Gospel Gleanings, “…especially the parchments”
Volume 23, Number 10
March 9, 2008
Divine Goodness or Divine Severity: “If…”
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee,
goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. And they also, if they
abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again. For if thou wert cut
out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree:
how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
(Romans 11:22-24)
As active Christians and for obvious reasons,
we prefer to emphasize God’s goodness over His
severity.
To be sure, Scripture affirms that
emphasis, but Scripture does not ignore the “other
side of the coin,” God’s severity. Throughout
Scripture God affirms the absolute principles of
His moral character and His equally moral law to
humanity, particularly to His people. He equally
affirms that He has chosen to govern the world in
which we live as a “moral government,” not as a
robotic universe in which divine decrees absolutely
control and manipulate or orchestrate every event
that occurs. According to the search feature of my
Bible software, our King James Bible uses the
word “if” one thousand five hundred ninety five
times. Perhaps on occasion the meaning of the
word is “Since” or “Because,” a logical “If-Then”
point, but by far the majority of times the word
introduces a moral condition that is followed by the
consequences of human moral choices. God thus
leaves us with His full instruction and affirmed
moral principles to know right from wrong and to
know what He directs us to do. He further informs
us fully in advance of the consequences of our
moral choices. “If” we choose an immoral course
that contradicts His specific moral teachings, He
makes sure we understand the consequences of
our immoral decision and action. If we choose the
right—the moral—course of action, He equally
makes sure that we understand the blessings that
shall attend our righteous actions.
In no way does this concept diminish God’s
sovereignty. He is God! He chose the rules, the
moral rules, by which He would govern the
universe that He created. Beginning with Adam in
the Garden of Eden, He consistently reveals His
will,
and
He
consistently
reveals
the
consequences of our actions. Whether we are
dealing with Isaiah’s warnings at the beginning of
his prophecy or with New Testament instructions
to believers and churches, God always reveals
both the moral right and wrong of the matter, and
He always commands the righteous course, fully
warning us in advance of the consequences of our
choices. Consider these two examples.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat
the good of the land: But if ye refuse and
rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
(Isaiah 1:19-20)
Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he
also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit
reap life everlasting. (Galatians 6:7-8)
In both passages God informs His people of the
consequences of their choices and actions.
Neither eating the “…good of the land” or being
“…devoured by the sword” are presented as
divinely orchestrated events, but rather they are
presented as God’s certain promise/warning in
either approval and blessing or disapproval and
judgment to our choices and actions.
I grew up on a farm. In the Galatians passage
Paul equates the consequences of our actions to
the sprouting and growing of seeds sown. When
you plant a particular kind of seed, you know
exactly what kind of plant will sprout and grow
from it. If you want to grow vegetables, you don’t
plant weed seeds!
Behold therefore the goodness and severity of
God…. Paul did not in any way indicate that
divine severity is inappropriate or unfair. Quite the
contrary, he affirmed the righteousness and
appropriateness of both.
…on them which fell, severity; but toward thee,
goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:
otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. What forms
the basis for God’s response? How may we
predict whether to expect divine goodness or
divine severity? Paul makes the point with clarity.
Divine severity was served against “…them which
fell….” Divine goodness is available to us on the
stated condition, “…if thou continue in his
goodness.” Even as the recipients of goodness
enjoy that blessing, Paul warns them to continue
faithfully in their course. “…otherwise thou also
shalt be cut off.
In a robotic universe the “master robot” would
control, manipulate, and orchestrate every finite
detail of unfolding events. There would be no right
or wrong; only the will of the “master robot”
matters, and he dictates every event. However,
the universe in which we live, the universe
described in the Bible that God created, is not
such a place. It is preeminently a moral universe.
The God who created it is a moral God, and He
has declared His moral Law to all intelligent, moral
creatures in that universe. That moral declaration
appears in nature and more fully in Scripture.
When God created the universe, He indeed
created the immaterial components of that
universe with certain specific characteristics and
qualities. Those immaterial elements respond with
robotic predictability. Put two parts of hydrogen
and one part of oxygen together in the right setting
and with the right catalyst, and you can predict
that you will always see water formed from those
two gases. Drop a solid object and you can
universally predict that it will fall based on the laws
of gravity. It will not slip from your hand and move
upward or sideways. Based on its density and
mass, you can predict its reaction to your
releasing it from your grip. It will fall based on the
consistent laws of gravity.
Did God create humans and angels, the two
“moral” creatures in His universe, under similar
natural laws and with similar programmed and
predictable unthinking, unintelligent, and amoral
qualities? Or did He impose His moral code on
them and give them a moral commandment that
they were commanded and expected to obey?
The concept of a moral universe necessarily
requires that the subjects within such a moral
universe have intelligent discernment, a sense of
the right and the wrong of the matter covered in
the moral commandments, and are given the
ability to either comply or not to comply. Based on
the presence of God’s moral law and His specific
commandment, these intelligent moral beings then
may reason through the consequences of their
choices and subsequent actions. If they choose to
obey the divine commandment, they rationally
anticipate the blessed consequences of their
choice. If they choose to ignore and disregard
God’s commandment, they should rationally
anticipate God’s righteous judgment, precisely
what He reveals in Scripture.
It is this moral foundation that Paul accepts as
he presents us with the two options in our study
verses. We may not recreate the passage and
add our own third option. Nor may we make our
own choices and expect to avoid the revealed
consequences that God sets forth in the passage.
Make the choice and you choose the
consequences
that
Paul
presents—the
consequences that God has declared in His
righteous judgment and associated with the two
options set forth.
Neither Paul nor any other inspired writer of
Scripture leaves our conduct open for private
personal—and often relativistic—determination.
God has fully declared in Scripture what He
commands, what He has decided is right and what
is wrong.
Further Scripture distinctly and
consistently affirms that God has commanded the
right and never the wrong.
While belief in the Bible doctrines of grace
rightly reject man’s “free moral agency,” a term
that historically has been used to refer to the
broad (and errant) concept that fallen man
retained the ability to reverse the consequences of
his fall and return to God, thus accomplishing his
own salvation, but the doctrines of grace should
never be so interpreted as to reject the Biblical
truth of man’s free will. Man’s free will means that
man exists as a moral being under God’s moral
government. He may choose to do right, or he
may choose to sin. He is not robotically or
machine-like orchestrated to do a certain thing,
moral or immoral. He weighs the information he
has, applies his discernment to that information,
and decides which course to take. The point of
Scripture, including Paul’s teaching in our study
passage, is that man’s choice is never
independent of God’s moral Law. We do not
create our own moral code. We are subject to
God’s Law, including both the blessings of
obedience and the “severity” of disobedience.
Do you prefer divine goodness to divine
severity? Have you not at times experienced
some of both? Talk about a “no-brainer” question!
When you make the decision and take action on it,
you are fully informed by God in Scripture of what
you should expect. He never surprises anyone
regarding moral issues! He always consistently
declares what is right and what is wrong. He also
consistently declares the consequences of our
choices and actions.
And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief,
shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in
again. For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree
which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary
to nature into a good olive tree: how much more
shall these, which be the natural branches, be
graffed into their own olive tree? There is no
indication of cultural or racial preference here.
Jew or Gentile alike; both live under the same
divine Law. A Jewish believer and a Gentile
believer receive the same divine response of
insurmountable and unexpected goodness from a
gracious—and moral—God. Jewish and Gentile
children of God who refuse to believe and obey
God also receive the same divine response. The
divine severity that they receive is divinely
measured and appropriate to their unbelief and
their rejection of God’s declared moral truth.
Do you want to experience God’s goodness?
God makes it rather simple. Order your life within
the clear framework of His moral teachings in
Scripture. Goodness is sure to follow.
Nothing in Paul’s teaching, or in the thoughts
here considered, ignores or rejects God’s
intervening providence. At times God may—and
does—step into the human experience and works
His will.
However, He never manifests His
intervention in any way contrary to the moral
principles presented in Scripture and consistently
affirmed as His personal moral character. God is
not double-minded. He is not moral today and
immoral tomorrow. He does not “orchestrate,
manipulate, or control” human sin and then punish
the very thing He caused. If He in fact were to so
control human sin, He, not the sinner, would be
the guilty criminal who should face divine
punishment, divine severity!
Thank God for
occasions of gracious providence. Thank God for
the assurance in Scripture that providence
consistently appears in perfect harmony with His
holy moral character. Which “If” course will you
choose today? Will you choose the way of willing,
voluntary obedience? If so, Isaiah assures you
that you shall “…eat the good of the land.” If you
choose the way of sin, Isaiah equally assures you
that you shall experience the frowning face of
divine severity. In the words of Moses:
I call heaven and earth to record this day
against you, that I have set before you life
and death, blessing and cursing: therefore
choose life, that both thou and thy seed
may live: That thou mayest love the LORD
thy God, and that thou mayest obey his
voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto
him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy
days: that thou mayest dwell in the land
which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, to
Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give
them. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20, KJV)
In order to “…love the LORD…to…obey his
voice…to…cleave unto him…to…dwell in the
land…Moses requires that we choose the way.
Little Zion Primitive Baptist Church
16434 Woodruff
Bellflower, California
Worship service each Sunday
10:30 A. M.
Joseph R. Holder
Pastor