Skip to main content

Just As It Has Been From The Beginning

           Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through
righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:18-21)
Sometimes, people talk as if God sat down one day and brainstormed on the question of “What rules can we give mankind about how they should live? What hoops can we make them jump through for our entertainment and their misery?” They seem to assume that the rules are arbitrary and capricious. Perhaps this is because they are used to cobbling together pieces of worldview that don’t go together or don’t work. They don’t expect the universe to be a cohesive whole.
          Yesterday, I wrote about a time before the Law was given. During this time, man was shown that he did achieve righteousness left to himself and his own ideas. The great flood showed that prehistoric postmodernism didn’t bring about Heaven-on-Earth. I believe it brought the world to the point where if God didn’t send the judgement of the flood, no life would now exist.
          After the flood, God implemented the second stage of His plan. He gave the Law through Moses in order to show man that even with rules in writing, man couldn’t get it right. Righteousness could not be achieved through our own consciences, or by keeping the Law. All the Law did was make it clearer how sinful we are. Righteousness, rightness with God, can only be achieved by God and granted as a gift to those who are not God – just as it has been from the beginning. That was made possibly through the third stage of His plan - the sacrifice of His Son.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

God's Servants

                 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing. Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor. (Romans 13:6-7) Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2) We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. (Preamble to the Declaration of Independence) This isn’t one of my favorite passages. I don’t consider myself good at most “people things,” and honor and respect are people things. I find it difficult to use honorifics. I’ll gladly refer to Mr. Trump, but struggle with President Trump. It has no...
Post a Comment
Read more