Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. – Jesus – John 7:24 ESV
Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. – Jesus – John 13:34 ESV
Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. – 1 John 4:4 ESV
There are many religions and many religious preachers of various denominations who speak about God’s judgment and human sin. What is sin and what is judgment, and how do these relate to God and our being with God?
In Greek the word for sin is αμαρτία (amartia) which literally means one without witness – the word μάρτυς (martus) being the Greek word for witness and is also where English gets its word martyr. So a martyr then is one who bears witness, and sin is when one does not or cannot bear witness. To understand sin then is to view it as a process which blocks one from bearing witness to the Christ. Likewise in the Greek, the word for being sinless is ἀναμάρτητος (anamartetos) which literally means one who is without without witness. So the word to be sinless is a double negative making a positive meaning to have full witness. So one who is sinless is one who sees or knows or witnesses the truth, the whole truth, and nothing else so help them God. It’s pretty interesting then to consider again how sins are those things which restrict or limit or block or obscure our vision of God, our ability to be with God, to see or understand and witness God.
In the Gospel of Matthew 5:29 Jesus states the following:
If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. – Matthew 5:29 ESV
For many, myself included, this seems like a most harsh and strict policy and does echo strongly the classic instruction from Moses of “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” found in Deuteronomy 19:21 and elsewhere. Although perhaps many of us will write-off this teaching from Jesus as simply not being literal or must be understood contextually to actually understand it or find some other way to rationalize or dismiss the “meat and potatoes” of what He is actually explaining to us here. And to in fact understand this teaching of Jesus leads us to a further understanding of judgment and sin itself as well as the nature of the high realms of Heaven, Grace, and Divine Being.
What it seems Jesus is explaining to us here is the nature of sin and how it can so effectively block us from bearing witness and communing with God, which of course is our first, last, and prime directive as a human, a child of God the Father and a brother of Christ. And so Jesus is emphasizing that these sins, if not properly addressed, can prevent us or block this communion with Him and God and so therefore must be dealt with adequately which for Jesus translates to most swiftly indeed. For in these examples Jesus illustrates most vividly just how important being without sin really is and how to prioritize this in our lives. Namely it is more important to be sinless than it is to have natural body parts attached to us. That is to say it is EXTREMELY important to say the least! Essentially more important than anything else. Now before we speak about how we can actually achieve such a state of being sinless and perceiving God completely let us first discuss why this is so vital and the mechanics if you will of Grace versus judgment.
Many people misunderstand God. For example some look at the Old Testament writings and stories and conclude that God is a jealous and wrathful God who punishes those who worship other gods and deities and just wants all of the attention for himself. So God to them in this misunderstanding is rather petty and vain for example. Likewise in the New Testament some look at the teachings of Jesus of unconditional loving and conclude that He is advocating, promoting, or endorsing any and all behavior, decisions, and actions as a holy and sanctified means and method of becoming sinless and to fully commune with God. It is my contention that both of these interpretations are misunderstandings of the Gospels, the Word of God, the path He envisions for us. As with most things, there are kernels of truth as well as kernels of falsity that need to be sorted out and discerned.
Does God wish us to behave in a particular manner with each other? It does appear that is the case at least to some degree under certain circumstances. Basic laws of civil society highlight this to be the case. A lawless society that refuses to operate under certain basic common sense tenants of peacefulness, fairness, and justice seem to break humans apart and cause mass dysfunction. Likewise with basic cleanliness and hygiene, how to properly raise families, and which God to worship and love. Much of the Ten Commandments then can be viewed not as modes of issuing judgment but rather as words of wisdom from our Father God on how to best live a life of fullness and goodness with Him.
Imagine if you will that there is a paradise land that is wonderful and we all wish to live there and be there and it’s just so right and good and amazing. Now imagine there is a great wall surrounding this paradise preventing anyone from getting in. But there is a door. And imagine that God has given you directions for how to find this door, enter this door, and walk into the land of paradise that you too may enjoy the fruits of this land. Now imagine that instead of following the directions God has provided you to this door you choose instead to try something else, you try to punch your way through this wall for example. What will happen? Your hands will get bloody and broken, you will be exhausted, and ultimately you will not get through the wall and you will be worse off than before. Now the question we must ask is did God do this to you? Is this God judging you and punishing you for your failure to listen to Him? The answer of course is NO. God is not punishing you and God is not jealous of you. The wall is greater than you and the door is the only way into the paradise so naturally you got what you deserved for trying to punch through the wall rather than find the door and simply walk through it. Our unwise actions, those that we do which are not in accordance with God, are the punishments themselves. The judgment is inherent in the act that it is not in accordance with God, not as a negative thing per say (though your hand certainly hurts) but as a matter of fact and common sense. God’s way is THE way by definition. To consider or wish or demand or argue that it should be another way is truly a fool’s errand let alone to then bemoan the results of our miscreant actions and then further compound the issue by declaring falsely that God is punishing us and jealous and wrathful. No not in the slightest. God loves us and has laid out our path before us directly to Him. It is our part to follow Him and bear witness to Him always and in all ways – that is to be sinless – to see Him and walk with Him fully and completely. Our sins are the judgment and our judgments are the sins. It is a mathematical equation and is rather devoid of emotion or agency from an angry or petty god – it simply just is that which is.
Now let us consider the other side of this coin – the unconditional loving nature of God as exemplified by Jesus. The real question is if anything at all is required of us for participating with Jesus and His way and love and being. And the answer undoubtedly is NO. Nothing is required of us to be one with Jesus. Thank God there is nothing we can do or not do that can ruin or activate the Love Jesus has for us! His love is forever present and available to us. In fact it is just the opposite – our issues seem to arise far, far more when we DO act or attempt to activate His love and being. When we try to do good how often do we only end up doing something perhaps not so good? When we rather instead keep our eyes on the Lord, that is remaining sinless and a full witness of the Lord, what do we find? Do we not find goodness naturally springs forth before our very eyes? Like fresh green shoots out of the earth goodness abounds with the Lord. Now of course the commandments of the Old Testament, God’s way for us, still stand particularly when being in this world physically and practically. Hygiene is still important. Justice makes for a better society. Worshipping the one true God is where all blessings originate and flow from. Not coveting the possessions of another. Doing anything that would pull us away from our own inner center of being with God – these are pitfalls we must be aware of and wisely navigate and stay clear. So we see that all of these commandments are still as wise today as they were when first issued from God Himself on High. In fact they are actually far more obtainable and reachable now thanks to Jesus and all that He has done and continues to do for us always and forever. The fact that following God’s will is how we commune with God does not so much imply a jealous or wrathful God, but instead simply explains without judgment the nature of God’s being available to all of us. None will be turned away as they turn to Him. He loves and cares for all of us and transforms us accordingly to His will.
If we look at the life of the apostles and more generally of what we instinctively know to be true of a man who follows with God what do we find? Do we find them gambling a lot? Are they murdering people? Do they have raucous or promiscuous sex? Are they drunk and inebriated beyond understanding? And as we look upon our own lives and behaviors over the years how did we feel after engaging in these various disgracing or shall we say sinful acts? Do we feel good about ourselves afterwards? Of course we do not feel good within us when we do these things and many, many other things too like lashing out in anger or holding resentment, or shaming ourselves, all of these things are hurtful acts against ourselves, against our bodies, against our loved ones, they are not acts of unconditional loving or of God’s Grace. Even if we can bring God’s loving to those acts we do, the acts themselves do not properly represent us nor who we are truly in God’s full radiance. This is not to say that our full human life is naturally or inherently evil or bad. Our full human life and being can be fully expressed through and with God, but to understand and see the way to that we must first purge ourselves of our sins – that is to say we must remove or transcend all that is blocking us from witnessing the Christ. As Jesus so describes in Matthew 5:29 by claiming we should remove our eyes if they cause us to sin, we must then be ruthless and honest upon ourselves and remove anything and everything, be it a hand or an eye or anything else which blocks us or takes us away from keeping our eyes on Him, upon the great good Lord. No action is required of us to commune fully with God, and likewise inversely it is more often our willful actions that do in fact pull us away from God and lead us astray, diverting our eyes from Him. We can’t exactly do good because good is done more naturally and truly upon us. Instead our actions more often are the bad. We are the missing link in our ability to fully witness God. God is forever present, full, and available. Of course yes we can do some good and that is important particularly as we minister and care for each other, and likewise remaining inert, inactive, or not speaking up can also be a failure on our part, a sin if you will, to staying close to God and following Him most closely. We must always be watchful, keeping our eyes on Him that we may be flexible enough to follow Him wherever He may go and firm enough to hold fast wherever He may be.
What is then the nature of God? Is God active or still? Is God open or closed? Is God meek or bold? Loud or quiet? Fixed or moving? The answer is God is God and as such can do all of these things and more. Any seeming contradiction with God is more the relativism and particularity of God that is relegated to us and our unique limited positions and situations moment to moment, scene to scene. Often there is a whole host of seemingly contradictory or opposing responses and behaviors that could be possible for one to pursue in a given moment or situation or with another person that could all be in accordance with the good Lord. As the quote above from Jesus states, we simply cannot judge based on appearances be that looks, behaviors, or anything else. We must judge truly to the heart of a thing – we must see fully through to the Christ clearly without sin or blockage. The question then is far more about our sinless nature, our internal attunement within ourselves to Him, coupled with an understanding of the wide and narrow parameters God has laid out for us to operate within that we may see and know Him with us in any given scenario or situation. By holding close and fast to Him and bearing witness to Him all through our day and our ways and means sets a table before us and the whole world around us that we may be properly prepared to engage His Name and His Way through all that presents itself to us. In this way do we find our coming and our going with God, no matter what occurs, no matter who we meet and engage, no matter what struggle we must endure within, we may hold fast to Him, remaining sinless with our eye whole and one fixed upon Him always and forever as we walk up to and through the arched doorway into all that is numinous, paradisiacal, and Glorious – all that is our divine heritage and destiny in His Good Name.