Alleged Discrepancies of the BibleLesson 7

Ethical Discrepancies Rationale: The student will encounter (some) ethical discrepancies and will become familiar with plausible explanations that reconcile the alleged ethical discrepancies with scripture. Remember, there is a big difference between “knowing” something to be true and “showing” something to be true.

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.

Exodus 20:13 (NASB) "You shall not murder. The purpose for this commandment is to preserve life: to teach people the sanctity of human life, that they are to honor and hold human life in the highest esteem. Man is created in the image and likeness of God; therefore, man's life is of infinite value to God (Genesis 1:26-27).

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.

Exodus 23:7 (NASB) "Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the guilty. One of the greatest tragedies ever committed is when an innocent man is executed for a crime he did not commit. Great care is to be administered by the judges before sentencing a man to die. They must know without a doubt that the man is guilty of the crime.

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.

Leviticus 24:17 (NASB) 'If a man takes the life of any human being, he shall surely be put to death. Throughout the legal system of the Bible and some of the near Eastern Nations there is this fundamental principal: the punishment must match the crime. This is known as the principal of lex talionis. It is sometimes called the principal of retaliation or of retribution. Premeditated murder and serious sins against the family and God's holy name did merit the death penalty.

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.

Jeremiah 7:6-7 (NASB) 6 if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, 7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever.

When people obey God and live righteously, then and only then do they become acceptable to the LORD and truly worship Him. Four important righteous behaviors are specified in these verses: 1) treating others justly 2) not oppressing the foreigner, fatherless, or widow 3) not committing murder 4) not following false gods or worshipping idols.

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.Jeremiah 22:17 (NASB) "But your eyes and your heart Are intent only upon your own dishonest gain, And on shedding innocent blood And on practicing oppression and extortion." Although Jehoiakim was the son of a godly king, he was corrupt and wholly given over to evil. He was a cruel, dictatorial ruler who bitterly opposed Jeremiah. God’s indictment against Jehoiakim includes many charges in Jeremiah chapter 22 that show the depth of his corruption, one of which was the shedding of innocent blood.

I. The Bible forbids murder and the killing of the innocent.

Revelation 21:7-8 (NASB) 7 "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

•The rejection and fate of the people who will be rejected by God at the judgment throne are clearly spelled out: the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, liars, and particularly, murders, those who kill the innocent.

•It is obvious that from the teaching of the Bible that God absolutely forbids the killing of an innocent life, it is safe to ascertain this as a Biblical fact. The alleged ethical discrepancy comes from what is perceived as an inconsistent position by God:

II. God condones the murder of the innocent, namely, Jesus.

Isaiah 53:10 (NASB) But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

•The Lord Jesus Christ became the substitute sacrifice for sin (v.10). His substitutionary death is the major theme of this great chapter of Isaiah. Jesus Christ did not die as a martyr, as someone put to death for his beliefs. Nor did He die as an example, as someone showing us how to face death with a positive attitude.

•He died neither by accident nor because fate decided it was time for Him to die. Jesus Christ died deliberately, purposefully, and at the hands of God the Father. God Himself had determined that His Son would die for the sins of the world. His death was predetermined, planned by God before human history even began.

Acts 2:23 (NASB) this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.The death of Christ was not something that was unseen by God, or that came as a reaction or an afterthought in God’s redemptive plan. God determined ahead of time the plan to be followed in the redemption of man.

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB) He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.God made Christ to be sin for us, how? God placed all sin, guilt and condemnation upon Christ and let Him bear it all Himself. Hence, Christ had to be sinless in order to be made sin; this is how Christ became sin for us.

Hebrews 4:15 (NASB) For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Jesus was tempted by the master tempter, Satan, and yet for approximately 33 years he lived a sinless life in thought, word, and deed. The one that God delivered up to be murdered by Roman crucifixion was an innocent sinless man.

Given the fact that Jesus was sinless and innocent the opponents of the Bible state that God acted inconsistently in doing something that He explicitly condemns, thus the Bible contains a huge ethical discrepancy, one that completely undermines Christianity altogether.

Some opposition points are:1. The murder of Jesus was immoral because an

innocent man must not be murdered in the place of a criminal; this is a miscarriage of justice.

Mark 15:15 (NASB) Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

2. The murder of Jesus was immoral because it nullifies the personal responsibility of the criminal.

Romans 5:6 (NASB) For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

3. The murder of Jesus was immoral because an innocent man is morally obligated by the truth to prove his innocence.

Matthew 26:63 (NASB) But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God."

4. The murder of Jesus was immoral because it sets a dangerous precedent that the guilty are exempt from punishment.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NASB) 9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

5. The murder of Jesus was immoral because of God’s previous law that the punishment must fit the crime.

Deuteronomy 19:21 (NASB) "Thus you shall not show pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

6. The murder of Jesus was immoral because Jesus committed divine suicide.

Hebrews 7:27 (NASB) who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.

1. After the fall of mankind and particularly with the establishment the tabernacle system of worship, the justice of God always demanded that the repentant criminal be offered an opportunity to make restitution through the blood of an innocent animal.

Leviticus 17:11 (NASB) 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement.'

2. Those who do not repent will be held personally responsible for their crimes against God.

Revelation 2:5 (NASB) 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Revelation 2:16 (NASB) 'Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.

Revelation 2:20-22 (NASB) 20 'But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 'I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 'Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds.

Revelation 3:3 (NASB) 'So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.

Revelation 3:19 (NASB) 'Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

Revelation 9:20 (NASB) The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;

Revelation 16:9 (NASB) Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

Revelation 16:11 (NASB) and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

3. Mankind may or may not be morally obligated to prove his innocence; however Jesus is God in the flesh and as the righteous judge of the earth He is under no obligation to prove His innocence to anyone.

4. The guilty will not be exempt from eternal punishment:

Revelation 20:15 (NASB) And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

5. To say that the murder of Jesus did not match the law of an eye for an eye is an argument from ignorance. Deuteronomy 19:21 deals specifically with man to man civil laws. God as the righteous judge is the only one who can determine the punishment for the sins of the world.

6. The murder of Jesus was not divine suicide, voluntarily offering one’s life to save another is not suicide:

John 10:17-18 (NASB) 17"For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18"No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father."

III. Reconciling God’s prohibition of the murder of the innocent with the death of Christ requires understanding God’s person, which can only be accomplished by reading the entire Bible in context, only then can one fully understand Romans 3:21-26.

1. Because God is the creator of all, and because He is both ontologically and ethically holy, only He can judge and must punish sin.

2. Because God is holy He is righteous, which makes him a righteous judge.

3. Because God is love He is also endowed with mercy.

4. His holiness demands that mankind be eternally destroyed for sin against him.

5. His love demands that mercy and forgiveness be extended to mankind who was created in His image, mankind whom God loves.

6. His righteous justice demands that mankind be given an opportunity to pay restitution to Him for sin, however, because God is holy, mankind has nothing in and of himself in which he can make restitution to God’s divine court, for the only thing that will satisfy God’s court is innocent blood, for the life of the creature is in the blood.

7. In order for God to be “just” and the “justifier” is to both punish sin and offer forgiveness according to His holiness, therefore He must offer himself in Jesus Christ voluntarily, and shed innocent blood on behalf of sinful mankind.

8. For mankind to be acquitted of His crimes against God, he must be legally justified by the divine court according to God’s holy prescription, namely in and through Jesus Christ.

This is a brief summary of justification; sanctification involves treating the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.