Of all the teachings of the Bible, the teachings of Jesus Christ says that we must have works as well as faith in order to get to heaven. An example of this is the Sermon on the Mount.
If a person wants to be a child of God he must be a peacemaker (Mat 5:9). If a person wants mercy from God he must give mercy to others (Matt 5:7). If a person wants to be in heaven he must have the spirit of poverty (Mat 5:7). We must be better than the ultra-religious, self-righteous Pharisees in order to get to heaven (Mat 5:20). If we are angry with another, we are liable to judgment (Mat 5:22). We must love our enemies in order to be children of God (Mat 5:44, 45). We must forgive others if we want God to forgive us (Matt 6:14,15). God will judge us with the measure we judge others (Mat 7:1, 2). Entering heaven means walking through the narrow way (Mat 7:13, 14). Those that do iniquity will not be allowed into heaven (Mat 7:22, 23). This does not sound to me that all a person needs to do to get to heaven is to believe or say a simple prayer to accept Christ.
This has always been a dilemma for Protestant theologians. Many Protestants find very interesting and complex ways that the Christian can disregard the teachings of our Lord Himself. They would take the writings of Paul over Jesus (although I will argue elsewhere that this is a misinterpretation of Paul). How can the writings of Jesus’ followers be more important than the writings of Jesus! And yet that is what many modern Evangelical Protestants attempt to do. Here are several common ways to disregard the clear teachings of our Lord:
- The Reformation view. This view is that God’s commandments serve as a tutor to bring us to Christ. The laws of God condemn us and make us realize that without the sacrificial death of Christ, we have no hope for salvation. After a person comes to Christ, there is no need to keep the law of God for salvation, but we still try to keep the law the best we can out of love and gratitude for Christ for what He did on the cross. So in this idea, Christ continued to give God’s laws not with the intention that we kept them, but just to show how much we need Him in order to get to heaven. In this view, Jesus is basically telling us that “I am going to show you how hard it would to get to heaven without my payment on the Cross for you. Wouldn’t you rather just accept me as your Savior instead? After you turn to Me, could you just try to keep my commands as best as you can - just as a favor for Me? No pressure, though! I realize that you are still such an evil sinner, so I am not expecting much. But if you can at least half-way try to keep my commands as a favor for me, I would greatly appreciate it!”
But against this view, Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). Some Protestants argue that Jesus is merely saying that Jesus fulfilled the Law by paying the penalty for the requirements of the Law in place of us. But Jesus does not say that. In its context, He meant that He fulfills the Law by giving us to fullest teaching of the Law. This Reformation view reduces the commands of Christ to merely suggestions by Christ.
- The Dispensationalist view. This view is popular today due to the Schofield Reference Bible and its association with the pre-tribulation rapture. This view has history separated into different sections of time – each section is marked by different requirements by God on how to get to heaven. In the Old Testament view, man was saved by obedience to the Law. The New Testament ushers in a new dispensation – the dispensation of grace, which is the Church Age. At the end times, the Church and all its true members will be raptured up into heaven. After that, there will be seven years until Christ returns, where the dispensation of grace is re-instituted and man is again required to obey God’s Laws in order to be saved. In this view, when Jesus was preaching on the need to obey His commands in order to go to heaven, He did not yet die on the Cross, so man was still under the Law and not yet under grace. People were still judged by their obedience to God. But now, since Christ died on the Cross, we are no longer the law. So the teachings of Christ do not apply to us at all.
Although there are differences between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, this view ignores all the passages in the Old Testament that talk about the grace and mercy of God. The verse “the just shall live by faith” originated in the Old Testament. It is a caricature to show the Old Testament to be all about legalism and the New Testament as being all about grace. This view can be traced back to Marcionism in the early centuries of the history of Christianity. The heretic Marcion taught that there was two gods – the god of the Old Testament and the god of the New. The god of the Old Testament was evil, strict, and harsh – demanding man to strictly obey His laws. The god of the New Testament is Jesus Christ, who talked of grace, love, and mercy. This view has been condemned by the Church.
Both views try to alleviate the harshness of the teachings of Christ. But Christ seemed to foreknew this attempt in the coming years when He said "For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
14Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,
15and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the
Mark 1:15
This is the first message of Jesus. And He tells us what we must do in response to the gospel. The response is this – repent and believe. This fits exactly with the Catholic message of faith (believe) and works (repent).
Some Protestants try to get around this by saying that to repent means merely to change your mind since that is what the word means in the Greek (the word is metanoia, and noia means mind. It is a changing of your mind concerning the way you think you have to get to heaven. But it is not enough to the etymology of a word. Oftentimes in Greek, and also English, the original meaning of a word is far different than how it is commonly used. So it matters little how the word metanoia was originally created centuries before the time of Christ. What matters is how Christ used it.
One must remember that Jesus was first and foremost a Jew. He thought as a Jew, and comunicated to Jews. So we should first look at hoew the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, used repentance.
I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways
Jeremiah 15:7
Repentance is not just a changing of the mind, but a changing of the ways.
But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, 'As the LORD of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us
Zech 16
Repentance is a change in our ways in our ways and deeds, of letting God’s words and statutes overtake you.
Then, lets look at how Jesus used repentance.
And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, 'I repent,' forgive him
Luke 17:4
And how His disciplesused repentance.
Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you
Acts 8:22
These verses show the repentance was not merely a changing of your mind on how you get to heaven, but a change in a lifestyle. It is a change from committing sins to turning to God.
Many modern Evangelicals would agree that repentance is not a mere changing of mind on how we are saved, but a resolution that the person no longer sins and turns to God. And they say that this is what a born-again Christian did when he asked Jesus to be his Savior and Lord. By asking Jesus to be our Savior, we show our belief in the gospel, and when we received Jesus as Lord, that show that we repented. They would say that this is a one-time act that we do when we first become Christians. After we make that one-time commitment, it is no longer required of us.
But the problem is in the Greek, the words for “repent” and “believe” are in the present tense. The present tense means a present, ongoing action. So when Jesus said that we must repent and believe. We must continually repent and believe. See http://delessons.org/tools/de_program_condensed/Level_3/12_The_Fruit_of_Salvation_-_Part_1_condensed_version.pdf . To continually repent of one’s sins is to live a penitent life, of continually examining yourself and repenting of any sin that the Holy Spirit brings to light. It is not a one-time act, but is continual.
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5"Blessed are the gentle, for they shall inherit the earth.
6"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
7"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
8"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
10"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.
12"Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 5:7 – 8
This is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus. He starts off with what is called the beatitudes – which means blessings. He says that those who have these qualities are truly blessed people. They are not blessed because of the rewards they will receive in this life, but that these are the people who have heaven (v 3 and 10), will eventually be comforted (v 4), will inherit the earth (v 5), will be satisfied (v 6), will receive mercy from God (v 7), will see God (v 8), will be called children of God. The implication is that those who do not have these qualities do not receive heaven, will not inherit the earth, will not receive mercy from God, and will not see God.
So Jesus lists the qualities we must have. We must be poor in spirit. We must be meek. We must hunger and thirst to live righteous lives. We must be peacemakers. We must be willing to be persecuted for what is right. Nowhere does Jesus even mentions that all we need is faith. Nowhere does Jesus mention that all we need is to receive Him as Savior and Lord.
29"If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
30" If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell.
Matthew 5:29, 30
One must remember that Jesus is preaching His Sermon on the Mount to His disciples, to those who already decided to follow Him. Jesus did not say “If your hand causes you to stumble, just relax! I am going to die on the cross for your sins. So you have nothing to worry about”. No, He says something far harder to accept. It is better go to through life missing a body part than to let that body part cause you to go to hell.
Origen took this passage so seriously, that he castrated himself. But that probably prevented him from ever being canonized as a saint by the Church. Jesus said that we should cut off parts of our body IF those parts cause us to sin. But elsewhere Jesus said that sin is not the result from our hands or our eyes, but from our hearts. And obviously Jesus was not saying we should we should cut out our hearts.
But Jesus is showing us the gravity of sin. Sin can lead us to hell. Jesus said this to his disciples, not to outsiders. And Mathew recorded this to be read by Christians, not by non-Christians. The warning of hell still stands to us Christians. It matters not whether we believe or once asked Christ into our hearts.
Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that any little sin sends us Christians to hell. The Catholic Church teaches that for a sin to send us to hell, the sin must be a grave sin and it must be a deliberate act. I will talk elsewhere how the Church derived these conditions from the Bible.
8"So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9"Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
11'Give us this day our daily bread.
12'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]'
14"For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15"But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions
Matthew 6
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus now shows how we must pray. Jesus says that one of the things we must pray is for God to forgive us AS we forgive others. The clear implication is that if we are unforgiving to anyone else, then we are calling on God to be unforgiving towards us.
Jesus makes it perfectly clear after the prayer. If we do not forgive others, God will NOT forgive us. There is no talking here that we will still be forgiven because we have faith or because we accept Christ into our lives. No, if there is a person that we are holding a grudge against, then God will not forgive us!
1"Do not judge so that you will not be judged.
2"For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you.
Matthew 7
It is traditional for Protestants to believe that once you become a Christian, you will no longer have to face judgement. But that is not what Jesus taught (neither is it taught anywhere else in the Bible). We will face judgement. And we will be judge in the measure that we judged others. Jesus says nothing about being exempted if you accept Him as Savior and Lord.
17"So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
18"A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.
19" Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Matthew 7
Fruit are our actions. A person who has a bad heart produces bad actions. A person with a good heart produces good actions. Here Jesus warns us that have no good action, we are “cut down”, that is cut off from Christ, and tossed into fire (hell).
21"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.
22"Many will say to Me onthat day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; (DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS
Matthew 7
Jesus say that not everyone who cries out “Lord, Lord”, will enter heaven, but only “he will DOES the will of my Father”. It is not enough to go to church and say “Praise the Lord!”. You must DO God’s will! If you practice lawlessness, He will say “I never knew you. Depart from me”.
1"Then (A)the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their (B)lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
2"Five of them were foolish, and five were (C)prudent.
3"For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
4but the (D)prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.
5"Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.
6"But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
7"Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
8"The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
9"But the (E)prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
10"And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were (F)ready went in with him to (G)the wedding feast; and (H)the door was shut.
11"Later the other virgins also came, saying, '(I)Lord, lord, open up for us.'
12"But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'
13"(J)Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.
Matthew 25
Jesus gave a parable of the foolish virgins, who run out of oil. They leave and get more oil, but when they come back, it is too late. The bridegroom has come, and will not let them in for the wedding feast. He tells them that he does not know them.
These foolish virgins started off well. They had initial faith. They had at one time accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. But eventually they burned out. They left. They came back, but it was too late. The Lord returned. Maybe that means the Lord’s second coming. Or maybe it means when the Lord comes when a person in grace dies. Either way, Jesus warns them be alert, because we do not know when that will happen.
14"(K)For it is just like a man (L)about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
15"To one he gave five (M)talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he (N)went on his journey.
16"Immediately the one who had received the five (O)talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.
17"In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.
18"But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and (P)settled accounts with them.
20"The one who had received the five (Q)talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, 'Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.'
21"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and (R)faithful slave You were faithful with a few things, I will (S)put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
22"Also the one who had received the two (T)talents came up and said, 'Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.'
23"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and (U)faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.'
24"And the one also who had received the one (V)talent came up and said, 'Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.
25'And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.'
26"But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed.
27'Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.
28'Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.'
29"(W)For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.
30"Throw out the worthless slave into (X)the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Mat 25
Jesus gives the parable of the talents. Each does something that with the talents he received, except one. That one does not do anything with the talents that God has given him. This person is thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This is obviously a picture of hell.
It is not enough to be born-again, to accept Christ as Savior and Lord, or even just to have faith. We must all develop “talents” for His glory. We may not all succeed but we must all try. Blessed Therese of Calcutta once said “God does not call us to be successful, He calls us to be faithful!” We must all be faithful servants. Our success is in God’s hands. He will praise for how good and faithful we were, not how successful were.
But this again shows that believing that Christ died our sins is not enough. The Greek word for faith (pistis) is used two ways. It can be used to mean to have faith. But it can also mean to be faithful. Both should not be separated. A believing servant is a faithful servant.
31"But when (Y)the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then (Z)He will sit on His glorious throne.
32"All the nations will be (AA)gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, (AB)as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;
33and He will put the sheep (AC)on His right, and the goats (AD)on the left.
34"Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, (AE)inherit the kingdom prepared for you (AF)from the foundation of the world.
35'For (AG)I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; (AH)I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
36(AI)naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you (AJ)visited Me; (AK)I was in prison, and you came to Me.'
37"Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
40"(AL)The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, (AM)to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.'
41"Then He will also say to those on His left, '(AN)Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the (AO)eternal fire which has been prepared for (AP)the devil and his angels;
42for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink;
43I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.'
44"Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
45"Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
46"These will go away into (AQ)eternal punishment, but the righteous into (AR)eternal life."
Matthew 25
Jesus gives us here a picture of what will happen on Judgement Day. Jesus says that we will be judged on how we have treated others. It matters not whether you have faith in Christ, or you that you accepted Jesus as Savior and Lord. It matters also, how you treated others. And that does not mean only how well we treated those that we love the most – our spouses, our children, or our friends. But how well we treated the “least”, because how we treated the least is how we treated Jesus Himself.
Jesus is going to ask us “Did you visit me in prison? Did you feed me when I was hungry? Did you clothe me?” If you cannot ever remember doing that to the least of God’s creatures, Jesus will say “Depart from me”. This is not say that we must constantly do things for others for fear of going to hell. This must be looked at in context of the previous parable of the Talents. We each do not have equal opportunities and talent to serve God and others. But God does expect us to do at least something!
I would like to here about abortion. Many of us are pro-life. Many of us would tell the pollster that we are pro-life. But it is not enough to say you are pro-life. What are you doing about it? I can paraphrase this passage:
Come, you who are blessed of My Father, (AE)inherit the kingdom prepared for you (AF)from the foundation of the world.
For when they were cutting me out of my mother’s womb, you were there protesting and praying for Me.
When my mother was contemplating on end my life before I even born, you counseled her to keep Me or offer me up for adoption.
When the government tried to pass laws to make it easier to kill Me, you marched in protest for Me.
When you church had a time of prayer to end abortion, you were there praying for Me.
Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You being killed in your mother’s womb?
The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you,to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them such as an unborn child, you did it to Me.'
This is a loose paraphrase, but I think it correctly applies this passage to today’s situation. Each one of us should ask ourselves whether the Lord will say something like this to us. Or will He say to us “Depart from me. For when they were aborting me from my mother’s womb, you did absolutely nothing!” It is not enough that we say we believe. We must stand against injustices that is done to the least, especially the unborn child.
"(D)Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he (E)bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
6"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is (F)thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned
John 15
Once we are Christians, it is necessary to abide or remain in Christ. This is our responsibility. Jesus commands us to abide, clearly implying that each of us has a free choice on whether or not we will abide in Christ. And anyone who abides in Christ will bear fruit. Bearing fruit is not optional. And it can only happen through the power of Christ. But anyone who does not abide in Christ, is thrown into fire. Fire is used as a symbol for hell.
13"(P)Greater love has no one than this, that one (Q)lay down his life for his friends.
14"You are My (R)friends if (S)you do what I command you.
John 15
I heard many Protestant preacher quote verse 13, but I never recall preacher quoting verse 14. Yes, it is true that Christ showed how much He loved us by dying for us his friends. But we are only His friends IF we DO what Christ commands us.
Here are Protestants passages from Christ’s teaching to show that we are saved by faith alone or by merely accepting Christ.
3Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one (F)is born again he cannot see (G)the
John 3
The Evangelical usually says “See, this first says that all we need to do is to be born again! It is not by doing good works, or going to church, or giving alms, we just need to be born again”
But this verse does not say this is all we need. It says that this is a pre-requisite to heaven, not the only thing needed. Jesus says that unless we are born-again, we will not enter heaven. This does not mean that once we are born again, we will definitely go to heaven.
Also, Jesus does mean that being born-again means accepting Christ as Savior and Lord. In verse 5, Jesus said “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of (H)water and the Spirit he cannot enter into (I)the
16"For God so (W)loved the world, that He (X)gave His (Y)only begotten Son, that whoever (Z)believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 3
This is probably Protestantism’s favorite verse – “See! It does not say that whoever does good works has eternal life. It does not say that whoever goes to church has eternal life. It does not say whoever goes to confession has eternal life. No, all that is needed is to believe. And it does not say that he who believe MAY have eternal life, or that he MIGHT have eternal life. It says that whoever believes HAS eternal life”
The problems that this all depends on what Bible translation you are using. Some Protestant Bibles say that whoever believes has eternal life (KJV, NASB, RSV). But if it is a Catholic Bible, it says whoever believes MAY have eternal life, or whoever believes MIGHT have eternal life:
Douay - 16 For God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son; that whosoever believeth in him, may not perish, but may have life everlasting
NAB - 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.
But only that, there are Protestant bibles who do translate it as MAY have eternal life.
New Revised Standard Version - 16 `For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
Young’s Literal Translation - 16 for God did so love the world, that His Son--the only begotten-- He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.
So all the Catholic Bibles agree that in translating that verse it is whoever believes MAY eternal life. Some Protestant Bible agree with this, and some disagree.
In the Greek, the phrase “have eternal life” is in the subjunctive mood
“As stated in the area giving a short definition of the subjunctive mood, the subjunctive indicates probability or objective possibility”
http://www.ntgreek.org/learn_nt_greek/subj-detail-frame.htm
There is no guarantee of the result. The possibility of it is only open. God gave His Son into the world to open the possibility that we believers can go to heaven. The doors are now open. Before Christ’s death, the doors were shut. Now they are open for us believers. But that does not mean that we believer will actually make it unless we also obey the teachings of Christ. We must still be poor of spirit. We must be meek. We must hunger and thirst for righteousness. We must be pure in heart. We must forgive others. We must take sin very seriously. We must use our talents for the glory of God. We must do things for even the least among us as we would do for Christ.
Mahatma Gandhi once said that if he had met someone who actually lived the teachings of Christ, he would have become a Christian. This is the problem is problem with so many modern Christians. They seem to pat Jesus on the head and say “Oh isn’t he cute!” when He talks about the need to radically change our lives. But Christ will not be ignored! He will come again and be our Judge.
C.S. Lewis wrote a book called the Chronicles of Narnia, a story of about an enchanted land where a lion named Aslan rule. Aslan was a symbol of Jesus Christ. The children in the story asked once if the Aslan was good or bad. The creatures said that Aslan was good, ver good. But He was not tame, not at all. Goodness does not mean he was tame. C.S. Lewis is reminding us that Jesus Christ is not to be considered tame since we now under grace. He is still the Lion.
Protestant scholar Martin Lloyd Jones is one of few Protestants who correctly understands this:
The Christian is a man who always walks in the fear of God – not craven fear, because ‘perfect love casteth out’ that fear. Not only does he approach God in terms of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ‘with reverence and godly fear’, but he lives his whole like that. The Christian is the only man in the world who does live always with and under this sense of judgement. He must do so because our Lord tells to do so. He tells him his building is going to be judged, the test of life is going to come. He tells him not to say ‘Lord, Lord’ nor to rely upon his activities in the Church as being of necessity sufficient, because judgement is coming, and judgement by One who sees the heart. He does not look at the sheep’s clothing outside but at the inward parts. Now the Christian is a man who always remembers that.I said earlier that the final charge that will be laid against us modern Christians is the charge of superficiality and glibness. This is manifested at this point more than anywhere else, and that is why it is a good thing for to read Christians in the past ages. These New Testament people lived in the fear of God. They all accepted of the apostle Paul when he said “We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, whether it is good or bad’ (2 Cor 5:10). That is addressed to Christians. Yet the modern Christian does not like that; he says he will have nothing to do with it. But that is the teaching of the apostle Paul as it is the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount.’We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ’; ‘Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord.’ Judgement is coming and it is going to ‘begin at the house of God,’ where it should begin, because of the claim we make. It is all impressed here in the final section of the Sermon of the Mount. We should always be living and walking, distrustful of the flesh, distrustful of ourselves, know we have to appear before God and be judged by him. It is a ‘strait gate’, it is a ‘narrow way’ this way that leads to life which is life indeed.
Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones
