Psalm 25

A footnote in the NIV reads: "This psalm is an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet." Adam Clarke's Commentary gives the following introduction to this psalm: "It is the first of those called acrostic Psalms, i. e., Psalms each line of which begins with a several letter of the Hebrew alphabet in their common order. Of acrostic Psalms there are seven, namely, 25, 34, 37, 111, 112, 119, and 145. It is fashionable to be violent in encomiums¹ on the Jews for the very faithful manner in which they have preserved the Hebrew Scriptures; but these encomiums are, in general, ill placed. Even this Psalm is a proof with what carelessness they have watched over the sacred deposit committed to their trust. The Hebrew letter waw (w) is lacking in the fifth verse, and the Hebrew letter koph (k) in the eighteenth; the Hebrew letter resh (r) being twice inserted, once instead of koph (k); and a whole line added at the end, entirely out of the alphabetical series."

This psalm differs widely from the preceding one. It is difficult to sound the rapidly changing emotions it expresses. David moved through a whole gamut of feelings, from guilt to uncertainty, to faith and intimacy with God, and back again to guilt feelings. The psalm gives us more a picture of David as an emotional person than as a spiritual man; he concentrates more on man and his experiences than on the facts of salvation. We find some objective observations that seem to rise out of the mist to be swallowed up again immediately. The psalm gives a typical image of man on earth, "at home in the body [and] away from the Lord," to quote the Apostle Paul.² It gives a sharp picture of a man who walks by faith, and not by sight.

"To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul" sounds as the lifting up of a wave offering. The priests had to lift some pieces of the sacrificial animal or of the grain offering and wave it before the Lord in order to indicate that it belonged to the Lord, and then put it down for human usage. This is what David does here with his intellect, his emotions, and his will. He shows his willingness to surrender it all into death, while at the same time life on earth goes on for him. He uses his mind, but from now on it belongs to God; he has his own emotions, and makes his own decisions, but something has changed drastically. Now, as he has acknowledged God's right upon his soul, and that his life is no longer his own, all kinds of things can happen to him. God can intervene in his life without any previous warning, and ask him to do things and go places he never anticipated. He promised to obey; he has lost his anchor and is taken up in the current of God's will, without control, without a rudder he can steer himself.

If this is the experience of our lives, we may sometimes ask ourselves the question of whether God knows what He is doing. Lifting up our soul to the Lord is an act of faith. We cannot see what the consequences will be, but we trust God. If God is who we believe He is, He is totally reliable, and this discovery is at the core of all our experiences with Him.

Lifting up our soul to the Lord seems like a reckless daring act, but the outward appearance of it is deceiving. It is a testimony; we testify to men and demons that we burned our bridges behind us and that we put our faith in God alone. The devil is our enemy, and some of our fellowmen are not too kindly inclined toward us. If we step out of the boat in order to walk on the water, and we begin to sink, they would take great pleasure in it and mock us for the rest of our lives. The person who is ashamed of what he does, and that would be the result of such mockery, feels the walls of his human dignity crumble around him. Such an experience can wound us deeply. It is salutary to feel shame because of our sin before God, who loves us, but to be put to shame in front of authorities and people who hate us is a terrible feeling. That causes the deepest of all emotional injuries. That is why the assurance, that those who trust Yahweh will not be put to shame, is such a monumental one. The Apostle Peter assures us that, "the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."³ God does not mock our weaknesses. I will never forget my own feelings at the time of my conversion. I felt deeply ashamed because of my sin. It may have been more a complex of guilt feelings than of regret for certain things I had done. But the feeling was strong enough that I decided not to ask the Lord to come into my life. I was afraid that He would publicly embarrass me. But the Lord made clear to me that He loved me, and that things of the past had been wiped out, and that He would never bring them up again. Every human being has something he is embarrassed about, but God does not expose us to make us look foolish; He covers us with His love. In this psalm David wrestles with this assurance. Not being put to shame does not only apply to our guilt feelings but also to the steps we take in faith. God guides our steps on the path of that which seems illogical and unreasonable, if we put our trust in Him and obey Him. A Christian does indeed walk on water.

David's enemies, here as elsewhere, are, first of all, demonic powers, but also men who do not know fellowship with God, and who hate David. Some translations do not say: "nor let my enemies triumph over me," as the NIV renders it, but "do not let my enemies exult over me."⁴ The Hebrew word is `alats, which is defined by Strongs as: "to jump for joy, i.e. exult." Evidently, David admits the possibility of a defeat. We should, therefore, see this psalm in the first place as a prayer for victory. Being put to shame would then be the equivalent of being defeated. A person who is overpowered by sin is, in fact, defeated and has reason to feel ashamed.

The statement: "they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse" is a rather controversial one. KJV is closest to the Hebrew by saying: "Let them be ashamed which transgress without cause." TLB renders it with: "But all who harm the innocent shall be defeated." The Good News Bible reads: "Defeat does not come to those who trust in you, but to those who are quick to rebel against you."

Commentaries are not unanimous in their interpretation of "Transgress without cause." Adam Clarke's Commentary says: "Perhaps bowgªdiym … may here mean idolatrous persons. Let not them that wait upon and worship thee be ashamed: but they shall be ashamed who vainly worship, or trust in false gods. See <Mal. 2:11-16>. The Chaldeans have evil entreated us, and oppressed us: they trust in their idols, let them see the vanity of their idolatry." But the Commentary of Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown says: "[Which transgress without cause]-- namely, mine enemies <Ps. 25:2>. The Hebrew for 'transgress' (ha-bogedim) is to deal treacherously. The treacherous transgression meant is that against one's neighbor. All the Israelites were, as all professing Christians are now, joined together in the brotherly covenant. To be even wanting in the love to our neighbor which is enjoined, is a treacherous transgression. Compare <Ps. 41:9; Hos. 6:7>. 'Without cause' (reequ)-- literally, 'empty' <Ps. 69:4>, 'without provocation.' "

The verses 4-7 contain a moving prayer for guidance and insight. "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths," suggests not only that we ought to obey God's command, but also that we would understand something of the "why" of God's guidance in our lives. David says elsewhere: "He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel,"⁵ making a distinction between what God revealed of Himself to Moses, and what was shown to the people of Israel. David asks here that God would allow him intimacy with Himself, and would give him insight into His secrets. In dealing with Abraham, God said to Himself: "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?"⁶ David asks here to become God's friend, for friends share in each other's secrets. Jesus also gave this definition of friendship to His disciples, when He said: "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."⁷

Knowing God's paths entails consequences. Understanding God's motives in guiding us is useless without obedience. When we know the truth we have to practice it. God will not take the trouble to reveal things to us if we do not surrender to His will first.

Jesus puts as a condition for understanding the truth and for experiencing freedom of sin that His Word abide in us. In John's Gospel we read: "If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."⁸ This means obedience to His Word. Elsewhere, Jesus says: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me."⁹ What He meant was not an intellectual study, but a practicing and a following of His example. Sin and death were caused by following the devil's lie. Understanding and practicing the truth will open the fountain of salvation for us.

Vs. 5, "Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long," is quite paradoxical. If God guides us, He will go before us all the way. Yet, David says that he expects God to come to him, as if God would be far away. The NKJ renders this verse with: "Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; on You I wait all the day." This is actually a reversal of roles. By knowing God's truth we draw nigh to Him; He can hardly come closer to us than He is already. The attitude of waiting is important. We have to live as people who are expecting their Lord any moment.

When David says: "Remember, O LORD," he projects his own limitations upon God. It would be quite redundant to remind God of His mercy and love. God knows Himself, and it is His Spirit who reminds us of God's love and mercy. As a puny creature, living in time and space, David reminds God that He is eternal. The Almighty must have smiled at this, when David came up with these lines. Yet, there is something touching in it when a man says to God: "You are just like I am." David may have been wrong in taking forgetfulness as the point of comparison between God and himself, as far as the principle of comparing goes, he was right: we are like God and He is like us. At the same time, any comparison between God and us will bring out the enormous difference; God is eternal and we are temporal.

God's mercy and love are placed against the background of His eternity, and so the right perspective becomes evident. Love is one of God's characteristics; His mercy is demonstrated in His acts. The words indicate what He is and what He does. The Hebrew word translated "love" is racham which is defined by Strongs as: "compassion (in the plural); by extension, the womb (as cherishing the fetus)." "Love" is the translation of the Hebrew word checed, which is the word that is always used in the context of the covenant God made with man. Compassion is stimulated by seeing human need. The classical example is that of the Good Samaritan in Jesus' parable.¹⁰ Isn't this amazing that our human need, which is after all a result of the fall, can evoke in God reactions of goodness and compassion? God looked down upon our world and was moved with compassion to the point that He came down to earth in Jesus Christ to take our sins upon Himself, and to carry sin and sickness away. We cannot give a richer content to the word "mercy" than this. God has demonstrated His love to us.

Yet, God's compassion is not just a passing emotional response. David observes correctly that God's character is eternal. How a divine eternal attribute can be stimulated by human need is beyond my understanding, but it is obviously so. David also must have felt this with a fine spiritual intuition, without being able to completely grasp this concept himself. He still feels the burden of guilt of his past weigh upon him, and he has no assurance of being forgiven. The writer of the Hebrew Epistle blames this on the fact that the Old Testament people lived with images of atonement, and not with the reality of it. He writes: "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!"¹¹ The Old Testament Jew knew no freedom from guilt feelings as a New Testament Christian knows. For us the miracle is true that God cannot remember "the sins of our youth" once they are washed away by the blood of Jesus Christ. This fact makes it difficult for us, in the dispensation in which we live, to understand the internal struggle of the Jew who lived under the old covenant.

There are, of course, also Christians who keep on feeling guilty for sins that have been forgiven, but this is usually due to a lack of understanding of the New Testament reality. For many people it seems too good to be true that God does not remember our sins, once they are forgiven. In some cases people have psychological guilt feelings that have no relation with transgressions of God's will. In other cases we are dishonest in that we ask to be forgiven, but what we want is to have the freedom to keep on sinning at the same time. None of those things, however, can be applied to David's condition. He lived in a dispensation in which we cannot imagine ourselves.

The verses 8-13 deal with more, however, than with sins that have already been confessed in the past. The sinner in vs. 8 is a man who discovers in himself a root of sin that he is unable to eradicate. Man has a tendency to sin because he has a sinful nature. When he sins, he sins against his better knowledge, even after he has received forgiveness. God has a special way to help him. David calls this method "the way," without further explaining what this means. The RSV renders vs. 8: "Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in the way." The term "the humble" indicates what he has in mind. The KJV uses the word "meekness." The word "meek" point in the direction of the solution. Meekness can be defined as submitting oneself to the will of God. If we give our right to self-determination over to God, He will teach us His way and help us to walk in it. We learn to measure our deeds against the standard of God's righteousness, and thus the root of evil within us begins to wither.

The double reference to God's goodness not only refers to the fact that God shows us the way, but also to the standard with which He will judge our lives. God not only shows us the way, He is the way. This fact evokes several New Testament associations in us, among which is the fact that Jesus refers to Himself as "the way." In John's Gospel He says: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."¹² In His conversation with the young rich ruler, He said: "No one is good-- except God alone."¹³ He pointed to God's goodness as a reference, in order to evoke a sense of guilt in the heart of the young man. It is in this sense that the Lord shows us the way also. We begin to compare ourselves with Him, and we draw the conclusion that He is good, as an eternal, infinite being, and we are not. This discovery may awaken a desire in our hearts to obtain this goodness ourselves, which will bring us to meekness. So we will begin to walk in what is right, that is to say, we will become honest and righteous.

Vs. 10 has a special poetical beauty: "All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant." The first clause shows a plural "all the ways of the Lord." It is not only the way on which we walk, but also God's plan, which He reveals to those who are eager to receive it. This presupposes an intimate relationship with God. The meaning of "all the ways of the Lord," therefore, is a walking in fellowship with the Lord. The experience of those who walk in God's ways is that God is loving and faithful. Love shows itself in practical ways; faithfulness is the confirmation that God will never forsake us. The writer to the Hebrews says: "God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' "¹⁴

If we walk in God's ways, these characteristics of love and faithfulness will communicate themselves to us also, and we will begin to do for others what God does for us. The key to the secrets is obedience. The covenant rests upon bilateral promises. Our salvation, of course, is based upon God's unilateral commitment to us; but no experience of fellowship is possible without this Old Testament covenant of a reciprocal pledge. The NIV uses the phrase: "those who keep the demands of his covenant." The RSV, as well as the KJV renders this: "those who keep his covenant and his testimonies," which is closer to the Hebrew. The word "testimonies" is used as an equivalent for the Ten Commandments, indicating that the law is an expression of God's character. It is man's duty to keep God's covenant and his testimonies. We have to hold on to God's revelation of Himself. In the darkness of the world in which we live, the reminder of God's light is necessary to pull us through; otherwise, the darkness would blind us. The tendency in this world is to forget who God is. If we keep what He has given us, He will never forsake us.

The repetition of the prayer for forgiveness in vs. 11 may point to this lingering consciousness of guilt of which we spoke above, but it can also be a growing sense of guilt. As we draw closer to God, our imperfections and impurities will become more defined. When Isaiah received his vision from the Lord, he cried out: "Woe to me!...I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."¹⁵ But, as with Isaiah, we will also become more aware of the fact that our lips are touched by a coal from the altar and that "[our] guilt is taken away and our sin atoned for."¹⁶

Fearing the Lord, as is mentioned in vs. 12 is nothing more than a realization of the fact of who God is. A man who does not stand in awe before the Lord has no idea with whom he is dealing. Such a person is a fool who lives in a fantasy world. When one has any understanding about God, he will know at once which way he has to take. The NIV is the only version that gives the translation of vs. 12 as: "He will instruct him in the way chosen for him," all other versions make man the one who chooses. The RSV reads: "Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose." Although the NIV may be grammatically correct, the context warrants, obviously, a translation that brings out the human freedom to choose. God instructs us, but it is up to us to choose. There is no coercion; if we follow Him we do so voluntarily.

The decision to do that, which is good, brings about immediate blessing, sometimes in the material realm, but always in that which is spiritual. The man who fears the Lord leaves behind him a heritage for posterity. Children should be able to learn how to fellowship with the Lord by observing their parents, and thus "possess the land."

David wrote those words in Canaan long after the Israelites had entered it, so the meaning is, obviously, not merely living in Canaan, but entering into God's rest. The epistle to the Hebrews describes this truth in more detail.¹⁷ Reaching our goal in life and being what we ought to be cannot be separated from a realistic concept of who God is, and of experiencing an intimate fellowship with Him. The intent of this verse is not to say that salvation and faith are hereditary, but that parents can be an inspiring example to their children, so that following God will be the most natural thing for them to do.

Vs. 14 is the centerpiece of this psalm: "The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them." The KJV renders this: "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him." Both convey a sense of deep intimacy and a love relationship. God knows, of course, all our secrets, but it is the sharing with Him of what lives deep inside us that will give depth and meaning to our intercourse with Him. From His side God will communicate to us His secrets in the measure in which we can receive them. Our capacity in this realm is limited, but it will grow with the measure of our love. Nobody ever had as intimate a relationship with the Father as our Lord Jesus Christ when He lived on earth. He had the key to the understanding of the Scriptures, and He knew that the Bible was written about Him, as David had said: "Then I said, "Here I am, I have come-- it is written about me in the scroll."¹⁸ For us, it is only possible to have intimate fellowship with the Father as we are in Christ. For a person who is born "at home in the body, and away from the Lord," to use Paul's words,¹⁹ it is always difficult to understand that such fellowship with God is possible, and that we can communicate with Him as a friend. The relationship in which God confides in us speaks of an intimacy that surpasses all other relationships on earth. A marriage relationship is only a vague shadow of this reality.

There is a sense in which the covenant of God is well known, since it is well documented in Scripture. When we read: "he makes his covenant known to them," it does not mean that there are secret clauses in God's covenant, but that one enters into the experience of the covenant. Jeremiah prophesied about this when he said: " 'The time is coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,' declares the LORD. 'This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,' declares the LORD. 'I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ' 'Know the LORD,' ' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,' declares the LORD. 'For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.' "²⁰ The Old Testament law becomes an inner reality in the person who is born again of the Holy Spirit.

But for the New Testament Christian knowing the Lord is not something that comes automatically. George Mueller, who saw hundreds of answers to prayer, could state at the end of his life: "I know the Lord." There are not many Christians who can repeat those words after him; it takes a consistent daily walk with the Lord. "He makes his covenant known to them," signifies "He puts His law in their minds and writes it on their hearts." When God writes His law on our hearts, He reveals Himself to us. His law is the expression of His being.

"My eyes are ever on the LORD," says the same as what David said elsewhere: "I have set the LORD always before me."²¹ To concentrate on the Lord in this way requires an act of the will. Peter began to sink when he did not keep his eyes on Jesus. We read in Matthew: "But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, 'Lord, save me!' "²² We turn things around if we say that the person who keeps his eyes on the Lord closes his eyes to the realities of life. Sin distorts our conception of reality. God's reality is in Jesus Christ. If we keep our eyes on our circumstances, we will be trapped in the contradictions of life. Our situation can only be judged objectively from God's perspective. The level on which we live in this world prevents us from seeing the right perspective, which is needed to make correct judgments. Small and insignificant events are blown up out of proportion, and this becomes a snare to man. David realized that he had to keep his eyes on the Lord in order not to become a prey of the devil. Fellowship with God will make us into normal, well-balanced human beings who can go through life with a well-defined goal before them. Intimacy with God is a very practical thing. It is not something mystical and out-of-this-world, but it keeps us from the Evil One.

This does not mean that David himself was consistent in his fellowship with God. As a human being, he was subject to changing moods. As we have seen already, there is a clear difference between the Old Testament believer and the New Testament one in their consciousness of forgiveness of sin. The Holy Spirit came upon some Old Testament people, but He did not indwell them as He indwells the New Testament Christian. It seems strange that, immediately after David's strong sounding testimony regarding life on the highest plane, he sees himself as "lonely and afflicted." It almost sounds as if someone else is speaking. Adam Clarke remarks concerning this: " 'Turn thee unto me' Probably the prayer of the poor captives in Babylon, which is continued through this and the remaining verses." We prefer to take the subscript "Of David" literally, and we see no reason why those words could not be attributed to David himself.

It is clear, however, that the writer is depressed. He misses the stimulus of fellowship with other human beings. Our fellowship with God is the most important thing in life, but we also need contact with our fellowmen. On the night our Lord Jesus Christ had to drink the bitter cup alone in the garden of Gethsemane, He fervently longed for fellowship with His intimate friends.²³ The fact that this fellowship was denied Him made His suffering so much the more severe. We can say, therefore, that David's experience is, first of all, prophetic. Often our deepest experiences with the Lord are meant to prepare us for a difficult confrontation with the enemy. The devil loves to manipulate our feeling, especially our self-pity. The late Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands wrote a book under the title Lonely, but not Alone.²⁴ This title could be placed above the text here. David knows that he is not alone in his loneliness and misery. He addresses himself to God, indicating that he knows God hears him and is close to him. The verse proves, however, that it is important for a man to have fellowship with others if he wants to function normally.

In verses 16-18 David makes a list of the inner troubles with which he is struggling: loneliness, affliction, troubles, anguish, distress, and sin. Sin is, obviously, the root of all the preceding problems. None of them would exist without the presence of sin. There is not always a direct link between a certain sin and certain troubles, but there is always the general connection. Pardon and the sense of being forgiven eliminate the basis for the troubles, but the symptoms do not always disappear immediately. David's complaint should make us realize the depth of our riches in Christ. The Apostle John puts it this way: "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."²⁵

In vs. 19 David turns away from himself and his troubles, and when he looks around he sees himself surrounded by an enemy who hates him. Again, as elsewhere in the psalms, the enemy is, not in the first place, a human foe, although there are some of those in this picture, but he is "the murderer of men from the beginning," as Jesus calls him.²⁶ The devil uses men to achieve his goal, but he himself is the power that pushes and inspires them to do evil. The human enemies, who have increased in number, are the same as the ones mentioned in vs. 2; they are manipulated by Satan.

David repeats his request: "Let me not be put to shame." This repetition gives unity to the form of this poem. David takes refuge in God, but he realizes also that, if he cultivates integrity and uprightness in his life, these will give him some protection also. In other words, if we really want to be under God's protection, there must be changes that are brought about in our lives. The word "integrity" is the translation of the Hebrew word tom, which, according to Strongs Definitions, means: "completeness; figuratively, prosperity; usually (morally) innocence." The TLB says beautifully: "Assign me Godliness and Integrity as my bodyguards." Real integrity will be an effective protection against the enemy of our souls; it is an indispensable basic ingredient in our defense. In Paul's armor, "the belt of truth" is the first part of the outfit of defense in the struggle against the Evil One.²⁷

God is upright. The Apostle John says about God: "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."²⁸ Those words give probably the most complete definition of uprightness. If we cultivate integrity in our lives, and our lives are transparent before God, then we are well protected and the devil will not be successful in his blows against us.

David concludes with a desire for the Lord's return. When he says: "My hope is in you. Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!" he is watching for the "Parousia." Expecting the second coming is a strong incentive to keep our integrity. Our greatest danger is to fall asleep spiritually. That is why Christ puts such a strong emphasis upon watchfulness. He says in Mark's Gospel: "Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back-- whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: 'Watch!' "²⁹ The phrase "My hope is in you," as the NIV puts it, is the translation of a single Hebrew word qiwiytiakaa, which is a form of qavah. Strongs Definition says that this means: "to bind together (perhaps by twisting), i.e. collect; (figuratively) to expect." Most other versions render the word with "I wait for you." With those words David demonstrates that the present situation is neither normal nor lasting. The words suggest the danger of the illusion man lives with, that the present would, in fact, be normal and lasting. It also shows that our relationship with God is not yet complete, and that it is not based on what we observe around us, or upon a direct communication, but upon hope and promises. David confesses that the time will come when the situation will change drastically, and that this change is so close that it can happen at any moment.

Vs. 22 forms the climax of this psalm. Suddenly it becomes clear that David was not speaking for himself alone, but for the whole nation of Israel. The people as a whole went through the ups and downs he described. David was the personification of the nation. This surprising denouement, if we may call it that, shows the principle of substitution. This principle lay at the basis of the fall and its consequences, and at the death of Jesus for the whole nation. Caiphas was correct when he said, unwittingly: "You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish." John adds to this his comment: "He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one."³⁰ Paul elaborates on this subject in Romans, by saying: "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned-- for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come."³¹ Both Adam and Christ were representatives of the whole human race, and their acts are considered as being committed by all. The Apostle Paul says in his second epistle to the Corinthians: "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died."³²

David's relationship with God, his ups-and-downs, are the experience of the whole nation of Israel. There is a sense in which "None of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone," to use Paul's words.³³ What we do or do not do, what we are or are not influences people around us. We will become more aware of this fact as we draw closer to the Lord. Nobody knew this as clearly as our Lord Jesus Christ. That is why He is the savior of the world.

² II Cor. 5:6

³ I Pet. 2:6

⁴ NAS, RSV

⁵ Ps. 103:7

⁶ Gen. 18:17

⁷ John 15:15

⁸ John 8:31,32 (NKJ)

⁹ Matt. 11:29

¹⁰ See Luke 10:30-37

¹¹ Heb. 9:13,14

¹² John 14:6

¹³ See Luke 18:19-27

¹⁴ Heb. 13:5

¹⁵ Isa. 6:5

¹⁶ Isa. 6:7

¹⁷ See Heb. 4

¹⁸ Ps. 40:7

¹⁹ II Cor. 5:6

²⁰ Jer. 31:31-34

²¹ Ps. 16:8

²² Matt. 14:30

²³ See Matt. 26:36-46

²⁴ Eenzaam maar niet alleen.

²⁵ I John 1:7

²⁶ John 8:44

²⁷ Eph. 6:14

²⁸ I John 1:5

²⁹ Mark 13:35-37

³⁰ John 11:50-52

³¹ Rom. 5:12-14

³² II Cor. 5:14

³³ Rom. 14:7

Copyright (c) 1999, 2000
E-sst, LLC
All Rights Reserved
Please see the License at Copyrights for restrictions and limitations
Note: Copyright does not apply to KJV text.