Commentary

 

249 - Newness of Life

By Jonathan S. Rose

Title: Newness of Life

Topic: Salvation

Summary: What the Bible calls newness of life is not just a matter of changing our behaviors but of gaining a new heart and a new spirit.

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
Romans 6:1, 4
Isaiah 65:17; 66:22
Jeremiah 31:31
Leviticus 3:1, 14, 17, Leviticus 3:23, Leviticus 3:26, Leviticus 3:33, Leviticus 3:40-41
Ezekiel 11:16; 18:30; 36:25
John 3:3
Romans 12:1-2
2 Corinthians 4:16; 5:17, 10
Galatians 6:12
Ephesians 4:17, 24
Colossians 3:5, 9-11
Titus 3:1-5
Revelation 21:1-5
Isaiah 62:1-2

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The Bible

 

2 Corinthians 5:10

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10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.

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True Christianity #506

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506. The fourth memorable occurrence. In the spiritual world I once saw two groups of animals: a herd of goats and a flock of sheep. I wondered who they were, because I knew that animals that are seen in the spiritual world are not animals but forms that correspond to the feelings and thoughts of people who are in that area. Therefore I went toward them. As I approached, the images of animals disappeared and in their place I saw people. It became obvious that the people who constituted the herd of goats were those who were adamantly devoted to the teaching that we are justified by faith alone. The people who constituted the flock of sheep were those who believed that goodwill and faith are one, just as goodness and truth are one.

[2] I then spoke with the people who had appeared to be goats. I said, "Why are you meeting together?"

Most of the people in that group were clergy, who boasted of their reputation for being highly educated because they knew the secrets of justification by faith alone. They said that they were gathered to sit in council because they had heard the following.

The statement of Paul that "we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law" (Romans 3:28) has not been understood correctly, in that "faith" here does not mean the faith of the church today, which is a belief in three divine persons from eternity, but instead means faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ; and "the works of the law" here does not mean the works of the law of the Ten Commandments but the works of the Mosaic law given for Jews.

Therefore through a wrong interpretation of this mere handful of words you have come to two hugely false conclusions - that the phrase concerns (1) the faith of the church of today and (2) the works of the law of the Ten Commandments.

That Paul did not mean those works but the works of the Mosaic Law, which were given for Jews to follow, is very clear from Paul's words to Peter, chiding him for making others follow Jewish religious practices, even though Peter himself should have known that "No one is justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ" (Galatians 2:14-16). [On the point that "the faith of Jesus Christ" means faith in him and from him, see 338. ] And because "the works of the law" mean "the works of the Mosaic law," therefore Paul distinguishes between the law of faith and the law of works, and between Jews and non-Jews, and between the circumcised and the uncircumcised (by the "circumcised" there he means Judaism, as he does throughout). Paul closes that section with the following words: "Therefore are we doing away with the law through faith? By no means! We are establishing the law. " Paul says all these things in a single series (). Paul also says in the preceding chapter, "Hearers of the law are not going to be justified by God, but doers of the law will be justified" (Romans 2:13). Also, "God renders to all according to their works" (Romans 2:6). Again, "It is right that all of us should appear before the tribunal of Christ, so that each of us will report what we did through our body, whether good or evil" (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul makes many other such statements as well. From this it is clear that Paul rejected faith without good works every bit as much as James did (James 2:17-26).

[3] We have further established that Paul meant the works of the Mosaic Law intended for Jews from the fact that all the statutes for Jews that were given through Moses are called "the Law," and therefore are works of the law, as we see in the following passages: "This is the law of the trespass offering" (Leviticus 7:1). ["This is the law of the peace offering"] (Leviticus 7:11 and following). "This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sacrifices for sin and guilt, and the consecrations" (Leviticus 7:37). "This is the law of the animals and the birds" (Leviticus 11:46 and following). "This is the law for a woman who has given birth to a son or a daughter" (Leviticus 12:7). "This is the law of leprosy" (Leviticus 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57). "This is the law for someone who has a discharge" (Leviticus 15:32). "This is the law of jealousy" (Numbers 5:29-30). "This is the law of the Nazarite" (Numbers 6:13, 21). "This is the law of cleansing" (Numbers 19:14). "This is the law of the red heifer" (Numbers 19:2). "[This is] the law for a king" (Deuteronomy 17:15-19). In fact, the entire Book of Moses is called the Book of the Law (Deuteronomy 31:9, 11-12, 26; see also Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22-23; 8:5).

To these points [the writers of this piece] added that they see in Paul that we must live by the law of the Ten Commandments and that those commandments are fulfilled by goodwill (). And [the writers] further observed that Paul said, "There are three things: faith, hope, and goodwill. The greatest of these is goodwill" (1 Corinthians 13:13); therefore the greatest of the three is not faith.

[4] So this, the clergy said, was why they had convened. I left so as not to disturb them; and again from far away they looked like goats. They looked sometimes like they were lying down, and at other times like they were standing, but in either case they kept away from the flock of sheep. When they were debating they looked like they were lying down, and when they had come to a conclusion they looked like they were standing up. I fixed my gaze on their horns and was amazed to see that they seemed at one moment as if they extended forward and upward from their foreheads, and at another as if they were curving toward their backs; eventually they seemed to be bent completely backward. Then suddenly [the priests] turned in the direction of the flock of sheep, although they themselves still looked like goats.

So I went toward them again and asked what was going on now. They said they had concluded that faith alone produces acts of goodwill the way a tree produces fruit. But at that point thunder occurred and lightning flashed overhead. Soon an angel appeared, standing between the herd and the flock.

He called out to the flock of sheep, "Don't listen to them. They have not left their former belief, which is that faith alone justifies and saves. They have absolutely no actual goodwill. For another thing, a tree does not represent faith; it represents a human being. Instead, go through the process of repentance and look to the Lord and you'll have faith. Faith before that is a faith without life. "

Then the goats with the bent-back horns tried to come at the sheep, but the angel standing between them divided the sheep into two flocks. He said to the flock of sheep on the left, "Go ahead and join the goats, but I'm telling you, a wolf is coming that is going to snatch them away, and you along with them. "

[5] Once the sheep had been divided into two flocks and the sheep on the left had heard the angel's warning, they looked at each other and said, "Let's have a discussion with our former colleagues. "

The flock of sheep on the left then said to the flock of sheep on the right, "Why have you left our pastors? Surely faith and goodwill are one, just as a tree and its fruit are one. A tree is extended through its branches into its fruit. Break off part of the branch through which the tree has a connection with the fruit, and the fruit is going to perish, and along with the fruit, all the seed of the new tree that has yet to come about. Ask our priests whether this is the case. "

So the sheep on the right posed the question. They looked over at the sheep on the left, who were winking at the priests in the hope that they would endorse what they had said.

"What you said is indeed right, as far as it goes," the priests answered, "but the parallel between the extension of faith into good works and the extension of a tree into its fruit is something about which we know many further secrets, although this is not the place to reveal them to the public. In the thread that links faith and goodwill there are many little knots that only we priests are able to untie. "

[6] Then a priest who was one of the sheep on the right stood up and said to the sheep on the left, "To you those priests replied that what you said is right; but among themselves they say it is not right, because in fact they have a different opinion. "

So the sheep on the right asked the angel, "What are the priests thinking now? Does their thinking align with their teaching?"

"No," the angel said. "Their thinking is that every act of goodwill (called a good work) that people do for the sake of their salvation and eternal life is not in the least bit good, because human beings want to save themselves through their own effort, acquiring the justice and merit of the one Savior for themselves; this is how it is with every good work that people feel is of their own will. Therefore those priests believe that there is absolutely no connection between faith and goodwill. They would not even say that faith is retained or preserved through good works. "

[7] "The accusations you are making against the priests are false," said the sheep on the left. "Don't they openly preach to us goodwill and its actions, which they call the works of faith?"

"You are not understanding what they are preaching," the angel replied. "The clergyman among you [sheep] is the only one who is paying attention and understands. Those priests are thinking of a goodwill that is only moral and of good works that are only civic and political. These they call works of faith, but they are not works of faith at all, because an atheist would be capable of doing them the same way and in the same form. Therefore the [goat] priests are in complete agreement with each other that no one is saved by any works that she or he performs, but by faith alone.

"I can illustrate their position by comparisons they make. An apple tree produces apples, but if we do good things for the sake of our salvation through an extension of ourselves the way an apple tree produces apples through an extension of itself, the apples we make are inwardly rotten and full of worms. They also say that a vine produces grapes, but if we were to aim to do good spiritual actions the way a vine produces grapes, the fruit we would make would be wild grapes. "

[8] The sheep on the left asked [the priest among the sheep on the right], "Then what do the priests mean by acts of goodwill or works that are the fruit of faith?"

"Perhaps they are invisible," [the priest] replied, "and somewhere near faith, although they are not joined to it. They are like the shadow that follows along behind us when we are facing the sun - a shadow we don't notice unless we turn around. In fact, I would venture that they are like horses' tails, which in many areas today are cut off, because people say, 'What do I need with this? It serves no purpose as long as it is still attached to the horse, and it easily gets dirty there. '"

At this, someone from the flock of sheep on the left became upset and said, "There has to be some connection between good works and our faith. Otherwise how could those works be called the works of faith? Perhaps good actions that come from goodwill are subtly introduced by God into the things we do willingly, through the agency of some inflow or other - through some feeling, for example, or influence, or inspiration, some stimulation or stirring of the will, some wordless awareness in thought - and then an urging, a penitence, a movement of conscience that results in an impulse to obey the Ten Commandments and the Word, whether felt in childhood or old age; or by some other means like these. How else could they be called the fruits of faith?"

To this the priest replied, "No, that's not it. If those priests do say it happens by some such method, they are just stringing words together for a sermon. The sum of their words, though, is that good works have no relationship to faith. Now, some priests do say good works are related to faith, but as the signs of faith rather than as bonds that join faith and goodwill. And some priests have come up with the idea that faith and goodwill are connected by the Word. "

[The person among the sheep on the left] said, "But that is how the two are connected, isn't it?"

"Not the way those priests think of it," replied [the priest]. "They are thinking that the union takes place through our merely hearing the Word. They assert that in matters of faith, every part of our reason and every part of our will is impure and focused on earning merit, since in spiritual matters we are unable to understand, will, work, or cooperate any more than a piece of dead wood. "

[9] When one of the sheep on the right heard that human beings are believed to be this way in all matters related to faith and salvation, he said, "I heard someone say, 'I have planted a vineyard. Now I will drink wine until I am drunk. ' But someone else asked, 'Are you planning to drink this wine from your own drinking cup using your own right hand?' 'No,' the first one said. 'I'm planning to drink from an invisible cup using an invisible hand. ' 'In that case,' the other person said, 'you will definitely not become intoxicated!'"

In a moment the same man said to the sheep on the left, "Please listen to me. I am telling you, drink wine from the Word with understanding. Don't you know that the Lord is the Word? Isn't the Word from the Lord? Isn't he therefore in it? If you do what is good because of the Word, then, you are following the Lord in doing what is good - following his edict, his will. If you look to the Lord, he himself will lead you and teach you, and you will do what is good under your own initiative on the Lord's behalf. When someone does something on behalf of his or her monarch, obeying a royal edict or command, is that person entitled to say, 'In doing this I am obeying my own edict or command, my own will'?"

At that point he turned toward the clergy and said, "Ministers of God, do not lead your flock astray. "

[10] Most of the flock of sheep on the left then withdrew and rejoined the flock on the right.

Some of the clergy began saying, "We have heard things we never heard before. We are shepherds; we must not leave our sheep. " And they too withdrew with them.

These clergy kept saying, "The word that that man spoke is true. If someone does something from the Word, and is therefore following the Lord's edict and will, is that person entitled to say, 'I am doing this on my own'? If someone does something by royal command, is that person entitled to say, 'I am doing this on my own'? We now see divine providence, and why we have been unable to identify the connection between that faith and good works, even though the church community holds that such a connection exists. It could not have been found because it could not exist. That faith was not a faith in the Lord, who is the Word; it was not based on the Word. "

The rest of the priests in the herd of goats, however, went away, waving their hats back and forth and crying out, "Faith alone! Faith alone! It shall live on!"

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.