GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
In the meantime, the bigger point is missed because we’re thinking in terms of a lone verse or two instead of the bigger picture, which is the gospel of grace. We continue the emphasis on context in 1 Corinthians Chapter 6 … as we look at a couple of verses used by those on the legalistic side of the fence to bring doubt and uncertainty into the hearts and minds of believers in Christ.
This week, we look at a short passage contained within the 5th chapter of Galatians that is often considered by covenant clashers as a not so veiled threat by the Apostle Paul regarding their eternity and their works. Considering the new covenant context about everything he said in his letter up to this point over several chapters, Paul is attempting to reassure people, not to suddenly shift gears and scare them into going from grace back to trusting in their works.
What is the relationship between faith and works? And are we saved by faith or faith plus works? Many people are confused about these things, and it’s not hard to see why:
Paul: “We are justified by faith apart from works” (Gal. 2:16, Eph. 2:8-9)
James: “We are justified by works and not faith alone” (Jas. 2:24)
So who’s right, Paul or James? Are justified by faith? Or faith plus works? And if works, what are the works that count?
At first glance, it seems that Paul and James are not on the same page. This has led some to say they preached different gospels.
“Paul preached grace while James preached works.” Nothing could be further from the truth.
Both Paul and James understood that we are saved and made righteous by faith alone, and without regard to anything we have done. And both spoke of works that accompany faith:
Paul: “We remember your work produced by faith” (1 Th. 1:3)
James: “Faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:17)
We are saved by faith and not our works, but faith without works is dead and useless. So…
The Bible has a lot to say about this subject and most of what it says can be found in the many imperative statements involving faith.
What’s an imperative statement? It’s one that sounds like an order or a command or an instruction. For example:
The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel. (Mark 1:15)
This statement has two imperative verbs or action words; repent (change your unbelieving mind) and believe the gospel. Repenting and believing are things you do. They are works of faith.
In the New Testament alone there are more than 200 imperative statements connected with faith. (I counted them.) Some of these statements exhort us to receive Jesus (e.g., John 5:43), heed the good news of Jesus (Rom. 10:16) and turn to God in repentance (Acts 26:20).
Other scriptures encourage us to accept the word (Mark 4:20), confess Jesus as Lord (Rom. 10:9), call on the name of the Lord (Act 2:21), eat the bread of life (John 6:50-51), be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:20), submit to God’s righteousness (Rom. 10:3), and be born again (John 3:3, 7).
But the one imperative that appears far more than any other, is the instruction to believe.
Again and again we are told to believe in Jesus (John 3:15), believe that he is the Son of God (1 John 5:13), and believe that he has been raised from the dead (Rom. 10:9). In fact, this is more than an instruction – it’s a command:
This is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ… (1 John 3:23)
What are we supposed to do? We are supposed to believe the good news of Jesus (Mark 1:15, 16:16). As Jesus said to the doubter:
Do not be unbelieving, but believing. (John 20:27)
If faith is the noun – the state of being persuaded that God loves you – then believing is the verb or activity that flows from that conviction. It’s a work of faith. Indeed, believing in Jesus is the work of God:
This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. (John 6:29)
We do not believe to create faith; rather, believing is the action that reveals our faith. “Having the same spirit of faith… we also believe” (2 Cor. 4:13).
Which brings us back to James.
Why did James talk about having faith plus works? Because he was speaking to religious Jews (see Jas. 1:1) who had faith in God (Jas. 2:19) but who did not believe in the One he had sent.
Like religious people everywhere, the Jews wanted to do things for God, but they didn’t do the work of God – the one thing that God requires of all of us – which is believe in Jesus.
You may say, “Is that it? I just have to believe? That’s easy. It’s nothing at all.”
Only it’s not nothing; it’s everything.
Don’t you see? The course of your life is not determined by what you do as much as what you believe.
What you believe defines everything about you – who you marry, what you do, where you live, and how you live. Everything, really.
Believing in Jesus is so much more than a single decision or prayer. Believing in Jesus is a bit like migrating to a new country and learning a new language, only moreso. It’s like getting adopted into a new family or getting married.
Believing in Jesus is like being born again into to a brand new life.
There are 1001 things we might do for God, but all of them count for nought if we fail to do the one thing that matters; believe in Jesus.
Just as Adam lost his life through unbelief, we receive and enjoy divine life every day by believing that Jesus is risen and we are seated with him on the throne.
Image: “The Hand of God” by Yongsung Kim
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Paul spoke to the Galatian churches in frustration because after receiving the Spirit of God freely by faith, they had been persuaded to begin trusting in the works of the old law in addition to faith in Christ. Paul called this a work of the flesh. Its roots go back to the same tree Adam ate from when everything collapsed. It was called The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It was an unbelief problem as Adam decided to turn from trusting in the sufficiency of the life of God … and chose to begin trusting in the knowledge of both good and evil. He was told it would make him more like God, but it had the opposite result.
Many believers today are struggling with the same thing. They are working at trying to become more like God, and it becomes more about doing—or not doing—instead of being or resting in who God has already made them to be.
Anyone can separate and pluck-out Bible verses, miss the context, and then wonder what in the world they mean. One of many examples is found in the first three chapters of the book of Romans. Paul was taking chapters to explain how the entire world had fallen short of God’s glory because of sin—whether Jew or Gentile. But in these passages, he also reveals the good news of God’s righteousness and acceptance being made available as a gift by a source known as faith, which occurs apart from the works of the law of commandments which came through Moses.
So whether one was a Jew under law or a Gentile without the law, all fell short, and all now have the same access to God by faith in Jesus Christ. But right-standing with God has never been attained or based upon what one does.
The common mindset in the world of Christianity is that Paul and James had to be in agreement in order for the Bible to be considered completely valid. Whether coming from a legalistic perspective or one that is more based upon grace, both camps will arrive at that same assumption while trying to explain conflicting statements from the apostles in a way that fits into their narrative or doctrinal perspective. But both will also need to bend, twist and reshape Bible verses to fit the theology—whatever that happens to be. And although the explanations may vary, the purpose remains the same … convince ourselves that Paul and James could not have possibly been opposed on such an important issue as justification. Is it based upon grace? Works? A combination of both?
However, maybe there is a bigger picture to see. We quickly offer a number of things to consider on this topic—which may once again cause some of us to not only arrive at a different point of view, but to shift our thinking to an entirely different paradigm—which involves backing away from the verses for a view of the bigger picture.
Since this episode is essentially a summary of our original series, you may wish to take some time to go through the original series itself, which took place during Podcasts 778-799 (except episode 786, which was a Christmas episode). Click here for the first episode, and then click "Newer Post" at the end of each post for each subsequent episode. Or you can listen to the entire series via our YouTube playlist.
We examine Paul’s revelation of the good news from Romans chapter 1, where we discover that right-standing with God isn’t something people work for as the Jewish people attempted to do under the law. Righteousness pursued us, and came as a gift in the Person of Jesus for those who believe. Another reason why the New Covenant is better than the first one.
Many of the struggles that we have in life originate in our inaccurate and sometimes erroneous beliefs we have regarding the nature and character of God.
There is also an equally inaccurate, belief regarding the true identity and value of man.
In the book of Psalms David writes:
“When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established, What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?”
When people are deeply involved in a legalistic, performance-based religion, they invariably end up with little or no sense of identity or self-worth.
Performance-based religion destroys man’s identity, dignity and worth!
We will not be able to experience God in a meaningful way if we aren’t taught a proper biblical sense of identity, based on the truth of the Gospel.
Many believe that being a model Christian or a truly “spiritual believer” is about becoming something other than a human being. We’ve been taught that human beings are evil, weak or deeply unspiritual.
In many ways, spirituality is believed to be about denying, disowning and escaping our humanity through religious legalism and moral discipline. Christians have been encouraged to disown and reject their humanness, and to do everything in their power to reject their human emotions, passions and instincts.
I like what C.S. Lewis said,
“We do not become more spiritual by becoming less human!”
In legalistic, performance-based religion, our worth is earned by rule keeping, good works, moral disciplines and “so called” holy living. And according to this kind of religion, holiness means to deny almost everything to do with being human—staying away from everything that could be fun and having as little as possible to do with people in the world around us!
In this kind of religion, God seems disconnected and contrary to our human desires and dreams. As a result, we struggle to make the connection between who God is and who we are as human beings!
In the minds of so many believers, being human and enjoying life cannot possibly go hand in hand with being spiritual and having a relationship with a holy God!
For many, it is unthinkable that a Holy God would have any connection to our deepest human passions and dreams of enjoying everyday life!
What we don’t realize is that our passion for living and enjoying life is only fully realized when we see the intimate connection we as humans have with a holy God, sharing in His (Zoë) life. It’s in our union with God that the joy of living and the significance of being human is fulfilled!
Unfortunately because of our religiosity and legalism, we’ve become confused and disconnected from knowing and relating to God based upon our human identities. Therefore, we go through life trying to be or become something we’re not.
If we correctly interpret Scripture, especially the New Testament, we find that God’s whole purpose for creating us is to be HUMAN. In the eyes and the economy of God, the very fact that we are HUMAN defines our true identity and worth to God!
“Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God], did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained, But stripped Himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (slave), in that He became like men and was born a human being.” —Philippians
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is an emphatic declaration that GOD NOT ONLY LIKES “HUMAN,” HE LOVES “HUMAN” SO MUCH THAT HE ACTUALLY BECAME ONE!!
The post God Loves Human! appeared first on Arthur Meintjes.
In today’s society, fear has become a normal part of life. It seems to be mans’ ever-present companion. We are continually anxious about the soaring crime rate, the failing economy, wars and rumors of wars and social tensions. These fears leave us feeling out of control, and our hearts fail us because of fear.
Man’s first words in the Bible were what Adam said to God right after he sinned, “I was afraid,” (Gen. 3:9-10). Sin brought fear that man was never supposed to live under. We were not created to live with fear.
Anytime we believe the enemy’s lies, we allow the devil to torment us. More importantly, the lies of self-righteousness and independence from God generate all kinds of fear, distorting our reality.
All many have ever known is fear, and it becomes the motivating factor for every action.
We are distrusting, tormented by thoughts of betrayal and infidelity.
We worry—about money and our children.
We are distressed with fear of losing our jobs or fear of getting a job.
We are anxious, so we arm ourselves, being aware of violence and crime.
We are angry with the world and ourselves, and we take it out on those we love.
In most cases, we’ve lost a sense of normalcy.
We were created to find our fulfillment in God alone, to be responsible, and to respond to God’s loving presence in every situation, circumstance and arena.
The Bible teaches that to be a normal human being is to “fear God,” (Prov. 9:10; 19:23; Deut. 6:13).
The fear of God simply means to respond to God with reverence, honor, respect, and awe. In other words, to worship God in obedience.
God intended for us to respond to His loving presence with reverence, respect, honor and worship, being constantly aware of His love and presence.
But the fear plaguing us today is rooted in man’s sin—when man began responding to God’s presence with fear and dread. Why? Without God on our side, everything in this world becomes hostile to us, and we’re left alone and vulnerable in a hostile world.
Fear has been passed down from generation to generation in the world and the Church because most find it difficult to believe the gospel.
Isaiah proclaims, “Who has believed our report?”
The same can be said today.
Every religion promises peace and has the illusion of freedom from fear. They all offer salvation, but you will never be secure. You are promised peace, but will never be peaceful. Only Jesus delivers true peace. The gospel accomplishes our peace and gives us salvation. We are truly secure.
Luke announced the gospel of peace:
But the angel said to them, DO NOT BE AFRAID; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people. For to you is born this day … a Savior, Who is Christ (the Messiah) the Lord! … Then suddenly there appeared … an army of the troops of heaven (a heavenly knighthood), praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest [heaven], and on earth peace among men with whom He is well pleased….—Luke 2:10-14 (AMP)
God announced that after 4,000 years of hostility, there is peace between God and man. And He did it by being born as an infant! What could be less threatening, hostile and dreadful than a baby in a manger?
It’s important to understand that God always intended to end the reign of terror in our lives. The devil kept people enslaved to fear through lies and deception for a long, long time. But not anymore.
Jesus destroyed him! There is no need for dread or fear!
The post Be Not Afraid! appeared first on Arthur Meintjes.
This week we’re wrapping-up our series on Paul’s many exhortations about salvation as a gift by grace through faith, apart from works … and how it contrasted with what James and other Jewish leaders believed during many of those years in the early church. Paul puts the icing on the cake with the gospel in a nutshell when he reminds Titus:
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7).
Paul went on to say that foolish discussions about the law should be avoided because it was useless and unprofitable. Why? The law had been put aside and ended with Christ. So, while Paul exhorts believers to good works—which can be profitable—they are a byproduct of our new identity in Christ as righteous and justified people. They contribute nothing towards our justification. A legalistic mindset will suggest that faith without works is dead—but Paul was repeatedly trying to show it’s the other way around—works without faith is dead.
As Paul explained to the churches in Galatia, it was a tutor to bring people to faith. Once faith is in place, people are no longer under the tutor (law). The hypocrisy of modern-day law advocates within the Christian church can be easily exposed—as they are selling a weakened version of God’s original, perfect standard, while ignoring the vast majority of what was given to Israel. Partake of either law or grace, but they were never meant to be mixed. One brought death, the other provides life.