God’s Name is Holy

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer 

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

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Jesus said, “Pray then like this, … ‘Hallowed be Thy Name’” (Matthew 6:9)

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God is the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Yet the Father is not the Son or the Holy Spirit. The Son is not the Father or the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. It is a paradox, but this is how God reveals who He is.

You might sometimes hear people talk about the “names of God”. Hopefully you will never hear a Christian saying such things because the Holy Bible never speaks of the “names of God”. The Scriptures frequently speak of God’s “name” in the singular, but never in the plural. This seems peculiar because, although Scripture is clear that there is only one God, yet Jesus revealed that God is Triune: three distinct persons united in one God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Even in the Old Testament, the generic word for the true God is in the plural form, as if it were to say, “gods”, yet when referring to the true God, the pronouns (and accompanying verbs) for this God are all singular – “he”, “him”, and usually “I” (generally not “we”, though Genesis 1:26 does say, “Let us make man in our image…”) which shows that God is singular and masculine.  

In the days of Moses, God told Moses His name by saying, “I am who I am.” (Exodus 3:14) At first glance, we might think this begs the question, “Then, who are you?” Yet, this does tell us a few important things about God. The true God who spoke to Moses is the God who exists (“He is”), as opposed to the false gods, who do not exist except in the perverse imaginations of their followers. This name also shows us that God is eternal and does not change. This is also why we read in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” He is who He is – eternally. This is why the Jews wanted to stone Jesus when He told them, “Before Abraham was, I am!” (John 8:58) They recognized that Jesus was claiming to be the eternal God who was Abraham’s God two thousand years earlier. This would have been blasphemy if it weren’t true, but it is.

The True God is the one who would live and die to redeem you from your sins and rescue you from death. This is why His name is hallowed among us.

When Jesus instituted the Sacrament of Holy Baptism He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:18-20) Notice that the “Name” (singular) of God is “the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. Jesus doesn’t say “names”, but “name”. This isn’t because Jesus did not know grammar. He certainly did, but was teaching us something profound about God. God may be triune, but the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one God, not three, yet three distinct persons. It is a mystery, but this is how God reveals Himself in the Holy Scriptures.  

You will never hear me speak of the “names of God” except when teaching against it, as I am doing here. Those who speak of the “names of God” are either being imprecise in their language or they are trying to give the false impression that “all religions are alike”, or that ‘all roads lead to heaven”, or some such lies that try to diminish the unique character of God. The different worldly religions cannot all be different aspects of the same religion and god because all the world religions contradict each other. Rationally we can see that they may all be false, but they cannot all be true. At most, only one may be true. Christianity is the only religion of grace where God does all the work to save sinners, and then gives forgiveness for free through faith. All the other world religions (and false teaching in Christian churches) make you save yourself or do something to aid in your salvation. Which religion do you think is true? This is why God’s name is holy, and hallowed among true believers within all Christian denominations. 

It is also easy for people to be confused about God’s Name because the Holy Bible describes God in many different ways. Each distinct “name” that the Scriptures use to describe God shows a different aspect of God’s nature or personality. They are all true descriptions of God, but each one only shows a partial picture of God’s Name. In the Old Testament God is called such things as the Lord, the Ancient of Days, the Eternal God, the Living God, the Eternal Father, and many more such things. In the New Testament God is revealed through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who also has several distinct titles. Yet we still do not say that “God has many names.” Why? Each of these names for God describe a certain aspect of His personality as He has revealed it to us. Each “name” shows us a part of who God is, but does not show us the fullness of God. It has been said that the entirety of the Holy Scriptures are an explanation of the Name of God. This is a good way to look at it. The Bible tells us who God is and what He has done to save us from our sin through the incarnation of God as a man, Jesus, and His lifetime of work to win our salvation, especially His innocent suffering and death on the cross as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 

“You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

In Matthew 1:20-21 An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph of Nazareth in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” The name, “Jesus” means “savior”, and that is His ultimate work. God’s name is truly hallowed among us because of all that God has done to save us from sin and death. God did not have to come down to earth to save us. He could have punished us as our sins deserve, and would have been justified to do so because we deserved punishment for our sins. Yet God preferred to take the hard road and sent His Son to become incarnate to redeem the world from sin through His life, death, and resurrection. 

God is both perfectly just and unfailingly merciful. These characteristics would seem to oppose each other when it comes to God wanting to save us from our sins. God’s holy desire to punish sin with death seems at conflict with His loving desire to rescue us from sin’s necessary consequence of death. Yet, in Jesus, God found a solution. God accepted Jesus as a substitute who would die for sinners and win our salvation. The Second Person of the Godhead became incarnate as a man, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life in obedience to God’s Law, which we failed to do in our sinfulness, then Jesus offered His life as the perfect sacrifice to pay for the sins of the world. The life of Jesus is sufficient to pay for sin because His life is God’s life, and His blood is God’s blood, given and shed to redeem us all from our sins. God’s name is truly holy, because He found a way to rescue and redeem you from your sins while being perfectly just in punishing the sin of the world through the death of Jesus. In the life and death of Jesus, God found a way to be perfectly just in punishing sin, and perfectly merciful and loving in redeeming us through the sacrifice of the life of Jesus. This is why we will praise and thank God for all eternity for the Salvation He won for us sinners. 

We call the holy family “holy” not because Mary and Joseph are holy, but because Jesus is holy.

There is nothing in all the world more precious than the love of God. He has redeemed us and calls us His children, though we do not deserve it. Yet, because Jesus paid the price for the sins of the world we are happy to receive His forgiveness and salvation as a most wonderful gift, and praise God forever for His unending love. 

This Petition in the Lord’s Prayer in closely related to the Second Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” The commandment and the petition both deal with God’s name. Because God’s Name is holy, we should use it properly and not misuse it. This is not easy to do. As time went by after God gave the Ten Commandments to Moses, the Israelite people of the Old Testament put too much emphasis on God’s Law and, for fear of misusing God’s Name, they stopped using it altogether. Instead of using the Name that God gave them to use, they instead spoke the general term, “lord”, even in their worship and when reading the Bible. If God had not wanted the people to use His name, then he wouldn’t have given it to them, but God gave us His Name so that we might use it. In Psalm 50:15 God says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” It is for Bible verses like this (and many others) that Martin Luther explains this petition by saying that it is our duty to “Call upon God in every trouble, pray, praise, and give Him thanks.” 

In the Advent season we especially remember God’s name because God sent His Son to be our savior, to rescue us from sin, and to bring us back into the household of God as His beloved children – for the sake of Jesus. God’s name truly is holy, as is everything He has done to give us good gifts in this life, and for the salvation that He has prepared for us through faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord. 

God is Our Father

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer
by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus said, “Pray then like this, ‘Our father, who art in heaven …’”

Matthew 6:9

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Jesus prayed to His Father in the Garden of Gethsemane. He also invites us to pray to God as our Father.

God can be considered our Father because He is the one who created us all. Yet we have orphaned ourselves through our sin. It is not that we have killed our father, but rather, through our sin, we have killed ourselves and rebelled against our good and gracious heavenly Father. Yet, when Jesus teaches His disciples (and us) how to pray, He begins the prayer by teaching us to pray to God as “Our Father, who art in heaven.” This is a gracious invitation that Jesus would consider us His brothers and sisters that we could once again call God our Father. We can only do this due to the redemption that Jesus won for us by His perfect obedient life, and His innocent suffering and death. Since, because of our sin, we all have imperfect examples of what a Father ought to be, we may begin by asking, “What kind of a father is God?”

Several years ago there was a billboard campaign which purported to be some kind of messages from God. These billboards were likely well-intentioned, but were ultimately blasphemous. They showed a black billboard with white lettering ending in the simple tag, “– God” as if to imply that these messages came from God. It was blasphemous because none of the pithy sayings were quotes from Holy Scripture nor otherwise from God. All these messages only contained Law and no Gospel, and many of them contradicted clear teachings of God’s word. Nevertheless, they were sort of amusing in a superficial (though blasphemous) way. One that caught my attention said, “Don’t make me come down there. – God” as if God were a parent warning His disobedient children with vain threats. We should be aware, however, that God is not the kind of father who makes vain threats. When God makes threats they are real, and should be taken seriously, though God also provides rescue from sin and death through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe – which is why we take the time to celebrate His first Advent, and look forward to His second coming also. 

I don’t know exactly what the billboard writers had in mind because they were a little late with their warning that if we disobey God we might make Him come down here to punish us. The first people God created (Adam and Eve) long ago let that cat out of the bag. Because Adam and Eve rebelled against God and brought sin into the world, God DID come down here. Fortunately, when God came down here He didn’t bring about the punishment the billboard sponsors were insinuating. When God came down here He didn’t come to judge and condemn us. Instead God the Father sent His only begotten Son down to rescue and redeem us from our sinfulness. This is the Gospel message. It is also one reason why the church where I am the assistant Pastor is named Emmanuel – God is here with us always for our forgiveness and salvation. The mere presence of God may not be such a happy occasion, unless God comes to rescue and redeem, and He does. 

We can always turn to God as our beloved Father just as the prodigal son was happily received by his forgiving father.

The incarnation of God as a man is the central event in all of human history. That is why we count our years from the date of Christ’s birth (or as close as could be determined at the time, though that is a story for another time). God knew before He made people that we would rebel against Him and we would be lost unless He did something to save us. Yet, He went ahead and created the people who would reject His authority and cause Him immense grief and suffering. Why would anyone do that? Only love could cause someone to go through that kind of suffering rather than avoid it. Saint Paul explained this to the Romans, “Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:7-8) Christ’s sacrifice for our benefit is the very definition of God’s perfect love. That is why we celebrate Advent every year. All who believe in Christ as our savior rejoice at God’s coming to us to rescue and redeem us from our sins.

All man-made gods require something from their followers to prove that they are worthy of favor. This makes these false gods seem very demanding, but it also makes them seem able to be manipulated by the actions of people. This is why false gods are so attractive to people. Though the false gods can be harsh taskmasters, those who create false gods also make it seem to the people as if they can control their pretend gods. If you can control God, then you are lord over Him and you are, in effect, your own god. It isn’t real, but is just as pretend as the false gods, but ever since the first temptation where Adam and Eve fell into sin, people have been trying to become like a god and make our own rules. This is part of our continuing rebellion against God, our Father, and why we need to repent of our sins and ask God our Father to forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus.

The true God is not like the false gods. Jesus didn’t come to us to demand anything from us. There is nothing we can give God that doesn’t already belong to Him. We can’t make up for our sinful rebelliousness. Jesus didn’t come to take anything from us. He came to give. Jesus came to live the obedient human life that none of us are capable of doing. Jesus perfectly pleased God the Father with His obedient life, and then He offered His life in place of ours on the cross. Because of what Jesus did on the cross (and throughout His whole life) we are saved from our sins. All who trust in the forgiveness that Jesus won for us will be rescued from death and blessed with eternal life in paradise. This is why we can confidently pray to God as our Father and why we celebrate the Advent (“coming”) of Jesus and look forward with eager expectation to His Second Advent on the last day.

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.

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Articles in this series:

You Shall Not Murder

The True God Cannot Murder

Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

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.)

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

 
Related Articles:
Why Does God Condemn Unbelievers to Hell?
A Biblical Argument for Self Defense
Anger
Why Christians Condemn Abortion but Support the Death Penalty
The Good Samaritan
Is it Easier to Heal, or to Forgive?
Christ Has Done All Things Well
The Promise of Christ in Water And Light
Modern Molechianism
“Let His Blood be on Us and on Our Children”
The Passion of Christ
The Slaughter of the Innocents
Friends and Murderers
The Promise of the Rainbow
The True Story of a Terrorist Turned Christian
The Morality of War
Rejecting the Survival Instinct
The Leading Cause of Death in America

 

Heresies and Half-Truths

by Pastor Paul Wolff

Jesus taught the truth at Nazareth

There is an understanding among faithful Christian scholars that there are two ways to fall into heresy (i.e. false teaching or false belief). The first is the chosen heresy, and the second is the exact opposite teaching. This is counter-intuitive, but it has been shown in history to be true time and again. But why is this so? What is going on? How can the opposite of a false teaching also be false, and not true?

The post-modern cynics would say this is just another example that shows that there is no such thing as truth, or at least that all truth is subjective and relative. However, if that were true it would contradict the very idea that the cynics are trying to sell to gullible people who think they are a lot smarter than they really are. There is in reality such things as truth and lies, and the exact opposite of the truth is still false, and vice-versa.

However, there is a simple explanation for why the exact opposite of a heresy is also false, and it explains why so many Christian teachers throughout history who have wanted to oppose false teachings have also fallen into heresy. The reason is that most heresies are not completely false, but are merely half-truths or contain some sliver of truth. This happens because false teachers try to rationalize teachings that they don’t understand or refuse to believe, and they try to come up with something that sounds believable (even though it contradicts the teachings of Holy Scripture). If false teachers want to convince others of the truthfulness of their heresy they can’t push something completely false or no one would fall for it. Then, if a Christian tries to counter the half-truth with its opposite, then that is also false because it is still half wrong – it is just the opposite half. A half-truth is still a lie, so its opposite is also a lie because it is still only half-true.

The devil tried to lure Jesus into heresy

To illustrate this let’s consider the Biblical doctrine of the person of Christ. The Holy Scriptures paradoxically describe Jesus as God and Man in one person. Faithful Christian teachers maintain the paradox and confess Jesus as 100% God and 100% Man even though we admit that we don’t (and can not) understand how this could be, yet we trust that God is faithful in the Scriptures in describing who He is.

Now, the complete opposite of the true doctrine that Jesus is fully God and Man in one person is to say that Jesus is neither God, nor Man, and never existed at all. This is not likely a teaching that you will find among anyone who calls themselves a “Christian” because no Christian (and few others) will be persuaded by something so completely false. You may find some militant atheists who would try to pass this along, but even among them this is more wishful thinking than anything else. Heretics use half-truths because they make the lie easier to swallow, first for themselves, then for anyone else who may wish to follow them.

But with this example there are many variations among those who either want to resolve the paradox or want to lead Christians astray through false logic. Like many heresies, these are quite rational, which only adds to both their appeal and their danger. This is especially true in this example because this doctrine is a paradox. In many ways God is the opposite of man, yet Jesus is somehow both fully God and fully man. Paradoxes seem irrational so any attempt to rationalize the paradox will end up with only partial truth which will be false in some way.

“Behold the Man” (John 19:5) “Jesus Christ ... is God over all” (Romans 9:5)

One false teaching from history says that Jesus is fully God, but he only seemed to be a man. This is called “docetism” and it is false because it denies the full humanity of Jesus. Docetism contains partial truth because it tries to maintain the deity of Jesus.

An opposite teaching from docetism is Arianism, which says that Jesus is a man or some kind of being less than God, but is not God. The false part of this teaching is that it denies that Jesus is fully God.

Another possible variation of this could maintain that Jesus is part man and/or part god. This is found in the Apollinarian heresy and perhaps others, though in practice both Docetists and Arians hold to this in a greater or lesser degree.

The doctrine of Christology is just one example of how blindly reacting to heretical half-truths can lead to other false teachings. There are many more such examples in history. We can see a stark example of this in the Lutheran Reformation. The brilliance of Martin Luther is that he steadfastly worked toward a conservative reformation. He only wanted to get rid of the false teaching in the Church, but he worked hard to conserve those true teachings which either were Biblical or otherwise promoted good Christian teaching. Not all of Rome’s teachings were wrong. Even today the Roman Catholic church still has many correct teachings mixed in with the false teachings. Luther’s reformation was the harder way to go, not only because it took much more work to sift out the wheat from the chaff, but also because it put Luther at odds with the Roman Catholics, and with the more radical reformers. However, it was the right way to go.

Martin Luther conserved the truth while removing the false teachings

On the other hand, the radical reformers wanted to throw out every teaching that ever reminded them of what was done in the Roman Catholic Church. This is where they went wrong. In teaching the exact opposite of what the Roman Catholic Church taught, the radical reformers threw out many true Christian teachings and fell into the opposite false teachings.

This is why the descendants of the radical reformers have come full circle to teach the same Semi-Pelagian errors of the Roman Catholic church. The radical reformers simply said, “We are going to do the opposite of what Rome does. Since Rome is wrong, we will be right.” But they only exchanged one lie for another. As their descendants recognized the wrongness of their teachings, they reacted similarly by holding to the exact opposite teaching, then they eventually came full circle to embrace the same false doctrines which their ancestors first reacted against.

An example of this is Rick Warren’s comments at the Pew Forum on Religion, Life, and Politics in 2005 where he said,

“You know, 500 years ago, the first Reformation with Luther and then Calvin, was about beliefs. I think a new reformation is going to be about behavior. The first Reformation was about creeds; I think this one will be about deeds. I think the first one was about what the church believes; I think this one will be about what the church does.”

To my Lutheran ears this seems to take Warren back to the days of Pope Leo X, though it may be worse because many of Martin Luther’s Roman opponents would not have separated faith and works so thoroughly. The 16^th century Roman church was Semi-Pelagian, and not completely Pelagian. Warren seems to be exalting works over faith.

It is good to want to correct false teaching. However we must be careful not to react too quickly. It often takes discernment and study of the Holy Scriptures to learn the whole truth. Saint Paul gives a valuable instruction when he wrote, “Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) This clearly warns against falling into the same temptation as the transgressor, but it could also easily warn against falling into the opposite error, or falling into self-righteousness. Either way, we ought to take care when dealing with error in the church.

The word of God is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

The best way to avoid false teaching is to stick with the truth. God’s Word is the truth (John 17:17) because Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). If we try to explain away parts of Scripture, then we lose Jesus and are in danger of losing our salvation. If we hold to God’s Word we hold on to Jesus because Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1). Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you truly are my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31-32)

See also The Seductive Danger of Lies

See also What Do You Choose to Believe?