The Severity of God

I often wonder if those Christians who talk frequently about the severity of God’s law even understand that severity. The severe standard of righteousness that God’s holy law demands never wanes, never makes exceptions, never allows a slip. Period. One slip and it’s game over.  Jesus himself spoke these severe words about the law in the Sermon on the Mount: “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:18-20 ESV)  It might be helpful to look at one commandment and evaluate it to the end of its severity so that we might have proper respect for the law. I will choose number seven: You shall not commit adultery.

Now, at face value I am not condemned by this law because I have never been physically unfaithful to my wife with another woman. In a Pharisaic sense I have kept the commandment. According to a first century Judaic interpretation (and in many cases a 21^st century Christian interpretation) I have succeeded in satisfying the law. My righteousness is equal to that of the Pharisees. That was pretty easy. But how do I exceed their righteousness?

If I keep reading in Matthew 5, I can clearly hear the son of God declare: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 ESV) So when Jesus says that we must ‘do’ and ‘teach’ the commandments, he is not talking about outward compliance alone.

Oops. I cannot escape the fact that I have done that many times, and I still am given to it on occasion. I feel kind of bad about that, but God will let that slide, right? You have just admitted that your righteousness has not exceeded that of the Pharisees. According to Jesus you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.  This is the beginning of the true severity of law. God does not grade on a curve, so any tiny infraction results in a complete fail. The equation is this:

If Your Righteousness <= Pharisee Righteousness then NO ETERNAL LIFE.

So I will do this; when I see a woman walking down the opposite side of the street, I will avert my eyes. It will be hard, but I must do it as a means of satisfying God’s holy requirement and letting others know that I am serious about my righteousness. And yet I have not exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisee still because my forcing myself to turn away is an indication that the lustful intent still remains. Again I am responding to inward unrighteousness by trying to modify my outward behavior, which is exactly on par with the righteousness of the Pharisee. Apparently God demands more of me than I can possibly do. No matter which direction I turn, it seems that unless I disregard God’s demand altogether I am crushed by the severity of the law.

And when I get to Matthew 5:48, it becomes clear what the law demands. “YOU THEREFORE MUST BE PERFECT, AS YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER IS PERFECT.” Not merely outward perfection, not merely mastering my behavior, but also mastering my thoughts, my desires, my lust and my own sinful heart; being exactly as perfect as God is perfect. How can that be when there is no one who is perfect besides God himself?

And in that question lies the answer to your problem, brother Pharisee. There is none good but God alone. Because of His goodness He must punish those who fail to keep His law in thought, word and deed. As in one evil thought, one misplaced word, one wicked deed. He certainly knows your personal righteousness will never exceed that of the Pharisees according to that standard. If a person could be perfect by his keeping of the law, they would certainly have been so. But no one can be perfected by law-keeping because the demands of the law are so severe that they can never be met so long as we attempt it in our self -aggrandizing and sin-soaked righteousness.

This is why Christ came; to fulfill the demands of the law on our behalf. He alone can be perfect as the Father is perfect because He is one with the Father. He is God in flesh. He died to satisfy the demands of the law that he lived under not to pay for his own sin (for he was sinless) but to pay for ours. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) If our righteousness is to exceed the perfected outward righteousness of the Pharisee, cleansing even our minds and hearts, then Christ must become our righteousness. And by faith, he does.

And you may have thought to yourself, “That was a wonderful evangelic presentation! Bravo!” But I am addressing this to you Christian. Do you think that because you prayed a prayer and were baptized that you’ve been given a pass on the law? That trying your best is good enough in God’s eyes? That you are to now take matters into your own hands and ‘be all that you can be’ as a Christian? If so, watch out. God gives no passes. If you are not, this very moment, standing in Christ’s righteousness alone then your righteousness is not exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisee or Scribe. If you are averting your eyes or avoiding situations because you have a sense that your righteousness is merely skin-deep and you are given to sin, you are in great danger. Your righteousness – the exact same righteousness as the Pharisee and Scribe had – is standing in the way of the perfect righteousness that God demands. Repent from thinking that you can do what only Christ has done and believe afresh the gospel truth.

God Bless