James 1:19-27 A New Interpretation Pt 2

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Thursday, November the twenty first, twenty twenty four. It is currently eleven forty four am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Maybe I should call this the Theology Central laboratory, right, This is where I do experiments to try to come up with a brand new interpretation and then finally I say it's a live Okay, maybe that's a little bit. Okay, Yeah, I'm kind of borrowing from Frankenstein. Okay, never mind, never mind, never mind. But yes, I do, in a sense kind of see sometimes this studio as a laboratory where I'm working and trying to look at this interpretation and this interpretation and then try to consider this and question this and challenge this, and we try to formulate this. And so that's what we're currently doing. We're trying to come up with a new interpretation of James Chapter one, verses nineteen through twenty seven. And the reason we're trying to come up with a new interpretation is because I have a problem with every interpretation I've stumbled upon up to this very moment, and that's going all the way back to the early Church. We looked at how the early Church understood this section problematic. We reviewed a sermon problematic.

1:36 So far, everything I've stumbled upon has been problematic. So I think we have to continue to do work. So I told you to get a brand new notebook, right, and not just a pencil. You need an entire box of pencils. In fact, you need two boxes of pencils. In fact, you need you need three boxes a pencil. I have three. I have three, ladies and gentlemen, boxes of pencils right here. Three. I don't know if you can hear that. Yes, that's how many boxes of pencils you need. At a minimum three. You probably should have five. You should have five boxes of pencils at any time, right, And you probably need two or three notebooks because we have a lot of work to do, and I've invited you to be a part of this. Right, So I've told you to start reading James one nineteen through twenty seven, over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. That's always the key, right, if you really want to start, if you really want to start an in depth Bible study, you've got to start doing the work. I mean, so many people I think like the idea of Bible study that don't like the work that is involved. But you've got to read it and read it and read it.

2:44 You can start listening to sermons on it. That's something you can do. And so I hope and hopefully I've already kind of told you some things to work on. You could work on an observational outline on James one nineteen through twenty seven. You could do a book background study on the entire book of James, so you have the historical context. There's a lot of things you could do, right, So, but I hope you're ready what we have done so far. Let me kind of take you for what we have done so far and where we're going In this episode, I'm trying to break this attempt to build this new interpretation into smaller segments. That was that's what I said I was going to do, break it into smaller segments.

3:26 But then if you look at yesterday, the first episode went an over an hour long. So yeah, but I mean it's work ladies and gentlemen. It's a lot of work. So here's what we did, if you think about it. The first episode we did is I was just reviewing random sermons, and I reviewed a random sermon entitled Law of Liberty by Brandon Neely right, and you can listen to that episode. We didn't review that much of it, but he started explaining what he thought. In fact, the key things in that sermon was how he handled James Chapter one, verse twenty one, where we read these words, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. So we noted how he understood and grafted word, and then over in verse twenty five. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty? So what we focused on is how he was interpreting the ungrafted word and law of liberty, and to kind of just summarize it, he saw that the ingrafted word was the Old Testament law, the Old Testament law, and that the law of liberty was basically was so whenever you take the Old Testament law and the law of liberty, Just to kind of simplify it. He kind of saw them as the same thing. That the law of liberty somehow was the ingrafted word, which is the Old Testament law,

4:57 and that law brings us liberty if we will say obey it, we bring liberty, and we just obey the world that we just obey the law of God. And so the entire kind of primise was the law of God will free you. The law of God will set you free. You should obey it, and you can obey the law of God, which of course we have talked about countless times. So I immediately have a problem with that entire interpretation because I don't believe we can obey the law of God. So then we went through Church history. Church history gave us the ungrafted word was. Some said it was the Old Testament law, some said it was the Gospel, some said it's just the scriptures. In general, the law of liberty had something to do with Christ, maybe fulfilling the law. The law of liberty was maybe the law of Christ. But even throughout Church history, the same thing, basically, the same basic premise basically came from their interpretations, which is obey the law. You can do the law you've been changed, you'll be transformed. You can do it. And so none of the none of their interpretations really accounted for some just basic facts. Right, nobody can keep the law. The law says be holy as He is holy. Nobody can do that. So that means I'm not set free. That doesn't mean I have is because if I'm set free from sin, well then I should be able to be holy as God is holy.

6:26 If I can't, then I'm obviously not free. And if you say I have the power of God to help me obey the law of God, well then why can't the power of God get me to perfect obedience? See, there's this weird contradiction. And we talked about that a lot in the last episode. You can go listen to that. So we went through all of that. We reviewed that, and we reviewed how church history has looked at it. I know, that's like a simple, simple, simple, simple, simple, over simplification and reviewing everything we've covered so far. But I'm not going to go back all of this. So we looked at church history and so this is what we come to today. All right, here's what we're going to start with today. And there was a lot of other things there. I left out, but hopefully, hopefully you have kind of an idea. What we're primarily trying to do is we're really right now here's kind of the way we're on my approaches. I am focusing primarily on understanding the ungrafted word and the law of liberty. So we're really zooming in on those two concepts, the ungrafted word and law of liberty. Then as we kind of struggle through all of that, put forth are kind of our own interpretation and my kind of a new interpretation of what that may be. Then we'll zoom out and then look at the bigger picture and then see if we can come up with a complete interpretation of verses nineteen to twenty seven. But I think everything hinges on what the ungrafted word is and what the law of

7:58 liberty is. Again, some say they're the same thing, some say they're different things, and there's there's there's just so many different perspectives on this. But are you ready? So we're gonna look at AI's kind of first attempt to try to handle this right. So basically I was looking to Ai asking it some questions. I said, Okay, well, how would how would how should this be section be handled? What what are some what are some things here? So AI gave just kind of this is not really a very in depth I could have. I could have asked Ai for more, but I just wanted to kind of see which direction AI would go. So this is what AI gave me. First, It gave me contextual considerations for interpreting the law of liberty. No, at this point it didn't go with the ungrafted word. Just see just look at where it goes. It says the immediate context, AI said, James, contrast merely hearing the word with actively doing it. The law law of liberty is described as perfect, suggesting completeness and fulfillment, likely alluding to Christ's fulfillment of the law.

9:10 All right, So the idea is the law of liberty somehow refers to Christ fulfilling the law. All right? That okay, that a lot of people have said that. They didn't really necessarily articulate exactly what that means, but okay, because most of them said, the law of liberty somehow refers to Christ fulfilling the law. But almost inevitably, then it was like, well, Christ fulfilled the law, and then this somehow gives you the power to keep the law, which was really kind of confusing. So Christ kept the law, and that gives me power, so that now I can keep the law. Isn't the whole point of him keeping the law is because I can't. I couldn't, I can't, I will never be able to. Therefore, by faith, his keeping of the law is imputed to my account? Is it that the Christian message? But everyone was kind of like the law of liberty, it's him keeping the law.

10:05 Now you've been set free, so you can keep it. And it was so like, this is confusing, So but AI went with the same kind of idea. Doesn't really explain here the law they Ai said, is linked with freedom, not bondage. See this is where it gets confusing, implying that this is not about mosaic law in a strict sense, but a principle that liberates. So then here AI kind of says, well, this is probably not the Mosaic law, but this is Christ fulfilling the law. But what law did he fulfill? Isn't it the Mosaic law? So this gets a little confusing again. But whatever the law of liberty is, it's a law that liberates. So here is law that sets you free. Now This is what leads pastors to go, hey, you want to be free, keep the law. You want to be free, just obey. You hear this in youth conferences a lot of time. Hey, kids, I know you see the Bible. You see all these dues and don't and you feel like that's restrictive and that that's bondage and that's slavery and that's not right.

11:11 And the pastor will say, no, if you will keep the law, you will be set free. It will set you free, it will set you free. And I'm always like, I'm so just philologically dumbfounded by this. And the parents are like, hey, man, listen to that, little Johnny, just obey the law and you will be free. And I'm like, nobody in this church is obeying the law. The law says, be holy as he is holy. Nobody does. So why are you telling the kid that obeying the law is gonna set them free? Because as soon as they start their attempt to obey the law, you know what, they're going to find themselves not free. They're gonna find themselves condemned. They're gonna find themselves filled with guilt, shame, and humiliation, feeling like a failure and decide either they have to start pretending they're doing better than they are, or they're gonna have to start admitting this isn't working. But somehow churches love to go with this idea, the law of liberty. See, if you'll just obey the law, you're free. Well, if I could obey the law, I wouldn't need Christ. Well Christ sets you free so that you can obey the law. No, I thought Christ fulfilled the law because I can't keep the law. See, this is a completely rewriting of Christianity that I believe. Just well, it's more Catholic than it is anything consistent with the Protestant Reformation. This is the idea of almost an infused righteousness, and AI kind of follows this same concept now, it says the broader context, James frequently emphasizes this active, lived out faith, where he

12:43 refers to the royal law of loving one's neighbor. The law of liberty appears to focus on obedience to God's moral and ethical will as revealed in Christ, empowering believers to live righteously. See it, AI did the same thing. So somehow the ungrafted word, somehow, the law liberty basically equates to it. And I know I'm oversimplifying it, but in sermon after sermon and everything that you can look at, it basically is this sets you free, This empowers you, so you can do it. And this denies the reality of Christianity. You cannot do it, and to think that you can means you're in total denial. I cannot state it again. Look at the Law of God. It demands absolute perfection internally, externally you have never kept it. You're in a perpetual state of disobedience to it. Don't when you're listening to sermons that take these kinds of concepts, And basically, no matter what they say about the angrafted word of the law of liberty, no matter, no matter if they connect it to the Mosaic Law, no matter if they connect it to the Gospel, no matter if they can just connect it, connect it to Scripture. If the basic conclusion is this frees you, this empowers you, you can keep the law, then it's denying the very reality that any Christian who's even slightly honest with themselves, any Christian who will slightly look at their life and

14:15 light of God's actual law, will be like this. No this is not true. So all that's why I've got to be I'm not trying to go through every one of their interpretations and try to take this apart. In this apart, I'm just looking at what their conclusion is. And if the conclusion basically is you're set free, you have power, you can do it, I reject it because reality proves that that interpretation is incorrect. So that that's my approach here so far. And AI just falls into the right the same concept. Why is AI following following this same thing? Because AI is pulling from the majority of Christianity. Right Christianity, I mean it pulls from sources, and so most of Christianity gives you this perspective. AI goes on to say, Paul's writings also discuss freedom in christ but often contrast it with bondage of sin or legalism. James, however, emphasizes freedom to obey rather than freedom from obligation. So the idea here AI is going with what most preachers will say, We're now free to obey. You'll hear pastors say this all time when you all the time, when you become a Christian, you're now freed from the bondage of sin. You can now say notice in and yes to God. All right, So Ai says this. The law of liberty in James one twenty five is best understood as the moral and ethical teaching of Christ. Fulfilled through the Gospel and empowered by the Holy Spirit. This law

15:46 liberates believers from the dominion of sin, enabling joyful obedience through grace. Unlike the Mosaic law, which was birdsome and impossible to fulfill, to fully keep, this perfect law re flex God's transformative work and believer's heart and the liqu What Ai did it references Jeremiah thirty one thirty three, which is again a promise to Israel, not to us. So Ai just takes what every other pastor does. Hey, this is about you being set free. This is about liberating you. This is about power. This is about now you can joyfully obey. You can do it because basically you have a new heart. You've been transformed. Basically this is I mean, if I want to summarize this, You're a new creation. All things have passed away, all things that have become new. You can obey God. You can do it. You have power. Go do it now. You listen to sermons like that. Inevitably, though at some point they'll say, well, I mean you can't come, you can't be perfect. I mean you're still going to sin. And then they start backtracking. Well, if I can't get to perfection, then I'm not free. If I cannot get to perfection, there's something more powerful than me getting to perfection, something more powerful than me keeping the law. And if I can't get to perfection, then I'm not keeping the law.

17:06 So all of these interpretations, basically and at the same in the same place, AI says, here's the basic implications of their interpretation. The law liberty calls for practical action, demonstrating faith through deeds. Obedience is not about legalism, but about living in the freedom that grace provides. See Grace provides you the freedom to obey, so now you should be able to obey perfectly. But law, the essence of the law is love for God and neighbor. And so basically the idea is you can do it. Go do it go, do it go, do it go, do it go, do it go, do it go, do it right. So, the law of liberty basically is the ethical or moral teachings of Christ which will set you free. So they kind of move. So the AI doesn't really necessarily go with the mosaic law concept. It goes with basically, this is the ethical and moral teaching of Christ. He fulfilled it, and somehow that frees you to do it. So that means you can you can fulfill I guess, I guess you can keep you can do it all, and it just so denies reality. Now when it comes to the ungrafted word, AI tries to interpret this. This is what AI says. So that was kind of how AI initially tried to handle the law of liberty. So then I was like, okay, well Ai, let's put the two together, the law liberty and the ungrafted words. So let's try to handle this right. So this is what AI did. First.

18:35 It provided a historical context, authorship, and audience. James likely was written by the brother of Jesus is considered one of the earliest New Testament books around forty four to forty nine AD. Please keep that in mind. That is so important, all right. Written primarily to Jewish Christians familiar with the Old Testament, James heavily reflects Jewish thought and scripture. Now this is where AI started giving me a little bit Okay, no, wait a minute. A lot of people come here the ungrafted word the law of liberty. It's about Christ, it's about the scriptures, it's about the Gospel.

19:17 Let's just remember the Book of James has written so early. You don't have a New Testament. You're very early on, and he's writing to Jewish Christians. They're thinking. Even the tone here is very old Testament in so many ways. I don't think we can forget the historical context here. Now. It's relation, it's relational context to the Old Testament. In the early Christian period, the word lagos and law were understood primarily in terms of the Old Testament revelation. So when you hear the word the word law, and you hear the word word right lagos as this us here, they're gonna be thinking old Testament terms, thinking Old Testament.

20:01 They're gonna be thinking Old Testament law. They're gonna be thinking Old Testament scripture. They're not gonna be thinking Gospel. They're not gonna be thinking the ethical teachings of Christ. They're gonna be thinking the Old Testament law. That's what they're gonna be thinking. I mean that the historical context demands us even Ai amidst this, when it gave me its first attempt to interpret this, it went with the majority of Christianity. But when you start breaking down the facts about the book, you're like, well, wait a minute, here, this this seems to be would lead to a different conclusion. The New Testament canon did not even yet exist, so references to scripture or God's word would resonate with audience as pointing to the Hebrew scriptures. The original audience of James, everything would in their mind be framed in an Old Testament context. If you forget that we come to James and immediately read it in like a very much a Christian context, a very modern Christian context that is obliterating the historical context. This would have had very much an Old Testament idea. I'm not saying there aren't New Testament ideas here, but at least you've got to at least consider things maybe referencing the Old Testament more than you would immediately think. All right, now, what is the purpose? Well, James emphasizes practical faith, a faith that produces action and obedience.

21:31 His writing balances faith philological aspects with moral and ethical demands. Now, I would argue James is very much Again, if we go with a proper distinction between law and gospel, James is very law. Law, law, law, law, And what does law do. It condemns, it exposes, It does not free, it can, It exposes, It shows you you're inability. It doesn't say, hey, you can do it. It screams you never can, you never will. You need someone else to Just keep that in mind. All right, Now, how about its textual context and grafted word? Received with meekness, or receive with meekness the ungrafted word which is able to save your soul James one one. Now, the term engrafted implies something implanted or rooted within. It conveys the idea of a seed planted in the soil of a believer's heart.

22:39 Now they say a believer's heart. But just note the ungrafted word is something that's put inside of you, something planted inside of you. Just keep that in mind. That's James one twenty one. Right, Receive with meekness the ungrafted word. The word is already there, it's inside whatever this word is, it's inside of you. It's been planted inside of you. Now with meekness, you've got to kind of since receive except what it's saying, and this will lead to the salvation of your soul. So I don't think that they say that this is what happened, that this is the believer, this is the believer's heart. But that seems a little confusing. Right, If you're already a believer, then you're already saved. So why do you need to receive the ingrafted word to save your soul? No, this would be you need to receive the word which will save your soul. This is not receive the word that saved your soul. I mean, look, how is it written? Received with meekness, the ingrafted word which is able to save your soul. It's not hey, receive that ingrafted word that saved you. No, receive the word which is able to save you. I think we have to at least consider that. Right, Whatever this ingrafted word is, it connects it somehow. It has a part in salvation. But we have to receive it with meekness.

24:09 What could that word be? Now? According to AI, the word here most likely refers to God's revealed truth, including the moral law of the Old Testament, which convicts and points to God's holiness. Now, okay, at least it at least AI here says, okay, Old Testament. That's good. That's the context. Right, So AI here at least acknowledges this is probably the ungrafted word refers to the moral law. Okay, now here's the thing. Is the moral law implanted in you?

24:52 Now see if it's if it's if it's about something that's implanted in what is implanted in us? Just keep that in mind. Just keep that in mind. So the word most likely is a reference to God's revealed truth, including the moral law of the Old Testament. Now, the Gospel Message as it aligns with the implanted nature of God's truth and the Hearts of believers mentions a future promise of God's law being written on the heart, though specifically for Israel. So then it said, well, it could be the Gospel message, or it could be it could be something more positive than the moral law. But look look what it quoted Jeremiah thirty one thirty three, which once again is new kevinet promises made to Israel. But Ai acknowledged here well though specifically for Israel, So it kind of references Jeremiah thirty one thirty three. But then AI kind of backs up and says, well that versus specifically for Israel. Okay, well, then let's just leave that out, all right. That to try to say the ingrafted word is the gospel message, So the the Gospel message is ingrafted inside of us that we have to read. Oh see, that seems that that seems to lead to some possible problems.

26:12 The ungrafted word. This is the function, according to Ai, the ungrafted word convicts of sin. Oh no, what would that be? If the ungrafted word is the thing that's convicting, what would be? What would that be? It calls for repentance? What would that be? It ultimately points to salvation, What ultimately points to salvation, What ultimately convicts us of sin? What ultimately demands repentance. It requires a humble, meek reception because it reveals human sinfulness and dependence on God's grace. Whatever this ingrafted word is, Ai says, whatever this is, This is the thing that's gonna convict you. This is the thing that's going to condemn you. This is the thing that's going to show you that you can't do it, that you need grace, you need something else. Okay, all right now, now this is getting me somewhere right. Now, now, what could this be? So they say the basically AI's conclusion is that the and grafted word is the moral law of the Old Testament, and it condemns us. Now it's implanted in us somehow. It doesn't really go into a lot of how it gets there, but it condemns us.

27:31 It reveals our sin, and it points us that we need something else that we can't do it ourselves. All right, that already gives me an idea. Now, AI, remember it kind of went to the law liberty. Now it returns back to the law liberty. Because I kept I kept basically going, all right, well, I kept asking it questions, right, trying to see all the different ways it would interpret it. So then AI did this. The law of liberty refers to the moral ethical teachings of God's Law, now fulfilled and transformed by Christ. It emphasizes freedom through obedience to God's will. So it says, okay, the ingrafted word is the moral law. The law of liberty is the ethical and moral teaching of Christ that he fulfilled. But then immediately look what it does somehow, then that implies now that I have freedom to do so it brings freedom to me. Now this gets a little confusing again. Perfect the law of liberty is described as perfect. It emphasizes completeness and wholeness, likely referring to the fulfillment of the law in Christ. Liberty suggests that the law, rather than enslaving, brings freedom from sins, dominion, and human traditions. The law of liberty motivates actions, highlighting James emphasis on practical faith that transforms behavior. All right, so immediately, though, I mean, it doesn't try to help us a lot. There. Law

29:03 liberty somehow is connected to Christ fulfilling the law. But now it sets you free so that you can do it. And that the ungrafted word is the law that condemns you. So the ungrafted word is the moral law. The law of liberty is the law fulfilled in Christ. But now it frees you so that you can keep the law. I don't know, so then, so I ask Ai to give me some key interpretive points. So AI then gave me this The ungrafted word historically rooted in the Old Testament moral law and extended to the message of the Gospel, which reveals sin and offers salvation. Now see, it still tries to add the Gospel into the ungrafted word, say AI very much is committed to like, well, it's the moral law, but the Gospel is there as well. So somehow the moral law and the Gospel is ingrafted into us.

29:55 I struggle with this. It signifies God's truth implanted in the heart, leading to transformation and sanctification. Please note see the idea is that the ingrafted word is law and gospel. But look what they say, it's gonna transform you. It's gonna change you. It still goes to transformation, behavioral modification. All of the interpretations do the exact same thing, and that the law liberty frees you. Well, ladies and gentlemen, how many times do I have to say it? Christianity constantly teaches that we're free, that we have power, that we can and then at the same time it will be like, but we can't be perfect, and we're gonna continue to send well, then I'm not free. Then there's a limit to the power. So we speak out of both sides of our mouth and it's ridiculous. Okay, we can't do that. We have to be like, well, wait a minute, if we're claiming all of this, then it should look like this and because it doesn't look like this, then maybe our claims are completely unfounded and fraudulent. All right, Now, the law of liberty, AI tells me this. It reflects the moral law fulfilled in Christ. It transcends the mosaic law, which was seen as burdensome, becoming a guide for joyful obedience.

31:26 So basically, the law of liberty is a law fulfilled in Christ. But now you can do it. You can do it. So I was like, and so, I mean, there's a lot more there that AI had to say. We went back and forth and back and forth, and finally I was just honest with Ai. I'm like, look, I've got a problem here. I don't think this works. And I laid out my reasoning and as I've already articulated to you, because of the reality of sin, things don't work. So AI then said this to me, Your struggle is rooted in a tension between the philological claims of freedom and transformation found in PA passages like James one twenty one through twenty five, and the undeniable reality of ongoing sin in the life of believers. So please know what AI did. AI maintained its belief, its idea that James One nineteen through twenty five speaks of transformation of power. But Ai was willing to acknowledge the undeniable reality of ongoing sin in the life of a believer, right because if you if you say the Law is be holy as God is holy, well then you're in a perpetual state of sin. So it's undeniable. Every Christian is in a perpetual state of sin, all right, So

32:57 how do you reconcile that with this claim of transformation of power? So AI said this, this tension is real and recognized throughout church history. Okay, good, I'm not crazy. Even AI's like, hey, look, the tension is real, and everyone in church history has well has acknowledged it to some level. Now, I think in many cases it's more acknowledged by theologians, by those in a seminary classroom. I don't think it's always acknowledged by those behind the pulpit and those sitting in the pew. I think those behind the pulpit love to sell a Christianity that no one in the pew is really experiencing, but everyone in the pew plays along. I think in some ways Christianity is nothing more than everyone playing pretend. I know that offends people, but I think there's a lot of truth to it.

33:59 I think it's those who step outside of that context the church game, and I'm like, okay, I don't have a theological team. I don't have a dog in this fight. I'm not wearing your colors. And they step back. I think they then have more freedom to go Wait a minute, guys, there's a problem. We keep claiming this, but here's the reality. We're in church. You can't do that. If a pastor does that, mostuckily, he's gonna lose his job. But it's admitted throughout church history. So I asked Ai, Okay, well, then great, you acknowledge there's a problem. There's got to be then another way to interpret James, the ungrafted word and the law of liberty that doesn't lead to these wild claims that you've been set free and you can do it. There's got to be some alternative interpretations. So AI said, well, to address it without dismissing if I can read correctly, To address it without dismissing either the textual linguistic context, we can attempt to explore an interpretation that emphasizes position process rather than suggesting complete practical freedom from sin, and I was like, oh, now you're talking my language. So AI's like, okay. If we try to take in this text and the idea of the ungrafted word in the law of liberty, if we try to take this in and try to understand it based off

35:33 the text, based off linguistic concerns and linguistic context, and we acknowledge the reality of ongoing sin, then what we have to do is we have to try to approach this emphasizing position. What does that mean? Our position before God? See my position before God? I am perfect, holy, righteous, obedient, free, I'm a new creature. Old things have passed away, all things have become new. That is one thousand percent true positionally because by faith Christ, imputed righteousness is mine. So we're going to have so AI says, well, we would have to emphasize position. We would have to emphasize a process, that we're in the process of struggling against sin. We're not set free from it, because we're going to be struggling with it all the way to glorification. It says, we're going to focus on position and process, not on a completed practical freedom from sin, which doesn't exist. Now I'm throwing that in. Ai didn't say it doesn't exist, but AI acknowledged before that The reality is is we're well ongoing sin. Christians continue to sin, and Ai even acknowledge that throughout church history people admitted this. They may not admit it in a sermon, but they will admit it somewhere in their writing and even in their sermons where they tell you, have you ever noticed pastors do that if anyone's crisis a new creature, old things are passed away, all things have become new, and then five

37:04 minutes later you have to fight against sin, and we have to struggle against sin, and we have the flesh, and we've got whoa, whoa, whoa, whoah, whoah. You just said. I've been a new creature, the oldest gone. Everything is new. I don't need to fight against anything. I don't need to struggle against anything. There's nothing sinful left in me. I've been completely changed. I've been completely transformed. I'm basically imperfect. Well no, no, no, that's not what we meant. Well that's what you said. Okay, so can you make it make sense? Ai was like, well, if we try to make this make sense We're gonna have to focus on position and process, not some idea of a completed practical freedom from sin, because it's just not real. So then I said, okay, Ai, that's great, that sounds good, Thank you very much. Now give me some alternative interpretations. Let's go to the alternative and see what we can find.

38:04 So you're ready for AI's alternative interpretations, Let's go back to James one twenty one, wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness and receive with meekness the ingrafted word. Now, I know we're at thirty eight minutes, but let me do this here. Everybody listen. Some of you are already running to other verses and James one and you're going just stop. We have to our focus here is the ungrafted word in law of liberty. We need to try to figure out how we can interpret these that stays true to the text, stays true to the context, and at the same time acknowledges that we live in a perpetual status sin. That's what we're going to try to Then once we have that belt, I'm not going to ignore all the rest of the language that you're already going well, what about this verse? What about this verse? One?

38:58 Slow down, we gotta start. You gotta a lot of people love death by cross reference. You just make a point and they get throw out five cross references and like I one, that's not hermeneutics. That's just ridiculousness. Okay, that's not the way it works. So we've got to start here. So AI gives me ingrafted word and then it throws out alternative interpretations. Instead of viewing the ingrafted word as a power that guarantees freedom from sin and practice, it could be understood. See a lot of people see the ingrafted word. It's power. It it's what transforms, it's what. However, they identify the ingrafted word if they graft, they if they identify it as moral law, Gospel Bible, that it transforms us. Well, AI is like, well, instead of seeing it as being powerful or power, maybe we could understand it this way. And that offers some suggestions that the ungrafted word is the message of the gospel. This word logos is not primarily about empowering sinless living, but about continually confronting us with God's grace and our dependence on Christ finished work. So okay, AI says, all right, let's take the ungrafted word and let's interpret that as the

40:29 gospel message. Now I'm not a fan of this approach. Okay, I'm not a fan of this approach, but I do appreciate what it tries to do. Here. AI is like, Okay, it's the gospel message. But this is not about empowering This is not about giving you power to live out the Christian life. This is about the Gospel confronting us with God's grace and our need and dependence for that grace and his finish. That the idea that this is the gospel message saying, hey, you need Christ, you need his finished work. It's not about empowering you. It's about pointing you to the one who took care of everything in his death, beryl resurrection. So it could be the message of the gospel. The second solution or the second option offers it could be the message of the gospel.

41:27 But that's not about empowering you. That's about confronting you with God's grace and your dependence on Christ's finished work. I'm still not a fan of that one, okay, but we'll see the second option. I remember, this is all giving me alternative interpretations. A positional reality the Word and planted and believers is the truth that we are declared righteous by God's justification through faith in Christ. It is able to save your souls not by making you sinless, but by keeping us grounded in a promise of salvation despite our ongoing sin. That the implanted word is the truth that we are saved by an imputed righteousness, not an infused righteousness. And so it's able to save our soul by constantly reminding us that we have been saved by the finished work of Jesus Christ and we are declared righteous by an imputed righteous I still struggle. I struggle with that one. Now I completely agree in the positional reality. I completely agree that the Gospel message is not about empowering. It's about reminding us of our inability and telling us of the power of God in salvation of saving sinners by imputing righteousness to us. Right, So I agree with the Gospel message and the positional reality.

42:47 I just don't know what that's what James one twenty one, this ingrafted word is talking about. I just I'm having problems with this. So then I said, okay, so what's the key implication of this, and Ai said, the ungrafted word doesn't promise practical freedom from sin, but serves as the ongoing reminder of our identity in Christ and our position of grace before God. It keeps us tethered to Christ, especially in our failures. I I don't know about that. It sounds good. Now. This is very important whenever you're doing hermeneutics and you're considering all the interpretations out there, Like if you listen to all my teaching about law and gospel and about imputed righteousness versus infused righteousness, and positional reality versus practical reality, you would think, well, you would take that one that seems to support everything you say.

43:46 But just because something seems to support my theology doesn't mean I believe. That doesn't mean I just immediately interpret a passage because it supports my theology. This is very important. You do not interpret passages simply because they agree with your theology. Your theology is not the rule. Your theology is not the measure. Your theology should never influence how you interpret scripture. You interpret scripture based off context, based off words, not on theology. The interpretation of scripture should lead to your theology. Your theology should not guide your interpretation.

44:28 I think that that's completely wrong, because then you a Calvinist will interpret every passage in a Calvinistic way, a non calvinistic A non Calvinists will interpret every passage as non calvinistic an, anmillennialist will interpret every passage in a non millennial way. And someone who's dispensing that you cannot do that, but that's how Christians approach hermeneutics. That's flawed, that's wrong. You go to the text, You forget your stink in theology, you forget your little pet doctrine. You go to the text. The text doesn't care about your theology. The text doesn't care about your doctrine. The text doesn't care what church you go to. So, just because this sounds like something that I would be like, well, this sounds like how I teach, I don't care. I don't think that that works in James one, I just I have problems with this, all right, how about the law of liberty alternative interpretations. The law liberty does not mean believers are now capable of perfectly obeying God's command. Instead, it could be understod so AI admits. Just because you see the words law of liberty. This doesn't necessarily mean that you're now capable to perfectly obey the law. Anyone who says that it is not being it's not being honest, well, because reality would would prove that you're not. So. How's what's some ways of interpreting this, Well, this is what

46:00 AI said. Here's some alternative interpretations the law of liberty. And that's in verse I know I don't keep reading these verses because I told you to read them over and over and over. The law of liberty is in verse twenty five. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty and continue if therein him, being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man should be blessed in his deed. All right. Hei offers this as an alternative that the law of liberty could be the Gospel standard fulfilled in Christ. The law of liberty is not about what believers do, but about what Christ has done on their behalf. It is liberty or it's liberating because it frees believers from the condemnation of the law while still holding up God's holy standard. All right.

46:52 The law of liberty is about what Christ has fulfilled. It doesn't free you from the power, but it frees you from the condemnation of Well. See if the law of liberty is freeing me from the condemnation see, then that would mean then the ungrafted word. If the ingrafted word is the Gospel message, and the law of liberty is basically the gospel message of Christ fulfilling the law, that would seem to mean the ingrafted word and the law of liberty is the same thing. I say, I'm not convinced that they're the same thing. I think there needs to be a progression of thought here. But okay, when James speaks of looking into the perfect law of liberty, it may be less about empowering obedience and more about confronting believers with the perfection they cannot achieve, driving them back to grace. This aligns with Paul's teaching in Galatians three twenty four, where the law serves as a tutor leading to Christ. So we look into the law of liberty, we see perfection. We see Christ keeping it. We know we can never keep it, which drives us more back to Christ. So I asked Ai for the implication. It says, the law of liberty shows us God's holy standard, reminding us of our dependence on Christ's righteousness rather than our own ability to keep the law perfectly. And It says James does not resolve the tension between the high standard

48:25 of the law of liberty and the ongoing real reality of sin. Instead, his emphasis is on faith that works a life of striving, not perfection. The call to be doers of the Word is not about achieving perfection, but about responding to the ungrafted Word with ongoing repentance and a sincere desire to align with God's will, blessing and the striving. The blessing promised in James one twenty five is not a promise of sinless perfection, but an encouragement that striving to live according to God's will brings spiritual growth and alignment with our call even as we fall short. Okay, I'm still not I'm not completely convinced of this. So then AI says, Okay, how does this all fit with the textual and linguistic context? The ungrafted word is received James one one, not something believers create or achieve. This underscores it's external origin and reminds us that salvation and transformation comes from God, not ourselves. Well again, that doesn't really help. Again, if you're going to refer to the transformation comes from God, if transformation comes from God and not from us, well then if I'm not transformed, you can't blame me. It's God's fault. See that. Christianity loves to say this. It's not about what you do. God is the one who changes you. God is the one

49:55 who transforms you. And then as soon as someone falls into sain ex community, disqualify, throw out of everything, throw out of ministry, throw them off the top of a building. Wait wait wait, wait, wait wait wait. If it's God who transforms, the lack of transformation means well, they weren't transformed in that area because God didn't transform them. So then go blame God. Excommunicate God. Yeah no, no, no, no, it's not God's fault. Well wait a minute, I thought you said God is the one who transforms. If it's God who transforms, any lack of transformation in someone's life is God's fault. So is it God who transforms or is it not? Well, God transforms, but you have to do your part. Oh, so then it is me. No, it's God, No, it's me. If I can stop God, and I'm the one who makes the final determination on how much transformation there is or isn't. Then it's me controlling the process. It's not God doing the process. And if it's simply all I have to do is say God transform me, well, then I'm okay, God perfectly transform me.

50:57 I should wake up tomorrow perfect right. Well, God transforms in a process. So if God decides to do it in a progressive way as a process, well, then wherever I am in in the process, it's because God decided to do it in a process where he could just eliminate my sinful nature and I could be perfect that which would still mean any lack of perfection, any lack of holiness in my life, is because God has decided not to get me to holiness. You can't get God off the hook. And not only that, It says that the ungrafted word is received, not something believers create or achieve.

51:43 This underscores its external origin, but it says it's ingrafted. Sayce thee I already have see me and AI are having some difficulties here. Now. AI goes on to say the law of liberty that it's perfect. It highlights its unattainable stand apart from Christ. Yet believers are called to preserve and looking into it not because they can perfectly fulfill it, but because it keeps them oriented towards God's holiness and their need for grace. So it says, this is what AI has to say about its interpretation, how would you live out AI's interpretation will This approach avoids the idea of claiming practical freedom from sin and instead emphasizes something different. So it says AI is saying, at least my interpretation that I've offering this alternative one will keep you from everyone running around claiming you can basically keep the law. But instead it refers to position over practice.

52:41 Believers are justified by Christ and stand in grace even if we struggle with sin. Obedience is not about achieving perfection, but about responding to God's grace with repentance, humility, and the desire to reflect his character. The ungrafted word in law of liberty points us back to Christ when we fail, reminding us that our hope is in ourselves but in Him. So I was like, well, I don't that sounds like a lot of platitudes, a lot of theological concepts, But I don't know if it really stays with the text.

53:21 I don't even know how I would work through the text the way they're putting it forth. It just seems like it's so it does feel like you're taking these theological ideas and you're crumming them into the text. And I'm not a fan of that. So I said, okay, Ai, we have looked at a sermon and how they've approached the ingrafted word and the law of liberty. We've taken a journey from the second century all the way to modern times, looking at how everyone has interpreted the ingrafted word and the law of liberty. I've let you Ai now speak for I don't even know how long it had gone. Probably we had gone for forty five minutes, going back and forth. I've let you basically go forty five minutes giving me all of these ideas, all of these theological platitudes. You've given me your interpretation, your alternative interpretation, and let me just say, Ai, I'm not happy with any of it. So then I I cracked my knuckles.

54:20 I can't crack them right now, Okay, I cracked my knuckles, and I'm like, Okay, let's start typing, and I was like, I typed, and I typed, and I typed, and I typed, and I typed, and I typed, and I typed, and I typed out my interpretation, I hit enter and Ai it took a minute to analyze. After it analyzed everything, I said, AI said, your hypothesis hypotheses is an intriguing alternative interpretation, and it aligns certain biblical themes while staying true to the text, emphasizing on receiving the ingrafted word with meekness. That that sounds pretty good, doesn't it all? Right?

55:18 So I spent all I don't even know how long it took me to type it all out, but I typed it all out. I said, okay, Ai, I don't agree with your interpretation. I don't even agree with your alternative interpretations. I don't agree with anybody in church history, and I don't agree with the original sermon. I just disagree with all of it. So here's my take. So I typed out an entire interpretation and again, let me read how AI responded. Your hypothesis is an intriguing alternative interpretation. It aligns with certain biblical themes while staying true to the text's emphasis on receiving the ingrafted word with meekness.

56:01 So then it says, let's explore your hypotheses, and it begins to break it down with some of my basic interpretation, and we'll talk about it next time. Did that work? Is that a good hook? Come on? That's a good tease? Right? Is that gonna make you want to tune in next time? Are you gonna be like, oh, come on, do the next part today? Come on? Well, you know, for a small gift of seventy seven thousand dollars. Okay, I'm joking.

56:42 I'm joking, but no, I am not. I'm not joking. You're gonna have to wait till next time. Right, we're fifty six minutes. Do you really want me to get into it now, do you? No? No, no, no, no, no, no no no no. We'll take a break. I will try to come back and do it today. I will because now we I know, going through all of that stuff was probably a little confusing and confound because it's because but you know what, when you read everything about what the ungrafted word is and what the law of liberty is, personally, I feel on all the sermons you look at and commentaries, you're kind of left. Okay, so exactly, it sounds like you're telling me what it is. But what does that even really do practically? How does that even work? Well, when you get down to it, you know what it does on every interpretation is you can do it. You can do it, you can do it.

57:33 I mean you can't really do it. I mean you're free, but you're not completely free. You have power, but I mean you don't have the power to get to perfection. I mean, yeah, I mean you you're never gonna be holy as God as holy well, I mean you're never gonna love God with all your heart in my body soulf. I mean, you're still gonna fight with sin. There's no but you can do it. And you're like, what does this even mean? So it's just confusing. So what I think is we have to have an interpretation that takes the ingrafted word in the law of liberty and it makes like it's tangible, it makes sense so that anybody can understand and go, that's what it means, but it stays true to the text. So I tie, Look, I spent I don't know thirty minutes typing out everything I thought, and then I handed it to Ai, and again AI said, but that my hypothesis. Now I wanted AI to refer to mine as a hypothesis, so I said, here is my hypothesis, because I did not want it to say here's what I think. No, here's just my theory. And all I'm gonna do to you. All I'm gonna do for you is present to you my theory. All right, not now, but I will so again AI said, your hypothesis is an intriguing alternative interpretation. So it admits it's an alternative because it goes against pretty much everyone else.

58:51 It aligns with certain biblical themes. That's good to know, and it stays true to the text emphasis. Look, look at this, receive with meekness the ungrafted word, which is able to save your soul. I think the key here is whatever the ungrafted word is, it's something I have to receive. I'm called to receive it. They were called to receive it. It's already there, it's ingrafted in you, but you now have to receive it. It's like there's something that's been put in you that teaches or says something, but now you've got to be willing to acknowledge it and receive it, and somehow the receiving of whatever this ingrafted word is plays a vital role in salvation. There's only one thing that makes any sense to me here, all right. And it says that I emphasize, in my view, the receiving the ungrafted word with meekness. And it says, so, let's explore the idea that the ungrafted word refers to the and stop right there, because well, then I offer my interpretation. Ai. AI at least thinks it's intriguing. It thinks it's an alternative, an interpretation, and it says that I align with biblical truth and I'm staying true to the text. It's about the text. Look, it would be it would make much more sense that I just go with what AI said earlier on about the positional versus the practical and that this doesn't necessarily say anything about power.

1:00:24 And that sounded so good, but I just don't think it works in the text. And it almost connects the ingrafted word with the law of liberty almost being the same thing, and I think they're separate. I think the ingrafted word does one thing and the law of liberty points to a separate thing. Now they're connected, but I think they're separate. The ingrafted word. Think of this way. The ingrafted word is gonna say do do do this, and you're and you can't, and well, you're gonna have to go to You're gonna have to do something in a sense, you're gonna have to go somewhere. And then well, that's going to take you to the law of liberty, which is going to say done, all right, do done?

1:01:05 How to write an entire paper on do and done? Right, do and done? Do? That's what the law says done, That's what Christ has done. That's I know, very law gospel. You know, I'm going to revert back to that to some level. I think that's the only way to truly understand much of this. This is why Christians get so confused and confounded. So that's what we're going to do. We've gone so what have we done so far? I know it's very hard to take notes and all of this, I know, because it's just really confounding and confusing. But we have listened to, we have analyzed an entire sermon called the Law of Liberty by Brandon Neely. Go listen to all of it, right, We did a review of part of it. Then I did an entire analysis of it.

1:01:57 So we definitely covered that. We looked at how AI attempted to try to deal with it, and Ai, whatever you think about it, I challenged it. I asked AI for alternative interpretations, and it gave me alternative interpretations. Now, at least did acknowledge. AI did acknowledge. Well, yeah, Christians constantly say you have power, you can do it, you can do it. Even AI acknowledged that. Sermon the law of liberty basically claim that you can keep the law all That's the philological beginning point of almost all Christians, is that we can now obey the law. But they can't explain if we can obey it, why nobody can keep it perfectly. If I can't keep it perfectly, then I'm not obeying it because the law demands perfection. It's such a contradictory position that Christians hold. Even AI said, look this, you're right, Christians promised this, and the reality is nobody can do it. So all right, that how do we resolve this tension? So AI try to come up with some alternative interpretations. I think the alternative alternative interpretations from a theological standpoint sounds good, right, I don't think it sounds good textually. That's my problem. So can I come up with something that will work, that will get us from verse nineteen to verse twenty seven, right?

1:03:25 Because that wherefore they're in nineteen and when we get down to it, some of this is going to be difficult. But whatever he tells them, Hey, beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to wrath. Heyhhhhhhhh, don't get mad, don't get ticked off, because the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. Wherefore, all right, hey, you got to listen to me. Now, what do we need to do? Then we get to verse twenty one, and now we're going to be introduced to the ungrafted word, and then a few verses later we're going to be introduced to the law of liberty.

1:04:15 All right, Next time we do it, I offer my interpretation, a new interpretation. We'll find out what happens. As they used to say in the famous Batman series from the nineteen sixties, tune in same Bat time, same bat channel. Will Batman and Robin be saved or will they will the Joker kill them. They're in this horrible trap. There's no way they're going to escape. Tune in, Well, can I come up with an alternative interpretation that actually wor works, or will I be proven to be an idiot? Well, I may be proven to be an idiot, but I'm going to go down swinging, So tune in next time.

1:05:09 God bless