Saturday, November 5, 2011

Jesus' Mission and Christian Mercy

Jesus said this about himself in the gospel of Matthew 5:17:
Matthew 5:17 KJV
Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
Jesus' mission wasn't to create a license for sin nor condone it. On the contrary, almost the entire Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7) is devoted to elevating the Law, raising the bar if you will, on the holiness of God and how no human is without sin in His presence. Jesus always preached the entire counsel of God from the Law and the Prophets. (The Old Testament.)  Jesus' mission was to call sinners to repentance but sinners don't understand that they're sinners unless they are first confronted with being condemned by the Law.

The heart of the gospel message is mercy; God's mercy towards sinners and we're all sinners. Christians are to extend the same mercy towards others as they have received from God through Jesus Christ.

So, to be clear, Christian mercy doesn't condone sin. Rather, it is a compassionate and humble forbearance of sin until that day when Jesus comes again.

However, those that seek for a way to justify sin in their own lives have not fully understood the gospel message and one would be justified in questioning that person's devotion to Christ if he/she claimed to be "in Christ."





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