For I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.
For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that
which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto
them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: because that, when they
knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like
to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own
hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth
of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the
Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile
affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is
against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which
is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which
was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in
their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things
which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit,
malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters,
inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant
breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who knowing the
judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not
only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
Adam became
a living soul because God breathed His own life into him. So it was that Adam
was one with God; Gods life was his life. Yet God is not without the ability to
choose and in a similar way if Adam was to be in His likeness as a son then Adam
also had to have the ability to choose. For this reason Adam was placed in the
garden with the choice between the knowledge of good and evil or life.
We are all
aware of Adams choice and the blindness it caused. The result of this “fall”
from oneness with Gods life left Adam and therefor his progenitors on a course
to attempt to generate life by their own ability. The blindness caused men to
equate doing good with producing life; however to do good is not the same as
being good for it is still fruit from a tree that does not recognize that life
can only come from God.
In short
life is about whom we are not what we do. Our actions come from who we are in
opposition to the way of man that believes that what we do determines who we
are. If we can produce wickedness then it is because we are wicked.
The
teachings given to Moses are a description of life but the veil of man’s ways
saw them as things to be done to attain to life. So while Moses tells the
congregation of Israel YHWH is our creator, that He is one, that if we love Him
with all our heart, all our soul, and all our might (to surrender and entrust
all we are to Him) then the life given shall be found in our heart. DEUT 6:4-9
The blindness of man’s way caused the children of Israel to instead proclaim “All
that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” EXODUS 19: 8
The response
shows that their thinking was to act in a certain way making witness of
themselves as actors; acting as if they had life in them. Jesus called the Pharisees
hypocrites (actors) for this very same reason.
Moses concludes
these things by saying “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you,
that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:” Take notice that Moses did
not say good and evil or right and wrong but the foundational source of life
and death.
Moses gives
this foundational understanding at the close of his earthly ministry. We see
Jesus giving the same teaching at the beginning of His ministry when He says “think
not that I come to destroy the law, I come not to destroy but to fulfill the
law.” MATTHEW 5. Jesus then goes on to teach that sin is not originated in the
action but instead in the heart which comes out in our actions.
Expanding on
the fact that Jesus came to fulfill the law in us He also says that He came
that we might have life and life more abundantly (JOHN 10:10) and be one with
the Father (JOHN 17: 6-19). When these things are seen clearly seen the necessity
of the cross becomes plain. Jesus died that we being one with Him could die in
Him. The natural man and his sinful rebellion of trying to generate life by the
lie of acting good must die in the cross that the life of God generated by His
spirit in us may become our life. It is this to which Jesus said that if a man
tries to find (make) his life he will lose his life but if he will lose his
life (in Messiah) he will find his life (YHWH’s shared life in us).MATTHEW
10:39
Paul was and
is accused by many to be in opposition to Moses and even Messiah. However with
clear understanding we see that the grace of Gods life in us that Paul speaks
of is in complete agreement with both.
Paul first
tells us that the message of Messiah giving us life is the generating power of
YHWH’s being in us to save us. The result of our complete trust, dependence,
and expectation of God living in us has the unavoidable result of the righteousness
of Messiah showing in those who have no ability to create that righteousness.
This right way is shown in us more and more as we learn to trust Him alone more
and more.
However if
we refuse to trust God as our maker and set forth to be our own maker God will submit
us to our own blinded mind. The result of such is that every type of wickedness
grows and expands in those who are separated from Gods holy life by their
refusal to come to His life.
So it is
that Paul, as Moses had centuries before, sets before us the way of life and
death, of blessings and cursing’s. Paul declares a solid assurance that Jesus
is the way the truth and the life and also a warning that if we refuse to trust
in Him we will find ourselves given over to the darkest condition of the soul.
