward obedience.

"Blameless" outward observance of the Law is certainly achievable, but it cannot justify a person in God's sight. This is the limitation of the Law to which I am referring in the post. It is when the inward aspects are applied, e.g. the 10th commandment, that we see our need for a Savior who died for our sins. I do not deny that one can outwardly observe the Law, but with Paul I deny that any person can thereby please God or become righteous in His sight. It is faith alone that saves, by the grace of our loving and kind God, through the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Notice also, later in Luke 1, Zechariah was struck mute because he did not believe the angel's message. So, while he was outwardly blameless in observing the Law, he did not have the perfect and blameless heart that would trust the God Who must Himself sanctify all of our obedience, forgive all of our failure, and perfect all of our works. This is the Gospel, and it is continuously interlaced through the whole text of Scripture. I pray you may know the power of it, and be found truly blameless by Him on that day.

Thanks again for commenting. One quick question: the picture on your profile looks like a demon - is there some significance to this? I know that apart from Christ, I could never be anything more than a devil, with or without the benefit of the Law. 

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NOTES

Here's what ANEMPTOS means according to Thayer's Lexicon:

Here is an illuminating bit of insight from Tony Hayling:

We know that Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God's eyes in the same way that Noah was. Noah found grace in the eyes of God. They, too, were righteous through faith by grace. They were looking for the Hope of Israel. The rest is the fruit of the grace of God towards them. The operative word is GRACE.

Similarly, their observances and their obedience were fruit of the faith that the grace of God granted to them. The reason they were walking in all the commandments (moral law) and ordinances (ceremonial law) BLAMELESS is not because they were perfect and without blame, but because they were free from the weight of blame, being justified by faith in the promised Savior.

In other words they were as all believers are. They were sinners justified and regarded as blameless in God's eyes because of what God did (or, in their case, was about to do) and not because of what they did or would do.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon On The Mount, Part 4

At the end of the last post in this series (going back about three weeks - where does the time go?), I posed the question, "where are faith and regeneration in the Sermon on the Mount?" Here's the answer I'm proposing: they are wrapped up in the concept of God the Father which our Lord has interlaced through the entire sermon.

Jesus' presentation of God as the Father of His disciples implies regeneration and inspires faith.

Before we leap toward the commonly held, universalistic idea that "all people are God's children," let's notice that Jesus is expressly addressing His disciples in this sermon. Matthew 5:1-2 says, "When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him. He opened His mouth and began to teach them ..." The direct audience is the disciples, although the crowds are certainly listening in.

A child is a father's offspring, the extension of his life. The life of the father is in his son. As in Adam all died, so all who are in Christ live again, through the sharing of the Father's life that is in Christ. Jesus, the eternal Son of God, shares with us the privileges of His sonship. This includes the most basic privilege of all, that of having spiritual life in ourselves. It is impossible to have eternal life apart from union with God.

That is the INVOLUNTARY side of sonship. It is the aspect in which God gives us His own life, not because we chose to live but because He chose to make us alive. After all, who chooses to be born?

The VOLUNTARY side of sonship involves dependency, relationship, and imitation. Another way of of saying this is, "sonship leads us voluntarily into a faith relationship." Many earthly fathers have proven themselves untrustworthy, and failed to bring their children into this type of trusting intimacy, but it is nonetheless God's intention for fatherhood. With God, failure is impossible. He always draws His children irresistibly into communion with Himself, simply by showing them how loving and faithful He is. We therefore voluntarily trust Him, through the faith which He gives us by revealing Himself. One of our Lord's most obvious objectives in the Sermon on the Mount is to endear us to the Father He is revealing.

With this in mind, I would like to examine the various statements about God the Father, so that in the words of His Son we might find Him more glorious and trust Him more fully.

A Perfect, Holy & Righteous Father

(Perfect, yet not perfectionistic)

Mt. 6:9 Pray, then, in this way:‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.

The Father is holy. He lives in heaven. He hears our prayers.

Mt. 5:48 Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

The Father is perfect (Gk. TELEOIS, finished, mature, fully developed, complete). His eternal and immutable perfection engenders our perfecting process, and guarantees that we ultimately become like Him in character (i.e., imitators of Him).

Mt. 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness ...

The Father is a Righteous King. Sovereign, just, and worthy to be our primary pursuit.

A Provider

(Rich, yet generous)

Mt. 6:32-33 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

The Father knows everything we need. He promises to provide everything we need. He does not abandon His children. In this section, His kingdom and righteousness are presented as our basic necessities, compared as they are with such daily essentials as "food" and "clothing."

Mt. 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

The Father gives His children good things. He does not sell to them, nor does He trade with them. He responds lovingly to their requests with free gifts of grace. What could they ever use to trade or buy with? All that they possess has come from His bounty.

A brief side note here: the concept of total depravity is implied in Jesus' passing description of His own disciples as "evil." He calls them the Father's children, and yet He calls them evil in the exact same verse. In this we find the paradox of a pervasively depraved nature and a radically sanctifying grace present and active in the very same individuals. Those who teach errors such as sinless perfection and innate human goodness would be hard pressed to explain this dual description of the disciples. When we read passages like Romans 7 and Galatians 5, it all becomes more clear, though it is still indissolubly paradoxical - even under the penetrating light of Pauline examination. But back to the subject at hand . . .

Mt. 6:26 Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

The Father takes care of all His creatures, especially His own children. A good father values his children and gives all he has to them. If we hunger and thirst for righteousness, He will not fail to feed us.

An Omniscient Father

(Unseen, yet all-seeing)

Mt. 6:4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The Father sees everything, even our most secret deeds.

Mt. 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The Father is unseen, and He sees every unseen thing. Just as the Father dwells in secret, and the birth of His children takes place in secret, so a great deal of our relationship with Him must remain hidden. Yet the light that results from such a relationship cannot possibly remain a secret.

Mt. 6:8 ... your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.

The Father knows everything we need. He knows what we are thinking. He is intimately acquainted with our hearts, wills, and bodies. He made us.

Mt. 6:18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The Father notices what we do. He is not ignorant of our deeds, whether good or evil.

Mt. 6:32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things ...

The Father knows what we need. Are we getting this yet?

A Kind and Generous Father
(Forgiving of enemies, yet not forgiving of unforgiveness)

Mt. 5:44-45 But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

The Father's kindness is unlimited, extending even to His enemies.

Mt. 6:14-15 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

The Father forgives transgressions. He is so committed to forgiveness that He will not allow for exceptions in His children. They must forgive as they have been forgiven, and they will be forgiven as they share His forgiveness.

Mt. 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
The Father's likeness is seen in those who resolve conflict and restore relationships. They are doing His work as His representatives, for they imitate His kindness.

A Father Who Rewards His Children
(Giving just rewards, yet doing so on the basis of grace)

Mt. 6:1 Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

The Father notices and rewards every single righteous deed done by His children, even though the righteousness came to them as a gift in the first place - and in spite of the fact that they have been forgiven for innumerable evils.

Mt. 6:6 But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Believe it! God will reward the work you do for Him.

Mt. 6:18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

The rewards are promised, but granted only in the future. Therefore, they can only be received through faith in the Father's Word. Thus, we will only practice secret righteousness if we believe His promise, so our "just" rewards come by grace, through faith. Sublime paradox!

A Glorious Father
(Unseen, yet revealing His glory through our works)

Mt. 5:16 Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

A perfect balance is achieved by comparing this verse to Mt. 6:1. We are not to practice our righteousness before men, but we are to shine our light before men. Like the Father, we should seek to enlighten others, and not to justify ourselves. We are not to act in such a way that we ourselves are noticed by men, but rather that they may see our good works. Like the Father, we ourselves should remain hidden and allow our works to be seen. We are not to have the motive of being noticed by men, but rather that men may glorify our Father. God-revealing light shines through the good works which result from a humble dependence upon His righteousness. But the man-centered reward of self-glorification is all we will ever get from gaudy displays of self-righteousness. The actions may appear outwardly similar in some respects, but what a contrast in motivations and results!

The Father is worthy to be glorified. Only the new heart that has been created by regeneration, and become endeared to the Father, can have as its motivation the supreme glory of God. Apart from regeneration and faith, the God-centered Christian life would be . . . impossible.

Likewise, it is only as we come to know God as Father that we can bear to see that we are spiritually destitute. It is only in the embrace of our Father that we can shed tears of shame and grief for our sins. It is only in the glow of the Father's love and generosity that we can bow the knee and willingly comply with what He has commanded. As He graciously fills our spiritual hunger, we begin to imitate Him in His mercy, purity, and peacemaking ways. Thus the light shines, and He is greatly glorified in His adoring and grateful children.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 3

Let's continue our look at how the theme of “the righteousness of God” is woven into the text of the Sermon on the Mount. In the previous post we looked at the beatitudes. There are three other key texts where the theme of God's righteousness is mentioned.

It is in the sermon’s thesis statement:

Matthew 5:20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.”

The thesis is simple: to enter God's Kingdom, one must have the highest possible kind of righteousness. God’s righteousness is a surpassing righteousness. It abounds beyond the very best of human virtue. The Lord goes on to give examples of how the outward, Pharisaic ethic falls short of the real standard:

It condemns murder, but inwardly burns with the anger that leads to murder.
God’s righteousness condemns anger (the root of murder), and murder (the fruit of anger).
It brings sacrifices to God, but leaves relationships in a damaged condition.
God’s righteousness values relationships above religious rituals.
It seeks legal victories, but ignores the possibility of reconciliation
God’s righteousness seeks reconciliation and brings peace.
It carefully avoids adultery, but cannot avoid the adulterous desires of the heart.
God’s righteousness deals with sin at the heart level.
It justifies divorce as a legal option, and ignores the consequences brought on others.
God’s righteousness considers how our actions affect others..
It multiplies religious promises, but doesn’t bring integrity to everyday speech.
God’s righteousness produces words of truth that are backed up with action.
It commands a love that extends to friends only.
God’s righteousness employs boundless love to make friends out of enemies.

Note that every single example deals directly with relationships in everyday life. We may be able to put on a facade of moralistic spirituality when we are isolated, but in close proximity to other human beings we quickly find we have sinful hearts.

God’s righteousness can be seen again in the sermon’s hinge point of Matthew 5:48-6:1

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

Here Jesus identifies the problem with Pharisaic righteousness: impressive as it may be in the eyes and opinions of men, it falls short of the glory of God. The righteous standard is GOD HIMSELF, not the Pharisees (Mt. 5:20), not the tax collectors (Mt. 5:46), not the Gentiles (Mt. 5:47, 6:7-8, 6:32), not the hypocrites (Mt. 6:2, 5, 16), not the masses (Mt. 7:13-14), not the false prophets (Mt. 7:15-20). Two things are clear from this: first, righteousness is something to be practiced; second, it is to be practiced for God's sake and not for the approval of other people.

The theme gets a final mention at the sermon’s summary call to action found in Matthew 6:33

“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness . . .”

Our Lord has been speaking about righteousness throughout the message, but here He defines the source of the righteousness He has been describing. It is from God; it is HIS righteousness. And how do we get it? By making it our first and primary pursuit, above our daily necessities, trusting God to provide the righteousness we need.

In essence, the sermon's opening thesis says, "Abandon your own righteousness - it's not good enough." The hinge point says, "Stop putting on a show - God is not impressed." The call to action says, "Seek the righteousness only God can give you - it's what you need most of all."

True righteousness is something we hunger and thirst for (Mt. 5:6). We don't come to God already possessing it. Instead we come with a need for it, and God fills us (Mt. 5:6). True righteousness is in Christ (Mt. 5:10-11), it is something that exceeds outward moral perfection (Mt. 5:20), it is something that imitates God and is practiced for His sake (Mt. 5:48-6:1), it is something that we must seek after and obtain from God (Mt. 6:33). This all sounds rather similar to the themes found in Romans, the Corinthian letters, Galatians, Philippians, Hebrews, etc. - really, it's laced through the entire New Testament, and even the Old (though less prominently). Do you see it? Far from a mere ethical teaching, the Sermon on the Mount is ultimately a denunciation of self-righteousness and an admonition to seek the higher, better, true righteousness of God – not merely as an active approach to life, but as that which we EAT, and DRINK, and as that which gives us life and FILLS US! The righteous ethic is a heart-level application of God’s Law. It’s an ethic that is tailor made to bash the living daylights out of the self-confident belief in our own ability to do good apart from the One Who IS our only righteousness. The phrase, “HIS righteousness,” summarizes both the ethic and the message of the Sermon on the Mount – and of the Gospel itself. It implies that there is a higher righteousness, that it isn't from us, and that we can get it only from Him Who is its origin and source.

Perhaps someone will ask, "where is faith in all of this? Where is regeneration? You've made a case for imputed righteousness, but what about the other pieces of the Gospel you preach? Are they in this sermon, too? And aren't there other important themes to talk about???" Stay tuned, the next post in this series will address some of these issues. Parts of the Sermon on the Mount which are virtually ignored by many of its most vocal "followers" are directly tied to the Gospel of God's sovereign grace, a Gospel which they have ironically rejected. What a joy to discover the true glory of God in this foundational text - a text which has been abused and misinterpreted to teach man-centered ideas of universalism, liberalism, political socialism and liberation theology! All of these are a result of overlooking (or ignoring) the obvious, as fallen men continue to suppress the truth in UNrighteousness . . . but may our Father reveal Himelf to our hearts as we study on.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 2

THEME AND PURPOSE: A PARADOX

What was Jesus’ motive in preaching the Sermon on the Mount? What was He aiming for? Was He giving us a set of rules to live by? Or was He trying to prove that we are sinners who can’t follow God’s rules? Or, was He trying to show us what our behavior can be when He changes our hearts?

What if He is doing all three - giving us a set of rules that will prove we are sinners, and will subsequently lead us to life-changing faith and spiritual conversion?

I would submit that the theme of the Sermon on the Mount is the righteousness of God. It is a righteousness that is from God, to God, and through God. It is above man's righteousness, and actually presupposes that our best righteousness is false and invalid. Read through Matthew 5-7 and you will see it plain as day.

THE BEATITUDES

This theme can be seen throughout the sermon, beginning with the beatitudes, which are at once a description of God’s own righteous character and the path by which we enter into that character.

For us, the beatitudes open with a bankruptcy called “poverty of spirit.” We come to God with nothing but our sins. We come empty of virtue, full of filth. We come depraved, and in desperate need of a goodness we do not possess. Here, in the very first verse, we’ve already departed miles away from the Gandhian ideal of a noble humanity full of divine potential.

Add mourning over sin and a meekness that willingly complies with God’s instructions, and you have a perfect formula for total spiritual surrender. We ACKNOWLEDGE our sin (spiritual poverty), BREAK UNDER THE WEIGHT of our sin (mourning), and WILLINGLY DO ANYTHING GOD SAYS to overcome our sin (meekness).

Central to the beatitudes is the “hunger and thirst for righteousness.” The first three beatitudes are a description of this spiritual hunger and thirst, while the fifth through seventh beatitudes are a description of what it means to be filled with God’s righteousness. To hunger and thirst is to be poor, broken-hearted and meek. To be filled with God’s righteousness is to be merciful, pure-hearted and peaceable (what a shock this definition must have been to the Pharisees!).

Blessed are the poor in spirit …
Blessed are those who mourn …
Blessed are the meek …
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness
For they shall be filled
Blessed are the merciful …
Blessed are the pure in heart …
Blessed are the peacemakers …

The eighth beatitude describes the result: persecution from a world which rejects God’s righteousness. Note the parallel structure of verses 10 and 11, in which Jesus equates Himself with righteousness:

Matt. 5:10
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness
Matt. 5:11
Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me

“For the sake of righteousness” = “because of Me”. Do you see what Jesus Christ is saying here? HE HIMSELF IS OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. He is the only righteousness that can save us from sin, change our hearts and make us merciful, pure, and peaceable. Can I get an “amen” from Gandhi? How about those Emergent folks who adhere to the Sermon on the Mount? Somehow this sermon's mere introduction has led us right back to the Gospel preached by Paul and the other apostles. Should we be surprised by this?

In the next post, we’ll examine some other places where the Lord weaves in this theme of God’s righteousness . . .

IMPOSSIBLE: The Sermon on the Mount, Part 1

Gandhi once said, “The message of Jesus as I understand it, is contained in the Sermon on the Mount unadulterated and taken as a whole... If then I had to face only the Sermon on the Mount and my own interpretation of it, I should not hesitate to say, 'Oh, yes, I am a Christian.'”

This seems to me the quintessential statement of man-made religion. It is raw self-righteousness. You see, as I face the Sermon on the Mount I find myself reaching the exact opposite conclusion. I say, “If this is what it means to be a Christian, I’m in big trouble.”

Liberal Christians from Tolstoy to MacLaren to Obama have persistently affirmed their allegiance to the Sermon on the Mount. For them, the sermon’s morality is inspirational, its ideals grand, its effects potentially utopian. For me, it’s the other way. The morality is impossible, the ideals unattainable, the effects demolishing to everything I am - apart from Christ and grace and the Gospel. We’re not supposed to read the words of Jesus and say, “Oh, that’s nice.” His words are intended to devastate us. Anything short of that is evidence of a hardened heart.

In the view of Gandhi and many of today’s Christians, Jesus gives the world an ethical teaching that will help mankind to become better. But this is nothing more than an expanded re-packaging of the same old legalism that Jesus is preaching against. It is an error that confuses the ethic of the Gospel with the message of the Gospel. Christ’s teaching contains both ethic and message. The ethic He prescribes shocks us and prepares us to receive the message; and the message, once received, works in us to produce the ethic. In other words, the sermon contains both Law and Gospel in perfect balance.

Please join me as I examine the Sermon on the Mount in this series of posts. Let’s study it “unadulterated and taken as a whole” as Gandhi recommends– and see what we find . . .

IMPOSSIBLE - The Rich Young Ruler, Part 3

In Matthew's account, Jesus says "If you wish . . ." to the young man two times.

v. 17 If you WISH to enter into life . . . keep the commandments
v. 21 If you WISH to be complete . . . sell all you have, give to the poor, follow Me

The commandments of the Law (in general) and the commands of Christ (specifically) serve as a barometer by which man's desires can be discerned and measured. Jesus challenges us with this question: "What do you really want? Eternal life? Heavenly treasure? ME? Your stuff?"


Not every disciple is faced with this challenge right at the start, but eventually the worthiness of Jesus Christ will lay its rightful claim on everything else. Like Abraham, we will be asked to choose: God or His blessings? God or our dreams? God or self-will? A day is coming when we can have only God - or NOTHING - and on that day the thing we choose to put in His place will be separated away from us. In the grave we can no longer cling to earthly idols. Better to peel our greedy fingers off of them before death does it for us . . . but how?

In both cases, the Lord uses the Greek word, THELO.

THELO - To desire, be inclined toward; to delight in, have pleasure; to intend

What do we delight in the most? Our Creator may allow us to enjoy many things in and through Himself, but ultimately He will draw a dividing line and call us to choose. At this critical moment, rather than walking away grieved, the young man might better have admitted his sins of coveting and idolatry. Since he was already on his knees before the "good teacher," he might have considered asking for some good teaching on how to overcome his sin. If he had approached the Master weary and heavy laden, seeking rest for his soul, he would have found One who is willing to bear the yoke with him. To the lowly and weary-hearted, Jesus always said "Come." But to this man, the Lord's instruction was "Go."

If he had poured out his religious riches and declared himself spiritually bankrupt, he may have found it possible to give up worldly things in exchange for heavenly treasure. When we realize the eternal misery we deserve, and begin to comprehend the incredible mercy of God, temporal sacrifices become much easier to make. And they are then made for the right reasons. It's a matter of gratitude, worship, and love for a gracious God - not merits of self-righteousness. If the Almighty God demands pure devotion and complete surrender from little worms like us, we can be assured He will work in us to bring it about - providing we trust in Him.

"Give what You command, and command what You will."

"By the law of works God says: Do what I command! By the law of faith we say to God: Give what you command! After all, the law commands in order to remind us of what faith should do.”
-Augustine of Hippo

What the rich young man could never bring himself to do under law, he might well have done by grace. What he refused to do in the flesh, he could have accomplished through the Spirit. What his unredeemed heart would never do for Christ, his saved soul might gladly have done with Christ, and through Christ, and in Christ. But where there is no humility, there can be no divine strengthening. We are en-abled only when we admit we are un-able. When faith is absent, grace remains available but not availed. If Christ is not seen as the only possible good, other "goods" will always come between us and Him.

Oh, that this young man would not have walked away! Oh, that he would have brought a struggling heart to the Lord, instead of all his pretended perfections! If only he had surrendered as a sinner, he would have found grace to do all that God commanded. But, as it stands, he could not see beyond his own self-love, self-effort, and self-interest. The Lord gave this man a command that was quite impossible with his human self, but not at all impossible with God.

Why can't camels get through a needle? It's obvious: they're too large. But for every camel, there was a time when the needle's eye could easily have been navigated. All mammals begin their physical existence as a tiny group of life-packed cells (only one cell to begin with). To get back to such a place, a camel would have to be . . . born again. Dear friends, it is the same for you and me.

IMPOSSIBLE: The Rich Young Ruler, Part 2

Jesus initially responded to the rich young ruler by taking him to the Law of Moses. The young man should have become convicted of sin, and convinced that it is impossible for righteousness to be attained by keeping the Law. But he was not. The riches of a religious life were holding him in blindness. How easy it is for us to become blinded by our own righteousness, to forget that any good in us is God's work, to believe that we ourselves have brought something meritorious to the salvation equation. In the Gospel, God is dying to lead us to a different conclusion. And in the Law, God has engraved our unworthiness and guilt in stone.

It is interesting to note that Jesus did not always refer people to the Law. Nicodemus, for example, was merely given a baffling command to be "born again," something not particularly related to the Law. The woman at the well was told the damning and embarassing facts about her sad life, but not a list of specific transgressions. The disciples heard the simple invitation, "Follow me," rather than a list of rules they had broken. There are those today who would encourage us to preach the Law before we preach the Gospel, or at least to include Law as a key part of the presentation. There is certainly wisdom in this approach, but let us never get ourselves stuck in a system that is unable to flex and respond to each individual God brings our way. There is a time to preach the Law, and there is a time to proclaim free mercy. There is a time to go straight to the cross, and even a time to listen quietly and shed tears. It all depends on the needs of the one with whom we are speaking. Let us be Spirit-led and guided by love, not just committed to a good method.

When the young man responded to the Law by asserting his self-righteousness, our Lord looked at him, and He loved him. This fact is significant, because Jesus is about to ask a wealthy real estate tycoon to give up everything he has. What motivates this demand for complete surrender? Only love.

If this man chooses to leave all and follow Christ, he will be responding to divine love. If he walks away, he will be rejecting it. May this be the case when we share the Gospel with others. Let our hearers be confronted with God's truth as we speak to them, and enveloped in God's love as we look upon them.

IMPOSSIBLE - The Rich Young Ruler, Part 1

This series examines some of the ways Jesus used the Law to bring conviction of sin and prove the impossibility of human perfection. Ultimately, Jesus' intention is to have us see our need and trustingly surrender to His sovereign Lordship.

We have seen this principle in Jesus' interaction with Nicodemus; now let's take a look at how our Lord responded to a very religious young man. The story is found in three of the four Gospels, in Matthew 19, Mark 10, and Luke 18.


Below you can read the three accounts merged into one harmonized story, which will help us to notice some interesting details . . .

As He was setting out on a journey, a man who was a ruler ran up to Him, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do to inherit eternal life, that I may obtain eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments. Then he said to Him, "Which ones?" Jesus replied, "You know the commandments, ‘DO NOT MURDER, DO NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, DO NOT STEAL, DO NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS, Do not defraud, HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER. And YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." The young man said to Him, "All these things I have kept from my youth up; what am I still lacking?" When Jesus heard this, looking at him, He felt a love for him and said to him,"One thing you still lack; If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions, all that you possess, and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But when the young man heard this statement, he became very sad and he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property and he was extremely rich. And Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!" And Jesus, looking around, said to His disciples, "How hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God! Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! For again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were even more astonished and said to Him, "Then who can be saved?" But looking at them, Jesus said to them, "With people this is impossible, but not with God; the things that are impossible with people are possible with God, for all things are possible with God."

As we move along, I'll be looking specifically at the phrases highlighted in light blue. Several months ago, we studied the beginning of this story in a 4-part series called "My Goodness, What a Paradox!"

Jesus begins by leading this man to the Law of Moses. This Law was the God-ordained path by which the Jewish people were to be led to Christ, as Paul explains here:

Galatians 3:19-25 Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions ... Is the Law then contrary to the promises of God? May it never be! For if a law had been given which was able to impart life, then righteousness would indeed have been based on law. But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.


The Law was not meant to be a means of salvation, but a means of exposing sin and proving the need for Christ's righteousness. It is not meant to save a person from sin and guilt. Rather, it proves us guilty and sinful. Jesus applied the Law with this purpose in mind.



The list of commandments given by our Lord is notable in three ways. First, he adds a commandment not directly given in the Old Testament: Do not defraud. Is it possible that the rich ruler had gained his wealth through a scheme of some sort? Or perhaps his money came from a father who had perpetrated such a scheme. Could it be that Jesus added this command to give the man an opporunity to question it - and thereby realize that he was guilty of breaking the spirit of the Law in this way? We can only speculate, but we have to address the obvious question, why did Jesus include this particular command in His list? Secondly, Jesus adds "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," which is not properly part of the ten commandments. Could it be the young man had not treated others with love, though he had lived a strictly moral life, outwardly? That, after all, was the plague of Pharisaism: a hyper religiosity with strict outward morality and supposed love for God - and all of it entirely discredited by a lack of compassion and an indifference to the needs of others. Thirdly, Jesus does not mention the first 4 commandments, which focus on our relationship with God. He also does not mention the last commandment, "Do not covet" - the only one of the 10 commandments that deals solely with the inward man. He gave the most tangible, obvious, outward commands dealing with our treatment of other human beings.

Jesus was applying the Law in a targeted way, aiming right at this man's most obvious sins. But the intended effect of the Law was not happening, and the elite ruler remained self-righteously blind to his need for a Savior. The Lord was not finished with him yet, however . . .

IMPOSSIBLE: You Must Be Born Again, Part 3

Here's a quick re-cap:

Part 1 - We need to be saved, but we cannot save ourselves. New birth is required. Without it, we are spiritually dead and completely blind.

Part 2 - The new birth is a work of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will. Through the Spirit's mysterious work, we are made alive and brought forth into the kingdom of God.

And here's part 3 . . .

John 3:12-15 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? “No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life."

Jesus continues to lay out His credentials as an eyewitness of heavenly things, and He alludes to His earthly mission of saving sinners through His self-sacrifice on the cross. Like the bronze snake that was raised up to save sinners in Moses' day, Christ would soon be "lifted up" to remove the curse of sin from us. Jesus CAN do these things, and He does KNOW what He's talking about. The most intelligent sinner is at a radical disadvantage when approaching such a capable and wise King. Better to surrender to His Truth than insist upon our own understanding. But Nicodemus is not ready to surrender.

During this entire conversation, a form of the Greek verb DUNAMAI (to be able, have ability or power) is used repeatedly.

v. 2 ... no one can (DUNATAI) do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
v. 3 ... unless one is born again he cannot (DUNATAI) see the kingdom of God.”
v. 4 “How can (DUNATAI) a man be born when he is old?
v. 4 He cannot (DUNATAI) enter a second time into his mother’s womb ...
v. 5 ... unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot (DUNATAI) enter into the kingdom of God.
v. 9 “How can (DUNATAI) these things be?”

Incidentally, we get words like "dynamic" from the Greek word, DUNAMAI.

Notice how our Lord reveals this man's weakness to him. Jesus uses DUNAMAI twice, both times in the negative - CANNOT. He is describing what fallen man cannot do apart from the work of God. Faith agrees with this human impossibility, then looks to God to accomplish the work. Unbelief strives to do God's part for Him, and suffers from frustration or self-deception as a result. Self-reliance and self-sufficiency are inherent in the pharisaical mindset, and Jesus sets out to break them. He is leading somewhere - by grace, through faith.

Jesus adds one more point about Nicodemus' blindness. He tells Nicodemus that his unbelief concerning the "earthly things" is a barrier to receiving further revelation. How can one hope to understand the heavenly things, which are outside of man's natural frame of reference, if he does not believe the earthly things that are within easy reach? The heart of Nicodemus has not yet been awakened by the Spirit's work of regeneration, so he's not able to receive the message of the kingdom - yet.

It would appear that rather than trying to teach this blind Pharisee any particular facts about the kingdom of God, Jesus simply wants him to see how blind he is.

After verse 15, the conversation melts into a new section which may contain the rest of Jesus' words to Nicodemus, or it may be John's additional explanation of Jesus' mission for the sake of his readers. No one knows for sure. Either way, no further response from Nicodemus is recorded. He will re-appear later in the book of John . . .

John 7:50-51 Nicodemus (he who came to Him before, being one of them) said to them, “Our Law does not judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he is doing, does it?”

Here Nicodemus is found defending Jesus when his fellow Pharisees are viciously condemning Him. He had heard from Jesus, and perhaps by now he did know what He was doing. After this statement, the Pharisees turned on Nicodemus like starved rats, accusing him of perhaps being from the despised region where Jesus was raised.

John 19:39-40 Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds weight. So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

After the crucifixion, Nicodemus donated a sizeable amount of expensive spices for the Lord's burial. He was not ashamed to associate with the disciples. This does not prove that he was a believer, but it seems to imply that he may have come to faith.

The working of the Spirit in a person's heart is like the blowing of the wind. We don't know where or when the wind will blow, and we do not know who will respond to the Gospel. One who resists the message today could be in the beginning stages of regeneration and become a believer tomorrow. That is God's business. Our business is to follow Christ's example of faithfully proclaiming the Word whenever and wherever we can.

Spiritual blindness can be cured. The prescription is the same for modern man as it was for Nicodemus: COME TO JESUS IN FAITH. This is our message, and it is what God commands, and it is what the Spirit enables sinners to do.

Impossible? Yes, but thanks be to God, it happens everyday.

IMPOSSIBLE - You Must Be Born Again, Part 2

In part one, we saw that the Lord considers our salvation humanly impossible, owing to the fact that our depravity leaves us almost completely oblivious to the Kingdom of God. As we read on in John chapter 3, He takes it even further . . .

John 3:4-7 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

There is something slightly humorous in this question from Nicodemus, but it is beyond all doubt the voice of unenlightened unbelief that is asking. He is incredulous. Notice the response from Jesus: "You MUST be born again, but you cannot do it. It is the work of the Spirit." And now the issue at stake is not just seeing the kingdom - it's entering the kingdom. Nicodemus had answered one impossibility with another, proving the very point Jesus is making. A prominent religious leader of Israel could not even comprehend the idea of a spiritual rebirth. Hadn't Jesus said, "You cannot see . . ." ?

Jesus analogizes spiritual birth with physical birth. In physical birth, we begin surrounded by water. We are protected and encased within the watery womb of our mothers. We did not place ourselves there. We were placed. We did not cause ourselves to grow and develop. We did not even will our way out of the womb and into the world. In the same way, our spiritual birth follows a time of being immersed in the Spirit of God, protected by His presence, receiving spiritual life from Him. He regenerates us, and enables us to receive Christ in faith. We are born of the Spirit, born with new eyes. Suddenly, though still immature and helpless, we SEE the kingdom. And we are IN the kingdom!


But Nicodemus doesn't get it, so the Lord draws another illustration:

John 3:8-11 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

In Greek, the word "wind" is exactly the same as the word "Spirit." The Greek term is PNEUMA - the word from which we derive "pneumatics" and "pneumonia." Notice that the wind "blows where it wishes." When Jesus says "we know and testify," He is probably referring to Himself and the Holy Spirit. With these words, Jesus places Himself in an entirely different category of understanding, revealing that He has personal and intimate knowledge of the Spirit's work, and that He speaks as an eyewitness of the Spirit's activities. He SEES things we do not see.


Jesus emphasizes the mysterious quality of the new birth. Not only are we unable to SEE God's Kingdom in our natural state, we DO NOT KNOW the details of how His Spirit moves to bring about the salvation of sinners. We may hear the wind, but we still cannot KNOW its course.

Jesus gives Nicodemus this impossible command, "You must be born again." The idea here is not that Nicodemus needs to cause his own spiritual birth. No, he simply needs to surrender to the Lord and ask for it. He needs to admit that he knows nothing, sees nothing, comes to God with nothing. He needs to stop trusting in himself and his ability to perceive, and believe what Jesus says to him. Jesus is not impressed by his amazement, or his intellect, or his religious credentials. He calls Nicodemus to faith - a faith that trusts God to do what is impossible for man to do himself.