“we must realize that the psalmist was speaking to a people that could never experience the life altering grace of Christ’s shed blood.”
Yet, it must have been enough for the people living at that time, or the Psalmist would not have said what he said in verse 3. Don’t get me wrong, I am not scrapping Christ or what was done by Christ, I am just pointing out that meditating on the Law of God and living by it in Faith and Obedience, as God intended DID have a life altering effect, it DID make them righteous before God. We cannot scrap the entire Hebrew Scriptures, what God has said and God has promised and what God has given, and say that it was for nothing for 2000 years. Let’s not make God a liar. If God says that someone is righteous, is His friend, walks with Him, believes in Him and does His commandments, then that is absolutely true. We can’t say “Christ came, and NOW all people can be righteous”, because that would be a lie. Being redeemed through Christ isn’t enough. It’s merely a starting point of a life-long process of bettering ourselves through faith, understanding and practice of what Scriptures teach. There are devout believers in Christ out there who are no more righteous than an Amalekite, because they constantly violate the Word of God and what Christ taught, piling burdens on people and self-righteously boast of their faith. I say like James:
Jam 2:1-26 : “My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: Are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts? Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him? But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? If ye fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well: But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors. For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty. For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment. What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
“Tracking along on Henry’s thoughts we must consider that in the OT, righteousness and salvation were a process of practice and effort that never quite succeeded in the goal.”
What was the goal? To be righteous before God. To “to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God…” Micah 6:8. No more, no less. Why did they so often fail? Because 1. they were human, like us, struggling with the impulse to do good and to do evil, as described by Paul in Romans 7, and they were no worse than us at it. However, if jolting us into realization that God loves us, and wants us to walk with Him, righteous in Faith AND Works, as James teaches, takes God making a drastic effort, then that is what God will do. But claiming that there was no success before Christ isn’t quite accurate.
As I wrote this, a thought kept poking my mind: Don’t we claim that God and Christ are One and the Same? Then those who lived in Faith and Obedience during the times of the Hebrew Scriptures were as much justified through Faith and Obedience in Christ as we are…?
In spite of their devotion to following God, in spite of their wanting to do His Will, they failed time after time.
Yes, that is correct. Then so do we. We are not done, just because we accept Christ. As I said, to me that is the starting point. We still have to return through repentance every time we fail, and fail we will, as did David. No amount of Holy Spirit or Christ dying on the Cross can change that. The Covenant of Faith and Obedience is the same now as it was then, it never changed. It never will.
The problem never was that we fail, but that we don’t repent when we do. Israel had that problem, we have that problem. The remedy is the same forever. Repentance and return to Faith and Obedience.
If this wasn’t true there wouldn’t be two equal passages in Scripture both speaking of Abraham as on the one hand a model of Righteousness through Faith and on the other hand as a model of Righteousness through Obedience.
If we look at both those models superimposed one over the other, we will most likely see that they are indeed identical, and that we cannot claim one without the other.
Christ highlights this, draws us towards Faith and Obedience, and Illustrates this indivisible Unity between Faith and Obedience for us, so that we can SEE how it’s done. When He says in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” He is actually stressing this idea. This is further accentuated in Luke 6:46 “…but DO not what I say?” I can pray, and believe and speak all I want, but unless I DO, my prayers, beliefs and words are absolutely worthless to God.
If we say that God and Christ is one, we have to accept both the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures without picking and choosing what to DO claiming that we only have to do that which is “repeated” in the Greek Scriptures.
We either accept ALL of Scriptures in its entirety as God’s and Christ’s Word and Command or we don’t. If we don’t, then we cannot claim the gift of Christ, because He spoke just as much in the Hebrew Scriptures as He did in the Greek Scriptures.
Matthew 23:2-3 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practise what they preach.”
I am sorry but HE actually said that, and He didn’t say it just to “the Jews”. James, his brother confirms it.
H
This was written in connection with my post on Psalm 1
