One of the many pregnant scenes from Schindler’s List occurs when the camp commandant is drinking with Oskar Schindler and Schindler says to the commandant, “Power is when we have every justification to kill and we don’t.”
Paul wrote to the Romans, “For the wages of sin is death.” (6:23) “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (3:23) There it is. It could not be any plainer. God has every justification to do away with us. However, there is that aspect of divinity that is omnipotent. He is all powerful and power according to Oscar Schindler is having the justification but not doing away with us. Paul goes on and says, “All are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” (3:24)
Christianity is spectacular. There is not another religion in the world that offers what Jesus offers. Other religions are moral. Other religions have ethical standards. But nothing else offers what Jesus offers. What is distressing is there are groups hiding under the cover of Christianity, claiming to be Christian, but try to add a bunch of dos and don’ts. If one is wanting a definition of heresy all one has to do is identify one of these groups. In Galatians Paul goes after such who were claiming one had to be circumcised to be saved. He begins Galatians by asking them how could they, the Galatians, be so foolish as to even listen to these people.
Our God is omnipotent. Our God is all powerful. Our God, though justified, has chosen to forgive us. I was going to say He chose to love us. But love isn’t a choice. It is an attribute. He can’t help Himself any more than any good parent who loves their children.
Spring Of Life