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Commentary on "Uriah: Faith of a Foreigner"
Day 5: Wednesday, November 3, 2010 - What's in a Name?
Overview
Today's lesson compares Uriah with other biblical characters regarding their changes of name. The authors propose that, because the Hittite had a Hebrew name, Uriah likely had his original name changed in a manner similar to Abraham, Jacob and Daniel. Changing names involves a change of identity in relation to God, a new standing before God.
The authors make a good point in affirming that having godly ancestors or relatives in prominent church positions doesn’t offer us a good standing before God. They mention Jesus’ sacrifice that demolished the barriers between people, making all people equal before God.
Observations
At first glance it seems the basis of today’s lesson is the protestant concept of relying exclusively on Christ’s merits obtained for us by his righteous life, death and resurrection. Still, the authors insert the following qualifier in their evaluation of Uriah:
“Uriah’s ethnic background underlines the fact that God does not look at the outside but knows the heart. Having family members in prominent church positions or great godly ancestors does not give us a better standing before God. Neither does our family history or even our past personal history affect our acceptance with God.”
The context seems to speak about one’s standing before God, about acceptance with God. While the next paragraph mentions Christ’s merits in relation with this standing before God, the authors affirm that God looks at the heart in the context of right standing before God. They rightly state that our past history doesn’t affect our standing before God, but the full truth is that Christ’s past history is the decisive and exclusive factor determining our status before God. Our acceptance before God depends exclusively on Christ’s righteousness; what happens in our hearts is irrelevant as far as our status before God is concerned. In a subtle way, our authors moved the focus from Christ back to the sinner who is supposed to trust his heart as being good enough in order for God to accept its goodness and justify him.
Copyright 2010 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised October 30, 2010. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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