I had to spend time with one of the sons this morning, as he needs support. The Pro Photog texted me that the service (we had a confirmation) was beautiful, and that she prayed for it. (It involves civilians, so the details matter not).
Then I find today’s passage, and I wonder what we are confirming? What is this faith that we have? What do we believe in? Is Christ just one of many cults?
My answer to this is that of those of all with the faith: our faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cost makes us righteous. It is not our doing, it is complete. And there is no other way.
We are not under the law, we are under grace. We are no longer to be circumcised as we are no longer in the Mosaic covenant, so we are not under the Mosaic laws. Christ has fulfilled the law. Theonomists are trying to bring the whole of the law upon themselves, to be justified by law, which leads to a falling from grace.
We are to follow the commandments of the new Covenant, those that are (re-)affirmed in the New Testament. The civil laws of the Mosaic covenant are nowhere reaffirmed.
That being said, I’m not necessarily opposed to theocracy, if it were a Christian theocracy and not a Mosaic theocracy.
None of this is to say that Mosaic law is to be ignored. It can and should still be used as guide and reference, but we are not bound by it.
We are not under the law, in Christ. Without Christ, the full weight of the law applies. In Christ, the wise person will consider the law and do good, for they will know that the sins they have done cannot be undone by anything they can do.
Consider for a second Michelle Malkin’s Tweet. It is clearly cold there (by Kiwi standards) and she’s clearly working on her fitness. Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and a good photo of an American Season as well. But that discipline cannot save: it is to equip us because we are wise, and know that our bodies need exercise.
And our minds also need exercise. They need to meditate on the words of the Law. So that our mind is trained correctly.
In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him. And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, “I am banned from going to the house of the LORD, so you are to go, and on a day of fasting in the hearing of all the people in the LORD’s house you shall read the words of the LORD from the scroll that you have written at my dictation. You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. It may be that their plea for mercy will come before the LORD, and that every one will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people.” And Baruch the son of Neriah did all that Jeremiah the prophet ordered him about reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the LORD’s house.
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the LORD. Then, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read the words of Jeremiah from the scroll, in the house of the LORD, in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the secretary, which was in the upper court, at the entry of the New Gate of the LORD’s house.
One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”
“A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Then those who were at table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this, who even forgives sins?” And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
Our times are more like those of Jeremiah that the time of the Pharisees. Christ came when the time was ripe and Israel had turned to the LORD: the Pharisees were preaching the very law that Jeremiah had to have smuggled into the temple to have heard, so that the people would repent.
Doing an end run around the elite, who were corrupt, and wanted no reminder of their sin. I’d add that the Knight is indeed blessed in his ability to remain celibate.
I’m just not interested in promiscuity, Tinder, Grindr, hooking up, monogamish, domestic violence, drug addiction, no-fault divorce, suicide, depression, sexually-transmitted diseases, abortions, and all the other things that the sexual revolutionaries push on me. Not interested.
So, that’s the difference between sin and not sin. Sin requires you to get people to agree with you. You feel so bad inside that you want everyone to affirm you, hoping that the shame and guilt you feel because of what you are doing will go away. Hoping that if all the humans agree with you, and support you, then God will have to overlook what you are doing. Hoping that if everyone is as sinful as you, then all of you will get into Heaven somehow.
I can tell you one two things about me. First, I wouldn’t be writing a thing about sexual issues unless I was using an alias. The champions of the sexual revolution occupy the commanding heights, and they are very happy to punish dissenters. Second, one of the big reasons why I am so picky about marriage is because I would rather save my money and make a difference by writing than get married and have kids and be forced to go silent for fear of becoming unable to support my family. The scarier these restrictions on open Christianity become, the more difficult the choice between making a difference and marrying becomes. Seems like I have to choose between speaking up and defending myself, or going silent and providing for a family.
Now, most of us know what we have to do. We need to remain faithful to our vows in marriage. We need to eat well, exercise well, go to bed at a decent hour… what the old book of common prayer called a sober and godly life.
And we know we fall. Most of us want to repent: the stripper who basically broke her cosmetics kit over Jesus’ feet knew this. The law shows us, all, as broken. Our illusions that we are righteous because we have a sense of spirituality or we are flexible or we get a runner’s high
In these times, we need to remind all of the Law. For that we have broken. That should lead to a godly sorrow. And aims to reform: to do better: to correct ourselves. Otherwise, we end up falling into a mire where habits that will destroy us are seen as proper and righteous. Let that not happen.
For without contrition there is no need for mercy, no room for faith, and we are all damned.