What's the difference between social justice and biblical justice? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. This is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you, and you can call us with your question right now at 833-THE-CORE. If you want to post your question on one of our social media sites, you can do that. You can also watch Adriel right now live in the studio on our YouTube channel and message us that way. And of course, you can always email us a question at questionsatcorechristianity.com.
First up today, let's go to a question that came in from one of our listeners named Justin. Do Christians still need to keep Old Testament laws such as eating kosher and keeping the Sabbath? Hey, thank you for that question. The first passage of Scripture that comes to my mind is what the Apostle Paul said in Colossians 2, verse 16. He wrote, Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. In other words, under the old covenant, with some of these festivals and with the food laws, you had a shadowy picture, if you will, of Christ, his gospel, what God would be doing in the future under the new covenant. And to go back to those things, or to embrace those as laws for us today, in one sense is a denial of what God has done in redemptive history. In fact, the entire book of Hebrews was written to address this issue because you had a group of people who had come into the church, they had embraced Jesus Christ by faith, and then they were being tempted to go back to those various food laws and the sacrificial system of the old covenant.
It would have been a really, really bad thing. Paul says, look, we have the reality. In fact, earlier there in Colossians 2, in verse 11, he says, In Jesus also you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God.
And so we have the reality. We're not to go back to the old covenant types and shadows, the food laws, the laws related to the Sabbath and worshiping on Saturday. Now that doesn't mean that we don't in one sense have a Christian Sabbath, the Lord's day today where we gather together for worship with believers.
But we can't take the civil laws of Israel or the ceremonial laws of Israel and import them to our situation now under the new covenant. This is, of course, corroborated with what we see elsewhere in the New Testament. I think of the vision that Peter has in Acts chapter 10, where he sees all of these unclean foods and he has a vision. The Lord speaks to him and says, Rise Peter, kill and eat. And then you have this Gentile Cornelius who's welcomed into the worshiping community. But it also is right in line with what Jesus himself taught and said, actually in the Gospel of Mark, in Mark chapter 7, verse 19, Jesus is talking about foods and how it's not what goes into the body that defiles you, but what comes out of the heart.
That's what defiles us. Out of the heart comes all sorts of evil, wicked thoughts and deeds. And Jesus says in Mark chapter 7, I'll begin in verse 19, since it enters not his heart, speaking of the food that we eat, but his stomach and is expelled. Thus, and this is a comment that we get here, thus he, that is Jesus, declared all foods clean. And so we have the witness of the apostle Paul. We have the witness of Peter, the apostle.
We have the witness of Jesus himself. And because of that, we don't put people under the bondage of the law, the ceremonial law, if you will, of the old covenant. So thank you for that question and God bless. You know, I'm curious, Adriel, how would you respond to someone, let's say an evangelical Christian who really gets into the Passover Seder or to a Messianic Jew that seems to be intent on following a lot of these Old Testament laws or traditions? Yeah, that's a good question, Bill, and I think an important one because, you know, there are whole movements where this is happening.
I think for a lot of people, it can be harmless. You know, it's just wanting to learn from these Old Testament traditions and even to see the pictures of Christ that are there. So I think in so far as maybe there's some teaching going on that can be helpful, but if we're going back to those things as a divine law, you think of the people that were agitating the Galatians, the New Testament book of Galatians. They were telling the Galatians, hey, you need to go back to these food laws.
You need to get circumcised. Gentile men were joining into the church if you haven't been because that's a part of the law. And Paul says, you guys are twisting the gospel. You're adding to the gospel. And so if we're doing those things as a means of our justification, if we're saying we have to do these things, we have to start observing the Passover the way it was done in the Old Testament in order to be the children of God justified, well, then there's a huge problem. In fact, I would go as far as to say that that's heresy. That's adding to the gospel, which is what Paul said in the book of Galatians.
Great counsel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible, Christian life, theology, doctrine, or how your faith intersects with today's culture, you can give us a call right now. Here's the phone number. It's 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.
Here's a call that came in from one of our listeners named Billy. I am just calling just social justice, right? What's the difference between social justice and biblical justice? I think the terms are getting intertwined and we're losing biblical justice for a social justice. Here's the gospel, which then just replaces the gospel of Jesus and the gospel of Paul.
What would you do? Are there any good resources out there that we can say, hey, listen, this is what the culture is saying about social justice. Here's what the Bible teaches us about justice and the actual gospel according to Christ. So that's all I got. Thank you for your ministry. It's awesome. Thank you.
Bye. Hey, Billy, appreciate that question. This is definitely one that has been on a lot of people's minds, especially over the last couple of years, I think, as there have been a lot of conversations surrounding the question of biblical justice, social justice, what our obligations are as Christians in society. Now, first, you mentioned the social gospel. I think it's important that we understand what that is, that we define that well. Defining our terms here is so important. In the history of the church, there was a period of time where people were beginning to reject essentially the miracles of the Bible.
You think of the 19th and 20th century. They were saying, look, Christianity, it's not really about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, these miracles. The modern man can't believe those things. We need to go back to the heart of the gospel. The kernel of the gospel was argued by German theologians like Adolf von Harnack, who I would not recommend you go read. They're saying, look, the kernel, the essence of the gospel is love your neighbor, be engaged in society and these social justice issues, and that's what people can really get on board with.
That's what they can really get behind. This is the way that we're going to save Christianity. We need to do away with the miracles, with justification by grace through faith, all of that stuff that the modern man can't embrace anymore, and just talk about loving our neighbors.
That is a false gospel because it turns the gospel into something we do, not something that God has done. The good news of Christianity is not that we love our neighbors. It's not that we're engaged in social issues. It's that God loved his enemies and sent his son Jesus into the world to be the propitiation for our sins so that we might be justified in the sight of God even though we're sinners.
Having said that though, there's something I think that we also miss a lot today. I think part of the issue is because everything is so politicized and we hear these sort of trigger words, social justice, and we think about all the baggage that maybe is in our mind from some of the political discussion. We're not able to see or hear I think the Bible's teaching on this clearly. When we talk about biblical justice, brothers and sisters, let me just say the Bible is concerned with social justice. Biblical justice is inherently social. It has to do with how we relate to our neighbors, the people around us. God is concerned for the people around us, for our neighbors. It is the second table of the law in terms of loving the people around us, loving our neighbor as ourselves. How does Jesus define our neighbor? Well, it's not just the people who look, think, and act like we do, the people who are Christians.
It's the outsider even. This is something God has always been concerned with. I go back to the book of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 1, God is rebuking his people because while they get worship right, they're doing the sacrifices and going through the motions of worship, they have failed with regard to justice.
There's this huge issue. So Isaiah chapter 1, listen to what God says to his people there. Verse 12, when you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings.
Incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations, I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. Your new moons and your appointed feast, my soul hates. They have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves. Make yourselves clean. Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do good. Seek justice.
Correct oppression. Bring justice to the fatherless and plead the widow's cause. You see how God here is concerned with how his people treat their neighbors, in particular the vulnerable in society, the widow, the orphan. These are issues of social justice and issues of the second table of the law, how we love our neighbors. One of my concerns in this discussion is that we don't just pit biblical justice against social justice, but that we realize that in one sense, very clearly, biblical justice is inherently social. That doesn't mean that we just embrace the broader society's definition of what is just and what isn't just. There are many things in our culture that people in society think are perfectly just, which God says are not just. I think of the way in which, as a society, we treat the unborn, for example. There are ways also where the church has erred in this regard. You think of the church's history with things like slavery, injustices that the church has tried to or Christians have tried to at various points in history tried to justify. We really have to, brothers and sisters, go back to the scriptures, search them with humility, and say, God, what does it look like for me to love my neighbors, the people who are around me? That's a part of social justice.
I think that there are a couple of different ditches that we can reckon that we have to avoid. We can reckon that in the ditch of the social gospel where we're saying we're justified by our good deeds and the way in which we love our neighbor, but we can also reckon the ditch that the people of God wrecked in there in Isaiah chapter 1, which is going through the motions of religion without truly loving justice, our neighbors. Of course, we're not justified by that, but the people of God who are shaped by, formed by the gospel should be a people who love their neighbors, who are concerned with the needs around them, the needs of the poor, the needs of the marginalized, the needs of the unborn. That's just a part of loving God as we're called to and loving our neighbor as ourselves. God bless. Great counsel.
Thanks for that, Adriel. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you are a parent or grandparent, we want to tell you about a very special resource that we have today. It's a book from a friend of this ministry, author and theologian, Nancy Guthrie.
Yes. Recently, we had Nancy on the broadcast and it is always such a privilege to have her. She has just wonderful insights about the Christian life, family, prayer.
So make sure you check out those episodes, those broadcasts, if you haven't had a chance to yet, if you didn't get to hear when we had her on the program. We're offering her children's book, What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. It's basically a mini biblical theology of prayer for children. It's a wonderful resource if you have kids or grandchildren. Please get a hold of this resource. I know that it will bless you. You can find it by going to our website corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Just look for What Every Child Should Know About Prayer. And if you want to hear that special broadcast, that interview we did with Nancy, just go to corechristianity.com slash radio. You can look at the recent episodes and you will find that particular program. And if you've got a question for Adriel, feel free to give us a call right now.
833-THE-CORE is the number. Let's go to Cody in Kansas. Cody, what's your question for Adriel? Yes, I was recently speaking with someone about their burial plot. They mentioned that the cemetery that they will be buried in faces all the headstones to the east, because that's the way that Jesus will return from. They cite Revelation chapter 7 verse 2. I'm just curious if that language speaks literally or perhaps eternally or figuratively of the east or what your thoughts are on that. Thank you. Revelation chapter 7 verse 2.
Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm the earth and the sea saying do not harm the earth or the sea and the trees and so on and so forth. It sounds to me like this is maybe something more symbolic that the cemetery is doing. Is there anything wrong with that? No, I don't know that there's anything wrong with that. There's certainly nothing that says that our gravestones need to be facing the east so that when Christ returns we'll be seeing him when we rise again from the dead.
So I guess the way I would see it is not that big of a deal I think. I would say the language of the east and heading east is something that we do see actually throughout the Bible, in particular in the book of Genesis. You think of the exile from the Garden of Eden and going back to Eden. There is something, even in church architecture there has been essentially this tradition of building churches facing a particular way. And then also you think about under the old covenant with the temple and the way that it was built and the people of God when they were far from Jerusalem facing the temple. But I think a lot of this is more just a sort of ritual and symbolic. I don't think that there's anything, Cody, that is necessarily, certainly not something that we're told in scripture that we have to do.
So I wouldn't make any rules about this. It sounds like it's maybe just something that the cemetery is doing. So yeah, thank you for your question and God bless. Hey Cody, thanks so much for listening to CORE Christianity. It's Veterans Day. We want to say thank you to all of our veterans who are listening today and to their family members. For those who have served, we appreciate you so much. I actually have a question about Veterans Day coming from Joshua.
He's one of our YouTube viewers. He says, is John 15, 13 taken out of context when referring to fallen veterans? I've seen this on many social media posts today. John 15, verse 13. Let me start in verse 12. This is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down his life for his friends. Now, is that verse being taken out of context when applied to veterans who have laid down their lives for this country? Well, in one sense, I want to say yes. In a general sense, this is just a general point that Jesus is making.
What is more loving? Is there an act of love that could be more clear than laying down your own life, sacrificing your life for others? In that sense, I think generally it's applicable, but specifically here in John 15, Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure, which is coming.
This is a part of the upper room discourse. At the heart of his departure, his exodus, if you will, is his crucifixion, what he is going to do laying down his life for his friends, for you, and for me as the full atonement for our sin so that we might be forgiven and have a relationship with God. That's the focus of John 15.
But generally, again, as I said, that's true. In terms of laying down our lives, that is the ultimate picture of love. I think on a day like this, as many people are reflecting on the ultimate sacrifice that many people have made in service to this country, that is a great act of love, if you will, and we should honor those who have gone before us. But we also don't want to confuse that with what Jesus did.
What Jesus did is different from any sacrifice that we make, any laying down of our lives, insofar as he's not just dying, he's taking upon himself the curse for our sins so that we might be forgiven, so that we might have eternal life. Thanks for that question. Good question. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Let's go to Kenneth who's calling in from Kansas City, Missouri. Kenneth, what's your question?
Hey, this is Kenneth from Missouri. I heard earlier on the first question, talking about the Sabbath, and I just wanted to clarify. I understand about the food rituals, the altar rituals, I get that, that we don't need to do that anymore.
That's more just showing obedience more than anything. But still following the Sabbath, taking that day of rest, and I understand some to do it on Saturday for the Hebrews, and those who Christians who want to do it on Sunday. But if God is Christ, and Christ is God, and Christ gave us the Ten Commandments and the Four Commandments being to keep the Sabbath holy, how can we as Christians be okay with those who work on what we consider a holy Sabbath day? How can we be okay with that? Now, Kenneth, honestly, one, thank you for following up.
I love when we get these follow-ups in the middle of the broadcast. Can I just ask you another clarifying question? Are you saying, hey, it doesn't matter if it's on Saturday or Sunday, but you just got to make sure you're taking a day of rest to worship? Or are you saying it has to be on Saturday related to the Sabbath? Well, what I'm saying is that there are weaker Christians who want to do it only Saturday, and that's fine if that's the day that you want to follow your faith.
That is fine with me. If you want to do it on Sunday, and you say Sunday is your Sabbath, and that is your faith, then I think you should follow the Sabbath as your Sunday. I'm not saying it has to be one day or the other. It is for those who I don't want them to feel like they're sinning if they don't do it on a certain day. If I remember, Paul or Peter wrote about that. When you have weaker brothers in the faith, don't make them sin, thinking that they have to keep up with the way you are, not the other. I love your follow-up here, and I appreciate the distinctions that you're making. It is clear to us on the basis of Hebrews 4 that there does remain a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
In other words, something we're going to enter into. In Christ, ultimately, that's where we find that. It's what the author of the Hebrews says again there in Hebrews 4. He goes on to say if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on, so then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. The way I understand that is, look, that's the eschatological rest.
That's a big rest, but it's referring to the full rest that we receive in the presence of the Lord, which we get a taste of here on earth in Jesus Christ. When we gather with other believers, that's in one sense a realization, a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath or the everlasting Sabbath, if I may, that we're going to experience with the Lord. That's why Christians historically have gathered together for worship, and they've gathered together on Sunday. On the first day of the week, you see this in the book of Acts, Acts 20 and 1 Corinthians 16. Even John, when he received his revelation in Revelation chapter 1, talks about being caught up in this vision on the Lord's day, that is Sunday, the day that Jesus rose. I think it is absolutely important. I'm a pastor of a local church. I think it's so important for believers to gather together on the Lord's day to worship him, to honor him, to follow him, to grow together with other Christians under the ministry of the word, under the sacraments of grace, the ordinances that Jesus has given to the church.
I wouldn't want to minimize that at all. What I was referring to was those Sabbath law keeping rules associated with the old covenant in particular that are given there during the time of Israel as his political body. You think even of the civil laws that were associated with keeping the Sabbath. So that's what I was referring to. But we cannot have a high enough view of what takes place when we gather together with Christians to rest in the gospel, to observe, if you will, the Sabbath, worshiping the Lord and experiencing the rest that Christ gives. That's 833-The-Core. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.
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