The RC Sproul Jr. Principle of Hermeneutics is a simple truth, and a deep passion of mine. It goes like this- Whenever you see someone in the Bible doing something really, really stupid, do not say to yourself, “How can they be so stupid?” Instead say to yourself, “How am I stupid just like them?” It matters to me in large part because it reveals how the Bible reveals my sin. James tells us that the Word is a mirror. Because we are sinners, however, we too often look in the mirror, see the Hero rescuing us, and think that’s us in the reflection. We are indeed called to be rescuers, but first we have to know that we not only needed, but continue to need to be rescued.
One of the frequent snapshots of human stupidity in the Bible is the propensity of the people of God to think themselves such by birth right. We can, of course, err in the other direction. I remember once speaking at a Christian high school graduation, wherein not just one or two, but all of the graduates were given opportunity to speak. Each of them stood up and thanked their parents for raising them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, for sacrificing to give them a distinctly Christian education, for washing them with the Word. So far so good. What shocked me was that after giving their heartfelt thanks, each and every student went on to say that all that Christian nurture had nothing at all to do with their faith, that God rejected all that fidelity, and intervened to give them life. They dissed God’s work through their parents in order to praise God’s work apart from their parents.
The more common problem in the Bible, however, is the lazy conviction that because my parents were Israelites, I am due the privileges appertaining thereunto. The scribes and Pharisees insisted that Abraham, not the devil, was their father. Jesus said the opposite. Jesus was right. That this dynamic is not foreign to us, however, does not mean that we are in no danger of falling into it. Whether it be because we live in a nation with a strong, albeit rapidly waning Christian heritage, or whether it be closer to home, that our parents, grandparents, etc. were believers, we tend to think our being brought into the kingdom is a natural thing rather than a supernatural thing.
I was raised by faithful, believing parents. My ancestors hail from lands to whom missionaries braved death to bring the good news of the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. This happened more than 1500 years before I was born. The land in which I was born, little more than 400 years before my birth, had been barren, virtually untouched by the gospel. What a fool I would be to think I was never in danger, that I was never outside the people of God. I, and my people were once not a people. But He made us His people. It was not my birthright. That was death and destruction. Instead it was His grace.
This same gospel is at work around the globe, bringing in the elect from the four corners. All the nations are being brought in. The kingdom is covering the earth like a stone uncut by human hands. Jesus saves. Do not forget that He called us from far off, even as we never forget we are the children of our father, Abraham.
