The Last Word

“Therefore I esteem all thy precepts [authoritative commands or directions] concerning all things to be right.” (Psalm 119:128a)

         I have suggested that dogmatism on secondary things is sophistry; it sounds good, but it won’t pass the test of accuracy. But if this is true of secondary things, then it only stands to reason that dogmatism is acceptable—no, imperative—in the case of primary things. The precepts of God are unequivocally right, and to waffle on them is to attempt to contradict God, never a smart move. Notice how dogmatic the Psalmist is: All God’s precepts concerning all things are right, he says. Period. End of story. This leaves no room for variation or gray areas, open to individual persuasion. Under no circumstances, anywhere, any time, are things such as idolatry, thievery (including the redistribution of income), lying, perjury, coveting (including living beyond one’s means), blasphemy, murder (including the murder of unborn babies), adultery, fornication, homosexuality, etc., ever acceptable to God. We may feel there are “extenuating circumstances,” but that only proves one does not esteem God’s precepts as highly as the Psalmist did.

         Every man and woman has (or should have) the right to his or her own opinion; but that does not mean it is a valid one. Your opinion is as important as mine, but neither one is as important as God’s. One may question the relevance of Biblical principles in a postmodern world, but that only shows the individual’s own irrelevance! Our questioning changes nothing. The ancient world’s assertion that the earth was flat did not keep it from turning on it’s axis. And for you and I to engage in sins such as those mentioned does not change their status as sins one iota. It does, however, change us…for the worse.

         How highly do you and I esteem the precepts of God? As highly as the Psalmist did? High enough to live by them?

       God’s Word is the last word, because it was the first Word. (John 1:1)