By: Obed Pineda
It is no secret that the bulk of humanity throughout the ages has always held a sense of entitlement. Mankind often believes that it deserves certain privileges and rights owed to them from heaven. One example of this is the fact that man truly holds that he is owed tomorrow. In other words, man often assumes that he is guaranteed to live another day, voluntarily ignoring the brevity of life. This arrogant assurance of being guaranteed tomorrow demonstrates the sense of entitlement man has come to attain which entangles him in the affairs of this world, obstructing all preparation for life after death (cf. Luke 12:13-21, 2nd Timothy 2:3-6). Wisely does the inspired Solomon advise, “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1). Upon carefully considering the words of the wise king, it becomes clear why Holy Writ recommends to the world to rely upon the Almighty and not oneself since He is all-knowing (cf. James 4:15). Yet, here is the problem with having a sense of entitlement; we tend to adhere to the concept that God owes humanity His blessings. Yes, it sapient to understand that the gift of life is a blessing provided by the magnanimous Father who alone “gives to all life, breath, and all things” (Acts 17:25b, cf. Job 14:5). Ergo when one loses a loved one, a reaction that has tragically been taking place more frequently is to wrongfully accuse God of being “unfair.” Truth be told, this ungodly and unrighteous accusation is again and again uttered when things do not go in a person’s favor (many times amplified by the spirit of covetousness). What’s worse is wrongfully buying into the notion that all men are owed heaven and hence is not required to lift a finger with regards to his salvation. Misguided philosophies such as “faith only, grace only” have sadly stemmed from this lethal mindset of being deserving of the eternal reward. For this reason, when the Bible declares “‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!’” (Ezekiel 33:11) the entitled man replies “The way of the LORD is not fair” (Ezekiel 33:17, cf. 18:25, 29). In the immediate context of the pericope, the children of Israel were complaining about God’s declaration that one sin, unrepentant of, could undue all of the righteous man’s work whereas the penitence of the wicked man will redeem him from all of his wicked ways (cf. Ezekiel 33:12-20, 18:19-29). Their protest against God was focused on the wrong thing since they were mistakenly forgetting that the past does not necessarily solidify the future, because it can be undone; good or bad. This protest also illuminates their hardened hearts against the sinner, born from a self-righteous attitude. They had long forgotten “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (Mathew 9:12-13, cf. Hosea 6:4-6). Curiously, one can make an argument that there is a tiny sliver of truth when it pertains to God’s grace being “unfair,” with the proper perspective that is. To begin unraveling what this author refers to, let us commence with Peter’s inspired words as to how grace was secured for mankind. The inspired amanuenses establishes, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit” (1st Peter 3:18). It is undeniable that grace is the unmerited gift that God bestowed upon mankind through His only Begotten’s precious sacrifice. However, the apostle Peter reminds us, through Divine inspiration, that He who paid our debt to heaven was innocent of our spiritual crimes (cf. Romans 5:1-11). Ergo, from this vantage point, it could be stated that grace is not fair “for He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2nd Corinthians 5:21). It is valuable to clarify that it is not being said that it was wrong for God to have sent His Son to die on the cross for us, but rather that the wages of our sins made it inevitable. Therefore, the unfairness of the situation was created by man’s evil choices, and not God’s loving grace. Furthermore, God never forced upon Jesus Christ the cross, nullifying His free will. Rather, the Lord Himself resolved the issue by boldly declaring, “My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father” (John 10:17-18). The Master here proves that although it was His Father’s will that there be a sacrifice to wipe away sin’s contamination of the world, it was His voluntary choice to be said sacrifice (cf. Romans 6:15-23, 1st Corinthians 15:20-22, Hebrews 10:5-18). The unfairness of God’s grace is illumined not by what God was forced to do, but because of how man forced God to give up His Lamb in atonement for our eternal redemption. The apostle Paul concurs with Peter as he, too, pens, “the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the on who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification” (Romans 5:15-16). It is indisputable that mankind is not deserving of justification for, indeed, we are all guilty of sin (cf. Ecclesiastes 7:20, 1st John 1:8-10). Yet, God in His glorious magnanimity provided a propitiation (that is, a suitable substitute) to take our place on the cross thus prompting Isaiah to prophetically proclaim, “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5). Verily, it can be said that there is some type of unfairness involved in His grace, but not on His behalf. It was our sin that from the very beginning obligated God’s precious plan of salvation to require the blood of the Lamb without sin (cf. John 1:29). Thus, next time man seeks to complain of God’s requirement of putting the old man to death as “unfair,” let us recall that the entire weight of our cross was willingly carried by Jesus all the way to Calvary, despite being innocent of our sins (cf. Romans 3:21-26).