Q. I was reading Ps 25:4. In the Expositor Bible Comm., it says,” True godliness is not the outward conformity to God’s law but the spiritual application of God’s law to one’s life BY GOD HIMSELF. The psalmist prays for the internalization of God’s word . Submission is not to a set of principles or to a legal system but to the “Savior” (v.5). How does this work that it is a spiritual application BY GOD HIMSELF?
Spiritual application of God’s law to one’s life is for God’s protection against the potential harm to oneself against the divine design installed. That I understood and appreciated. If true godliness comes NOT from any desire (internal, which I have) of oneself to conform to God’s law (internal leading to external, which I have often fail repeated, though strugglingly), and is purely application of God’s law to one’s life BY GOD HIMSELF, what did I miss?
A. I’ll show you the steps I take to answer your question.
I always start with the text. Exegesis always goes from what the text say, not what I think it say, so step 1 is to go back to the original. Since I studied only a little orginal languages in seminary, I use an interlinear, augmented by literal translations. The first Hebrew verb in Ps 25:4 is yada, which means “Make me know”.
Next, I check several leading word-for-word translations:
- LEB Make me know your ways, O Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
- NASB Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
- MEB Make me to know Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.
- AMP Let me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
- WEB Show me your ways, Yahweh. Teach me your paths.
- NKJV Show me Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths.
- ESV Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths.
I do not use thought-for-thought translations at this point, to minimize the translators introducing their own bias/theological slant. I use dynamic-equivalence translations too, but only after I’ve observed what the word-for-word say. The different versions are consistent in saying that the initiative must come from God in order that we can know His ways.
Third, to make sure my observations & interpretation are on the right track, I look up cross-references to see if my preliminary deductions/conclusions are taught elsewhere in the Bible. The following are relevant:
- Ps 5:8 O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes;
make Your way straight before me. - Ps 27:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord, and lead me in a level path because of my foes.
- Ps 86:11 Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name.
- Ps 119:27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts, so I will meditate on Your wonders.
- Ps 143:8 Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; for I trust in You; teach me the way in which I should walk; for to You I lift up my soul.
- Ex 33:13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.
Again, the idea is that God must lead and teach so that man can understand. Obviously, the compiler would include a reference only if he/she considers the same idea is conveyed. So, this step is confirmatory, not primary.
Fourth, I consult commentaries to see how others have interpreted this verse. This is to see if I’ve overlooked things others picked up on. Your Expositor Bible Comm.’s “the spiritual application of God’s law to one’s life BY GOD HIMSELF” essentially says the same thing – that God must take the first step, not man. I quote from Pulpit Comm. “Man is so wanting in spiritual understanding, so morally blind and ignorant, that, unless enlightened from on high, he cannot discern aright the “way of godliness;” he does not know at any given moment what God would have him to do.
This is my simplistic understanding. I believe the desire to conform to God’s law is good, but in and of itself the desire is not enough, only God’s grace in enabling us is. Rom 7:18-19 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. This reflects my Calvinistic understanding. Hope this helps.
RayKLiu 