Page 10 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 16
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The Bible: Proverbs, Matthew, and Paul will be justified in his sight, since through
In the Bible, self-reflection is a given. A bib- the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom
lical picture of the human person assumes 3:20). Aligning oneself with God’s law and
our ability to self-examine, to take a look ways is one thing, but Paul teaches it is
at the state of our heart, soul, mind, and not enough, because for the person whose
strength (Deut. 6:6-9; Matt. 22:38). Jesus “mind is set on the flesh”—that is, who is
directs us to evaluate our own ethico-spiri- self-reliant—claiming to follow God is me-
tual wellbeing before judging others: “first rely a smokescreen for sin. Religious people
take the log out of your own eye” (Matt. who pursue “works of the law” may appear
7:5). Self-reflection is a God-given power righteous and spiritual, but they are actual-
meant to help us see our true selves, so ly just living “in the flesh,” which leads to
that we can make the changes necessary to the same end as the less disguised path of
become more like God. lawlessness.
Despite having this power, however, the Neither legalism nor antinomianism can
Bible reveals that we are often very out solve the problem of sin, because the solu-
of touch with our true selves, because we tion can never be attained through fleshly
have lost touch with God. In our foolish- means but only through Christ in the Spi-
ness, humans have rejected “the fear of the rit (Phil. 3:3). To live as if this were not the
Lord” (Prov. 1:7) deciding to evaluate what case belies a false self-understanding.
we see in ourselves not against God’s stan- On the other hand, the Bible clearly holds
dards, but doing whatever we deem right out the possibility for true self-understan-
“in our own eyes” (Prov. 12:5). ding. Wisdom cries out, “... the complacen-
Further, the more we distance our self- cy of fools destroys them; whoever listens
evaluation from God’s standards, the less to me will dwell secure and will be at ease,
accurate our self-understanding becomes, without dread of disaster” (Prov. 1:32-33).
to the point that what we consider our true Although there is a way leading to self-
self is actually a false self of our own ima- delusion and death, there is another path
gining. We become hypocrites, who think leading to increasing self-understanding
they are one way—and who convincingly and life: “But the path of the righteous is
portray themselves as such to others—but like the light of dawn, which shines brighter
who really another. and brighter until full day” (Prov. 4:18).
There is probably no better model for this As the Bible’s revelation progresses from
kind of hypocrisy than the Pharisees that Old Testament to New, we see that the way
Jesus often encountered, who appeared to of Yahweh is most fully revealed in Jesus,
themselves and others as “beautiful on the who is “the way, the truth, and the life”
outside” but were inwardly “full of dead (John 14:6). The way of Jesus is the way to
people’s bones and uncleanness” (Matt. wholeness, in which the outside matches
23:27). Jesus teaches that merely aligning the inside (Matt. 12:33-35; 23:26).
oneself with God and claiming to fear him The first step is to admit that we are not
is not enough to avoid foolishness or hy- whole. We must be poor of spirit, mourn-
pocrisy, since even people who claimed to ful, meek, and desperately desirous of the
do things in Jesus’ name fell into it (Matt. righteousness we don’t yet fully possess
7:21-23). (Matt. 5:3-6). In doing so, with the plank
But how could this happen? Paul answers, in our eye removed, we can see the truth
“For by works of the law no human being about ourselves.
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