The Gospel in Twenty Questions (10 page)

I used to read the
Bible
because I thought it could show me
how to navigate life. I considered it
God’s Manual for Successful Living
.
But the Bible is neither a road map nor an instruction manual. The Bible is a
book about Jesus.

The greatest
story ever told is about Jesus, who loved us, lost us, and won us back. The
Bible tells this story a thousand different ways. Why should you read the
Bible? Because it’s a good story and you’re in it! You are the reason Jesus did
what he did.

Read the
Bible to learn about Jesus and how much he loves you and who you are in him.
Reading the Bible without wanting to know Jesus is like reading someone else’s
love letters. You might learn a few things about love, but the words won’t move
you. You won’t feel the love.

Some people
get confused because they think the Bible has all the answers. It does not.
James never said, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should study the Bible.” He
said you should ask God (James 1:5). God surely speaks to us through the Bible,
but if the Bible doesn’t lead you to a revelation of the One called Wisdom,
you’ll be no wiser than a Pharisee. Of them, Jesus said this:

You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because
you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the
trees. These scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before
you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want. (John
5:39–40, MSG)

Everything in the Bible points
to Jesus and his redemptive work. Jesus can be seen in every book and on every
page. Although his name doesn’t appear in the Old Testament, he is concealed in
the stories of Joseph, David, the ark, the Fall, the law, the tabernacle, and
even the furnishings used inside the temple. The deeper you look into the
Bible, the more you see—provided you’re looking for Jesus.

The Bible is
the best book on the planet. It’s brilliant, inspired, earthly, heavenly,
historical, biographical, prophetic, apocalyptic, poetic, and epic. It reveals
much about the character and purposes of God, but ultimately it’s just a book.
A misguided teacher will use the book to tell you what you should do, but a
good teacher will use it to show you what Jesus has done and what you can now
do because of what he has done.

Since there
is no better teacher than the Holy Spirit, a good way to read the Bible is to
read slowly and ask questions. “Lord, what does this mean? How does this
scripture reveal you and your good purposes? Show me what you want me to see.
Help me to become who you made me to be.”

Reading
without relationship is pointless. You’ll never get anything out of the written
word unless your aim is to know the Living Word. Don’t read the Bible because
you’re supposed to or because it pleases God. Read the Bible to know him more
and to discover the good things he has in store for you.

People often ask me, “What is
the best Bible translation?” Easy question. Jesus is. He is the Living Word of
God and he is flawless and free of translation errors. If you want to know more
about the character of God and his eternal purposes, study Jesus.

However, I
appreciate my answer is not helpful to those who are choosing a Bible. In that
case, I have another answer. If you are looking for the perfect translation,
allow me to end your quest now. There isn’t one. All translations have biases
and inaccuracies.

Finding the
right Bible is like finding the right spouse. Don’t look for the perfect man or
woman—you’ll never find one. Instead, find the one who is perfect for you.

Which is the best
version of the Bible? It’s the one you actually read. If you bought a
particular translation because it came highly recommended, but it now sits
gathering dust on your shelf, then that translation is not the
perfect Bible for you.

An
unread Bible is a useless Bible. So find a Bible that speaks your language,
resonates with your spirit, and strikes you as beautiful to read. That’s the
best translation for you.
[24]

In many
Bibles the words of Jesus are printed in red letters. “Don’t stray too far from
the red letters” is a piece of advice often given to new believers. It means
stay close to the teachings of Jesus and you can’t go wrong. It sounds good,
but it’s actually bad advice.

Read the red
letters of Jesus and you will find two medicines: grace and law. Jesus gave
grace to sinners and law to the self-righteous. Like a perfect physician, Jesus
gave people exactly what they needed. This is confusing to some. They wonder,
Which medicine is for me?
I like grace, but the
commands of Jesus are hard to ignore.
In their confusion, they drink both
medicines. They swallow grace and law
and end up
receiving the benefits of neither.

Living by the
red letters of Jesus is a bit like swallowing whatever you find in the medicine
cabinet. If you fail to distinguish his life-giving words of grace from the
death-dealing words of law, you could hurt yourself.
We’ll
look at the dangers of mixing law and grace in the next chapter. But in this
chapter we will look at some of the hard-to-swallow teachings of Jesus.

Jesus lived at the crossroads
of two covenants. As humanity’s representative he came to fulfill the old
law-keeping covenant so that we might relate to God through a new and better
covenant forged in his blood. Since the new covenant could not begin before he
died (see Luke 22:20), Jesus lived all of his pre-cross life under the old
covenant of the law.

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that
we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:4–5)

Jesus was born under law,
circumcised by law, and presented in the temple according to the law. Every
Jewish person Jesus met was also born under law. To those born under the law,
Jesus said this:

The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in
Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. (Matthew
23:2–3a)

Jesus spoke two languages. To
those born under the law, he spoke the language of the law. But to those not
under law—Gentiles, you, me, and everyone born after the cross—Jesus speaks the
language of grace.

It is
essential that you understand this. Jesus lived under the law, but on the cross
he fulfilled all the requirements of the law so that we might live under grace.
It’s a whole new way of life with a whole new language.

Jesus is grace personified. In
chapter 4 we looked at some of the ways Jesus dispensed grace. But Jesus was
also the greatest law-preacher of all time. This is not obvious but it’s true.
When religious people came to trap him with theological puzzles, Jesus would typically
respond with the law. “What did Moses command you?” (Mark 10:3). To the Jews in
the temple, Jesus said:

Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you
keeps the law. (John 7:19a)

Nobody preached the law like
Jesus. Consider this famous passage:

For if you forgive other people when they sin against
you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others
their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:14–15)

This is one of the most popular
sayings of Jesus. It is also vintage law and a killer scripture. It is not good
news. This verse should make us shudder, for it says our forgiveness rests on
our ability to forgive others. This is bad news because we are poor forgivers
indeed. People sin against us repeatedly. Have we honestly forgiven them all?
What if we miss one?

And what do
we say to those who have been abused and mistreated? What do you say to a child
who has been molested? “Sweetie, you need to forgive that evil man, otherwise
God won’t forgive you.” That’s not grace. That’s the condemning ministry of the
law in full bloom. How do you forgive the unforgivable? You can’t. Then you’re
in trouble, for the law condemns you as an unforgiver.

The law is
any conditional statement that links our behavior with blessings or curses.
It’s tit for tat and
quid pro quo
.
How do we
recognize the law that Jesus preached? Just look for the carrots and sticks.
You will find plenty in the Sermon on the Mount.

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
(Matthew 7:1)

That’s good advice but it’s
also law. It comes with a big stick (judgment). Here is another example:

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother
or sister will be subject to judgment … And anyone who says, “You fool!” will
be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22)

This is not good news. It’s bad
news for anyone with a brother or sister. It’s pure law. There is no grace
here, just condemnation.

Here is
another tough saying of Jesus:

If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and
cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members
perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand
causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable
for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast
into hell. (Matthew 5:29–30, NKJV)

This is one of those passages
that causes you to do a double-take.
What?! Did Jesus really say that? Was
he serious?

Perhaps you
think Jesus wasn’t serious. After all, Jesus is the kindest person there is. He
healed the sick and touched lepers. Surely he doesn’t want us to go around
maiming ourselves. Nevertheless, the question stands: Did Jesus mean what he
said? Was he being literal or figurative?

“Obviously
Jesus wasn’t being literal. He is using strong words to warn us about the
seriousness of sin. He’s not preaching self-mutilation but self-denial. He’s
telling us we should do whatever it takes to avoid hell.”

That’s a
common interpretation, but there are two problems with it. First, it assumes
that Jesus was exaggerating and Jesus never exaggerated. Preachers sometimes
exaggerate to make a point, but Jesus always meant what he said and said what
he meant. He is Truth personified. It is inconceivable that he would play with
words for the crude purpose of ramming home a lesson.

The second
problem with this interpretation is it suggests we can do things to avoid hell.
Maybe we don’t have to self-amputate, but we can confess, abstain, renounce,
and generally be good. There’s nothing wrong with being good, but if you think
you can save yourself by being good then, forgive me, you’re as dumb as a
Pharisee.

“Wait a
second, Paul. Are you suggesting Jesus was being literal? That he really wants
us to self-amputate?” Yes to the first question and no the second. Of course,
Jesus does not want us to chop off our hands. We are sanctified by the blood of
the Lamb, not our severed limbs (Hebrews 10:29). Self-mutilation does nothing
to deal with sin, for sin is conceived in the heart not the hand (Matthew
5:28). Besides, if you chop one hand off, you’re left with another. You can
still sin!

So what’s
going on here? Why would Jesus tell us to do something he doesn’t really want
us to do? He’s doing it so that we may appreciate the absurdity of trying to
impress God with our acts of self-righteousness. “You want to live by law?”
says Jesus. “Fine. But if you persist in this pathetic course of self-reliance,
you had better be prepared to go the whole way, even if it means sacrificing an
eye or a hand.”

Was Jesus
serious? You bet he was. Salvation is a serious business. You risk much by
trusting your own self-righteous performance.

Does Jesus
want us to amputate our own limbs? Not at all. Jesus is not preaching the law
because he wants you to keep it. He’s laying down the law so that you will stop
pretending you are.