Pursuing Holiness

Colossians 3:1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.


1 Εἰ οὖν συνηγέρθητε τῷ Χριστῷ, τὰ ἄνω ζητεῖτε, οὗ ὁ Χριστός ἐστιν ἐν δεξιᾷ τοῦ θεοῦ καθήμενος·

Paul follows up his argument from chapter 2 by starting another one. He uses a first-class condition. Basically he is asking the reader to assume that he has indeed been raised with Christ. If this is indeed true, and let's assume it is, then you should seek the things that are above. He then goes on to explain more about that.

I think that we can safely turn this around. If we seek the things that are above we have probably been raised with Christ. However, if we do not seek the things that are above then we likely have not been raised with Christ.

I am all for preaching grace. In fact, I hate the non-gospel of legalism that pervades so many churches. Most churches in America are basically centers for moralistic therapeutic deism. They have a vague sense of who God is, but they think that they get to Him by behaving better. The answer is not to do better.  The answer is to repent and believe.

But this verse shows us where that should go. If we have been raised with Christ then He should be our chief pursuit. There is nothing else for us to pursue as important as pursuing Christ. This should consume us and be the focus of our lives.

Is it for you? It is for me, though I fall short more than I'd like to admit. Yet I take solace knowing that the pursuit of Christ is the deepest desire of my heart. And when I waver I know that I can go back to Him and He will get me back on the narrow path. This is not something I do, but something He does in me.

On Our Side

Romans 8:31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

31 Τί οὖν ἐροῦμεν πρὸς ταῦτα; εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν;

This is one of those very simple verses that packs a great punch. This comes after Paul describes what theologians call the ordo salutis, which refers to the order of events by which man is saved. I've heard the previous verses described as a "golden chain" as God links things together for our salvation and His glory. Paul then writes this verse immediately afterward.


The key phrase does not even have a verb in it. εἰ ὁ θεὸς ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν, τίς καθ᾽ ἡμῶν; This is a first-class condition. As we read this, we should assume that God is indeed for us. We have to supply the verbs as it literally reads, "If God for us, who against us?" Really that says it all, doesn't it?


If we really believe this and really submit to His will then there is no room for anxiety. The command of Philippians 4:16 is hardly burdensome if we truly believe this verse. How can we be anxious? God is for us. That means that no matter what happens it is ultimately for our good and for His glory.


Now I would probably not lead with that to someone in Joplin, MO whose neighborhood was just devastated by a tornado. But I would try to get there. Most people know Romans 8:28 about how God works all things together for the good of those who love Him. This verse is a corollary to that. If we are children of God then God is for us. Therefore, no matter what happens is ultimately part of His will for our lives.


What we then have to decide is whether or not God is worthy of our trust. How we react to trials will give us the answer to that pretty quickly. Do we trust Him or don't we? He is for us. What can possibly stand against Him? Satan can resist Him, but we know how it will all work out in the end.

Still Paying

Romans 5:17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

17 εἰ γὰρ τῷ τοῦ ἑνὸς παραπτώματι ὁ θάνατος ἐβασίλευσεν διὰ τοῦ ἑνός, πολλῷ μᾶλλον οἱ τὴν περισσείαν τῆς χάριτος καὶ τῆς δωρεᾶς τῆς δικαιοσύνης λαμβάνοντες ἐν ζωῇ βασιλεύσουσιν διὰ τοῦ ἑνὸς Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.

Paul continues his argument explaining the problem of sin and the need for justification. Here he uses a first-class conditional sentence, as seen by his use of  εἰ followed by the verb ἐβασίλευσεν in the indicative. According to Wallace, a first-class condition assumes truth for the sake of argument. Here Paul assumes that death reigned through Adam because of his sin. We of course know this to be true because we have the record of Genesis to tell us this.


This verse is one of those verses that pretty much encapsulates the gospel. All of humanity has a problem because of Adam. We are born with a sin nature, which means that we are sinners by nature and by choice. In other words, we come into the world with an inclination to sin and that is just what we do. We are free to choose, but because our nature is bent toward sin we choose sin. This alienates us from God.


But the the second half of this verse is pregnant with hope, isn't it? Here we see that despite our sin problem God gave us a solution in Christ. It is a gift that God offers everyone. The question is whether or not we will take it.


I realize that this would be a fine place to split hairs about election and God's sovereignty. The problem is that I don't know who the elect are. Spurgeon famously said that if God put a yellow stripe on the back of all the elect then he would be in the business of lifting men's shirt tails. But since God didn't do that he had to preach with the assumption that the elect would hear and believe the gospel. That's what I'm trying to do here. My prayer is that those who read this would accept the free gift of grace that God offers. 

Screaming Stones

Luke 19:40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out."


40 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· λέγω ὑμῖν, ἐὰν οὗτοι σιωπήσουσιν, οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν.

This is Jesus' response to the Pharisees' request to quiet His disciples. They didn't think much of all the shouting that was going on for the triumphal entry. They certainly didn't like shouting that smacked of blasphemy to their ears.

I tend to very quickly gloss over this verse, but reading it in Greek forced me to slow down a bit. What do you think of when you think of stones taking on life? I think of the "living stones" that Peter describes in 1 Peter 2. I also think of how in Matthew 3:9 John the Baptizer told the Pharisees that God would make sons of Abraham out of the stones found there. There seems to be this idea that if the folks who should recognize and worship Jesus refuse to then God will make disciples out of basically nothing.

I am one of these. I am one of οἱ λίθοι κράξουσιν.  This verb is in the future indicative, but you should take it the way the ESV translates it. The construct with ἐὰν indicates a third-class condition, which means not certain, but probable. This is why you get the translation of "the very stones would cry out." It shows that if the disciples were silent then something would have to praise Him.

I get to be one of these. The question then becomes what I do with this. Am I going to keep crying out praise to Him? Or am I going to become silent like one of the Pharisees that should have known better? It's an awesome privilege to be a dead stone made alive to worship the Lord. I hate to waste that privilege.

Confession

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

9 ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν τὰς ἁμαρτίας ἡμῶν, πιστός ἐστιν καὶ δίκαιος, ἵνα ἀφῇ ἡμῖν τὰς ἁμαρτίας καὶ καθαρίσῃ ἡμᾶς ἀπὸ πάσης ἀδικίας.

This is one of those verses that just about every Christian either has memorized or is very familiar with.  If he isn't, he should be.  I remember that this is one of the first verses I ever memorized.  It's one of those great verses which summarizes the gospel beautifully.

What is John telling us here?  It seems absurdly simple, doesn't it?  We confess our sins and He forgives us.  I don't think that he has the sacrament of penance in mind here either.  I don't think that this is an ongoing process either.  When God saves us He cleans us from all unrighteousness.  We become white as snow as we are washed in the blood of the Lamb.  It all starts with admitting our guilt before God.

Note that all the verbs are in the subjunctive.  The construct with ἐὰν ὁμολογῶμεν is a third-class condition.  This means that the fulfillment is uncertain, but likely.  John is saying that he doesn't know if the reader is necessarily going to confess his sins, but he does know that if we confess our sins we can be sure that God will forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  This is because He is both faithful to His promise and He is just in not putting us under double jeopardy for the crimes for which Jesus was already convicted.

Where are you?  Are you trying to live life as a good person?  Do you hope that someday your good works will outweigh your bad on some divine scales of justice?  If so, admit that you are a sinner before God because all it takes is one bad work to tip the scale.  Once you've sinned you can never make up the lost ground.  But Jesus came to offer Himself as a ransom for the penalty we deserve.  Confess to God that you need His salvation.  He is faithful and just and will forgive you.

Sovereign Will

James 4:15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

15 ἀντὶ τοῦ λέγειν ὑμᾶς· ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ καὶ ζήσομεν καὶ ποιήσομεν τοῦτο ἢ ἐκεῖνο.

Here James is explaining how we should view the future.  He rebukes those who plan for the future with certainty by giving the example of folks who plan on going to a town and spending some time there engaged in some business enterprise.  It is not that the act is sinful, but their attitude is.  They just assume that everything will be fine.  But James tells them that they ought to say ἐὰν ὁ κύριος θελήσῃ, which is a third-class condition.  That means that the future is not certain, but likely.

This use of the third-class condition saves us from all kinds of craziness.  Clearly we need to plan our lives.  We need to have stewardship of our time, talent, and treasure.  But what this passage does is to remind us that God is sovereign over everything.  I plan on seeing my kids graduate from high school.  I plan on seeing them get married.  I plan on serving the Lord for at least another 40 or 50 years.  But I also know that I could go through a green light today and a semi could be out of control and just obliterate my little car and me inside it.  Someone could blow a tire on the highway and smash into me.  I could have a seizure and discover that I have a brain tumor.  There are all sorts of grisly scenarios that could play out down to more mundane things like losing my job.

I don't expect them to happen, but if they do I will not be shocked.  God has a plan for my life and I will live as long as He wants for me to live.  My life will be prosperous as He wants for it to be prosperous.  It is perhaps a bit trite the way so many Christians say, "Lord willing" when they speak of the future, but I believe that to be biblical.  God is in control of everything.  Acknowledging that gives Him the credit He deserves.

The New Covenant

Hebrews 8:6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

6 νυν[ὶ] δὲ διαφορωτέρας τέτυχεν λειτουργίας, ὅσῳ καὶ κρείττονός ἐστιν διαθήκης μεσίτης, ἥτις ἐπὶ κρείττοσιν ἐπαγγελίαις νενομοθέτηται. 7  Εἰ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν ἄμεμπτος, οὐκ ἂν δευτέρας ἐζητεῖτο τόπος.

As we go back to the Old Testament we see the old covenant that God had with His people.  He made it through Moses and it was a tough one to keep from the people's side.  They had to go through all kinds of machinations to atone for their guilt and their shame.  It was an extremely bloody system, but one consistent thread in Scripture is that there must be blood as a payment for sin.

The good news is that Christ came to usher in a new covenant with His blood.  The author of Hebrews uses a first-class conditional statement in verse 7 with the construct of Εἰ γὰρ ἡ πρώτη ἐκείνη ἦν.  This is the use of ει followed by the indicative mood.  What this means is that for the sake of argument, we need to assume that what he states is true.  It has to get unsorted a bit because the word ἄμεμπτος has a negative sense to it and then the second half of the condition starts with οὐκ, which is also an indicator of a first-class condition.

The point is that the first covenant was not faultless.  Jesus had to come to provide a better covenant and He did that.  If you know Jesus this should fill you with tremendous hope and gratitude.  We do not have to go through sacrificing bulls and goats for our sin.  Jesus already paid it all with His blood.  We have a peace and security that could never be obtained by the Jew who followed the old covenant.

Let's fix our eyes on the new covenant in Jesus' blood.  There we find peace.

Confess!

Romans 10:8 But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 

8 ἀλλὰ τί λέγει; ἐγγύς σου τὸ ῥῆμά ἐστιν ἐν τῷ στόματί σου καὶ ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου, τοῦτ᾽ ἔστιν τὸ ῥῆμα τῆς πίστεως ὃ κηρύσσομεν. 9  ὅτι ἐὰν ὁμολογήσῃς ἐν τῷ στόματί σου κύριον Ἰησοῦν καὶ πιστεύσῃς ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ σου ὅτι ὁ θεὸς αὐτὸν ἤγειρεν ἐκ νεκρῶν, σωθήσῃ·

Paul is making a case for the Jews here.  In this chapter he explains how they need Jesus just as much as the Gentiles.  Being the offspring of Abraham does not get them into heaven.  They need to acknowledge Messiah, who is Jesus.  The Jews believed neither of the conditions in verse 9.  The construct ἐὰν ὁμολογήσῃς is a third-class condition which means basically what we have in English.  Confessing Jesus as Lord and believing in His resurrection will lead to salvation.

Sadly, some have twisted this verse to propose a salvation with no change on the part of the hearer.  This can be seen in the kind of revivalist preaching of someone like a Charles Finney.  Let's just get people to make a confession of faith and then we'll move on.  But if we look at this more closely we see that this is a lot more than simply praying a prayer.  Fundamentally, it is true that a single prayer can lead to salvation.  But what must the prayer be?  It is confessing (not asking) Jesus as Lord.  That means that His commandments become binding on us.  This cannot be a true confession if we simply go on living as if nothing ever happened.

Where are you?  Have you made this confession of faith?  If so, how has it changed your life?  If you can't point to any difference at all then what does "Jesus as Lord" really mean to you?  Probably nothing.  If that is the case then I urge you to reexamine your heart today.

Reading the Pentateuch

John 5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.

46 εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί· περὶ γὰρ ἐμοῦ ἐκεῖνος ἔγραψεν.

Jesus here makes a very important statement for how we treat the Old Testament.  It is easy for us to just forget about the Old Testament.  After all, we have the New, so why bother?  What value does the Old Testament give us?  Here we see that the Pentateuch in particular speaks to us of Jesus.

This is certainly interesting reading, but what value does it add?  Personally, it increases the faith I have in the God who can make all things happen according to His will.  Moses wrote of Christ thousands of years before the incarnation.  This is not a God who leaves things up to "chance," whatever that is.  No, He is a God who has a plan for the fullness of time, as Paul told us in Ephesians.

This statement εἰ γὰρ ἐπιστεύετε Μωϋσεῖ, ἐπιστεύετε ἂν ἐμοί is a second-class conditional statement.  What Jesus is saying is, "If you had believed Moses, and I know that you didn't, then you would believe me."  Or, put another way, "Since you didn't believe Moses you don't believe me."  This is a stinging rebuke to the Jews.  They were sure that they had got Moses right, but Jesus turned that upside-down.

Where are you?  Are you living in certainty that you have God figured out?  If you are sure, what are you sure about?  Hopefully your certainty comes from knowing Jesus and not from something you have decided on your own.  The Bible is a big book about Jesus.  Let's remember that and rejoice in it.