Personal Thoughts

[Taken from a work I am working on “The Cross: Why Jesus Had To Die, Everlasting Provisions of Grace“]

I must admit, I didn’t expect to read Isaiah say, “he himself bore our sicknesses; we are healed by his wounds.” (Isaiah 53:4-5) and if we want to equate this only with spiritual healing, i.e. salvation and not physical healing, we need to explain Matthew:

“When evening came, … He healed all who were sick, so that what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: He himself took our weaknesses and carried our diseases.” (Matthew 8:16-17

He was referencing the verses above. But I remain a bit perplexed for a few reasons:

• Peter seemed to be thinking about spiritual healing “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree; so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)⁠ [Interestingly, Peter switches persons from “we” to “You.”]
• Calvary’s spiritual provisions are otherwise universal and immediate. The Cross represents the vehicle by which God provided forgiveness for sins and the opportunity by faith for us to to be reconciled to God. “we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life” (Romans 5:10)
  • When we seek salvation, He saves us. “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Romans 10:13)
  • But is this true of physical healing? Are believers in need of a physical touch from the Master but they fail to reach out and grab hold of the hem of His garment? Is physical healing available for the taking (in seeking the Lord for it) as is true of salvation? And if not, why not.
• Faith is Faith. Is it appropriate to think of faith for salvation but not for healing? Would the Lord give us faith to trust Him for the one and not the other. Could we ever say God can be trusted to save but not heal?

There might be reasons why physical healing is not more apparent in the church in so-called civilized countries.

• Perhaps, we lack a certain “faith” to trust God for healing being dependent more so on science or the medical professionals. “He was not able to do a miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he was amazed at their unbelief.” (Mark 6:5-6a)
• Perhaps, we are not serious about wanting a healing. “Do you want to get well? “ John 5:6
• Perhaps, the complexity of life in which the spiritual and physical inseparably intertwine, healing is never a simple matter of physical well-being. “The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.” (James 5:15)
• Perhaps, we need to ask again, “Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?” (Matthew 9:5) Our Lord’s interest is always the spiritual. Does He utilize physical healing for spiritual growth?

“Therefore, … a thorn in the flesh was given to me, … to torment me so that I would not exalt myself.” For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9)

There is also something noteworthy about the language. Isaiah used an interesting form for the word “healed” in Isaiah 53:5. Scholars translate this as if it were a gerund. Perhaps a better translation might be “with His stripes healing is provided to us.” What is different is that this form is not used elsewhere in this chapter. Physical healing is a provision of Calvary but it is viewed in a different light. If we appeal to the Greek Septuagint or to Peter for clarity, both use a form indicating complete healing.  Isaiah agrees with this interpretation. God never leaves anything half done.

The fifth chapter in The Acts of the Apostles is an historical reference to possibilities when the church learns to unite behind the Gospel. In verse 12 Luke tells us, “Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles.“ We read this as if this were a one-off event instead of the possibilities for which the Church was commissioned and authorized to promote. Verse 14, no surprise, testifies, “Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers…” Governments of the world, take notice!

When the sick were carried on cots out into the streets hoping that Peter might pass by, believing that just the apostle’s shadow was enough to heal them, the earthly authorities knew that God was getting out of hand. The theology in Jesus’s day was: touch Him to be healed (Mark 6:56). But for the apostles, their shadow was sufficient. (It had to be, obviously, during sunset when a person’s shadow was longer and more likely to sweep the crowd along the side of the road or Peter had to step over them!). What a parade! Touch or no touch, it is not a question of theology but of faith, and the crowds were there, swept up in the assurance that God was there and God would heal. They came—I dare say—by the hundreds, and now whoever saw themselves in office were under immense social pressure to stop it.

Verse 17, Luke noted, they were “filled with jealousy.” You see (not to preach but, just saying) God gets in the way of the would-be powerful, famous and rich, and they don’t like it! “So,” verse 18, “they arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.” That is that!

No that wasn’t that. The following morning, the political leaders, had to check it out for themselves. Peter and the apostles with him were in the public area, the Temple court, (verse 21) teaching. Teaching what? Verse 28: teaching “in this name” [Jesus’s name, i.e. The message of the Cross]

And how did they get out? I can imagine the soldiers being asked and replying, “Don’t ask, sir!” So now what do we do. An official statement with the force of law should be issued. It should work to silence them.

It didn’t. Peter and the others were re-captured and brought before the religious leaders. They’re in serious trouble now! Jesus warned them, “You will even be brought before governors and kings because of me.” (Matthew 10:18) He gave them a heads-up, “You will be hated by everyone because of my name.” (Matthew 10:22) And here we are!

(Reminds one of Martin Luther before the Diet of Wörms, a formal deliberative assembly called by the Emperor Charles V. to deal with this maverick. Luther dared teach against established religious order. According to tradition, Luther is said to have declared “Here I stand, I can do no other,” before concluding with “God help me.”)

“Didn’t we strictly order you [Peter and those with you] not to teach in this name? [Freedom to speak has limits. Talk about anything or anyone you want, Peter … but not “Him,” not Jesus, not the Cross!] Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” This verse is psychologically rich. Peter’s message was not one of guilt but it was the Spirit’s opportunity to convict (John 16:8). Sad, when someone doesn’t see the difference, not knowing that “godly grief produces … repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) Peter didn’t fill Jerusalem with anything …God did!

But what interests us here is the official executive order that was issued against teaching the Gospel message of the Cross and Peter’s and the other’s response: They replied, “We must obey God rather than people.” (Acts 5:29)

Make no mistake about it: “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11) is real. We must not be “…ashamed of the gospel, because it [alone] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16) If our message were the misinformed ramblings of a few unrealistic visionaries, we would be more entertaining than threatening (perhaps, an SNL parody in the U.S. we might laugh at). But this is not the case. The Gospel is empowered to change the world, to bring a sweeping spiritual revival that, subsequently, has political consequences for governments that find God somewhere between a nuisance to a genuine providential force that cannot be ignored.

The doctrine of the Atonement (or the Sacrament of Reconciliation, for our Catholic friends) is not only central to all Christian truth, it is all Christian Truth. “I decided to know nothing among you ,” Paul vowed to the Corinthians church, “except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) As Pastor David Platt, Lead Pastor at McLean Bible Church in Washington, D.C., so aptly states it, “The Gospel is the lifeblood of Christianity.” The missionary council meeting in Jerusalem in 1928 expanded, “The Gospel is the answer to the world’s greatest need. It is not our discovery or achievement; it rests on what we recognize as an act of God… We believe that men are made for Christ and cannot really live apart from Him…”

As believers, the Savior in our life is beyond question our trumpet call, our motive for living. Herein lies the Christian motive;” states the 1928 Missionary Council, “it is simple. We cannot live without Christ and we cannot bear to think of men living without Him… Christ is our motive and Christ is our end. We must give nothing less and we can give nothing more” [DuBose, Francis M. ed. Classics of Christian Missions. Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1979 .] We are, in simple truth, missionaries to cultural change. And we must let that missionary side of our love realize more its potential in the hand of God. Jesus’s  life is what our lives are all about. “in him we live, and move, and have our being; …For we are also his offspring.” (Acts 17:28)

It’s All About The Blood

“We were reconciled to God through the death of his Son.” (Romans 5:10) With an unapologetic conviction, this is what our faith is all about! This is our living hope: the glorious return of the great God even our Savior, Jesus Christ (Titus 2:13) who shed His blood on a cross on our behalf, in our stead, to reconcile us to God. “We have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses..” (Ephesians 1:7)

Paul unambiguously declared “… through him to reconcile everything to himself … by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:20)

The Confrontation

But this message runs counter to the cultural changes in the civilized world as Dr. Platt writes, “As followers of Christ, we are fooling ourselves if we don’t face the reality that belief in and obedience to the Bible in an anti-Christian age will inevitably lead to risk in one’s family, future, relationships, reputation, career, and comfort in this world.”

“We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

Make no mistake about it: “[Christianity’s] critical edge,” Graham Ward cautions, “is important … not only to read the signs of the times but to radicalize the postmodern critique by providing it with …a position outside the secular value-system.” In English: as Jesus prayed to the Father,

“I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” (John 17:14)

Discussions around topics, like a nuclear family or infanticide, that appear peripheral and less important have been dragged into dialogue because we cannot escape certain conclusions about the God we are getting to know and to love. Somehow, we have discovered, that our faith, our love for God, our salvation, is a wisdom crying in the streets (Proverbs 1:20) pleading with us not to be lured in by worldly concepts that ultimately lead to denying who we are or who we want to become in Christ.

A Powerful Message

Now on the eve of Christ’s return, this makes our voice as necessary as it is unwelcome. Make no mistake about it: “the offense of the cross” (Galatians 5:11) is real. We must not be “…ashamed of the gospel, because it [alone] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes…” (Romans 1:16)

I was attracted to Cheryl Chumley’s book on socialism because of the subtitle: Christians Must Rise or America Will Fall. She dedicated her work to “Jesus, the hope of humanity.” Okay, to my liberal friends, it sounds like so much more right-wing political propaganda. But sometimes, it’s good to read outside our comfort zone, if we can stomach it.

What interested me is one tenet of the DSA’s ideology. [Democratic Socialists of America] to realize a “world without oppression.” [Chumley, 34 ] This is a notable idea, but this is also why I introduced on my FB wall a look at the Beatitudes of Jesus’ sermon on the mount. The disconnect between the  DSA credo and reality is the simple fact that “civic virtue,” to use the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s words [Chumley, 60], like any form of justice or righteousness, cannot be legislated or imposed in law. [Galatians 5:23] I get it, the poor are, indeed, oppressed. Even our Bible says that! [Isaiah 1:17]

Chumley prefers the word “collectivism.” It supports the idea of equality. (If everyone has the same rights and economic status, poverty no longer exists?) According to the Democratic platform of 2016, “..use government resources against inequality of all kinds.” [Chumley, 33] But  we live in a time when the hope for such a utopia is sadly, irretrievably, lost:   “postmodernism is highly skeptical of explanations which claim to be valid for all groups, cultures, traditions, or races.”^⁠

To use a Biblical  idea, it has to be written “on the heart.” [Ezekiel 18:31; 36:26]  Jesus’ words must be heeded by His followers if the Church is serious about a heaven that is reachable. And that’s the Beatitudes! [Matthew 5:3-12]

History has been kind to FDR’s “New Deal” even if, as some historians reevaluate, it didn’t work to bring the nation out of “the” great depression. LBJ’s Great Society didn’t work, either—perhaps, the Vietnam war was a distraction. (And now, we are told that things are worse!?) As Jesus said, “… you always have the poor with you.” And then He added this caveat, “but you do not always have me.” [John 12:8]

As unforgivingly harsh as it sounds, we need to redirect the conversation away from utopian impossibilities to the biblical message of how best we can follow Christ. That’s what the Beatitudes are all about, even though, as Jesus recognized, they would be unpopular in a world that still carries the false hope of an evolutionary progress toward “equality for all.”

We need a humble realization of our utter need for God if oppression is to end. A humble heart cares about the poor because we equally need to be loved. When we learn to care enough we develop a passion for service which begins to realize heaven’s definition of justice (love).  Our merciful heart begins to grows. Mercy is God’s idea.  He shared His definition of it on Calvary.  You get the idea.

Forty years ago a thought crossed my mind that at the time seemed out of sync with the religious world. I felt it would only stand to scold good people who only wanted to serve our Lord but who were already reeling from the new responsibilities imposed upon them as christians experiencing cultural change.  I felt the timing was wrong; so, I pondered it in silence until in 2016 I wrote this:

The church is not an organization as much as it is an organism.^⁠1 The church does not need to be incorporated as much as it needs to be empowered.^⁠2 The church does not follow a constitution; it follows a commission.^⁠3 The church’s success was never dependent on finance as much as faith, not planning as much as prayer, not ritual but righteousness for its identity, not size but the Spirit, not government but God, not our vision but His. It is this church that will survive through a postmodern age as a witness. It is this church that can adjust to a new normal without compromising its witness and without losing its own identity in a confused world of unanticipated change.

Whether or not you agree is not important because this, I firmly believe, becomes the church’s only recourse when persecuted if it is to survive …and the church in America is on the threshold of that persecution. The church will survive!

Early this morning I awoke meditating on Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” (we are going over this in our Saturday Zoom Bible study)  and it “hit” me what Jesus was doing then that we should consider now. Beside the content of the sermon, itself,  Jesus was preparing a dozen men not just to minister to others but to extend His ministry.  They would not be following an academic education or a doctoral thesis or the science behind demographic studies of church growth—as much as these might appear to address the need for harvesting souls.  They were to allow His ministry in Israel and beyond to continue, after His ascension, through His church.

The Beatitudes are universal attitudes which Christ sinlessly exemplified. The secret to their endurance and influence in empowering God’s people for service is that they transcend cultural change. The application of them and the many principles outlined by the Savior recorded in Matthew 5-8 are key to our identity as being like Christ—extending His ministry—as we hope to in a cultural setting so much at odds. They profile the followers of the Savior who are passionate about extending His ministry in their own.

The ultimate test of our commitment and dedication to the Lord is to what degree we represent the Savior’s heart to our world displaying an undying hope (Mt. 5:4), an enduring peace (Mt. 5:9), an unconquerable love (Mt. 5:7), an unquestioning faith (Mt. 5:3), and an unquenchable joy (Mt. 5:12). These are the testimony that overcomes.

 

¹ I Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
² Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you.
³ Matthew 28:19 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.

Our knowledge of God is on a pre-heaven level —theologically speaking. So, we speak of His divine simplicity. The doctrine of simplicity, is a way of saying that (1) God is unlike any other being; “ (Psalm 145:3) and that (2) God is perfect, that is, God’s actions do not share in the limitations of human actions. God’s intentions, what He purposes to do, He does.^⁠1 There is no “space” between what He intends to do and what He accomplishes. It is only in “time” we see these two ideas as distinct. (God’s predestination and His omniscience continues to raise theological discussions among the scholars.) But His Word declares: “my word…will not return to me empty” (Isaiah 55:11)  

Looking at God, then, through a single lens (and that of divine love), interpreting His actions in terms of His love for us, not only inspires our understanding of God’s Word (it is biblical) but it explains everything about our relationship with Him as believers. (Jeremiah 29:11) It is our limited reasoning, limited by how we experience life and what we have learned about our own humanity that we, in error, compare our thoughts with God’s and asks questions about Calvary that may not be answerable—for now. When we talk about justice, we picture a courtroom and a jurist but not necessarily what the Bible means by righteousness. (1 Corinthians 1:30) When we talk about “the Law,” Mosaic or criminal or whatever, there is much we do not know about God’s judgment seat. What is the “law of Christ”? (Galatians 6:2) Or the “Law of the Spirit” (Romans 8:2)

This much we do know: “…the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe..” (Galatians 3:22) God’s love was not going to let this matter go. He created us for His glory and that desire of His, His intention in this matter, remains unchanged and unchanging. (Isaiah 43:7)

Simplicity teaches that He does all things as an expression of His love. “The doctrine of simplicity, then,” Prof. Vidu explains, “must be defined such that mercy and justice are two different names for God’s only moral attribute: his love. Mercy and justice are therefore synonymous.”^⁠2 (Ps. 33: 5; 89:14)

Perceiving God in this way, simplifies explanations.

So what exactly is the atoning work of Christ all about? Does it provide a punishment to satisfy injustice against the holiness of God or does it provide for our restoration to fellowship with a holy God. We can affirm: both because they are one and the same divine act by the one and only God whom we sinned against.

“The history of atonement theories,” Vidu asserts, “is really a debate about the nature of God,”³ …that is to say, the nature of Divine Love.

¹ “The doctrine of divine simplicity is not intended as an apophatic sublation of all talk of divine nature.” … That is to say, we are not trying to minimize a conflict of interest between mercy and justice, or forgiveness and punishment, by arguing that justice is not justice, punishment is not really punishment. As Adonis Vidu points out, ““It is precisely such capriciousness, on the one hand, or impotence, on the other, that the concept of simplicity expressly denies.” -Vidu. 29, 31
² Ibid. 29
³ Ibid. 236

It is basic to Christian thought to herald the Savior’s death as a substitute for ours. He died in our stead. Had He not died, there would have been no eternal life for you and I. This much we can accept as an irrefutable and basic truth. Jesus’s death was a requisite for our salvation—a necessary part of the divine plan to provide for that salvation.  Mark records, “Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days.” (Mark 8:31)

The necessity of Jesus’s crucifixion was tied to prophecy, as we know, “He was pierced because of our rebellion,” (Isaiah 53:5) but atonement theory proffers a judicial necessity in postulating His death as a penal substitution, i.e. The penalty for our sins in our place. Luther called it a wondrous exchange: “He made the one who did not know sin to be sin[offering] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

But the question, did Jesus have to die for our sins, remained an open one throughout church history. Saint Anselm of Canterbury (1033/4–1109) in particular has argued that if God is to save, that He has to choose between satisfaction or punishment. Due to His justice. But what does it take to appease an offended God or satisfy His justice when the crime was our sinning and the penalty should be death?

According to the theologians, it becomes a debate within God, Himself, between His attributes and His nature. Between His love and his holiness, between a need for mercy and retribution. Even John Calvin argued for what scholars call, God’s “inner necessity.” Calvin argued that Jesus could not die just any death (disease, a street assassination) It had to be the Cross because He had to be sentenced and executed by a criminal court. His death was a “penal substitution” to satisfy the justice inherent in divine law.

Nor can He die in secret, in a quiet and peaceful death in old age in His own bed.  When God gave His Son, He offered Him to a depraved and hateful creation. His death became a public event burned into our memories forever.  The fact that dozens of prophesies foretold it only discloses the Divine heart while He, hanging there, proclaimed to fallen man what must inevitably come to pass because He couldn’t “unlove” them.  (John 3:16)

Two disciples were meandering down a country road to Emmaus, two disciples despondent beyond words for He was the promise of Israel now thought buried and forgotten.  But here He comes along side, though, their grief did not allow them to see Him.  Ever so slowly as He spoke He ignited once again that eternal hope that excites pure joy in the soul.  So when they reached Emmaus, they could not sleep but had to return to Jerusalem with the news.

He’s alive!!

How can the Day of Pentecost top this!!??

When Jesus cried, “It is finished!” What was finished?  What did He mean by these words just before He expired on the cross?

1.  Paid in full: “[Financial] receipts  are often introduced by this phrase,” according to Moulton & Milligan’s Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament. In general the word means: to fulfill obligations, to pay.” Charles Swindol expanded:

 “It was a Greek expression most everyone present would have understood. It was an accounting term. Archaeologists have found papyrus tax receipts with “Tetelestai” written across them, meaning “paid in full.” With Jesus’ last breath on the cross, He declared the debt of sin cancelled, completely satisfied. Nothing else required. Not good deeds. Not generous donations. Not penance or confession or baptism or…or…or…nothing. The penalty for sin is death, and we were all born hopelessly in debt. He paid our debt in full by giving His life so that we might live forever.”

---

2. The simplest meaning of “finished” in the form He spoke it on the Cross is “All is fulfilled, All is accomplished!”  This, to me, fits better in the context since Jesus was not talking about an unpaid bill but the fulfillment of all prophecy.

Everything God commissioned Jesus to do has been “completed,” the saving work whose earthly completion according to J[oh]n is at the cross. [Kittell vol VIII 59]

He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. (Titus 2:14)

No scripture more clearly, simply, and emphatically explains redemption, freedom from the bondage to sin to serve the Lord. A closer examination of this verse, perhaps, shares all we really need to know for now about the efficacy of Jesus’s death. But like children, always eager to learn, we shall continue to seek deeper truths. But we must begin here.

Jesus gave Himself, His crucifixion was voluntary. As He said, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.” (John 10:18) And He did this “for us.” This is not only voluntary but vicarious.

Some interpret the word “for” to mean “for our benefit” or “for our good,” a meaning worthy of the word, but an interpretation which cannot stand alone here because in so doing He has redeemed us. Redemption is first and foremost the purchasing of our salvation (ransoming us) by His blood (Acts 20:28) which is a vicarious substitution. Yes, indeed, for our benefit; because He did this (the translation simply reads “to”) in order that He might redeem us, (set us free via a ransom in His blood.)

“In order that” shows “purpose or end.” ¹ Jesus’s death did not provide our freedom from sin’s bondage as an unintended consequence of a unfortunate death of a good prophet. Jesus, God’s Son, submitted to the Father’s plan and gave Himself willingly to the lash and the cross knowing that this was the means to our freedom from sin’s grasp!

Redeem, redemption, is a term that comes from the word meaning “to set free.” The truth could not be clearer. It is correctly understood as our “ransom” after the analogy of the Old Testament sacrifice, and some believers like to reference Hosea 3:1-2 where the prophet purchased his wife, Gomer, back off the slave auction block.

Freed us from what? Lawlessness. ² This word supports Prof Craig’s contention that our Savior’s death was a penal substitution. ³ Martin Luther allegorically wrote, “The Law growls, ‘All right. If Your Son is taking the sin of the world, I see no sins anywhere else but in Him. He shall die on the Cross.’ And the Law kills Christ. But we go free.” ⁴

“I am using a human analogy,” Paul employed the slavery motif to explain that now instead of enslaved to sin, we should be our Lord’s life-long indentured servant. (Exodus 21:5-6) “because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” (Romans 6:19)

But not just a servant to God, but a “pure” or cleansed (from sinful thoughts and motives) servant of God; we serve no other lord. There is implied here no other motive or personal interest other than pleasing our Lord.

Because we are ransomed, He bought us with His blood, we are His, His own, His own possession! And the purity of our service is evident in an expressed zeal or passion to live for Him, to do “good works.” (We are reminded that one of the Fruit of the Spirit is goodness. Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 5:9)

Proclaim these things; encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard[despise] you. Titus 2:15

¹ Thayer. 302
² “It is characteristic, of course, that [lawlessness] should become one of the chief terms for sin.” Kittell, vol IV. 1085
³ “Paul’s exposition of the way in which Christ’s death achieves reconciliation with God is suffused with forensic terminology rooted in Jewish notions of law and justice.” Craig. 51
⁴ Martin Luther, Epistle to the  Galatians. 54-55

There is an interesting word for “sin” found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, used over 62 times, that never made it into the Gospels or the Epistles of the New. And even if the Hebrew has no equivalent term, the concept it embodies is, nonetheless, very Jewish. The question to ask is not “What was my sin” as if a single misstep or a single act of indiscretion needs forgiveness. The question with this Old Testament Greek word is not “what” but “where.”

Where did I go wrong?

In the New Testament we see sin either as the expression of fallen nature (sinfulness) or we reference our individual misdeeds, misplaced passions, and abusive words; but in the Old Testament—and this is, as I said, very Jewish—sin means being out of harmony with nature. I found a relevant Einstein quote, Even though he was known to be  an atheist, he didn’t denigrate believers.: Douglas Leblanc said, “He heard the music of the spheres.”

‘What separates me from most so-called atheists is a feeling of utter humility toward the unattainable secrets of the harmony of the cosmos.’

 

To sin, to use a Classic Greek metaphor, is to be “out of tune.” When we are as we should be, as God ordained, we are making music. But when a false note is hit, when we “sin,” the discordant sound causes all nature to jump in offense  The Ancient Greeks would say, “He made a false note!” A false note is another way of saying “a mistake or error” in judgment was made.

All sin is out of tune, out of harmony,  first and foremost, with our relationship with God, then each other, and finally with our own person, our own dreams, desires, and happiness—with our own world.

The Hebrew Bible meets us with a full acknowledgement of these manifold aspects of human suffering, and blends wrong doing and suffering to a remarkable degree, setting forth sin in its relation to God, to society, and to a man’s own self. [Robert Girdlestone. Synonyms of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Grand Rapids Book Manufacturers, Inc. 1974), 76 ]

Moses hinted at this idea when he cautioned God’s people about carefully following God’s precepts, , “Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper...” [Deuteronomy 6:3]  It is a loving Creator who knows the science behind proper living that encouraged Ancient Israel to follow the rules—follow the laws that kept them in harmony with His world.  Wish they had!!!

The Greek for Psalm 34:22, which is in the Septuagint Psalms 33:22 is encouraging, “those who hope in Him shall not go wrong” [οὐ μὴ πλημμελήσωσιν πάντες οἱ ἐλπίζοντες ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν].

But let’s not toss the Hebrew to the curb!  It reads, “The LORD redeems  (will rescue) …  His servants, and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished.”

We “kind-of” get the message that God’s Eden is still on His mind where—before that fatal bite—all was in harmony…..

What a beautiful description of heaven, the place of total, absolute, and eternal harmony…..