Archive for the ‘Hamartology’ category

Beware the Due Penalty of Sin

October 12th, 2006

As part of my devotions, I enjoy making a fresh translation of the Bible from the original languages. I find it gives me a better awareness of what God is saying to me through His Word. As I was working my way through Romans 1, I had the following observation. First let me share with you my translation.

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, because it is God’s power which brings salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed by faith for faith; just as it is written, “THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH.”
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,
1:19 because what can be known about God is evident to them; because God has made it evident to them.
1:20 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings and their foolish hearts were darkened.
1:22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image resembling corruptible Man and birds and four-footed animals and reptiles.
1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among themselves.
1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for the lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For even their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for what is against nature.
1:27 and likewise the men also abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned with an intense desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and receiving in themselves the due penalty of their error.
1:28 And, just as they did not approve of keeping God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a disapproved mind, to do the things which are not proper;
1:29 being filled with every kind of unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossipers,
1:30 slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
1:31 lacking discernment, covenant-breakers, untrustworthy, unloving, without mercy;
1:32 and, although they know the righteous judgment of God (that those who practice such things are worthy of death) they not only do those same things, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

One thing that jumped out to me was this short phrase in verse 27 which reads “τὴν ἀντιμισθίαν ἣν ἔδε” or “the due penalty” of their error. We read that those choosing to engage in homosexual activity receive the “due penalty” of their error. The greek here for the “due penalty” is not talking about a special punishment from God, but is emphasizing that those engaging in such sin will reap the consequence which is natural and logical to their actions.

Wuest’s Expanded translation reflects this important meaning.

And likewise also the males, having put aside the natural use of the females, burned themselves out in their lustful appetite toward one another, males with males carrying to its ultimate conclusion that which is shameful, receiving in themselves that retribution which was a necessity in the nature of the case because of their deviation from the norm.

Wuest, Kenneth S. The New Testament : An Expanded Translation. First published in 3 vols., 1956-59, under title: Expanded translation of the Greek New Testament., Ro 1:24. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997, c1961.

Paul does not mention any specifics regarding the “due penalty” of being turned over by God into the hands of sin. However, it may be fair to speculate that the due penalty is in some way referring to sexual diseases such as HIV/AIDS that are the natural consequence we see dominate the homosexual lifestyle (and promiscuous heterosexual activity as well I might add). These diseases are not so much a direct punishment from God as much as they are a violation of nature which leads to a natural corruption of the body. By analogy, when you violate the intended use of a product, you void the manufacturer’s warranty. You can’t put metal objects in the microwave and then blame the maker for destroying the microwave. So too as God’s creation, we can not violate the natural use of our bodies and then blame God for the resulting sickness which are the natural consequence (due penalty) of ignoring His instruction manual.

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Posted in Anthropology, Hamartology, Law, NT Translation

Laws Demonstrate Immorality, NOT Goodness

September 24th, 2006

The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.–Tacitus, Annals III 27

Back when I was in Seminary, I remember a discussion about the complexity of the Old Testament Law and its meaning for us today. And that is when it hit me—laws demonstrate immorality, not goodness. Now while this proposal may seem counterintuitive, it is an accurate statement that the more laws a people have, demonstrates how immoral the people are, not how good they are? It’s true! Think about it.

When God created Man in the Garden of Eden, there was only one simple law—don’t eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge. After that law was broken, God needed to create an entire system of laws. Why? It certainly was not to show how advanced or good the people were, but rather God’s Law was designed to illustrate just the opposite–He wanted to show how depraved Man had become.

In our own modern context a law often gets passed only when someone does something really bad that nobody ever thought about before. Imagine if you will a small remote village where no woman has ever been raped and where no man has ever thought of such an evil act. Would this village have a law against rape? Nope. Only when a society experiences such evil does it find the need to create such a law. Why? Because laws are meant to govern the wicked impulses of man not the good. A complex set of laws is not indicative of an advanced people, but of an immoral people.

So the next time you see the government passing a new set of laws, don’t think that makes your society better or more righteous than another. Fact is, it probably means that your society is more evil.

This article was published in Aug. 15, 2007 issue of our local paper, The Gazette.

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Posted in Culture, Ecclesiology, Hamartology, Law, Politics, Social Justice

Sending a Whale Your Way.

September 5th, 2006

This week I was teaching on the prayer of evangelism. God wants our heart beating in unison with His own heart; a heart which longs to see the lost come to salvation in Jesus Christ. Yet isn’t it curious that the Lord picks a man who hates the lost and would do anything to avoid bringing them the hope of salvation? Only after a whale swallows him does Jonah relent and go to Nineveh, but even then he hopes and prays these folks will not repent and that the Lord will wipe them off the face of the earth.

But look what happens in Jonah 4:1-4. When the people repent and they are saved, Jonah became angry. Check out this exchange between him and God.

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to YHWH and said, “Please YHWH, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in covenant-love, and one who relents concerning calamity. “Therefore now, O YHWH, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” YHWH said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”

Jonah would rather die than see his enemy receive the forgiveness and mercy of God. So God brings a plant to life, kills it and then tries to teach Jonah a bit of a lesson on the value of human life. Verses 10 and 11 record the following commentary from YHWH.

Then YHWH said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. “Should I not )have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not)know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many )animals?”

As I read this story, I could not help but think of some of the reasons we resist the Father’s call. Maybe, like Jonah, there are people in our own lives whom we hate, and so we just don’t bother to share Jesus. Or maybe obedience would require too much sacrifice on our part; a sacrifice of money, a sacrifice of time, a sacrifice of lifestyle. Maybe God needs us to leave the safety of home, or our home church, and go to a new and different place. Maybe we find the mission of evangelism too humbling, so we continue “doing ministry” in the pride of our own passions so we get the praises of Men (that includes us church leaders too!). Maybe we are stuck in a rut doing what seems safe and not willing to take the risk He is asking us to take.

God is asking everyone to reach the lost with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Will you get your heart and mind in unison with your God, YHWH? Will you step out in obedience before God sends a whale your way?

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Posted in Anthropology, Hamartology, Missiology