New Testament Conception of Law: Contemporary problems and ancient solutions Part III

The focus of the last post was on the law in the gospels. Jesus never claimed to have abolished or negated the Law of Moses. Jesus said he came to both fulfill the law and to enable others to do the same. By doing so, he established the moral law of God and His governmental model for all time. Because his suffering and death satisfied God’s law and justice, faith in Jesus is the means by which we all may obtain God’s pardon for our sins or moral crimes against the law of God. In this, the love of God is reveal and experienced. God is not tolerant. Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection fulfilled the law. The law of faith annulled the law of sin so that everyone who believes can fulfill the requirement of the moral law. Was this the view of Paul taught in his letters? If not, what was Paul’s view of law?

Paul’s View of Law

Paul’s conception of authority is important to understanding his view of the Law. In his letters, Paul clearly outlined the order of his authority. God was the highest authority. Paul called God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Savior.[1] The authority of Jesus is almost as high as God is. Jesus is the Lord, messiah, savior, and our hope.[2] Paul’s apostleship was “according to the commandment of God our Savior and Jesus Christ, our hope.”[3] Jesus called him to be his apostle,[4] but God had ordained it. [5] Having been appointed to his apostleship and instructed by Jesus, Paul’s instructions to the followers of Christ were the commandments of the Lord Jesus.[6] They were the laws of the Jesus, Lord and Messiah. That is why he distinguished his opinions from his speaking on behalf of the Lord. His preaching and teaching was the same as Moses, the prophets, or Jesus himself.

When Jesus ascended to heaven, he created or recreated all rule and authority.[7] The office and authority of his Paul’s apostleship was one part of the new universal rule. Just as God ordained secular authorities, so were those in the kingdom of Christ. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God.[8]

Paul defined the Law as the covenant of promise made to Abraham.[9] It encompasses the Law of Moses[10] as well as the word of the prophets.[11] The law of God was holy and good.[12] Paul even regarded the law as spiritual.[13] As we will see later, the new covenant in Jesus Christ was the fulfillment of the one promised by Jeremiah.[14] As portended by Jeremiah, the law of God fulfilled because of becoming of human nature.

Paul dealt extensively with the purpose of the Law. He taught that the law was made for the lawless, not the righteous (lawful); in modern conception, it is to regulate the moral behavior of citizens, protecting law-abiding from the destructive.[15] It seems strange that he would claim it was given so that transgression of the law would increase.[16] He preached this to explain how the power sin dominated human life because of rebellion against the can’t of the law. The knowledge of sin comes by knowing the law. The principle goes back to God’s warning to Adam’s eldest son Cain. When Cain revealed jealousy of his brother Able, God told him, “Sin lies at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master or dominate it.”[17] The problem is we all have failed to master it. As Paul wrote, “we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God.”[18] Therefore, “there is none righteous not even one.”[19] There may be some who are self-righteous, but none righteous before God.

The law also serves as a tutor teaching us all about our need for forgiveness.[20] The law then lead us to Jesus Christ because his death satisfies the required punishment of God’s law.[21] His resurrection is our hope of eternal life when we believe on the Lord Jesus. When anyone “confesses Jesus as Lord and believes in his or her heart that God raised him from the dead will be saved.”[22]

This concludes the definition and purpose of the Law as explained by Paul. In the next posting, Paul view on the law will be completed. Many believe Paul taught the law of the old covenant ended with Jesus. Whether this is true will be covered in the last part of this series on the New Testament Conception of Law.
_____________________________________________________

Notes:
[1] 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Col. 1:3; 1 Tim. 1:1
[2] Act. 2:36; Rom. 1:1-7; 10:9,13; Php. 3:20; 2 Tim. 1:10; 1 Tim. 1:1
[3] 1 Tim. 1:1
[4] Acts 9:1-19
[5] 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Gal.1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1
[6] 1 Cor. 14:37; 1 Thes. 4:2; Tit.1:3
[7] Col. 1:16
[8] Rom. 13:1-3
[9] Gal. 3:15
[10] Act. 13:39, 15:5, Rom. 13:8-10, Gal. 3:15; 5:14; 6:2; Eph. 6:2
[11] Rom. 16:25-26; 1 Cor. 14:21; Isa. 28:11
[12] Rom. 7:12; 1 Tim. 1:8
[13] Rom. 7:1
[14] Jer. 31:31-34; 2 Cor. 3:1-6; Gal. 4:22-31
[15] 1 Tim. 1:8-9
[16] Rom. 5:20
[17] Gen. 4:6-7
[18] Rom. 3:23
[19] Rom. 3:10
[20] Gal. 3:22-25; 4:4-5href="http:
[21] Gal. 1:3-4; 3:24
[22] Rom. 10:9-10

New Testament Conception of Law : Contemporary problems and ancient solutions Part II

The focus of the last post was on the law of love. In the liberal or secular equation, the law of love equals tolerance of moral relativity, even immorality. In both the gospels and Paul’s letters, the law of love means fulfilling the moral law of God because of the abiding love for God and for others. This kind of love is result of experiencing the redeeming and restorative love of God. According to Paul, the law of love sums up the whole Law of Moses, but how exactly did Jesus and Paul regard God’s law.

Many believe the Mosaic Law ended forever with the death and resurrection of Jesus. Following this view to its conclusion, the view of life lived by faith and love is the only law of God. Moral law somehow ended with Christ. Is this liberal conception of law represented in the gospels, teaching of Paul or John?

Jesus’ View of Law According to the Gospels

Jesus said he came to fulfill the law not abolish it. When Jesus spoke about the law, he meant Torah law. The law of Israel was the Law of Moses. This is the law God gave Israel. Jews were subject to the laws of foreign empires like those of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. As it today, liberalization of local law gave some excuse to live immoral lives. Nonetheless, the law of God was Israel’s local law. It was under Roman influence that Jesus lived and died.

Under the laws of Moses, the Jewish people were promised a life of good health and healing. It seemed that Jesus had no problem with breaking God’s laws. He healed on the Sabbath. He and disciples picked grain to eat while traveling during the Sabbath. To many Jewish leaders, these actions were crimes against the law. To Jesus, the law was being fulfilled. No human heals another. Medicine does not heal. It enables the body’s immune system to fulfill its job of healing. Otherwise, medicine kills diseased cells or effected organs surgically removed. Because only God heals, Jesus was simply following God. Eating on the Sabbath was not a sin. Because Jesus followers had no food, they picked grain to eat. So how could picking grain to satisfy hunger be a crime to God? At least that is the implication. What offended the Pharisees more than doing some work on the Sabbath was the authority Jesus claimed for allowing his followers to do so. Jesus justified it by saying his was Lord of the Sabbath.[1]

Beyond these issues, Jesus explicitly said he did come to abolish the law or the prophets but to fulfill both. His position about law was made in the Sermon on the Mount, in which he said,

“Do not think I came to abolish the law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say unto you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the law until all is accomplished. Whoever annuls one the least of these commandments, and teaches other to do the same, shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”[2]

When lepers were healed, Jesus instructed them to go fulfill the requirement of the law.[3] When a disabled man was healed, Jesus told him to sin no more.[4] When Jesus forgave an adulterous woman caught in the act, he told her to sin no more.[5] It seems Jesus was being tolerant towards the adulterer, but actually, he was simply being just. The unjust Jews did not fulfill the law by bringing the man also caught in the act. The law required judgment of both adulterers. Therefore, it was only just for the women to have a second chance as well. When we consider the various acts of healing, exorcisms, and forgiveness, we witness Jesus instructing those who received mercy instead of judgment for their moral crimes to sin no more unless worse consequences occur. Jesus did not give anyone an excuse not to keep God’s moral laws. Jesus upholds the validity of God’s law. Jesus in no way suggests that he has eliminated the requirements of the law of God. His purpose was not to create antinomianism or anarchy, but his purpose was lead all to fulfill God’s law.

Jesus made another interesting statement in the Sermon on the Mount. He said,

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father…. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons, and in your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.’”[6]

The key to understanding this statement is the word lawlessness. This means two things: (1) God does not accept people who live contrary to the moral law of God. How could people live in the kingdom of God if they will not live according to God’s laws? In Acts 2:36, Peter confirms that Jesus was made Lord of God’s kingdom. Jesus’ perfect fulfillment of God’s law does not excuse anyone from breaking it. On the contrary, followers of Jesus receive the Spirit of God in order to fulfill that law. Those who enter the kingdom do so through Jesus. When they do, they are still accountable for obeying the law of the kingdom. (2) Lawlessness also means doing work of the kingdom without fulfilling God’s will. Notice Jesus said those who do the kind of works he did was not a ticket to heaven. If self-aggrandizement was the purpose of those who healed the sick and cast of demons, the aggrandizement is their only reward. Most people can think of a charlatan who pretended to do miracles only to get rich. This is implied in Jesus’ statement. His statement also means those who do not do what the Lord wanted them to do. Beyond living out the moral law, when people disregard Jesus revealed will about doing or not doing something, for example, praying for someone in need or some other service would be to disobey the Lord, which is lawlessness. Of course, one cannot disobey what has not been clearly revealed or commanded.

Obeying a command from the Lord Jesus and keeping the moral law seems more like duty. It could seem as something motivated by fear of punishment or losing salvation. It cannot be denied that disobedience will result in God’s judgment not his blessing. The purpose of salvation is the restoration of individuals to a right relationship with their Creator and kinsman redeemer. This is an act of God’s love solely initiated by God, which is life changing. It is natural, therefore, for recipients to respond to God with thanksgiving and love. The writer of the First Epistle of John stated it best when he wrote:

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He first loved us and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins. If God so loved us, we ought to love one another.”[7]

The motivation to love God is the result of God’s unmerited love experienced by us. We experience this unmerited love because of the terrible sacrifice and suffering of Jesus. He bore the punish we deserve for the moral crimes we commit against the law of God. Once we have realize the full meaning of Jesus’ suffering on our behalf, our experience love God’s love become the motivation of our love toward Jesus and God the Father. This what Jesus meant when he said,

“He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me; and he ho loves me will be loved by my Father… and we will come to him and make our abode with him.”[8]

Nowhere in the gospels will the reader find Jesus contradicting, replacing, annulling, or negating the law of God. In addition to the law of redemption, the law of Moses is God’s model of government, of constitutional law, and of a common law. Jesus did not negate that law. The death and resurrection of Jesus satisfied the justice required by God’s law concerning our moral crimes. Consequently, the sacrificial laws are no longer valid for redemption. "By the works of the law no one will be saved."[9] Salvation is by faith alone in Jesus. Without submitting to his Lordship, salvation is not complete. The love of husbands and wives and their mutual submission to each other makes a marriage relationship. In every marriage, one of the spouses leads and the other follows in most things. This is true in most covenant agreements as well. In the kingdom of God, the love between the Lord and us is a mutual one. However, the authority of the covenant belongs to Jesus. We follow and he leads, and God is pleased.

In the next post, Paul’s view of law will be explored.

Notes:
[1] Matthew 12:1-14
[2] Matthew 5:17-19 NASB
[3] Luke 5: 12-15; 17:11-14
[4] John 5:1-17
[5] John 8:1-11
[6] Matthew 7:21-23
[7] 1 John 4:10-11 NASB
[8] John 14:21,23d NASB
[9] Galatians. 2:16

New Testament Conception of Law : Contemporary problems and ancient solutions, Part I

The underlying problem in American culture is the law. The underlying issue of the cultural war is not liberal party politics versus conservative party politics; the most fundamental issue is the rule of law. The legal and cultural battles concerning separation of church and state, abortion, and gay rights are battles over the rule of law. Liberals violate Constitutional law while conservatives defend it. At least that is what recent legal scholarship demonstrates.¹

Just as the rule of law established though constitutions protects American social and political rights, the rule of law and Constitutional law is rooted in biblical conception of law. During the colonial era, some Christians, however, held a belief called antinomianism. It is “the belief that Christians are not bound by established moral laws, but should rely on faith and divine grace for salvation.”² Antinomianism was rooted in a peculiar interpretation of the gospels and especially the letters of Paul. The ramifications of such a doctrine lend itself to social and political anarchy, or its modern conceptualization by the “hippie” generation as doing your own thing. In academic circles, it is called post-modernism, which is actually difficult to define simply. Concerning morality, post-modernism rejects Western moral tradition. It was replaced by moral relativism—no moral absolutes, only what is right to each person or collective.³ The post-modern conception of morality is a return to antinomianism, except its version encompasses current politics, the ideal of the rule of law by written constitutions, and more importantly the Christian view of law.

The rebirth of the post-modern form of antinomianism is evidenced by statements of contemporary religious and political leaders who use the New Testament as justification for social policy and law. The often-heard message of social justice based on a theology of love is usually synonymous with the liberal view of tolerance. A morally tolerant law of love replaces all other conceptions of law upheld by both Jesus and the apostles.

It is readily admitted that the law of love is central to the teachings of Jesus and his apostles. Jesus claimed the greatest commandment of God was to love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength as well as to love your neighbor as your self.⁴ Notice that Jesus upholds the revealed law of God. Jesus also commanded his followers to love each other as He had loved them.⁵ As the author of the first letter of John writes, this new commandment is actually the old law applied.⁶ The law referred to is found in both Deuteronomy chapter 6 and the 19th chapter of Leviticus.⁷ The apostle Paul takes the law of love further in many of his letters. For Paul, love is the summation of all of the law of God.⁸ He elaborates on the law of love in 1 Corinthians 13, in which he writes,

“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things. Love never fails….”⁹

Did Paul expect social laws, which are supposed to protect individuals from murderers, rapists, thieves, and the like, would conform to his definition of love? To make such a claim is more than incredible; it makes very bad exegesis and theology subservient to crime. Paul is not dictating legal codes for society, but a definition of brotherly love for followers of Jesus. His definition may be an extended application God’s agape love, but it in no way contradicts God judgment of sinners who reject His love through Jesus. More succinctly, God will offer no tolerance, grace, love, or mercy to those who live in rebellion to his moral laws. In the final analysis, the message of the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, is a restatement of the same old message of God. God will serve up capital punishment forever to those who live against His moral law.¹⁰ God does not tolerate moral crimes. Jesus had to suffer and die in order for God’s justice to be satisfied. God’s tolerance only exists towards moral criminals to the extent of atoning Jesus death, individual acceptance of the terms of forgiveness, and subsequent loyalty to Jesus, God, and the moral law. That is why Paul wrote,

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”¹¹

If your life ends without Jesus being the ruling Lord of your life, you will have no acceptance by God, no place in the kingdom of His son, no salvation from God’s eternal judgment, and no escape of the torments of hell’s justice.

It is true that the law of love is the central tenet of the kingdom of God, but not as defined according post-modern or liberal ideologies.

So then, what is the biblical conception of law according to the gospels and the writings of Paul? This will be answered in next week’s posting.

Notes:

1. Philip Hamburger, The Separation of Church and State(Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2002).
2. Encarta Dictionary.
3. http://www.angelfire.com/indie/mayasuraya/writing/postmodernism.htm.
4. Mark 12:28-34.
5. John 13:34-35.
6. 1 John 2:7-11.
7. Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18.
8. Romans 13:8-10.
9. vv. 4-8.
10. Revelation 1:1-3; 9:20-21; 11:17-18; 16:1-12; 19:20-21; 20:12-15; 21:5-8, 14-15.
11. Romans 10:9-10.

It All Begins With Sonship

According to the first chapter of Hebrews, a biblical epistle written to followers of Jesus, God revealed his presence and purpose through the humanity of Jesus, His only begotten son. The author of Hebrews wrote:

“After God spoke long ago to the fathers through the prophets, in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things…. He is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature….” (Hebrews 1:1-3)

The sonship of Jesus is also explained in the gospel of Luke. In a visitation to the Virgin Mary, the angel Gabriel revealed his presence to Mary. He also announced that God had chosen her to conceive and birth God’s son. The angel went on to reveal the reason God was requesting permission to create His son in her virgin womb:

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:31-33)

Gabriel was telling Mary her son was the long awaited Messiah whose coming was foretold by prophets like Nathan, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah. For example, Nathan told King David that God wanted to make a covenant with him and his descendants. The covenant was a promise of perpetual kingship. This covenantal promise would be fulfilled when God raises a certain descendant whose kingship and throne God would establish forever. This descendant would be a Son to God. Therefore, the promise was not to all of David’s descendants, but rather to only a particular one. (I Samuel 7:12-17) The Roman physician and historian Luke claimed Jesus is that one.

The Jewish author of the gospel of Matthew affirmed Luke’s statement about Jesus. He wrote about the experience of Mary’s fiancé, Joseph. Gabriel had also visited Joseph, who told him to marry his betrothed Mary. Gabriel assured Joseph that the child was the work of God’s Spirit. Gabriel told him that Mary’s son “will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21) The angel was affirming what was already believed by many ancient Israelites viewed about the Lord’s Messiah, a son of David.

The nature of Jesus’ sonship as portrayed by these two gospels is similar to the birth of humanity’s first parent, Adam. Why did the angel Gabriel tell Mary her son would be called the son of God? Because he would be the only human being since Adam to be created by the Spirit of God. According to the second chapter of Genesis, “God formed Adam from the dust of the ground.” (2:7) God formed Jesus in the virgin womb of Mary. That is a good reason for the apostle Paul to call Jesus the second Adam. (I Corinthians 15:45-47)

Who was Paul? His real name was Saul. Saul was a zealous religious Pharisee who was converted when Jesus-- after he had received his throne in heaven--visited him. Although Paul’s experience was as much a spiritual vision as a physical encounter, the record of his conversion informs us that his companions also witnessed the brilliant light and heard the sound of Jesus talking but did not understand what was said. (Acts 9:1-21; 22:4-16) Being commissioned by Jesus to continue his mission to the non-Jewish world, Saul was renamed Paul, the apostle of Jesus.

Paul’s understanding of Jesus’ sonship was influenced by his conversion experience. For example, Paul began preaching that Jesus was the son of God almost immediately after his encounter with the risen Jesus. (Acts 9:20) He also taught that Jesus was “declared the Son of God with power as a result of the resurrection from the dead.” (Romans 1:4) For Paul, Jesus was the eternal son of God because he was raised from the dead. To be raised from the dead, Jesus had to be born just like you and me. Therefore, writing to the church at Galatia, Paul penned these momentous words:

“In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, so that he might redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive the adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4)

To some, the gospel of Luke and Paul’s epistles may seem contradictory. One claims Jesus as son of God because of the Spirit’s creative act and the other claims he is son of God because he was the first-born (resurrected) from the dead. (Colossians 1:15, 18) Actually, the two account compliment each other giving us a complete understanding of Jesus’ sonship, both as the promised descendant of David and as God’s Son.

The same understanding of Jesus’ sonship is evident in the book of Hebrews. As a side note, some scholars believe Paul wrote the epistle to the Jewish followers of Jesus known as Hebrews. However, there is no actual evidence to support this belief. Whoever the author actually was, Church leaders canonized it because of its important teaching and because of the agreement with its doctrinal views.

To the author of the Hebrews, Jesus was the iconic image of his glorious father—God. (1:3)

Some intelligent person will ask how can this be seeing that Jesus was a physical human being and God is not? The short answer is this: all humans, like the very first one whose name was Adam, were created to reflect physically the image and character of his Creator. The biblical answer begins in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis. “God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness….’” (1:26) The author of Genesis then writes, “God created man in his own image … male and female He created them.” (1:27)

This leads to an important point of great value today. All humans reflect the image of God. Humans as reflections of the Creator’s image is supported by the Torah, the Prophets, the epistles of Paul, and the book of Revelation. Extremely interesting is the fact that God revealed his appearance to Moses, Aaron, and the tribal leaders after the ancient Israelites had agreed to God’s covenant, which was while they camped at Mount Sinai. (Exodus 19-20; 24:3-18) In Exodus, it is written, “they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet, He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel.” (24:10-11) In his vision, the prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord sitting on His throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.” (6:1) Another priest-prophet who saw the appearance of God in a vision was Ezekiel. The record we have of his vision is very detailed and lengthy, but key descriptions summarizing it are as follows: There was a transparent pavement-like expanse above a host of winged creatures—probably cherubim. (1:22-26). Above the expanse, there was something resembling a throne. On it was a figure with the appearance of a man. (1:26) Ezekiel notices the glowing appearance of his loins, and (1:27) a radiance shown around his being that resembled a rainbow. “Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord.” (1:28). The prophet Daniel saw a similar vision of God. (7:9-10) In the New Testament, the book of Revelation gives another account of God’s appearance. God is always on the throne while the Jesus as lamb of God is in the midst the court (4:2-4; 5:1-7; 7:10; 20:11; 21:22-23; 22:1-5). In every vision, we learn men and women look similar to their Creator.

The important point is this: Men and women are spiritual beings physically reflecting the image of their real Father—their Creator. That means every human being is spiritual like his or her divine Father. Whether good or evil, every human is the physical image of his or her heavenly Father, God.

The problem of human spirituality is not appearance; the problem is with character. In Genesis, it is called likeness. In chapter three of Genesis, the story of humanity’s first sin reveals a very pertinent fact. After the sin of Adam and Eve, God said, “Man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil….” (3:22). This phrase teaches several things:

• There were others in the court of God.
• One of them knew good and evil.
• Humanity’s first parent became like that one.

Who was the mysterious person? Contrary to some scholarly interpretations, this scripture cannot be a reference to the holy trinity. The term ‘knowing’ does not mean knowing intellectual subject content as today. In ancient times, knowing meant something understood by experience. It was intimate knowledge. If God was referring to himself, it would mean God was an experienced moral lawbreaker. That is what evil is. Therefore, the mysterious person was an experienced evil doer, a sinner, a moral lawbreaker. According to the Bible, Satan, the fallen angel or the devil, is the first spirit-being to have sinned. According to the gospel of John, Jesus taught that the devil was a liar and a murderer from the beginning. (8:44) When Ezekiel’s prophesy concerning Tyre is analyzed, we see two different kinds of leaders being addressed. The first is a king, who is obvious a man with aspirations to play god. (28:1-10) The second leader is addressed as a prince. This prince is described as a cherub who was without sin while in the Garden of Eden. That is until he became arrogant because of his beauty and his clever trade, which led him to cause much violence and sin. (28:11-19) How could a spirit be involved in trade? Trade of what for what? The clearest example of Satan’s trade is found in the gospel accounts of Satan’s temptation of Jesus. If Jesus would transgress God’s word, deny his God-given purpose, and reject God by giving allegiance to the devil instead, Satan offered to give Him fame, fortune, and power. Jesus did not deny that Satan could give him rule over the empires and nations of the world. Instead, Jesus remained faithful to God. (Matthew 4; Mark 1:13; Luke 4) In the complicated story of Job, another example of a man overcoming the tempting trade of Satan is narrated. Except in this story, Job deals with very negative and painful experiences for which he had no explanation. Even though the loss of health, his wealth in livestock, the death of his workers and all of his children was beyond his comprehension, he remained faithful to God. Though he did not have a clue why God was doing this—actually, Satan was but God was allowing it—Job’s faithfulness was the means by which Satan was judged by God for the violence of his trade. Job’s accomplishment was limited to his generation, but Jesus’ is eternal. Looking back to the beginning, the story of Adam and Eve shows us a story of our first earthly parents being suckered by the tempting and deceptive marketing strategies of the devil.

That is the story of us all.

Like Job and Jesus, men and women are capable of being like God. Men and women are capable of creating. They are capable of reasoning. They are capable of managing the welfare of other soul-creatures of the animal kingdom. They are capable of showing loving-kindness and justice to other people. Most important is their capability of behaving like God. Like little children imitating parents, this capability of God-likeness is reflected in attitudes, viewpoints, and actions.

In other words, men and women are capable of consistent moral living, except for one huge problem. That problem is moral depravity. Sin is breaking the moral law in evident in humanity’s spiritual nature. It was Satan’s crime, Adam and Eve’s crime, and a crime all men and women commit. Immoral acts are crimes against God. When moral law is broken, whoever else may be offended, God certainly is. Until each of our moral crimes and their penalty are paid, we are in essence spiritual fugitives being hunted by divine justice.

As sinless Son, Jesus paid for all of our moral crimes. God considered his execution—by means of the Cross—and subsequent death sufficient payment for us all. The prophet Isaiah foresaw his suffering and death. Isaiah also understood its meaning. In the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, the prophet wrote, “He was pierced through for our transgressions; he was crushed for our sins; the punishment for our well-being fell on him, and by his scourging we are healed.” (vv. 5) Consequently, God says, “My servant will justify the many, because he will bear their sins.” (v. 11) The gospels Isaiah’s prophesy was fulfilled through Jesus. In Matthew, it is written, Jesus “came to give his life a ransom for many.” (20:28) Paul also claimed Jesus “gave himself as a ransom for all” (I Timothy 2:6) When we accept God’s system of justice and when we confess their sins and seek that forgiveness, we are restored to a right relationship with God in His world. The sense of alienation ends. Our guilt, fear, and bankruptcy ends because the hunt is also called off.

That is the gospel of Jesus, and it gets even better. Those of us whose moral crimes have been acquitted because of the death and resurrection of God’s Son, Jesus, we also become sons and daughters of God. To be more precise, our sonship is restored. As Paul wrote, “You are all sons of God through faith in Messiah Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26).

The restoration of sonship is God’s plan for every human being, even you and me.