One In Jesus

Try to picture First Century Judaism just before the arrival of the John the Baptist.

In fact, the Jews were saved — if they were saved at all — by faith. The Law was, to the Jews, much as the Sunday assembly is to Christians. Christians don’t attend the assembly to be saved. They’re saved; therefore, they attend the assembly.

The assembly is an opportunity to encourage others, to form community with fellow believers, to learn God’s will more perfectly, and to express our love for God in worship. For the Jews, obedience to the Law was much the same thing — at least in theory.

Just as some Christians take a legalistic view of the assembly, making it a means of salvation — give up an hour or two to God earn seven days of salvation — some Jews saw the Law legalistically. In fact, there were several different perspectives on the Law present in Judea when John the Baptist arrived, and we’ve consider some of these recently. Continue reading →

We start with just a little bit of context —

(Rom 3:29-31 ESV)  29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,  30 since God is one– who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.  31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

Verses 29-31 demonstrate that the issue at hand is how the Gentiles can be saved and yet not be bound by the Law of Moses. But if this is so, what is the point of the Law? And Paul begins with his conclusion: “We uphold the law.”

Now, there’s something of a pun here. The Jews used “law” to refer both the Law of Moses and to the first five books of the First Testament. Hence, God’s covenant with Abraham is, in one sense, a part of the law. It’s in Genesis, the first book of the Law. He means much more than that when he declares that he upholds the law, but that is part of what he means. The “law” is not just the 613 commands. It’s also the story of the Exodus. It’s also God’s covenant with Abraham. It all matters. Continue reading →

Now, this claim raises the obvious problem. If the Law of Moses could not save, why have a Law of Moses? What was its purpose?

(Gal 3:19 ESV) Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring [Jesus] should come to whom the promise had been made [the Jews], and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

“Because of transgressions.” Because of sin.

(Gal 3:21-22 ESV) Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.  22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 

Does the Law contradict the Abrahamic covenant? No. The two covenants had two different purposes. The promise given to Abraham was to bring righteousness (by faith). The Law — indeed “the Scripture” — trapped the Jews in sin to demonstrate the necessity of salvation by faith. Continue reading →

So if I’m right — and I’ll admit that the evidence is sparse — my understanding of Jewish salvation should fit well within Gal 3 and Rom 4, the two chapters in which Paul argues that salvation by faith in Jesus comes from God’s covenant with Abraham.

Galatians is likely the earliest of the Pauline epistles (some would argue for 1 Thessalonians). So we start there.

(Gal 3:5-6 ESV) 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? 

The issue before Paul is whether Gentiles must become Jews, by circumcision, to be saved. He begins his argument in Gen 15:6. He says that our salvation is based on “hearing with faith” just as Abraham’s was. “Just as”? The Greek is kathos, and can mean “to the very same degree as.” It’s not the same as “similarly to.” It’s stronger than that. Continue reading →

Now, I had to explain that in order to explain this.

Chapter 11 is a list of the faithful heroes of the First Testament. It begins with Abel and continues to —

(Heb 11:35-38 ESV)  35 Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.  36 Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.  37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated —  38 of whom the world was not worthy — wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 

These heroes did great things and suffered horribly for the sake of the coming Messiah. Continue reading →

While Paul touches on the salvation of the Jews under the Law of Moses, Hebrews deals more thoroughly with the question, although the point of Hebrews is to demonstrate the superiority of the covenant under Christ to the Mosaic covenant.

To see the point, we need to trace a couple of thoughts through the text, beginning with the author’s doctrine of “once for all” salvation.

We should start, though, back in Romans —

(Rom 6:9-10 ESV) 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

The Greek for “once for all” is ἐφάπαξ  (ephapax), meaning all at once and never again (BDAG).

Paul’s point, of course, is that Jesus was crucified just once, and this sacrifice is sufficient for all time and for all who will follow him. His one sacrifice is fully sufficient for all and never needs to be repeated. Continue reading →

Ponder for a moment this passage —

(Rom 5:20-21 ESV)  20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,  21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It’s not so much difficult as surprising. Let me retranslate it a hair —

(Rom 5:20-21 ESV)  20 Now the law [of Moses] came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, [God’s] grace abounded all the more,  21 so that, as sin reigned in [eternal] death [before Abraham], grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord [under the Law of Moses!].

Now, in Romans, “law” means “the will of God as revealed in the Law of Moses or by other means.” The Law is considered by Paul as the ultimate revelation of God’s will, and hence the ultimate source of accountability. The Israelites, having been told God’s will on so many things, became accountable for violating God’s will on so many things. As a result, “sin increased.” And it’s obviously true.

The fact is that when God reveals himself more thoroughly, the likelihood of greater accountability for sin skyrockets. The more we know, the more we must obey, the more we fail to obey. Continue reading →