law

… the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. [1 Cor. 1:25]

I started listening to the the Epistle to the Romans on CD the other day while out walking. Normally I listen to music, but I had the overbearing sense I needed to listen to Romans in my re-interest in the Law and the Prophets. I listened over and over and it was as if the Lord amplified all the words. Quite often, too, the Lord will seem to highlight words that I should consider very strongly.

I began to consider how the Lord is neither as strict nor as loose as people make Him to be. Funny, but the Law was never meant to be legalistic. It is the story of God woven into the life of a people. Yet how many try to keep that law through their uncleanness [will post more on this later]. How ironic.

Some of the videos I’d watched that day referenced Messianic Jews and all the issues surrounding that idea in Israel. How interesting that the Messianics don’t consider themselves “Christians”. I thought of all the arguments, pro and con about Yeshua haMashiach. I think the whole world, Gentiles and Jews both, are “off” about Him. There’s a simple answer in the Cross that seems to escape everyone.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. [1 Cor. 1:18]

I fell asleep thinking about that. But before I did, I stuck the Romans CD in the clock radio/CD player next to my bed (another thing I never do). Part of the CD includes the last of Acts and the beginning of 1 Corinthians. Somehow during the night, it got stuck on a loop on 1 Corinthians 1. It played over and over and over. A particular verse got stuck in my dreams and I didn’t know it was from the player until waking.

1Cr 1:25 …the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

That “foolishness” is the power of the Cross mentioned in 1 Corinthians 18. When I woke up, I realized the player was on a loop and kept listening and listening, as if waiting for some magic to happen. Finally, I had to drag myself to work.

The other day I told a friend that I was trying to rid myself of the Greek mindset through which we view scriptures. I wondered later: What would be a better mindset? If it hadn’t been “Greek”, it would have been something else… What about the Jewish mindset? Maybe that was better? After all, God presented Himself to the Jews. But no! Here came God through a Jew later and they did not recognize the hour of their visitation! [Luke 19:44] Clearly, it doesn’t matter what our mindset is. Outside of our apprehension of the Cross, it’s wrong.

Jesus asked Peter [Matt. 16:18], “Who do men say that I am?” Peter told him, “Thou art the Christ, the son of the living God.” Jesus responded, “Flesh and blood has not shown you this, but my father which is in heaven…and upon this rock…”

Twice I have sensed a word of knowledge in a couple of weeks, and one of them came about while discussing these verses a couple of weeks ago. Some think the rock is the Pope (Peter) and some think it’s the confession. It’s not the Pope and it’s not the confession. It’s the “revelation”. The confession is an evidence. An unbeliever can confess from now till the cows come home and it means nothing. But revelation… God can build a lot on revelation. Revelation gets past the human mindset.

At work I opened my email and a friend had sent an article from a site that I read irregularly. I don’t actually like some of his extremism on the site, but the author hit the nail on the head today with an explanation of three mindsets mentioned in scripture and how they affect us today. I think this particular article explains a lot of what I have been describing. His article quotes the same verse from 1 Corinthians 1, as well.

It cannot be an accident that my CD player got stuck on that very chapter and that the man’s article dealt with the very things I’ve been thinking about. This happens to me a lot when the Lord is getting my attention about something. I knew something was up before this happened… Since posting the previous article, I suddenly experienced another sudden surge of weeping/ecstatic joy accompanied by an impending “celebratory” sense. As I read through Romans some things became more clear to me. It will take some more sorting to get them all out here. I am so excited about … I don’t know what…

I am well into the first volume of The Story of Christianity by Justo Gonzalez (San Francisco: Harper, 1984). On reading the preface, I knew I had found a man after my own heart, as his academic background spans at least two languages and broad cultures. When he mentioned the Inca Garcilaso and Ortega y Gasset, I thrilled to think that at long last I was dealing with an author able to distinguish between his cultural eyeglasses and his manuscripts. He did his honest best and I am the glad and grateful recipient.

I will be quoting liberally throughout the first few chapters of this book. This first volume has given me many of the answers I sought. Before getting started, I would like to point out my overall observation that Christianity started as a sect of Judaism, then spread to the Gentiles where it became enculturated with things having nothing to do with itself. It was captured by politics, greatly damaging its anima as it became redefined by the kingdoms of this world which had no legitimate claims on it. Yet some good, admittedly, was also accomplished at times.

Let’s think of the Gospel as a snapshot of God in Jesus Christ, which has then been framed in human culture and politics. It is the frame that offends so many — not the Christ of the photograph. I blame politics more than culture for the ills of the Church. Unlike some who seek to unify the Church by eradicating culture, I consider culture something to be embraced. It cannot define God for the entire world, as this is akin to creating a God who looks like ourselves and trying to force the world to bow to our image. Rather, culture directs the light of God through its own facets to its cultural members. Politics, on the other hand, tries to force cultural conformity between unlike peoples.

The Council of Jerusalem placed few restrictions upon the Gentile believers:

Act 15:20 … that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and [from] fornication, and [from] things strangled, and [from] blood.

Politics has further placed many burdens on the backs of the members of the Church. I believe, as I said elsewhere, that the conquest of civilization is one reason “church” has little relationship to the lives of many. It has given them many rules to be borne instead of principles to follow within the framework of culture. The Church fell into the same state as the Pharisees who Jesus took to task:

Luk 11:46 …Woe unto you also, [ye] lawyers! for ye lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.

Quoting liberally (as I prefer not to tamper with what has already been stated so well), Gonzalez says of church history:

There are episodes in the course of that history where it is difficult to see the action of the Holy Spirit. As our narrative unfolds, we shall find those who have used the faith of the church for their financial gain, or to increase their personal power. There will be others who will forget or twist the commandment of love, and will persecute their enemies with a vindictiveness unworthy of the name of Jesus. At other times it will appear to many of us that the church has forsaken the biblical faith, and some will even doubt that such a church can truly be called “Christian.” At such points in our narrative, it may be well to remember two things.

The first of these is that, while this narrative is the history of the deeds of the Spirit, it is the history of those deeds through sinners such as us. This is clear as early as New Testament times, where Peter, Paul, and the rest are depicted both as people of faith and as sinners. And, if that example is not sufficiently stark, it should suffice to take another look at the “saints” to whom Paul addresses his first Epistle to the Corinthians!

The second is that it has been through those sinners and that church — and only through them — that the biblical message has come to us. Even in the darkest times in the life of the church, there were those Christians who loved, studied, kept, and copied the Scriptures, and thus bequeathed them to us. [p. xvi]

Gonzalez counts the nameless as well as known figures like Martin Luther and Anselm of Canterbury among the many “diverse and even contradictory witnesses” who formed our history.

The notion that we read the New Testament exactly as the early Christians did, without any weight of tradition coloring our interpretation, is an illusion. It is also a dangerous illusion, for it tends to absolutize our interpretation, confusing it with the Word of God.

One way in which we can avoid this danger is to know the past that colors our vision. A person wearing tinted glasses can avoid the conclusion that the entire world is tinted only by being conscious of the glasses themselves. Likewise, if we are to break away free from an undue weight of tradition, we must begin by understanding what that tradition is, how we came to be where we are, and how particular elements in our past color our view of the present. It is then that we are free to choose which elements in the past — and in the present — we wish to reject, and which we will affirm. [p. xvii]

I look forward to sharing some of the things I have highlighted from Gonzalez’ coverage of the first centuries of the church. Many of these things have illuminated my own understanding of where I have been and where I want to go from here. I find that — yes, I do have a culture — admittedly far removed from its place of origin to another setting — which I now feel free to embrace as an authentic expression of the faith. At the same time, the culture itself is not the faith and I am free to affirm those who express the faith in other ways without necessarily being diminished or disturbing my own conscience about it. For a perfectionist like myself, I would call that growth.

Act 17:27 That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Imagine that a first-century Jew lived in Spain and was righteous before God. During this person’s life Christ was crucified, buried, and rose again but the person died before any missionaries could tell him what happened. He was consigned to hell in spite of being a true worshiper of God. Do you see the implications here? It makes no sense.

A lady forwarded me a copy of John Fenn’s “Weekly Thoughts” for Feb. 14, 2009. If you don’t know who John Fenn is, technically, neither do I. I think he must be from some Charismatic offshoot, but I have been out of that loop for a long time. He writes things that consistently ring true with me, though.

He covered illogical assumptions about our on-again/off-again salvation as described above and balanced those against the opposite extreme of universalism, so popular today. He reveals that God is marvelously consistent, not given to some trickery that leaves us dangling in mid-air. Fenn does a better job than I could probably do, so I take a lot of license in quoting so liberally from his e-newsletter. [See his entire thought here .] It is fantastic.

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FENN’S E-NEWSLETTER (excerpt):

… The subject of Universalism is important to have settled in your heart because our society is becoming more and more “if you’re a spiritual person you’re OK”, and if you don’t know what the Bible says you could end up talking in circles with someone, or worse yet, giving them incorrect advice on eternity. …

Unfinished business
…
Paul makes an interesting statement in Romans 5:12-14 where he says death came into the world by sin, and sin has been passed to all men for all have sinned, then he says in verse 13: “For until the law (Moses’ law) sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed (no account is kept) when there is no law.”

Previously in Romans 4:15b he said “”where no law is, there is no transgression.” …

I’ve long been fascinated by Romans 1: 14-16: “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law (non Jewish people groups who are ignorant of God’s requirements), do “by nature” the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: Which “show the work of the law written in their hearts”, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another: (Gk interlinear) This will take place in the day God will judge the secrets of men’s hearts.

They are a law to themselves not as an island doing whatever they want, but demonstrating “the work of” God’s law in their hearts, their actions and lifestyle bound by that internal law, and that’s how (Paul says) they will be judged.

What’s interesting is that Hebrews 10:15-17 says God has written his law in our hearts and minds – the born again experience – and here Paul is saying there are people ignorant of God in the detail we know him, yet worship him and follow his law which God wrote in their hearts.

An example
I’ve mentioned in this space before about the Choco Indians of Panama, who I’ve had the pleasure of spending some time among. When missionary friends told them of Jesus many of the Choco’s willingly received Jesus immediately. This is because in their folklore when they became a distinct people, a being in white appeared to their forefathers and told them to worship the God who created the forest and gave them good things to eat, and to love and do good to one another. So the message of the gospel neatly fit, and they recognized that being to have been an angel.

What’s really neat is that for those who followed those instructions through the centuries, even into the 1990’s when I met them, their tribal culture was led by unseen hand in many scriptural areas. This included the family unit and order, husbands laying down their lives for their wives and honoring each other, monogamous marriage, and many other things – all without having a chapter and verse to read nor ever having heard of Jesus. Many expressed love for the Creator, but they didn’t know His name.

They had God’s law written on their hearts, which accused or excused them until they heard of Jesus, and this is how they will be judged when the secrets of hearts are revealed. …

Many Native American tribes have in their history the pure worship of the Great Spirit, before darker spiritual things set in, similar in some ways to the Choco’s of Panama.

If you study world cultures you’ll find that all ancient cultures had the basic elements in place, including judgement, eternity, heaven and hell, a basic moral law to follow, and so forth. The cultures who had all these elements range from ancient China to Babylonia to Egypt and Africa, to the Incas, and Mayans. All were aware of the basic core eternal realities as set forth in the Bible long before it was written.

But notice that within Egypt’s understanding of the above, God sent first Abraham and later Joseph to bring revelation of the True God. To Babylon He sent Daniel, Esther, and others. But it is clear God reveals Himself more fully to those who are truly searching. Paul said in Acts 17:27 that God spread mankind across the world “that they should seek the Lord; if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us…”

He meets the desire with opportunity. When there is opportunity to reveal Himself to ignorant people groups, God has a record of moving His people to them to bring that revelation. Thus the continued need for people to ‘go into all the world’ to bring life to whole nations. …

In Paul’s day
Do you realize where Paul traveled? We know Jerusalem and Damascus, and we know of his journeys throughout what is now Turkey, but did you know he said he had “fully preached the Gospel of Christ” in Illyricum, which is modern Albania stretching to Croatia, and had plans to go to Spain. (Romans 15:19, 24)

In all the countries he preached Christ that we have recorded in Acts, in all the religions he encountered, at no point did he tell them they were just fine as they were, that they would all be reconciled one day to God.

His message was consistent, that the times of ignorance God overlooked, but he now commands repentance. We could do mental gymnastics at this point. There is provision for those who don’t know of the historical Jesus, but know God only through nature and do the things God requires, God bearing them witness by putting his law in their hearts, and due to that ignorance that is how they will be judged. But at the same time when Paul brought the message of Jesus to them, they now became accountable for this sins, their ‘covering’ of ignorance dissolving as they learn that Jesus brings eternal life.

Some would say it would be better for them never to have heard if they could stay in ignorance and end up in heaven, but that misses the point. If they already know God through nature and are doing that things God requires because He put His law in their hearts, when they hear His name is Jesus they will receive him like the Choco’s did. That of course is the opposite course of action the people in Romans 1 took “who did not like to retain God in their knowledge” so their heart was darkened. …

If all go to heaven except the most evil, then why did these people need to hear of Jesus, and why is God bringing Buddhists and Muslims to Him through the knowledge of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? Why not just let them be if heaven is their ultimate destination?

Indeed, why did Jesus issue the Great Commission if all religions lead to Jesus and ultimate reconciliation? …

Universalism just doesn’t stand the test of the Word and what God is doing in the world today. Yes babies who die go to heaven. And yes there seems to be or has been provision for the truly ignorant. But all over the world people of all religions, especially those where missionaries and Christians are not allowed, are having Jesus appear to them in dreams and visions as they seek to know the True God. He is not telling them to go on in their religion, rather that “He” is the way, the truth, and the life. Amen!

Some of my thoughts to stir your thoughts,
Blessings,
John Fenn

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Check out his two sites: Interactive Faith Home and Church Without Walls International.