justified by grace

Confession of sin

Paul explained in his letter to the Romans that righteousness is something that is obtained through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 3:22). Paul said, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:22-25).  The Greek word that is translated propitiation, hilasterion (hil-as-tayˊ-ree-on) refers to the mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant where the tablets with the Ten Commandments written on them were kept (Exodus 25:17-21). God told Moses about the mercy seat, “There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people” (Exodus 25:22). Hilasterion in Romans 3:25 refers to the “propitiator, one who makes propitiation” (G2435). The propitiator is the one “to atone for (sin)” (G2433); and in so doing, Jesus provided the means for reconciliation between God and all who have sinned.

The Apostle John explained in his first letter that we must first confess our sin in order for God to forgive us. John said, “If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). “To ‘confess’ (homologeo [G3670]) means to agree with God that sin has been committed. Even though Christ’s death satisfied God’s wrath toward the believer’s sin (1 John 2:1, 2), the inclination to sin still remains within man (vv. 8, 10). Therefore he must realize the need to continue in a right relationship with God by confession of sin. God grants forgiveness in accordance with his ‘faithful and just’ nature” (note on 1 John 1:9). An example of confession and forgiveness of sin can be found in the life of King David. It says in 2 Samuel 12:1-13:

And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.”

Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die.”

“Nathan used his parable (2 Samuel 12:1-4) to skillfully bring David to condemn himself, and David painfully realized the consequences of his sin. He had violated four of the ten commandments in one rash sin: you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Although it was about a year later, David sincerely repented of his sin (cf. Psalm 32:5; 51:1-19). While his repentance brought about forgiveness from God, it did not prevent him from suffering the consequences of his sin. God revealed that because of David’s sin, the son born from his adulterous relationship would die (vv. 14, 18), the sword would never depart from his house (v. 10), evil would come upon him from his own family (v. 11; see chapters 15-18), and his wives would be publicly shamed (v. 11, cf. 2 Samuel 16:22). While true repentance does bring forgiveness from God, it does not necessarily eliminate the consequences of sin” (note on 2 Samuel 12:1-14).

David talked about confession of sin in Psalm 32. David described in detail for us the emotional experience he went through and the relief he felt after Nathan confronted him with his sinful behavior. David wrote:

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah (Psalm 32:3-5)

David used the Hebrew word yadah (yaw-dawˊ) to describe his act of confession. The essential meaning of yadah “is an act of acknowledging what is right about God in praise and thanksgiving (1 Chronicles 16:34). It can also mean a right acknowledgment of self before God in confessing sin (Leviticus 26:40) or of others in their God-given positions (Genesis 49:8)…This rightful, heavenward acknowledgment is structured in corporate worship (Psalm 100:4; 107:1, 8, 15, 21, 31), yet is also part of personal lament and deliverance (Psalm 88:11 [10]).

In Ezra 10:1-17, the returned exiles who had married foreigners confess their sin and vowed to separate themselves from their foreign wives. It says in Ezra 10:1-3, “While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: ‘We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the people of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. Therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.” Shecaniah said the people had broken faith with God, meaning they had willfully disobeyed him (H4603).

Faithlessness or being unfaithful to God was the primary reason the people of Israel did not experience God’s rest after they entered the Promised Land, and because of it, God allowed them to be taken into captivity. It says in Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” Jesus rebuked his disciples on more than one occasion because of their unbelief. When his disciples were unable to cast a demon out of a man’s son, Jesus asked, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you?” (Matthew 17:17). Afterward, the disciples asked Jesus privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” (Matthew 17:19). Jesus’ reply, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20, NKJV), indicated that our reliance upon God is measured and validated by the supernatural manifestation of his power in our lives.

Paul confessed to Timothy that he was acting in unbelief when he persecuted the church before he was converted on the road to Damascus. Paul said, “I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:12-13). Paul compared his former life as a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent of Christ to his current state of being judged faithful to serve in Jesus’ ministry. Paul attributed his transformed life to “the grace of our Lord” which “overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14). Paul went on to say, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the foremost” (1 Timothy 1:15). Paul wanted Timothy, and everyone else to know, that he was a prime example of how confession of sin transforms your life. Paul explained that the reason God forgives sinners is so that he “might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life” (1 Timothy 1:16); and then, Paul concluded his topic of God saving sinners with a tribute to his Savior, “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

good guys vs. bad guys

Not long after he established the Covenant of Circumcision with Abraham, God appeared to Abraham and promised to give him a son with his wife Sarah (Genesis 18:10). During this visit, God decided to reveal to Abraham his plan to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. God told Abraham, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know” (Genesis 18:20-21). Abraham was concerned about God’s decision to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because his nephew Lot lived there, and Lot was Abraham’s only living male relative at the time. It says in Genesis 18:22-26:

So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Abraham identified two different types of people that would be affected by God’s decision to wipe out Sodom and Gomorrah, the righteous and the wicked. Abraham didn’t think God should treat these people the same because he expected him as the Judge of all the earth to do what is just. In response, the LORD told Abraham that he would spare the whole place for the sake of fifty righteous people (Genesis 18:26).

The Hebrew word tsaddiyq (tsad-deckˊ), which means just or innocent, is “often applied to God, who is the ultimate standard used to define justice and righteousness (Exodus 9:27; Ezra 9:15; Psalm 7:11[12]). As a substantive, the righteous is used to convey the ideal concept of those who follow God’s standards (Malachi 5:18). In this way, it is often in antithetic parallelism with the wicked, rashaˊ (H7563) the epitome of those who reject God and His standards (Proverbs 29:7)” (H6662). Rasha “indicates people who are enemies of God and His people…Those described by this word are evil and do not learn righteousness. Instead they pursue their wicked ways among the righteous (Isaiah 26:10)…the wicked are those who do not serve God and are as a result wicked and guilty before him (Malachi 3:18). If wicked people continue in their ways toward God or others, they will die in their sins (Ezekiel 3:18)” (H7563).

Abraham’s argument that God should spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah because of the righteous that were living in those places was based on the assumption that there were righteous people living there. Abraham may have thought that Lot and his family had continued to live according to God’s standard after they had parted company, and perhaps Lot had even convinced others to do so, but his confidence seemed to wane as he negotiated on their behalf. Lot continued to ask God, what if there are forty-five righteous, or thirty, or only ten righteous, will you still spare Sodom and Gomorrah from destruction (Genesis 18:27-32). The LORD answered, “’For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.’ And the LORD went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place” (Genesis 18:32-33). When the two angels who were sent by God to destroy the city came to Sodom, Lot met them at the city gate and invited them to spend the night at his house. Genesis 19:4-10 states:

But before they retired for the night, all the men of Sodom, young and old, came from all over the city and surrounded the house. They shouted to Lot, “Where are the men who came to spend the night with you? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!”

So Lot stepped outside to talk to them, shutting the door behind him. “Please, my brothers,” he begged, “don’t do such a wicked thing. Look, I have two virgin daughters. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do with them as you wish. But please, leave these men alone, for they are my guests and are under my protection.”

“Stand back!” they shouted. “This fellow came to town as an outsider, and now he’s acting like our judge! We’ll treat you far worse than those other men!” And they lunged toward Lot to break down the door.

But the two angelsreached out, pulled Lot into the house, and bolted the door. (NLT)

Lot used the Hebrew word ʾach to refer to the men who wanted to have sex with his guests. The Hebrew word ʾach (awkh) means “a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relationship and metaphorical affinity or resemblance [like 1])” (H251). Lots identification with the men of Sodom suggests that he had become like one of them and agreed with their lifestyle choices. Lot’s offer to bring out his two virgin daughters so that the men could do with them as they wished indicated that he was just as corrupt as the wicked men of Sodom and deserved to be killed along with them when God destroyed their city, but the angels brought Lot out of the city and told him, “Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away” (Genesis 19:17).

It says in Genesis 19:16 that the LORD was merciful to Lot. The Hebrew word that is translated merciful is chemlah (khem-lawˊ). “A feminine noun meaning compassion, mercy. It describes the act of the angelic beings who led Lot and his family out of Sodom (Gen 19:16). It is also used in Isaiah 63:9 when retelling God’s deeds in the past. In light of his angel saving the people in Egypt, the text refers to God showing mercy on them. Therefore in its two uses, it denotes God’s compassion which spares one from destruction or similar dismal fates” (H2551). God’s decision to destroy Sodom was just because there was no one righteous living there, including Lot. It was only because of God’s mercy that Lot was able to be saved from destruction. Likewise, when the people of Israel were delivered out of slavery in Egypt, it was God showing mercy on them.

The mistake that the Israelites made was thinking of themselves as the good guys and everyone else as the bad guys. The people of Israel thought that God would not or maybe even could not destroy them because they were righteous as a result of following his commandments. King David wrote in Psalm 53:1-3:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
    there is none who does good.

God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one.

David said that all have fallen away, there is none who does good, not even one, including himself. The Apostle Paul echoed David’s sentiment in his letter to the Romans. Paul asked, “What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: ‘None is righteous, no not one; no one understands, no one seeks God’” (Romans 3:9-11). Paul went on to conclude that any righteousness we have is a manifestation of God’s presence in us (Romans 3:21-22), “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by grace as a gift, through redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by blood, to be received by faith” (Romans 3:23-24).

During the reigns of the kings of Judah, the manifestation of God’s presence in Israel slowly deteriorated. After Jehoshaphat’s reforms (2 Chronicles 19), the influence of the wicked kings in the north began to affect the southern kingdom of Judah. A marriage alliance between King Jehoshaphat and Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri (2 Chronicles 22:2-4) resulted in the reign of Ahaziah whose downfall ushered in the final phase of Judah’s inevitable deportation to Babylon. After Ahaziah was killed by Jehu, it says in 2 Chronicles 22:9, “the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom.” Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, took advantage of the situation and reigned over the land in place of her son (2 Kings 11:3). 2 Chronicles 22:10-12 tells us:

Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah. But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were about to be put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not put him to death. And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

Jehoshabeath’s resucue of her brother Joash from death was a part of God’s plan to keep the royal line of David intact until the birth of Christ. It says in 2 Chronicles 21:7 that “the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.”

The Word of God is referred to as a lamp in Psalm 119. The psalmist said, “Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens…Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:89, 105). The Apostle John referred to Jesus as the Word and said, “The Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 3:1). Jesus referred to himself as the light of the world and said, “Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). Walking in darkness is “spoken figuratively of persons in a state of moral darkness, wicked men under the influence of Satan (Luke 22:53; Ephesians 5:8; 6:12; Colossians 1:13)” (G4655). From that standpoint, the distinction between the wicked and the righteous depends on who is influencing them. The good guys are considered to be the ones who are being influenced by God and the bad guys are under the influence of Satan.

“The book of James is a simple, yet organized and logical treatise on the ethical aspects of Christian life…The major theme of the book is James’ appeal to the believer that true faith results in outward acts of obedience and righteousness (James 1:22)” (Introduction to the letter of James). James warned believers against worldliness, the tendency we have to follow the patterns of the wicked people around us rather than living according to the Word of God. James asked:

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1-10)

James said that we must resist the devil, and if we do, that he will flee from us (James 4:7). The Greek word that is translated resist, anthistemi (anth-isˊ-tay-mee) means “to stand against, i.e. oppose” (G436). Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians about spiritual warfare and said that believers must, “take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand (anthistemi) in the evil day and and having done all, to stand firm” (Ephesians 6:13).

According to Paul, the battle that believers should expect and need to engage in does not involve the righteous and the wicked. It is not the good guys vs. bad guys. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). Peter instructed believers in his first epistle to be sober and be watchful because, “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). When Athaliah took her son’s place ruling over Judah, Jehoshabeath didn’t oppose her, she “took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were about to be put to death…And he remained with them six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land” (2 Chronicles 22:11, 12). In the seventh year, Jehoiada the priest took courage and arranged for Joash to become king. He made a covenant with the commanders of the army and with the Levites from all the cities of Judah, And Jehoiada said to them, “Behold the king’s son! Let him reign, as the LORD spoke concerning the sons of David” (2 Chronicles 23:1-3). Jehoiada instructed the Levites to not let anyone enter the house of the LORD except the priests and ministering Levites (2 Chronicles 23:6). “Then, they brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king…When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the LORD to the people…So they laid hands on her, and she went into the entrance of the horse gate of the king’s house, and they put her to death there” (2 Chronicles 23:11-12, 15).