Volume 25, Issue 7
WisconsinChristianNews.com
Page 31
The Right Way and The Wrong Way
By Lynn Fredrick November/ December 2024 “The ideas of right and wrong among the He- brews are foren- sic ideas; that is, the Hebrew al-
condemn extremist pagan behavior then we, as Christ followers, have missed the depth, breadth and heart of the gospel. Which puts us in the wrong. Chapter three of Romans is going to point out that there is no one right with God, we have all bro- ken God’s law. Faith in Jesus Christ is the only path to right standing with God. Any other path puts mankind in the wrong and separated from God, given up to a life of self-enslaved depravity. God’s grace, mercy and kindness has called the Christ follower to repentance, forgiveness and right standing with God. We must never show contempt for God’s mercy by thinking someone else may not deserve His grace, mercy and forgive- ness. It is our responsibility to tell others of the power of the gospel to bring any person into right standing with God. Scholars point out that Paul was so ex-
ways thinks of the right and the wrong as if they were to be settled by a judge. Righteousness is, to the Hebrew, not so much a moral quality as a legal status. The word ‘righteous’ means simply ‘in the right,’ and the word ‘wicked’ means ‘in the wrong.’ (F.F. Bruce, Commentary on Romans, page 73). In the clash of the extreme sides of pol- itics, if words were poisonous venom, there would be a lot of dead people.
You are either for Him or against Him, there is no middle ground. In the first chapter of Romans, Paul is going to preach the gospel to gentile Christian believers in Rome. He has an argument to pres- ent and the heart of the gospel, that we can miss if we get too caught up in the moral fall of that day and today. The behaviors of the pagans in the time Paul, visiting Rome were well known. Chris- tians and Jews were well aware that God had given these people over to themselves. Three times in the first chapter, the text says God gave them up. C.S. Lewis in “The Problem of Pain” (1940) says this, pp.115f: “the lost, he says, ‘enjoy forever the horrible free- dom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved.’” If you have experienced an addiction or a habit you couldn’t stop, you can understand the meaning of C.S. Lewis’ words. Addiction is a vicious cycle where the addict becomes hopeless and power- less to stop their depraved and self-destructive behavior. I think this is the picture Paul is painting when he lists out the depravity of the pagan behavior in this first chapter of Romans. The pagans are definitely “in the wrong” in relationship to God and they are power- less to stop their depravity. But verse one of chapter 2 must make the reader stop. Up to this point the moralist can manifest itself, in our thoughts, and we can be thinking “I sure am glad I am not one of them.” About that time comes the wake-up call. “You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgement on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgement do the same things.” (Romans 2:1). Paul is definitely pointing out the depravity of man without God. He is not finger pointing at a certain group. He is also pointing out that God is the Judge and He will judge every person according to what they have done. Paul’s desire is to make it known that all of humanity is absolutely powerless to make themselves right with God. All of humanity is desperately in need of God’s mercy and pardon. It may be easy to think that we have not lived out the ex-
Some of the blistering arguments are found in the first chapter of Romans, which certainly portrays a picture of the out-of-control so- ciety we live in today. There are people who claim to know God, yet they do not glorify Him or give thanks to Him. They claim to be wise, yet their thinking is futile and foolish. They have exchanged the glory of the immortal God for man-made idols. So, God has given them over to sexual impurity, to shameful lusts and a de- praved mind. Men want men, women want women, some want to transition to the opposite sex, some want sex with animals, some with children and some are so confused they do not know what they want in that mix. They have given up the knowledge of God, so God has given them over to a depraved mind. Just some of the list at the close of the first chapter of Romans are: they are full of envy, strife, murder, deceit, evil characteristics, gossips, slanderers, God-haters, inso- lent, arrogant, invent ways of doing evil, senseless, heartless and ruthless. “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” Vs. 32. The LGBTQP agendas and the murder of the unborn are all over the political landscape. Our small-town paper is full of letters to the editor that champion the un-Godly teachings of the world, in opposition to the Bible and a Holy God and yet some claim to attend a church and claim to be Christian. One such person took me to task for saying much of the political spectrum and society as whole is good versus evil. Although edu- cated and intelligent, and in spite of his past Christian upbringing, today he is absolutely incapable of seeing the good, God, versus evil, Satan, that has been going on since the fall of man. He cannot understand that good and evil are reflected in our behavior. Not in whether we are Republican or Democrat. Is your behavior patterned after the teachings of God, in His Holy Bible, or His advisory, Satan?
cited about this message, the grace, mercy and power of the gospel to put anyone who desired into right standing with God that it showed in the original language. Paul was dictating this letter and a man named Tertius was writing it down. Paul would sometimes get his thoughts ahead of his words and he would have to speak faster to catch up with his thoughts thereby creating gaps. “We can only try to imagine how Tertius’s pen kept up to the apostle’s words. No wonder that, especially in impassioned moments, his Greek is full of breaks in construction and unfinished sentences.” (F.F. Bruce). How can we take on the attitude of the apostle and be so excited about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ that our words can’t keep up with our thoughts? I think it begins with a fearless moral inventory of our self. A serious in-depth self-examination as to; why and specifically what sins did Jesus go to the cross to die for, in my place? I personally had the terrible sin of pornography in my life, but also anger, self-centeredness, self-righteousness, bad language and pride, to mention a few. It doesn’t take much — even a thought can break God’s law. But when we identify our list, we understand it put us in the wrong with almighty God and we can do nothing to change that. God intervened by sending Jesus. Romans 5.6 tells us, “Christ died for the ungodly.” And in verse 8, “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Amazing love. I once was in the wrong, included in the list of people who live life apart from God, self-enslaved to my own de- praved desires. God never gave up on me, His mercy, kindness and grace drew me to fall before Him and turn my will and my life over to Him. That was 31 years ago, and since that time, God has been leading me on a journey to follow Him. I would never want to return to the bondage of addiction and life apart from God. Today I am free and I owe my freedom to Jesus and God, His Father. If you are in the wrong, living in self-enslaved desires, I cannot encourage you enough to turn to the Power greater than yourself, God and Jesus His Son. Turn your will and your life over to Him, thereby putting yourself in the legal status of right standing with Him and then follow Him to the amazing life of freedom and contentment that only He can provide. Lynn Fredrick is the author of “Stand Firm,” a spiritual program for recovery. LynnFredrick.com
tremes of most of the pagan behavior in Romans 1, but have we gossiped, talked bad about someone, fudged a little on the income tax, (stole), had sexual thoughts about someone not our spouse, ever disobey your parents? Any and all sin puts us — and all hu- manity — in the wrong with God. It is God’s kindness, tolerance and patience that leads everyone to repen- tance and faith in the only one that can make us right with God, Jesus Christ. If we take on the moralist view of the depravity of the pagan world in our society today and merely judge and
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