For those of us whose favorite Bible verse is “God is love” (I John 4:16) we tend to see the entire Canon of 66 books of the Protestant scripture through it as if the lens of a set of eyeglasses. In so doing we ignore or dismiss a host of texts that suggest anything different than the unconditional, unqualified love of God. Such as….
“Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14)
“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him…” (Psalm 103:11)
“….if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
“The Lord watches over all who love him but all the wicked he will destroy.” (Psalm 145:20)
Does every person receive God’s blessing and favor (salvation) or only those who believe (fear)? Does God love some people more than others; “whom he favors”? Is God’s love unqualified? And if it isn’t what disqualifies you?
Most of us wrestle with these questions at some point or another as we get to know the Bible.
The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) would suggest that God does not approve of lying, stealing, adultery or murder to name a few things. Much of the Hebrew scripture will go on to define all sorts of behaviors that God finds offensive from shaving your beard (Leviticus 19:27) to sex with animals (Leviticus 18:23) to using false weight scales in the marketplace in order to cheat the buyer (Proverbs 11:1, Amos 8:5). But then the New Testament ends with a list of those who will not get into heaven but will be thrown into the eternal fires of hell (Revelations 21:8). The “God of wrath and judgment” isn’t only found in what we call the Old Testament.
Based on verses in the Bible not everyone gets into heaven. (I Corinthians 6:9-10) That certainly doesn’t fit into our contemporary and commonly held theology of an all loving, all inclusive, all tolerant Divinity. In the Biblical tradition sinners are punished (Exodus 32:25-28, Acts 5:1-11) and the evil destroyed (I Kings 18:20-40, Mark 13:19-20) In the Biblical tradition there are plenty of suggestions that we are going to get exactly what we deserve. God destroys the earth with a flood (Genesis 7-9). At the end of time we shall be held accountable for our actions in life (Revelations 21:12). The apostle Paul concludes “You shall reap what you sow” (Galatians 6:7-9).
But there is a parallel tradition as well throughout the Canon; you are not going to get what you deserve; mercy.
Abraham and Yahweh bargain over the fate of Sodom, God willing to bend his punishment if Abraham can find a few good men (Genesis 18:22-33, unfortunately he can’t!). God sends Jonah to prophecy to the evil city Nineveh a word of judgment but holds out the possibility of forgiveness if they repent. Just the thought of God sparing the evil Ninevites makes the prophet run away on a ship, through the belly of a whale, out into a desert to die. When a merciful God spares the city “and all its animals” it drives Jonah to despair (Jonah4:8).
In Hebrew scripture and New Testament we encounter a God looking for any excuse to forgive and begin the relationship over again; “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always accuse nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.” (Psalm 103:8-10). The ultimate expression of which is found on the cross “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…” (Luke 23:34).
As well as making the case that we are going to get what we deserve in and after life, it would seem that the Biblical tradition also asserts that we are not going to get what we deserve. Even more confusing, if not amazing, is that the same source insists we are going to get exactly what we don’t deserve; grace.
Esau forgives Jacob (Genesis 33). Elijah feeds a starving gentile widow and her son (I Kings 17:8-24). Having betrayed every aspect of the Covenant with Yahweh God offers Israel a new one, a Covenant of the heart (Jeremiah 31:31-33). Jesus preaches that the farmer should pay the worker a daily wage even if the worker has only been there an hour (Matthew 20:1-f). Jesus heals without condition, prior to any confession of faith (Luke 13:10-17, John 9:1-F). Jesus teaches that an insulted father welcomes the wayward son home with open arms (Luke 15:11-24). Jesus insists that a gentile harlot so shamed that she gathers water in the hottest time of day rather than meet her peers at the well, a woman still living in sin, is offered eternal life (John 4). Women and children, considered second class citizens and little more than the property of the male head of household, are honored as examples of faith (Matthew 19:14, John 12:1-8). Samaritans dismissed as unclean by the pious of the day are held up as the true righteous (Luke 10:25-37); if we would love God we would love neighbor and it turns out everyone is a neighbor even the ones we’ve been taught to hate and exclude.
Judgment, mercy and grace run throughout the Judeo-Christian tradition. Which thread compels our attention, frames our interpretation and is the focus of our application probably says more about us than it does about God. It would seem that from the Biblical tradition at least God is willing to hold those three themes in tension at the same time. Which says a lot more about God than it does about us who so often seek to land on the theme of our choice to the exclusion of others in order to win a debate or justify a bias.
Wonderful post. Thanks for the thoughtful analysis, Mark. I have seen a similar pattern/tension through the prophets: God declares Israel's sin through Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel..., God threatens/grants victory to Israel's enemies, but God promises that if they would turn from their sins, He would raise them up as a great leader amongst the nations.
ReplyDeleteThough I feel some tension from the seemingly contradictory meanings of judgment, mercy, and grace, I think in practice it's not all that foreign. When I remember that God is not a robot and words are not equations, it's really a lot easier to take it all in and meaningfully apply it.