The True Nature of the Law

Dear J-----, 

I read your email to R----- with interest, and would like to say a few words, which I hope you will consider with patience. I found your point of view to be lacking clarity in what I believe is the critical issue: the true nature of the law.

You have argued eloquently that obedience to the law is the missing element in much of what passes for Christianity, and you have said that the Church's failure to honor and obey the law stems from a perverse reading of the apostle Paul. I have a severe criticism of your position. You failed to mention that obedience to the law, by the very nature of the law, must be total and complete obedience - that is, perfection. There is a little word that has often been overlooked by many: that word is "all". God did not merely say "love the Lord your God", but "love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength." The focus of this command is on how you must love God, and the point is: that manner must be total. If we haven't loved God with "all" our heart, soul and strength, then we have not obeyed this first and great commandment. Likewise with the second great commandment, as Jesus taught us, God does not merely say "love your neighbor", but "love your neighbor as you love yourself". Once again, the focus is on how you are to love your neighbor, so that if you haven't loved your neighbor in this total manner, you have not obeyed this commandment at all. Since all the law hangs on these two commands, failure to obey them is failure to the obey the law.

The law everywhere is about perfection and total obedience. It is not a loose collection of moral sayings that we can attend to as we wish, like at a cafeteria; it is a complete moral whole, and it demands perfect and total obedience. It everywhere commands us to observe "all" of it.

"If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee." (Ex. 15:26)

"And all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD." (Ex. 19:8)

"And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words." (Ex. 24:7-8)

"Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God." (Num. 15:38-40)

"And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us." (Deut. 6:25)

"All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers." (Deut. 8:1)

"What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it." (Deut. 12:32)

"Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God." (Deut. 18:13)

This is the true nature of the law, and self-righteous people cannot bear such a law in their self-righteous systems. Therefore they ignore this truth about the law, and talk great swelling words about the law, without actually talking about the true law at all. This was the problem with the Pharisees in Jesus' day. They honored the law with their lips, but their hearts were far from God because they did not embrace the law as God had spoken it.

"Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore is the anger of the LORD kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases were torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." (Is. 5:24-25)

It was because Israel despised the law of the Lord that God's anger was kindled and His hand was stretched out against them. He smote them by the Babylonians, but afterward was His anger turned away? Was His hand stretched out still? The Lord again smote Israel by the Romans in 70 AD, because His anger was not turned away; His hand was stretched out still. Why? Because they continued to "cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel." The Pharisees would have been indignant to hear this: from their perspective, they were different than their predecessors; they were honoring and obeying the law. But what did Jesus say? "Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophecy of you, saying, 'This people draws near unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. But in vain they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." (Matt. 15:7-9) Notice the connection between their heart and their teaching. But what does this indictment mean? Does it mean that the Pharisees did not teach the various points of the law, but that they only taught their traditions? No. The Pharisees were scrupulous about teaching the various points of the law. To this question, the Sermon on the Mount gives us the answer.

Jesus came to save us from our sins by giving His life a ransom for many, but in order for people to receive His salvation they must have a correct understanding of the law. "Salvation is far from the wicked: for they seek not Thy statutes." (Ps. 119:155) Failure to understand the law means failure to embrace Christ as Savior. Therefore, one of the main things we see Jesus doing during His ministry is correcting the false views of the Pharisees. The Sermon on the Mount is where Christ challenges the Pharisaic view of the law. "It is time for Thee, O Lord, to work: for they have made void Thy law." (Ps. 119:126) The Pharisees had taught the people the law one way (a lie), and Jesus came teaching the law in truth. As you said, J-----, Christ did not come to do away with the law, but in His words, "to fulfill it." (Matt. 5:17) See how Christ magnifies the law and makes it honorable (Is. 42:21): "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:19) Anyone who talks about the law in a way other than this is not really talking about the law, they're just playing games. "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20) This would have come as a shock to His hearers. But what exactly does Jesus mean? How much greater must it be? What is the nature of the contrast between the righteousness that God requires and the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees? Jesus goes on to explain.

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matt. 5:21-22)

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart." (Matt. 5:27-28)

Notice the Pharisees are teaching various commandments and not merely their own traditions. But Jesus is critical of their shallow interpretation of the commands of God. Their interpretations do not strike to the heart of the law, which is perfect love. Their standard is much lower than God's.

"And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." (Matt. 5:29-30)

What teacher teaches like this nowadays? There are many who, like the Pharisees, talk a lot about obedience to the law, but do they teach the law as it was meant to be taught, as the Son of God has shown us? If teachers do not teach God's law like this they are just playing games. This saying of Jesus cannot be explained unless we understand that the law requires absolute moral perfection. Anything less than total obedience will send you to hell. If you want to obey the law and be saved, then you had better obey it. Nothing less than perfection will do.

"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matt. 5:45-45)

"Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:48)

Here Jesus puts the law in its proper focus. The law requires you to be perfect. It requires you to be perfect and holy right now, just like God is perfect and holy at all times. The law is therefore the test to see whether you are as good as God. The Pharisees never taught that, for no self-righteous person ever teaches that. But Jesus taught that the law requires perfection, and by perfection He meant the highest standard possible. He meant perfect like God. Anything less than this is not the law. Any teaching of the law less than this is false teaching. This was the main contrast between Christ and the Pharisees. It was this that made the Pharisees false teachers: not because they didn't teach the various points of the law, but because they didn't teach the true nature of the law in its wholeness. Why didn't they? Because when you teach the true nature of the law, you are forced to admit with Isaiah: "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." (Is. 6:5) The law shows you the moral perfection of God, and by showing it, shows you your sin (Rom. 3:20). When the law is taken as a whole, we realize that we have, not some righteousness, but no righteousness. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Is. 64:6) "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all." (James 2:10) Righteousness equals perfection. We are not perfect, therefore we are not righteous. We are therefore the same as everybody else: unrighteous (Rom. 3:10, contrast Luke 18:11). The law exposes everyone to be a lawbreaker. This is what the self-righteous Pharisees could not admit in their pride, and therefore would not magnify the law. "And all the people that heard him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not baptized of him." (Luke 7:29-30)

This is where the apostle Paul is coming from. This is the revelation that he received, which radically transformed the way he saw religion and life. It was a transformation in the way that Pharisee understood the law and evaluated himself. "What I once thought gain, that I now count as dung." What did he once count gain? His own righteousness. What later became his gain? Christ, and the righteousness that comes through faith in Him: "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." (Phil. 3:9) Paul saw that "if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Gal. 2:21) The Messiah's death spelled death to all human righteousness and obedience to the law. Any boasting in human righteousness or obedience to the law was a pretension, and worse, an affront to the glory of God. Paul saw that men sought their own glory in legal religion, and works-based righteousness was the nullifying of the Messiah and the moral majesty of God. It was a robbing of the glory which is due Him alone. While self-righteous men profess to honor God, they actually despise Him. In their very boasting of honoring Him they despise Him. Paul's world was turned completely upside down by Jesus.

"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Rom. 3:31) This is probably one of the most important sayings of Paul, and contains a deep truth. The question in Paul's mind is: "By believing in Christ in the way I have been speaking (Romans 3:21-30 = righteousness by faith apart from obedience to the law), does this make void the law, setting it aside, making it a mere nothing? Does faith in Christ make us antinomians?" By what follows, all suspicion of Paul being an antinomian ought to be dispelled. "God forbid" he emphatically declares. But Paul's reason for saying so is seldom understood. In what way does believing in Christ for our righteousness - as laid out in 3:21-30 - establish the law? Some interpreter will say: "Because by believing in Christ we are instructed and empowered to obey the law, and this Christian obedience to the law establishes it." But that is not Paul's point. He is not saying that by believing in Christ for our righteousness we are led into some other phenomenon which establishes the law, but that by believing in Christ for our righteousness we thereby establish the law - that it is the believing that does the establishing. We establish the law through faith. But how? Based upon what has already been said the answer should be clear. By believing in Christ we are magnifying the law and making it honorable. By believing in Christ we are taking the law seriously for what it says. By believing in Christ we are confessing our sin before God and declaring that He alone is righteous. By believing in Christ the law is at last fulfilling its purpose: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Gal. 3:24) When I believe in Christ for my justification, the law has been fulfilled. It's purpose is accomplished. It was given by God, not for righteousness and life, but for death (2 Cor. 3:6-9, Gal. 3:21). And when the law has accomplished its purpose, it has brought the sinner to the place of recognizing his utter destitution before the only Righteous one, and points him to the ransom-death of Jesus Christ, the only salvation for sinners.

Until a person has believed on Christ for justification, that person is ignoring and making void the law. That person may talk all the day long about the law, and how we ought to obey it, and even make a show of obedience, but until that person has seen the law for what it is in truth, and lose all hope of righteousness by it, turning to Christ by faith, that person is the true antinomian. The Pharisees were the true antinomians. Though that may come as a surprise (as it did then), Jesus boldly declared it. God's law must kill you, and then God's grace can make you alive through Christ. Paul uses these shocking words: "I through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." (Gal. 2:19) That's the purpose of the law: to make you die to it, so that you might live through the one who loved you and gave Himself for you. Otherwise Christ died for nothing.

So there is no place for anyone to accuse Paul of minimizing the law. He did just the opposite. In fact, the establishment of the law is the foundation of his message. Rather than cheapening the law like he did when he was a Pharisee, Paul, as a believer in Christ, magnified it to its rightful place. He saw the law clearer than any legalist ever has; he honored it more than any self-righteous person does; he embraced it for just what it is when he put his faith in Christ for His righteousness. Paul could ever-after sing Psalm 119 in truth. While millions of talking Pharisees drone on about how we need to obey the law and they never actually do it, always lowering the standard, Paul took Jesus' life teaching and bloody death to heart, and began preaching true Judaism: perfect law and righteousness through the suffering Servant. Paul became a true Jew. You could even say that he became a true Pharisee (set apart one). This way of righteousness through faith in Christ is the ancient path, the way of Abel, Noah and Abraham. If you want to see a true Jew, don't look for them based upon what they wear and eat. Look for them here: in the way of righteousness, as demonstrated in a man who once boasted of his own zeal, disdaining harlots and publicans, but who dramatically changed because of the Messiah, who wrote about the wonders of the law, the righteousness of God through faith, and who we observe after his encounter with Jesus eating with the sinners of the Gentiles.

So J-----, my questions to you are: do you keep the law? Perfectly as it requires? Do you lower the standard of the law, or teach it as Jesus did, as it is in truth?

Thank you for reading this patiently. I pray that God's people would come to realize that everything is found in Christ and nowhere else. His love is deeper and wider than we can comprehend. As Paul prayed, may we "know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that [we] might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Eph. 3:19) You just can't get more full than that.

In His righteousness,

-Eli

Look Not to Yourself, But to God

"And I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: and they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it." (Jeremiah 33:8-9)

To say that the gospel is for others but not for you because you are too sinful is not to make a statement about yourself but about God. To say such a thing is not to say that you are not good enough, but that God is not good enough. To say that God only has grace for those who deserve it, but not for those who don't deserve it, is to say that God is really not a God of grace at all. In that case, there would be nothing essentially amazing about God at all. "Sorry guys, He is not really that good."

But the truth is that God is amazingly good. God is a God of amazing grace. And God's amazing grace is for you, no matter how sinful you are. That is what His grace is all about! To trust Him for your salvation is to say, "I expect to go to heaven, not because I am good but because you, God, are good." Therefore, if you are trusting in God's grace for your salvation and don't go to heaven, it will make God look bad. He could never, in that case, be praised forever as the God of mighty amazing grace. His glory is bound up in men and women trusting in His goodness (not their own), and not being disappointed.

So don't look to yourself and say such things. Look to God, and declare His glory.

"When we've been there ten thousand years,

Bright shining as the sun,

We've no less days to sing God's praise

Than when we first begun."

The Power of the Son of Man

What this article asks is: "What did Jesus Christ, the Son of God, teach about forgiveness?" Christians will agree that since Jesus (as the promised Messiah and culmination of the prophets) came into the world as the Light of the world, to show us the ultimate revelation of the Father, He must have the final word. But what is that word? What did He show us? What did He teach about forgiveness? There really are few questions we could ask more important than this one. Yet one could easily become discouraged realizing that there is a wide spectrum of answers given by teachers to this question. Some say that Jesus' teaching on forgiveness and the apostles' teaching on forgiveness contradict each another, and that therefore we must pick sides and throw one, or both of them, away. Others try to explain the words of Jesus in such a way that seem to make them say the opposite of what His words imply. But no one needs to be discouraged. Jesus' words on forgiveness are clear and unambiguous, nor do they at all contradict the teaching of apostles. On this crucial question I would now like to share my own answer (which I trust is the Biblical one), in the hopes of pointing people to the life-giving message of God's gracious forgiveness through the power of Jesus Christ.

Probably the most familiar saying of Jesus on forgiveness that comes immediately to mind is the one contained in the Lord's Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matt. 6:12)

How we understand this saying speaks volumes about what we think our relationship with God is like. Jesus taught men to ask God for forgiveness in the Lord's Prayer, and many Christians accept the saying without giving any further attention to its meaning and serious implications. The Lord's Prayer, as well as Christ's subsequent teaching on forgiveness (Matt. 6:14-15) is a part of the Sermon on the Mount. The way we think about the Sermon on the Mount will affect the way we think about the Lord’s Prayer and the matter of forgiveness. Many read the Sermon on the Mount without thinking very deeply about its meaning and implications also.

Leon Morris, who was one the great theologians of our time, commented on this problem: "There are those who suggest that the theologians are complicating life for ordinary Christians. 'All that is necessary,' we are told, 'is that people should live according to the simple teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.' Anyone who says this kind of thing has almost certainly not read the Sermon on the Mount, or, if he has, has not paid attention to it." (Glory in the Cross, p. 29-30)

How are we to think about the Sermon on the Mount (and thus the teaching contained therein on forgiveness)? What is the Biblical perspective we should have? Naively, some say, "You don't have to complicate things. Jesus is teaching us how to live as Christians, and the Sermon is what Christianity is all about. Enough said." But, as Morris points out, upon further reflection this doesn't hold true. The Sermon on the Mount, if taken seriously, should cause us great pause. If Jesus meant what He said (and He most certainly did), the Sermon condemns the hearer/reader, for it is evidently not a guideline for redeemed Christians on how to live the Christian life, nor a mere collection of wise moral sayings for anyone to practice at their leisure; but when we actively listen to what Jesus is preaching, we notice at once that He is preaching something far more frightening. Heaven and hell are in the foreground. Eternal blessedness and eternal destruction are His keynote. Jesus is laying down the law: the way to be eternally blessed or cursed depending on your behavior - and He isn’t joking but is perfectly serious. "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for one of your members to perish than to have your whole body thrown into hell." (Matt. 5:29) He urges the same regarding other parts: “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you. For it is better for you that one of your members perish, than to have your whole body thrown into hell.” (Matt. 5:30) The point is crystal clear: better to lose your body members and not sin, than to sin and go to hell. And what kind of horrible sin is Jesus talking about, that would merit such extreme measures? What had He just before stated? “I say unto you. That whoever looks upon a woman lustfully has committed adultery already with her in his heart.” (Matt. 5:28) Again, "I say unto you, whoever shall say to another "You fool", shall be in danger of hell fire." (Matt. 5:22) His point is inescapable: call someone a fool... look with lust... and to hell you will go if you don’t cut it out. That is scathing. Does this sound like Christianity? No. There's nothing evangelical about it.

A.M. Hunter put it this way: "From time to time one hears people declare that they 'like' the Sermon on the Mount. It is in fact the most terrible indictment of human nature in all literature... Who is sufficient for these merciless moral demands? Who is able to fulfill them? Not Tolstoy or any other. If that is the ideal, God have mercy on us all, sinners." (The Unity of the New Testament, p. 84f)

The same is true when we examine carefully the Lord's Prayer. It is of utmost importance that we understand what Jesus actually said. He did not merely teach us that we should ask God to forgive us of our sins. He was teaching much more than that. What Jesus actually taught was that we should ask God to forgive us of our sins just as we forgive those who sin against us. Far from this being a prayer for mercy, it is actually a pray for justice. It is an appeal unto God to treat us in the way that we deserve; to give us back what we have been giving out; to recompense us for our forgiving. Jesus makes this explicit in the two verses immediately following the Prayer (which perhaps show us that this matter of forgiving is the main thing in the Prayer): "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." (Matt. 6:14-15) That is pure justice. It is strict and dreadful like the sayings above. If you do not forgive men their sins, God will not forgive you of yours, and you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You had better forgive men their sins so that God may forgive yours. Such is the Lord's Prayer. In fact, there is nothing exclusively evangelical in the Lord's Prayer at all - nothing that only a Christian can pray, or which a devout Jew could not.

The point of all these terrifying moral lessons is that Jesus is explaining to the people the law of Moses as it is in truth. Jesus states emphatically at the beginning of the Sermon that He "did not come to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them." (Matt. 5:17) "Truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one jot nor one tittle shall in any way pass from the law, until all be fulfilled. Whoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men to do so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:18-19) Teaching the commandments in all their perfect glory is precisely what Jesus is doing. "For I say unto you, that unless your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall in no way enter into the kingdom of heaven." (Matt. 5:20) He goes on to explain the false way the scribes and Pharisees both teach and live the law, warning you that if you want to enter into life you must exceed what they are teaching and doing. How much better must you be? Just a little? Jesus tells us: "Be perfect, therefore, as your Father in heaven is perfect." (Matt. 5:48)

John Calvin saw clearly what Christ was doing. Christ was not delivering an evangelical sermon but rather was preaching to the people the law of Moses in all its glory, which had been obscured by the teaching and practice of the scribes and Pharisees. The law was therefore in need of re-exposition: "Those who have not perceived this, have pretended that Christ was only a second Moses, the giver of an evangelical [law], to supply the deficiency of the Mosaic Law. Hence the common axiom as to the perfection of the Evangelical Law, and its great superiority to that of Moses. This idea is in many ways most pernicious. For it will appear from Moses himself, when we come to give a summary of his precepts, that great indignity is thus done to the Divine Law. It certainly... leads us away from that one unvarying rule of righteousness. It is very easy, however, to confute this error, which proceeds on the supposition that Christ added to the Law, whereas He only restored it to its integrity by maintaining and purifying it when obscured by the falsehood, and defiled by the leaven of the Pharisees." (Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Ch. 8, Section 7)

The Sermon on the Mount, then, is Christ's re-exposition of the law of Moses, not a new and better evangelical law for Christians that transcends the law of Moses - as if it needed improvement! Such a thought is totally foreign to the Bible, which always speaks of the law of Moses with the highest possible reverence, as it is the greatest possible moral standard given to man by God. The essence of the law is love for God and for your neighbor. One cannot go higher than this (Mark 12:28-31, Rom. 13:8-10). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is showing the people what obedience to the law (which is love) actually looks like. It means not sinning against God and your neighbor in thought, word or deed... It means not being a hypocrite... It means not being unforgiving and unmerciful to others, etc... How could one claim to love God and their neighbor according to the law of Moses if they failed at these things? They could not, and that is the whole point. Jesus is not preaching the gospel or Christianity. He is preaching the law of Moses to show men their sins, so that they might look elsewhere for salvation. That is the purpose of the law (Gal. 3:21-24). Let me make this clear: I am not saying that what Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount was false. Far from it: it is true! Painfully true. And since it is true, we are hopelessly lost if that is all there is to be said. What I am saying is this: what Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount is the truth about the law of Moses, but there is much more to be said; indeed, much more that Christ did say. Therefore, the Sermon on the Mount (and many other teachings and sayings of Jesus) must not be carelessly taken as our guide for all things Christian, but we must learn to pay careful attention to the place and purpose of His teachings in the greater motif of law and gospel.

In light of this, I submit that Christ's teaching on "forgive in order to be forgiven" (Matt. 6:12, 14-15, 18:21-35) falls under the category of law, not gospel. As Christians, I think we get excited about the word "forgiveness" and forget that forgiveness is a concept just as relevant and important to the Old Covenant as well as to the New. Forgiveness has to do with sin, and sin and forgiveness are just as much an issue under law as they are under gospel. The law offers its solution to sin as does the gospel, and forgiveness is sought by legalists. Forgiveness is of absolute necessity for sinners under the law in order for them to be in right relationship with God. The following verse is typical in the law: "And the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering before the Lord for his sin which he has done: and the sin which he has done will be forgiven him." (Lev. 19:22) They needed it. They were seeking it. The gospel is all about our sins being forgiven, but we must not therefore think that forgiveness is a concept exclusive to the gospel, and read "gospel" into every mention of "forgiveness".

"How may I receive the forgiveness of my sins?" This is the question every sinner must ask. What is the answer that the law gives? Quite simply, it says: "Do what is right, and you will be forgiven": "If the wicked will turn from all his sins that he has committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. All his transgressions that he has committed will not be mentioned to him: in his righteousness that he has done shall he live." (Ezekiel 18:21-22) This means much more than merely offering a sacrifice. Sacrifice was a part of it, but just a part. If a man did not turn from his sins and obey all the commandments of God, though he brought a sacrifice, that sacrifice would avail him nothing. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken better than the fat of rams." (1 Sam. 15:22) Jesus also remarks upon this in the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there you remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift." (Matt. 5:23-24) What the law requires is moral uprightness (love, as mentioned before), and only when that condition has been met can forgiveness be legally granted. "He that covers his sins shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy." (Prov. 28:13) Such is the way of forgiveness according to the law.

Now it is obvious according to this way that if a person has not forgiven his neighbor, he justly should not receive forgiveness himself. Notice, again, that the issue is all about justice. An unforgiving person doesn't deserve to be forgiven. An unmerciful person doesn't deserve mercy. It wouldn't be just and equal. But where, I ask, is the gospel in this? There's nothing evangelical about it. And that is precisely my point: that Christ's teaching of "forgive in order to be forgiven" is not Christianity but law. The Pharisees taught that a person was not required to forgive an offender more than three times. They assured people that God, according to the law, would forgive those who don't extend forgiveness to others. Christ responded with a resounding, "No!" If you want to be forgiven, according to the law you must be righteous, and to be righteous you must love your neighbor, and to love your neighbor means to forgive him. And to top it all off, how can sinners think to be forgiven of their enormous offenses against God, and yet not forgive their fellow sinners of their comparatively small offenses against them? It doesn't make any sense, and more importantly, it isn't just.

But this is not all that can be said, nor all that Jesus did say, about forgiveness. The gospel is all about God's gracious forgiveness toward sinners who don't deserve it, and one cannot point to these sayings of Jesus and ignore everything else that Jesus said about the forgiveness of sins. He said a world more, and everything depends on it. To the man lowered through a roof Jesus unconditionally and spontaneously declared, "Man, your sins be forgiven you" (Luke 5:20), upon which hearing, the Pharisees sneered, "Who can forgive sins but God alone?" This moment was an earth-shaking disclosure of that full heart of forgiveness that Christ, who is the exact image of the Father, abundantly has toward men. The glory of the Son of man is being displayed here: “The Son of man has power on earth to forgive sins" (Luke 5:23-24); an authority that amazingly transcends the restrictive conditions of the law. This power He has because He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

Another example of Christ's authority to forgive sins over and against the authority of the law is the profound incident of the woman caught in adultery. The law was stacked against her, and the words of Jesus themselves on this occasion show that there was no case to be made for her defense. She was guilty, and the law required her to be stoned to death. There was no disputing it; no way of escape by law. Jesus concedes that the crowd’s demand is just: she should be stoned indeed. "He that is without sin, cast the first stone." (John 8:7) The green light is given, but no one in the crowd is worthy to execute the judgment of the law upon the sinner because all are sinners themselves. It would not be just for them to condemn her. We are reminded here of Christ's teaching from the Sermon on the Mount: "Judge not, that you be not judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you shall be forgiven." (Luke 6:37) We see here vividly that the teaching of "forgive in order to be forgiven" and "he that is without sin, cast the first stone" is fully in accordance with the law; but it is not the gospel. To see the gospel here we must see what happens next. The one person in this moment who is able to cast the first stone is "He who has no sin": Christ Himself. Jesus has every right to stone her, and if there was no authority greater than the law, then it was incumbent upon Him to do it, and to not do it would be lawlessness. But what does He say? "'Woman, where are your accusers? Has no man condemned you?' She said, 'No man, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you..." (John 8:10-11) No man can condemn her, but the Lord Jesus, who is not like other men in that He is sinless and thus can justly condemn her, does not condemn her either! His reason is entirely different from the crowd: they could not stone her because of the law, but He would not stone her because of grace. By what greater authority can He do this, and seemingly disregard the just demands of the law? It is by the power of the New Covenant, which transcends (yet satisfies) the authority of the Old Covenant in the very person of Jesus Christ, for He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Christ is the revelation of the grace and true forgiveness of God toward men, which flows freely and abundantly unto undeserving sinners thanks to the blood of His cross. Grace is the final authority, not the law; and although the law is a true revelation of the justice of God, it is Christ who is the true revelation of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Doubtless, the greatest and most important teaching on forgiveness ever given by Jesus on earth was at the Last Supper. Here, immediately before His Passion, He discloses in prophecy the meaning of His death to His disciples, and shares with them the secret of His wonderful forgiving life. Taking the cup that represents His blood about to be offered up to God, He solemnly pronounces over it: "This is the blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matt. 26:28) Here is the true teaching of Christ on forgiveness. It is not to be found in His exposition of the law of Moses on the Mount, as correct as that was, but in His explanation of His blood shed as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. This love-sacrifice for sin reveals to men the free, unconditional and overflowing heart of forgiveness that God the Father has for undeserving sinners. Through Christ, God's love for sinners has overcome the obstacle of His justice, which alienated sinners from Himself. This is what the New Covenant is all about, and what distinguishes it from the Old Covenant. It is through the blood of Christ, not through the law of Moses, that we draw near unto God. "For the law came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No one has seen the Father at any time, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made declared Him." (John 1:17-18) The demonstration of this love of God - and therefore the forgiveness of God - toward sinners is to be seen in that "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (Rom. 5:8) That means that while we were yet lawbreakers, unforgiving, hateful and hating one another, Christ died for us. His blood was shed for all of our sins, including our unforgiveness and unmercifulness, and there is therefore no legal conditions that keep men from being reconciled to God through the blood of Christ, but only their unbelief in this almost unbelievable message about God.

Christ says to the unforgiving man these shocking words: "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more". We are not forgiven because we are forgiving. God's forgiveness comes first and comes freely, and our forgiving others follows afterward. This is the same pattern regarding every sin. It must be, or the gospel is not true. If the sin of unforgiveness were some kind of exceptional sin so that Christ could not say these words to that kind of sinner, then law, and not grace, would be the final word. We would be left with a Christ who is not far above but far beneath the principalities and powers, who does not have "all power in heaven and earth" to forgive sins (Matt. 28:18). Only certain kinds of men would be within His ability to graciously save, while others would not be, rendering Christ impotent to save them before the demands of a broken law. In that case we don't have good news to preach in "all the world". In a world like that, law, not grace, reigns - having the final word.

But that is not the world of the New Covenant. Jesus declared immediately before ascending into heaven that "the forgiveness of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:53), and we find this exact thing being proclaimed in the Book of Acts by the apostles: "To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever believes in Him shall receive the forgiveness of sins." (Acts 10:43) Through the name (authority) of Jesus, all who believe in Jesus Christ are forgiven, and all means all - not the deserving forgiving kind of believers, but the undeserving kind of believers (which is the only kind there is). Can you conceive that God the Father would ever say to someone in the hereafter: “I’m sorry... I know that you were relying upon the grace of my Son Jesus Christ for your salvation, but unfortunately you did not forgive your neighbor his sin against you, and Jesus’ blood doesn’t cover that one. You don’t deserve to be saved... you weren’t the right kind of sinner”? Unthinkable.

This is why when we turn to the entire corpus of the New Testament letters, from Romans to Revelation, we cannot find the teaching on "forgive in order to be forgiven"; no, not anywhere. If Christ's teaching on "forgive in order to be forgiven" was not His exposition of the law but was in reality His ultimate evangelical message to Christians, then we most assuredly would find it in apostles' letters. It would be too important not to be included and to be omitted. The apostles are fully occupied with the doctrine of forgiveness, and they are fully committed to Christ's teaching about it, but when it comes to the teaching of "forgive in order to be forgiven" they are absolutely silent. This can only mean one thing: that the teaching of "forgive in order to be forgiven" was not ultimately Christ's teaching, but Moses'. Christ had put it in its proper place. What we do find in the apostles, however, is quite the opposite: "And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you." (Eph. 4:32) "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man has a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." (Col. 3:13) These beautiful sayings are but echoes of Christ's "neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more": that is, now you forgive, because you are forgiven. They are beautiful because they are evangelical and full of grace - not the conditions of law - void of all notions of deserving. And how has God forgiven us, that we might imitate Him? Not for the law's sake, but for Christ's sake. Not because we deserved it, but freely and abundantly without condition. This is how we are to forgive too. For the Christian, forgiveness is no longer a requirement he must meet in order to be forgiven, but forgiveness is rather an experience of love he has received from God the Father through faith in Christ, which inspires him to forgive others. This is the difference between the Old and New Covenant - for what the former strictly requires, the latter graciously provides. In the gospel forgiveness has found its proper place.

It is from Jesus, then, that we learn the truth about forgiveness. Jesus came into the world to show us the Father, full of grace and truth. By teaching the law, by exemplifying unconditional forgiveness, and by His sacrificial death on the cross, Christ has brought the light of heaven to earth and dispelled the darkness. It is not by ignoring the teachings of Jesus on forgiveness and by setting the apostles' doctrine against His, but by taking His teachings seriously, and by considering them in their fullness, that we come to understand forgiveness. What we then see is that the apostles' doctrine of forgiveness is nothing more than Christ’s own doctrine of forgiveness.

The good news which Jesus Christ has for the world is that God is a forgiving God toward undeserving sinners, and that grace, not law, is the final word. No matter what kind of sinner you are, no matter how tangled up in sin you may be, no matter how badly the Sermon on the Mount condemns you and exposes you to be a wicked sinner, the message of God's forgiving heart is true for you, and you may take refuge in Him. Whoever trusts in the blood of Christ will find a sure Deliverer from all condemnation. As the old hymn goes,

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness

I dare not trust the sweetest frame

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name

On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand

All other ground is sinking sand

All other ground is sinking sand

Trusting in your own forgiveness of others and appealing to God to forgive you for that reason may seem like the sweetest frame, but it is nothing more than the sinking sand of self-righteousness. To seek refuge in the law always at first glance appears right, but it turns out to be the broad road that leads to condemnation and destruction. God has provided the sacrifice for all of your sins, and with outstretched arms He lovingly beckons you to come to Him through the power of Jesus Christ. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiter than snow. What are you waiting for? There is no reason to delay. The law surely condemns you, but God's word to you in Christ is not a word of condemnation. It is the word of salvation! It is the word of grace! Believe even now. Stand upon the Solid Rock of the name of Jesus Christ.

Horatius Bonar on Repentance

"The word "repentance" signifies in the Greek, "change of mind"; and this change the Holy Spirit produces in connection with the gospel, not the law. "Repent and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15) does not mean, "get repentance by the law, and then believe the gospel"; but "let this good news about the kingdom which I am preaching lead you to change your views and receive the gospel." Repentance being put before faith here simply implies that there must be a turning from what is false in order to the reception of what is true. If I would turn my face to the north, I must turn it from the south; yet I should not think of calling the one of these preparatory to the other. If I want to get rid of the darkness, I must let in the light; but I should not say that the getting rid of the darkness is a preparation for receiving the light. These must, in the nature of things, go together. Repentance then is not, in any sense, a preliminary qualification for faith; least of all in the sense of sorrow for sin." (God's Way of Peace, p. 67)

The Great Meaning of Metanoia

Dear J---,

Your question about repentance is timely, as Brad, myself and several other brothers here in Logan have been discussing it at length. We recently discovered an outstanding little book on the subject written in the late 19th century, which you must get your hands on. It's called The Great Meaning of Metanoia by an Episcopalian minister named Treadwell Walden. He wrote it about a month after the Revised Version of the Bible was published, which was anticipated to be a corrective translation of the traditional English version (KJV). Unfortunately, the Revised Version left untouched the word "repentance", and Walden wrote to express his disappointment. Scholars who worked on the Revised Version and other New Testament professors wrote to Walden expressing their support of his position, admitting that the word "repentance" is a bad translation of "metanoia". Walden's original essay is brilliant and full of apostolic character. The book is out of print, but the University of California Library prints it on demand for somewhere between $15-$20 dollars (here). I think it is worth every penny.

Simply put, metanoia is a word filled with remarkable meaning by the preaching of Christ and the apostles. It is not a word that comes replete with its own meaning.  The English word "repentance", on the other hand, comes filled with its own meaning - it needs no supplementation by context. Repentance means to feel remorse or regret for your sins; its Latin root literally means "pain; suffering in view of being liable to punishment". Metanoia is Greek, and is made up of two words: meta and nous. Meta means "after" or "change", and nous is the Greek word for "mind". Etymologically, the word literally means "after-mind," signifying a change of mind: thinking one way, but then afterwards thinking another. It is the opposite of pronoia (pro-nous) which means before-mind: the mind or thinking you have before. Interestingly, there is another Greek word we frequently use in English that is related to metanoia: it is paranoia (para-nous). Etymologically, the word means beside-mind, or we would say "out of your mind", or "beside yourself". Paranoia is not being in a right mind, but having a mind that is off center - that is, not where it should be. If you compare metanoia and paranoia together, you get an idea of what the New Testament call for metanoia is: it is a command to change your mind and get it where it should be.

Of course, metanoia, when used as a command ("change your mind") needs supplementation by context; it needs to be filled with more information because we need to know what we are supposed to change our mind about. It can be something small (metanoia about how to spell "judgment"), to something enormously large (metanoia about your religious worldview). The sky is the limit with metanoia, and that is precisely the point of the remarkable function of the word in the New Testament. It is not restricted, like "repentance", to a narrow meaning of pain and sorrow for sin. It is a change of mind unto the gospel itself. The gospel is what the change of mind is about. The preaching of Jesus and the apostles speaks to the nous and men change or don't change their mind as they hear it. When a man changes his mind at the preaching of the gospel he has experienced metanoia. Thus, the proclamation of metanoia at the beginning of the New Testament is the doorway into the rest of the doctrine of the New Testament: Change your mind! About what? Listen! A radical mind shift in the religious world is about to happen... no, it is happening now... What we thought about God and the law and righteousness and forgiveness is all about to change. Hear! Metanoia and believe the gospel!

New Testament metanoia is a divine call to a radical mind shift in the way men think about religion. Therefore "repentance" is an unsatisfactory translation of the amazing word "metanoia" which gives a very different feeling to the preaching of Jesus and His apostles. Was the major proclamation of Jesus and the apostles "Repent! Feel sorry for your sins!"? Or was it "Metanoia! Think a new way!"? Do you see what a difference these two words make? The gospel calls us to a new way of thinking about religion. Whereas men think they are good, and that obedience to the law is the way of salvation, and that the law only requires partial obedience, and that most people won't perish, Jesus calls us to believe that there is none good, and that no one will be saved by obedience to the law, because the law requires perfect obedience, and that broad is the road that leads to destruction. The apostles call us to believe that the cross of Christ is the power and the wisdom of God, the only way we are saved and live, through faith. The world thinks that the cross is foolishness. Which word best summarizes this kind of preaching: "repent", or "metanoia"?

How did we lose this feature from our understanding and preaching of the gospel? Our loss of the meaning of metanoia came from early Latin Christianity. Early Latin theologians like Tertullian understood Christ's call in the gospel to be largely retrospective, a call to consider one's sinful life and to lament and amend it, rather than prospective, to hear the glad tidings of what God is and will do through Jesus. Jerome, when translating the Latin Vulgate, codified this understanding by translating "metanoia" as "paenitentiam agite" ("do penance"). But why, since the concepts are so different? It is because these early Latin scholars, while recognizing the Greek word "metanoia" meant to "change the mind", did not understand what the New Testament gospel of grace was all about, and consequently, since the word is hollow and requires filling, they filled the word metanoia with something other than  with what Christ and the apostles filled it. They interpreted the mind change to be changing your mind about how you are behaving - to regret your sinful lifestyle and to amend your life, rather than as changing your mind about the way of righteousness, i.e., that righteousness does not come through the law but through faith in Christ. Having interpreted the call to change your mind this way, the translators thought it would be more helpful to skip the more hollow word "metanoia" with the fuller paraphrase "paenitentiam agite", which they believed best communicated the purpose of the mind change. Thus they paraphrased the word metanoia as they thought best; they did not translate the word. And it stuck. The Latin Vulgate was the standard Bible in the West for over a thousand years, and therefore this erroneous paraphrase, "paenitentiam agite" ("do penance"), became deeply rooted in the Church's vocabulary, teaching, and moral imagination.

By the time of the Reformation, the theology and practice of penitence was so embedded that even the Reformers struggled to see clearly enough to root it out. Though they rightly saw afresh that the gospel of Jesus Christ was all about righteousness through faith apart from works, they continued to confuse metanoia with penitence, and Protestant history has witnessed an awkward and uncomfortable effort to fit the salvific necessity of penitence alongside the proclamation of sola fide. The proposed solution to the problem was to move repentance from one side of salvation to the other, so that, instead of having to repent in order to be saved (as the Roman Catholics saw it), the Reformers argued that repentance was a fruit and effect of being saved. In this way, salvation produced the amended life, but was not dependent upon it, so preserving the gospel of grace. However, while it is indeed true that salvation produces the transformed life and not the other way around, the Scriptures in fact teach that that in order for men to be saved, they must "metanoia" (e.g., Luke 13:3, Acts 3:19, et al.). The real problem was not in the order of salvation and repentance, but in the word "repentance" itself. The Roman Catholics understood the order correctly, but had the wrong definition of metanoia, while the Reformers - despite grasping the gospel correctly - understood both the order incorrectly and had the wrong definition of metanoia! This incorrect order and definition has caused the uncomfortable juggling of sola fide and penitence within Protestant history. What is needed is to simply see the true meaning of metanoia.

Metanoia is the paradigm shift which the preaching of the gospel both introduces and commands reception. It is the call for men who are ignorant of the righteousness of God by faith to see this new and living way of righteousness in Christ and the futility of their own attempt to be righteous by the law. The good news for sinners is that as sinners we are "justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24) through nothing but faith alone. "To the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted unto righteousness" (Rom. 4:5). This is a radical message that upends our natural religious sensibilities and requires a powerful change in mind about God, ourselves, and grace, which will in turn, of course, result in a renewal of our entire lives.

"'Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' And they said to him, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved'" (Acts 16:30-31). "The Lord is... not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to metanoia" (2 Pet. 3:9). God calls sinners to eat freely of the bread of life, the broken body and shed blood of His Son. This is a meal He has set for the ungodly, not for the righteous. He wants sinners to eat of it. God sees our dire need and says, "Eat, sinner, and live! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! Look and your soul shall be filled! Do not think that you must worthy to receive My salvation. Behold and believe My righteous, generous grace for you revealed in the cross of Christ. Metanoia!"

I hope this is helpful to you, J---. I love you, dear brother, and pray for you to have wisdom and clarity in this matter. Looking forward to hearing from you again,

With much affection,

Eli