Rob Witham

An Experiment in Living Biblically

AJ Jacobs, editor at Esquire Magazine, enjoys conducting radical lifestyle experiments and subsequently writing about his experiments. Jacobs’s previous lifestyle experiments include:

• Radical Honesty - Jacobs practiced only telling the truth and candidly recounts his experiences afterward
• Reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica - Jacobs read all 33,000 pages of the encyclopedia and published a book on the experience afterward

Jacobs’s most recent radical lifestyle experiment is detailed in a book titled, The Year of Living Biblically. During this year-long experiment Jacobs, an agnostic Jew, attempted to follow every rule in the Bible literally.

My initial thought when I read of Jacobs’s latest exploit was to wonder why we as Christians can’t seem to put the same effort into obeying God. There are, of course, Biblical regulations that were culture-, people-, or dispensation-specific that we are not obligated or required to follow today. Nonetheless, I wonder what would happen if we Christians actually followed the Bible’s teaching:

• about stewardship and the tithe
• about love and mercy
• about speaking the truth and deception
• about gossip and slander

Tim Ferriss interviewed AJ Jacobs in connection with The Year of Living Biblically. Consider the following excerpts from the interview.

“This was my most radical experiment yet. It affected everything I did - the way I ate, talked, dressed, thought, and touched my wife.”

Which rules did Jacobs find hardest to keep?

“First, there was avoiding the sins we commit every day - no lying, no gossiping, no coveting. I’m a journalist in New York. That’s like 70 percent of my day.”

How would Jacobs, the agnostic Jew, describe himself after one year of living Biblically?

“I’d call myself a ‘reverent agnostic.’ Whether or not there is a God, I believe there’s something to the idea of sacredness. Rituals can be sacred. The Sabbath can be sacred. And there’s an importance to that.”

AJ Jacobs freely admits that he failed in keeping all of the Biblical rules and laws despite his best efforts. For Jacobs, living Biblically was a lifestyle experiment - failure had little consequence. For Christians, living Biblically is our calling - failure is an offense against God, it is sin. No matter how diligent we are about following Biblical teaching we still miss the mark periodically. God calls this sin.

What happens when we find ourselves at this point? We can learn from several Scriptures texts.

Psalm 51 - David’s Prayer of Repentance and Seeking Restoration

David wrote this psalm after being confronted by the prophet Nathan about his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. Like David, we all find ourselves stuck in sin occasionally. This sin may be something we have struggled with for years or one of the seemingly small daily sins we all face. David was in deep when Nathan confronted him about his sin.

Psalm 51 begins with David’s recognition that he has sinned. This is always the starting point on the path back to God. Consider the following topical outline drawn from Psalm 51.

• 1-2 - David pleads for mercy and restoration
• 3-5 - David confesses and acknowledges his sin and his sinful state
  • David gets real with God. There is no more hiding in the bushes wearing a fig leaf.
  • David owns his responsibility for his sin, actions and failures. There is no room for blaming anyone else for his sin. The fault does not rest with Bathsheba, Uriah, or anyone else.
• 6-11 - David pleads for forgiveness and restoration
• 12 - 15 - David looks forward to a restored relationship in anticipation of forgiveness and restoration
• 16 - 17 - David reflects on what truly pleases God
  • What truly pleases God is in the heart not in the performance
  • Of course, if what is in the heart is genuine there will be external evidence
• 18 - 19 - David looks toward future restoration

Matthew 6.9-15 - The Lord’s Prayer

Much can be learned from the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer is too often either prayed thoughtlessly and meaninglessly or it is not prayed at all. Jesus taught this model prayer to his disciples on at least two separate occasions (recorded in Matthew and Luke). Obviously Jesus felt it was worth repeating.

My particular interest today is found in the statement, “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” The clear application is that confession of sins is a daily (or more often) activity for any disciple of Jesus. This is what has been referred to as keeping your sin accounts short.

Note though that we seek forgiveness as we also have forgiven others. Jesus takes the opportunity to expand on this particular issue at the conclusion of this prayer.

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Matthew 6.14-15 NRSV

We will not be forgiven our sins if we do not also forgive others. The Scriptures offer parallel texts elsewhere as well. Peter counsels men to deal properly with their wives lest their prayers be hindered (1 Peter 3.7). God is serious about forgiveness.

1 John 1.5-2.6 - The Sin Solution

This text provides several interesting thoughts about sin.

• 1.5-8, 10 - Claiming to not have sin is to deceive ourselves and prove that the truth is not in us.
• 1.9 - This text has been referred to as the greatest mental health verse in the Bible. Unabsolved guilt is at the root of many, if not all, types of neurosis. Guilt is a powerful emotion. Genuine confession of sin results in forgiveness and cleansing of guilt.
• 2.1 - According to John, this letter was written so that we may not sin. In other words, this letter was written so that we can live Biblically!
• 2.2 - But, if anyone does sin, Jesus is our atoning sacrifice. It’s covered!
• 2.12 - John tells us he is writing so that his readers would know that their sins were forgiven on account of Jesus’ name.

Putting It All Together

We should strive, not in the flesh but in the power of the Holy Spirit, not to sin but to follow God - to live Biblically. Despite our best efforts though we will all fail from time to time.

When we do sin:

• We need to get real and admit the reality of our situation
• We can seek mercy, forgiveness, cleansing and restoration from God
• We can have confidence that our sins are forgiven because we have an advocate with God the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous One, our atoning sacrifice.