Bonus Post: Who was Nicodemus?
JUSTIFIED BY WHAT I THINK
It has been many years ago when our children were young that I experienced a great loss. It was not a death, though I have experienced that loss. It was not a tragedy like the loss of our house by fire. It was not sickness, though we have had our share of that. It was the loss of a friend.
I had developed a friendship with the wife of a teacher with whom my husband taught school. She had two boys about the age of our two children. They became great friends, and so did we. We spent a lot of time together as families. She became almost like a sister to me. We were members of the same church family, but my husband took a preaching job across town; and her husband took a teaching job in a different school. We remained friends, but we obviously did not spend as much time together as we had in the past.
Some time passed, and I began to hear some rumors about my friend, things I didn’t like hearing. At first, I didn’t believe they were true; but then I received a call from her husband that verified my worst fears. She was having an affair. I had to hear it from her, so I called and made arrangements to see her. She was different, and sadly what I had learned was true. She wanted out of her marriage, and this was her reasoning. She said, “God would not want me to be married to a man and be unhappy.” This was her justification for her sin.
The New American Oxford Dictionary defines justified as, “having, done for, or marked by a good or legitimate reason.” To justify is to, “show or prove to be right or reasonable; be a good reason for.” Justification is, “the action of showing something to be right or reasonable; good reason for something that exists or has been done; the action of declaring or making righteous in the sight of God.”
My friend thought she was “justified” in her affair because she was unhappy in her marriage. She found this explanation “a good reason,” “a reasonable explanation,” even making it “righteous in the sight of God.” We know her sin was not justified because she violated a command of God. Adultery was condemned under the Old Law, and it is condemned under the New Law (Matthew 5, Hebrews 13:4 and other passages). The writer of Hebrews says that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, ESV). The expectation of the Lord has not changed. Adultery is still a sin.
When God gave Moses the law to govern the people of Israel, He laid out laws to cover all aspects of their lives. One of the things He said was “…I will not justify the wicked” (Exodus 23:7 KJV). God just isn’t going to justify those who disobey His laws.
Isaiah 53 is an interesting chapter. We often use verses 8 and 9 to show that God doesn’t think like we do. Though this is a fact, confirmed by this passage, there is more to this chapter. We have missed a very important fact later in the chapter. Isaiah is speaking for the purpose of showing the state of happiness available to believers. He is speaking to people who do not value the blessings available from the Father. Here he invites the people to be obedient, turn from their evil ways, and repent of their sins (verses 6-7). Then we have the explanation that “My thoughts are not your thoughts; your ways are not my ways.” Verse 11 supplies us with why we need to obey His voice and not our own. Isaiah says the reason is “it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” There is a purpose behind the commands God gives us. This was true for Israel, and it is true for us today. God has a purpose for His laws, and that is to accomplish His purpose—not ours.
In Luke 10, Jesus was approached by a lawyer whom Scripture says wanted to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus replied that he should love God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself. Verse 29 says, “But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” His questions were designed not only to test, but also to justify himself.
When Jesus found the Pharisee and the publican in the temple, He found them praying. The Pharisee prayed with great praise for himself and thankfulness that he was not like the wretched publican that stood beside him. When the publican prayed, he prayed for God to be merciful to him because he was a sinner. Jesus said, “This man went down to his house justified, rather than the other” (Luke 18:14).
My friend lived in this adulterous relationship for many years. The man with whom she had the affair had a wife, and she would not divorce him. My friend left her two boys because she said she was the one unhappy and not them. She left her house and most of her belongings. She moved into a trailer, quite a contrast from her beautiful brick home and lovely furnishings. After the man’s wife died, they married. He was much older than she was, and he became ill. She put him in a nursing home, because she didn’t want to take care of him. When he died, she was all alone with no one to comfort her. She had cut herself off from everyone that had cared about her: family, friends, and her church family. Though many of us tried over and over again to help, she refused to repent. She felt “justified” in her sin.
So, here is the point to this story. Anyone can justify what they do and how they live. They justify themselves by what they think God thinks. God thinks what He tells us in His Word. Just as children are not always happy with rules by which they must live, we may not always be happy with God’s rules. Nevertheless, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways.
Sandra Oliver