Psalm 139:23,24 – Room in the Inn

Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²³Thoroughly search me, O God, and know my heart. Examine me and know my disquieting thoughts, ²⁴and see if [there be any] troubling way in me and personally lead me in [the] way of [the] ages.

Interestingly, here is one of those Bible passages where it pays to dig in to the Hebrew word meanings. As always, it is not that they mean something different than typical English translations, but rather that they mean so much more. Hebrew in particular was a picture language. They painted pictures even as they spoke. I have often found it virtually impossible to translate Hebrew passages and express in English the depth and width and color of what they are saying. Such is profoundly the case here.

English translations of this Psalm invariably begin with “Search me, O God, and know my heart…” which is a perfectly accurate translation. But the Hebrew word for “search” “always connotes a diligent, difficult probing” (TWOT#729). In its noun form, it even borders on the impossible! So, understanding the Hebrew, David is not asking for just a superficial searching. He is saying to God, “Open every door, look under every book, literally turn my heart upside down searching its every corner.”

Then he adds “Try me …” The word “try” means “to examine” where interestingly, in the OT, God is usually the subject and He is specifically examining spiritual or religious things. Then it is “Try me and know my thoughts,” where again it is more than just thoughts. It is particularly my “disquieting thoughts.” One can almost hear Jesus saying, “They that are whole need not a physician, but them that are sick.” David is not asking God to just know his thoughts in general. He wants God to particularly know his disquieting thoughts – the ones that cause him trouble, the ones that need a physician! They that are whole need not a physician – but the rest of us and our beleaguered hearts need the Physician!

This idea carries on to verse 24 where He particularly asks the Lord to “See if there be any wicked way in me.” Once again, “wicked” way is a perfectly accurate translation, but the word means more. The word yabetz comes from a root meaning “to hurt, to trouble.” K&D describe it as “the way that leads to pain, torture, … the inward and outward consequences of sin.” It is wickedness but not just in the sense of wrong but in the sense of bringing into one’s life torment, regret, shame, sorrow, and all the pain and trouble that sin incurs. It is the same root word that is used in the name of Jabez and his prayer which is a play on his name and the word: Now Jabez (Yabetz) … prayed, “O that Thou wouldst bless me indeed … and keep me from pain (yabetz) that it might not pain (yabetz) me” (I Chron 4:10). Though so often alluring, sin and its effects always bring pain and trouble.

Like Jabez, David longed to be delivered from the self-inflicted way of trouble and pain, so here he asks the Lord instead to “lead me in the way everlasting.” Once more, the word “lead” is much more personal than simply “lead.” It pictures someone actually personally conducting another along a path. TWOT #1341 says, “[It is] far more than guidance. It is that God be before them showing the way.” It is used of the Lord leading Israel through the desert, where His presence actually went with them as the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. David is asking for the Lord’s very present and personal guidance. The Lord’s leading is in fact so personal, He calls it “carrying” us – “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you” (Isaiah 46:4).

Now, what to make of all this? Gracious! I think I could write a book from these two verses. I’ll try to restrain myself to a few paragraphs.

Several commentators noted how brave David is to invite the All-Seeing Eye into a heart he knew to be “desperately wicked and deceitful above all things.” On the one hand, I see what they’re saying, but on the other hand I don’t think it was a matter of bravery at all. We’re back to how we see God. If we see Him as rumbling thunder looking for sinners to blast with divine judgment, then yeah, it would be brave (probably foolish) to invite such a God in. But I like what William Arnot said, “…the eye of the compassionate Physician I shall gladly admit into this place of disease; for He comes from heaven to earth that He may heal such a sin-sick soul as mine.” As quoted above, Jesus said, “They that are whole need not a physician,” but those who truly see their heart would, like Arnot, implore the Great Physician come. As Donald Cargill said, “Those who know themselves best fear themselves most.” To me He is the gentle Shepherd, who “restoreth my soul.” I’m glad to my sin He is the infinitely powerful conquering King! Marantha! Come, Lord Jesus. “Adam’s image now efface, Stamp Thine image in its place!” I think truly knowing Him it is not bravery to invite Him in. Why wouldn’t I long to crawl into His inviting lap, burrow my face into His big chest, and hide from it all wrapped in His big strong arms?? He alone can save me. He alone can deliver me.

I think it quite clear this is where David’s heart is going in this Psalm. Earlier (v.17) he said, “And to me how precious are Your thoughts, O God. How great is the sum of them”. Now he invites Him in to “see if there be any troublesome way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.” David wants to be healed. He didn’t see God’s presence as a threat but rather as the only hope for his sin-sick heart. Am I brave to ask the doctor to remove the tumor from my side? Then neither do I think it bravery to invite in El Rapha – God the Healer, Him who comes “with healing in His wings”.

I need Him to search me, know my heart, and examine me. And to what end? To make sure my way is the right one. I have many times run across this matter of my “way.” “There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is the way of death” (Prov 14:12). “Thus saith the Lord: Stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk in it, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jer 6:16). I need Him to help me see where in my life I am choosing the ways of trouble and to show me instead that good old way, the way everlasting, that in fact I might walk in it. Jesus asked Bartimaeus, “What would you have me do for you?” and he replied, “Lord, I would have my sight.” And so it remains. In His light we see light. I want to go the right way. But sin darkens my eyes, allures me down bypath meadow, and leaves me to die in the dungeon of despair. William Howels said, “Every sin is a devil and may say, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many.’” But there is a Savior! He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life …” (Jn 14:6). The angel told Joseph to name the baby Jesus, “…for He shall save His people from their sins.” (Mt 1:21).

It’s probably no coincidence that tomorrow is Christmas day. Once again we’ll celebrate the birth of the One mighty to save. May we all not see Him as rumbling thunder but as the Great Physician. May we all find room in our hearts for Him who would come to search out the demons of our sins, cast them out, deliver us from ourselves and lead us in that everlasting way, that, rather than the pain of sin, we might know love and joy and peace.

Merry Christmas! Lord lead us.

Psalm 139:19-22 – The Delicate and Difficult Subject of Hate

Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁹O God, if [only] You would kill the guilty ones, and, men of blood, turn aside from me, ²⁰who speak to You to plots. Your enemies lift up arrogance. ²¹[Do] not I hate ones intensely hating You, LORD? And I loathe ones rising up against You. ²²[With] consummate hatred I hate them. They become enemies to me.

Well now. Hate. As I have studied the Bible and thought over it, I would suggest this is one of the most delicate and difficult subjects to ponder. I personally don’t struggle with the idea of God’s hatred, although I would still consider it a delicate matter. In Psalms 11:5,6 we learn, “His soul hates the wicked and those who love violence. On the wicked He will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.” When in Revelation 19:5 Jesus returns as King we read, “Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.” One could immediately object, “But I thought ‘God so loved the world …!” In short, I have come to the conclusion that God can both love and hate at the same time. It is part of the infinite perfection of His being. On the one hand I can say I’m certainly glad He loves. He’d better or I am hopelessly doomed. On the other hand I can say I’m glad He hates. It is only fitting for a good king to hate anything or anyone that threatens or harms His people.

For me the problem is not reconciling love and hate in the heart of God, but rather reconciling it in the heart of me! I know people throw out the cliché, “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” But I don’t think it is that simple. Read the passage again. David says, “… I loathe ones rising up against You. ²²[With] consummate hatred I hate them. They become enemies to me”. He does not say, I loathe their sins. He says, I loathe them. That is what I mean, I don’t think it’s as simple as the old cliché.

I would suggest this passage is calling us to rise to some higher level of maturity, some higher level of understanding, some more precise conformity to the image of God. He can both love and hate the person and in some way we may practice the same virtue, even though it be beyond our present comprehension.

On the other hand, here is a thought: David is the king over a theocracy. That is a very different place and situation than where we find ourselves. In a theocracy, everyone is expected to conform to righteousness, and David’s job as king is to enforce righteousness. The world outside Israel’s borders and where we find ourselves today was and is patently not a theocracy. We live in a world with essentially no standard of righteousness. We live in a Gentile world. And we are not kings and we have no charge nor authority to go around enforcing righteousness on the people around us. Perhaps we need to keep David’s context in mind as we ponder how to apply this passage in our own lives. I at least would suggest this would allow us to temper his words as we apply them to ourselves.

Here’s another thought: I have concluded that it is okay for me to hate a sinner in a sense. For instance, take a murderer or a child molester. I not only hate what they did but it is right and actually good for me to hate them, in the sense that I think they should be punished and punished to the full extent they deserve. At the same time I can love them in the sense that I know I too am a guilty sinner and grace is my (and their) only hope. It is not my place to punish them. I support my justice system as it inflicts the punishment while I can still pray for the man and his soul. I can hate them in a judicial sense but still love them as a person.

However, short of vicious crimes and cruelty, I feel I am still in the place of the old cliché, loving the sinner and hating the sin. I like what George Horne said, “We are neither to hate the men, on account of the vices they practice; nor to love the vices, for the sake of the men who practice them.”

What it all comes down to is how I think about people and how I treat them. I am not the government. I do not “bear the sword.” Apart from the appropriate exercise of authority, I don’t see how I can treat people with anything but love. It may have to be love in firmness, but it still has to be love. I can’t think of any situation where I could express the kind of sentiments David here expresses. Again, I can hate the sins, I can hate the people in the sense of their being the vessels of those sins, but as I express myself to them, I don’t see how I can ever lose my grasp of love, without losing God’s desire for me.

Hmmmm. Delicate and difficult. It still is. I’m not sure I’ve learned anything. But it is good to ponder over these things occasionally. Lord, help us get it right.

Psalm 139:17,18 – Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷And to me how precious are Your thoughts, O God. How great is the sum of them.

¹⁸[If] I count them from sand, they are many. I awaken and [I am] still with You.

These verses follow upon everything said so far in verses 1 through 16. (Note that verse 17 starts with “And”). David is here worshipping the God Who sees when he sits and when he rises, Who formed his inmost being, Who wove him together in his mother’s womb, and Who wrote down all his days before one of them came to be.

David here pauses to reflect on the incomprehensible loving parental attention that God gives to His children and specifically to David himself. “My Lord,” says David, “I am amazed at how much You think about me, care about me, watch over me, plan for me.”

Anyone who is a parent, of course, has little trouble comprehending at least the essence of this truth. One’s children fill their mind continually, do they not? Even if, as limited humans, we are called away to focus our attention on other matters, yet our minds are still filled with our children. Their happiness is our happiness. Their successes are our joys. Their pain is our sorrow. Their needs and even wants are our heart’s yearnings. Ever since I knew they were conceived, my soul has been inextricably bound up in theirs.

But from whence did I gain such a noble quality? It is in no way of my own making. It is the very image of God in me. David here turns such thoughts around and realizes he is the child here. He is the object of such parental affection, attention, and commitment; and, of course, since God Himself is the parent in view, that affection, attention, and commitment sheds even the possibility of limit or short-coming. Here it goes beyond admiration and becomes worship.

Matthew Henry said, “We cannot conceive how many God’s kind counsels have been concerning us, how many good turns He has done us, and what variety of mercies we have received from Him … [and they are] constant at all times.”

Charles Spurgeon also commented on these verses, and his thoughts are so to the point, I think they’re worth quoting here, even at length:

Verse 17. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! He is not alarmed at the fact that God knows all about him; on the contrary, he is comforted, and even feels himself to be enriched, as with a chest of precious jewels. That God should think upon him is the believer's treasure and pleasure. He cries, "How costly, how valued are Thy thoughts, how dear to me is Thy perpetual attention!" He thinks upon God's thoughts with delight; the more of them the better is he pleased. It is a joy worth worlds that the Lord should think upon us who are so poor and needy: it is a joy which fills our whole nature to think upon God; returning love for love, thought for thought, after our poor fashion. How great is the sum of them! When we remember that God thought upon us from old eternity, continues to think upon us every moment, and will think of us when time shall be no more, we may well exclaim, "How great is the sum!" Thoughts such as are natural to the Creator, the Preserver, the Redeemer, the Father, the Friend, are evermore flowing from the heart of the Lord. Thoughts of our pardon, renewal, upholding, supplying, educating, perfecting, and a thousand more kinds perpetually well up in the mind of the Most High. It should fill us with adoring wonder and reverent surprise that the infinite mind of God should turn so many thoughts towards us who are so insignificant and so unworthy! What a contrast is all this to the notion of those who deny the existence of a personal, conscious God! Imagine a world without a thinking, personal God! Conceive of a grim providence of machinery!—a fatherhood of law! Such philosophy is hard and cold. As well might a man pillow his head upon a razor edge as seek rest in such a fancy. But a God always thinking of us makes a happy world, a rich life, a heavenly hereafter.

Verse 18. If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand. This figure shows the thoughts of God to be altogether innumerable; for nothing can surpass in number the grains of sand which belt the main ocean and all the minor seas. The task of counting God's thoughts of love would be a never ending one. If we should attempt the reckoning we must necessarily fail, for the infinite falls not within the line of our feeble intellect. Even could we count the sands on the seashore, we should not then be able to number God's thoughts, for they are "more in number than the sand." This is not the hyperbole of poetry, but the solid fact of inspired statement: God thinks upon us infinitely: there is a limit to the act of creation, but not to the might of Divine love. When I awake, I am still with Thee. Thy thoughts of love are so many that my mind never gets away from them, they surround me at all hours. I go to my bed, and God is my last thought; and when I wake I find my mind still hovering about His palace gates; God is ever with me, and I am ever with Him. This is life indeed.

Yes, this is life indeed!

It is one thing to realize God loves me. I think it another thing to go on and realize that love means He thinks about me constantly, that His affection and attention never leave me. The very air I breathe is the love of my God. Again, I will say that I think no parent should have any trouble understanding such love. But it is another thing to turn it around and see that I am the child.

No wonder Paul prayed, “… that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, … to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that passes knowledge …” (Eph 3:17-19).

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope” (Jer 29:11).

In a cold, hurtful world, such thoughts warm a Holy Spirit joy in your heart, yes?

Psalm 139:13-16 – Is It God or Us?

Again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Because You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.

¹⁴I will praise You upon because I am distinguished [by] feared things. Your doings [are] amazed things and my soul knows [that] greatly.

¹⁵My skeleton was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, [when] I was intricately woven in [the] depths of [the] earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my embryo and upon Your book all of them were written; days were formed and not one among them.

As a follow-up to my last blog, there’s another thing about these verses that I think is interesting and thought provoking.

Matthew Henry said, “My parents were only the instruments of it … [Consider that it is] a great marvel, a great miracle we might call it, but it is done in the ordinary course of nature.” He’s right. This is one of those places where the immediate miraculous workings of God mysteriously and obviously intersect with what appears to be a completely natural process. By observation alone, one would conclude that conception is an entirely natural process. One could, like a Deist of old, propose that conception is a process that the Lord set in place and since then it “just happens” and neither requires nor involves divine intervention.

But the verses before us clearly contradict such a notion. Verse 13 clearly states, “…You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.” I underline the “You” because it is emphatic in the Hebrew. But with or without my underline, the truth remains that God Himself is intimately involved in the conception of every single human being. Though millions of babies may be conceived in any given day, yet every one of them is a specific and deliberate creation of God.

This fact would have enormous implications for those conceived in, shall we say, less than ideal circumstances – babies conceived during rapes, or conceived perhaps in girls much too young to be mothers, or by couples who might see it as an “unwanted” pregnancy. Regardless of the circumstances producing a conception, that child is a unique and deliberate creation of the Great Artist.

But back to Matthew Henry’s thought, consider that, on the other hand, it is, in a sense, completely a natural process. Is it a miracle or is it natural? The answer is of course, “Yes.” It is both. Unexplainably yet totally both. Perhaps my faith shows through here, but, as a parent, I have no trouble seeing both. My children are all obviously the product of their father and mother. We see so much of us in them, so much even of our families back several generations. Yet each one came out of the womb an absolutely individual creation. They are clearly their own person. So much the same and yet so much totally unique. A miracle seen clearly in what is a completely natural process.

My suggestion would be that this is of course true of all of life. We’re back to the “Sovereignty vs. Responsibility” debate. Is God totally sovereign or am I totally responsible? Yes. Yes to both.

I read recently that, once given rifles, some American Indians actually became excellent shots with them. However, in battle they were known to be lousy shots. The reason proposed was because “magic” was such an important part of the American Indian’s thinking. Much of the war dances and other activities in which they engaged ahead of battle was for the purpose of improving their “magic.” If their magic was strong, they would do great exploits in battle. So they would go into battle counting on their magic. That being the case, they didn’t need to aim carefully. They thought their “magic” would guide the bullet to their enemy. The actual result was simply that they became characteristically lousy shots in battle.

In depending on “magic” they were less careful of their own efforts. I would suggest this is something we as Christians should be aware of. I suspect that it is easy to say we “trust God” and then not really try as hard as we should. Of course it is also easy to forget God and think it’s all on us. But, again, is it God or us? Yes.

Somehow, in every endeavor, we must strive to do our very best, to use all the faculties God has given us, while at the same time trusting God to be at work even in and through those efforts to accomplish His good purpose.

When a child is conceived, is it God or us? Yes. No matter what we do, is it God or us? Yes.

“O the depths of the riches of the wisdom of God.”

Psalm 139:13-16 – While the Artist Works

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹³Because You formed my inmost being and wove me together in the womb of my mother.

¹⁴I will praise You upon because I am distinguished [by] feared things. Your doings [are] amazed things and my soul knows [that] greatly.

¹⁵My skeleton was not hidden from You when I was made in secret, [when] I was intricately woven in [the] depths of [the] earth.

¹⁶Your eyes saw my embryo and upon Your book all of them were written; days were formed and not one among them.

One thing I have to confess is that the Hebrew in this Psalm is particularly difficult. They had such an ornery habit of writing in verbal shorthand and then I think that the genre of poetry affords David even greater license here. The result is that the Hebrew sentences look incomplete to our Western minds, much seems simply left out, and it seems like one has to get deeply into a picture-mindset to even guess at exactly what he means. For whatever it’s worth, I’m not alone in this evaluation. Spurgeon said (particularly of verse 16), “This verse is an extremely difficult one to translate … the sense is hard to come at, and difficult to express …” I don’t think the ideas being expressed are difficult to understand; it’s just figuring out how to translate the specific words and phrases into English that definitely leaves a man scratching his head.

That said, I might have to work up two or three blogs on this section. It holds some enormous implications, I think.

David’s obvious point, I think, is to illustrate God’s omni-ness which had been the subject of verses 1-12. Perhaps we most intimately know His omni-ness in the undeniable miracle of our own creation. Perhaps we would better recognize His omni-ness throughout our lives if we would but seriously ponder it in our own creation. Spurgeon said, “We need not go to the ends of the earth for marvels … they abound in our own bodies.”

Who can deny the truth of these four verses? I was woven together in my mother’s womb. I was intricately woven. God was there. My skeleton was not hidden from him. He saw my embryo. And it all came about seemingly in complete darkness and mystery. I could run ahead to the obvious implication: How can I ever doubt the presence and minute care of the God Who was there weaving me into existence? However, I think I’ll come back to that.

Spurgeon said something else which I thought was explosive: “A great artist will often labour alone in his studies, and not suffer his work to be seen until it is finished; even as did the Lord fashion us where no eye beheld us, and the veil was not lifted till every member was complete … Much of the formation of our inner man still proceeds in secret.”

First of all, I want to ponder Spurgeon’s thought that the artist will “not suffer his work to be seen until it is finished.” Why not? Generally speaking, because it’s ugly. Generally speaking the “parts and pieces” of any creation are themselves ugly. It’s true of music. We all know how awful an alto part usually sounds by itself. It only becomes beautiful when it blends with the soprano. But how much more is that true of a human body? Beyond debate, a human body can be an amazingly beautiful thing – but only when it’s all together. One slice of a surgeon’s knife and things get unbelievably ugly fast! No one wants to see the joints, the tendons, the organs, the brains, and everything else that all fits together to make a complete human. I think this truth, that generally speaking things are ugly until they’re complete, is another fractal of our existence. It is a pattern that repeats itself in a million different ways on a million different scales.

What particularly moved me to observe this fractal was Spurgeon’s comment, “Much of the formation of our inner man still proceeds in secret.” This seems so true to me. “He that hath begun a good work will continue it until the day of Jesus Christ…” God is at work. The Great Artist is sculpting His people. All things are working together for good. … But it doesn’t look that way now. Frankly, much of our lives are ugly. There’s the ugliness of our past sins and failures and stupid decisions; the ugliness of any kind of pain or sorrow or loss; the ugliness of confusion itself. But what does the Bible say? “When Christ, who is your life, appears, you also will appear with Him in glory” (Col 3:4). Our very sanctification is the same fractal, the same pattern. Its beauty can only be seen when it’s complete.

This is enormously encouraging to me. I am very aware of so much failure. I have such crushing regrets. I wish I didn’t have to have so much that is ugly about me. I fully acknowledge that I must own responsibility for my choices and all of that. But that said, the truth of Psalm 139 reminds me, “By the grace of God I am what I am” (I Cor 15:10). Even my failures and the things that appear ugly are all a part of the Great Artist’s work. While trying to be responsible moment by moment, yet I must trust that somehow all the ugliness will weave together into something beautiful in the Artist’s hands – and that the beauty may only be seen when it is all complete. Today, by the grace of God I am what I am.

“Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of Glory may come in!”

Psalm 139:7-12 – Present

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit and where can I flee from Your face?

⁸If I ascend [to the] heavens, You [are] there and [if] I spread out [in] Sheol, behold, You [are there]!

⁹[If] I lift wings of morning, [if] I settle in uttermost part of sea, ¹⁰even there Your hand will guide me. Your right hand will grasp me.

¹¹And [if] I say, “Surely darkness will cover me,” even night [will be] light around me.

¹²Even darkness does not make dark from You and night as day shines. As darkness, as light.

In verses 1-6, David pondered the omniscience of God. “You search me and You know.” In verses 7-12, he goes on to ponder the omnipresence of God. Notice in verse 8, I have to supply the [are] in “You are there.” In Hebrew it is just, “You!” “Behold, You!” No matter where I go, You!

I liked what Spurgeon said, “Sin is dreadful business. It is to offend the Almighty to His face and commit acts of treason at the foot of His throne!”

I have been thinking for some time about the business of counseling. So much of counseling is offering “solutions.” “You have this problem? Then do this and things will be better.” Those thoughts certainly have their place, but I have sadly observed first hand over the years how few people seem to actually be helped by that approach. Currently, I am suspecting that the problem is that, in so doing, we really do not address the person’s relationship with God (or lack thereof).  I am beginning to surmise that many problems are actually just the symptoms of a deficient view of God, of a deficient relationship with Him. The typical approach to counseling then is an attempt to treat symptoms without addressing the real problem. Now there is always the problem that we must learn and always be learning, no matter how good our relationship with God. We all have much to learn, even a person who has a robust view of God and is actually enjoying a real relationship with Him. I suppose our common approach to counseling would be appropriate for that person. They have a good relationship with God, they just don’t see how Scripture applies in their current situation. That is where godly counsel is a welcome blessing.

But, in this day of pervasive spiritual immaturity, I’m afraid few qualify. Instead, most often the problem is not a lack of knowledge but a deficient relationship with God. Even Biblical counseling is largely ineffective because we aren’t addressing the real problem. Perhaps we should use counseling and people’s “presentation problems” to first of all explore the reality (or lack thereof) of their relationship with God. If their problems are only symptoms, then perhaps it would be the better part of wisdom to disappoint them and not rush to tell the man how to “fix” his marriage.

I don’t know if this is making sense to anyone. It is all still forming in my own mind. But what do I mean? I think about Spurgeon’s comment above, “Sin is dreadful business.” Take for example a thief. What is his biggest problem? Is it that he steals? I would suggest that his biggest problem is that he imagines God doesn’t see or at least he isn’t even aware that God is present. If he, like Spurgeon, could truly see that he is “offending the Almighty to His face” and “committing acts of treason at the foot of His throne,” he could immediately see the folly of stealing. If he really knew God, he would see that he doesn’t need to steal. “I’ve been young and I’ve been old,” said David, “but I have never seen the children of the righteous begging bread.” “Jehovah Jireh: God will provide.” I suspect when Paul wrote, “Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him work with his hands …,” he was not simply prescribing behavioral modification. He was presuming he was speaking to genuinely born again people who had a real relationship with God. Certainly even a born again man who has spent his life stealing needs direction how to re-package his brain, how to see his needs and wants differently. But I fear our typical approach to counseling is simply to prescribe, “Here’s what you need to do …,” while we are most likely speaking to a person who in reality does not know God. I wonder how “counseling” would look different if that relationship was first on our agenda and behavioral modification was simply an outgrowth of it. I wonder how children’s Sunday School or Youth Groups or college ministries would be different if our main concern was to cultivate strong relationships with God, rather than seeing them all as tools for behavioral modification? Food for thought anyway.

Back to our passage, I feel like studying the first 12 verses of this Psalm has moved me a notch further along in my own relationship with God. I studied this very Psalm years ago and have, since then, enjoyed feeding on the idea of God’s amazing knowledge and presence. “He knows when I sit down and when I get up!” It occurred to me back then that basically no one else really notices or cares. Yet the God of the universe notices and cares – even something as trivial as my sitting and rising. Even now, the thought makes my head spin. But somehow, in my heart, He was still “over there.” Then I thought about like with my wife or my children or other family and good friends. How would I like it if they could be right here with me … forever? Would that not be heaven itself? But my God is the same way. I want Him here with me. Just like my family. And He is! I’ve just never thought of Him exactly that way. Interesting how it warms my heart, just like having one of my little punkins sitting on my lap while I worked at the computer or taking them with me to the hardware store. My mind floods with pleasant memories of loved ones with me. But in a new and different way, I can actually include God in that warmth! He’s been there all along, of course, I just didn’t see it or see it clearly enough to actually warm my heart. And He always will be … both now and into eternity! If I ascend into the heavens or go down to the depths, if I take the wings of the dawn to the furthest parts of the sea, … You! I’ll always have my best friend with me!

Nice.

Psalm 139:1-6 – Thoughts on Being Known

 Here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹To one directing. To David, a psalm.

 LORD, You search me and You know.

²You know my sitting and my rising. You discern my intentions from afar.

³My going and my lying down You sift and You are acquainted [with] the all of my ways.

⁴For not an utterance [is] in my tongue, [but] behold, O LORD, You know all of it.

⁵Behind and in front You confine me and You set Your hand on me.

⁶[It is] amazing knowledge from me. It is high. I am not able to it.

I have been studying and thinking over these verses for the last couple of weeks. My mind continues to generate a rather nondescript potpourri of thoughts. I don’t know that they amount to anything, but since this is my blog, I’ll go ahead and record them.

My first observation is that, for me, these are very comforting thoughts. Unless I have completely deceived myself, I want God to know my every thought. I want Him to know where I am and what I’m doing. If something I’m doing is wrong, I want Him to know it. I want Him to correct me and save me from my own self-destruction. I want Him to be present and aware of when I sit down and when I stand up – especially while He runs an entire universe and cares about every single other person.

I say this in contrast to what appears to me a very common opposite response. William Greenhill wrote: “Look well to your hearts, thoughts, risings, whatever comes into your mind; let no secret sins, or corruptions lodge there; think not to conceal anything from the eye of God.”  I understand Greenhill’s application and it is certainly legitimate. But my own heart objects to his underlying view of God – that He is basically the Grand Policeman in the sky. “Shape up or He’ll have to come and whack you!” Hmmmm. Do most people need this kind of a view of God? Do they need to be threatened and scolded into holiness? It seems to me if that is the case the problem is not in their lack of obedience but in their deficient view of God Himself. The love of Christ ought to compel us. Now it is quite true that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and I have often said that, if necessary, I should obey God because I fear the consequences of my sins. But I say that with a warmth in my heart toward God. I’m glad He loves me too much to let me self-destruct. I don’t like pain but I’m actually glad there are consequences for my bad choices. And I guess I think David would agree with me. I do not think David is writing these things as some kind of divine threat to keep people in line. Again, unless I have completely deceived myself (always an imminent possibility), I want to take these thoughts as love cordials. The closer God is to me the better.

The other competing thought in my mind confuses me somewhat. I’m not quite sure what to do with this. And I’m just being honest. I find it kind of hurtful to think how the Lord knows all of this, my down-sitting and my uprising, my thoughts from afar, every word on my tongue even before I utter it, … how He is so very intimately present … and still there are these very painful trials in my life that never seem to go away. It is hard enough to know that He is up in Heaven watching all, knowing all, and choosing not to answer my pleas for help. But to really realize that, no, He is right here. He is very present. And yet He still doesn’t help me. Sometimes I feel like my heart is wearing out. It seems like I used to be able to pray about things like this and usually there would be rather immediate results. This is a different experience crying and crying and crying for years and seeing no deliverance. I long to be able to say, “I cried unto the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” But that is not where we are today.

As I said above, these emotions kind of confuse me. Because on the other hand I can confidently say that I totally trust Him. I know that, if He withholds anything from me, it is part of His incomprehensible loving wisdom. It rises from His commitment not to just bless me but rather to mold me. He is my Father. I suspect what I am experiencing is the common lot of all who walk with God for a lifetime. When we’re “young” He gives us a lot of instant gratification. But as we grow, He wants us to learn to trust Him without the constant crutches. We have to learn to ride without the training wheels. That makes perfect sense to me. I guess it just hurts. David said in another place, “I believed, therefore I said, ‘I am greatly afflicted!’” I think I just need to pray more that I can see Him in the storm, not necessarily that He would deliver me from it. Will any of this end in this life? I hope so. Does He still bless me with way more kindness than I deserve? Absolutely. Can I hang on until either He does deliver me or takes me to Heaven? I pray by His grace that I will.

Hmmm. Now we only know His presence by faith. What will it be like in Heaven to actually have Him visibly present 24/7? Probably a perpetual love feast! I know how much I could wish to have next to me all the time all the people I love on earth. How much more will it be to actually have the Lord present? He is now. I need to treasure that all the more. But oh for the day when faith will be sight and faith and hope pass away and only love remains!

Psalm 139:1 – Knowing and Being Known

Here is my fairly literal translation of this verse:

¹To one directing. To David, a psalm.

 LORD, You search me and You know.

A couple of technical thoughts: The literary “critics” propose that this is not a psalm of David because there are two words in the Psalm which they say are “chaldaisms.” David lived around 1000 BC. The Jewish people were deported to Babylon (Chaldea) in about 587 BC. From living in Babylon, many Hebrew words became “chaldaized” where their spelling or pronunciation changed slightly because they lived in a world that spoke Aramaic, not Hebrew. Hence, if the “critics” find a word that is spelled in a Chaldean form rather than Hebrew, they conclude the document had to be written after 587, not before. My response would be that is not only bad theology, it’s poor science. A good scientist (and that is what the “critics” are claiming to be) would say, “The presence of apparently chaldaized words presents the possibility of a later date. However, there are other possible explanations which should be considered.” Like the evolutionists, as soon as the critics find any explanation that demeans the Bible and pushes God in a corner, they jump on it and present it as fact. As I said above, that’s not only bad theology, it’s poor science. Based purely on the science of textual criticism, I would suggest that we not forget the Jewish people came from Babylon to start with. God called Abraham out of “Ur of the Chaldeans.” They may have retained traces of chaldaism even down to David’s time. Also, any interaction with Aramaic speaking peoples could have encouraged chaldaisms – and David was a great king who would have had a great deal of international interaction – especially when the trade routes between the east and Egypt ran generally through Palestine. My bottom-line would be that the “critics” are talking about a period of time two to three thousand years ago and acting like they have total knowledge of all that happened when the truth is they have very little. Let them offer their opinions, call them just that, then choose what they want to believe. I have offered my opinions and I choose to believe the Bible. It says “To David” and I will choose to believe that.

Secondly, someone might ask, “Why is it ‘to David,’ not ‘by David’”? I have addressed that question at length before, but basically I think it is because David knew he was writing under inspiration and he was much too humble a man to take credit for what he wrote. It was given to David, by the Lord, and he knew it.

As for the Hebrew text of the Psalm itself, notice my translation, “LORD, You search me and You know.”  When the Hebrew name Yahveh is given, I usually just write it out as its four Hebrew letters YHVH. But, I’m in the mood to use the old King James convention of capitalizing LORD to represent it. There is another name for God which is Adonai, which means literally “master” or “lord.” When that name is used, it is translated “Lord,” to distinguish it from Yahveh/LORD. I think I’ll follow that convention for a while.

David says, “LORD, You search me and You know.” I think most translations fill in the “You know me.” However, there is no pronominal suffix on the verb “know,” so I chose not to insert one. The LORD searches me and He knows. “Knows what?,” one might ask. I kind of think the question is the point! One stops to answer the question and what do you conclude? He knows everything. He knows everything about me, but He also knows everything around me. He knows my circumstances. He knows my strengths, He knows my weaknesses. He knows my sins and He knows my successes. He knows my past, He knows my present, and He knows my future. He sees clearly through all subterfuge and feigning. He knows.

Interesting this is written in the first person. It is one thing to say, “He knows.” It is another thing to pause for a moment, sincerely focus on Him, and say to Him, “You know.” It is very deeply personal, is it not? “LORD, You search me and You know.”

A lot of people would take that as a negative. The minute one talks about the Lord searching and knowing, too many immediately turn it into a courtroom, anticipate their guilty verdict, and quickly shun the thought. That is too bad. Nothing could possibly be better than to have the God of grace search me and know. His grace comes with His infinite power and wisdom and His promise to “work all things together for my good.” I find those words very comforting. “LORD, You search me and You know.” On the other hand, at first glance, there is a sense in which I find them painful. At first they seem to be a finger rubbing in my wound, my wound of all the things that I find painful in my life. The words remind me of those things and then I have to face the bald fact that the Lord knows about those things but hasn’t and may not do anything about them. He knows how much it hurts, He has the power to change those things, but He doesn’t. He knows, but leaves me in it. My heart’s first response is to find that painful. But then I remember that He does all things for my good. Even allowing me to suffer is part of His kindness and a love that is beyond me. I couldn’t arrange suffering for my children, subject them to it, leave them in it, listen to their cries and do nothing. But that is because I don’t love them enough. It’s actually me that can’t bear their suffering – even if I knew it was for their good. But not so with my Father. He loves me so much He will put me through whatever it takes to make me what I ought to be. That is part of His searching and knowing. He sees the dross and loves me too much not to do whatever it takes to purge it out. That is once again a comforting (though painful) thought.

LORD, You search me – perhaps far deeper than I can even imagine – and You know – You know everything.  You gather together all of Your knowing and use it to my good and Your great eternal purposes.

Hmmm. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high, I cannot attain unto it. (!)

Galatians 2:20,21 – Thoughts on a Favorite Passage

 Once again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁰I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ is living in me. [The life] which I am now living in [the] flesh I am living in faith, that of the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself on my behalf. ²¹I am not setting aside the grace of God, for if righteousness [comes] through law then Christ died in vain.

This verse has long been a cheery and pleasant cordial to my soul. I memorized it early in my walk with God and have found it always an endearing friend. “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me …” Thinking about it, there are three thoughts I’d like to record:

First , I like what Barnes said: “The Redeemer, by the death of the cross, became insensible to all surrounding objects, as the dead always are … Paul says that he became insensible to the law as a means of justification; to the world; to ambition and the love of money; to the pride and pomp of life; and to the dominance of evil and hateful passions. They lost their power over him; they ceased to influence him.”

I of course am still a miserable wayward sinner, but it is at the same time true that I have died to this world. Oh, I still live in it. I still love it in many ways (sometimes too many). Yet I find I really can (at times) hold it with open hands. It just isn’t THAT important to me anymore. It really is true in a sense that I’ve “died to it,” I’ve been crucified with Christ. I can do without the things of this world. But I can only do without them because I know Christ. When I face the pain of losing in this world or the pain of having to live “without” it still hurts very, very deeply. But as long as I can look into the face of Christ, know that He knows, know that He knows best, know that He loves me, know that my times are in His hands, from somewhere I find the strength to go on (for a few seconds, anyway). “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me …” Even though I all too often fail, yet I know that in Christ I’ve been freed from this world. I can literally be “dead” to it, and alive to Christ; I can be literally insensitive to its allures and feel my heart entirely Christ’s. And it’s not me, it’s Christ living in me. I find all of this (except my own waywardness) very comforting.

Second, here is one of those places where the Bible reminds us that, although God “so loved the world” (Jn 3:16) and Jesus died “for the sins of the whole world” (I John 2:2), yet at the same time His death was entirely personal for each and every one of us. Paul says, “…Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” David knew the same personal relationship: “O God, Thou art my God …” (Ps 63:1). He loved me. He gave Himself for me. He is my God. “Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). It is so nice that a real relationship with God is totally and delightfully personal!

Finally, and growing out of the last point, my mind goes back to my last post, that justification by faith is a far, far better plan than works because, properly embraced and understood, this is exactly its effect – wonder at His love. If I can be justified by some checklist, then I suppose I have to add “Love God” to my list. When I know I came to him filthy and stinking and deserving hell, when I know that He offers me complete forgiveness if only I’ll accept the Christ who “loved me and gave Himself for me,” I no longer need any checklist. I love Him Who first loved me. As one man said, “There is no higher sense of obligation or duty than that generated by love.” It is no “burden” to have to do what’s right. I want to. Like Jacob, my seven years of service seem as nothing because of my love for this One who first loved me. Again, this is a far, far better way. To love, “duty” is a welcome but meaningless word. What mother ever thought it her “duty” to nurse her newborn child?? Duty? Well, yes, it is. But it isn’t. Love compels her, not “duty,” so the “duty” still gets done, but in a far, far better way.

So it is with God. To know His love is to love Him. All down through the ages, the debate has raged that Sola Fide breeds licentiousness. Mai Genoito! Justification by faith can only breed licentiousness in those who never really understood it to begin with. Real justification by faith generates people who will be moral, do right, be conscientious, love their neighbors, control their tongues, and all the other things they “ought” to do, yet never count it a burden or even see it as an obligation. Love compels them. There is absolutely no form of works-righteousness anywhere that produces people who love from their hearts. Only justification by faith in Christ – in Him who loved me and gave Himself for me. If people somewhere are claiming justification by faith but living godless lives, the answer is not to confront them with a fresh “to do” list, but rather to call them into question whether they really ever knew Him, and if they have, to perhaps see beyond their “checklist” religion and lay hold of a real relationship with Him Who loves them.

I could say more about the details of exegesis of these verses, but I’ve said enough. This brings me to the end of chapter 2 of Galatians. I think this is good spot to take a break. I am in the mood to do some Hebrew work for a while, then come back to Galatians. I plan to do a study of Psalm 139, then come back. The fun never ends!

Galatians 2:17-19 – The Far, Far Better Way

Once again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷But if we ourselves are also found [to be] sinners [while] seeking to be justified in Christ, then [is] Christ a servant of sin? May it never be! ¹⁸For if I am building again those things which I destroyed, I am presenting myself [to be] a trespasser, ¹⁹for through the Law I died to the Law that I might live to God.

Commentators all try to decide if Paul is still speaking to Peter regarding his duplicity or if he is now simply discoursing the subject of justification for the benefit of the Galatians. I don’t see any clear evidence to definitively conclude the matter. But, regardless, Peter’s prevarication is still the backdrop of the discussion. With the “we ourselves” I would conclude Paul is referring to himself and his fellow Jews. He’s already acknowledged the Jewish penchant for calling the Gentiles “sinners.” Like all legalists in every age, the Jews’ lives were consumed with scrupulously “keeping the rules” (never mind Jesus called them a “wicked and adulterous generation” – Pharisees always have an amazing ability to figure out which rules they have to keep and which ones they can conveniently overlook), so, as they observed the Gentiles’ lives, all they could see was all the broken rules. Sinners!

So it would seem to me verse 17 is asking the question, “For those of us who accept salvation by grace and thus cast aside the scrupulous rule-keeping – if others see us “breaking the rules” and conclude we have become “sinners,” is it then somehow true that Jesus and His teachings actually promote sin?? Of course Paul’s answer is “May it never be!” – his oft repeated “Mai Genoito!”

I think in the next line, he’s saying after having embraced salvation by grace and taught it to others, if he himself returned to justification by law-keeping, that would in fact make him a trespasser. Of course the implication is that is exactly what Peter was doing.

And then he goes on to explain what Law-keepers cannot understand: “… through the Law I died to the Law that I might live to God”.   In “through the Law, I died to the Law,” I think what he means is that the Law did its job of condemning him and having realized its hopelessness, he turned to the only possible answer, justification by faith, apart from that Law. But note that justification by faith was not simply a way to escape condemnation. He does not say, “… through the Law I died to the Law that I might not be condemned.” He also doesn’t say, “… through the Law I died to the Law that I might live a lawless life.” Note again what he does say: “… through the Law I died to the Law that I might live to God”.  That I might live to God. This is what rule-keepers cannot understand. The issue isn’t rule-keeping or not. The issue is “living to God.” It is a relationship.

As I pointed out above, Jesus called the scrupulous rule-keeping Pharisees a “wicked and adulterous generation.” Like all rule-keepers of every age, the Pharisees conveniently picked which rules they needed to follow and which they could conveniently overlook. I have observed myself that some of the staunchest rule-keepers in the church today actually live unbelievably godless lives behind the scenes. That is why so many supposedly “fundamentalist” preachers and evangelists go down in immorality. Like the Pharisees, they put on a good face of rule-keeping, while having affairs and committing other acts of immorality, greed, deceit, and cruelty. Rule-keeping simply breeds rule- management.

Real justification by faith throws itself into the arms of Jesus and leaves a person not caring about “the rules” but rather in love with the God Who has saved them. They actually put aside rule-keeping “that I might live to God.” And, again, here is what rule-keepers cannot understand: living to God, living in love with Him, doesn’t make me go wild in immorality. I love Him. Why would I want to do things that displease Him? Isn’t that true in any love relationship? A man marries his wife and soon discovers there are things that displease her – like taking his shower in the morning. She doesn’t like it. She doesn’t like to sleep with a “dirty” man. So what does he do? He starts showering in the evening. Why? Because that is a new rule he has to keep? No. It has nothing to do with rules. He loves her. It pains him to see her displeased. He learns to call when he’ll be home late, put his clothes in the hamper, wipe his feet at the door, help her with the dishes, etc., etc. and why? Because he loves her. It’s not about rule-keeping. It’s about love. And so it is with any love relationship and so it is with God.

Again, rule-keepers cannot understand this. This is why those justified by faith still talk about “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ” (Rom 8:2) and the “perfect law of liberty” (James 1:25) and why we can say, “I delight in the Law of God in my inner man” (Rom 7:22). This is why Paul can say, “Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:14).

As Paul says in I Tim 1:9, “Laws are for law-breakers.” A person who loves has risen to a far higher standard than “rules.” A person who loves sees the heart of the loved one. They see the goals. Then they don’t need “rules” because their heart already wishes to live pleasing their loved one. That is in part why Jesus can tell us (those justified by faith) that the entire Law can be summed up in just two commands, “Love God and love others.” A person who genuinely loves doesn’t need “rules.” Paul will go on to say this same thing later in Galatians, listing the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and then say, “Against such things there is no law” (5:22,23). You can’t make enough rules to produce love and joy and peace. Those are the blessings of living a love-life.

Once again, Sola Fide is not the “preferred method” of justification because it “works” or because it is the only alternative to law-keeping. Sola Fide is the method of salvation which God provided and it is far, far better than rule-keeping because it raises its people to the much higher standard of love. As Paul says to us in Romans,

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. ⁹ The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{] 10} Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Peter, in his duplicity, was throwing all of this away. No wonder Paul withstood him to his face!

God help us all to see past our propensity for rule-keeping and help us to instead genuinely live a life of love.

What if everybody did?

Galatians 2:17-19 – “Somewhat Obscure?”

 Once again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁷But if we ourselves are also found [to be] sinners [while] seeking to be justified in Christ, then [is] Christ a servant of sin? May it never be! ¹⁸For if I am building again those things which I destroyed, I am presenting myself [to be] a trespasser, ¹⁹for through the Law I died to the Law that I might live to God.

I find the logic and logical flow of this passage somewhat elusive. Interestingly, Barnes says, “The connection here is not very clear, and the sense of the verse is somewhat obscure.” It’s always nice to know someone else feels the same! Even Eadie calls it a “difficult verse,” and goes on to say, “The structure of the verse … prevents it from being well rendered into English …”

This definitely happens from time to time in the Bible. As I’ve studied along verse by verse down through the years, there have definitely been passages like this where I can translate the words, diagram the grammatical structure, read it over and over, and yet still struggle to follow its logic.

Why does this happen?

Sometimes I wonder if their minds were simply clearer 2000 years ago. As I read history, observe archaeological findings, and just all around in life I see a lot of other indications that this is so. We think because we have computers and technology that we are the intelligent ones and everyone who lived before us was ignorant. “Why, people 2000 years ago were practically cave men!” I don’t think that at all the case. What we have today is collective knowledge but I fear that we as individuals are far behind the mental acumen even of our grandparents, and how much more so the ancients? So it’s possible that is the problem with verses like this. They are simply speaking in a logic that was for them child’s play but which to us remains obscure.

It’s also possible it is simply a cultural difference. I have long realized from exegeting ancient languages (Hebrew and Greek, specifically) that a people’s language is actually a window into their culture. What they say and how they say it is sometimes distinct to them because it reflects what they find important (or not). It will always blow my mind to realize there is no real past, present, or future tense in Hebrew. We could not speak in English if we were unable to express whether we meant past, present, or future! Time means everything to us. It apparently meant nothing to them. That is an enormous cultural difference expressed through the very structure of a people’s language. When it comes to the passage before us, we can translate the words, study the grammatical structure, and do our best to translate it into English, but perhaps because we simply do not share their culture, we may be left a little confused as to what exactly they’re saying.

One last explanation would be the problem of context. We all know how a group of friends, classmates, co-workers, or perhaps a family can say things which they all understand but no one else does. “You had to be there.” “It’s an ‘inside joke.’” It’s true of history, jokes, catch phrases, etc. When people share a context they can begin to communicate in a sort of verbal shorthand. They don’t need to explain themselves. They all know what they mean. But if you come in as an outsider, you’re like, “Huh?” It’s very possible that is often a problem studying an ancient language. We simply do not share their context. For instance, Paul’s suggestion that justification by faith makes Christ the “minister of sin” could easily have been an assertion of the Judaizers. The Galatians would know that immediately. We’re just left with, “Huh?”

All of this does not mean we cannot understand the writings of ancients. Usually (as I think is true of the passage before us) their point is obvious enough. It’s just that it can be difficult to follow their logic line by line and word by word. Frankly, I think it just means we ought to study all the more carefully and humbly, realizing we are studying someone else’s language. …And we shouldn’t be surprised when, “The structure of the verse … prevents it from being well rendered into English …” It is simply a fact of working with someone else’s language and would be true whether what we’re studying is Scripture or any other ancient document or even something contemporary. Translation simply cannot always be a neat and tidy business.

Having said all this, I’ll come back and try to unravel this “difficult” passage in another blog.

Galatians 2:15,16 – Why Sola Fide?

Once again, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵We [being] Jews by nature and not out of sinners of Gentiles, ¹⁶knowing that a man is not being justified out of works of law but rather through faith of Jesus Christ, even we believe into Christ Jesus in order that we might be justified out of faith of Christ and not out of works of law, because all flesh will not be justified out of works of law.

In my last blog, I thought hard about this matter of justification. And it is a very important matter to think hard about. It has to be dealt with. My condemnation is very real. My heart knows it’s real. Somehow the guilt cannot go on. My heart knows it. And, as I discussed in that last blog, the matter is quite hopeless. I cannot undo my did. And I continue didding. What God offers us in Christ – a substitutionary atonement – is the only possible answer. And thank God for it! Fallen angels have no such offer. And Jesus didn’t die for raccoons. He died for people … and I just happen to be a people.

We might simply say that is why Sola Fide, why we can only be justified by faith – because we simply cannot be justified by Law. But, I think there is a much, much bigger picture that should be addressed. Here’s what I’m thinking: All of this talk of justification really leaves us specifically discussing our relationship to the Law. It is the Law that condemns us and we need a means of delivering us from that Law. Justification by faith allows us to be reconciled though we ourselves remain guilty.

That is all well and good.

But it is a cold, icy, judicial discussion. Very, very important, but cold and icy.

Here is another way of looking at it: Instead of focusing on our relationship to the Law, Sola Fide means we can (or should?) view the matter in relationship to God Himself.

What do I mean? I’m thinking that what we are dealing with is actually a question of how can we be in a good relationship with God? What the Judaizers are telling the Galatians is that the way to be in a good relationship with God is basically to “keep His rules.” “Here are the rules,” they tell the Galatians. “If you keep them, God will like you.” This is more and the same of the mistaken understanding the Jews had from the very beginning. Moses read them God’s Law and they replied, “All that the Lord commands us, we will do.” Do you see that, from the very beginning, they thought of God as their Judge? He gives His Law and you follow it. That’s how you have a relationship with Him. How well did they do? The words had barely left their mouth and they were worshipping a golden calf. It didn’t work. Their attempt to have a cold, icy, judicial relationship with God was a complete failure. And what was their answer? To do better. And what does God have to say about it? “Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness” (Romans 10:3).

They missed the whole point of the whole thing. Just like legalism does today and always will. What they should have said was “Woe is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lipss, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips! Woe is me! This Law is good. It is what I should do. But the good that I would do, I do not! What it tells me is that I already stand condemned! And to live longer will only add to my guilt! My sins are innumerable, like the hairs on my head! Who shall deliver me from this body of death???” They should have fallen on their faces and cried out to God, “Be merciful to me, a sinner!” they should have cast themselves on the mercy of God and begged Him in His love to come up with some solution … some solution other than “do better.” But they did not. And 1445 years later when Jesus came, they had not seen the failure of their plan, but rather had codified it into an elaborate system of works-righteousness. And what did that produce? Pharisees. Cold, cruel, self-righteous, judgmental, greedy, immoral, murderous Pharisees. And that approach is still producing the same Pharisees today. God has no interest in a legal relationship with people. Only the Law itself induces a legal relationship.

Had the Israeiltes realized the abject poverty of their souls, had they faced the reality that they could not keep the Law, they’d have had no choice but to throw themselves on the mercy of God. But does anyone else see what happens in that moment?? In that moment, what is a person doing??? In that moment of total spiritual poverty, they are ceasing to seek a relationship with the Law, a relationship with God through the Law, and suddenly they are dealing directly and personally with Him. Suddenly they must deal directly with Him. Suddenly they can no longer just glance at their “do and don’t” list and think that makes them “okay” with God. They need Him. Does that make sense?? I think this is stratospherically important. If we can be justified by the works of the Law, then we don’t really need a personal relationship with God, we just need His checklist, His rules. “There you go. Do this and live.” That doesn’t require any personal relationship and frankly doesn’t even invite it.

I would suggest this is an enormously important answer to “Why Sola Fide?” There is an alternative to the cold, icy impersonal relationship born of Law. It is THE alternative. It is what God actually wanted for Israel from the very beginning. It’s what He wants for all of us. How can we be in a good relationship with God? Amazingly, it is to have a relationship with Him. With Him. Not with His Law. With Him. Yes, His Law condemns us. But that’s not His fault. And it’s not because He wants it that way. The problem is our fault. His Law condemns us because we sinned. We’re the ones who destroyed the relationship. But this is the very wonder of grace – He’s still offering us a relationship! But there cannot be a relationship as long as we’re under Law. Law has already condemned us. More Law will only condemn us more. That is exactly why, “…now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known” (Romans 3:21). It is righeousness from God, from His hand, from His love, from the warmth of His open arms and affectionate embrace, from a personal relationship with Him! Sola Fide cuts off all other approaches to God and forces us into the only way – a personal relationship. It forces us to go directly to Him.

And that was the whole point from the whole beginning. God created us to know Him. He created Adam and then came to walk with him in the cool of the day! Sin made Adam and Eve “hide from the Lord God among the trees of the Garden.” When the Lord didn’t find them there, it was Him who called to them, “Where are you?” He was still seeking a personal relationship. And He still is today.

I believe that is one of the big “Why?’s” for Sola Fide, for why we can only be justified by faith in Christ. Justification by works invokes only an impersonal legal relationship with God through His Law. It misses the point. It misses Him. If it is Sola Fide, then I must appear at His feet, beg His mercy, and when a soul does throw itself at His feet, it finds Him for who He is – a warm, embracing, loving God, who did in fact make a way. He made a way that I could be justified apart from the works of the Law, which doesn’t work anyway. He made a way, the only way, a way that cost Him His own Son, that required the horrible death of Jesus on the Cross, a way born of love. And that is the whole point of the whole matter – the great God and His child wrapped in each others’ arms!

I hope all of this makes sense to someone else. The ultimate horror of legalism is not just that it doesn’t work, but that its pursuit hides from our eyes the whole point of all – to know Him, to love Him. Sola Fide draws us to God in a relationship that begins, grows, and ends in love.

I believe this is exactly why legalism breeds people who are judgmental, critical, and unloving while Sola Fide (truly embraced) breeds people like Jesus – people who humbly, kindly, generously love. When I know the kind, generous love of a personal Savior and know it more and more, how can it do less, as the years go by, than make me a kind, generous, loving person?

Thank God for Sola Fide. Not just because it’s the only way that works, but because it is born of love and breeds love.

What if everybody did?

Galatians 2:15,16 – Sola Fide

As usual, here is my fairly literal translation of these verses:

¹⁵We [being] Jews by nature and not out of sinners of Gentiles, ¹⁶knowing that a man is not being justified out of works of law but rather through faith of Jesus Christ, even we believe into Christ Jesus in order that we might be justified out of faith of Christ and not out of works of law, because all flesh will not be justified out of works of law.

Here we go. Here’s where Galatians joins Romans as cornerstones of the Protestant Reformation. Sola Fide. “By faith only.” This doctrine is so monumentally important, I feel like I should take off my shoes just to type about the truth of these two little verses.

Barnes does a really good job summing it all up and is worth a read on this passage.

What does it mean to be “justified?” Of course it means to be “declared right.” Anytime a person is accused of some fault or crime, there are only two ways he can be justified. He either must prove that, in fact, he is not guilty of that which he is accused, or he must demonstrate that somehow his actions were excusable. Either exonerating evidence is produced and all involved agree he did not commit the act – hence we have “justified” him – or we all say, “Yeah, normally that would be really bad, but under the circumstances …” Adam and Eve clearly could not deny their guilt so they sought to justify their sin by implicating someone else: “The woman you gave me, she …” and “The serpent deceived me …” Of course those defenses were just excuses and they yet remained accused before God’s tribunal that day.

So it is with us. We stand accused before the Law of God. “…for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Even without God’s Law, our very consciences accuse us, not to mention other people, civil law, not to be outdone by the merciless specter of regret that cruelly parades endlessly through our minds.

“Guilty!” the icy finger and cold hard eyes point at me. And what shall I answer? Not guilty? That would be laughable. Excused? Try that one all day every day but it doesn’t seem to work.

Promise to do better? Ah, now that one has captured the approving minds of the human race. It makes sense to us. We’ve come up with a “third” means of justification – I’ll do enough “good” to somehow “outweigh the bad” and then I’ll be okay. I’ll be justified.

Really? Under inspection, it isn’t even logical. How does doing anything change the fact of my guilt?

Did you do it?

Yes.

Then you are guilty.

But you don’t understand the circumstances.

Did you do it?

Yes.

Then you are guilty. Your excuses won’t work. You are guilty.

But I promise I’ll do better.

That is nice but it doesn’t change the fact of your guilt.

But I promise I’ll do a LOT better.

That’s nice but it doesn’t change the fact of your guilt.

Then what must I do to be justified?

Hopeless fool. There is nothing you can do to be justified. You.Are.Guilty. To the gallows you go.

And so it is with us. Though we run, hide, make excuses, contrive complicated defenses, sew fig leaves, feign righteousness, pretend that somehow time will erase our guilt, anaesthetize and medicate our consciousness, distract ourselves with pastimes, immerse ourselves in “church,” and more – yet that icy finger still points. Like the troubled sea which cannot rest, casting up mire and dirt -- There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. “For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”

It is the Law which condemns us. How could it ever justify us? Yet that is exactly the game-plan presented to the Galatians by the Judaizers. “Here is what you must do to be justified.” Do? I already did. That is exactly the problem. Doing now doesn’t undo my did.

Guilty.

If I travel north, eventually I’ll be going south. But how far east must I travel to begin going west? It will never happen. It is logically impossible. A hopelessly endless quest born of stupidity. So how much must I do to undo my did? It will never happen. It is logically impossible. A hopelessly endless …

Guilty.

For by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.

Finally, the accused soul falls to the floor sobbing uncontrollably, “Lost! I am lost forever. Judgment and hell stand ready to swallow me and my guilt forever!”

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been made known, … This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. …God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this…so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:21-26).

Someone else did my time. Someone else hanged in my stead. He took my place.

What?? How can this be??

Believe it. Simply believe it.

Sola Fide.

“… knowing that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

There is no other way. There can be no other way. “I am the Way,” says Jesus. “Have I been with you so long and still you don’t know Me?”

“Peace, peace, and I will heal them,” saith the Lord.

Sola Fide.