Entitlement Theology
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, Romans 8:3 NASB
Weak as it was– God saved you, right? I mean, you couldn’t save yourself, could you? You sinned. Repentance and restitution don’t erase the mistake. Your sin is in the record book, even if it is now forgiven. So God had to act. According to Paul, He sent his son for our sin (notice that the words “as an offering” do not appear in the Greek text). What does this mean? Well, for starters it means that obedience doesn’t save us, right? In some theological circles, it also means that the Torah (Law) is inadequate, insufficient and incapable. Therefore, we can dismiss it. After all, it didn’t save us. What we really needed, and what God provided, was salvation without the Law.
Doesn’t this also mean that once we are saved by Godwhat we do next really doesn’t matter all that much? The Law couldn’t save us in the first place, so why should we think it has anything to do with “salvation” after God’s saving act? Once God chooses us, we’re entitled to all the benefits, right? How could it be otherwise? Would God make a decision to save us, and then change His mind? Would He send his son on our behalf and then refuse to grant us all the rewards of his own son’s effort? Of course not! So doesn’t that mean that once God acts, He becomes responsible to make sure we are perfected and conformed to the image of His son? Isn’t that what Paul is saying when he writes, “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;” (Romans 8:29).
If you observe the behavior of believers, you might draw these conclusions. It certainly appears that salvation is independent of any further regard for God’s (weak) instructions found in the Torah. Sure, it’s probably okay if you decide that you want to live according to those rules, but you don’t have to. Those rules were there only to show us how miserable we really are and how hopeless we would be if we thought that following the rules would save us. Or so it appears. Most religious devotees on the Christian side of the fence operate as if the Torah is no longer needed. Of course, on the Jewish side there is a very different opinion (but, then, the Jews don’t have Christ, so they really aren’t saved yet, are they?). Of course, most serious Christians (not in name only) still live approximately according to Torah’s general commands. They are ethical people. They know society depends on ethical people. They wouldn’t choose to live otherwise. But their theology doesn’t demand this, or even expect it. Salvation is the free gift of God. No strings attached.
Then there’s the problem with the Kingdom, as Matthew Bates points out. If we read the Bible in the context of the Western, Greek, individualistic culture, we might become proponents of entitlement theology, because then the Bible is all about us! But the Bible is ancient, Semitic, communal, kingdom language. And all kingdoms, including God’s, have expectations concerning behavior. Salvation does come with strings attached. Yes, it’s freely offered, but it isn’t free. Think about that while you’re whistling Dixie.
Topical Index: salvation, entitlement, Torah, Law, kingdom, Romans 8:29, Romans 8:3
Adam and Eve were not created to be saved: they were created for a real purpose. That purpose has not changed. Salvation simply returns us to the ability to fulfill our purpose for existence. Torah spells out what that purpose looks like, post sin. We needed the Law to bring us to Christ, but we also need it to keep us there – to keep us saved. We certainly need it to reveal the character of God so we will know how to live that character as His image, which is what our created purpose is. Turns out the only thing we DON’T seem to need that Law for is to ‘earn’ salvation!
Adam and Eve created for a purpose… Now that is the question.
What was their purpose…
They had no sin until Adam failed to guide and help Eve right.
Then again how do you help your boundary setter right. She confines no matter how much direction he gives… Or that is what we can learn from the scriptures.
Back to their purpose.
Serve God – no.
Toil the earth, only after the fall.
Redeem others – no.
Reveal Gods attributes – yes.
But why.
Sorry I still do not have an acceptable answer. A lot of probabilities…
Prove Adam and Eves purpose from the Genises records without doubt. Not easy a lot of uncertainty and probabilities.
So for me we are not really given more than Adam and Eve we have just been issued with a document of other peoples efforts to understand and live up to God expectations.
Yes God seemed to have helped them the closer they got to revealing some of His attributes. The majority people could flea from their given Godly tasks. Yet Adam and Eve had to work harder to survive.
Unless as Jerry and Lisa says God reveals the truth as He needs it to be revealed.
Or are we looking in the wrong place.
Yeshau gave a hint. Unles you become like a child. Should we not look through their eyes and understanding to find God kinngdom. After all it seems when we become adults we forget the reality of life as a child. Care free. Forgiving. Protecting. Caring etc are the things children do without considering possible harm to themselves. Yeshau again said fear not what can harm the flesh…
Share the intellect of man or live with the passion and innocence of a child.
… for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. (2nd Cor. 3:6)
The Law is Spiritual and we tend to forget that Heavenly Fact because we tend to throw letters about willy nilly when we don’t allow the Spiritual Nature of Abba to actually guide that most wondrous activity.
Shalom FJ
When I think of the way a child trusts, my daughter then and my grand daughter now. They simply take their parents at their word until they are taught otherwise. The Spirit of Truth contained in the law remains good and Holy (able to make me whole)
Skip, there is a lot of sarcasm written here and I’m having a hard time discerning the difference especially as I sift through my confused theology. Thank you for your thoughts on this subject and specifically this passage. The book of Romans has been extremely confusing as it is full of misleading translation.
Sarcasm? Gee, I hope not. I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. Just trying to get at underlying assumptions about how we read the text.
Thanks for being vulnerable with us. Sharing your weakness/confusion. I remember the time I was in what felt like a “crisis of belief.” I would ask myself is what I am saying about the Bible what I read for myself or a regurgitation of the many sermons I’ve heard over the years. I believe desire and seeking opens our hearts to embracing new truths. letting go of the old to embrace the new feels confusing. Please don’t be discouraged and Please don’t let someone refer to your confessed state of confusion as bitterness. That’s simply an opinion. We are gentle with babies and infants for a reason. Romans 14 has been useful in keeping me in check. Keep seeking, you will find. Skips articles provide wholesome meals. Blessings
Humm, “a lot of sarcasm replies Kris” seems that comes from a small root of bitterness to me. But probably this from wounds suffered in the process of ferreting out deep truths midst the deep lies, contentions and illusions. Truth brings with it healing and disillusionment ( a very good thing). Not to get too personal with you all.
But the intellectual/institutional, cultural driven perspective shared and underlined for me with these words, ” but the Bible is ancient, Semitic, communal, kingdom language. ” is dwarfed by the actual Ruach Ha Kodesh’s purposed revelation to the ancients and in our current day. We, this generation, those seeing these day’s and sharing what we witness are all he has to work with now. Yes the Scriptures remain, yet we must interpret and understand them for NOW. So we share from pain, hurt or incorrect or accurate interpretation. I trust the Spirit is revealing more truth, grace, and teaching for us NOW.
I do not dismiss the Torah, I attempt to live it, it is for today. It was not replaced by Grace it is grace unto us. The Spirit released at Pentecost enables us to live Torah. Yet also our social, cultural and corporate understanding of that still advances. Because we serve not “an ancient, Semitic, communal” Idea that is in competition with an ancient Greek Idea. But a true living Elohim, currently present and still revealing himself in and through both scripture, the spirit and his living Messiah Yeshua. We the current generation- reamin the dysfunctional tools he has to work with…
What if that “ancient…communal idea” is not ‘just’ a “Semitic” peculiarity, but instead is how all of creation was designed to function? What if we are seeing in the physical, medical realm the same disfunction we are seeing in the mental and spiritual realm, but ALL of these supposedly different nephesh symptoms had exactly the same core cause: i.e. a breakdown of that “ancient communal idea”?
Quote by James Maskell on today’s Addiction Summit, “How Community Creates Health”: “at the cellular level social stress is the biggest driver of all causes of mortality; more than drinking alcohol, what you eat, etc.” He goes on to outline the now famous “rat park” study where they found that rats in isolation preferred opiates to water, but when they were released into a community: a “rat park”, nothing could induce them to choose the drug. The conclusion is that not only is a healthy, diverse community the only tried and true way to get ourselves back out of
“all causes of mortality”; it is also the only way proven to keep us out in the first place. (Um, that would include the inner community of our microbiome, too.) Wait; isn’t this what WE should be preaching from the rooftops? Sounds like the gospel to me!
Humm Ideas.. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” “Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
Seems to me a mystery might be about all this that we might just not ever really get?
People have been successfully cooperating with nature and each other in community without knowing ‘why’ it works since time immemorial. You don’t have to understand it to do it. In fact, thinking you understand it might even get in the way!
Most people do not actually understand how the refrigerant cycle works in an air conditioner,(basic physics it has a lot to do with pressure, condensation and evaporation a real phase change=solids into vapor Humm) But they use it, enjoy it and pay the bill for it, because that’s just the way things work…I think we are on the same page here sister…
Yep. It’s truly sad that most of us probably trust our air conditioners more than we trust God. If only we turned to Him in every potentially sinful moment as expectantly and automatically as we turn on the air to keep from getting hot!