Which way does the “balance scale of justice” tilt for you?
This is the popular idea that our good deeds are judged on a
balance scale along with our bad deeds.
It’s very popular because most people believe their good deeds far
outweigh their bad and, as the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix
it.” Why bother with religion and
thoughts of eternity if, when it comes down to it, I’m good to go?
The “balance scale” basic belief a young man named Jason had
as he described his views about religion in a conversation at the grocery
store. He hasn’t really thought too much
about eternity, but feels the balance scale theory is a pretty logical approach
to questions about salvation. What goes
around, comes around, based on adding and subtracting our good and bad “brownie
points”.
It’s not a completely unbiblical belief. The Bible tells us “God
will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by
persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give
eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and
follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”
Taken out of context, this passage sounds like the Gospel is
a simple rewards system for good and bad behavior, with heaven and hell at
stake. But read in context from Romans
2, the main point of this passage is not that one can earn salvation on a
heavenly balance scale, but that on that same scale, both Jews and Gentiles
alike are equally condemned because all are equally sinful.
There at the grocery store, Jason was reasoning that surely
the worst sinners must be punished, but felt confident that he wasn’t one of
them. He was aware of his own sin, but
also felt like his good character would tilt his personal balance scale toward
heavenly rewards.
The problem with this view, however, is that our good deeds
are expected of us. We should do good
simply because it is the right thing to do.
To “do” good is not to “be” good; instead it is simply to be the human
beings as we were created to be.
A parable Jesus told explains this. “Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or
looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the
field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper,
get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat
and drink’? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you
were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our
duty.’” (Luke 17)
Likewise, with regard to the good we do, we should say “we
have only done our duty”. This may go against our human-centered
standard of “goodness”, but it is right in line with the God-centered standard
of Jesus that we are judged by. And
according to this standard, we can’t use the good we ought to do to “pay” for
the bad we ought not to do.
So on the heavenly scale of justice, we have nothing to
outweigh our sin, nothing to pay our debt.
We are morally bankrupt.
This is not good news.
What we are left with, then, on this balance scale of justice where “God
will repay each person according to what they have done”, is not eternal life
but wrath and anger. So on judgment day
we will not want justice, but mercy. We
will not want the punishment we deserve, but the grace we don’t deserve.
And this is where the good news of the Gospel comes in. There is grace for those who believe. There is mercy we don’t deserve, but there is
still justice. God does not compromise
His justice, because there is still punishment for sin, but we have a Savior
who has graciously taken that punishment in our place. With the blood of Jesus paying the penalty
for our sins, the balance scale of justice can tilt in our favor just when we
need it the most.
PS – Jason graciously allowed me to record our conversation,
which can be seen in its entirety HERE
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