Topical Studies
What the Bible says about
God calls Weak, Foolish, and Base
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Isaiah 57:13-19
The first half of the chapter shows Israel's old, wicked state that God could not work with and how He will eventually be able to work with the Israelites once He brings them into the humble, contrite attitude they need to turn to Him. The thought in verse 16 is, "If I keep contending them as they have always contended with Me, I will wear or burn them out spiritually." The verse actually reads, "For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made." They could not take the struggle between their continuous, rebellious spirit and God's efforts to overcome it. He does not want to destroy people but to change them so He can work with them. So, even though the natural inclination of the human heart is to rebel against His efforts, He says in the next verses, "I'm going to change them so that there are no more wicked people as they were. I will heal them." Obviously, this change occurs through the giving of the Holy Spirit, making them soft- rather than hard-hearted. He would soften their heart through the Spirit. It is specifically the Spirit of God that spells the difference between God's former work with Israel and His New Testament work with the elect, then with Israel in the Millennium, and ultimately, with the whole world. Without the Holy Spirit in play, change could not occur, even through God's efforts. As we see with Israel and Judah, His contention with man and man's rotten attitudes just spurred further rebellion, causing the relationship to spiral downward. They ended up defeated and in captivity, which God allowed, even engineered. He had to say, essentially, "I've had enough! Get out of My sight. I'll work with you later," because He did not want to destroy them completely. But then He sent His Son, who made real change possible. It did not occur immediately, but God's plan was for Him to form a group—the church—to work with in this present age to transform them into the image of the Son. We, the elect, will one day be the examples to which unconverted people will turn to understand that formerly rebellious people can repent and live in a right relationship with God. As the apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 1:26-29, God purposely took the weak, the base, and the foolish to confound the mighty, noble, and wise people who contended with God for so long. They will say, "Wow, if God could do it with them, well, He can do it with us."
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The Poor in Spirit
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Romans 7:13-25
Do we not believe that Paul was a sincere and dedicated example of a fully committed Christian? Yet, his testimony confirms that we have to face and accept the humbling fact that sin, as long as we are in the flesh, forever stains our character. We will never be rid of it until our change in the resurrection. Can we accept the fact that no amount of personal exertion to purge ourselves of sin will be completely effective? Paul did, and it led him to be thoroughly humbled and thankfully aware of God's mercy. However, it did not cause him to disregard whether he sinned. Paul resolved not to sin because he loved Christ for what He had already done and continued to do every day. As a former Pharisee, he understood that super-righteousness (Ecclesiastes 7:16) on his part would never work. In I Corinthians 15:8-10, he makes a telling statement about how he judged his past before his conversion: Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Paul had a firm understanding that super-righteousness could not replace what Christ had already mercifully done in his behalf, and nothing he did could ever replace it. He used this as an example, as a prod to himself, so he would never forget exactly where he stood in terms of being gifted by God's grace. It took a perfect Sacrifice to pay for his past sins and also those he continued to commit as a Christian! Despite sin still being a part of him, he says, “I am what I am by means of God's grace.” He valued what was done on his behalf so deeply that he never let his appreciation lag. He adds in Romans 4:4-8 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin. Do we truly understand that we cannot add to the quality of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived without sinning His entire life? When His pure righteousness is accounted to us, we stand before God blameless because of His sinlessness. Even our righteousness done through our obedience following baptism and receipt of God's Holy Spirit lacks the purity of Christ's righteousness imparted and accounted to us, because our righteousness is still tainted by sin that remains within us. I Corinthians 1:26-31 contains a truth of supreme importance to us: God called the weak and base of the world, and no flesh will ever glory in His presence. This is why our integrity must be guarded by humility because our obedience—given because of God's mercy and which He graciously accepts—is still flawed. None of this removes our responsibilities regarding our continuing sanctification; it does not do away with our accountability to obey God's law and grow in the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. We do not stop learning, obeying more perfectly, and maturing within the relationship that we now have with the Father and Son. Nevertheless, we cannot add to the righteousness of Christ. It is futile even to think such a thing—and that is why it is dangerous. Upon receiving God's Spirit, attitude is of major importance. Conversion is a matter of a changed heart combined with more perfect knowledge of His truth. It is a matter of knowing, believing, living in, and accepting our place within the relationship. It is a matter of submitting with all our heart to the Father's placement of us within the body. A person with wisdom will know he must not go beyond what the relationship will permit.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Ecclesiastes and Christian Living (Part Eleven): Paradox, Continued
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1 Corinthians 6:1-3
In a broad sense, Paul is teaching that we are to learn to deal with situations as God would, and our training ground is here in this life and in the church. We are undergoing extensive hands-on training for the profession of judge, which, as Paul implies, will be among our duties as children of God in His Kingdom. This is no minor matter! Earlier in my conversion, I clearly left out one of the most important elements needed for making right judgments. Jesus points out which one in His Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy" (Matthew 5:7). Had I shown more mercy in those situations, their outcomes would have been far different—and definitely better. Generally, the merciful are those people who are affected by the suffering of others. They are affected in a manner that causes them, not only to offer encouragement to one who is experiencing a rough spot in his life, but also to work to lessen his suffering. The New Unger's Bible Dictionary defines mercy as "a form of love determined by the state or condition of its objects. Their state is one of suffering and need, while they may be unworthy or ill-deserving. Mercy is at once the disposition of love respecting such, and the kindly ministry of love for their relief." A secular dictionary, The Reader's Digest Encyclopedic Dictionary, concurs: Mercy is the "kind, compassionate treatment of an offender, adversary, prisoner in one's power; compassion where severity is expected, or deserved." Among its synonyms are "leniency," "compassion," "forgiveness," "pity," "kindness," "tolerance," "charity," "benevolence," "clemency," and "forbearance." The primary idea behind mercy is rendering a kindness when harshness or condemnation is expected or even deserved. A merciful person looks beyond the present state of affairs to the potential good that may result from his compassionate handling of the matter. He is willing to forgo the other's punishment, his "just deserts," or his own desire for revenge in an attempt to produce good fruit from a bad situation. The nature of God is to be merciful to those He calls. We know that He calls the weak, foolish, and base (I Corinthians 1:26-28), those who are undesirable in society's eyes and guilty of sin in His eyes. He extends great mercy to them, redeeming them from the death penalty and setting them on the path toward eternal life in the Kingdom of God. In doing so, He sets us an example to follow!
John O. Reid (1930-2016)
Mercy: The Better Option
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