I went to Theology class the other day expecting to get our final exam review sheet, maybe some words of encouragement, and a chuckle or two. Dr. Turner's Intro to Theology class has been a favorite of mine this semester, partly because I have never taken a formal study of theology, and partly because Dr. Turner is a great professor. What I got was a mind-blowing lesson that still has my thoughts racing.
Dr. Turner started out with three key positional truths. "I'm going to say some things today that might go against what you've been taught. Realize that everything I say, however, will not violate these truths;
1. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
2. Heaven never gets worse, only better.
3. Hell never gets better, only worse.
With these three points scrawled on the board, he drew two diagrams, explaining each.
You may view your life like this: You are born, sometime in your life you accept Christ and are "saved," then you live the rest of your life, then you die. From death, because of your decision to accept Christ, you enter into eternity with Him and begin your eternal life.
I agreed - this was the model I was familiar with. We live our mortal life, then once we die, we begin our eternal life.
He drew a diagram sort of like this (I'll try my best at drawing with letters:)
Born |--[saved]-----| Die
\-------------| 'Born' into eternity |----> [live eternally]
He paused, then continued. What if, instead of being born into a finite life and then someday entering into eternity, we are born into eternity? What if our life looks something like this:
/------{heaven}---->
Born |------[saved]--------| Die
<-----{hell}----/
This way, Dr. Turner explained, we are eternal beings from the get-go. At first, I thought he was splitting hairs. Then he explained further.
If we are born mortals and one day become eternal, there seems little point in living after you have accepted Christ. Once you are saved, you might as well die and go live in heaven, beginning your eternal life. Some would claim that the point of living after you accept Christ is to "preach the Gospel."
"But... what does that mean, exactly?" Dr. Turner asked, "I mean, do we preach 24/7? Or what? It almost seems like a cop-out answer."
But if we are born into eternity from the get-go, our lives take on a whole new meaning. Because if we are eternal from birth, our actions matter. What you do in this area, (he circled the line segment between "[saved]" and "| Die") matters.
I thought about this. It made a lot of sense but raised even more questions.
This means that you can't merely accept Christ and then live a life doing whatever you want, knowing that you have your "fire insurance." It means that your life, your words, your actions, matter.
It seemed like I had heard all of this before, but never explicitly mentioned all at once. It was awesome to see it all hashed out. But there was more.
Dr. Turner then wrote the word "Misthos" on the board. He defined misthos as the transliteration of a Greek word meaning essentially "payment for labor." He then cited several instances in Scripture where the word was used. The first was Matthew 20:8, where the master of the vineyard pays his workers their wages. (The word 'wages' was translated from misthos). The second is in 1 Timothy 5:18, where Paul quotes older Scripture, saying that the worker is entitled to his wages (again translated from misthos). Third, in James 5:4, where James warns not to withhold wages from workers, because by working they are entitled to their wages (and again, 'wages' was translated from misthos).
So far, so good. But then things got a little tricky. Dr. Turner explained that misthos was used a few other times in Scripture. In Matthew 5:11-12, we are told that though we will be persecuted, our reward in Heaven will be great. Yet the word reward here is translated from misthos, the same word which was translated 'wages' on other occasions.
"It seems that our... dare I call them cowardly?... Bible translators were a bit uncomfortable with the concept of us receiving our misthos, our wages, from God," Dr. Turner said. He then pointed out two other instances, in Luke 6:35 and Revelation 22:12, where misthos is translated 'reward' instead of 'wages.'
Next, he explained the difference. Reward implies that it's something that might happen out of good graces. A wage is something you are entitled to by a legal contract. If you work, you get paid. It's not up to the good graces of your boss, it's up to the letter of the law. He has no choice but to pay you.
It seems that the same thing happens between us and God. When we diligently serve Him, we are entitled to our misthos. We work for God, God is required to pay us.
This is where a lot of my questions come from. Referring to those three positional truths, I realize that we cannot earn our way into Heaven. Furthermore, God is the one Who gives us the opportunities to serve. We cannot do good for God without God having set us up to do that particular good. Therefore, we do not by any means control God - quite the other way around. But by doing good for God, we are entitled our reward. Because God is just, and He rewards the good and punishes the bad.
Thus, we are able to build up wages in heaven. Our experience in heaven is able to become better the more good we do on earth.
I told Dr. Turner that this sounded a bit like Christian Karma, where we do good and are rewarded for it, or the theology of Mormonism, where there are different "levels" of heaven which we can earn our way into. He denied both counts.
First, Karma implies that we are repaid for our good in this life. If you lend someone in need $5, you will find $5 later that day. (Obviously this is a simplified version, but you get the idea.) Dr. Turner explained that with our misthos, we are not entitled to it until we are in heaven. Thus, we are to do good expecting nothing back.
Furthermore, "Mormonism claims that at some level we can become like God. This is not supported in Scripture," Dr. Turner said, "the idea of misthos is not that we can become so good that we become like God, but rather that God displays his divine justice by paying us back all that we have done for Him."
I asked what exactly our misthos looks like. "I mean is it, like, a mansion we get or something?" I said facetiously.
"Honestly," Dr. Turner answered, "I have no idea. I only know that Heaven is incomprehensibly good - better than we are able to wrap our minds around. Yet by diligently serving God, our experience can become better."
I'm still not exactly sure what I think about all this. Nor have I read the original Greek to see the different uses of misthos. But I was blown away and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it all. Let me know what you all think.
As for now...
Thanks for reading,
-Daniel K
