"No Fences: Pharisees, Philosophers, Legalists, and Jesus" Introduction

Introduction  

It is a pet peeve of mine to find the invitation to eternal life buried in an appendix at the back of Christian books. Up front, know that Jesus Christ is way, way better at being the Savior than all of us are at being sinners combined. If you think you've ruined God's plan for your life, you're just not that powerful. He's at the door; He’s knocking. He won't force His way in, but if you ask Jesus to save you, He will. For us (including you), God became human, died on the Cross in our place, rose from the dead never to die again, and sat down on His throne in Heaven signifying the completion of His work; He prayed that we who believe would be where He is, and in Christ we are sitting right there with Him in the eternal scheme of things.

This goes beyond positive self-talk. Muhammad Ali said, “It's the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.” That’s true to an extent, but that’s still operating in your own strength and understanding, also known as “walking according to the flesh”. Diamond Dallas Page and Jake “The Snake” Roberts have both said, “The story you tell yourself is the most important thing” and “The most valuable piece of real estate on the planet is the six inches between your ears.” It is amazing how peoples’ lives can change when they change how they think, but the real truth is much deeper than that. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, He has changed who you are.

Even if you’ve been a believer since before the introductory paragraph, I bet you’ll still enjoy reflecting on a few truths about your new identity in Christ. Among the things the Bible teaches us: We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, because none of us could make it on our own merit (Ephesians 2:8-9). We will forever be an example of God’s mercy (Ephesians 2:7). Whosoever believes in Jesus will not perish, but has eternal life (John 3:16). If it could be lost, it would not be eternal. We all stumble in many ways (James 3:2). God's grace teaches us to say no to sin (Titus 2:12), and our lives are not compatible with sin anymore (Romans 6:1-2), but Christians are perfectly forgiven through it all (2 Timothy 2:13). The one work God requires is believing the Son (John 6:28-29), and we who believe will not come into judgment; we have already passed from death into life (John 5:24 and Romans 8:1). We have been washed, cleaned, and set apart for Him (1 Corinthians 6:11 and Hebrews 10:10); by His one offering, He has made us perfect forever (Hebrews 10:14). We stand flawless in the presence of God thanks to the blood of Christ (Colossians 1:22). We can boldly approach the throne of Grace assured of His glad welcome (Ephesians 3:12), for His perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Anything that could separate us from Him, He has done away with at the Cross, and it can't get any farther away from us (Romans 8:38-39). Psalm 103:12 calls that distance "as far as the East is from the West." Jesus is the Author and Perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2). He who began the good work within us is carrying us on to completion, right on up to the day He returns (Philippians 1:6). When we see Him at the end, in our new bodies no longer under the influence of Sin, we will be like Him (1 John 3:2). He has already placed a new obedient heart, a new spirit, and the Holy Spirit within us (Ezekiel 36:26-27 and John 14:16-17). We are as much aliens in this world now, on the inside, as Jesus Christ was during His earthly ministry (John 17:16). We have been crucified with Christ; our old selves live no longer, our past is gone, and He lives through us now (Galatians 2:20). Outside of time, God in His omniscience looked down through the whole timeline of your sins, even the ones you haven’t committed yet, and destroyed the record (Colossians 2:13-14). He’s not keeping score (Hebrews 8:12), and the performance-based deal is over (Hebrews 8:13). He who knew no sin became Sin, so we became the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:21). You couldn’t out-sin His grace if you tried to (Romans 5:20, Hebrews 7:25), but you won’t because you are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17-19; 1 John 3:6, 9). Starting out by faith but then trying to finish by our own fleshly works of self-improvement is foolish (Galatians 3:2-3). Instead, we trust Jesus; He did it all (Galatians 3:11-14). His work is finished (John 19:30 and Hebrews 10:10-14).

Please, don’t party too hard just yet.

Several New Testament epistles fit this pattern of reminding the audience who they are in Christ prior to encouraging them to behave. Paul's ministry was primarily to Gentiles. He taught that we Gentiles were never under the Law of Moses, that we aren't under it now, and that we're not being tutored by it (Ephesians 2:11-18, Acts 15:10, and Galatians 3:23-25). That's a good thing, because trying to live under it is cursed (Galatians 3:10). Only Jesus ever kept it entirely, and it is an all-or-nothing proposition (James 2:10). The Law of Moses increased sin (Romans 5:20, Romans 7:8). We who admit our need of grace establish the Law as the perfect, impossible standard it is meant to be (Romans 3:31). The Law has not passed away, but we have died to the Law (Romans 7:4). Christ is the end of the Law for all who believe (Romans 10:4). After teaching this, Paul and the other apostles proceeded to list a bunch of things we're not supposed to do anymore. You are right to scratch your head at that.

The Law of Moses is not our source of good behavior anymore. Instead, our good behavior comes from Jesus living through us (Galatians 2:20). The Law just points out flaws (Romans 3:19-20). Jesus within us produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). You are no longer a bad person trying to act holy by looking at tablets of stone and failing to do what they say. A child of God led by the Holy Spirit, a person who has Jesus Christ living in them, etc., doesn’t have to base their actions on that set of external rules. You can trust the Indwelling Christ, because Jesus never led anyone to murder anyone, defraud senior citizens, etc. There are dozens of human laws pertaining to parenting that most good parents don't know. Why? They don’t have to know them because parents that love their kids tend to treat them better than the law requires. Jesus's new commandments are summarized by some as Believe (John 6:28-29) and Love (John 13:34-35). However, Paul did not encourage us to go wild with only those two principles. The New Testament is full of behavior instructions. They can be seen as descriptions of who we were created to be, of who we are now in Christ. Why live like the world, since the world will burn? Only a saintly life will fulfill a saint.

As I mentioned earlier, the General Resurrection from the dead (in which all who believe in Christ will physically ascend to immortality and incorruptibility—Jesus was the first to rise this way; others who were merely resuscitated like Lazarus eventually died again) has not happened yet, so our bodies are still under the influence of Sin. See Genesis 4:7; since it’s an entity that desires and acts, it can be capitalized as a proper noun. As Paul explained in Romans 7, Sin is a parasite that still has access to your mind through your physical body. Your sinful nature is cut away from you, and you no longer have to obey it like an unbeliever (Colossians 2:11-15), but not all of “your” thoughts are your own now (See Romans 6:12 and notice the emphasis on “its lusts”). Any believer can be given any sinful thought at any time. Knowing what thoughts are yours and which are Sin's becomes a work all its own. The conscience can be programmed by anything. Thankfully, God has given us Bibles (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and the Holy Spirit (John 16:13) to teach us everything we need to learn. The earliest epistles (letters to congregations) were written to stamp out wrong beliefs that had already popped up within the established Church, so how old or venerable a belief is considered to be is irrelevant if it is unbiblical. The early "Church fathers" had various strange, contradictory opinions. We'll explore some of the historical realities faced by the peoples to whom the Scriptures were originally written, but ultimately, I don't want you to take my word for it. Read the Scriptures, all of them, and listen to the Spirit always. You will know the Truth, and He will set you free.

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