Piety⤒🔗

The idea is to write something about piety in three articles. The term seems to be a bit old-fashioned. Today we prefer to talk about spirituality. But that is not only modern, it is also too general. We admit that the idea of piety is used sparsely in Scripture; it occurs only three times in the Old Testament. But it has received a wide range of meanings throughout history. We don’t want to exchange it right away for the modern terminology. And even though the word was not used in the New Testament, in the Bible there is so much about the matter that it is worth the effort to start with a biblical study. Later on we will deal with the history. And a third time the practical part will be dealt with.

A current definition of piety in the Bible pictures it as man’s answer to God’s Word. Or the basic response of man to the Lord (especially in the Old Testament) or to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (especially in the New Testament). The first covenant deals mainly with concepts like “the fear of the Lord.” True piety cannot exist without that. We may also think of the pious as the upright, the righteous, they oppressed. Then it is no longer about concepts, but about people. When we will be able to picture these people who are righteous of heart, the character of piety will also shows more clearly.

Patriarchs, Moses and the Prophets←⤒🔗

For the Old Testament we first think of the patriarchs. They are very common people, “of the same minds as us.” They are part of the upright or the just. And everyone will understand that they were not without fault. Still, Abraham is called “the father of all believers.” He deserves that tittle especially because of his obedience to the words of God. And Isaac has been an heir of that promise, maybe because of the same obedience that became visibly in his willingness to sacrifice. Despite his impure character Jacob is called a prince of God. He not only received the promise, but he also held onto that in all struggle and strife, by faith.

When we look at these examples, then the piety that deserves the name piety consists of the hearing and obeying of God’s calling Word and holding on to the promise.

Moses and the prophets deal with that in the same way. In the books of Moses, the individual focus of piety that we found with the patriarchs, receive a broader scope. Obedience becomes a matter of the people as a whole. It becomes obedience within the sphere of the theocratic covenant of grace. It deals especially with the new obedience, as an answer to the Word of promise. God may expect true piety from his people, because he wants to offer this piety himself in the form and the way of an eternal promise. The Mosaic laws function as a guide, through which God leads his people “by the hand” to be Lord over them (Jer. 31:31ff.).

That was the glory of the old covenant. The prophets found in this redemptive historical situation the starting point for their preaching. In doing so they connected the personal element with the national one. However individual the expression of true piety may and must be, it never forgets the communal and expresses that as well. Personal experience does not exclude the social importance. It is precisely the close connection of the two tables of the law that receives attention in the prophetic preaching. Piety touches on the connection between love to God and that to the neighbour.

Piety in the Psalms←⤒🔗

This shows very clearly in the Psalms. The collective element in them is abundantly present. It is never forgotten, not even in the individual psalms of lamentation. All the sad notes that sound in the small space of one’s own soul are noted too when the windows open to the community of the people that does not recognize the covenant anymore. How does this individual piety show from those psalms in which the attacked believer can look for his salvation nowhere else but to God! Sometimes the emphasis of these Psalms of individual piety is on the knowledge of and the appeal to personal integrity, through which the righteous knows himself supported before God’s face. Sometimes, and more often, the unworthiness, the insufficiency of one’s personal righteousness is confessed, and there is nothing left but the appeal to grace, and grace alone.

That this piety is authentic is clear from the recognition with which generation upon generation took over the complaint and the trust from the penitential psalms and sang even when the odes like the sacrifices of the lips rose up to heaven.

That is how the piety from the Old Testament was taken over in the congregations of the New Testament church: on the wings of song. One can see this in the interpretation of God as the shepherd of his people from Psalm 23. The congregation today hears in that the voice of the Good Shepherd and sings this song of confidence, in many melodies and tunes. This piety is of all times and places, just as the true Christian faith is itself.

Within the Christian Congregation of the New Testament←⤒🔗

The church of the New Testament has given this piety from the Old Testament church, a New Testament character. We can see this difference between the old and new covenant in the widening and deepening of piety in the Bible, when the promises are fulfilled in Christ.

This fact can be illustrated via the core concept of piety in the Old Testament, the frequent term of ‘the fear of the Lord’. It refers to the complete focus of the human soul, with all its existence, on God himself, as he reveals himself in his Word. Therein fits worship, humility, confession of sin, the hymn of forgiveness, and the expectation of renewal and hope. The entire range of biblical piety re-echoes in it. Still, this ‘fear of the Lord’ that passed via the cross of Golgotha sounds different on the lips of the Christian congregation. It is not accompanied by “the spirit of slavery to fear again.” Now it is carried by the Spirit who teaches us to cry, “Abba, Father,” and who testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

In the New Testament this piety deepens to an inner freedom, which is fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit. Nothing of the seriousness is lost here. However, it is placed within the view of Christ’s fulfilled work. And this means a tremendous deepening.

Widening is involved as well, because piety is no longer a matter within a national border. She now is found in the world of the nations, where she is attacked more than ever on her missionary power.

Assimilation←⤒🔗

As Christians we are in the world, but not of the world. This involves thinking as well as acting. The thoughts have to be made submissive to Christ. And the acting must show Christ’s image. Piety nowadays runs the risk of being equal religious experiences, in which there is no longer any room for the exclusive following of Christ. Modern syncretism is completely alien to what the New Testament means by piety, when it speaks about godliness that produces much gain. In the Bible piety and being exiles go together, already seen with the patriarchs and later with the apostles and disciples. This position is only in appearance in conflict with stewardship, in which especially piety should protect us from worldliness.

Sincerity and piety, truth and godliness adorn the Christian; in fact, just as in the Old Testament, it is still today about the unity of the two tablets of the law of the Lord.

Communion with Christ and All His People←⤒🔗

These specific demands can only be satisfied when piety finds firm root in communion with Christ. Without him every form of piety is an external appearance, an image of godliness that lacks the inner strength. The teachings of the New Testament speak only too clearly of the necessity and meaning of being “in Christ.” One cannot speak in an impersonal, conceptual way about this new “being-in-Christ.” It deals with a reality that not only touches justification or the forgiveness of sins. Without this “in Christ” the sanctification degenerates to moralism. In reality it lacks the essential piety. What is shown in life is then separated from the heart. Faith, hope, and love are missing a powerful foundation.

In the New Testament, piety without the living relationship with Christ has no life. But the “in Christ” will never be really fruitful if it is not embedded in the congregation of which Christ is the head. True piety loses its shine, when it has to flourish without the congregation as Christ’s body. Many fractures in this body are not only unfavourable for piety; they promote a disastrous development, as we witness around us. The Bible condemns in many ways the disintegration of the relationship between the congregation of Christ and the mystery of sincere piety. Spirituality without the church has no future. It is the lesson of biblical piety.