Tag: fairness

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Romans

What happens to those who never hear?

Romans

One of the things that people argue when it comes to Christianity is, “How can God hold people accountable for what he has commanded if they have never even heard of the Bible?”

We find the answer here in this passage.

Paul starts by saying that judgment will be passed on all who do evil, first on the Jew and then on the Gentile.

On the other hand, those who do good will be rewarded by God, the Jews first, the Gentiles second.

Why? Because it was the Jews who received the law from God. And because they directly received it from God, they are more accountable.

Jesus puts it this way,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

Paul expands on this idea, saying,

All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. (Romans 2:12)

In short, people will be judged by what they do with what they know. They will not be judged by what they didn’t know.

If they know God’s law as given to the Jews, they will be judged by that. If they don’t, they will be judged by another standard. What standard?

One standard is their own laws, insofar as they coincide with God’s. Paul tells us,

Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them. (Romans 2:14-15)

In other words, all people, no matter where they are or what culture they are from, have laws that conform to the law of God.

They may not conform perfectly, but where they do conform, they will be held accountable for whether they keep them or not.

So, for example, different cultures may have different definitions of stealing, but when they break their own laws concerning stealing, God holds them accountable because it falls in line with his laws.

The other standard God judges these people by is their own consciences.

Sometimes, people may do things that are acceptable even to their own culture, for example, sleeping with their boyfriend or girlfriend.

But the next day, their conscience tells them that it doesn’t matter what their culture said, they did something wrong.

And God will hold them accountable for it because their own guilty feelings show that though they didn’t know the Bible, deep down they knew their actions were wrong.

This is not to say that our consciences are perfect reflections of God’s law. They are not, any more than people’s laws are in perfect conformity with God’s law.

But insofar as they coincide, they will be held accountable.

One other point. Paul says in verse 13,

For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. (Romans 2:13)

When Paul says this, I believe he is being entirely theoretical. He’s saying, “It’s not enough to know the law. You need to keep it.”

And theoretically, if you can keep the law perfectly, you will be declared righteous. But as we will see later, there is no one that fits that description.

The main point, however, is this. God is fair. He will not hold you accountable for what you don’t know. He will hold you accountable for what you do know.

So the main question you need to ask yourself today is this, “What are you doing with what you know?”

Categories
Luke Luke 6 Matthew Matthew 5

Sermon on the Mount: But it’s not fair

The gospels

There is something in all of us, I think, that screams for fairness. And if something happens that we feel isn’t fair, we scream against it. But is that the best response?

These few verses go against every instinct we have.

Jesus said,

You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’

But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Matthew 5:38-39)

Verse 38 comes from the Mosaic law, and it was basically instructions to judges on how people were to be punished for wrongdoing.

The point here is not revenge, but telling the judges to match the punishment with the crime, and not go beyond. If someone cost another an eye or a tooth, for example, you were not to kill the offender for that action.

It should be pointed out, however, that this was never literally carried out. You didn’t actually take out another person’s eye or tooth if they cost you yours. Instead, there was usually some compensation that was paid.

The idea was justice, or put another way, fairness.

But Jesus here says, “Don’t be so concerned about fairness. Instead, be a light, even to those who abuse you.”

The first example he gives is a very interesting one. He says, “If someone strike you on your right cheek, turn the other cheek.”

Now, I’m a lefty (and proud of it). So it would be no problem for me to nail someone on their right cheek.

But for most people, they are right-handed. And the only way for them to lay any kind of forcible blow on the right cheek of another is to slap them with the back of their hand.

In other words, Jesus isn’t talking about someone bullying you; he’s talking about someone insulting you.

In Jewish culture, it was considered a graver insult to slap someone with the back of your hand, than with the palm of your hand.

So Jesus was saying, “If someone insults you, let them. Don’t feel like you have to insult them back.”

Is it fair to just take this abuse? No. But Jesus tells us, “Don’t worry about fairness. Show grace.”

He then says if someone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give them your cloak as well.

In Israel, everyone had many changes of shirts, but generally only had one cloak.

Most people slept in their cloak to keep them warm at night, and Moses’ law said that if you took that cloak as a pledge for a loan, you should give it back to that person before he goes to bed at night. (Deuteronomy 24:12-13)

But again, Jesus says that if someone sues you to take your shirt, don’t worry about fairness. Give them your cloak as well.

Romans could force any Jew to carry a burden one mile because the Jews were under their rule. The Jews balked at that, as would we if we were forced to do something we don’t want to.

But Jesus said, “If that happens, don’t just go the one mile, go one extra. Do more than you’re forced to.”

And finally, Jesus says to lend freely to those around you, not worrying about whether they will return what they borrowed from you.

You might ask, “Are you saying that I should just let people walk all over me?”

No. But if we are only worried about “fairness,” we’re fighting a losing battle because we live in an unfair world.

Life isn’t always fair. We can’t always control that. What can we control?

Our attitude. How we react when life, when people are unfair. We can scream. We can fight.

Or we can show grace. We can show mercy. And if you think about it, that’s what Jesus did for us.

It wasn’t fair that he went to the cross. He never did anything wrong. But he showed grace and mercy to us, and because of it, we can know forgiveness and eternal life.

If Jesus did that for us, shouldn’t we do that for others?

Categories
Genesis

But it’s not fair!

Genesis

I had a dormmate once when I was living in Osaka. To say that we didn’t get along that well would be an understatement.

One thing that particularly bothered me was that he wasn’t very good at keeping his word.

Namely, we were supposed to take turns cleaning the bathrooms, buying necessities such as tissue paper, toilet paper, etc. We agreed to do this when we started living together.

However, while I would do my part, it seemed like he would never do his. I would ask politely, and if I got really annoyed, not so politely. And still nothing changed.

Sometimes, when we ran out of toilet paper, I just kept some tissue paper in my bedroom for my personal use and waited to see how long it would take for him to get around to buying the toilet paper. It would usually take him several days to get around to doing so.

In the meantime, he would sometimes put in a packet of pocket tissue in the bathroom instead, which I would very quickly snatch up.

Very mature, right? No excuses, but I was very annoyed.

The thought that kept going through my head was, “This isn’t fair! Why should I always clean the bathroom? Why should I always buy the tissue paper and toilet paper?”

I was right… and I was wrong. Obviously it wasn’t fair, but I also didn’t handle things as I should have.

Isaac apparently had a lot more patience than I did.

He was living among the Philistines, and when they got jealous of his wealth, they started plugging up the wells his father had dug.

When he dug up a new well, the Philistines came and said, “That’s our water. Get out of here.”

He moved on and dug another well, and the Philistines came and did the same thing.

If it had been me, I would’ve been really upset. “This isn’t fair! I dug these wells. Why should these guys get full use of it? Why should I have to dig another one? Let them dig their own wells.”

But Isaac wasn’t me. Instead of complaining, he just kept digging wells until the Philistines finally left him alone. And eventually, he even made peace with them.

I’m usually a patient guy, but when things don’t seem fair, I lose my patience very quickly. But God says,

“If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:18)

To do that, we need to learn to accept people for who and what they are.

My dormmate was very unreliable when it came to housework or shopping, among other things. I needed to learn to accept that, because there was no way to make him change. I tried to make him change and I failed miserably.

Change can only come when a person wants to change. We can’t force them to change. And because of that, sometimes we have to put up with a little, or a lot, of unfairness in our lives.

But if we are unwilling to do that, we’ll not only lose peace with others, we’ll lose peace within ourselves.

Am I saying that if someone upsets us, we should never say anything? No. Say something once. Say it twice. But after that, let it go.

Learn to accept them, warts and all. After all, Christ does the same with us. As the apostle Paul wrote,

Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (Romans 15:7)

Paul was speaking specifically about relationships within the church.

But how much better would our relationships in our marriages, our workplaces, our schools, and in our neighborhoods be if we would learn to accept all people as they are?

How much praise would we bring to God if we could just learn to do that?