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Saturday, December 31, 2022

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

(Part 1 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“Seeing the crowds, (Jesus) went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.’” (Matthew 5:1-3)

Blessed are the poor in Spirit
(Matthew 5:3)
Image from a Mosaic in the
Saint Louis Cathedral, St. Louis, Missouri

The beginning of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-12 is called the Beatitudes. We don’t hear that word much in everyday conversation, but beatitudes are blessings, and blessings are gifts. These gifts are special because they come from God. Jesus gives a list of blessings that God gives His beloved children, but if you read what type of things that Jesus says is blessed in His Sermon on the Mount, you will see that these are gifts that no one really asks for, and wouldn’t want – except for the fact that they are blessed by God. Because of this, Christians are happy to receive them as true gifts of God.

The first beatitude is: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) No one wants to be poor, but this isn’t talking about worldly wealth and riches. Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” These are Spiritual blessings, and those who are blessed here are people who recognize that they are poor in the Spiritual realm. They have nothing to give God Spiritually, because they are sinners who deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. This is true for all of us, but not all people recognize their Spiritual poverty. The people who are blessed by this Beatitude would certainly receive God’s condemnation unless another arrangement were made. Fortunately for us, Jesus has made another arrangement so that instead of punishment, we receive the blessings of God’s kingdom. Another way to say this is that these are repentant sinners who recognize their poverty of Spirit and know that they must rely on God to rescue them through Jesus Christ.

Jesus once taught people from a boat on the lake.
(see Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 5)

In Luke’s Gospel he records Jesus teaching on the plain, where He gives similar blessings as He did in the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke 6:20 Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.” Though on the surface it may seem as if Jesus is commanding His people to be poor, but that interpretation really has it backwards. Because of our sin, we are all poor already. Those who are rich are just fooling themselves, thinking they are something when they are not. Saint Paul writes to Timothy, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (1 Timothy 6:6-10) It is because of our sin that we have nothing to offer God. All the money in the world cannot save you because it all belongs to God. It is also because of our sin that we are subject to death. All that we have is a gift from God, and there comes a time in all our lives when we must give it all back. “You can’t take it with you,” is a saying which paraphrases Saint Paul’s words to Saint Timothy. Yet, we can be content with what we have because Christians trust that God gives us the “daily bread” which we ask for in the Lord’s Prayer, as Jesus taught us to pray (Matthew 6:9-13). Because Jesus told us to ask for this, we trust that God provides for our needs every day.

James 2:5 says, “Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?” Christians are “rich in faith” because Christ has promised us the inheritance of God’s Kingdom. Though this is not a worldly gift, we trust that this heavenly gift is ours because God has promised to give us this inheritance through faith in Jesus. Jesus said, “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32) We may not be rich in this world, but God still provides us all with good things, and He has promised to share with us all the riches of His Kingdom, which is eternal. So we live by faith, and trust that God’s promises are more sure than anything that we may hold in our hands. God’s heavenly Kingdom is already ours by faith, but we must wait to see its fulfillment.

A good example in Holy Scripture of someone who is “poor in spirit” is the character of the tax collector in Christ’s Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (See Luke 18:9-14). The tax collector was in God’s house looking for God’s blessings, but he was so ashamed of his sin that he wouldn’t even raise up his head, and he simply prayed, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus said he was the one who went home justified (forgiven), because he repentantly recognized his poverty of Spirit, and looked to God to save Him.

The opposite of “Poor in Spirit” would be something like “proud in spirit” or “self-righteous.” A good example of this is the Pharisee in Christ’s parable. He was boastful before God because he thought that he was so good that he had something to offer God. He was wrong, of course, but he thought he was so good that God had to be pleased with him. He didn’t recognize the guilt of his sin and how much he deserved God’s condemnation, so he did not repent, nor did he look to God to save him. This is why both John the Baptist and Jesus were so harsh in dealing with unrepentant Pharisees. The Pharisees weren’t bad people in the civil sense, but they were (generally speaking) unrepentant unbelievers. They needed to hear God’s Law to recognize their sin, and the true poverty of their spirit, and their need for God to save them.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, who did not believe in Him, “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” (Matthew 21:43) The Pharisees admitted among themselves that they didn’t believe in Jesus (Matthew 21:25). This is why Jesus told the Parable of the Wicked Tenants against them. They didn’t want to be God’s people, and follow Him. They wanted to be in charge themselves. They were not producing the fruits of faith, because they did not have faith themselves. The fruits of faith are love, which is the good works done in obedience to God’s commandments. The Pharisees were too busy trying to save themselves that they did not do good to others. It is a paradox that those who are “poor in Spirit” are rich in good works, and those who think themselves “rich in Spirit” are poor in good works. Hebrews 11:6 tells us, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Repent of your sins and seek God in the Holy Scriptures because that is where God has revealed Himself, and there is where God’s Holy Spirit comes to you to bring you salvation, and God’s Kingdom.

Jesus was not so proud of Spirit
that He wasn’t willing to
suffer and die on the cross to save sinners,
and give us the blessings of His Kingdom.

Jesus was poor in Spirit, but not quite in the same way that we are. We are humble because we are sinners who rightly are subject to God’s condemnation, and desperately need God to save us. Jesus had no sin, so He could rightly claim innocence before God, but He was certainly not “proud in spirit” so God the Father was pleased with Him in all things. Jesus knew He was innocent, and He never admitted to any sin which He did not commit, but He also never boasted that He was better than anyone else because of His holiness. Martin Luther explained that one who is “poor in spirit” “must not set his confidence, comfort, and trust on temporal goods, nor hang his heart upon them and make Mammon his idol.” * Jesus was not proud, and never made an idol of any created thing, but loved God with His whole heart, soul, mind, and strength in all that He did – and, in putting that into action in His life, Jesus also served us sinners in everything He did.

Saint Paul describes Christ’s humility this way in Philippians 2:5-8: “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness … and became obedient to death, even death on a cross.” Jesus was equal to the Father in all things including power, glory, and all His being. However, He humbled Himself as a man to win our forgiveness and salvation. During His life and ministry, Jesus gave up all the honor, glory and riches which rightly belonged to Him as the Son of God, so that He could offer His life as the atoning sacrifice which would provide forgiveness and salvation to all who trust in Him to save them. The result of Christ’s humbling Himself like this is described by Saint Paul in this way: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:9-11) Jesus did not exalt Himself as a man, but God, the Father, exalted Him (as a man) for His faithful obedience and for winning our salvation.

The blessings that repentant sinners receive is that the Kingdom of heaven is given to them. What this means is that they are welcomed into God’s heavenly kingdom as beloved children who have been washed clean of their sins through the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all our sin (1 John 1:7) because death is the punishment for sin, and Jesus died in our place as our substitute. Through holy Baptism and faith we are adopted back into God’s family as His beloved children, and, having been washed clean of all sin, we will get to enjoy the full blessings of the kingdom of heaven. There we will live in eternal blessedness and peace with God, and all our needs of body and soul will be provided for us by God.

Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Opposite of Murder

(Part Three in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus restored life to the daughter of Jairus
after she had died.
(Luke 8:40-56)
Photo of woodcut from Valparaiso University Chapel

The opposite of death is life. What is the opposite of murder? If murder is the taking of life, then the opposite is the giving of life. Can you give life to another? A father and mother do give life to their child, and that is truly a great gift from God in so many ways. This is the opposite of murder, but that is a one-time event. What if that child loses his life or has it taken away? Can anyone give him his life back, or give him new life? Such a thing is impossible in this world. Once your life is gone or taken away, it cannot be returned or restored. This is why the sin of murder is considered so evil, and why the sin of murder is different than most other sins.

Martin Luther’s explanation to the Fifth Commandment in the Small Catechism says, “We should fear and love God that we may not hurt nor harm our neighbor in his body, but help and befriend him in every bodily need.” This shows us that there is more to keeping the Fifth commandment than simply refraining from murdering your neighbor. God also requires that we help preserve and protect our neighbor’s body and life. Luther got this from several places in Scripture, but it is taught most clearly in Christ’s Sermon on the Mount where Jesus taught, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22) Here Jesus shows that God’s concern for life isn’t just a sharp distinction between life and death, but is much more involved. We must help our neighbor whenever we can. When God confronted Adam’s son, Cain, about the whereabouts of his brother, Abel, Cain replied, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain was the elder brother, and should have been watching out for his brother and keeping his life protected, instead he murdered his brother (more on this in an upcoming article in my Biblical Vignettes on Murder series). We all should keep our neighbor’s life safe from harm as we are able (pun intended).

Jesus never committed murder, and He also did even more in the positive sense to obey God’s command against murder. When Jesus began His ministry and revealed Himself as the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, He also began to miraculously heal many people from all kinds of afflictions. Jesus healed the lame, and those suffering from all kinds of illnesses. He restored hearing and sight to those who were deaf and blind. In doing this, Jesus not only showed His divine power as God in the flesh, but He showed great love and concern for the life and well-being of all kinds of people. Jesus also raised several people back to life who had died. This is definitely the opposite of murder.

Jesus Restored life to Lazarus
after he had been in the grave four days.
(See John 11)

During His earthly ministry Jesus restored life to several people who had lost theirs. Jesus restored life to the daughter of Jairus (Luke 8:40-56), the widow’s son in the town of Nain (Luke 7:11-17), and Lazarus of Bethany, who had been dead four days when Jesus called him out of his grave (John 11). In all these ways Jesus actively obeyed the commandment against murder, and fulfilled God’s Law.

Jesus didn’t stop there, however. It still was not enough for Jesus to restore health and life to a few sinners who had lost theirs. Every one of those people whom Jesus healed and raised from the dead also died later. These miracles were temporary solutions, but that wasn’t all Jesus did for us. He did much more. Jesus wanted to provide a permanent solution and cure for sin, sickness, and death, so He offered His life to God, the Father, in payment for the sins of the world. Because Jesus is the beloved Son of God who is sinless and perfect in every way, God, the Father, accepted the sacrifice of Jesus as full payment for the sins of all people of all time. By giving His life as payment for the sins of the world, Jesus also destroyed the power of death. Death is the ultimate consequence of sin, but Jesus died to pay for the sins of all people. Since the price for our sin has already been paid, we no longer have to die. Yes, there is still temporal death, which is a consequence of sin, and which must come to all sinners (except for those still alive on earth when Jesus returns on the last day), but this temporal death is now only temporary. In Acts 3:15 Saint Peter preached to the Jews after Christ’s resurrection, and told them that Jesus was the “author of life” – referencing His divine nature as God, the creator of all things, including people. The irony of Peter’s post-resurrection sermon wasn’t just that they killed the “author or life”, but that the “author of life” willingly gave up His life to redeem the lives of sinful people such as those who killed Him.

Since Jesus has overcome sin and death, when Jesus returns on the last day He will raise to life all people who have ever died on earth – from the first person to die, Abel (Son of Adam and Eve), to the last person to die before Christ’s return. This resurrection will not be temporary, like the raising of Lazarus (and the others), but it will be an eternal resurrection. For all who believe and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins the resurrected life will be a glorious life in paradise as God’s beloved children – adopted back into the family by Christ. For all who reject and despise Jesus and His work and gift of forgiveness and salvation for them, their resurrected life will be an endless hell of torment, suffering, and pain. Jesus paid for the sins of all people and provides salvation for all as a free gift, but those who reject the gift through unbelief do not benefit from it at all through their rejection. I believe a large part of the torment of the damned is that Jesus gave them forgiveness and eternal life as a free gift, and they rejected life in favor of death (their remaining torment is that they continue to hold on to their sin and hate God, though He is holy and completely good – so they are stuck with sin and death forever by their own choice).

We cannot give life and healing as Jesus did, but we can do what we are able to help preserve and protect our neighbor’s life. We can start by praying for our neighbor’s good welfare (including our enemies). We can also speak up to defend our neighbor against those who would harm them. Also, if we are able, or have special training, we can give aid and comfort to those whose life and health are endangered.

Another depiction of Jesus raising
Jairus' Daughter from the dead.
See Mark 5:22-24, 35-43

Jesus is the opposite of murder because He is the source of life, the salvation of those who are dying and those who are dead, and the giver of life everlasting. In John 5:19-21 Jesus taught, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.” Jesus shows the nature of the Triune God as a loving God who desires the forgiveness and salvation of sinners so much that He would become incarnate as a man, and live and die to pay the price of death for sin so that whoever believes in Him would not perish in their sins, but would have eternal life in paradise with Him. This is not just a temporary opposite of murder, but a permanent life – the eternal opposite of murder, and the opposite of all death. Through faith in Jesus we will be restored by Him to be what God intended us to be (i.e. sinless and holy) to live an eternal, life without sin, suffering, and death.

“The Jews gathered around (Jesus), saying, ‘How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.’ Jesus answered, ‘I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me, but you do not believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:24-30) Jesus gives life because He has paid the price to redeem all sinners. This is the perfect opposite of murder, because through His life and death, Jesus undoes the effects of sin and death. Jesus then freely gives forgiveness of sins through faith, and gives eternal life to all who listen to His voice and trusts in Him for forgiveness and salvation. Jesus does this because Jesus is equally God with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and it is God’s will that we trust in Him and are saved from our sin to live forever with Him.

There is so much more in the Holy Bible about God’s work as the opposite of murder that this article could go on for many pages, but I will deal with some of them in later articles in this series.

Articles in this series:

You Shall Not Murder

The True God Cannot Murder

Thursday, November 24, 2022

The True God Cannot Murder

(Part Two in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God Gave the Ten Commandments
so we would know what is good and right.

You will sometimes hear atheists asking a rhetorical question which goes something like, “If God is so good, then how can he allow so much suffering and death in the world?” They may give some example of a situation where a number of innocent people were killed by evil people, or they will more likely mention a “natural disaster” or an “act of God” where many people die through no fault of their own, or of anyone else. These questions assume that God is unjust in allowing such tragedies to happen, or that God is unwilling or unable to stop evil, or that somehow God is the cause of such evil, and so is evil himself. Atheists love to ask such questions because they assume that God is evil, and they are good and holy. They assume this because they are the ones judging God and imagining that they find Him guilty. This way of thinking also absolves them (though only in the delusion of their own thoughts) of their murderous desires, thoughts and actions. If people think God is guilty of murder then they will feel free to do the same.

In truth, the One, True God cannot commit murder. The only true God is the Triune God – One God in three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. It is important, however, to understand that murder is the unjust taking of life. God may take someone’s life, but He is always just and righteous in doing so. Since God is the creator of everything and everyone He makes the rules which we must follow, and since He is the redeemer who paid for the sins of all mankind we know that God’s rules are good and are for our benefit. God is not the origin or source of sin and evil. Some of God’s good angels fell into sin and became demons first, and one of them lured Adam and Eve into sin through wicked temptation. As our creator and redeemer, God is intimately involved in the life and death of everyone who has ever lived in the history of the world, and all who will ever live to the end of the world. Yet, it is against God’s nature to commit murder. This is why God gave us the Fifth Commandment (as Lutherans, and most other Christians, count the Commandments), “You shall not murder.” God gave us this commandment because He does not murder, and so that we also would not murder.

Sinful people commit murder because, since the fall into sin, our nature has been corrupted, and it is now in our nature to murder. God did not create people to murder, nor has God ever murdered anyone. God created Adam and Eve in His image, which meant that they were holy and pure and immortal, as God is. However, when they rebelled against God they corrupted their nature with sin, and brought condemnation and death on themselves, and all their descendants. Once people rebelled against God, they were no longer holy, pure, nor immortal. In this way murder (and every other sin) is “natural”, though that doesn’t make it right. The “natural” nature of sin (including murder) actually makes it wrong.

Adam and Eve brought sin into the world,
including murder.

God had warned Adam and Eve that the penalty was death for disobeying God’s simple command. He said, “You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:17) Once they broke God’s good, simple command, God was justified for putting sinners to death. Yet, God had mercy on Adam and Eve, and out of love He did not put them to death the day they rebelled against Him, as He could rightly have done, but instead, He promised to send them a savior who would rescue them (and their descendants) from their sins and make everything right again. That promise was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Adam and Eve lived a good, long life (for sinners – though it was infinitely shorter than it would have been had they never sinned against God) and they brought life into the world through their children. Though, Adam and Eve’s first born son also became the first murderer. Cain’s murder of Abel showed clearly that the corruption of sin is something we all inherit from our parents, going all the way back to Adam and Eve.

It is not God who murders ever, it is always people. Even when God does bring about the immediate death of someone it is always justified, since death is the result of sin, and we are all sinners. Life is a gift from God which we don’t deserve, but it is something which He graciously gives to us for a time. The reason there is so much sorrow and tragedy in the world is because of our sin, not because God is cruel and unjust.

God sent Adam and Eve out of Eden
so they would not eat of the
Tree of Life and live forever as sinners.
But He also promised Salvation through
the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

In a strange way , temporal death is a blessing from God, and not a curse, even though it is a result of sin. Living forever in sin is just about as good a definition of hell as anything else, though the true hell is much worse than life in this sinful world, because in hell there is no hope of rescue or relief or salvation. In this life God gives us all good gifts (even to all evil people), and there is always the possibility of salvation, so this life is not hell, even on our worst day. Remember that in the account of the fall into sin in Genesis 3, God put Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden after their fall so that they would not eat of the tree of life and live forever as sinners. This was done out of mercy, but God also promised to send a savior as the “seed” of Eve who would redeem them of their sins and “crush the head” of the serpent whose lies led them into sin and death. This promise was fulfilled in the life and death of Jesus Christ. Everyone who repents of their sin and trusts in Jesus to save them has the salvation which He won for them in His life and death. All who believe in Jesus are saved from sin and death, and we do not need to fear death, because we know that even if we die there is life and salvation in Christ when He returns to fulfill all He has promised.

Some may wonder about God’s judgment of the world in the great flood where only eight people in the whole world survived out of a population which could have been as many as one million. Did God murder a million people? The answer is no. God is holy and His judgments are just and right. God is our creator and He sets the rules. If He says, “Obey my commands or die” then we are condemned if we disobey the good rules that He created us to keep. When we die it is our own fault for disobeying the good commands of God. God does not murder. God is slow to anger and merciful (See Exodus 34:6-7). He forgives all who repent, but when stubborn people refuse God’s mercy, His anger is inescapable. When God kills, it is always righteous. We may not like His decisions, but no one can rightly accuse God of murder, especially when God is holy and innocent, and we all are sinful and murderous. We are even less able to accuse God of murder and wrongdoing when God provided for the free salvation (through faith) of all murderers and sinners through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Those who are so bold as to falsely accuse God of murder are selfish idolaters in the highest degree. (For more information on this subject, see my August 2017 article “Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?”)

Jesus taught Nicodemus about
who God is and what He has done to save
us all from our sins.

When anyone dies God is there to receive their soul, and to judge the state of that soul. If that person is a believer in Christ who belongs to God and has received forgiveness through faith in Jesus, then that soul rests in heavenly peace until the resurrection of all flesh. If that person is an unbeliever who has rejected Christ, then that soul lives in torment until the resurrection of all flesh. God is not capricious or cruel. God, Himself has provided forgiveness and salvation for all people. There is no reason why anyone should be condemned. If anyone is condemned to eternal death and torment, then it is because of their own choice to reject Christ’s forgiveness. Jesus said in John 3:18 “Whoever believes in [God’s Son] is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

This is all a matter of faith. This does not mean that there isn’t plenty of evidence of God’s mercy, forgiveness, and love; but our corrupted sinful nature is often blinded to God’s goodness, professing to think that we are righteous instead of sinful. Thus, we have to deny our fleshly desires which think that God is cruel or evil, and trust in God’s Word that He is merciful and forgiving, and the redeemer and savior of sinners. God’s nature and love are only revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. Each of us only knows God as we know Him through His Word in the Holy Bible. Those who reject His Word do not know God, and cannot know Him as He truly is. This is why we all ought to treasure the Holy Scriptures as God’s Word, and read and study them daily – so that we can know God’s love and trust that “… in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) God is not cruel and cannot murder. God is the living God who gives life and forgiveness to us who are dead in our trespasses and sins.

Jesus teaches that the devil is the
“father of lies” and a “murderer from the beginning.”
John 8:44

I should note here that false gods do commit murder. You may ask, “How can a false god, who doesn’t exist, murder anyone?” The answer here is that it isn’t the false god who murders, but those who invent and perpetuate the mythology of the false god. Some false gods are created weak so that they can be manipulated by the people to do what they want, and so it gives the impression that they have power over “god”. Yet these false gods still murder because they lead people away from their salvation in Jesus, because all who trust in false gods have rejected God’s salvation in Jesus, and they are lost and condemned. Other false gods are created to make them seem impressive and powerful. Sometimes the more frightening and powerful the false god seems, the more control the religious leaders have over their people. Some false religions have the concept of a “holy war” where the religious leaders assemble armies to murder their neighbors and take their possessions. All this is done in the name of their god, but the effect of it is that when it is successful the religious leaders gain wealth through stolen goods, property, and slaves. Wherever false gods allow murder you will find murderers.

I have found that people always try to be like their God, whether it is the true God or false gods. If people think their god is peaceful and kind, then they try to be peaceful and kind. If their god is a blood-thirsty tyrant, then they become tyrants and murderers. When false gods lead people to murder, this is from the devil. Since the devil hates God and all those whom God loves (i.e. you and me), he uses his lies to turn people into murderers to kill people and cause chaos and bloodshed. This is total wickedness. If one can be objective it is easy to see that false gods are more like the devil than the true God. The trouble is that it is hard to be objective where our belief in God (or even a false god) is concerned. Jesus shows us what the true God is really like. Jesus never murdered anyone, but instead healed people who were sick and injured, and He raised several people from the dead. This is the opposite of murder. (See my article on The Opposite of Murder.)

Articles in this series:
You Shall Not Murder
The Opposite of Murder

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Justice at Christmas

by Pastor Paul Wolff

“The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” (Psalm 33:5)

God gave Moses the Ten Commandments
for justice and for the benefit of God's people.

Justice means to act in accordance with what is good and right and in accordance with the law. This is especially true with God’s Law (summarized by the Ten Commandments), but also worldly, human laws which conform to God’s righteous commands.

Justice seems hard to come by by in our sinful world. The rich and powerful seem to pervert justice for their own profit and the accumulation of more power for themselves and their friends, while honest, hard-working people pay the price of injustice – sometimes with their lives. In 2019 it is even worse than that since there is a fad called “social justice” which purposely seeks injustice to further some imagined “greater cause” which no one has ever heard of before. Blatant racism is called “racial justice”; nearly every sexual perversion is given protected status in social norms, if not in law; and fascist violence is called “anti-fascism” and those who promote it commit violent destructive acts as the police stand by and watch. There is likely more, besides, but that is what I can think of off the top of my head. Those who promote “social justice” really aren’t interested in justice, but in destroying the foundations of society so that they can get away with doing what they want to do without fear of the punishment which they so richly deserve.

In the United States of America, President Trump is doing great work to appoint federal judges who promise to rule justly according to the law, and not make up new laws as they go along. This is an answer to prayer, as the Judicial branch of our Federal Government has been the most unjust of the three branches for many decades. There is no guarantee that even the best judge will give the best judgment in every situation because if they rule according to bad laws made by evil people they will return bad results, and also some judges can be corrupted by money and bad influence, but the problem with judges making up laws is that the citizens do not know from day to day what is legal and what is illegal because it changes on the whim of the false judge. So we are glad that we can have better judges who we hope will rule according to law, and not according to another unelected authority.

However, in the 2018 elections, the Democrats gained control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and immediately began to try to impeach President Trump even though there has never been evidence of any crime he has committed, much less an impeachable treasonous offense. President Trump has been amazingly open in his administration, but even when the documents are released to the public which exonerate the President’s actions, the Democrat leaders openly lie about what the documents say, even though we (who are able and willing to read) can clearly see that they are lying. The injustice is insane, though those who perpetuate the lies do so as if they don’t care who knows what they are doing. Their boldness is even more concerning because it shows how much lies are a part of their daily life.

A quick search of the Bible shows eleven dozen verses which speak of “justice” and more which similarly speak of “righteousness” and other synonyms of justice. God is greatly concerned with justice, and He is angry with those who pervert justice.

Justice means the Law applies equally to everyone.

In the days of Moses God gave His people just laws to live by so that they could live in peace with Him and with one another. For example, in Exodus 23:2-3 God says, “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, and do not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.” Similarly, Leviticus 19:15 says, “Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.” This shows that justice is a two way street. A just law applies to everyone equally. We ought not go along with the crowd or the "mob" just because they want a certain outcome, nor should we show favoritism to either the rich or the poor. Our tradition says that “justice is blind” in that it ought to treat everyone equally under the same law. There is not one law for the rich and another for the poor. There is not one law for the ruling class and another for the governed. We ought not to have a favored class and a disfavored class, nor a favored race, and an unfavored race – especially where what is favored changes as the wind blows.

God goes on to say in Exodus 23:6-7 “Do not deny justice to your poor people in their lawsuits. Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.” A large part of justice is that the guilty are punished and the innocent are free to go about their lives and conduct business as they please. Honesty and integrity are virtues which ought to be rewarded while dishonesty and lies ought to be strongly discouraged by proper punishment. Furthermore, Exodus 23:8 says, “Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and twists the words of the righteous.” Also, Solomon tells us in Proverbs 17:23, “A wicked man accepts a bribe in secret to pervert the course of justice.”

Rulers hold no terror for those who do right,
but for those who do wrong …
for he does not bear the sword for nothing.
Romans 13:3, 4

Immigration and slavery also falls under the application of justice. Exodus 23:9 says, “Do not oppress an alien; you yourselves know how it feels to be aliens, because you were aliens in Egypt.” This is also a problem in the 21^st century. President Trump is seeking to control our borders so that we know who is coming in to our country. This is vitally important so that we can keep out those who seek to harm our citizens, and also that those who come in to work are not taken advantage of by those who would enslave them under the threat of reporting their illegal presence to officials who would deport them. Here the 21^stcentury Democrats are going back to their 19^th century roots as those who would take advantage of the underclass for their own power and profit. Here also some Republicans are not very helpful either. There are some Republicans who also seek to take advantage of slave labor from illegal aliens, and block the government from taking the necessary action to deal with the invasion crisis. However, we call these liberal Republicans “RINO” or “Republican in Name Only.” They are part of the problem, also. Likewise, Deuteronomy 27:19 tells us, “Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the alien, the fatherless or the widow.” When people are in our country illegally they cannot receive justice, as they could if they were legal visitors.

Christmas shows the justice of God in action. God’s justice is true justice, but it contrasts with the justice of the world. In some respects it seems unjust and strange that the God who created and sustains the universe would condescend to become one of His creatures so that He could suffer and die in our place so that we might be saved from the just punishment for our disobedience and rebellion against God. Yet, this shows God’s mercy and love, as well as His justice. It shows God’s justice in that “the soul who sins is the one who will die.” It is people who sin against God, so if we are to be redeemed from our sin, our redeemer must be a person just like us, except without sin. Since we are all corrupted by sin, the only person who could be our redeemer is God incarnate as a man. God didn’t have to do that for us. He would have been perfectly justified and right in condemning us all to die, and we could not rightly say anything against that judgment. But God loves us, and wants us to be saved and sanctified that we might live with Him in righteousness and purity forever in His new creation. The only way that this could happen is if God became a man and did the work of salvation Himself for us.

The birth and life of Jesus
shows God’s love and justice in action.

Jesus fulfilled God’s justice in two ways. First, He lived a perfectly obedient life as a man, and kept all God’s laws perfectly His whole life in His thoughts, words, and deeds. Second, Jesus offered His life as a sacrifice in payment for the sins of the world. Jesus, in effect, said, “Punish me instead, and let my brothers and sisters go free.” This was acceptable to God, the Father, and this is how Jesus won our salvation, so that everyone who believes in Him as their savior from sin is forgiven and has eternal life. Those who reject Christ’s forgiveness have still been forgiven, but they don’t benefit from the gift because they have rejected it by their unbelief. In this way we see how salvation is completely Christ’s doing, for which He is praised forever, and the damnation of the unbelievers is entirely their own doing and fault, for which they will regret forever.

In the justice of the world either you get what you deserve, which is punishment for your sin, or there is no punishment at all for sin, in which case sin and violence and death are rampant because there is no threat of punishment to curb the wickedness of sin. Neither of these situations is desirable. They both sound like hell to me. God’s merciful way of salvation is much better in every respect.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 28:5 “Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.” It doesn’t make sense that God would die for His rebellious creatures, but love doesn’t always make sense. Yet, Jesus lived and died as a man out of love for all sinful people, that they all may be rescued from the punishment for their sin. It is wonderful and praiseworthy that Jesus would suffer and endure all the wrath of God for the sins of the world so that we might be saved from our sin and could live with Him in Paradise forever.

Friday, December 29, 2017

Anger

by Pastor Paul Wolff

God destroyed the world with a flood
in anger over their sin and violence,
but He spared Noah’s family.

I remember a comic strip from when I was young which for many years I had pinned to a bulletin board in my room. The comic depicted a child in school taking a test with the question: “What was the cause of the U.S. Civil War?” The answer that the child wrote was only one word: “Anger.”

After a murderous gunman killed 26 people in a Texas church in 2017, and wounded all of the survivors in attempting to kill them, he was described as having “a lot of hatred inside him.” Such is the result of holding on to anger so that it is no surprise that the ancient Church listed anger or wrath as one of the seven deadly sins. The consequences of untamed anger are violence, murder, and war. There are clearly terrible things which result from anger, yet if we look at what Holy Scripture says about anger we might be surprised to find that anger is not always sinful.

Saint Paul writes in Ephesians 4:26-27, “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” Because the Apostle encourages Christians not to sin in their anger, it follows that there can be anger without sin. We call that righteous anger. Righteous anger is anger over things that are wrong or evil. We should be angry when people sin against our neighbors and treat others in an unrighteous manner. God, Himself gets angry over sin because He didn’t create us to sin, but to be holy. We, however, have corrupted what God made holy, and have turned to sin. In the New International Version of the Bible a quick word search finds 256 occurrences of the word “anger” and 190 occurrences of the word “wrath”. Many of these are describing the anger and wrath of God. Yet God does not sin in His anger and wrath, even when He takes it out on those who sin against Him, or other people. God is righteous in His anger because He is holy, and because He loves us and doesn’t want us to do evil. He may let us see that there are wicked consequences to sin, but He does this to show us that we need His forgiveness and redemption through Jesus Christ.

Contrary to what Job’s friends thought
God was not punishing Job
but testing His faith to strengthen it.

When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple (Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:15-17; John 2:13-16) He acted in anger. He even acted violently by overturning tables and driving the thieves out of the holy place. Yet, Jesus did not sin in His anger, and he certainly didn’t hurt anyone. God’s temple was to be a place where God’s people would go to find forgiveness and peace from God, not a place they dreaded to go because they knew they would be cheated by dishonest merchants. Jesus was always in control of His anger, and never hurt people in His righteous anger. Even when wicked people falsely accused Him of wrongdoing and beat Him and nailed Him to the cross to kill Him, He did not respond in anger, but forgave His murderers and let them kill Him so that He could pay for their sins so that they could be saved through faith in Him.

Yet, even though there is such a thing as righteous anger, it doesn’t mean there is no such thing as unrighteous anger. Jesus Himself teaches in Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” We sinners are much more likely to sin in our anger than Jesus or His heavenly Father. So we ought to be careful in how we act according to our anger.

God gives authority to governments
to punish wrongdoers
as Joshua did in Jericho.

Solomon writes in Proverbs 29:11, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man quietly holds it back.” Since sinners are more likely to sin in expressing our anger, we need to keep it under control unless we are sure that we are acting properly to work for what is right. In that church massacre in Texas in 2017, the murderer acted out in great evil by shooting all those innocent people, but while that was going on, a neighbor to the church heard what was going on and grabbed his gun and went in and shot the murderer, wounding him, and drove him away before he could kill any more people. In a way, this man was doing the same thing as the murderer, shooting a gun at a person in a church, but he acted righteously to punish a murderer and protect those innocent people who were being attacked, and he saved the lives of many people.

Now, just because there is righteous anger, and even a righteous use of violence to punish wrongdoers, this doesn’t give us the excuse to exercise our anger in all cases, even when we can be justified in acting out in anger. Saint Paul counsels in Romans 12:17-21 “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” This is what Jesus did at all times, and in doing so He won our salvation. Because God is righteous and holy, He is always right when He acts according to His anger and wrath.

Jesus did not act in anger
when he was wrongly accused and
forgave his murderers on the cross.

If punishment is called for, God will punish. However, if He can resolve the situation without violence, He is right in withholding His punishment in favor of forgiveness. This is why in most circumstances we should not act out in violence. If punishment is called for, God has established worldly authorities to carry out justice. In a just society the guilty are punished and the innocent are rewarded. In most cases citizens ought to let the authorities punish the wrongdoers. The church shooting described above is an exception. The situation was desperate, and there wasn’t time for the police to respond, so the neighbor had to act quickly to save lives, but he was able to stop the massacre without killing the murderer. After he fled from the church, some more neighbors followed him and were on the phone with the police so that they could come and bring the murderer to justice. This was proper also. Though the murderer did not let this happen and murdered himself last of all.

Because Jesus has overcome sin and death through His sinless life, and His innocent suffering and death in payment for our sins, all those who were wrongly murdered will live again, and those who murder will also live again. Jesus has destroyed the power of death. All who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins have been forgiven and will live in paradise as God’s beloved children. This includes some people who were guilty of murder in life, but who repented of those sins and trusted in Jesus to forgive them. On the other hand, those who reject Christ’s forgiveness will suffer God’s wrath for eternity because although Jesus paid for their sins and gives them life and salvation as a free gift, they reject the gift and place themselves under God’s righteous wrath. This may include both unbelieving murderers, and the otherwise innocent people they kill. In such a case the tragedy is compounded.

When Jesus returns in glory
He will bring salvation to all believers
and judgment for all who hate Him.

This is why we should leave vengeance to God. He knows who is forgiven and who should be damned. One who is a murderer today may repent tomorrow and be saved. Such a person we will greet in heaven as a beloved brother in Christ and will rejoice in his repentance and salvation, even those Christians whom he killed will rejoice in his receiving Christ’s forgiveness. Some people may complain that this is unfair, but do we really want what is fair? If God were simply fair and just, and not merciful, then we all would be condemned to death with no chance of salvation because we are all guilty of sins against God and against His people. What is fair is that we all ought to suffer hell for our sins. However, God is merciful and He took the punishment for our sins in our place when He became incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ. It wasn’t fair that Jesus had to suffer for the sins that you and I are guilty of, but Jesus acted in love to save us. Jesus wasn’t so much concerned with fairness as He was with doing what was necessary to save us from our sins. Although Jesus was innocent of all sins, He suffered death to rescue us all from death, and to win our forgiveness and eternal life with Him in His heavenly paradise. In the end, all praise goes to Jesus, who rescues us all from our sins.

Here is a small selection of Bible verses about anger.

Psalm 6:1
O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me in your wrath.

Psalm 7:6
Arise, O Lord, in your anger; lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies; awake for me; you have appointed a judgment.

Proverbs 29:8
Scoffers set a city aflame, but the wise turn away wrath.

James 1:19-20
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Colossians 3:5-10
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Saturday, December 31, 2022

Blessed are the Poor in Spirit

(Part 1 of a series of 9 articles on the Beatitudes)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Thursday, December 29, 2022

The Opposite of Murder

(Part Three in a Series on the Fifth Commandment)

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Thursday, November 24, 2022

The True God Cannot Murder

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Justice at Christmas

Friday, December 29, 2017

Anger

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