"Is not calamity for the unrighteous,
and disaster for the workers of iniquity?"
That is the crux of the theological presumption of the book of Job and
for most people in the world. We want to
believe that if we belong to the Lord and do all that He says to do then we
will live not blessed lives, but charmed lives.
There is something inside almost all of us that believes this to be true
even though we should know that from the start that isn't so, beginning with
Genesis 4, the murder of the first man we are told did right in the eyes of
God, Abel. God did an amazing thing in
allowing Cain to go forward with the intention of His heart, but how can He
allow such a thing? We are treated with
far more dignity than we deserve. That
passage should tell us everything we need to know about the lack of
correspondence between doing righteousness and being protected from evil.
Martha expresses great faith in Jesus,
"If you had been here my brother would not have died." I might say that to a great doctor but to a
rabbi? Jesus then makes clear that death
is not the final answer and Martha believes in the resurrection of the dead and
that Jesus is Messiah but does she believe that Jesus can raise her brother
from the dead? What does she mean when
she says, "But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will
give you.” Does she believe that if
Jesus prays for the resurrection of Lazarus it will work? It isn't at all clear what she means by that
statement. She says she believes He is
the Christ but when she goes to Mary she refers to Jesus as "The
Teacher." Belief is a funny and
fungible thing in John 11.
Was anyone saved by being circumcised? That seems to be what the Judean Jews were
teaching but Jesus had substituted the sign of baptism for salvation but does
baptism save anyone? Peter makes plain
that it isn't circumcision that saves but he doesn't mention baptism, we are
saved by Jesus' grace, period, end of sentence.
The Law isn't the path either, no one ever kept it but Jesus. If we are saved by grace and not Law then
what relationship do we have with the Law?
How then shall we live if not the Law?
By the Spirit, the Law written on our hearts, it is no longer external
but a matter of the indwelling Spirit leading us into all truth and convicting
us of righteousness but that righteousness isn't at variance with the Law. Changing circumstance brings on change in the
Law on other occasions. Before the
flood, food was fruit and vegetables, after the flood, food was certain clean
animals. The apostolic council will tell
us what part of the Law now must be obeyed.
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