Sky had decided to give church a try after her interesting conversation with Parker and Julie. However, the sermon left her with lots of questions that she wanted to discuss with Julie and Parker at 4th period lunch.
"So I braved it this weekend and went to church for the first time. But it left me with lots of questions." said Sky to both Parker and Julie.
"Very cool. I'd love to hear about your experience," replied Parker.
"Well, the pastor was teaching through the covenants of the Bible which he told us were simply agreements that help define and set expectations for our relationship with God. And I'm glad he defined that word because otherwise I would have been clueless the entire time."
"I've experienced the same thing before. Some of the words Christians use can make them sound like martians to normal people," said Julie.
"Well I'm glad he spoke to me like a normal person. But the thing that confused me was when he said that all of the covenants in the Bible are 'unconditional' with the exception of the covenant with Moses. He went on to say that God is all about grace and so our relationship with Him is not dependent on our works or what we do or don't do. This is how he defined the 'unconditionalness' of God's covenants. Doesn't that sound like a relationship destined for failure...all the expectations are placed on God and none on people?" said Sky.
"That's the amazing thing about grace! You can come to God and he'll accept you as you are!" said Parker.
"But then why does the Old Testament make it feel like expectations are placed on people? I mean it seems like the people didn't live up to God's expectations and so God allowed other nations to defeat them and shipped them away into a life of slavery" Sky responded.
"Well, the people in the Old Testament were living under the Mosaic covenant which wasn't unconditional. Therefore, if they didn't live up to the expectations of the covenant, curses would result. And unfortunately this is exactly what happened." said Parker.
"But it seems like in 1 Kings that the covenant God made with David did have conditions (1 Kings 8:25)," rebutted Sky.
"The most important thing is that Jesus fulfilled and satisfied the Law and its requirements so that now the Mosaic covenant and the Old Testament Law are no longer in effect to Christians (Matt. 5:17). As the Bible puts it, they are 'obsolete' (Heb. 8:13). In fact, many people in my church believe that most of the promises made in the Old Testament were only given to the Jewish people and therefore don't even apply to us," replied Parker.
"So basically you're telling me that most of the Old Testament doesn't apply to me because I am not Jewish and Christians can live however they want?" said Sky wanting more clarification.
How would you contribute to this conversation?
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Julie interjected, "Someone told me that labeling the covenants as conditional or unconditional is unhelpful because it leads to this type of confusion. I mean, it just seems obvious that God placed obligations on Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 17:1), Moses (Exod. 19:5-6), David (1 Kings 2:1-4), and even places obligations on Christians in the New Testament (Matt. 5:17-20). But what's less obvious in my opinion is why God refuses to give up on his plan and promise to restore this broken world despite humanity's constant and blatant rebellion. I would have given up on them a long time ago. And so I guess I would say that God's covenants are permanent but not necessarily unconditional."
"I think you're on to something Julie. I do recall being taught at one time that the obligations for the Abrahamic covenant given in Genesis 17:1 parallel Genesis 12:1-3. One says 'WALK before me and BE blameless' and the other says 'Go (or more literally WALK) from your land and BE a blessing.' Both sound very similar and both place obligations on Abraham. So I can see why people have trouble when this covenant is labeled 'unconditional'. That label seems inconsistent with how the story goes." said Parker.
"But I thought God's love was unconditional. Didn't you just tell me that this whole unconditional business is what makes God's GRACE so amazing?" questioned Sky.
"Personally, I think we've done the same thing to God's love that we've done to His covenants...we've tried to fit everything into one, single category. I understand that people like their simple boxes but John 3:16 isn't the only verse in the Bible. God's 'love' as described in the Old Testament seems more complicated and multi-dimensional. In one sense God loves the world unconditionally. There's no denying this. He sends rain to both evil people and nice people. And he sent Jesus to die for the entire world. But then again Jude 21 (in the New Testament) tells us to 'keep ourselves in God's love'. That sounds pretty conditional to me. In fact, that sounds a lot like God's love from the Old Testament," said Julie.
"So what you're saying is that people are saved by what they do and not by God's free grace," said Sky confused all over again.
"Well, yes and no. I guess it depends on how you define salvation. I know I sound like a broken record but we've even oversimplified the Bible's explanation of salvation. Most people define it as a get out of hell FREE card that you can get from your local insurance salesman by 'praying a prayer'. While there is some truth to this, that's not the entire story. Certainly God wants to stop people's lives from going in reverse and get them to THE heavenly destination. But He doesn't just want to put our lives into neutral NOW (while we wait for heaven)...He wants to help us move forward and overcome our hurts, habits, and hang-ups. Church people would put it this way, 'Salvation equals justification plus sanctification.' In other words, God doesn't just want to forgive people, he wants to restore them too!" said Julie tapping into some of her confirmation training.
"Now that version of Christianity is actually worth believing in compared to some of the other versions I've heard before. But you're still making it sound like people have to earn their salvation. Where's the grace?," said Sky.
"Well if you leave out the Holy Spirit then you're right, it seems like there is no grace in salvation. But Jesus' death on the cross wasn't His only act of grace. Jesus also sent His divine presence to empower people to overcome their hurts, habits, and hang-ups. People forget that the sending of the Spirit is also an act of God's grace. In fact, did you know that the Bible has another name for what we've labeled 'spiritual gifts'? The Bible calls them 'grace-gifts' (charismata). And so while Jesus' death is an act of grace because it brings forgiveness, Jesus' Spirit is also an act of grace because it empowers us. This means that the obedient life that God calls us to live is accomplished not by our effort but by the power of the Spirit. In other words, we're not saved by works but by God working through us...we're saved by God's grace. Does that make sense?" said Julie.
"I've never heard it explained that way before. I think that makes sense."
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