Unrealistic Expectations and Hypocrites in the Church

Excuses

An atheist protests, most so-called Christians don’t believe the Bible, don’t follow it, don’t believe what Christ said and live lives directly contrary to it. Real Christians agree!

The gospel according to a counterfeit Christian can be damning. The way they discredit the truth in the minds of unbelievers is an obstacle to conversion, and the way they distort the gospel leaves converts no closer to God than they were as Atheists. Plus, the way counterfeits discredit the gospel places a burden to those who do believe and live out the scriptures.

However, the Atheist's argument is not logical. The proliferation of counterfeits does not disprove that the real thing exists. To the contrary, it can indicate that something of real value exists and is worth counterfeiting.

Unrealistic Expectations

I need to say something about unrealistic expectations. Entering the biblical Christian faith requires understanding that you’re not good. Gaining understanding of the faith and its requirements takes time. Living the faith requires growth. One does not simply transform from decades-old habits and personality patterns overnight. Regardless of your chronological age, believers start out as spiritual babies when converted. They don’t start out worthy of being canonized as saints. 

So when a person criticizes a Christian for not being perfect, it’s like criticizing a student at some random point in his education for not having all the scholarship of a researcher who earned his PhD decades ago. There’s a point where criticizing the “hypocrites in the church” becomes an absurd excuse for not seriously considering the faith itself.

Copyright 2020, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for personal or non-profit use, but please give credit where credit is due.

How to Get Spotless Garments

From a question on Quora

What did the Bible mean when it said "Only those that their garment was without impurity will see Jesus"?

Our first challenge is to determine what passage in the Bible the question refers to. It has me stumped. It sounds like a paraphrase from memory of a sermon. The closest Bible wording would come from Hebrews 12:14, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

However, the quote states biblical principles using the Bible's symbolic language.

Clothes, in this sense, symbolize your history of thoughts and actions. Impurity symbolizes sin. For example, save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment polluted by the flesh (Jude 1:23). The garment polluted by the flesh represents the lifestyle and trappings of a worldly, carnal lifestyle. For example, the “party animal” may seem “cool,” but charisma, popularity, and pleasure can be deadly moral traps.

Another form of polluted garment is the life of self-righteous hypocrites. "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments (Matthew 23:5). Phylacteries are small leather boxes containing Hebrew texts, worn by Jewish men. The tassels were white to symbolize purity, with a blue thread symbolizing heaven. Some wore over-sized tassels to draw attention, as though it made them holier than thou, like the priests who wear elegant robes or backwards collars. The point is that they dressed to impress other people when they went to synagogue rather than presenting themselves humbly before God.

Many miss the warning that God is so holy that nobody can defile His presence without being cleansed of their guilt. We think of the Beatitudes as rules for peace and beauty, but the passage includes this razor-edged gem: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:8)

People think the Ten Commandments were given so we could make ourselves holy. However, they are just the summary of 613 commandments in the Old Testament. Their most important purpose is to show us that none of us are pure in heart because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin (Romans 3:20).

Obeying the Ten Commandments is profitable, but it cannot make us righteous. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). For all of us have become like one who is unclean [ceremonially defiled or diseased], And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away (Isaiah 64:6). If we understand that, then we can understand that the Law has become our tutor unto Christ, so that we may be justified by faith (Galatians 3:24) instead of trying to be justified by deeds or heritage.

The Bible uses two metaphors for how we can have clean clothes, that is, be freed from our guilt.

The first metaphor is being washed in the blood of the Lamb. In Old Testament Israel, animals were sacrificed to temporarily cover sin. The sacrifice of an animal was a substitute for punishment of the sinner. The animals symbolized Messiah Jesus whose sacrifice would permanently remove guilt. He [God the Father] made Him [God the Son] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Christ] (2 Corinthians 5:21). When we place our faith in Christ, God credits our punishment to Jesus’s death on the cross and credits Jesus’s righteousness to us.

You can find this language in the first epistle (letter) of the apostle John: if we walk in the Light as He Himself [Christ] is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7). Another place is in Revelation: These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).

Whereas the first metaphor focuses on sins being washed away, the second metaphor emphasizes the substitution. I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed… (Revelation 3:18).

The command to “buy” in a spiritual sense confuses many. They think the “price” is sacraments and good deeds, but the price of God’s grace is the opposite. It is free. Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost (Isaiah 55:1). The price is our pride.

We must come to God in utter, desperate humility. Grace means “gift,” and a gift cannot be earned. To offer God our efforts, the efforts of others, or our heritage as a price of grace is to insult the Giver. Note that the symbolic purchase of gold makes you rich; but if you had something to buy it with, you would already have been rich. Pride is the reason it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man — or a religious man — to enter the kingdom of God (Luke 18:25). When you let go of pride and exchange your need for God’s grace, He makes you spiritually rich.

Also note that the transaction has to actually take place. We cannot simply agree with the exchange intellectually or desire it without understanding. The mind, heart, and soul must motivate an act of the will.

Summary

The quote is not from the Bible. It does summarize biblical principles using biblical symbolism. Clean garments represent the righteousness of God the Son. God credits this righteousness to those who let go of any merit of their own and trust in, and only in, Christ and the price He paid for our sins on the cross.



Since I already posted the bulk of this on Quora, I can't copyright it. But I trust that if you use it, you will give credit where Credit is due.

Set Apart in the Bible

What does it mean to be set apart in the Bible?

The answers to this question on Quora were either so simplistic or off-the-wall, I had to add my own answer, which turned into its own word study.

To set apart simply means to separate or isolate something. In the Bible, it means to designate or separate something for a particular use.

The literal meanings of set apart and set aside are the same. However, the connotations (implied meanings) can be either the same or opposites.

• A thing is set apart for a particular use.
• A thing is set aside to keep it from the current action.
• A thing can be set aside to keep it from the current action and reserve it for a later purpose. In this usage, the meaning is the same as for set apart, although set aside implies more about the timeline.

The terms translated set apart can also be translated consecrate, make holy, prepare, sanctify, purify, dedicate, reserve for destruction, and numerous variations (for example: make holy, keep holy, declare holy, prove to be holy, regard as holy, dedicate, and foreordain). Which meaning depends on the context and the translator’s interpretation of the contextual meaning.

For a general example, the implements in the tabernacle were set apart for holy use, not to be defiled by ordinary, outside use. This was a symbol of God’s holiness and of the holiness He desires of His people. An extreme example of violating that happened during Babylon’s reign over Israel, when Babylon’s king and his guests used cups looted from Israel’s temple for drinking at a banquet (Daniel 5:3).

Set apart is a verbal phrase, a paired verb and preposition that act as a single word. In the Bible, it usually represents a single Hebrew or Greek word. There are several words translated as set apart.

Here are some examples of how the meaning varies with the context.

• Genesis 21:29, Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?" — Although Abimelech suspects that there’s a purpose, the focus is on the physical separation of seven lambs from the flock. Compare Genesis 30:40.
  
• Deuteronomy 10:8, At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day. — Here, the LORD (“YHWH,” or “I AM”) assigned specific priestly duties to one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
  
• Joshua 20:7, So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. — Read this in context. The cities were designated as cities of refuge. In those days, there was no police force and court system; if somebody killed your brother, you had to execute justice yourself or convince somebody to do it for you. In questionable cases (such as accidental manslaughter), the cities of refuge protected the accused until questions of guilt could be resolved.
  
• Deuteronomy 15:19, You shall consecrate (set apart) to the LORD your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock; you shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock. (compare Numbers 3:13.) — As Creator, and source of all blessings, God commanded Israel to devote to Him the first part of any production, whether children, flocks, or produce. First-born children were to be reared to lead their families spiritually, and the first tenth (“tithe”) of profit from work was to be given to God to support religious work. Compare also 1 Corinthians 16:2.
  
• Psalm 88:5, Adrift (“set apart”) among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave…. — “Adrift,” used by the KJV, is more literal than “set apart” in the NIV or “forsaken” in NASB. ESV’s “set loose” conveys the connotation most accurately. Psalm 88 is a lamentation of one undergoing severe trial and despair, and he feels purposeless, set apart for treatment as though already dead.
  
• Acts 13:2–5, While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they (the leaders of the church at Antioch) had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away…. When they reached Salamis, they began **proclaiming the word of God…. — The leaders of the church designated and commissioned Barnabas and Saul (Paul) to do missionary work. This did not make them holy; rather it recognized their holiness and their dedication to serving God.
  
• Galatians 1:15–16, But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles… — Paul claims that God fore-ordained him to put faith in Christ and carry the gospel to the the world outside of Israel. This comes close to claiming predestination but is not that specific. In John 10:36, Jesus similarly claims that the Father commissioned Him for the role He fulfilled during His incarnation.
  
• 1 Corinthians 6:11, Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. — The Weymouth translation renders sanctified as “set apart as holy.”  

If you want to trace every usage of the term, you need to set aside a few days, list all its various translations, and search for each one using a concordance or an electronic Bible. I would expect you to find hundreds of verses.

From the few dozen occurrences I read while compiling this, I noticed a trend. When set apart implies a change in a person, it is a change that applies to every believer, not just to a select few holier-than-thou ministers. In contrast, set apart can apply to specific people when it implies being assigned a task, duty, or mission.

Catholics seem to connect set apart with the (claimed 😉) celibacy of priests and nuns. Although Paul recommended singleness in certain circumstances (Paul traveled constantly and was under constant threat of assassination or execution -- and he was eventually executed), nowhere does scripture require anyone to set themselves apart for singleness for any office in the church. In fact, Peter and most of the apostles were married, and Paul recommends marriage for all, including ministers, who feel weak regarding sexual temptation.

Words translated set apart have a wide variety of possible translations and meanings. The term is sometimes literal, sometimes figurative. It can imply a mere physical act, a declaration, or a foreordination. It is wise to look to the context for meaning and even more wise not to lock yourself into any given meaning.

I was forgiven. I need forgiveness. Contradiction?

The Bible teaches that salvation means you have been forgiven; yet it also teaches a continuous need for confession and forgiveness. Skeptics twist that into a contradiction. Arminians and Wesleyans twist it into "proof" that salvation is conditional and not secure. Both reflect a need for greater understanding. 

Forgiveness or being forgiven means either an action or a state. The word forgiven has more than one meaning.

• Past participle of the verb to forgive — You were forgiven, meaning, God forgave you.
• Adjective — You are forgiven, meaning, since you were declared forgiven, now you are in a state of forgiveness; it is one of your attributes.
• Present participle — You are forgiven, meaning, I forgive you.

I forgive

Before discussing forgiveness in the spiritual context, we need to recognize a practical context. Sin affects everybody.

• My sin affects me because it has consequences for me.
• It affects God because it desecrates His creation, it is an affront to His holiness, and it rebels against His sovereignty.
• Some sins directly hurts others.

So if somebody says, You are forgiven, they might mean that, assuming you have obeyed the gospel, God has forgiven you. However, they might mean that they forgive you for what you did to them.

God forgives

The state of forgiveness cannot be reversed. Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1, NASB).

This is because Christ fulfilled the Law — the Old Testament commandments that condemned us. God God reckons Christ’s death and payment of the debt to our accounts, so in the new birth, we died to the Law of Condemnation and were born into a Law of love.

Romans 7:1–6 uses marriage as an analogy. Marriage is a lifelong commitment. When one spouse dies, the other is free from that first commitment and free to marry another. Similarly, when Christ’s death is imputed to us, it’s like we’ve died to the Law of Condemnation, and God places us under a new law, the Law of Love. So the passage concludes in verse 6,

• But now we have been released from the Law [of commandments that condemn], having died to that by which we were bound [the Law and our guilt], so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter [the Law].

Because God remakes us as His children, His role in relationship to one whom He remakes into His child changes from Judge to Father. Formerly, His end role was to pronounce guilt, hand down the sentence, and execute justice. Now, His role is to train us; and by being trained, we can bring more honor to Him, earn rewards, enjoy fellowship with Him, and become more of a blessing to those we encounter. His end role will be to judge our performance and give rewards rather than to condemn.

On the other hand…

All this means that sin cannot condemn us, but it does not mean that sin does not hurt is. Sin still

• brings embarrassment to God’s name
• wastes rewards
• interferes with our fellowship with God
• interferes with our fellowship with others
• makes us a hindrance to others instead of a blessing
• weighs us down with guilt

Even though we have been forgiven by our Judge so that no penalty of condemnation remains, we still seek forgiveness from our Father because a penalty of lost joy and usefulness weighs us down.

Whereas the book of Romans focused on judicial forgiveness, the book of 1 John focuses on daily life.

• [I]f we walk in the Light… we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin…. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:7–9, NASB)

This passage would seem self contradictory. “He forgives us of all sins, yet we need continued forgiveness?” This is resolved if you recognize the difference between forgiveness by our Judge and forgiveness by our Father.

Again, judicial forgiveness cleanses us from all our sins — past, present, and future. But within that state of forgiveness, we still need that cleansing of conscience and restoration of fellowship with our Father.

That’s why we should, even though our sins are forgiven, live in a continual state of repentance, confession, and attempted reform.

Copyright 2019, Richard Wheeler. Permission granted for personal or non-profit use. Please give credit where credit is due.