The Old Exchange

"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) As a child, I memorized this verse, and its salvific import was not lost on me, at least not entirely:  the Father punished the Son for our sins when He had committed no wrong.  Of course, there is much more than simply this residing in those few words, but what seems to leap from the page at first blush is the imputation of Christ's righteousness to undeserving sinners like you and like me.  However, the opposite side of this glorious truth is just as hard-hitting, is it not?

Indeed, I remember not so many years ago hearing Dr. MacArthur comment on this verse with these words - so simple, but deceptively momentous:  "...God treated [Christ] as if He sinned all the sins of all who would ever believe. Is that incredible? Sin, not His at all, was credited to Him as if He had committed it and paid the price. And He didn't...but it was credited to Him as if He did...Sin was imputed to Him, it wasn't His, He never sinned." (emphasis added)

Sin was imputed to Him.  As I ground through the daily commute after a long day at work, I actually had to back the sermon up a few seconds, just to listen to that statement one more time.  What a humbling and devastating and glorious truth this is!  Certainly, I had long known that the Christ had to pay the price for our sins if we were to be saved, and had loved this truth and relied upon its reality for my very salvation.  Two points, however, came through very clearly that caused me to cherish and to cling to Christ's work on the cross anew in that humbling moment (and in many such moments thereafter, even to this day).

1.  The imputation at the cross was twofold.  The undeserved favor which the just Father bestowed upon us necessitated the bestowal of an undeserved curse upon the divine Son.  In order for God to look upon us with the eyes of sovereign justice and see only Christ's righteousness covering our sins completely, He had to also look upon His only eternal son with those same just eyes, and see our sins covering His righteousness completely.  Never, never did a more unimaginably vicious condemnation befall a more totally and wholly undeserving person - indeed, the most grievous imbalance possible (until the grace of salvation brings that balance; consider that for a moment).  The Man of perfect holiness, of impeccable righteousness, was regarded as vilest of sinners, and punished in dreadful and infinite extent.

Is there a greater irony than this?  Christ, in whom there resides a divine hatred which is eternal, abiding, perfect, infinite, and pure, and to whom was handed all judgment by the Father (John 5:24), receives the completest measure of the very wrath which He, in His divine holiness, possesses against sinners.  Wonder of wonders - the Father did not stint in His wrath, did not hold back the slightest force in His punishment, did not afford His own Son the slightest special consideration, but rolled relentlessly upon the Christ breaker after breaker of perfect and unmitigated divine fury.  It pleased the Father to do so (Is. 53:10), and indeed it pleased the Son to do so as well (John 4:34).  Does it not take your breath away just to think of it?

2.  Christ was punished not just for sins in general, but sins in specific.  Christ did not suffer for nondescript, generic, faceless sins.  He did not suffer for a given amount of sin, so as to possess a predetermined portion of forgiveness in the economy of salvation.  He endured the boundless enormity of the Father's wrath for our sins, brothers and sisters (Is. 53:6).  Every one of my sins was laid upon Jesus's frame on that day - the Father, with heartbreaking omniscience, did not forget a single one, but gathered them all upon the Christ, and then exacted punishment for each one. 

Oh, that the Savior should have to suffer for my frivolity or carelessness with sin!  Every sin committed and then forgotten in the same breath, every temptation looked upon with quiet indifference, every trespass suffered to wreak havoc with discouraging repetition - all of these and much, much more freighted innocent shoulders that day at Calvary.  Are there words? 


To you, my dear fellow soldier in the faith, I ask - as you consider once more the death and resurrection of our Savior on this blessed holiday, will you be unmoved by the cross?  Will your heart remain even as it has been?  Let it not be so, dear friend.

To you, the one who has not known this Christ, who has not sought the unique salvation which He brokered, I ask - will you not consider this God who gave so wholly of Himself to provide a means of escape from the eternal doom which rightly awaits every person? 

Partial Partiality: A Hindrance for Powerful Prayer

You pray.  You pray often, and you pray for those things fitting for the kingdom.  You earnestly ask for salvation for those around you.  You seek the spiritual growth of your church in your prayers - just let more disciples come, Father, and help us all to grow in our zeal.   Morning, noon, and night, you pray.  Sleep robs the final thought of your whispered prayer into the dark quiet.  As you awaken, prayer begins afresh - Lord, this is Your day.  You pray.

And yet, for all this, you seem to miss out on these big-ticket items that saturate your prayers.  The people around you remain unsaved.  Your church continues in its - you almost say "rut," but you quickly change it to "present trajectory."  Everything remains status quo ante votum.  Does this sound at all familiar?  I cannot pretend this is not well-traced territory for myself; I have trodden it before, and perhaps you have as well.  What do we do in such instances?

The oft-quoted recourse to "unanswered prayer" (a misnomer if ever there was one) points to a lack of faith as the chief culprit:  "Had you more faith," proclaim the head-shakers, "the Lord would respond more faithfully to your prayers."  What they mean is that you must get it through your head that the Lord can truly do the very thing for which you are asking.  Indeed, there is something unsavory about a prayer laced with the poison of insincerity and doubt, but many times, it seems as though this comment misses the mark.  We ask of the Lord with every faithfulness of understanding:  "Of course You can do these things, omnipotent Lord.  It would profit me nothing to ask it, otherwise."

I would like to propose another reason, then.  Sometimes, I think, my faith in the Lord is sufficient to believe His omnipotence, but my heart is not prepared to be gladdened by His glory.  Christ could work tremendous wonders, both in and for His church, such that my every prayer were brought into rapturous bloom, and still I would manage to mar its effect on my own joy, with a quiet application of indifference or impatience.  "Of course you can do these things, omnipotent Lord.  What else would You do?" 

2 Chronicles 16:9a teaches, "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His."  Divine and powerful aid is the gift to the ones who are devoted wholly to the all-seeing God.  This devotion brushes aside the sort of indifference that would ignore or even scoff His glory, and the reward for that devotion is the "strong support" of God Himself.  Where God gives strong support, there is sure to be glory in it.  And a blameless devotion to the Lord on our part will surely contain obedient work and fervent prayer for Christ's kingdom, so the end result is that the kind support of the Lord will be gloriously directed toward these righteous endeavors - which are the focus of our effort and prayer. 

It makes sense, then - if we desire to see God work through prayers, it is indispensible that we prepare ourselves to desire and value His glory (and thus His established, steadfast kingdom).  It is a sobering thought to suppose that God does not move powerfully to respond to our prayers, in part, because our hunger for Him is too small - that God withholds the strong manifestations of His glory because that glory would be wasted on us.  May these things not be so, brothers and sisters.

Rejecting this sort of partial partiality toward God demonstrates an earnest, intent sort of focus upon the Lord.  Now, here is the truly marvelous part - not only does this sort of righteous longing for God invite Him to respond to our prayers, but it also poises us to revel in the glory that we are able to see, even when God's longstanding counsel prompts Him to do something other than that for which we have prayed.  If we hunger for God's glory and yearn to see it unleashed in this world, then we will certainly not fail to notice that He radiates glory in the contradiction of our prayers, as He accords with His perfect will, just as much as He demonstrates glory in the affirmation of our prayers.  In the light of such revelation, how could we then be choosy about which glory we see and enjoy?  So our joy remains whole, and our devotion intact, even in those occasions when our prayers are confounded by the far, far greater plans of the Lord. 

Be not unmoved, unfeeling heart of mine.  Find your joy in the Lord's glory, and He will never disappoint.  The more we seek it, the more we will desire it, and the more we will see it.

God's Word Is Not a Haymaker

"Well...the Bible has been translated so many times into so many different languages over the years that it becomes effectively impossible to know what the Bible originally said." 

Perhaps you have heard just such a statement as this, and you have been certain that it could not be true, but you have not known how to respond.  Or perhaps it sowed a seed of doubt in your mind, and you filed it under the "Things To Investigate Someday After the Kids Are in Bed" file - a file that sometimes grows, but never shrinks.  Or perhaps you know exactly what the answer here is.  I certainly cannot say what opinion you might hold on this matter, but I would like to address it briefly, and not so simply you know how to argue with an atheist, but so your esteem for your sovereign, superintending Lord will grow.

Let us, for the sake of simplicity, deal with the New Testament as an example.  I will start by saying that we possess none of the originals (or autographs) of the New Testament writings; all are copies that were created no earlier than roughly the second century (by which time, of course, the New Testament had been completed, and all the apostles had died).  And I shall not sport with anyone's credulity by suggesting that these copies are in 100% agreement.  There are different readings of given passages, for certain.

So far, this sounds like fodder for skepticism - scoffers are sharpening their knives - but this is far from the case.  In truth, we almost never have the autographs of ancient literature, and must determine what the original was from the copies at hand (hence the discipline of textual criticism).  This is the norm with ancient literature.

So what of the New Testament copies?  Are they useful for these purposes?  It seems clear that relying upon copies that were laid down decades or centuries later would be a dubious enterprise.  However, our understanding of most ancient writings rests upon the use of no more than a few dozen copies that were penned at least 500 years later.  If we have a body of ancient New Testament manuscripts that, as of about a year ago, numbered some 5,800 in the Greek and over 10,000 more in other languages, and that begin possibly from as early as the late first century, then we have vastly more with which to work, and vastly more from which to be certain, than we do from any other ancient writing.  The New Testament is uniquely striking amongst its contemporaries for the weight and antiquity of the manuscript support it enjoys.

There is a good foundation, then, for coming at the true wording of the New Testament, especially when we consider that those who seek to create a good and accurate representation of New Testament Scripture do not merely look at the latest translation to hit the market, and fretfully work to tweak it in order to form it to current literary or cultural trends.  Solid Bible translators go back to the manuscripts and seek to derive an understanding from them.  It is not a game of "telephone" across centuries, languages, and continents - they get as close to the source as they can, and they apply science, scholarship, and a healthy dose of common sense as they do so. 

This "common sense" element merits a bit of discussion here.  What I mean is that in the discipline of textual criticism, common sense plays a key role in seeking to answer the vital question:  how will we determine which reading of a particular passage is the best; that is, the most accurate to the original?  We have already mentioned that there are variations between the different manuscripts at times, and while most are trivial and minute, there are those which are anything but.  How then do we conclude what the original must have said?

The answer lies with a number of common-sense principles, a few of which I will list here.

• The older reading is likely to be more reliable than the newer, there having been less time for errors to have been introduced.  This is not absolute, of course, because there is usually nothing to prove that, say, a second-century manuscript was not copied ten times, while a fifth-century manuscript was copied only once or twice from a much older manuscript. 
• The reading which is more difficult (unless the more difficult reading is due to an obviously nonsensical copying error) is more likely the original, as opposed to the reading that is smoother and fits into the overall passage better (i.e. has fewer rough edges).  A scribe, when copying a manuscript, would not render a passage more confusing, but might on the other hand seek to elucidate it with paraphrase, additional explanation, or word substitution. 
• The reading that is shorter is more likely the original than the longer reading.  Again, a scribe would hardly excise a phrase, but would ostensibly add clarification.
• The reading that could most easily have given rise to the alternate readings is probably the original.  Scribes would sometimes endeavor to harmonize the gospels by adding to one gospel account what was contained in another, or would add phrases to strengthen the devotional or theological thrust of a passage.

Note that the maverick acts of these early copyists which I have just related are not to be condoned, whatever their intentions.  There is an incredible presumption in seeking to augment the clarity, the unity, or the flow that God has built into His perfectly-delivered Word, as though the Holy Spirit somehow came up wanting in His mission to bring forth the divine and unbreakable Word (cf. John 10:35). 

In actuality, as I believe Daniel Wallace once pointed out, these variations between manuscripts actually aid in the endurance of Scripture, rather than hurt it, because in the prolific quantity of the manuscripts, spread across centuries, we are given a record of the alterations which were made to the Holy Word through the centuries, and can therefore determine what the original said.  Were we given only a uniform army of writings from which to base our Bible translations, we could not know with any certainty if we were looking at the original vintage, or something more corrupted. 

All this being said, it is left simply to conclude that God has shown Himself careful and mighty in the preservation of His Word.  In so doing, He has faithfully kept it "profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." (2 Tim. 3:16b-17) It would not be amiss, my friend, to take a moment to thank Him for His excellent work, this grace in the protection of His divine revelation!  His Word is not a haymaker; everything about it is intentional, and tends to His glory, and our good.



References:
Tenney, Merrill C.  The Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible.  Vol. 5.  Grand Rapids, MI:  Zondervan,
     1976.  pp. 712-713.

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/2012/03/21/an-interview-with-daniel-b-wallace-on-the-new-testament-manuscripts/

http://danielbwallace.com/2012/03/22/first-century-fragment-of-marks-gospel-found/

Christianity A La Carte: Salvation Without Lordship

In our discussion about how glory and belief are intertwined, I made an assertion to the tune of "you will have works if you are truly saved," and stated simply that it was a separate topic.  Here, friend, is the separate topic. 


Effectively, there are those who maintain that the grace of salvation, dependent solely upon the work and discretion of God Himself, costs us nothing, and, as such, requires nothing from us but perhaps an assent of gospel truth, and an acceptance of salvation.  Anything else would add an anthropic element to the gospel:  we crowd upon the grace of God with some sort of required human work, thus removing the graciousness of God's grace.  On the surface, this appears as good sense, but we must take care.  True, we cannot earn our salvation with goodness; to suggest otherwise is to diminish the unique value of God's gracious gift.  However, somtimes the idea is moved much further:  it is said that we cannot expect Christians to live righteous (or even repentent) lives, because to affix such expectations to life in Christ would be to attach external requirements to the gospel, and thus render it more man-centered than Scripture can support.  "If you say you must do certain things as a believer," they cry, "then you are saying you must earn your salvation.  All you need to do is believe."

As I write this, it seems so ludicrous as to not require refutation, but this, alas, is not the world in which we live.  There is no longer any falsehood in all of Christendom which we might regard as so foolish that we need not decry it.  So let us begin, and if we find our hearts and minds familiar with these ideas, as many might, then at least we might rejoice once more at their powerful truth.  Here are some lines of reasoning to refute this thinking.

1.  The Divine Revelation of the Relationship Between Faith and Works
James, who was tolerably active in the church, and had at least a passing acquaintance with the Christ (note sarcasm), said this:  "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him?...But someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.'" (James 2:14, 18) This is simple and wonderful - saving faith does not, does not, does not fail to produce good works.  As a believer, my works should demonstrate the reality of my faith, according to James.  These works do not produce salvation; rather, it is salvation that gives rise to the works.

Paul testifies along this same thought that we are saved by grace through faith (familiar lines in Eph. 2:8-9), and continues, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them." (v. 10) Paul upholds salvation by grace, and then in the next sentence explains that this salvation, by God's expert work, leads us into good works.  The Father has decreed that the Christian life should be freighted with righteousness!  Does your life possess a focus of righteousness, my friend?  What does it mean if it does not?

2.  The Unchanging Character of God
Joshua 5:6a:  "For the sons of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, that is, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished because they did not listen to the voice of the Lord."  The Lord has never cared for sin (to clothe it in the mildest possible terms), and it seems unwise to suppose that He is indifferent to its motions in those whom He has saved from its consequences.  His will is indeed our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3a), which is not at all surprising.

3.  The Impartation of New Life in Christ
At the start of Romans 6, Paul voices the opinion of some that grace permits sin, and then dismisses it not only as the gravest absurdity, but as an actual impossibility:  "May it never be!  How shall we how died to sin still live in it?" (Rom. 6:2) We who have been saved, says Romans 6, have been united with Christ in His death and resurrection, and the strength of this identification with the Savior shatters our enslavement to sin.  Marvel how Paul later describes himself in Christ, in spite of sin and temptation, "I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man." (Rom. 7:22b) This new life, while retaining a capacity for sin, nevertheless has lost its appetite for sin.  Do you see this hunger for purer things in your life?

4.  The Equality of Belief and Obedience
John the Baptist renders a great service in simply equating belief with obedience:  "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36) To John, one either believes and has eternal life, or does not obey, and receives wrath. (Take care with your Bible translation - some translate "obey" as "believe," but the word is not the same as the "believe" earlier in the verse.) The writer of Hebrews further declares that Christ "became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." (Heb. 5:9) Do you perceive the importance and essential quality of obedience? 

5.  The Assurance of Obedience
Is still more clarity needed?  Is your heart yet doubtful?  Let us learn from the apostle John:  "And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.  The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar." (1 John 2:3-4a) "No one who is born of God practices sin." (1 John 3:9) "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome." (1 John 5:3) Taking these as a whole, we see that true believers do not, and indeed cannot, make sin a continual lifestyle.  They have a spiritual buoyancy:  though they will at times sink into the viscous, black muck of temptation, yet they will spring out again, crying for divine cleansing.  Obedience can be assumed or pretended, at least for a season, but the true longings of the heart cannot be falsified, so again I ask, do you desire righteousness, deep down in your very bones, friend?  Does Christ-likeness remain your earnest quest?


Obedience, brothers and sisters.  Jesus has set Himself up to be our Lord, and His Word reveals that He will not trouble to be our Savior if we do not welcome His lordship as well.  Again, our obedience does not buy salvation, which would be a grievous blow indeed to divine grace, but it is a ringing declaration of the heaven-and-earth transformation which His gracious and unspeakable salvation has wrought within our unyielding, undeserving souls.  We obey because He has saved us, and if we find obedience repugnant in our quiet and honest reckonings, then we have not yet approached the point of salvation.  If this describes you, I beseech you to apply to the Lord - ask Him for the humility of spirit which will allow you to repent.  You cannot have it on your own.

Far from detracting from the glory of His grace, the requirement of obedience in fact sets it firmly upon a loftier, more stunning peak than we could have envisioned.  Praise be to the God who transforms those whom He adopts!

Glory, the Gatekeeper of True Belief

How does one seek the glory of God?  The seraphim agelessly declare that this world is filled with it (Is. 6:2-3); the psalmist tells how the heavens declare it (Ps. 19:1).  It surrounds us, then, and it all points back to the Lord of glory, as it should, but of course there is a prolific and powerful satanic endeavor afoot which precludes the possibilities of the unbelieving grasping it in its vast implications (2 Cor. 4:3-4).  God's sovereign and effectual salvation is the event whereby this spiritual blindness is lifted, and we begin both to see God's glory and to reflect it (2 Cor. 4:6, Matt. 5:16).  But how do we go about seeking it?  How do we prefer it in our lives above the glory that we give to, or receive from, others? 

The case can easily be made that we seek God's glory by those classic and basic disciplines of the Christian faith:  prayer and Bible study.  Scripture instructs us as to what sort of God we serve and the promises He has made; there is unending glory, then, in its pages.  Prayer is a means of humbling ourselves before God, and indeed our supplications invite the Sovereign to visit the manifestations of His glory upon our humbled hearts as He moves to answer.  These two disciplines constitute both directions in the blessed communication between us and our Lord, and there is stunning glory in each.

We can and should make the case, however, that God's glory also must be sought in obedience to His commands.  Paul makes an example of Romans 2:7b of "those who in perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality."  Christ Himself instructed His listeners in the Sermon on the Mount, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 5:16) Our good works, as directed by God in His Word, stir up His glory!  They do not create or augment God's glory, but they render it more visible to the eye of the vigilant soul.

Some will say, "There is glory enough in prayer and study, without adding obedience on top, thank you very much."  The fear in such as these is that an intent focus on obeying God will send Christians by the legion down into the murky pit of legalism, untroubled by thoughts of love.  Aside from this, who knows but it will impugn the graciousness of God's gift:  by requiring obedience of Christians, we make a thinly-veiled assertion that Christians must buy their salvation with deeds.

These are the protests, but they do not get very far.  We cannot cherish prayer or study with one hand while pushing obedience away with the other.  If you do not seek to obey Him, what use are your prayers?  Is there glory in seeking your own comfort, in not offering praise or contrition?  And again, what will it avail me if I study the Word of the Lord, but suffer it to have no bearing in my life, because I do not care to obey?  Will this accomplish a vision of His glory?

Christ raises the stakes to perilous proportions with His statement in John 5:44:  "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?"  In other words, if we seek a substitute for God's glory, we quite simply cannot believe.  Paul intertwines the issue of obedience in his statement about "God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation." (Rom. 2:5b-8) The people who endure in righteous deeds are the ones who are seeking His glory, and so are the ones to whom eternal life will be given, in blunt contrast to those who act selfishly.  Although it is a separate discussion that must be had (right here, actually), such people are not earning their salvation, but merely proving it.

The overarching implications are stark and simple - those who believe are those who hunger for God's glory, in whom the desire for that glory sparks obedience.  There is no such thing as a Christian who is unmoved to righteous acts because of an indifference to the glory of God.  Two questions spring to the fore -

1.  Christian, was your conversion attended with repentance?  Did you (and indeed, do you) loathe your own sinfulness in the light of God's perfect holiness?  Did you begin to desire to please Christ?  This is what it is to turn from your sins and seek God's glory - if this is alien to your soul, by what measure can you pronounce yourself a Christian?  I beg you would count this a word of compassion and warning, my friend - consider your salvation closely.

2.  Again, Christian, are you settling for less of God's glory because your obedience is apathetic at best?  We have each of us been there before; I can say with confidence that these are not unfamiliar shores to my eyes.  But behind obedience lies the dazzling vista of God's glory!  You and I will not be disappointed in the slightest if we dare to obey with greater zeal and endurance!  The mere mention of the fact that God's glory lies on the other side of obedience should spur us to the swiftest action!  May our feet not hesitate; may our hearts not quail.  Obey and wonder!

Herein lies yet another blessed moment in which I am obliged to conclude quite simply that the glory of the Lord is incredible beyond the paltry frame of human thought. 

The Terra Firma of Marital Fidelity

As parents in an electronic age, my wife and I are all but bombarded with newsletters, e-mails, and the like pertaining to the art and science of raising children, whether we seek them or not.  Most seem (and seem only, for we do not usually read them) to fall into the "marginally silly, thankfully innocuous" category (indeed, what did this world do before technology cluttered our proverbial doorsteps with such a myriad of dubious opinions and panaceas?  How did our forebears even survive?). 

And then we encountered one for mothers entitled "3 Signs That Flirting Has Crossed the Line."  One might have hoped that perhaps this was an article for single moms, or that possibly it was penned so parents could watch for foolish behavior in their older kids - wishful thinking.  No; the intent was to set a expansive fence around flirtatious behavior for married moms, so they could operate in a manner that would gratify their need for flirting with other men, while carefully preserving their marriages. 

I should like to laugh such an idea off, and would indeed do so, were it not for the sad truth that this sort of ideology has burrowed into our culture (which we lament, but expect), and has even stained the halls of Christendom (which defies our expectations, but excites little surprisein this age).  It seems that married believers can very easily become far too comfortable with the opposite gender, I fear, and I delve into this subject for that express reason.  For the sake of citing sources only, the original article may be found here.  I do not, however, recommend reading it, and, in a bid to stanch your curiosity, I will mention the first of the three signs directly - it should more than suffice to make the point at hand.  Remember, I did not invent this.

"1.  Are You Disrespecting Your Partner?"  While "occasional crushes" are to be expected for married people, any flirtation should be done with the full knowledge and permission of one's spouse.  Or so says the article.

The marriage state is begotten in the promise of fidelity and special love.  "Husbands, love your wives just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her," says Paul in Ephesians 5:25.  Do we suppose that Christ occasionally leaves the church, just for a moment, and goes off to indulge His fancy with the world?  Dare we think that even the smallest instance of that love which Jesus has specially portioned out for His church is diverted into the bosoms of unrepentant sinners instead?  Surely not!  This is the faithfulness that is impressed upon husbands in Scripture, and if it be so for husbands, then it can be no different for wives.

Consider for a moment what it is for a husband or wife to flirt outside of marriage.  If it is serious flirting, it is expressing an interest which should have been stamped out when it was still an impulse.  It is the fruit of a temptation allowed to grow into sin.  This interest, being unduly encouraged, must either end in disappointment or in adultery.  Flirting, in this case, promises things which cannot be delivered without grievous consequences. 

Probably most extramarital flirting, however, would fall into the category of spontaneous, uncalculated, even humorous flirting.  It is done lightly and not taken seriously - surely there is no harm here, especially if the spouse does not object?  To this we must answer, what is the object of this sort of flirting?  If it is purely humor, why must we light upon humor which suggests a romantic interest?  Is infidelity so merry a jest?  Do we seek to build friendships with people based upon the joke of our romantic intentions?  And any other object besides humor must be worse, I think.

We might approach it in this way:  what is more loving to one's spouse, to give him or her most of your romantic attentions, or to give all?  Why squander time and effort in crafting a romantic ruse to deliver elsewhere, whatever your intentions?  Your wife might laugh off your flirtatious endeavors (at least on the surface), but she would not be unmoved, I would wager, were you to swear off such activities solely from a desire to please her all the more.  Marriage is not the best environment for doing only the bare minimum, friend.  "And do you, so-and-so, take this woman to be your lawfully-wedded wife?  Will you promise to perform the littlest work she will allow in order to maintain your marriage by the slimmest margin?"  I will guess that the words spoken at your wedding tend more toward, "Will you love and cherish and honor her above all?"

Still another approach would be to consider the need for caution.  There are those who seek to commit adultery, and so go about seeking a partner for this sinful work, to be sure.  However, are there not many more who do not seek such sin, but fall into it all the same, because they have been unguarded in their relations with others around them?  I do not need to look for sin in order to fall into it, sadly.  My powers of unconscious righteousness are not so great as this, and so I must maintain a vigilance of heart so as not to permit occasions which may tend toward temptation (1 Peter 5:8-11).

And yet again, and most importantly, what of the opinion of the Lord?  Let us boil down this sort of "innocent" flirting to its essence:  "I am going to carefully lie about something sinful in a bid to make someone of the other gender laugh."  Does the deception bemuse our Father?  Will He congratulate us for failing to avoid the look of sinfulness?  No; wait a moment - He will be blessed by our efforts to open the door of temptation for the one with whom we flirt, or to establish patterns of unbecoming thought in our own minds.  All is clear now.

All sarcasm aside, be mindful, dear brother, dear sister, in all your interactions.  You will not be disappointed by the Lord, I think, if you seek your satisfaction above all in pursuing Him and His righteousness.  This will afford the strength of humble selflessness need to maintain the utmost fidelity to your spouse, and thus to honor the blessed and enduring covenant of matrimony which He Himself laid down in antiquity. 

Divine Pity's Startling Character

Of all the interactions inherent in human nature, few are as generally unwelcome as pity.  Quite often, the one receiving the pity perceives (or at least presumes) some sort of falseness in the one giving the pity:  it is a forced compassion, and therefore unwelcome.  At other times, the pity is all too genuine, but is obstructed from its intent when it collides full-force with human pride:  "I am hardly one who requires pity, least of all from the likes of you.  I will get this matter sorted out on my own, or do you regard your own assistance as so indispensible?" 

Such is the lot of human pity, for better or worse, but what of God's pity?  Both the Old and New Testament provide pictures of divine pity for our consideration.  If we examine the typical objections to pity mentioned above, we see that the first objection is wholly without merit:  an omnipresent, omnipotent God is above mistake, and an unchangingly holy God never dissembles.  If He dispenses compassion, it is markedly deserved.

The second objection, however, is unabashedly true - it surely raises the hackles of human pride (although it is folly to voice this as an objection of any sort; amen?).  Interestingly, if I seek to dole out compassion where I feel it due, but am held apart by pride in the one whom I seek to pity, I may well endeavor to assuage the pride which now crouches in my path:  "Of course I know you do not need my help; I merely thought to encourage you.  It would, as you see, be doing me a favor, were you to allow me this opportunity to deal you some small kindness."  God, however, never works to leave pride undisturbed; He never seeks to mask His intents against it, and He does nothing to appease human dignity. 

It is as if the human says, "Do you suppose I need your help in this matter?", and so forth, and God replies, "Yes, you absolutely need My help in this matter, as in all matters.  You need it just as certainly as you do not deserve it."  You see that God will not suffer His compassion to work alongside unchecked human pride.  This much is clear from Jeremiah 13:14-15:  "'I will dash them against each other, both the fathers and the sons together,' declares the Lord. 'I will not show pity nor be sorry nor have compassion so as not to destroy them.'  Listen and give heed, do not be haughty, for the Lord has spoken."  Cling to your pride, then, and God will surely cling to His pity as well.  Cling to your pride and be prepared to trade it for devastation (cf. Judges 2:18).

Someone now says, "This is not the manner in which pity works.  One cannot place conditions upon pity!"  Of course we may.  We do so all the time.  I can offer any measure of pity, but if it is scorned, I withdraw it.  What good does any other course do?  And how much more will this be the case with a God who immovably and zealously abhors human pride in its many serpentine forms? 

Divine compassion is in divine keeping, to a degree that escapes a lot of humans.  Many people cannot help it; pity gushes forth from them at every apparent injustice.  They are like open barrels on the deck of a pitching vessel - they are easily moved about, and every movement will cause them to spill.  God, however, is quite judicious with his pity, and is never governed by it.  He says, "I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." (Rom. 9:15b)

Hold a moment, Josh.  Do you mean to say that He can simply switch His pity off and on at any moment?  Yes, indeed.  It can be no other way, if He is Master of Himself.  As all of us are, apart from God, subject to all the wondrous and terrifying force of His wrath, the marvel is not that He is able to stifle pity, for we deserve none.  The truly wonderful fact is that God has so perfect and infinite a measure of steadfast, selfless love that, in spite of our abominable misuse of God's gifts, He is able to summon pity as He sovereignly desires, a compassion so genuine, indeed so heartfelt, that it assures divine blessing to those who will but humble themselves before Him.  His sovereign pity does not, then, call His love into question, but rather proves it in glorious abundance!