Seven reasons Christians must read the bible in a solely redemptive way; eliminating the legal constitutional reading of scripture

Several times I have suggested that Christians stop the legal constitutional reading of scripture. In this blog post I will present seven sound biblical reasons. In fact, in this post I beseech evangelicals to cease and desist from using a legal constitutional reading of scripture and replace it with a solely redemptive view. This would in no way diminish the value of the scripture, and it would completely eliminate the schizophrenic Christianity that presents an illogical and impossible mixture of law and grace

First, Jesus and his immediate followers changed the focus to a solely redemptive hermeneutic. Jesus stated in John 5:39-40 that the Jews were improperly using the scripture. They erroneously thought that they could find eternal life in the scriptures and the fact was that eternal life was only found in Jesus. So then, to use the scriptures for another purpose then finding Jesus and life is an incorrect use.

Second, Jesus and his immediate followers redefined the phrases word of God and word of truth from Torah to the gospel, and Jesus the living gospel. First of all, Jesus always referred to the scriptures as the scripture (writings) or the Law and Prophets and never referred to them as the word of God. He did use the word scripture often, you will find it forty-six times in the gospels and Acts. Finally, I challenge you to go to an exhaustive concordance and look up the phrase “the word of God.” Then insert the words scripture/s in place of it, and it will not make sense in context, however, if you insert the word gospel or Jesus depending on the immediate passage-context it will make perfect sense each and every time.

Third, Christ Jesus was the end or goal or purpose of the Law. Paul is especially clear on this point with statements like “if righteousness comes from the Law then Christ died for nothing,” or “by the works of the law no person will be justified.” It is clearly summed up in passages like Romans 10:1-4:  “Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.  (2)  For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.  (3)  For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.  (4)  For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” It could not possibly be made more clear than that.

Fourth, God made Jesus enemies his footstool when he destroyed the temple and Jerusalem. Who were Jesus enemies? Of course the answer is the unbelieving Jews. They were the ones who enticed the Romans to crucify him. They were the ones that persecuted the church. So then, the first step in making Jesus’ enemies his footstool was the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. It did not stop there because ultimately Rome was made his footstool also. Ultimately however, death was put under his feet with the destruction of the temple because the Old Covenant, Paul called it the ministry of death, was rendered completely irrelevant with the destruction of the temple.

Fifth, Jesus was the lamb that opened the scroll and brought proper understanding of the scripture. Revelation 5:5 says it all: “ And one of the elders said to me, "Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals." Prior to Jesus and his resurrection the scripture was hidden and the mystery of the gospel was not revealed. Jesus did that Luke 24:27, 43-45.

Sixth, The new covenant demands it. Jer 31:31-34  "Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,  (32)  not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.  (33)  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  (34)  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." The underline portion of the above passage completely eliminates the legal constitutional reading of scripture.

Seventh, A legal constitutional way of reading the scripture renders the redemptive decrees as not true. Last but certainly not least the new testament is full of what I call redemptive decrees. Here is an example of what I am writing about: Rom 10:9-11  “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  (10)  For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.  (11)  For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." If one can be unsaved by not doing something then this statement by Paul is simply a lie. Therefore, the Christian walk admonitions, (I like to call them reasonable service requests), cannot negate the declared promise for then, the scripture is absolutely of no value at all. There are many others throughout the pages of the scripture. The most famous one that Jesus stated is John 3:16, almost everyone is familiar with that declaration.

The evidence I have presented is overwhelming… what are you going to do with it?

Enemies of the cross not believing the true gospel

Ted Haggard recently wrote a very poignant blog post over on the Ted Haggard Blog. Here is a quote from the article that I especially appreciated.

“Sadly, it seems many churches have become toxic. We have too many poisonous churches with pastors who don’t know how to apply the Gospel, who teach certain behaviors prove salvation, that we should hide our weaknesses, and that we should appear contented.” (Ted Haggard, Ted Haggard Blog)

This is so very true because evangelical Christianity has developed a different gospel than the one that Paul preached. It is an unholy mixture of Old and New Covenant that ultimately elevates self-righteousness to a virtue, and reduces the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus to a onetime point of entrance that may or may not be efficacious. It only becomes effective in view of current evangelical doctrine if the person begins to live the law showing the fruit of a changed life.

What did Paul say in Philippians? In chapter three he said that when it came to law righteousness he was blameless. He went on to say however that he would count it all dung to be found in Christ Jesus, having the righteousness of God rather than his own righteousness from the law. It is very clear what Paul meant in this passage. He called those who were Judaizing dogs and evil doers. Finally he stated the following: Php 3:18  “For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.” This can be equally true for the way that the evangelical church views and teaches about righteousness today. In essence they have become enemies of the cross.

But it is more than that, in reality they become unbelievers. They are not willing to believe the true gospel of God’s grace. When one demands law obedience to prove salvation they in effect make the cross ineffective and present a different gospel. What is the gospel you ask? I think that it can be summed up quite nicely in this passage from Second Corinthians: (2Co 5:18-21)  “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;  (19)  that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.  (20)  Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.  (21)  For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” The underlined portion is a clear concise statement of the gospel. Verses 19 & 21 become the statement of the gospel.

This is especially pointed at those who are self-proclaimed judges of others and experts on the truth. The fact is that they have missed the truth completely as they are devoid of the love and mercy of God.

The true gospel will allow people to rest in the finished work of Jesus on Calvary. Once they truly believe and are completely resting in Jesus… real love for God and Jesus will be an automatic result, and this real love for God will produce a transformation into a loving being that desires to please God. If the church would teach the true gospel then, in community, others could walk along side and encourage each other to good works and the obedience of faith out of love. Anything short of resting in Jesus is really unbelief.

Tell the truth and shame the devil; Living openly and honestly before God and men

(Psa 32:1-2 NLT)  A psalm of David. Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight!  (2)  Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

One tragic result of the legal, constitutional reading of scripture is rampant hypocrisy. Jesus said that the leaven of the Pharisees was their doctrine and that it was hypocrisy (Matt 16:12 & Luke 12:1.) So, breaking this down Jesus said that the teaching of the Pharisees, including their legal, constitutional reading of scripture was hypocrisy. It meant that their teaching ultimately led to hypocrisy because in reality they could only be righteous by imputation. I say without fear that the current evangelical teaching-doctrine about scripture ultimately leads to hypocrisy. As I have shown over and over on this blog it is akin to the teaching and doctrine of the Pharisees and it flies in the face of the teaching of Jesus and his apostles.

The result is that few if any evangelicals can truly be open and honest with their lives. They have their Sunday face, Sunday clothes, Sunday behavior, Sunday way of speaking, and Sunday way of thinking and in large part it is simply a façade. In reality they are fearful of ever showing the real person that they are. This is truly so sad because it is completely unnecessary and totally unbiblical. Thus they are merely play acting and that is the very definition of hypocrisy. David essentially said, tell the truth and shame the devil… well, actually he said live the truth and shame the devil. When one lives their lives completely honestly they avoid hypocrisy.

ALL OF US have messy lives to one degree or another. And, if our lives are not obviously messy at this moment, trust me, they have been very messy in the past, and there is potential for mess up the line. David did not worry about it because he knew that his sin was not imputed to him. He also knew that God’s righteousness was imputed to him for his faith and belief.

Solomon wrote this; (Pro 3:5-6)  “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.  (6)  In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”

I once preached a sermon entitled “in ALL YOUR WAYS acknowledge Him. *All your ways* means precisely to live life honestly. Acknowledge the Lord in your good ways, and acknowledge his presence in your not so good ways. Be honest, be yourself… don’t try to hold yourself out as some great example of righteousness, ( I speak this especially to those in ministry) Take yourself down off the pedestal… Lift up Jesus and his amazing grace. After all, didn’t he say “if I be lifted up I will draw all people to me?”

Let your hair down, let your guard down, live life honestly!

The message of faith we preach; Confessions of a recovering evangelical 7... another view of election

Before you read this blog post, may I suggest that you read Romans NLT, 9-10-11 at the Bible Gateway? Please read it in its entirety. Keep in mind election. I think you will find that Paul is explaining why many, faithful, Torah observant Jews will be judged harshly in 70CE, and why some Jews and Gentiles will not. It does not support hyper-Calvinism. Most importantly, Romans 11:32 , plainly, unequivocally, supports the idea of universal reconciliation. This makes the pure gospel message… grace alone, faith alone, for the glory of God alone very important.

(Romans 10:8-17 NLT)  In fact, it says, "The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart." And that message is the very message about faith that we preach:  (9)  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  (10)  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.  (11)  As the Scriptures tell us, "Anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced."  (12)  Jew and Gentile are the same in this respect. They have the same Lord, who gives generously to all who call on Him.  (13)  For "Everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved."  (14)  But how can they call on Him to save them unless they believe in Him? And how can they believe in Him if they have never heard about Him? And how can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?  (15)  And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, "How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!"  (16)  But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, "LORD, who has believed our message?"  (17)  So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.

The above passage of scripture is from the New Living Translation. I would strongly suggest that you get a copy of that some way. You can get it through e-sword, a free online bible software that I highly recommend, or you can simply buy a pew bible, hardback for about $10. If you get it from e-sword there is a fee from the publisher for downloading because the rights to the NLT are owned by Tyndale House Publishers. At any rate, it is written in very understandable English, and it really makes some of the harder passages become crystal clear. While I admit that at times it is tweaked to support a fundamental, evangelical, orthodox view of scripture, the fact is that translators could not keep that going throughout the entire work because there are areas that there is huge disagreement among evangelical fundamentalists, and the ninth, tenth, and eleventh chapter of Romans is one of them.

I suggest that at the very least you go to one of the online bibles and read Romans, chapters nine, ten, and eleven in the NLT version in one setting. There you will find the explanation of why God chose some Jews and some Gentiles to be saved from impending judgment. You can more clearly see that God elected certain ones for the judgment of 70CE among both Jews, and Gentiles, and that by reading Romans 11:32 -36 you will more clearly see the mystery of God’s great love and his ultimate universal reconciliation of all mankind.

This makes the passage that I have featured here all the more important. The good news should be proclaimed and believed. Believing the good news has great reward even while still on this earth. The good news provides eternal assurance of God’s love but, here and now it provides the method for completely resting and trusting in God. It provides the catalyst for the transformation… that is the transformation of fallen humans into reconciled beings that are able to love unconditionally. That will finally only come when more and more groups believe the real gospel in community… what is the real gospel you ask? Simply put it is this: “(9)  If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.  (10)  For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by confessing with your mouth that you are saved.”

How beautiful upon the mountain tops…

Observations of a recovering evangelical VI; Grace and ethics

When one looks at the religions of the world, I would lump atheists in that group... what is it that sets Christianity apart? Is it a higher standard of ethics? Not really, in this postmodern world ethics is held in fairly high regard by many of the groups. Some groups have pet issues that they elevate beyond others, but on the whole, especially in the western world ethics is held in high esteem. So then, it is not ethics that separates Christianity from other belief systems.

The concept that separates Christianity from other religions and belief systems is grace; that is, grace defined as unmerited favor. We live in a world chock full of ethics and ethical codes, and very, very little grace. All of the isms that have fairly high ethical codes really have no grace. Forgiveness is rare; turning the other cheek unheard of. And yet, the thing that truly sets Christianity apart is God’s grace. “God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting sin.” Read those words over and over and ponder them… that is simply an amazing and unbelievable concept. If we are to be Godlike, that is, emulate God’s behavior, first and foremost we must possess grace. We must be willing to pass grace on to others daily.

Grace produces the highest ethical behavior of all. Grace produces love… genuine love for God, and as a result of that love, a gracious love for others. We er'e greatly when we demand legal ethics over grace. When we focus on legal constitutional ethics we remove grace from the equation. In true Christianity, not the questionable facsimile known as orthodox evangelical fundamentalism, but in true Christianity which is synonymous with following and emulating Christ, grace, and grace alone is the catalyst for a much higher ethical position. It starts with God’s grace to humanity, embraced, trusted, and totally relied upon and it then flows through humanity to others.

The kind of grace I am writing about is stifled, retarded if you will allow the term, by the insistence on legal constitutional ethics and obedience. This legal constitutional ethics finds its most repugnant manifestation in the Christian right. If the proponents of the Christian right had their way there would be little difference between their form of rule and sharia law. The form of rule they would adopt is a legal constitutional moral code of ethics based upon their interpretation of the bible and would be VOID of grace.

Redemptive ethics works very differently. It is rooted in forgiveness and second chances. The God of Christianity is the author of 490 second chances… 70 X 7 really means unlimited chances. If we were to get that ingrained in our minds… renewed to our minds… I beseech ye brethren by the mercies of God… That is Grace my friend. The mercies of God, is God’s grace. It is unlimited, unmerited favor. Oh if Christianity would only truly preach the gospel and nothing else!