This Changes Everything (#958)

"The word 'righteousness' does not appear in the Bible." Provocative statement, and at first consideration it sounds absurd. However, that thought has been troubling former pastor and theologian, Tobie van der Westhuizen, from Bloemfontein, South Africa, for eight years. It sent him on a nearly compulsive course of study to some surprising conclusions. It shifted his thinking to a fuller appreciation of the work of Jesus and how he has asked his followers to part of his unfolding kingdom in the world. As he shared his insights with Wayne, Wayne realized that living loved had brought him to similar conclusions without the same language. Tobie was offering a puzzle piece that seemed to make a lot of sense. Could it be that we've missed an important emphasis in the Bible? Having recorded their conversation, Wayne invites Kyle to ponder this thought with him.

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12 Comments

  1. Very interesting. Just the other day I was reading Matthew 5 (The Sermon on The Mount) using the New Living Translation Bible and came across verse 6, which read it as “God blesses those who hunger and thirst for “justice”
    for they will be satisfied”. When I first read it, I felt a little off, because I’ve read it as “righteousness” in other translations. I definitely have a lot to learn (and unlearn) regarding God, the Bible, etc.

  2. Ok, I first read your email and thought, Your much learning has made you mad Wayne.
    Then I thought, What if there is something to this?
    I’m here to find out!

    If the law and justice are relational, how much more the new creation! If the schoolmaster is relational, how much more now?

    I love this definition of judgement, Judgement is the setting right of all things. It is an expression of God’s love. Therefore, Justice is also the setting right of all things in God’s kingdom.

    I’m excited to pursue this!
    Thank you for posting this!

    Rory

  3. Wowser!!! What a revelation. What a confirmation of the power of the Gospel of Love. This expands even further what I learnt from you so many years ago when I heard you say ‘Living loved and loving’. I can’t wait for your next Podcast.

  4. This is great. It makes so much sense. Instead of just focusing on benefits to myself, this resets my focus on God’s benefit to include everyone.

    • Hi Len, your comments made me think of a paradigm shifting Robcast I had listened to a while back entitled Episode295MeWeEverybody by Rob Bell. Be careful, the doctrine police and Heretic hunters see him as a.. well you know, jsame as with The Shack.

      I no longer pray that the Kingdom would be Restored to Israel Alone, but to all Nations. Nor do I pray that America would be made Great again, but that we would convert our war machine to peacefully making ALL Nations truly Great, for the first time. Thy Kingdom Come, on Earth as it is in Heaven, for GOD IS LOVE, and Love is the Kingdom, Love is the Power and Love is the Glory, forever and ever, Amen.

  5. We usually evaluate podcasts from various sources by the number of times we pause them to discuss something that grabs our interest. A “ten-pauser” means it was an especially good podcast, but “This Changes Everything” was more like a fifty-pauser! It is causing us to reconsider many things – for instance, the real purpose of the law and how Jesus was its perfect fulfillment. Eye-opening, to say the very least. We’re very much looking forward to hearing more!

    • Yes Margo, Pausing, taking notes, pondering inner thoughts, rethinking and reimagining God’s Kingdom, on earth as it is in Heaven! 🙂

  6. My brother sent me this comment re this discovery. He’s a missionary in Brazil where Portuguese is the main language.

    “It’s interesting but in the Portuguese translation we use, they use the word justice. They do not use the word for righteousness. I guess that’s why I sometimes had difficulty understanding those verses in Portuguese, because they didn’t seem to give the same meaning as the English I’m used to.”

    Fascinating! Really looking forward to learning more about this. I love that it goes back to relational living.

  7. This is so wonderful this excitement of expanding our understanding of the gospel.
    I look forward to this exploration. I know this truth and this reconnects me with it, the scripture that opened this for me is Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”.

    • I understand what you mean, Jason, but thinking of it as a standard will send some back into performance. I would prefer to say that relational justice is the fruit of love and godliness the fruit of that justice/

  9. This revelation from Tobie has blown my tiny mind I’m listening to the podcasts many times.

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