2For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— 3for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— 4and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly.
Interesting that the king would know that he is breaking the law here, but that it would seem right to him, anyway. Presumably that it is better to celebrate a month late than to miss the year entirely.
15And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the LORD.
So apparently in addition to being late, the sacrifices weren't made by the priests and levites!
16They took their accustomed posts according to the Law of Moses the man of God. The priests threw the blood that they received from the hand of the Levites. 17For there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves. Therefore the Levites had to slaughter the Passover lamb for everyone who was not clean, to consecrate it to the LORD.
Presumably some of those that made the priests and levites ashamed were those sacrificing without being clean, in addition to not being levites or priests.
18For a majority of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed.
Even though some of them did not offer the sacrifices unclean, they still ate of the passover unclean.
So, to summarize the points of breaking the law,
1. The passover was held in the wrong month.
2. The lambs were sacrificed (initially) by ordinary people.
3. (Some of) the people sacrificing were not clean.
4. The majority of the people ate without being clean.
I'm not sure how big of a deal #2 is in the law, but the others seem to be emphasized fairly strongly. And yet, what is the outcome?
For Hezekiah had prayed for them, saying, "May the good LORD pardon everyone 19who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even though not according to the sanctuary's rules of cleanness." 20And the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
So seeking God, and asking forgiveness for the wrong ways we do it, brings healing.
And in the end, they broke/amended/added to the law one more time:
23Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the feast for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with gladness.
I trust this was covered by Hezekiah's earlier prayer.
Edit Aug 1 2010:
I just noticed, a chapter earlier, in 2 Chronicles 29:
34But the priests were too few and could not flay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished— for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.
I guess this argues both for internships where people who aren't necessarily qualified for the work to it anyway, and for moving on with the work however you can.
In any case, I'm glad to see that there is Grace, and provision for our need.
Showing posts with label legalism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label legalism. Show all posts
Friday, August 1, 2008
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Uses of the law in the body
Romans 14
1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Don't pass judgment, it is a man's supervisor who criticizes his work.
5One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
You ARE responsible to your own conscience.
6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Whatever the result of our conversation with our conscience, we need to make our decisions out of our desire to serve the Lord. If we eat, or don't, or celebrate, or don't, or drink beer, or don't, we do it to please God. That's what He wants, more than anything else.
This is an interesting tension, between freedom and accountability. We are to leave each other's opinions alone, and let God instruct and criticize them. We have freedom from fear of public criticism. But we are responsible, and we must use the freedom we have to please Him. We are accountable to God for how we use the freedom his Son bought for us.
10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written,
"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God."
12So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Now here's an interesting mix. Until this section, we are accountable to God alone, and give freedom between each other. But here we see that we are all related, and how. We are all called to stand before God's judgment, and we are all called to worship him. So we are together in that we all will give account of ourselves, and we all worship the same God. We ARE a body, like it or not, but we are NOT the head, like it or not.
13Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Now we are not only not to judge, but we are to decide not to hinder. That almost sounds like encouraging one another. But what other response can we come up with, if this one must account for himself in the same way I do? If I'm going into an interview, I may look at the guy across the isle as a competitor, and not talk to him. But we know that God is not grading us on a curve, and there is not a quota he is filling with the best applicants. And we all will get along, not in the same company, but in the same family. If that guy succeeds, my boss gets more 'help,' and I get another co-worker. I want him to join our family, because I'm NOT accountable to him, but we DO get to worship together.
14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
This line has offended me almost every time I read it. What do you mean the facts aren't relevant? What about everything the law said about cleanliness? Is that all a matter of what you THINK?
15For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.
So, my boss/father tells me to get along with my brothers. I'm not loving either of them, if I insist on what I want, without concern for the effect it has on them. Even more so, if I specifically hurt the goals our Father is attaining.
16So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.
So how does this fit? I like drinking beer and wine. Do I let teetotalers talk about them as inherently evil? Or is he talking about good good stuff? probably. So I need to discern between what is simply pleasing, and what is good.
17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
And I guess this is why. Because we aren't talking about early sustenance, we're talking about eternal life.
18Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Do Jesus really does care for His church, and if we care for Him, we will, too.
20Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.
Another reminder of perspective - we're talking about eternity here.
Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
This summarizes much of the passage, I think. The thing itself is not inherently wrong, but we MUST care for our brother. Now, this stands out in contrast of two different positions I have held:
1. Alcohol is bad, and we should avoid any amount of it at all cost.
2. People who say #1 are wrong, and should be corrected, humiliated and/or avoided at all cost.
We don't have the freedom to make up facts about alcohol. Neither to we have the freedom to pretend that it is of eternal importance. What is eternal is people worshiping Jesus. So, if I meet with someone who thinks having a beer is normal, I'll have a beer, and enjoy it. And with someone from the first camp, I'll meet, eat, pray, and talk with them without making alcohol an issue (particularly by drinking in front of them). I have held the position that this passage applies to people who are tempted to drink, but I think it must go beyond that. The "work of God" here is the blood of Christ applied to a fellow believer. Someone, by my drinking, may not tempted to drink to excess themselves, but if they ARE tempted to criticize me and my profession, I should not be satisfied with that. I should not be satisfied by leading a brother into hypocrisy, judgment, and contention. I would only be satisfied with that when my concern is in doing what I want, and not with the spiritual health and maturity of the other person. So,
21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
I'm not sure I want to bring up the question of vegetarians, though Paul seems to be saying that it applies... There is much less biblical warrant for vegetarianism than teetotaling, and we cannot be entirely responsible for others' thoughts. I imagine I should continue relating to people, and considering their (and my) maturity of the utmost importance, and figure out if we're having steak later.
22The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
This first half sounds like the coward's position, though I understand that we ARE relating to God, and that we ARE relating to each other.
23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Perhaps this last line is the best summary, that what we do from faith is the right thing to do. We will screw up any law we make, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not. But we MUST act with faith, trusting that the unseen (i.e., God, Heb 11:6) is both there and relevant, or we are in sin. So we don't ignore the law, but we can't worship it either. And we don't have to worship each others' silly rules, but we can't blow them off, either.
God have mercy on us all.
1As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Don't pass judgment, it is a man's supervisor who criticizes his work.
5One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
You ARE responsible to your own conscience.
6The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Whatever the result of our conversation with our conscience, we need to make our decisions out of our desire to serve the Lord. If we eat, or don't, or celebrate, or don't, or drink beer, or don't, we do it to please God. That's what He wants, more than anything else.
This is an interesting tension, between freedom and accountability. We are to leave each other's opinions alone, and let God instruct and criticize them. We have freedom from fear of public criticism. But we are responsible, and we must use the freedom we have to please Him. We are accountable to God for how we use the freedom his Son bought for us.
10Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; 11for it is written,
"As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall confess to God."
12So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Now here's an interesting mix. Until this section, we are accountable to God alone, and give freedom between each other. But here we see that we are all related, and how. We are all called to stand before God's judgment, and we are all called to worship him. So we are together in that we all will give account of ourselves, and we all worship the same God. We ARE a body, like it or not, but we are NOT the head, like it or not.
13Therefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother.
Now we are not only not to judge, but we are to decide not to hinder. That almost sounds like encouraging one another. But what other response can we come up with, if this one must account for himself in the same way I do? If I'm going into an interview, I may look at the guy across the isle as a competitor, and not talk to him. But we know that God is not grading us on a curve, and there is not a quota he is filling with the best applicants. And we all will get along, not in the same company, but in the same family. If that guy succeeds, my boss gets more 'help,' and I get another co-worker. I want him to join our family, because I'm NOT accountable to him, but we DO get to worship together.
14I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean.
This line has offended me almost every time I read it. What do you mean the facts aren't relevant? What about everything the law said about cleanliness? Is that all a matter of what you THINK?
15For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love. By what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died.
So, my boss/father tells me to get along with my brothers. I'm not loving either of them, if I insist on what I want, without concern for the effect it has on them. Even more so, if I specifically hurt the goals our Father is attaining.
16So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.
So how does this fit? I like drinking beer and wine. Do I let teetotalers talk about them as inherently evil? Or is he talking about good good stuff? probably. So I need to discern between what is simply pleasing, and what is good.
17For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
And I guess this is why. Because we aren't talking about early sustenance, we're talking about eternal life.
18Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Do Jesus really does care for His church, and if we care for Him, we will, too.
20Do not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God.
Another reminder of perspective - we're talking about eternity here.
Everything is indeed clean, but it is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats.
This summarizes much of the passage, I think. The thing itself is not inherently wrong, but we MUST care for our brother. Now, this stands out in contrast of two different positions I have held:
1. Alcohol is bad, and we should avoid any amount of it at all cost.
2. People who say #1 are wrong, and should be corrected, humiliated and/or avoided at all cost.
We don't have the freedom to make up facts about alcohol. Neither to we have the freedom to pretend that it is of eternal importance. What is eternal is people worshiping Jesus. So, if I meet with someone who thinks having a beer is normal, I'll have a beer, and enjoy it. And with someone from the first camp, I'll meet, eat, pray, and talk with them without making alcohol an issue (particularly by drinking in front of them). I have held the position that this passage applies to people who are tempted to drink, but I think it must go beyond that. The "work of God" here is the blood of Christ applied to a fellow believer. Someone, by my drinking, may not tempted to drink to excess themselves, but if they ARE tempted to criticize me and my profession, I should not be satisfied with that. I should not be satisfied by leading a brother into hypocrisy, judgment, and contention. I would only be satisfied with that when my concern is in doing what I want, and not with the spiritual health and maturity of the other person. So,
21It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.
I'm not sure I want to bring up the question of vegetarians, though Paul seems to be saying that it applies... There is much less biblical warrant for vegetarianism than teetotaling, and we cannot be entirely responsible for others' thoughts. I imagine I should continue relating to people, and considering their (and my) maturity of the utmost importance, and figure out if we're having steak later.
22The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves.
This first half sounds like the coward's position, though I understand that we ARE relating to God, and that we ARE relating to each other.
23But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.
Perhaps this last line is the best summary, that what we do from faith is the right thing to do. We will screw up any law we make, directly or indirectly, intentionally or not. But we MUST act with faith, trusting that the unseen (i.e., God, Heb 11:6) is both there and relevant, or we are in sin. So we don't ignore the law, but we can't worship it either. And we don't have to worship each others' silly rules, but we can't blow them off, either.
God have mercy on us all.
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