Recently I have been thinking about the five basic Christian doctrines identified in Hebrews 6. According to the writer of Hebrews, they are those doctrines that Christians need to know before moving on to maturity. You can find that post here. The first one, that of repentance from dead works, struck me. What has struck me is that it does not say that we are to repent of bad works or even evil works but of dead works. Could it bee that both our bad works and our good works are dead?
“The world today will try and convince you that these things are not obviously death producing but rather that some of them are only different alternatives in a more pluralistic culture.”
The first category of dead works I want to call the obvious dead works. Paul, writing to the Galatians identifies these obvious works, “…the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal 5:19-21).” The world today will try and convince you that these things are not obviously death producing but instead they would convince you that some of them are only different alternatives in a more pluralistic, tolerant, and accommodating culture. However, those of us who have been the victims of these works can attest to the injustice that these works produce; broken marriages, the trauma of a sexual encounter in the absence of or inability to consent, the family neglect of alcoholism and drug abuse, the physical and psychological abuse of an angry spouse or parent just to name a few. If you love a person who has been the victim of any of these dead works and the injustices that they are, then you know what it is to demand justice and the very visceral rightness of the justice demanded. These works produce death in that the justice warranted for them is the death they deserve! But we also know that we too are guilty, if only in our hearts, of at least one of these listed works.
James writes how, “…each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death (Jas 1:14-15).” It starts with our own evil desires. It is our own lust that leads to sexual immorality, it is our own selfish desires for control that lead to idolatry, sorcery, enmity, and strife, and it is our own covetousness that leads to jealousy etc. and etc. And when we act on those desires, we commit sin.
All sins are feelings or transgressions against something forbidden or required. It is an offense against that for which something was created, and you were not created to be immoral, impure, nor any of the things listed above. You were created for righteousness. And so, in not living out that which the creator has intended not only have we committed injustices against others, but we have committed injustices against ourselves and He who created us. Our works were all birthed by our own desires and will bring forth death.
“The idea that any of our good works is sufficient to make amends for our bad works is not theologically or philosophically sound.”
But there is another kind of dead work. And these dead works do not look as though they would produce death. The quintessential example is that model prisoner, sentenced to a life of imprisonment, who builds a library that educates fellow inmates in order that they can build a good life when they are released. Hundreds and then thousands of fellow inmates are impacted by their education for the better until one day someone makes the argument that the model inmates’ sentence should be commuted because of all the good that he has done since he was imprisoned. But what if the person he had killed were your son or the woman he had raped were your daughter? How many people would have to be helped before justice was served? Ten, one hundred, one thousand? How many lives would have to be saved before your son were returned?
The idea that any of our good works is sufficient to make amends for our bad works is not theologically or philosophically sound. Even less so when we take into consideration that we were expected to be good and righteous by the one who created us and the very fact that we are not is a sin against that creator. Can being what you were supposed to be amend for the fact that you once were not? Could you make an argument that your works are good enough that you should not be judged for the works that were not good enough? This was the error of the Pharisees in the time of Jesus.
“The Law was teaching them that righteousness cannot be found as an earned payment for legalistic works.”
David Stern writing about the Israelites of Jesus time argues that although they were pursuing the righteousness of The Law they missed that The Law was teaching them that righteousness cannot be found as an earned payment for legalistic works (Stern 1992, Rom 9:31). J. Scott states plainly that, “both Intertestamental and Rabbinic Judaism were legalistic in nature, that they sought to earn or merit salvation by meticulous observance of the law (Scott 1995, 273-274).” Are you trying to earn your righteousness, or do you mistakenly believe that you have already earned it?
We all know someone or some family of “good” people. They work hard, they don’t steal, and they are kind to one another. They may even go to church. But can any of this recover for them that which was lost in the fall? Do all of these good works when combined overcome the requirement for justice demanded by one evil deed or even one evil thought? The Bible teaches that the answer is a resounding no.
What is left then is to wonder, “are there any works that produce life?” And the miracle of all miracles is that the answer is yes!!! The work that Jesus completed on the cross is the only work that could and does produce life. All our works produced and produce death and those deaths were paid for by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The justice demanded for each of our dead works was paid, in full, by the very one who that justice is owed! When you accept this work, you are brought out of your dead works and in freedom you are then able to serve one another through love (Gal 5:13). That service will either encourage believers to persevere in their faith or cause unbelievers to accept Jesus’ work in faith. Both of which are works of service that, through the work of Jesus, continue to produce life.
“We are to accept that our evil deeds, those that most obviously produce death, require justice.”
Finally, what does it mean then to repent from our dead works? It means that we are to change our mind about righteousness. We are to accept that our evil deeds, those that most obviously produce death, require justice; justice that is owed to our creator. In our pride we decided that we new better what we were created for than He, and so we made ourselves into that which we were not intended to be. We were intended to be righteous before God. And in that lost righteousness we must also accept that we cannot generate our own righteousness or cover our own unrighteousness by our own “good” works. Our “good” works are also dead. Because we have offended against God.
Repent! Accept Jesus work on your behalf by faith and start working to produce life in obedience to Him. That is what it means to move on to maturity in Christ.
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Photo by Wendy Scofield on Unsplash
Scott, J. Julius. Jewish Backgrounds Of The New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995.
Stern, David H. Jewish New Testament Commentary. Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc., 1992.
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