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"Out
of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, murders, adulteries..." and we must "obey
from the heart that form of doctrine..." (Matt. 15:19;
Rom. 6:17). Surely every Bible reader is aware that overt
action, good or bad, begins in "the seat of thought,
emotions, and will or volition." That is why keeping the
heart pure, and positively directed to that which is true,
honest, just, etc., is the very essence of man's service to God
(Phil. 4:8; Rom. 1:9; 2:29). We are assured that God knows our
heart (Rom. 8:27; Heb. 4:12-16); and this is both a warning and
a comfort.
But
do such passages lessen the need for overt obedience? Because
God can know man's intentions, and may approve an intent never
carried out (as in the case of Abraham, Gen. 22:), may we
judge a man God-approved before his obedience is consummated? Or
consider the flip side: because we are warned: "whosoever
looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery
with her already in his heart" (Matt. 5:28), should we
treat one we regard as guilty of lust, in the same way we do
overt adultery?
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We
can correctly judge neither heart, and must operate upon
overt actions. Jesus countered the legalism of his day in many
ways; but never by ridiculing the doing of things
commanded. He reproved those hypocrites who were particular
about details but omitted "weightier matters"
(Matt. 23: 23-26), but he didn't set one aspect of obedience
against another. Rather, he coupled the inner and outer
parts, saying, these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the
other undone." The inside must first be clean, but
the outside must be clean also (v.26).
"By
their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt. 7:20). The fact
that God knows them before the fruit is apparent to man,
is no justification for extending fellowship, or withdrawing it.
Freely admitting we have less than perfect knowledge, our
responsibility is to act in keeping with what we believe to
be God's will. And we must consider those who have not done what
God commanded "for remission of sins" to be yet in
their sins. By the same token, we must seek to correct those we
believe to be in error.
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