wait for the LORD

"Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD." - Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry." - Psalm 40:1 (NIV)

"I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." - Psalm 130:5-6 (NIV)

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord
We will wait upon the Lord

Our God, You reign forever
Our hope, our strong deliverer

You are the everlasting God, the everlasting God
You do not faint, You won't grow weary
You're the defender of the weak
You comfort those in need
You lift us up on wings like eagles

"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." - Isaiah 40:28-31 (NIV)

Rawls' Vision vs Paul's Vision

The Role of Justice

Justice is the first virtue of social institutions, as truth is of systems of thought. A theory however elegant and economical must be rejected or revised if it is untrue; likewise laws and institutions no matter how efficient and well-arranged must be reformed or abolished if they are unjust. Each person possesses an inviolability founded on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole cannot override. For this reason justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is made right by a greater good shared by others. It does not allow that the sacrifices imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of advantages enjoyed by many.

Therefore in a just society the liberties of equal citizenship are taken as settled; the rights secured by justice are not subject to political bargaining or to the calculus of social interests. The only thing that permits us to acquiesce in an erroneous theory is the lack of a better one; analogously, an injustice is tolerable only when it is necessary to avoid an even greater injustice. Being first virtues of human activities, truth and justice are uncompromising.

- John Rawls, A Theory of Justice

God's Righteous Judgment

You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realising that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honour and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favouritism.

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.

- The Apostle Paul, Romans 2:1-16 (NIV)

yes, justice is about what is right. but justice is not about our rights. justice is about God putting the world to rights.

"Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?" - Genesis 18:25b (NIV)

two sides of the coin

"To man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue." - Proverbs 16:1 (NIV)

"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps." - Proverbs 16:9 (NIV)

"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." - Proverbs 16:33 (NIV)

more on the point of justification

1 Corinthians 15 reads like a philosophy essay, complete with conditionals, premises and conclusions - and a couple of quotes from the Old Testament for good measure. the point of this chapter is that justification lies in the resurrection of the Son of God.

"For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men." - 1 Corinthians 15:16-19 (NIV)

of course, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. indeed, Jesus died on the cross as a penal substitute for our sins. but Paul does not say that God declares Jesus (and those who are in Him) righteous on the cross. just because Jesus died on the cross for our sins does not mean that He has overcome sin. it merely means that He has paid the price for sin. in fact, 'if Christ [has died but] has not been raised, [our] faith is futile; [we] are still in [our] sins' (1 Corinthians 15:17, NIV).

rather, Paul says that God 'gives us the victory [over death] through our Lord Jesus Christ' (1 Corinthians 15:57, NIV) - who 'has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep' (1 Corinthians 15:20, NIV). in other words, God declares Jesus (and those who are in Him) righteous in the resurrection.

more precisely, God declares Jesus righteous in His resurrection, and we are assured that God will declare us (who are in Christ) righteous in our resurrection. to this end, justification in the present is based on God’s past accomplishment in the Messiah, and anticipates the future verdict.

links: three kinds of justification (7 mar 09), the point of justification (14 apr 09)

the way of wisdom

1. Where God commands, we must obey.

2. Where there is no command, God gives us freedom (and responsibility) to choose.

3. Where there is no command, God gives us wisdom to choose.

4. When we have chosen what is moral and wise, we must trust the sovereign God to work all the details together for good.

- Garry Friesen, Decision Making and the Will of God

open doors

if God closes a door, no one can open it. if God opens a door, no one can close it.

"From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they stayed there a long time with the disciples." - Acts 14:26-28 (NIV)

"After I go through Macedonia, I will come to you - for I will be going through Macedonia. Perhaps I will stay with you awhile, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now and make only a passing visit; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me." - 1 Corinthians 16:5-9 (NIV)

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." - Colossians 4:2-6 (NIV)

links: more on open doors (22 jul 09), even more on open doors (15 aug 09)

1 Corinthians 7

There is a tendency amongst the unmarried to assume that the grass is greener on the married side of the fence, and indeed it should be since God has made us for marriage. But the world is a fallen and sinful place and Christians share the effects of this in the same way as others. As a result, there are not only unhappily single people but unhappily married people...

Naturally, all this should make us think very carefully about marriage! In this respect, surely the only thing worse than being unhappily single is being unhappily married. We should 'look before we leap' and we should remember that where marriage is concerned there is no reserve parachute!

- John Richardson, God, Sex and Marriage

N.T. Wright on The Colbert Report

thoughts on the new perspective

In my early days of research, before Sanders had published Paul and Palestinian Judaism in 1977 and long before Dunn coined the phrase 'The New Perspective on Paul', I was puzzled by one exegetical issue in particular, which I here oversimplify for the sake of summary. If I read Paul in the then standard Lutheran way, Galatians made plenty of sense, but I had to fudge (as I could see dozens of writers fudging) the positive statements about the Law in Romans. If I read Paul in the Reformed way of which, for me, Charles Cranfield remains the supreme exegetical exemplar, Romans made a lot of sense, but I had to fudge (as I could see Cranfield fudging) the negative statements about the Law in Galatians. For me then and now, if I had to choose between Luther and Calvin I would always take Calvin, whether on the Law or (for that matter) the Eucharist. But as I struggled this way and that with the Greek text of Romans and Galatians, it dawned on me, I think in 1976, that a different solution was possible.

In Romans 10:3 Paul, writing about his fellow Jews, declares that they are ignorant of the righteousness of God, and are seeking to establish 'their own righteousness'. The wider context, not least 9:30-33, deals with the respective positions of Jews and Gentiles within God's purposes - and with a lot more besides, of course, but not least that. Supposing, I thought, Paul meant 'seeking to establish their own righteousness', not in the sense of a moral status based on the performance of Torah and the consequent accumulation of a treasury of merit, but an ethnic status based on the possession of Torah as the sign of automatic covenant membership? I saw at once that this would make excellent sense of Romans 9 and 10, and would enable the positive statements about the Law throughout Romans to be given full weight while making it clear that this kind of use of Torah, as an ethnic talisman, was an abuse. I sat up in bed that night reading through Galatians and saw that at point after point this way of looking at Paul would make much better sense of Galatians, too, than either the standard post-Luther readings or the attempted Reformed ones.

- N.T. Wright, New Perspectives on Paul (10th Edinburgh Dogmatics Conference 2003)

righteousness

i think the new perspective is right to point out that righteousness, at least in some cases, does not primarily refer to moral perfection but to covenant faithfulness. of course, this does not undermine the fact that Jesus is morally perfect. it simply highlights that Jesus is the faithful Israelite, the Messiah, the promised seed through whom God would put the world to rights.

on a related note, Jesus' righteousness is imputed to us in the sense that we are counted righteous in Him. Jesus' righteousness is not imputed to us in the sense that Jesus transfers His righteousness to us. as N.T. Wright puts it, 'righteousness is not an object, a substance or a gas which can be passed across the courtroom'.

when a wife uses her husband's credit card, it is not that she now uses it in her name; it is that she uses it in his name. likewise, when a husband uses his wife's credit card, it is not that he now uses it in his name; it is that he uses it in her name. so it is with imputed righteousness - when we appropriate Jesus' righteousness by the instrument of faith, it is not that we are now counted righteous in ourselves; it is that we are counted righteous in Him.

works of the law

i think the new perspective is also right to point out that works of the law, at least in some cases, do not refer to moral deeds but to ethnic marks. of course, this does not undermine the fact that justification is not by works of the law. it simply highlights that Paul is not against justification by works per se, but against justification by works of the law.

the point of justification

the point of justification is that the point at which justification occurs is not the cross but the resurrection. what happened on the cross is not the defeat of death. what happened on the cross is the description of death. on the other hand, what happened in the resurrection is the defeat of death. of course, this does not undermine the fact that Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

justification does not lie in the cross. in fact, that Jesus died on the cross for our sins is the greatest injustice in history.

"One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."" - Luke 23:39-41 (NIV)

rather, justification lies in the resurrection. the resurrection is not merely the demonstration of God's power, but more importantly the declaration of Jesus' righteousness. given that 'the wages of sin is death' (Romans 6:23, NIV), it is logically impossible for God - in His justice - to not execute capital punishment on Israel (for which Jesus is a penal substitute).

at the same time, given that 'the wages of sin is death' (Romans 6:23, NIV), it is also logically impossible for God - in His justice - to not raise Jesus, 'who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin' (Hebrews 4:15b, NIV), from the dead. to this end, God is 'just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus' (Romans 3:26, NIV).

"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him." - Acts 2:22-24 (NIV)

in other words, we are not justified because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. if anything, we are doubly condemned (once for sin in general and again for crucifying the Messiah in particular) because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. rather, we are justified because God raised Jesus from the dead, thereby declaring Jesus (and those who are in Him) righteous.

"The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness - for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification." - Romans 4:23-25 (NIV)

links: three kinds of justification (7 mar 09), more on the point of justification (21 apr 09)