Deuteronomy 7:7,8 - It was because the Lord loved you

7:7

The people needed to understand that the Lord did not choose them because they were more numerous than other nations. In fact they were less numerous. This was important for them to appreciate because they were going to come up against peoples who were more numerous than themselves, they needed to understand that this made no difference to the outcome of the battle. Likewise we need to appreciate that God has not chosen us because we were better than others.

7:8

So why did the Lord choose them? Because He loved them, and because of the promise He had made to their ancestors, in particular Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That was why He came to deliver them when they were in slavery in Egypt. It is human nature that God loves us because we are in some way “good enough” or “deserving”. Such thinking will soon come unstuck for at some point we will be faced with the fact that we are not “deserving”.

Philippians 2:12 - Work out your own salvation

2:12

Now some people (theologians mostly!) so seem to get their knickers in a twist over the two verses 12 and 13. Their concern is Paul’s use of the phrase “work out your salvation”, and their fear that Paul is promoting some form of works salvation, which would be at odds with much of what he says elsewhere. Such fears are utterly unfounded, and I cannot see what the problem is. First, Paul wasn’t stupid, and there is no way he would be advocating any form of works salvation. Perhaps more importantly, it demonstrates a serious misunderstanding of what salvation means. It does not mean simply that we are forgiven. Forgiveness is obviously essential for we have much that needs to be forgiven, and continue to accumulate more! However, it is not just about what we have been saved from, but what we are saved to. Our salvation involves us becoming more and more like Christ. Moreover, a good general principle is that when God works, we work. We find this pattern many times in the Bible. God makes us responsible and active human beings. Because of our fallen nature a lot of that responsibility is directed towards sinful pursuits, but in Christ that changes. So we are to direct ourselves towards realising the fruit of salvation, which is ever increasing Christlikeness.

Paul had observed them doing this while he was with them, but urges them to do it all the more in his absence. This verse also supports the contention that 2:5-11 is given as an encouragement to act like Christ.

Deuteronomy 7:3-6 - You are a people holy to the Lord

7:3,4

They were not to intermarry with them, nor were their sons or daughters to intermarry with the occupants of the land. If they did so then it would lead to them being led astray. The same applies today with Christians not marrying non-Christians. First, the situation where a Christian is already married, then they should stay with their partner, but for a Christian to choose to marry a non-Christian is a foolish thing to do. There may be examples where such an action does lead to the non-Christian coming to faith, but in the majority of cases the reverse will happen. We should not put the Lord to the test.

7:5,6

Instead, they were to break down all the last vestiges of idol worship. “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God”. We need to appreciate our uniqueness, that we have been set apart by God and for God. We are His treasured possession. If we see ourselves as being just like everyone else then we will never have a correct view of ourselves.

Philippians 2:10,11 - Every knee should bow

2:10

At the name of Jesus every knee will bow. All the powers and authorities, all mankind, will bow down before the Lord Jesus. Every pretension that sets itself up against God will one day have to bow down to Christ.

2:11

Every tongue will acknowledge that Christ is Lord, and all this is to the Father’s glory. So we have in this hymn (if that is what it is) a summary of how things work. We are to live in humility now, even in the face of severe opposition. But we do so knowing that God exalts the humble but opposes the proud (James 4:6; Prov 3:34). We see this working out supremely in Christ Himself. The hymn has majored on Christ humbling Himself. The reason for this is that this is the hardest part. It is hard for us to do, it is hard for us to appreciate that this is going to be an effective way of living! It goes against our sinful nature, against our rebellious nature.

Deuteronomy 7:1,2 - Make no treaty with them

7:1

“When the Lord brings you ...” As far as God is concerned there is no doubt about Israel entering the Promised Land. God has made the promise and it will happen. The land was currently occupied by various peoples, but God would drive them out. When God leads us in a particular direction we may see many obstacles in the way, but if God is indeed leading us in that direction then we can be confident that He has made provision to deal with the obstacles. God also stresses that the seven nations were stronger and larger than Israel. Israel could not defeat them in her own strength, and was not expected to do so.

7:2

“And when ..” First it says when the Lord has delivered them over to you, then it says “when you have defeated them”. So while they were completely dependent upon God for the victory, God would involve them in the process. “Then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, show them no mercy.” Why was this? The nations worshipped idols, and this led to all sorts of corrupt practices. The idol worship had to be driven out of the land.

Philippians 2:8,9 - God has highly exalted Him

2:8

More than that, Jesus did not just become a man, He became obedient to death. And more than that, it was the most humiliating and excruciating death possible, death on a cross. Crucifixion was specifically designed by the Romans to be “a warning to others”, to utterly humiliate the victim. It was necessary for Jesus to go to the cross in order for the purposes of the Father to be fulfilled, namely to secure our salvation. Jesus was prepared to do this, despite the enormous cost and the humiliation. So if it is necessary for us to be humiliated for the sake of the gospel, we should be ready to do so.

2:9

There is now a distinct change of tone. Having talked about humility, we are now concerned with exaltation. “Therefore exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name”. There are arguments about whether this was a reward for Jesus. I don’t think this is the right way to think of it. Jesus is and always has been righteous. He is eternally righteous for He is part of the Godhead. His humbling of Himself, and the servant attitude we see in Him while here on earth, is a natural outworking or manifestation of that righteousness. Likewise the exaltation is a natural consequence of this. 

We too will be crowned with glory and honour (Ps 8:5). Obviously this isn’t quite the same as with Jesus, only He has the name above all names, but we will be crowned.

Deuteronomy 6:20-25 - When your son asks you

6:20

Earlier the people had been told to explain to future generations why they celebrated the Passover. Now we have a similar thing with explaining “the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord your God has commanded you”. There is an important general principle here, and it is that we don’t just say “this is the truth, believe it” without any explanation. God wants us to understand. Now there are times when we should just do something because God has said do it, but the general principle is that we should understand His ways as well.

6:21-3

As with the Passover, the explanation goes back to the release from slavery in Egypt.  They were slaves, but the Lord set them free by mighty acts of power. Various plagues were unleashed on Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The Lord brought them out of slavery and into the land He had promised to give them, promises made to their ancestors. So why does this explain why they should follow His decrees? Various reasons can be given. One is that the way they lived before was not good, this applies directly if we draw a parallel between the gospel and the release from Egypt. Another is that we owe everything to God. Without God they would still be in slavery.

6:24,25

Then we get another reason, the laws were given in order that things would go well with the people. So that they would be fruitful and prosperous in the Promised Land. If they obeyed all the Lord’s commands, then “that will be our righteousness”. As we know they did not keep the laws, so they had no righteousness, and things did not go well with them.