The Gospel had been hidden in plain sight within the annals
of the Hebrew Scriptures (OT), although, on the surface, they seemed to preach
a righteousness earned by performing the commandments:
·
“And it will be righteousness for us, if we are
careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded
us.” (Deuteronomy 6:25)
However, the New Testament (NT) presents us with a more
nuanced picture:
·
What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did
not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by
faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did
not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith,
but as if it were based on works…(Romans 9:30-32)
But hadn’t Israel’s righteousness been based on her
performance? Weren’t the promised blessings and curses based upon obedience? In
the next chapter, Paul claimed that the righteousness through obedience to the
commandments was the result of a deeper righteousness—one that was to be based
on a heart of faith that would trust and love God. Paul continued:
·
“For I bear them [Israel] witness that they have
a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the
righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit
to God’s righteousness…For Moses writes about the [2] righteousness that is
based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
But the [1] righteousness based on faith says…”(Romans 10:2-3, 5-6):
The Scribes and the Pharisees had been “ignorant” of the
most important part of the OT— the absolute need for the mercy and love of God
to which we learn to reciprocate, “I love You, God.” The educated leaders had
replaced it with their self-righteousness. Consequently, they rejected God’s
mercy and righteousness in Jesus Christ.
However, the truth should have been apparent to them:
·
For Moses writes about the [1] righteousness
that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live
by them. [2] But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your
heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who
will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But
what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that
is, the word of faith that we proclaim) (Romans 10:5-8, quoting Deuteronomy 30)
Paul wrote about the two forms of righteousness found in the
Mosaic Law—obedience and God’s mercy. According to Paul, God’s mercy didn’t
require any great feats like going to heaven. Instead, faith is easy. A child
was capable of receiving God’s mercy by the simple movements of their heart and
mouth.
The Israelites should have known better. The OT had declared
that all Israel had been under God’s curse. Therefore, they required the mercy
of God [1]:
·
“‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the
words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
(Deuteronomy 27:26)
This should have taught them all that they needed
God’s mercy through love and faith, depending upon genuine confession of their
sins. However, they twisted this verse to remove the curse and its requirement
for absolute obedience. They should have also taken into account their obvious
sinfulness:
·
Enter not into judgment with your servant, for
no one living is righteous before you. (Psalm 143:2)
They misconstrued the meaning of the Temple. When King
Solomon dedicated the newly finished Jerusalem Temple, he prayed:
·
“If they sin against you—for there is no one
who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so
that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,
yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried
captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their
captors, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’ if
they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their
enemies, who carried them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you
gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have
built for your name, then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and
their plea, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned
against you, and all their transgressions…(1 Kings 8:46-50)
The need for even the educated leadership to repent would
have sounded strange to their ears. However, the Hebrew Scriptures point to two
types of righteousness—one was based on grace-through-faith; the other was
based upon faithfulness in following the law. However, the second was based on
the first. The law wouldn’t be kept faithfully without the first, as almost all
of Israel’s prophets had declared. However, the leaders had blinded themselves
to their true status before God:
·
“‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why
have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day
of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold,
you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting
like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.” (Isaiah
58:3-4)
They were hypocrites, blinded by self-righteousness.
Consequently, Jesus denounced them as such:
·
“You search the Scriptures because you think
that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory
from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you.
(John 5:39-42)
Self-righteousness has no room for the love of God. It is
too full of itself to make any room for God. The second form of
righteousness—obedience to the law— served as evidence of the first—the heart
of love—as Moses had taught:
·
“Know therefore that the Lord your God is God,
the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who [1] love
him and [2] keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,” (Deuteronomy
7:9)
Why the requirement of love? Simple—God had liberated Israel
from almost 400 years of Egyptian bondage. Love and gratitude should have
resulted naturally! Obedience without
the love of God (closely associated with trust in God, our hope of
righteousness) is shallow and quickly perverted. Self-righteousness has no
concern for the righteousness that can only come from God, as long as it
strenuously holds tight to its own righteousness.
The Jews should have recognized that Jesus was essentially
teaching a Hebrew message that had deep roots in the Hebrew Bible:
·
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he
it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will
love him and manifest myself to him…If anyone loves me, he will keep my word,
and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you
hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.” (John 14:21, 23-24)
Once again, we see two aspects of righteousness: (1) Loving
God in faith, (2) resulting in obedience—keeping His commandments.
Is the OT about trusting God in faith? The NT repeatedly
claims that it is:
·
For if Abraham was justified by works, he has
something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say?
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”(Romans
4:2-3 quoting Genesis 15:6)
·
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go
out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not
knowing where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8; alluding to Genesis 12)
A trusting love of God is inseparable from obedience to Him.
If we trust Him, we will do what He tells us to do for our own welfare!
Trusting and obeying are different but complementary and inseparable. Therefore,
Jesus often taught:
·
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in
my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”
(John 15:10)
The Israelite leadership did not abide in His love. Instead,
they killed Jesus as they had done with the prophets God had sent them.
Even the common people of Jesus’ hometown, Nazareth, had
been blinded by their ethnic pride. Consequently, they attempted to kill Jesus
when He exposed their hypocrisy (Luke 4).
Jesus’ Apostles had also been similarly blinded to the
Scriptures. They too had regarded many —Gentiles, children, and outcasts—as
unworthy of Jesus’ attention.
The Gospel was hidden in plain sight, but Israel had been
blinded by their own pride. Even today, they remain blinded to the harmony
between the two parts of the Bible. Such a harmony could only have been made
possible by the Authorship of One superintending Being.
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