God makes significant concessions to meet us where we live. His justice makes these concession necessary; His mercy makes them possible.
Should this truth influence the way we understand the Bible? Since the Bible addresses violent and evil people where they live, we should not be surprised to find some really horrible things in it. The whole project of humanity is happening under merciful divine concession.
The fact of divine concession started early in history and it set the tone for all of the ways of God with humanity. If we do not pause long over this fact, we’ll likely misunderstand God and misread the rest of the story of God’s dealings with humanity. Look closely at this truth of divine concession:
“‘Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all…
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