AFTER THE PATTERN OF ADAM
Adam’s sin did not automatically condemn his descendants to death because the Bible tells us, “everyone will die for his own iniquity,” (Jer 31:30). Instead, Adam’s descendants inherited a greater tendency toward sin, as it is written, “He (the LORD) punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation,” (Ex 34:6). In the words of Jesus, “Flesh gives birth to flesh,” (John 3:6). Instead of being born balanced between the flesh and spirit, the flesh came to dominate the thoughts and actions of Adam’s descendants.
Whereas Adam had been created “in the image of God,” (Gen 1:27), his son, Seth, was said to be created in the likeness and image of Adam (Gen 5:3). The fact that the Bible says Seth was created in Adam’s image, and not the image of God, indicates to us that the nature and character of Adam’s descendants were altered because of Adam’s sin. After Noah, man is not again said to be created in “the image of God” until the New Testament, (1 Cor 11:7).
Since Jesus came after the pattern of Adam (Rom 5:14), He possessed an evil inclination which made it possible for Him to be, “tempted in every way, just as we are,” (Heb 4:15). This idea runs contrary to the common belief that the “God nature” of Jesus made it impossible for Him to sin. If Jesus was only God, He could not be tempted because, “God cannot be tempted by evil,” (James 1:13). However, Jesus was made “lower than the angels” (Heb 2:7), and then “emptied Himself” of His God nature, “taking the form of a bond-servant being made in the likeness of men,” (Phil 2:7). As a man after the pattern of Adam, Jesus became an example to all believers of the life that can be lived.
Satan understood that sinning was possible so he tempted Jesus repeatedly, yet Jesus did not succumb to the overtures of Satan, as Adam had. Instead, Jesus “learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:8-9). Having experience real temptations, Jesus became a high priest who can “sympathize with our weakness,” (Heb 4:15).
If Adam could have resisted the temptation of Satan in the Garden, Adam would have merited rewards, become perfect, and possibly brought about the perfection of the entire world for the descendants of Adam. However, the decision of Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil forever tilted his nature, and that of his descendants, toward the flesh, as it is written, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin,” (Rom 5:12). It was left to the second Adam to prefect the creation.
THE PROMISED REMOVAL OF THE EVIL INCLINATION
The struggle with the flesh will not persist in man forever. The New Testament quotes Jeremiah speaking of a future time when God will write His law on the heart of believers, effectively removing the evil inclination, leaving only the good inclination.
“I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of the to the greatest,’ declares the LORD.” (Heb 10:10)(Jer 31:33).
In the future, when “the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants” (Deut 30:6), the evil inclination will cease to exist. Only the law of the LORD will remain written on our heart “to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” (Deut 30:6). Ezekiel spoke of this future time quoting the LORD Who said, “I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances,” (Ezek 36:26-27).
“Our Sages write (Succah 52a) that at a future time, God will take the evil inclination and slaughter it before the righteous and the wicked. The righteous will view it as a great mountain; the wicked as a thin hair. Both will weep. The righteous wondering how they were able to conquer such a lofty mountain and the wicked wondering how they were unable to conquer such a thin hair.” (The Twelve Prophets, Vol. 2, ArtScroll, page 250)
(THE END)
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
God's Providence, Freewill, and the Evil Inclination (Revised Part 3 of 4)
OVERCOMING THE EVIL INCLINATION
The design of man is unique among all of the creatures. While angels are only composed of the heavenly, and the animals are only composed of the earthly (Eccl 3:21), man is made of both the earthly and the heavenly. When God created man, He formed man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, (Gen 2:7). When a person dies, “the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit to God who gave it,” (Eccl 12:7).
When we appreciate that man is part earthly and part heavenly, we understand the certainty of the conflict that exists within each man. We also gain insight into the proper course of action to overcome the evil inclination. To become more like our heavenly Father, we need to set our “minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col:3:2). To enable men to dwell on “things above,” God gave mankind His word authored by the Spirit Who came down from the Father.
In scripture, the word is seen as the overriding force that enables man to resist the evil inclination, as David has written, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,” (Psa 119:11). The Hebrew Talmud recorded this understanding,
“The scripture tells us (Psa 34:14), ‘Turn from evil and do good.’ By the word ‘good’ nothing is meant but Torah, as it is written (Prov 4:2), ‘For I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake my Torah,’” (b.Abodah Zarah 19b).
Jesus reinforces the ability of the word to overcome the flesh by saying, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63).
The rabbis identified a number of names in the Hebrew text associated with man’s sinful nature. The term “evil inclination,” as previously mentioned and referred to by James as the “evil desire” (James 1:14), is derived from the mouth of God who said of man, “every intent (yetzar) of the thoughts of his heart was only evil (hara) continually,” (Gen 6:5). Six other names in the Bible were seen by the rabbis as synonymous with the evil inclination:
“Uncircumcised heart,” as Moses said, “Circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16, 30:6)(Jer 4:4).
“Impure heart,” as David wrote, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” (Psa 51:10).
“Your enemy,” as Solomon wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you,” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20).
“Stumbling block,” as Isaiah wrote, “take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people,” (Isa 57:14, KJV)
“Heart of stone,” as Ezekiel wrote, “I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,” (Ezek 11:19, 36:26)
“Hidden one,” as Joel wrote, “But I will remove the northern (tsephoni) for you,” (Joel 2:20). Although the translation is not apparent, the Hebrew “tsephoni” is the same word used to refer to the hidden matzah in the Passover celebration seder.
Three of the terms associated with the evil inclination relate to the heart, a principle affirmed by Jesus. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slander,” (Matt 15:19). Ezekiel’s “heart of stone,” results from of an “evil unbelieving heart” that is “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” (Heb 3:12-13). Sin becomes a “stumbling block,” (Isa 57:14), as people “stumble because they are disobedient to the word,” (1 Pet 2:8).
“Create in me a pure heart,” (Psa 51:10), becomes the remedy for the "heart of stone." To accomplish this, Jeremiah tells the nation “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart,” (Jer 4:4). The call of Jeremiah is a reference to the words of Moses, “circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16). Moses calls on the people to “circumcise your heart,” but later he tells them, “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart…to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live,” (Deut 30:6). Moses appears to be telling us that circumcision of the heart is initiated by man and then completed by God.
In scripture, it is the Spirit that circumcises the flesh and enables the believer to walk in the statues of the LORD. The LORD told Ezekiel,
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezek 36:26-27)
The promise of the Spirit is not simply as a guarantee of our future resurrection, but He is given as a helper to enable the believer to overcome the evil inclination and “walk in My statutes…and …observe My ordinances.” An individual cannot purify himself without the assistance of the Spirit, but his freewill must submit to the leading of the Spirit. This interaction between a man’s freewill and the Spirit is express by the rabbis in this manner,
“One who comes to purify himself (bal’taheir) receives Divine assistance (siyata d’Shimaya), and without Divine assistance it is impossible to withstand the evil inclination. As the Talmud states, ‘In the way that a person wants to go, he will led him.’” (The Power of Teshuvah, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman)
Divine assistance comes from the Spirit who is given as a “Helper” (John 14:26), to believers. The Spirit can work in an individual who subrogates his will to the leading of the Spirit, as Paul has written, “for when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Cor 12:10). At the same time, when individuals have elected to reject the grace that is offered, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts,” (Rom 1:24). The process of “giving them over” can be seen as the hardening of an individual’s heart due to their own sin, (Heb 3:12-13). “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,’” (Heb 3:8).
The struggle to subject the flesh to the Spirit is seen as a continual battle within an individual. In this battle, the flesh is the enemy, even the enemy that Solomon was referring to when he wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20). An interesting interpretation comes from the rabbis by understanding that “your enemy” is a reference to the “evil inclination.” To overcome the enemy, we are instructed to “give him food to eat…give him water to drink.”
Bread and water are often equated to the word of God in Scripture.
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth…so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,” (Isa 55:10-11).
In the Greek text, Jesus is called the “the living bread that came down out of heaven,” (John 6:51) and “living water” (John 4:11), and, at the same time, Jesus is referred to as the “Word,” (John 1:1).
Writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul said that Christ sanctifies the church “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” (Eph 5:26). The word of God is also connected to bread, as Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds of out of the mouth of God,” (Matt 4:4). The rabbis often equated the Torah to food and drink.
“The words of Torah are likened to water, wine, oil, honey, and milk. To water, ‘Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the water; and you who have no money come, buy and eat,’ (Isa 55:1)…As water is life to the world, so is Torah life to the world. As water descends from heaven, so the Torah descends from heaven. As water refreshes the soul, so the Torah refreshes the soul. As water cleanses man from defilement, so the Torah purifies the unclean (morally).” (Everyman's Talmud, Abraham Cohen)
Paul’s conclusion, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” (Rom 12:21), can be interpreted as a call to overcome our own evil inclination through study, memorization, and application of God’s “good word,” (Heb 6:5). Moses indicated that a believer’s obedience is directly related to the degree that God’s word is imbedded in the believer, as he said, “the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it,” (Deut 30:14). A believer is capable of observing the word (obedience) when the word is in the mouth flowing from the heart. From this knowledge, Paul prescribes the following approach for believers to follow.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect,” (Rom 12:2)
(to be continued)
The design of man is unique among all of the creatures. While angels are only composed of the heavenly, and the animals are only composed of the earthly (Eccl 3:21), man is made of both the earthly and the heavenly. When God created man, He formed man out of the dust of the earth and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, (Gen 2:7). When a person dies, “the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit to God who gave it,” (Eccl 12:7).
When we appreciate that man is part earthly and part heavenly, we understand the certainty of the conflict that exists within each man. We also gain insight into the proper course of action to overcome the evil inclination. To become more like our heavenly Father, we need to set our “minds on things above, not on earthly things” (Col:3:2). To enable men to dwell on “things above,” God gave mankind His word authored by the Spirit Who came down from the Father.
In scripture, the word is seen as the overriding force that enables man to resist the evil inclination, as David has written, “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you,” (Psa 119:11). The Hebrew Talmud recorded this understanding,
“The scripture tells us (Psa 34:14), ‘Turn from evil and do good.’ By the word ‘good’ nothing is meant but Torah, as it is written (Prov 4:2), ‘For I have given you a good teaching, do not forsake my Torah,’” (b.Abodah Zarah 19b).
Jesus reinforces the ability of the word to overcome the flesh by saying, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life,” (John 6:63).
The rabbis identified a number of names in the Hebrew text associated with man’s sinful nature. The term “evil inclination,” as previously mentioned and referred to by James as the “evil desire” (James 1:14), is derived from the mouth of God who said of man, “every intent (yetzar) of the thoughts of his heart was only evil (hara) continually,” (Gen 6:5). Six other names in the Bible were seen by the rabbis as synonymous with the evil inclination:
“Uncircumcised heart,” as Moses said, “Circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16, 30:6)(Jer 4:4).
“Impure heart,” as David wrote, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me,” (Psa 51:10).
“Your enemy,” as Solomon wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you,” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20).
“Stumbling block,” as Isaiah wrote, “take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people,” (Isa 57:14, KJV)
“Heart of stone,” as Ezekiel wrote, “I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,” (Ezek 11:19, 36:26)
“Hidden one,” as Joel wrote, “But I will remove the northern (tsephoni) for you,” (Joel 2:20). Although the translation is not apparent, the Hebrew “tsephoni” is the same word used to refer to the hidden matzah in the Passover celebration seder.
Three of the terms associated with the evil inclination relate to the heart, a principle affirmed by Jesus. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slander,” (Matt 15:19). Ezekiel’s “heart of stone,” results from of an “evil unbelieving heart” that is “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin,” (Heb 3:12-13). Sin becomes a “stumbling block,” (Isa 57:14), as people “stumble because they are disobedient to the word,” (1 Pet 2:8).
“Create in me a pure heart,” (Psa 51:10), becomes the remedy for the "heart of stone." To accomplish this, Jeremiah tells the nation “Circumcise yourselves to the LORD and remove the foreskins of your heart,” (Jer 4:4). The call of Jeremiah is a reference to the words of Moses, “circumcise your heart and stiffen your neck no longer,” (Deut 10:16). Moses calls on the people to “circumcise your heart,” but later he tells them, “The LORD your God will circumcise your heart…to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live,” (Deut 30:6). Moses appears to be telling us that circumcision of the heart is initiated by man and then completed by God.
In scripture, it is the Spirit that circumcises the flesh and enables the believer to walk in the statues of the LORD. The LORD told Ezekiel,
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statues, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” (Ezek 36:26-27)
The promise of the Spirit is not simply as a guarantee of our future resurrection, but He is given as a helper to enable the believer to overcome the evil inclination and “walk in My statutes…and …observe My ordinances.” An individual cannot purify himself without the assistance of the Spirit, but his freewill must submit to the leading of the Spirit. This interaction between a man’s freewill and the Spirit is express by the rabbis in this manner,
“One who comes to purify himself (bal’taheir) receives Divine assistance (siyata d’Shimaya), and without Divine assistance it is impossible to withstand the evil inclination. As the Talmud states, ‘In the way that a person wants to go, he will led him.’” (The Power of Teshuvah, Rabbi Heshy Kleinman)
Divine assistance comes from the Spirit who is given as a “Helper” (John 14:26), to believers. The Spirit can work in an individual who subrogates his will to the leading of the Spirit, as Paul has written, “for when I am weak, then I am strong,” (2 Cor 12:10). At the same time, when individuals have elected to reject the grace that is offered, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts,” (Rom 1:24). The process of “giving them over” can be seen as the hardening of an individual’s heart due to their own sin, (Heb 3:12-13). “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, ‘Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,’” (Heb 3:8).
The struggle to subject the flesh to the Spirit is seen as a continual battle within an individual. In this battle, the flesh is the enemy, even the enemy that Solomon was referring to when he wrote, “If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat: if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.” (Prov 25:21-22)(Rom 12:20). An interesting interpretation comes from the rabbis by understanding that “your enemy” is a reference to the “evil inclination.” To overcome the enemy, we are instructed to “give him food to eat…give him water to drink.”
Bread and water are often equated to the word of God in Scripture.
“As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth…so is my word that goes out from my mouth; It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it,” (Isa 55:10-11).
In the Greek text, Jesus is called the “the living bread that came down out of heaven,” (John 6:51) and “living water” (John 4:11), and, at the same time, Jesus is referred to as the “Word,” (John 1:1).
Writing to the church at Ephesus, Paul said that Christ sanctifies the church “having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” (Eph 5:26). The word of God is also connected to bread, as Jesus said, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds of out of the mouth of God,” (Matt 4:4). The rabbis often equated the Torah to food and drink.
“The words of Torah are likened to water, wine, oil, honey, and milk. To water, ‘Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the water; and you who have no money come, buy and eat,’ (Isa 55:1)…As water is life to the world, so is Torah life to the world. As water descends from heaven, so the Torah descends from heaven. As water refreshes the soul, so the Torah refreshes the soul. As water cleanses man from defilement, so the Torah purifies the unclean (morally).” (Everyman's Talmud, Abraham Cohen)
Paul’s conclusion, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” (Rom 12:21), can be interpreted as a call to overcome our own evil inclination through study, memorization, and application of God’s “good word,” (Heb 6:5). Moses indicated that a believer’s obedience is directly related to the degree that God’s word is imbedded in the believer, as he said, “the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it,” (Deut 30:14). A believer is capable of observing the word (obedience) when the word is in the mouth flowing from the heart. From this knowledge, Paul prescribes the following approach for believers to follow.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect,” (Rom 12:2)
(to be continued)
God's Providence, Freewill, and the Evil Inclination (Revised Part 2 of 4)
As I continued to read what I had written, I reordered and reworded the material so I thought it necessary to revise parts 2, 3, and 4. Sorry for the amount of verbiage.
PREDESTINATION AND THE DOCTRINE OF ORIGINAL SIN
Predestination is derived as a natural outcome from the doctrine of original sin. Simply stated, the sin of Adam was inherited condemning (predestining) all men to death. Only by God’s mercy are some predestined individuals given life, while the rest are condemned to death. The doctrine of original sin has been widely accepted by the protestant church, but is viewed as heretical by the Jew who does not find support for this belief in the Old Testament. In the Hebrew text, God specifically told the people, “Fathers shall not be put to death for their sons, nor shall sons be put to death for their fathers; everyone shall be put to death for his own sin,” (Deut 24:16).
Did God change His mind after he spoke to Moses because that is what the doctrine of original sin argues? Not likely, the words of Paul to the Romans support the passage from Deuteronomy and demonstrate the unchanging nature of God. “Just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned,” (Rom 5:12). It is not Adam’s sin, but the sin of each person that results in death.
According to Abraham Cohen, the Hebrew understanding is “far removed from the doctrine that man inherits sin. He may be burdened by the consequences of the wrongdoings of his forefathers; but no Rabbi of the Talmudic age would admit that any human being committed a wrong for which he or she was not personally responsible. Such an admission would have been at variance with the dogma of free will.” (Everyman's Talmud, page 96).
The Hebrew understanding does not condemn an individual for the actions of Adam, but submits that Adam’s action flowed from the “evil inclination” that exists within each individual. Adam was sinless at creation, but he was not perfect. If he had been perfect, he would not have been tempted, like God who cannot be tempted by evil, (James 1:13).
Predestination also argues that once saved, a person cannot fall into an unsaved condition. For once God elect’s to save a man predestined to destruction, He will not permit that man to revert to destruction. This position runs contrary to the words of Jude who wrote, “After saving a people out of the land of Egypt, (the LORD) subsequently destroyed those who did not believe,” (Jude 5).
Jude’s words are consistent with the Hebrew rabbinical position that, “A person’s guilt is not established until he deliberately and of set purpose removes the lesson from his heart” (Everyman's Talmud, page 128)
The lesson on the heart implies a saved condition (Deut 10:14), while removing the lesson implies a willful election to ignore the grace that is offered by God. Just as the Hebrew writer has warned believers, “For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit…and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame,” (Heb 6:5-6).
THE TWO OPPOSING FORCES THAT WAR WITHIN EACH MAN
The Hebrew understanding holds that God created two opposing forces within each person that seek control. One force leads men toward good works and love for our fellow man is often referred to as the “good inclination.” The good inclination, in Hebrew “yetzer hatov,” is the “spirit,” the part of man made in the image of God that both gives the individual value, instills purpose in life, and seeks a closer relationship with the creator. The evil inclination, referred to in Hebrew as the “yetzer hara,” is an opposing force that leads men toward sinful acts of self-indulgence. The first century rabbinic term for the evil inclination was “the flesh,” and appears frequently in the New Testament. God created Adam in balance, but imperfect, between both inclinations.
Why create Adam in this condition? In his imperfection Adam might seek God by choice and not by nature, as Paul has written,
“From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).
Scripture tells us that God “is the rewarder of those who seek Him,” (Heb 11:6), but this aspect of the Christian faith is often minimized. Much more than in the Christian faith, Judaism sees the imperfection of man as the opportunity given by the creator to pursue perfection. The pursuit of perfection results in merit (reward) being credited to the individual believer.
“He (The LORD) created them imperfect so that they should perfect themselves and so that their perfection be their reward in the merit of their having labored for it – all this in His desire to bestow complete good.” (The Knowing Heart, Moshe Chayim Luzzatto)
The ultimate example of earning merit through struggle is in Jesus who “learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” (Heb 5:8-9). The “complete good” or merit Jesus gained through His perfection, became the source of salvation for all believers.
The consequences of Adam’s sin were his personal death and descendants born in the image of Adam (Gen 5:3), no longer with balanced inclinations, but tilted toward a sin nature. As the descendants of Adam committed sin, each succeeding generation became more sinful until the thoughts of their hearts “was only evil all the time,” (Gen 6:5). It took 2000 years, but only ten generations, for man to go from being created in the image of God to total depravity and wickedness, except for Noah. In His mercy, God saved the world through the righteousness of a single person, Noah (Gen 7:1)(Ezek 14:14). Although wickedness was removed from the earth by the flood, the evil inclination remained in the descendants of Noah. As Paul observed,
I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. (Rom 7:21-23)
Jesus reflects the terminology of the first century rabbis identifying the two natures within man as, “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” (Matt 26:41). The “flesh,” or “flesh and blood” (1 Cor 15:50), was the New Testament answer to the question of why men often do not do good, but rather act in a manner they later despise. In the words of Paul, “the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things you please” (Gal 5:17).
The Rabbis developed their theology to a point where they came to believe that the sinful nature physically resided in the flesh. For this reason even today, the Orthodox Hebrew does not attempt to preserve the body for burial, as is the Western custom, but desires the decay of the flesh from the bones to occur as quickly as possible to facilitate the final and permanent removal of sin from the body. The concept is echoed in the words of Paul who referred to our flesh as, “our body of sin,” (Rom 6:6), and said, “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh,” (Rom 7:18). Notice that Paul’s “nothing good” is specific to “my flesh,” and not the complete nature of his make-up. In the understanding of Paul, the “spirit” of man still retains a goodness from the divine spark that breathed life into man, although the spirit is often overshadowed by the flesh.
(to be continued)
God's Providence, Freewill, and the Evil Inclination (Part 1 of 4)
One of the great stories of faith that comes from the Hebrew text is the story Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, who refused to bow before a statue of the Nebuchadnezzar the king. The three replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up,” (Dan 3:16-18).
The response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego angered the king so he gave orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. So hot was the furnace that the warriors carrying the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego perished and the three fell into the furnace still tied up. To Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment, the three faithful men survived and there appeared a “fourth like a son of the gods” (Dan 3:25), walking in the midst of the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Many great lessons that have been given from the pulpit based on the miracles contained in this story.
One aspect of the miracle that makes it unique in the Hebrew mind, God intervened to override the free determination of an individual, King Nebuchadnezzar. To quote the Artscroll commentary on the Book of Daniel,
“Alshich cites the view of Zohar that even though God intercedes to save someone endangered by the forces of nature – e.g., drowning or wild animals – He does not interfere if the person is threatened by another human being. To do so is to tamper with the principle of free determination, the cornerstone of God’s purpose for this world; it is His intention that humans, with their gift of their own, should recognize His Presence in the world and submit to His will.” (Artscroll Tanach Series – Daniel, page 122)
CREATED WITH FREEWILL
When the LORD made man, He could have preprogrammed man to operate in a robotic condition, performing only the will of the creator. In this condition, man would be obedient to the LORD out of obligation, not out of love. Instead, the LORD made man with a freewill, sometimes referred to as “Free determination.” Free determination is a fundamental principle in Judaism as expressed in the words the first century historian Josephus, “It has pleased God to mix up the decrees of fate and man’s will, so man can act virtuously or viciously,” (Antiq. Xviii.i.3).
According to Abraham Cohen author of Everyman’s Talmud,
“The conviction that man’s will is unfettered is therefore seen to be the foundation of Rabbinic ethics. The nature of his life is molded by his desires. He can misuse life’s opportunities if he so wishes; but in no circumstance would it be agreed that he must misuse them. The evil impulse constantly tempt him; but if he fall, the responsibility is his and his alone,”
Scripture is filled with passages where individuals are seen as having the opportunity to act righteously or wickedly, apart from providence. The LORD held Cain as responsible to control his own behavior, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you must master it,” (Gen 4:7). Other often-quoted examples of scripture that support freewill include:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them,” (Deut 31:1)
“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” (Josh 24:15)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matt 28:19-20)
“In Judaism, ‘choosing life’ refers to the free-will choice to keep God’s commandments, including the commandments of holiness, which leads to (eternal) life in the world to come.” (Everyman's Talmud, page 95). The believer’s ability to respond to the Spirit, the calling to preach the gospel to the world, the accountability of those who hardened their hearts, the opportunity to earn merit through righteous actions, and the future judgment of mankind are all consistent with the concept of freewill that operates within the boundaries of the providence of God.
Freewill offers the best explanation as to why bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen as the consequence of sinful acts perpetrated by the freewill actions of individuals. These actions may seek deliberate harm against another, such as that by Nebuchadnezzar, or more often result from the general and cumulative sinful acts of individuals and communities that effect the world at large, i.e., drunk drivers. Why did God permit terrorists to crash planes and kill innocent people on September 11, 2001? God has given men freewill and commanded them to “choose life,” but there are people who “love death” because they hate God, (Prov 8:36).
Choice, consequences, and judgment go hand-in-hand with freewill. If freewill does not exist, then we must conclude that God creates individuals predetermined for destruction. Creating individuals for destruction runs counter to the word of God Who said, “’As I live!’ declares the LORD GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live,’” (Ezek 33:11). Paul wrote that “God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth,” (1 Tim 2:4). Further, Paul’s statement that salvation “appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11), would seem to preclude that any individual is predestined for damnation at birth. The statement of Paul appears to allude to the events in the wilderness when God appeared in the cloud and fire before the entire nation. Nevertheless, “the LORD, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe,” (Jude 1:5).
Scripture holds the concept of freewill in tension with the acknowledgment of God’s providence. For example, no individual chooses his parents, the day he was born, the nature of his physical attributes, or the country of his birth. Further, the greater plan of God’s will for the redemption of the world, His coming kingdom, and the judgment of mankind at the end of days are not subject to the freewill of individuals, but will be accomplished in the “times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority,” (Acts 1:7). This tension is expressed in the often-quoted Jewish Talmudic saying, “Everything is in the power of Heaven except the fear of Heaven,” (Ber. 33b). This statement is interpreted to indicate that God determines the fortunes of the individual, but not whether or not he will be God-fearing.
The Hebrew sages did not attempt to resolve this tension between God’s providence and man’s freewill, but offered this perspective, “Everything is foreseen (by God), yet freedom of choice is given,” (Aboth III.19).
The opposite of permitting individual choice would be to predestine the actions of every individual. Many believers hold this position, but when scripture talks of predestination it is based on the foreknowledge of God. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son,” (Rom 8:29). God’s predestination comes from His foreknowledge of an individual’s free will, not a predetermination of an individual’s will. In the words of John, the Father seeks individuals that out of freewill worship the Father “in spirit and truth,” (John 4:23).
(continued)
The response of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego angered the king so he gave orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. So hot was the furnace that the warriors carrying the Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego perished and the three fell into the furnace still tied up. To Nebuchadnezzar’s astonishment, the three faithful men survived and there appeared a “fourth like a son of the gods” (Dan 3:25), walking in the midst of the fire with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Many great lessons that have been given from the pulpit based on the miracles contained in this story.
One aspect of the miracle that makes it unique in the Hebrew mind, God intervened to override the free determination of an individual, King Nebuchadnezzar. To quote the Artscroll commentary on the Book of Daniel,
“Alshich cites the view of Zohar that even though God intercedes to save someone endangered by the forces of nature – e.g., drowning or wild animals – He does not interfere if the person is threatened by another human being. To do so is to tamper with the principle of free determination, the cornerstone of God’s purpose for this world; it is His intention that humans, with their gift of their own, should recognize His Presence in the world and submit to His will.” (Artscroll Tanach Series – Daniel, page 122)
CREATED WITH FREEWILL
When the LORD made man, He could have preprogrammed man to operate in a robotic condition, performing only the will of the creator. In this condition, man would be obedient to the LORD out of obligation, not out of love. Instead, the LORD made man with a freewill, sometimes referred to as “Free determination.” Free determination is a fundamental principle in Judaism as expressed in the words the first century historian Josephus, “It has pleased God to mix up the decrees of fate and man’s will, so man can act virtuously or viciously,” (Antiq. Xviii.i.3).
According to Abraham Cohen author of Everyman’s Talmud,
“The conviction that man’s will is unfettered is therefore seen to be the foundation of Rabbinic ethics. The nature of his life is molded by his desires. He can misuse life’s opportunities if he so wishes; but in no circumstance would it be agreed that he must misuse them. The evil impulse constantly tempt him; but if he fall, the responsibility is his and his alone,”
Scripture is filled with passages where individuals are seen as having the opportunity to act righteously or wickedly, apart from providence. The LORD held Cain as responsible to control his own behavior, saying, “Sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you, but you must master it,” (Gen 4:7). Other often-quoted examples of scripture that support freewill include:
“I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them,” (Deut 31:1)
“Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD,” (Josh 24:15)
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,” (Matt 28:19-20)
“In Judaism, ‘choosing life’ refers to the free-will choice to keep God’s commandments, including the commandments of holiness, which leads to (eternal) life in the world to come.” (Everyman's Talmud, page 95). The believer’s ability to respond to the Spirit, the calling to preach the gospel to the world, the accountability of those who hardened their hearts, the opportunity to earn merit through righteous actions, and the future judgment of mankind are all consistent with the concept of freewill that operates within the boundaries of the providence of God.
Freewill offers the best explanation as to why bad things happen to good people. Bad things happen as the consequence of sinful acts perpetrated by the freewill actions of individuals. These actions may seek deliberate harm against another, such as that by Nebuchadnezzar, or more often result from the general and cumulative sinful acts of individuals and communities that effect the world at large, i.e., drunk drivers. Why did God permit terrorists to crash planes and kill innocent people on September 11, 2001? God has given men freewill and commanded them to “choose life,” but there are people who “love death” because they hate God, (Prov 8:36).
Choice, consequences, and judgment go hand-in-hand with freewill. If freewill does not exist, then we must conclude that God creates individuals predetermined for destruction. Creating individuals for destruction runs counter to the word of God Who said, “’As I live!’ declares the LORD GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live,’” (Ezek 33:11). Paul wrote that “God our Savior…desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth,” (1 Tim 2:4). Further, Paul’s statement that salvation “appeared to all men” (Titus 2:11), would seem to preclude that any individual is predestined for damnation at birth. The statement of Paul appears to allude to the events in the wilderness when God appeared in the cloud and fire before the entire nation. Nevertheless, “the LORD, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe,” (Jude 1:5).
Scripture holds the concept of freewill in tension with the acknowledgment of God’s providence. For example, no individual chooses his parents, the day he was born, the nature of his physical attributes, or the country of his birth. Further, the greater plan of God’s will for the redemption of the world, His coming kingdom, and the judgment of mankind at the end of days are not subject to the freewill of individuals, but will be accomplished in the “times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority,” (Acts 1:7). This tension is expressed in the often-quoted Jewish Talmudic saying, “Everything is in the power of Heaven except the fear of Heaven,” (Ber. 33b). This statement is interpreted to indicate that God determines the fortunes of the individual, but not whether or not he will be God-fearing.
The Hebrew sages did not attempt to resolve this tension between God’s providence and man’s freewill, but offered this perspective, “Everything is foreseen (by God), yet freedom of choice is given,” (Aboth III.19).
The opposite of permitting individual choice would be to predestine the actions of every individual. Many believers hold this position, but when scripture talks of predestination it is based on the foreknowledge of God. “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son,” (Rom 8:29). God’s predestination comes from His foreknowledge of an individual’s free will, not a predetermination of an individual’s will. In the words of John, the Father seeks individuals that out of freewill worship the Father “in spirit and truth,” (John 4:23).
(continued)
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