The Good News of Covenants: God is More than Judge
Have you ever heard or used this evangelism tactic?
Believer: Have you ever lied before in your life?
Non-Believer: Yes
Believer: Then what does that make you?
Non-Believer: A liar
Believer: Have you ever stolen anything, even something small?
Non-Believer: Yes
Believer: What does that make you?
Non-Believer: A thief
Believer: Have you ever taken the Lord's name in vain?
Non-Believer: Yes
Believer: If you died and stood before God today, would he decide that you are innocent or guilty?
Non-Believer: Guilty
Assuming everything goes according to the plan of the one sharing the gospel, this leads to the non-believer discovering that they are guilty before God and that they need a Savior in Jesus.
However, there is a problem with this approach.
Before I explain why, let me make this disclaimer: many well-meaning Christians use this approach and I would never condemn a follower of Christ for sharing the gospel in good faith. I am immensely thankful to God for any brother or sister that takes up their cross and witnesses to a non-Christian about the work of Jesus in the gospel (1 Thessalonians 1:2,8).
The problem with this approach is that this unintentionally paints God only as a Judge. But in actuality God is primarily a Father. God is first and foremost relational. This truth affects even how we understand what it means to be guilty of breaking God's law.
As explained in the prior article in this series, God's covenants help us understand his law, not the other way around. The purpose of the law is to define how we are to love God and be in relationship with him. God is certainly the Judge of all of the earth (Genesis 18:25), but he is much more than that. The Hebrew word for sin in the Old Testament means to "miss the mark", but this describes the result of sin more than its source. In actuality, most analogies for sin in the Bible are relational. The most common metaphor God uses for sin is whoredom.
In Exodus when God establishes his covenant with his people, he commands them about the pagans living in the same land as them, saying,
"You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they whore after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters whore after their gods and make your sons whore after their gods." (Exodus 34:13-16)
God repeats the word 'whore' three times in this short section to describe Israel's sin. He even warns them about making a covenant with other gods! Sin is not primarily about missing the mark; it is about betraying a relationship. It is cheating on God with other lovers.
This completely changes how we talk about the gospel. We do not discover that we are sinners by hearing a bunch of rules that we have broken, we discover that we are sinners by hearing that we have forsaken the Heavenly Father who loved and created us (Act 17:28). Sure, I have told lies before, but why does that warrant eternal hell? But, I have done more than that: I have abandoned the Eternal Father who created me and have whored after created things (Jeremiah 2:5-13).
So, why is this good news?
1) A god who is only a judge upholds the law impersonally only because it is his appointed job. Our God's justice is necessarily related to his relational love. If God did not love, then he would not be moved to justice (Genesis 18:20-21, Exodus 2:23). A father who hears about an assault on the news may be temporarily perturbed, but if his own daughter is attacked, his anger will be quickly kindled. God's wrath upon injustice springs from his love for his glory and for his creation.
2) A god who is only a judge has no reason to make a way for pardon. When we understand that God is first and foremost relational, we do not see the cross as a reluctant act on God's part, but as the natural response of his heart that unceasingly and unlimitedly overflows with grace and love (Ephesians 2:4-5).
When we share the good news with non-believers, let us make sure to explain clearly the character of God and the nature of sin. And even more so, let us remember in our own relationship with God the true nature of our sin, so that we can learn to better appreciate the true nature of the cross.
"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 17:24-26)