Practicing Lawlessness or Unrighteousness

Following up from our last message, we have seen that many verses and “concepts” in the New Testament (especially from the epistles of 1 – 3 John) have been misinterpreted in the past and used as a whip to beat the body of Christ back under the Law. In this message we will continue to destroy these arguments with truth from the Word.

In Matt 7 Jesus used the exact same terminology as the apostle John did, talking about those who “practice lawlessness”. He told them to depart from Him because He didn’t know them. Now “practicing lawlessness” may sound like something that a person is supposed to DO, but let’s look at the context. In Matt 7:15 Jesus warns about the false prophets that would come in sheep’s clothing and down in verse 21 He is still talking about these same people. We’ll look at the entire text here so the sceptics can see for themselves:  [Matt 7:15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.  16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.  19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them]. These verses pertain specifically to the fact that an unbeliever cannot manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit because they don’t have the Spirit living in them. They may act kindly or behave in very moral manner, but their hearts still remain evil and sinful, hence Jesus says they are “ravenous wolves” on the inside.
Also, since Jesus is the tree of life and the good vine, He can not bear bad fruit. This means that we as believers are the good fruit that He bears since His life is recreated in us. God the Father sowed His own Son and reaped more sons.

Now note that in the next verses Jesus is still talking about these same people (the false prophets and unbelievers):

[Matt 7:21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’].

In verse 21 Jesus says that “whoever does the will of the Father” shall enter the kingdom of heaven. Now hang in there for the next paragraph; it may seem disjointed, but we will pull it all together at the end.
Somewhere else Jesus also said the following: [John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’]. Here Jesus was referring to the 2 different births (natural and spiritual) of any human being that enters the kingdom of heaven – firstly they are born from the water of their mother’s womb (He was NOT talking about water baptism, because in verse 6 He specifically talks about being born of the “flesh” which means to be born into this world) and secondly they are born in the spirit, better known as being “born again”. Now what does the Bible teach us about how to be born again? [Rom 10:9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation].
Once again it would “appear” as though we have a contradiction: In Matt 7:21 Jesus says that whoever does the will of the Father shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but from John 3:5 and Rom 10:9-10 we can conclude that whoever believes in Jesus shall enter the kingdom of heaven.
The following verse sheds some light on what it means to “do” the will of the Father and “work” the works of God: [John 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent”]. As before we see that these expressions, even though they appear to imply that we have to do some external action or work, it actually refers to an action of faith, of placing our trust in Jesus Christ. This is what it means to “do the will” of the Father.

Then in Matt 7:23 Jesus tells those who “practice lawlessness” to depart from Him, referring to the unsaved again, just like we previously saw John did in his epistles. Jesus also said to them “I never knew you”. Can it be any clearer that in fact He was referring to unbelievers?  Practicing lawlessness does not mean breaking the 10 Commandments: it means not being saved.

Obeying Commandments

Let’s slam the final nail in the coffin and prove to the legalists just how fully the Grace of God has made provision for our natural human insufficiencies. Let’s try and figure this one out together. Remembering all that we have just learnt about those who “practice righteousness” and previously also about those who “commit sin”, it is obvious that John could also be talking about something else than obeying the 10 Commandments when he says that we need to “obey God’s commandments”. This is in fact a big favourite with those who still preach that we should live according to the Old Testament Laws. Let’s take a look and see what John really meant:

[1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him]. Some other verses address this same issue and the aforementioned “abiding in Him” issue as well (own comments in brackets):

[1 John 3:24 Now he (any person) who keeps His (God’s) commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us]. From Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we know that every believer receives and is SEALED with the Holy Spirit as a guarantee that they are indeed saved: [Eph 1:13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory]. We can therefore see that believers receive the Holy Spirit as a guarantee after they are born again and because He is sealed inside them He naturally will also “abide” with them, and they with Him. Now in this context, read 1 John 3:24 (above) again. Clearly John is saying that whosoever has the Holy Spirit (a believer), such a person also keeps God’s commandments. What “commandments” is he talking about?

[1 John 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment].

When the very nature and character of the person of the Holy Spirit resides within a person, a natural result will be that they begin to change in their outward behaviour. People will begin to notice a difference in the way they live. It can not happen the other way round – somebody that acts in a well behaving manner can never through their good actions be changed on the inside – they need to receive the Holy Spirit first. This is exactly what the apostle John is talking about: When we believe in God and are born again, we will love one another more and more as a fruit of the Holy Spirit that abides within us. Obeying God’s commandments in the New Testament therefore means to believe in Jesus.

In our next message we will conclude this series on “Misunderstood Bible terminology” and take an in-depth look at what it means to “Walk in the Light”.

In Grace
Andre van der Merwe

This entry was posted on Friday, March 5th, 2010 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Previous Messages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.