Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
Jeremy approaches Bible teaching with a passion for getting the basic doctrines explained so that the individual can understand them and then apply them to circumstances in their life. These basic and important lessons are nestled in a framework of history and progression of revelation from the Bible so the whole of Scripture can be applied to your physical and spiritual life.
Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas
NT Framework - The Basis of Justice
Redemption only? The model martyr? To be a moral example? While the death of Christ on the cross may be all of these things, it sets up and resolves a much more fundamental issue.
More information about Beyond the Walls, including additional resources can be found at www.beyondthewalls-ministry.com
This series included graphics to illustrate what is being taught, if you would like to watch the teachings you can do so on Rumble (https://rumble.com/user/SpokaneBibleChurch) or on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtV_KhFVZ_waBcnuywiRKIyEcDkiujRqP).
Jeremy Thomas is the pastor at Spokane Bible Church in Spokane, Washington and a professor at Chafer Theological Seminary. He has been teaching the Bible for over 20 years, always seeking to present its truths in a clear and understandable manner.
Welcome to Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas and our series on the New Testament Framework. Today a smaller, bite-sized piece from the larger lesson. We hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 2:So there's some odd things about the Messiah, jesus, of course, and the cross in the New Testament which lead us to kind of ask the question, maybe back away from the whole issue, and kind of wonder why this was not understood well even at the time of the question, maybe back away from the whole issue, and kind of wonder why this was not understood well even at the time of the Messiah, with all the Old Testament already there and yet they didn't see it Now. So they obviously did not have the same conception of justice and the nature of God and man's sin that we do. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have, of course. Just because they had the Old Testament doesn't mean they understood everything in the Old Testament. Right, if you and I had been there, we may not have understood the Old Testament either. We may have been just like Peter and said, no, it's not going to happen, you're never going to die. But then you have to walk away saying, well then, how would the sin problem be resolved? Right, because in your mind you're thinking, you're a Monday morning quarterback, you have more information than they did. So you're thinking well, it's necessary, but the cross was not well understood.
Speaker 2:Now everybody has a sense of justice, every human being. And the reason we have a sense of justice is because we have a conscience. The conscience isn't something that you can dissect, take out, put it on a scale, measure the weight of the conscience, or something like that. It's a part of the immaterial part of man, part of our human spirit, part of that aspect of our constitution. We have that because we're made in God's image. As image bearers of God, we are finite replicas of him. So, whereas he has certain attributes, like he's, sovereign, man has choice. Sovereign is an infinite quality. Choice is a finite quality. Right love, infinite right, infinite love. We have, we love. Why do we have love? Well, because we're finite creatures made in his image. Right, he is righteous and just right, what we sometimes call holy. We have a concept of righteousness and justice as humans, because we're made in his image and it's called conscience, and our conscience can't help but judge and say that's right, that's wrong. I mean, people do it every day. You make judgments every day. Every human does. It's because we're made in God's image that we do that. So humans have developed systems of justice, what they consider to be just. Here's a few of them Distributive justice.
Speaker 2:This is a form of social justice where it's basically redistribution of assets, wealth from those who are the haves to the have-nots. So this is considered by many to be a form of justice. We should all be equal. We all should have equal amount of assets, power and so forth. So distributive justice is the concept of redistributing through various means, such as progressive tax systems, where you would tax those who make the least amount less than you would tax those bracket who make the most. Tax them more To try to redistribute wealth, reallocate wealth so people are more. We can get to a level where everyone's equal. So that's a form of justice.
Speaker 2:Does it sound just? I mean, like you know, some people think this is just. I think that the people who make this theory actually are just jealous. So that's not just right. We would say well, that's not just. You shouldn't get something that someone else has earned or inherited just because you feel like you should get it and they shouldn't have it, or because you feel like they have too much and they'll never be able to spend that much money. So I should get some of it, never be able to spend that much money so I should get some of it Anyway.
Speaker 2:So this is their plan, okay? Retributive justice this is the idea that a perpetrator must suffer something that is proportional to the victim, some loss that's proportional to the victim. The Bible actually does touch on this type of has a discussion about many passages that discuss this. We saw one today in Deuteronomy 30, I think it was verse 6. Those who had cursed Israel and brought pain and suffering on them would suffer. So there's concepts of retributive justice in the Bible, but it's not a total picture of the Bible's view of justice.
Speaker 2:Rehabilitory justice so this is the prison system, which obviously this is a part of our justice system. This is the idea that the criminal is a victim and the justice system is responsible to take care of these people because somehow we failed them. They're just a victim. So we'll take them and we'll care for them and rehabilitate them in the prison system, Whereas what actually usually happens is the criminals in the prison system are now together with other criminals, so all criminal minds come together and they create new ideas for how, when they get out, they're going to do more vicious and more complicated crimes. Not so much rehabilitation. Egalitarianism, a form of social justice that is designed to give equal opportunities and treatment to all citizens, with consideration of past treatments of people, groups, racial groups and so forth. So principles like affirmative action would be employed in an egalitarian, and you can see that a lot of these aspects are used or mixed together. We kind of have an eclectic system where a lot of these ideas are mixed together in our system of justice or injustice, whatever the case may be. But people have these senses of justice because they're made in God's image.
Speaker 2:But the problem with all these is that human conceptions of justice are all fallen projections that emanate from finite humans. So, first of all, we're finite, right, we're just limited. We can't know every outcome. If we make a specific decision in a court of law, how do we know that that decision will actually be efficacious or helpful? How do we know that it's proportional, efficacious or helpful? How do we know that it's proportional?
Speaker 2:We don't know all the details in any crime and therefore how to proportionally deal with that. We just don't know, because we're finite humans and we can't say. We don't even know what the effects of it will be. So it's really just speculation and guess. Not only are we finite, we're also fallen. So, like I mentioned, with distributive justice, the haves versus the have-nots. Let's tax the haves more so we can redistribute wealth, so we can all be equal playing field. Right, that's probably stemming from jealousy, covetousness which are all sinful, we would say, but so it's a projection of fallen humans, that whole system. So what this does is it challenges us to look at the cross more closely, because only when we look at it more closely are we able to understand what justice really is from God's point of view, because it's the central picture of justice.
Speaker 1:Thank you for joining us on Beyond the Walls with Jeremy Thomas. If you would like to see the visuals that went along with today's sermon, you can find those on Rumble and on YouTube under Spokane Bible Church. That is where Jeremy is the pastor and teacher. We hope you found today's lesson productive and useful in growing closer to God and walking more obediently with Him. If you found this podcast to be useful and helpful, then please consider rating us in your favorite podcast app, and until next time, we hope you have a blessed and wonderful day.