Skip to main content

Morality From Adam To Moses


Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned— To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come. (Romans 5:12-14)
         This is one of those passages that people much wiser than I are reluctant to address. I share that reluctance, but it’s the next passage, so I feel obligated to at least try. What we know from the first three chapters of Romans is that God is sufficiently evident in the universe for people to understand at least a little about Him. We recognize that there are things we should do that we don’t, and things that we don’t do that we should, even without a law being stated. We do to others as we don’t want them to do to us, and we don’t do to others as we want them to do to us. We want to be “like God,” generally meaning we want to take His place. We know, even if no one has told us “Thou shalt not….”
       There are natural penalties for sin. Death is the greatest of them, and death reigned during the time when there was no law, between Adam and Moses. What was lacking before Moses wasn’t the knowledge that judgment was deserved. I have been told that sin is an archery term. It is the distance between the bull’s eye and where the arrow strikes. Before Moses, people knew they weren’t hitting the bull’s eye. They just didn’t know for sure where the bull’s eye was or how small it was. Read Job and Genesis. They tell about that time. God was not unknown. Morality existed, and righteousness was by faith, just as it is now.

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