Hello All,
One way to describe the difficulty some people have with Christianity is to note that the faith has been presented as a mixture of the law of Moses and the grace of Jesus; specifically, that the person is subject to both simultaneously. This situation does not bring true freedom and joy, but rather produces feelings of anxiety, insecurity, and fear. The gospel message of Christianity has been presented to the person through an incongruent lens, making people think that Jesus is more like Moses, and instilling the belief in them that Jesus' supposed heart of compassion is in fact a heart toward karma with the end result for the person being retribution and revenge if they fail to be faithful. Those are strong words, but they are the ultimate conclusion of a person believes that God is ultimately against them.
The key to understanding the Good News is the removal of any idea that Jesus, and thus the Father, will bring retribution upon any person. Retribution is not the same thing as Judgment. Judgment is a correction, not a punishment. And even if it is a sort of punishment, Scripture is plainly clear that Mercy triumphs in the end over Judgment. Punishment and retribution is not his heart toward us and we do an injustice to someone when we tell them of Jesus's love and compassion in our effort to convert them, but withhold from them our ulterior belief that God will eventually turn his back on them.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, that they should understand this problem: "But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away."
Dr. Brad Jersak writes:
"Jesus came to show and tell us exactly who God is in ways no prophet had the capacity to anticipate—not Moses, David or even Isaiah.
For example, we read in John 1:17 that Moses gave us the Law (a system of rewards and punishments), but Christ brought us grace and truth. We read in 2 Cor. 3:9ff that Moses’ covenant brought condemnation but Jesus’ covenant brings righteousness, true freedom and transformation.
What’s happening here? Rather than replacing Yahweh of the Old Testament with the Christ of the New, these authors emphasize that Moses’ revelation of God as the just Judge (the law-bringer) is being eclipsed by Jesus’ greater revelation of God the loving Father (the gospel-giver). They preach the same God, but through a different lens. With the restorative lens of Jesus and his glad tidings, Yahweh comes into focus as that gracious Father whose judgments are mercy. Whatever maleficent image we see is the result of distorted vision, whether ours or the stories’ characters or their human narrators. Through a retributive lens, even Jesus appears vengeful and violent.
Remember, it’s not only the vengeance or violence from which I’m recoiling: the real problem is the portrait of a God whose un-Christlike naked will eclipses love and trumps grace—a coercive force incongruent with Christ’s cruciform revelation of his Father’s love."
Grace=Peace,
Jeremy
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