The Goal of Life—5

I want to conclude by discussing a few more verses that are relevant to the present subject.  These New Testament passages have often been misunderstood as either teaching salvation by works or, more commonly, as referring to rewards for Christian service.  It is worth noting that God has seen fit to allow these verses to stand as they are written, when He could have inspired the New Testament authors to state them with such clarity that controversy would have been impossible.  We can rest assured that in His infinite wisdom, the Lord has made the revelation of Himself in Scripture to be perfect.  In dealing with other subjects we find that God has allowed the same thing.  Romans 6:1 is a well-known example.  The gospel has been presented in the New Testament in such a way that the objection referred to in Romans 6:1 has a certain plausability.  This does not mean that the Lord has made the Bible obscure.  Rather, it means that God has reserved the most profound understanding of His word for those who earnestly endeavor to search for its wisdom.  He has given each of us an intellect for a good purpose—to aid us in knowing Him.  The Bible rewards hard thinking.  Searching the scriptures for wisdom is compared to mining gold.  If we do not clearly understand these precious passages, we will lose the immense comfort and encouragement they were written to provide us.  The truth under consideration here has too often suffered the same fate that others have.  When two different biblical teachings appear to contradict each other, one teaching is sacrificed to maintain the other.  Many have dealt with the biblical teaching of God’s sovereignty over the free actions of people in this way.  Usually God’s sovereignty is denied or limited.  But if the Bible clearly affirms both teachings, we must hold to both, honestly acknowledging the tension that is beyond our human reason to resolve, and being content to leave the mystery of it to God.  Tomorrow we will consider the extraordinary statements of Paul on this subject in his letters to Timothy.