God’s Holiness, God’s Mercy

When the people of Israel create and worship an idol at the foot of Sinai while waiting for Moses to return, God announces to Moses that he has had enough. He states, “…let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them.” However, Moses does not leave him alone. Rather, Moses responds appropriately in faithful reverence recalling God’s great power and mighty hand in delivering his people out of Egypt. Furthermore, he remembers the original covenant made with the patriarchs of faith. Thus, God relented of the disaster he was going to bring upon the people.

Throughout scripture it appears that when one recognizes and responds in faithful reverence to God’s holiness, God responds in mercy (see Isaiah 6, Ezekiel 1 & 2, Matthew 8:5-13, Matthew 9:27-31, Luke 23:39-43, Revelation 1). How could this be displayed in the life, and more specifically in the assembly, of the church today?

Grace to you,

Matt

Divine Evil?: More on Exodus 32:14

The RSV translates Exodus 32:14 “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do to his people.” We have already addressed “divine repentance,” stating that a more proper English translation of NHM is “to relent” or “to change one’s mind,” but what are we to do with the word “evil” (Hebrew – ra’; Greek – kakias)? Though there is no need for God to repent, was there a need for him to “change his mind” about the evil he was going to bring upon the Hebrew people?

Perhaps “evil” is a harsh translation for today’s common use of this term. While kakias can be translated “evil; wickedness” (1 Cor. 5:8; 14:20; Acts 8:22), when associated with God it is better translated “a difficult circumstance; trouble” or even “harm.” It appears that earlier English translations (RSV, ASV, KJV) prefer to use “evil,” perhaps due to a dual understanding of the term. Thus, when read in such translations, one should not associate “evil” with “moral evil” as is the common understanding today, but rather, it should be understood, as more recent translations (ESV, NIV, NRSV, etc.) prefer, as “trouble” or “disaster.”

A different form of the same word is used in Exodus 5:22 when Moses asks, “Lord, why have you brought ekakosas (trouble or evil?) on this people?” after Pharaoh forced the people to find their own straw for making bricks while continuing to produce the same amount. Yet again, it appears that earlier translations prefer to use “evil” while later translations prefer “trouble.” Following in 5:23, Moses speaks of the “trouble” or “harm” that Pharaoh has brought on the people. Contextually, “trouble” is the preferable translation in both cases.

In conclusion, to provide a better understanding for the church today, a more recent translation is preferred in Exodus 32:14. God did not “repent of the evil which he thought to do to his people;” rather, he “relented of the disaster he was going to bring upon his people.” Through God’s unchanging faithfulness and Moses’ faithful response, God’s mercy was revealed.

• Danker, Frederick W. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

The Reality of Ministry

Ministry sounds romantic. It’s like an ongoing mission trip—seems wonderful! However, when dealing with real people facing real life head-on, one begins to relate to the response of those like Moses (“Who am I?”), Jeremiah (“I’m too young.”), and Isaiah (“Woe is me! I am ruined!”). I sometimes wonder at what point reality hit the apostles; when did the cost of the great victory that had been promised come to a complete realization? Do you suppose at times they reflected upon Jesus’ words, “Take up your cross,” and thought that it would’ve been nice to have understood the full meaning of this much sooner! After all, in being called to discipleship, one is being called to “Come and die.” Still, with this knowledge, together they went out with a greater understanding that evil had been defeated, and they continued to overcome it with good.

Ministry is a daunting task, and, yet, day after day, God continues to choose to work through the lives of humans for the sake of humans (and all of his kingdom!). May we not give up on one another but continue in the way of sacrificial love, serving one another that we may better serve him. And may we faithfully and courageously answer the call to come and die—“Here I am. Send me.”

Grace to you,
Matt

Divine Relenting: Decree vs. Announcement

In Robert Chisholm’s article “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” the author addresses the function of the Hebrew verb necham (NHM) as found in Exodus 32:14. Though often translated “to repent” (i.e. RSV, ASV), a more appropriate translation in this context is “to relent or change one’s mind.” Frequently, particularly among evangelical thinking, it is believed that because of God’s “unchanging” quality, he also does not change his mind. To say this, however, is to also believe that God never allows human decision to alter the course of things. When viewed scripturally, this theory is proven invalid. As is shown with God’s relenting in Exodus 32 (along with many other passages, including Amos 7, passages in Jeremiah, Joel and Jonah), at times, God chooses to not exercise meticulous control over the universe.

The criterion that must be considered when evaluating God’s response is whether God’s stated action is a decree or an announcement. Chisholm describes a decree as an “unconditional declaration.” Most often, an oath has been made that a particular course of action will be taken (see Numbers 23, 1 Samuel 15, Psalm 110; also keep in mind God’s covenants with his people). On the other hand, an announcement is conditional, allowing for interaction and a response from the recipient. In the case of Exodus 32, God had not declared that he was going to destroy Israel for their idolatrous behavior; rather, he announced his anger with the people to Moses and stated that, if Moses did not intervene, he would consume them in his wrath. However, in faith, Moses did not “leave him alone” as he recalled the faith of the patriarchs and God’s covenant with them. Through God’s unchanging faithfulness and Moses’ faithful response, God relented.

• Chisholm, Robert, "Does God 'Change His Mind'?" Bibliotheca Sacra 152 (October-December 1995) 387-99
  

Bonhoeffer

"In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. Don't insist on your right, don't blame each other, don't judge or condemn each other, don't find fault with each other, but accept each other as you are, and forgive each other every day from the bottom of your heart..."
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

Chesterton

"All the towering materialism which dominates the modern mind rests ultimately upon one assumption; a false assumption. It is supposed that if a thing goes on repeating itself it is probably dead; a piece of clockwork. People feel that if the universe was personal it would vary; if the sun were alive it would dance. This is a fallacy even in relation to known fact. For the variation in human affairs is generally brought into them, not by life, but by death; by the dying down or breaking off of their strength or desire. A man varies his movements because of some slight element of failure or fatigue. He gets into an omnibus because he is tired of walked; or he walks because he is tired of sitting still. But if his life and joy were so gigantic that he never tired of going to Islington, he might go to Islington as regularly as the Thames goes to Sheerness. The very speed and ecstasy of his life would have the stillness of death. The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life. The thing I mean can be seen, for instance in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They alway say, "Do it again"; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; and every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we."
G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy