justice without law

Just Love: How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel debuted last week on Amazon to a very strong showing. Tobie and I are grateful to those who ordered the book and posted comments on the Amazon page to increase its visibility. Since we’re doing this on our own, “it takes a village” to help this book find its way into the world.

Just Love is not just an appeal to switch a word in our Bibles, but a guide to learning to live by God’s justice as the expression of our life in him. Jesus said that all of the law and the prophets would be fulfilled if we simply did “unto others as we’d have them do unto us.” Of course, we can’t do it in our own strength and wisdom; love has to shape us from the inside so that the love and life of the Father fill us and flow out of us. No longer needing to get others to fill that empty place in us, we will live more aware of others around us and see ways that we can be a blessing to them. That’s the heart of this book—transformed people demonstrating his kingdom in their everyday lives.

Both Tobie and I hope that this little book will spawn a wider conversation about being less focused on sin management and personal piety. Instead, we let love have its work in us and find ourselves living increasingly in God’s justness toward others around us. If you’d like to discuss this book with me, even if you haven’t read it yet, I’m going to be in a Zoom Room this Sunday morning, March 15, at 9:30 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. You’re welcome to bring your questions and comments, even if you haven’t yet finished reading the book.  If you want to join us, email me for a link.

And to carry this conversation on further, Tobie and I are also brainstorming about the possibility of putting together a wider Just Love Conversation somewhere in the heartland of the U.S. on the weekend of July 10-12, when he will be visiting. We want to explore the themes of that book with others who are as captivated by them as we are, and would invite people to drive or fly in to join us. We are asking God to give us wisdom about a place where there are some local folks who can help us with arrangements. We will be looking for a hotel and a gathering place, or something similar.  If you’re interested in attending or want to help us put it together where you live, please let me know so we can see what God might put together. 

Here’s the Foreword from our book, written by Brad Cummings, my friend and former podcast partner:

FOREWORD

What you hold in your hands can literally change your entire life if you embrace it. When Wayne first shared with me what Tobie had presented to him, that one of the most common words and foundational concepts, “righteousness,” does not appear in the Bible, my immediate response was, “Not so!” Dozens of verses came to mind that would refute such a claim.

I recognize the modern-day challenges of translating the Scriptures and how language and word meanings can change. As such, it is rather impossible for translators not to introduce some measure of interpretative bias into the text. But this one was a doozy!

Admittedly, I was skeptical at first. But, when he explained how “righteousness” as we commonly define and understand it should have been more accurately translated as “justice”—it’s as if I had been given a whole new Bible and a much better lens through which to see God, his heart for us, and how we were meant to walk with Jesus in this life. It is not enough for us to make a confessional declaration and look forward to heaven someday.

The themes of justice and love could not be more central to the Bible and are meant to be lived out. What Tobie and Wayne have discovered and articulated is nothing short of amazing. It marries the truth of Scripture with the heart and purpose of God in a breathtaking, transformative, and resounding way.

After examining what they laid out, I was stunned. “This changes everything!” was all I could think. “Thank you” is such an inadequate response to the gift of what these men have given.

It is like discovering treasure buried in a field— so valuable that it is worth selling everything you have to lay hold of it. This is not a radical departure from what we’ve known, but rather a satisfying synthesis of it, just shifted. It offers a much-needed reframing of what matters most.

Just Love is an invitation into the kind of life you’ve dreamed of, unlocking the true power of the Gospel, transforming us from the inside out. If you are tired of the religious ritual and empty confessions, promising much but delivering little, this book will help diagnose “why do we have so many converts who profess and confess to be Christians, yet if we are honest, so few deeply transformed lives?”

Thankfully, they do not stop there. As they share their respective journeys into the joy of our salvation, they not only unpack what it means to be “saved,” but also offer practical, tangible insights into how God works. Freeing and untwisting us from our selfish selves, he can win us into a place of greater trust, where our faith becomes so much more than just a hoped-for confession or declaration, but authentic, alive, and others-centered.

By being rooted and grounded in His love, we’re better able to both freely receive and release the river of God’s life and love. Just Love marks the trailhead for entering the most satisfying and life-giving journey of seeing God’s life being manifest in you. Your salvation is about to get an upgrade. Enjoy!

—Brad Cummings, co-author, publisher, and movie producer of The Shack

Just Love:
How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel
by Wayne Jacobsen and *Tobie van der Westhuizen
174 pages
Trailview Media
Available from Amazon, Tuesday, March 3
in Kindle ($10.99)
or in Paperback ($16.99)