I.
WHAT
DOES “PIETY” MEAN
The
book of Isaiah sees piety as holy and righteous living in God through daily
obedience towards His Word and translating of one’s faith into justice carried
out among the community one lives and relates with. The Vine’s dictionary
defines it as “to reverence, to show piety towards any to whom dutiful regard
is due.”[1]
Those
who pursue piety living thus are meant to fulfill the Great Commandment by
loving God wholeheartedly and loving men as how we love ourselves.
1. WITH GOD: REPENTANCE
Repentance
means changing of one’s mind and subjects our mind under the Lordship of Jesus
Christ. Edward E. Young stated that, “If there is to be a true service and
worship of God, there must be a genuine repentance.”[2] He asserted that, “There
can be no right obedience, nor can there be any right worship, until first one
has learned of God.”[3] True repentance is
revealed by possessing true knowledge of God and maintaining godly fear of Him.
1.1 KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
The
Judahites were described as worse than those animals knowing their master and
owner (1:3) and compared as people of Sodom and Gomorrah (1:9). Their mind was
corrupted and could not grasp the true meaning of repentance. They needed to realign
their mind to conform to the mind of Christ.
Paul
In Romans 12: 2 exhorted us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Christians’ thought should be captured and submitted to Christ (2 Corinthians
10:5). Psalmist admonishes us to meditate upon the Word of God day and night
and to keep His Word in our heart so that we will not sin against Him (Psalm
1:2 & 119-9-11).
True
faith comes from knowing the One we believe in. Religious piety comes no better
way than knowing our God deeper, and to be transformed into His image of grace
and mercy, holiness and justice.
1.2 GODLY FEAR
Isaiah
had pointed out the wickedness of Judahites as they were full of arrogance and
pride (2: 11). Their words and deeds were against the Lord (3:8) and even their
women were haughty and flirting (3:16). They seemed to be a people who were
eager to come near God and honored Him with their mouths and lips, yet inwardly
their hearts were far away from Him (29: 13).
God
values our inner condition more than our outward performance. He lowers the
proud and exalts the humble. Maintain a Godly fear keeps us away from evil
paths and directs us in righteous living.
2. HOLY AND RIGHTEOUS
LIVING
Isaiah
1:10-17 and 58:1-1-5 demonstrates how the Judahites had devoted themselves in
religious ceremonies or activities. They perceived all these observance of
festivals and religious activities as an expression of their faith in God. God
reminded His people that faith or piety is not merely relating to God in religious
forms, but it goes further with a sincere heart that lives right with God and
with others. Alec Motyer commented that those who care only about details of religious
forms yet disdain their relationship with others are deemed as sinful.[4]
2.1 RELIGIOUS FORMS ARE
INSUFFICIENT FOR HOLY & RIGHTEOUS LIVING
Isaiah
1:10-17 describes people of God bringing multitude of sacrifices with burnt
offerings of rams and fat of fattened animals, assembling themselves faithfully
in New Moon, Sabbath and convocations and spreading out their hands in prayer.
Yet all these were outer forms without inner life and transformation. God became
burdensome and weary until He demanded them to stop trampling His court with
all these meaningless acts.
In
Isaiah 58, the people conditioned themselves in fasting and seeking of the
Lord, bowing their head like a reed, lying on sackcloth and ashes, waiting earnestly
to hear from Him to make just decision. Yet the Lord was displeased with their
way of fasting because they had violated the Law given to them by bullying
their fellow countrymen. They were exploiting their workers, quarreling with
others and fighting with wicked fists. Both passages point out what are
considered right and pious in the eyes of God.
2.2 LIVING RIGHT WITH GOD
AND WITH MEN
The
Lord asked the Judahites in Isaiah 1: 16-17 to consecrate themselves as a holy
and clean people without any evil deeds rendered on others. They were called to
stop doing wrongs and start doing right. They had to seek justice, encourage
the oppressed, defend the cause of the fatherless and to plead the case of the
widow.
Isaiah
said that right ways of fasting are to loose the chain of injustice, to untie
the cord of the yoke, to set the captives free, to share food with the hungry, to
provide shelters for the poor wanderers, to cloth the naked and to keep their
own children.
II.
PIETY
AND SOCIAL OUTREACH AS PEOPLE OF GOD
The
prophet had been rebuking sins of Judah because of their transgressions towards
one another. John N.
Oswalt described people during Isaiah’s day as “Proud human beings refuse to
relate to each other according to the Creator’s principles, and they insist
upon seeing other human beings as insignificant except as possible means to
their own ends.”[5] The
nation sinned because she neglected her duty towards the poor and needy in
their midst.
1. SOCIAL JUSTICE IS THE HEARTBEAT OF CHRIST
Christ has been demonstrated as the Servant who
will bring forth the justice of God to the end of the earth (9:6-7, 11:3-5,
42:1-4, 49:6, 61:1-3). His very mission on earth is to strengthen the weak and
the needy. This is the reason Christ is sent for.
Isaiah depicted the Servant of God to be filled with the Spirit and full of
justice and righteousness (11:1-4), with the needy and the poor always in His
prior concerns.
2. GOD’S SERVANTS ARE
CALLED TO IMITATE CHRIST
If Judah claimed to be a theocratic
nation, she should demonstrate her piety through social outreach and justice. A
spirit-filled nation will have righteousness lived in fertile land and justice
dwelt in the desert (32:15-16). Compassion and love towards a needy world should
be characteristics of servants who imitate after their Master. A nation or
people transformed by Christ inherit Christ’s heart and mission for the lost
and needy, poor and sick etc.
The
Bible teaches that our faith will be verified through our love and compassion for
the underprivileged or needy. Law is given during Moses time to maintain social
justice. Israel is to be a blessing for the world through her righteous acts. It
is our obligation to love in actions (Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 24:14-15,
15:1-11, 25:19-22; Leviticus 19:10, 25:35; Jeremiah 17:11; Amos 4:1-3;
Zechariah 7:8-14; Micah 2:1-5; Luke 4:18-19, 10:25-37, 7:11-15, 16:19-31;
Matthew 25:31-46; James 1:27; 2:5-7 etc).
Relate
rightly with others and show forth compassion and mercy towards the poor, the
weak and the needy have always been the consistent theme of the Bible. Micah
6:6-8 states clearly what God required of us: to act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with our God. Barry Webb commented that, “Such disregard for
justice was a fundamental violation of the Sinai covenant for which no amount
of cultic observance could compensate.”[6]
3. GOD CHARGES THE LEADERS
TO BE RESPONSIBLE
Isaiah
placed a great emphasis on the national and spiritual leaders over the house of
Judah to be responsible for social welfares of their people. They made laws and
decrees for their nations. Instead of functioning justly and righteously, the
national leaders were condemned of becoming thieves, rebellious, loving bribes
and chasing after gifts. They had neither defended the cause of the fatherless
nor cared for the widow (1:21-26), but rather deprived the poor for their
rights, withheld justice for those who were oppressed, made widow their prey
and robbing the fatherless (10:1-3). They had themselves become snares to the
very people God had put under their care and custody. In doing so, they became
enemies of God. God aimed to restore a government who will function according
to His heart desires.
III.
APPLICATION
The
Church is a spiritual organization of God and the new Israel He has established
on earth. The Book of Isaiah serves both as a warning and an exhortation to us
that we should inherit the ministry of Christ in being
1. CHRIST’S REPRESENTATIVE
The
Church as a whole could not merely carry out her religious duty in forms (e.g. conducting
church meetings, constructing building, praying & fasting, creating
ministries etc) without life involvement with her community. She has to
represent Christ in her dealing with outsiders of the Church, not to take
advantages over those who are weak and underprivileged, and to be fair and just
in all her dealings.
It
is a tendency for today’s churches to emphasize on reaching out to those who
are considered as assets (the rich, the capable, the professional, the
businessmen, the educated etc), and neglect those who seem to be liabilities
(the poor, the needy, the sick and the outcast etc) to the church. Thus she
deprives of the very right of them and misuses authority given to her. If the
Church understands her role in social responsibilities, she should turn from
her evil way and start to do right with the empowerment of her Master.
The
leadership of the Church shall act as models in leading the Church to care for
the poor and the needy, and to be a voice for the nation. The Church needs to
be taught to possess heartbeat of God and to imitate after Christ in doing good
work for her community or nation.
2. SALT AND LIGHT CHRISTIANS
As
individual Christians we are called to be mediators between God and men and
reconcile men to God. If our doings are without grace and mercy, we are unable
to be the light for the nations. Instead we bring disgrace or humiliation to
the very faith we profess. Lending to the poor and needy is a command of God. Relating
well with others and show care and concern in actions should be our daily
practices. We need to be salt and light Christians influencing others through
our good deeds so that people know that we are true followers of Christ.
We
are not saved by the good work, but we are definitely saved for the good work
(Ephesians 2:8-10).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Motyer,
Alec. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries:
Isaiah. Taipei: Campus
Evangelical
Fellowship, 2001.
Oswalt,
John N. The New International Commentary
on the Old Testament. Michigan:
William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986.
Vine’s
Amplified Expository Dictionary keyed to the Old & New Testament. Michigan:
World Bible
Publishers, 1991.
Webb, Barry. The Message of Isaiah. Leicester:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1996.
Young,
Edward J. The Book Of Isaiah: V1 Chp 1-18.
Michigan: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing
Company, 1981.[1] Vine’s Amplified Expository Dictionary keyed to the Old & New Testament (Michigan: World Bible Publishers, 1991), 602.
[2] Edward J.
Young, The Book Of Isaiah: V1 Chp 1-18
(Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1981), 61.
[3] Young, The Book Of Isaiah: V1 Chp 1-18, 106.
[4] Alec Motyer, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries: Isaiah
(Taipei: Campus Evangelical Fellowship, 2001), 456.
[5] John N. Oswalt,
The New International Commentary on the
Old Testament (Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1986), 43.
[6] Barry Webb, The Message of Isaiah (Leceister:
Inter-Varsity Press, 1996), 43.
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