All of us live for purpose, which according to some writers is a struggle when people retire, because what they had for a purpose, a vocation or a career has now stopped and they struggle with how to live. This was pointed out in the movie, “The Intern”, where Robert De Niro’s character struggled with purpose after retiring and led him back to work as an intern in a start up company. King Solomon the wealthy, wise and illustrious king of ancient Israel struggled with the same issue of purpose in life. He sought it in many forms: the acquisition of wisdom, plunging into self-indulgence, the pursuit of knowledge, the vanity of vocation and the accumulation of wealth and honor all left him with emptiness. All Solomon could offer to mankind was to fear and remember God, while rejoicing in the work God gave to do.
As wise as Solomon was, even his solution to the purpose of life, seems rather hollow. Modern man also struggles with the same issues. Many seek the same things Solomon found lacking, others turn to ideologies religious and otherwise. In the last several centuries, some dedicated themselves to ideologies and social issues seeking to make the world a better place, but often those pursuits led to conflicts as one ideology fought with another. The pursuit of “making the world a better place” often leads to fatigue and disillusionment, because the goal never seems to be attained. There is always more that could be done while society’s problems remain, even with technological advances that make life more comfortable.
So what is the answer? One man took a very different approach, while everyone else in modern society teaches to do more, to work more efficiently, to be more productive in order to accomplish more, Jesus offers a different way. After Jesus made a startling claim, one that no other man has made; he alone truly knows God the Father. Then Jesus declared to his followers to come to him all who labor and are heavy-laden and he will give them rest. Coming to Jesus, they are to take up his yoke and learn from him, because he is gentle and humble. In this way, they will find what nothing else, not even Solomon or the pursuit of ideologies can offer, rest for their souls (See Matthew 11:25-30). Through Jesus we learn that the purpose in life is not necessarily to make the world a better place, but to learn to know God, who is the only one who truly knows how to make the world a better place. Through Jesus, not only does the world become a better place, but those coming to know God through him also find true and complete rest.
Ironically there are some from church history who are remembered not only by what they did and taught, but more so by how they died. One such individual was a man and church leader, who had learned of Jesus through the apostle John and eventually became the leader of the church of Smyrna in Asia Minor during the early decades of the second century. He died as a martyr in 155 AD at the age of 85 or 86. Today he is considered a saint by the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican Churches.
From the account of Polycarp’s death we get a glimpse of the life and faith of early church leaders. We know of Polycarp through two primary sources, his letter to the Philippians that touched on some of the same themes as Paul’s letter to the same church. The other source is known as the Martyrdom of Polycarp, written from the church of Smyrna to other churches to communicate what had happened to Polycarp.
During the persecution of some Christians at Smyrna, those martyred exhibited great peace and patience as they suffered, moving some of the observers to tears and conversion to Jesus. The majority, however, were enraged and called for the death of Polycarp, the leader of the church in Smyrna. When Polycarp learned that the officials, commanded by a man named Herod, were looking for him, he desired to remain in the city, but his friends convinced him to depart and stay at a farm a short distance away . There he prayed for the churches. Having fallen into a trance, he saw his pillow engulfed in flames and realized he would be burned alive. Departing to yet another farm, he remained there until the officials found him after having tortured two boys who had served Polycarp.
Finding Polycarp in a bed upstairs, the officials were surprised by his age. Polycarp first commanded that food and drink be provided for the officials, then requested that he be allowed to pray for an hour, which was granted. Polycarp then prayed for two. Witnessing this, some repented for having come against such a venerable old man. Arriving in the city, Polycarp was met by Herod and his father Nicetes, who had him join them in their carriage. There they tried to persuade him to declare Caesar as Lord and offer incense, but Polycarp refused. After threatening him, they made get out of the carriage and walk to the stadium as the crowd roared. As he entered he heard a voice tell him to be strong and be the man. The Christians with Polycarp also heard the voice, but did not know its source. The presiding Proconsul urged Polycarp to confess Caesar and declare away with the atheists. In response Polycarp looked at the crowd and declared “Away with the Atheists”. At the persistence of the Proconsul, Polycarp responded: “Fourscore and six years have I been His servant, and He hath done me no wrong. How then can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Polycarp offered to make an explanation of his faith, but the Proconsul told him to make his appeal to the crowd, to which Polycarp explained that the Proconsul being a government official was worthy of an explanation, but the crowd not so. Upon Polycarp’s refusal to confess Caesar, he threatened him with wild beasts, but Polycarp told him to bring them on. Then he threatened him with fire, but Polycarp responded that he only had fire that burned for a season but was ignorant of the eternal fire of judgment.
Declaring to the crowd that Polycarp had confessed to being a Christian, the crowd called for the lion, but the Proconsul declared that this would not be lawful since he had already closed the games. Then they called for Polycarp to be burned alive in accordance to the vision Polycarp had before. After building the pile of wood, they desired to nail Polycarp to it, but he told them that God would give him grace to endure the flames and remain in the fire, so they tied him to it. Then Polycarp prayed thanking God for the honor to be counted among the martyrs and asking to be received into His presence. After lighting the fire, the aroma of baked bread filled the arena, not the smell of burning flesh, but the fire could not kill him, reminiscent of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the Old Testament, so the executioner was sent in to kill Polycarp with a dagger. When he did so a dove flew out and blood came out which extinguished the fire. When the Christians came to claim Polycarp’s body, the Jews opposed them and declared that they would begin worshiping Polycarp as they did Christ. Therefore the Proconsul had Polycarp’s body burned according to the Roman custom. Afterwards the Christians came and gathered his bones and put them in a suitable place.
Due to his martyrdom, Polycarp became even more well-known than other martyrs. Polycarp’s and others willingness to be martyred may seem strange to us who do not face the same trials that they did, but it gives us a glimpse into how precious they understood following Jesus. They saw it as an honor and privilege to lay their life down for Jesus. Those ancient believers would probably quite agree with the words of a 20th Century martyr, Jim Eliot, who wrote in his journal: “He is no fool, who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose”. Throughout the history of the church the death of martyrs has not accomplished what their murderers desired, but actually the opposite. Historically, martyrs have inspired others to seek out Jesus and follow him. Their example gives yet another confirmation of Jesus’ words to his disciples, not to fear those who can only kill the body, but fear the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell (Matthew 10:28).
From my recent reading on Quantum Physics, I am learning about the unique properties of light and its impact upon time and our existence. Not surprisingly, light is also significant within Scripture. In the first words of Genesis, the first book of the Old Testament, we read God saying: “’Let there be light’ and there was light. And God saw that it was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.” (Genesis 1:3-5 ESV) The first thing that God created was light, not sources of light, which he created later on the fourth day; he created light, which also is related to time, because light defined a day.
In the New Testament, we gather more information about light. According to John, light has also become a person. That light is identified as being the Word, who was with God and who was God in the beginning. Through this person all things came into being; he is the source of life and that life was the light of all men, which shines in the darkness. This being whom John calls the Word is life and light became a person known as Jesus. (John 1:1-18) Jesus declared himself to be the light of the world, promising that whoever follows him will not walk in darkness, but has the light of life.
In the early 20th century as physicists were making new and unprecedented discoveries, Albert Einstein wrote about relativity and demonstrated that time is not constant, but is rather related to the speed an objecttt is traveling. It is also related to the observer. Einstein explained that the faster an object travels the slower time passes. On earth we do not travel fast enough to notice, although Einstein did give an illustration. In the case of a person standing still and bouncing a ball up and down, the ball travels a path of straight down and straight back up. However, if a person were to observe another person on a train passing by who is also bouncing a ball up and down, he would see that the ball does not travel straight up and down, but takes a “V” shaped path down and up, because while the person bouncing the ball is standing still the train is moving forward so that the ball also is moving forward on its path down and back up. In other words, the ball on the train is actually traveling further than the ball that is bounced standing still in the same amount of time. Einstein went on to explain that the closer an object travels to the speed of light the slower time passes. Einstein’s discoveries demonstrated a connection between light and time, while light has a constant speed, time is relative to the speed at which an object travels. Theoretically time stops at the speed of light or we might say is timeless. In other words, we might say that light is the lord of time. Jesus being the light of the world, is Lord over all and existing in a dimension outside of time.
Also discovered during that same time period is that light sometimes functions as a particle and at other times functions as a wave so that it is difficult to define what exactly it is. Curiously, Jesus is also hard to define. He is both God and man. Theologians struggled to explain him in the early centuries. The Council of Nicea affirmed that he was God, not a special created being as the Gnostics and later Arius taught. However, that did not end the debate about Jesus or answer the question of how one person could possess two natures, divine and human. Really that question has never been answered. One hundred years after Nicea at The Council of Chalcedon (451 AD) which defined Christ’s nature by what it is not. Jesus Christ’s dual nature was affirmed to be both fullyhuman and fully divine existing in one person without confusion, change, division or separation. Curiously the nature of Jesus and the nature of light are strangely similar both having two components whose interaction are not fully understood or explained.
When we speak of Jesus as the light of the world, we often think of him in terms of illuminating humanity. While this is true it is also possible that the discovery of physicists and the emergence of Quantum Physics are also instructive on who Jesus is as well. Jesus as light of the world not only illuminates humanity, he is also Lord over time and exists outside of time. The discoveries regarding light made by 20th century physicists illustrate the truth of Scripture and also help understand what Paul wrote to the Colossians when he declared that Jesus sustains all of creation. Paul wrote about Jesus: “And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together”. (Colossians 1:17). Over the last several hundred years and particularly the last hundred the view has been taught that science and theology oppose one another, that faith in God and in Jesus cannot be reconciled with science. However the discoveries of the last 100 years indicate that science and theology have a lot in common if we just have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.
Recently I was reading John Polkinghorne’s book, “Quantum Physics and Theology”, in which he made the point that the resurrection of Jesus was the most significant event in human history . That event continues to impact the world to this day. Along with that event another subsequent event ignited that transformation that the world was to see.
The death of Jesus crushed the hopes and dreams of his followers, particularly the twelve he had appointed as apostles. So much so that when the women came to announce that Jesus’ tomb was empty and angels had appeared to them announcing that Jesus was alive, they didn’t believe them. Peter and John ran to the tomb to confirm that it was empty. John seemed to have some awareness of what had happened but Peter remained confused. Two other followers of Jesus left Jerusalem that day to walk to Emmaus. During their journey they were joined by another, who, unknown to them, was Jesus. At their destination and when they were about to eat, they recognized him; it was Jesus. Excited, they returned to Jerusalem to tell the others, who had already seen Jesus. Their despair had turned to joy, but they still struggled with doubt and fear during the forty days that Jesus remained on earth and appeared to them numerous times. During that time, Jesus informed them that they were to remain in Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5). Even so, Matthew recorded that at Jesus’ ascension into heaven some still doubted (Matthew 28:17). Even after seeing Jesus, spending time with him, receiving instruction from him, some doubted. How could such a group of individuals, some of whom struggled with what they had experienced, go out and initiate a movement that changed the world? The writer and historian Luke, explains what happened. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, and fifty days after he rose from the dead, the festival Pentecost was celebrated in Jerusalem. Because of that festival all of Jesus’ followers were gathered together in one place. Then, Luke tells us, a sound from heaven came, like a mighty rushing wind, which filled the house where they were. Tongues of fire appeared and rested on each one of them. Then they began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2:1-4). There was such a commotion that their neighbors overheard what was going on. Some of them had traveled from different places and spoke different languages. They were shocked to hear these uneducated Galileans, speaking their own languages. Some among them claimed that they were drunk. At this Peter got up and explained what had happened; God was fulfilling the prophecy that Joel had made that God would pour out his Spirit; Peter then exhorted them to repent and follow Jesus. Three thousand of them did so that day. From that time forward, Jesus’ followers were different people. They no longer doubted. They no longer feared what the Jews could do to them. The rest of the book of Acts, records their transformed lives.
We cannot fully understand the global transformation that Jesus has worked through his followers in the last two thousand years, without also acknowledging the empowering role of the Holy Spirit in his followers’ lives. The world is a different place because first God became a man in the person of Jesus, confirming his deity by conquering death, but along with that God continues to be present on planet earth through the Holy Spirit indwelling and transforming followers of Jesus enabling them to do what Jesus did and according to Jesus, do even greater things that he did (John 14:12).
The day after our youngest son’s wedding, we invited family over for a brunch at our house. In preparation for the brunch my wife, Donelle asked me to go to the grocery store and pick up a few items we needed. Going to the grocery store is not high on my list of preferred activities and quite often I don’t have a great attitude fulfilling that task. So that morning I drove the extremely long mile to Von’s to purchase what we needed, eggs, rolls, clementines, bananas, which they were completely out of, substituted for grapes, and real whipping cream. On one of my trips through the store searching out the needed items, I walked past the check out stand and saw a magazine, that caught my attention. Life Magazine had published an edition called “Jesus, Who Do You Say that I Am?” In that moment I did something a rarely do. I purchased something that was not on Donelle’s list. I purchased the magazine, from a grocery store checkout stand.
One of the many things I found fascinating about this publication was the chapter titles. The first chapter is: “The Carpenter’s Son, Who Changed Everything”. The last chapter: “He Is All Things To All Men”. In its conclusion, we read: “In such a meager sampling – a round of phone calls, a few sitdowns – such a wide range of opinion on, and use of, Jesus. One fact is overarching: Jesus today is not only present, He is potent.” (Jesus, pg. 92) Let me remind you, Life is not a Christian publication. It is currently owned by Dotdash Meridith, who some time ago took over the Time Warner assets. In other words, a publication that would definitely be considered non religious, has recognized both Jesus’ presence and potency in the world today. Do you realize how amazing that is?
Referencing Napoleon Bonaparte, the authors of the Life publication quoted Bonaparte’s observation of the uniqueness of Jesus’ influence. He observed that Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and Bonaparte himself had all built empires through the use of force. However, Jesus alone built his kingdom upon love and millions would die for him. Founding father, Thomas Jefferson wrote of his considering himself a Christian due to his adherence to Jesus’ doctrines in preference to all others. Many of the founding fathers of the United States shared Jefferson’s admiration for Jesus while some like Jefferson rejected the miraculous. More recently, Life quoted Dr. C. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, who observed that either Jesus is exactly who he said he was or was a deceiver and liar. Koop further believed that a person’s faith could assist in their healing process.
As Life observed, we live in a day and age that has been profoundly influenced by Jesus. The treasured values that we hold dearly, such as compassion for the weak and needy, equality for all people regardless of ethnicity, social standing or gender, all find their roots in what Jesus taught and demonstrated. So then, Jesus’ question addressed to his disciples is not merely a historical observation but very relevant for us today 2000 years after Jesus lived. Who do you say that I am?
I grew up in the 1960’s, a decade that has had a great impact upon our culture. During the early years of my life a battle was taking place in the southern States as African Americans along with others worked to overcome Jim Crow laws that established segregation, leading to the Civil Rights Laws of the mid-60’s under the Johnson Administration. I remember a Friday afternoon in first grade, when my teacher went to the back of the classroom, sat down and began to cry. Then we heard the news that President Kennedy had been shot and killed in Dallas. A couple of days later we watched, when Jack Ruby, pushed through the crowd, stuck a revolver in the abdomen of Lee Harvey Oswald and pulled the trigger, killing the man accused of assassinating our President. We watched the President’s funeral on television. Several years later, my dad took me to sign up for Little League baseball, while we were there, we heard the news that Dr. King had been shot and killed while standing on a motel balcony in Memphis. Then two months later, I remember waking up to my clock radio, tuned to WLS in Chicago and hearing the news that Senator Bobby Kennedy had been shot while walking through the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles and would eventually die from his wounds. That summer several cities would erupt in riots, particularly Chicago during the Democratic National Convention.
I was a child during those events and had no history to understand that events of that type weren’t normal. The 1960’s impacted an entire generation and culture so that the decades of the 1970’s and following were quite different that the 1940’s and 1950’s.
The apostle Paul referred to another event that changed not just a generation and a culture, but has and continues to transform the world. In Galatians 4:4, Paul made a surprising statement, when he wrote the words “in the fullness of time”, why? In Greek, the term “pleroma”, translated “fullness” has the concept of conclusion, or completion. Something was completed and coming to an end. The word for time here is “chronos”, we get our word “chronology” from this word. Chronology literally means “the study of time”. We use “chronology” to refer to an ordered list of events, to communicate what happened before and after something. For the Greeks it was the normal word used for the ongoing march of time from past to the present and on to the future.
So when Paul wrote to the Galatians that in the fullness of time/chronos, he made a surprising statement, that time as we know it was changed, when God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. Paul declared that with the birth of Christ the world was radically transformed.
This year is known as 2025, but why? Why not year 288 to count the years since the Declaration of Independence, or 236 since the ratification of the Constitution? Why is it 2025? The method of establishing years was established in the 6th Century when a Christian monk proposed numbering the years from the birth of Jesus, which was dated according to the year in which King Herod died, who was the King of Judea when Jesus was born. Modern scholars date Herod’s death sometime between 4 and 1 BC. The monk proposed this numbering system followed how the Romans numbered their years, according to the years of an emperor’s reign. In fact, after Benito Mussolini became premier of Italy in 1922, he changed the numbering system for Italy to the years of his rule. Particularly in southern Italy, you can still see evidences of that numbering system. In the 6th Century the practice of numbering the years from Jesus’ birth began, which explains why we are in 2025, but also the abbreviations of BC and AD. BC refers to before Christ, that is before his birth. AD is an abbreviation for a Latin phrase, “anno domini”, which translated means year/anno and of the Lord/domini, “year of the Lord”.
However, about 100 years ago Jewish scholars, not being Christian and desiring a more “religiously neutral” approach began using different terms, BCE and CE, which since the 1980’s have become more prevalent. However, even though these phrases do not refer to Jesus, they are not really religiously neutral and are actually as if not more theologically accurate than the traditional terms. Why?
The terms BC and AD refer to an event, “Jesus’ birth”, however the terms BCE, “Before Current Era” and CE, “Current Era” don’t refer to an event, but a period of time, an era. The current usage implies that before there was a “Current Era”, there was another “Era” before that, which is exactly what Paul stated in Galatians 4:4. Paul implies that before Jesus, it was before the fullness of time, one era. Now we live in an era, defined by the fullness of time. Without knowing or intending to, those espousing religious neutrality, actually are promoting a theologically correct terminology to how we count our years, because that is exactly what Jesus did. He started a new era, since the time of Jesus, he has been transforming the world. So much so, that we often do not realize how much Jesus has impacted our life and how different the world is today than it was when Jesus was born. We live in an era, in which British Historian Tom Holland states as: “Time has been Christianized.”
In Matthew 16 Jesus took his disciples to the district of Caesarea Philippi, there he posed two questions to his disciples. First, he asked, who the people said he was, to which they replied, John the Baptist, or one of the prophets, such as Elijah or Jeremiah. Then Jesus asked them the more important question; who they said he was. Simon responded and declared Jesus to be the Christ, Son of the Living God. At that response, Jesus told Simon that God had revealed that information to him; from then on he would be called Peter and prophesied that on this rock he, Jesus, would build his church against which the Gates of Hades would not prevail.
To us, Jesus’ reference to the Gates of Hades and the connection with their being in Caesarea Philippi might not be clear. The Gates of Hades was a cave located at Caesarea Philippi, which was thought to be the entrance to the underworld. In that cave sprang two springs which formed part of the headwaters of the Jordan River. It was believed that the gods of fertility dwelled there and into those springs, the ancient Romans would cast infants to secure a bountiful harvest. If the child disappeared, then it was believed that the sacrifice had been accepted, but if blood appeared in the water, then the sacrifice had been rejected and another child would need to be sacrificed. When Jesus declared his church would overwhelm the Gates of Hades, in effect he was saying that his church would overcome the pagan religion of the Romans and Greeks. With the preaching of the apostles, the Gospel of Jesus began to do just that.
The Emperor Julian, nephew of the Emperor Constantine, was just one illustration of the power of Jesus to transform the Roman Empire and the world. Julian had been raised a Christian, but as an adult returned to the ancient pagan religion of Rome. Traveling through Asia Minor he came upon a city in which the pagan temple was in disrepair and the priests spent their time getting drunk. Appalled, Julian chastised them for the condition of the temple, their behavior and for not taking care of the poor. He urged them to care for the poor as the Christians did. However, Julian’s response revealed how much Jesus’ message had changed him and the Roman world. The priests were acting as pagan priests had always acted; they got drunk and thought little of the poor who were despised in the ancient Greek and Roman world. Julian wanted the priests to act as if they were Christians. In other words, Jesus message had impacted not only those who believed in him, but had changed the standard of behavior for everyone, demonstrating a fulfillment of what he had declared back at Caesarea Philippi!
In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he explains what the good news, or gospel really is. He does so by correcting an assumption that the religious Jews had made about Abraham. The religious Jews of Paul’s day attached a special value to Abraham’s believing God as recorded in Genesis 15. Due to Abraham’s belief in what God had promised him, God declared Abraham to be righteous. The Jewish leaders of Paul’s day taught that Abraham’s belief in God’s promise could be considered an action that established his righteousness. This is why they did not consider Abraham to be different from his physical descendants through his son Isaac and grandson Jacob, who received the Mosaic law and were taught to obey it. Even though Abraham never lived under the Mosaic law, nor was circumcised when he was declared righteous, the first century Jews considered him righteous due to his efforts. It was this belief that Paul was correcting in Romans 4, when he demonstrated that if the Jewish teaching were true, then God’s promise to Abraham was empty, and no grace was involved, because in effect Abraham had earned righteousness through believing God.
Paul explained that the Mosaic law, actually any law, establishes legality, transgression as Paul expressed it, because where there is no law, there exists no transgression, no illegality. On the other hand, obeying the law does not establish righteousness, any more than a government rewards it citizens who live legally. In Luke 17:7-10, Jesus shed light on the subject, when he explained to the disciples that a master who returns from a trip does not reward or even thank his servants who prepare his meal and serve him before they eat. There is no added reward for doing what is our responsibility in the first place.
Paul’s point was that being declared righteous was not and is not the result of living obediently or doing good works, but rather the result of believing and trusting God to do what he has promised. In Abraham’s case it was believing God would fulfill his promise to him regarding a son; to us it is believing Jesus will forgive us when we repent from our transgressions. Paul’s explanation in Romans 4 demonstrates how Christianity is unique among religions and is truly based on God’s undeserved grace to those who seek His forgiveness and not upon obeying laws or practicing religious rituals.
Have you ever considered the wisdom of Jesus’ instruction to pray for those who have hurt you and continue to make life difficult for you? By this Jesus didn’t mean that we pray that God would judge them or protect us, but rather that God would bless the very individuals who have hurt us. Recently, my wife went through a frightening situation. Her response was to pray that God would bless the perpetrators. Her example helped me to understand the purpose of Jesus’ words to forgive.
Scripture teaches us that God has no desire to condemn anyone, he desires all individuals to come to a point of repentance in their life. Jesus understood and teaches us that individuals turn to God due to God’s kindness toward them. How is God’s kindness extended and demonstrated to someone who lives life out of anger and hurt? One way is for someone who has been hurt by that individual to show kindness to them by asking that God would bless them and show kindness to them. This is similar to Jesus’ prayer when he asked that God would forgive the soldiers who were crucifying him. When Jesus died, these battle hardened soldiers saw that Jesus truly was a man from God. When seen in this light, Jesus’ words to pray for those who persecute us make perfect sense and align with God’s heart toward mankind. In this way, Jesus also invites us to participate in seeing people healed from their own hurts and reconciled with God himself.
Our assumptions on a topic naturally lead to our conclusions about that same topic. This is what Paul was getting at when he summed up his thoughts regarding God’s forgiveness of man’s unrighteousness and ungodliness. The Jews of Paul’s day, as do most everyone today, believed that the way to be acceptable before God was by obeying the commands of Moses, summarized in the 10 commandments. Today, most people do not refer to the 10 commandments, but they make the same assumption, which is: if your good works are greater than your failings, you will be acceptable to God, or at least that is the hope.
In Romans 3, Paul explained the error and misunderstanding of that approach, that assumption. Paul demonstrated that the purpose of the 10 commandments, in particular and the law of Moses in general, was never to provide a means of justification before God. In fact, that belief was a misguided assumption. Rather the purpose of the Mosaic law was to demonstrate guilt, not to God, but to man himself. The law was a means of putting man in a dilemma. If man was not able to justify himself by obedience to the law, then how could he ever be forgiven? Paul answered that question by explaining what Jesus accomplished. When Jesus, being God himself in the flesh, died he bore the full weight of the consequences of all of mankind’s unrighteousness and ungodliness, so that any individual who placed his or her trust in Jesus would be forgiven. By God bearing the consequences of man’s sin Himself, he remained righteous when he also justified man.
The assumption that we can somehow make ourselves righteous before God through our own efforts does not lead to being forgiven. Rather it leads to pride in our own accomplishments, which is by definition unrighteous and ungodly. An errant assumption about ourselves, God’s laws and even God himself, actually leads people away from God rather than to him. Paul explained the truth to the Romans so that they would have the opportunity to draw close to God rather than distance themselves from him. While it is a good thing to do what is right and moral, those actions do not make us righteous and moral, when we assume that they do, our good and moral actions lead us into pride in what we’ve accomplished. We see this in the Pharisees and religious Jews of Jesus’ day. These men obeyed the law of Moses, but were not righteous, they were actually proud of the way they lived. Their pride led them to being in opposition to Jesus. Paul understood his own dilemma Romans 7, when he wrote a question we should all ask ourselves: “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” While we still seek to live good and moral lives, we still need a Savior to deliver us from ourselves.
David Freitag 