{"id":2359,"date":"2012-09-22T00:05:42","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T07:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/?p=2359"},"modified":"2012-09-21T23:45:45","modified_gmt":"2012-09-22T06:45:45","slug":"grace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/2012\/09\/22\/grace\/","title":{"rendered":"Grace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Julian the Apostate, the next Emperor after Constantine the Great who had legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire and made it the official religion, decided to reject Christianity and try to return the empire to paganism. He ruled about 19 months, dying in battle against the Persians. He was despised by both pagans and Christians for his Puritanism and ceaseless sermonizing. His primary concern was for the moral degradation and decline he thought he saw in the Empire. He was certain that Christianity was responsible for it. Look at what he writes, criticizing the antinomianism of Christianity. He pictures Jesus, \u201ccrying aloud to all comers: ‘Let every seducer, every murderer, every man guilty of sacrilege, every scoundrel, come unto me without fear. For with this water will I wash him and straightway make him clean. And though he should be guilty of those same sins a second time, let him but smite his breast and beat his head and I will make him clean again.\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n

Julian was ascetic, strict, moralistic, and rules oriented. He had integrity. He was incorruptible in his public and private life. He was immune to physical temptation of any kind. And he was a pagan. He had an astonishing ability to devote himself entirely to the service of the Empire and his gods. <\/p>\n

Of course, similar words can be written regarding many despots, such as Hitler. Adolf Hitler didn\u2019t drink, didn\u2019t smoke, and was celibate and a vegitarian. He was concerned with rules and regulations, in fact so concerned that at the Wannsee Conference<\/a> in January of 1942, about a month after Pearl Harbor, the Nazis had a nice catered meal and came up with a legal way of exterminating the Jews; ninety percent of them were lawyers and they were desperate to figure out a way to make it legal. They followed the rules. And at the Nuremburg trials they would tell the world over and over that they were merely following orders. Making rules, living by rules, is the essence of worldly wisdom and philosophy, falsely so called. We elect people every few years whose only goal is to make more rules. We call them members of Congress, or members of Parliament, or Legislators.<\/p>\n

Why do you suppose that the earliest Christians were condemned for libertinism by a man like Julian? <\/p>\n

Grace is opposed to law; where grace is, the law perishes. As Paul wrote, concerning Christianity, “And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.” (Romans 11:6)<\/p>\n

When most of us think of what worldliness might be, we immediately think of bad behavior: dressing sleazy, saying bad words, hanging out with unsavory sorts. It will therefore comes as a shock to learn that Paul\u2019s understanding of worldliness is different from what we\u2019ve been thinking most of our lives\u2014especially for those of us raised in the church.<\/p>\n

\tIn his letter to the Colossians, Paul comments, \u201cSee to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.\u201d (Col. 2:8)<\/p>\n

\tImmediately we start thinking he\u2019s criticizing thong underwear or maybe those teenagers chasing the latest fads, or evolution or that evil political party that\u2019s not mine.
\nSo what are these \u201cprinciples of this world\u201d that Paul is talking about? <\/p>\n

\tIt\u2019s not a mystery. He quickly identifies what he thinks worldliness is: \u201cSince you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: \u201cDo not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!\u201d? These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.\u201d (Col. 2:20-23).<\/p>\n

\tRules! <\/p>\n

What better describes the nature of the world than rules and ever more rules? Every government that has ever existed has delighted in imposing laws and regulations. They tell us how to build buildings, where we can build them, what speed to drive our cars, when we can go fishing and when we cannot. Homeowners associations impose regulations on what color you can paint your house and how often you have to mow your grass. We have bylaws and training manuals. Even our games come with lists of rules, whether it\u2019s Candyland or baseball. We cannot escape rules and regulations. Lawyers infest the planet, threatening to take our last cent if we dare to push a toe across a forbidden line.<\/p>\n

\tRunning amok is not at all the essence of worldliness. Worldliness is exactly the opposite: it is following regulations and worrying about them all the time. Worldliness is imagining that if only we make another law that will solve the problem. Most of us are thoroughly infested with such worldly philosophy. <\/p>\n

Paul points out that being worldly seems wise, worshipful, and properly religious. But rules do nothing to keep people from sinning. Consider: how much do the posted speed limits actually constrain your driving behavior? Do you really think that posting the Ten Commandments will help cut crime? A thief is going to walk into a bank, see the sign, \u201cdo not steal\u201d slap himself on the forehead and go \u201cOh, yeah! Doh!\u201d and quietly leave to find a job?<\/p>\n

\tIn the same chapter in Colossians Paul points out what is not worldliness: \u201cWhen you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.\u201d (Col. 2:13-14).<\/p>\n

\tFollowing rules sounds good, but it is not godliness. Godliness is being transformed through the death of Christ on the cross. Love is the focus of godliness. As Paul points out in Romans (echoing what Jesus said in Matthew 22:36-40), \u201cThe commandments, \u201cDo not commit adultery,\u201d \u201cDo not murder,\u201d \u201cDo not steal,\u201d \u201cDo not covet,\u201d and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:9-10; see also Galatians 5:13-14)<\/p>\n

\tPaul spends a lot of time in his letters contrasting grace with law, pointing out time and again that no one was every saved by the law. We tend to over-spiritualize our idea of what he means by law I think. What he\u2019s saying is very simple: no one is saved by following the rules. We\u2019re saved by grace. Grace is not just a theological statement, either, of significance only when we walked the aisle. It\u2019s got real world, life-long implications and consequences\u2014every day. <\/p>\n

\tThe world keeps piling on new rules. We\u2019ve got people whose only job is to make lists and new regulations. We\u2019ll elect more of them come November. But true godliness is simply that Jesus died for our sins. Godliness is that the Holy Spirit\u2014God himself\u2014lives inside us. <\/p>\n

Think about that. Don\u2019t you suppose that having God living inside us might have some profound impact on our behavior? But worldliness doesn\u2019t believe that. Worldliness doesn\u2019t trust God to actually be God in the lives of Christians. So in order to keep people from running amok, worldliness thinks it\u2019s important to make rules, talk about rules, think about rules and to busy itself making sure everyone follows the rules. <\/p>\n

Paul criticized the Galatians for such worldliness: <\/p>\n

\u201cYou foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing\u2014if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?\u201d (Galatians 3:1-5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The biggest danger to the Gospel is not sin; after all, Jesus died for our sins. The biggest danger instead, is worldliness: the making of rules and imagining that rules will make everything right. So many Christians are interested in order, in bylaws, in whether we’re following the rules of order at our business meetings.<\/p>\n

Rules are for the world. We have the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is order, there is love, there is everything right. As Paul wrote: “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace\u2014as in all the congregations of the Lord\u2019s people.” (1 Corinthians 14:33). Those who focus on rules and regulations don’t really believe in the Holy Spirit. They don’t really believe that having God living inside a person might, just maybe, have some rather significant impact on how they live. Instead, they think they must impose rules, make people behave, because otherwise, God won’t be able to keep people from running amok.<\/p>\n

Paul called people who think that way fools (Galatians 3:1). And so do I.<\/p>\n

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Julian the Apostate, the next Emperor after Constantine the Great who had legalized Christianity in the Roman Empire and made it the official religion, decided to reject Christianity and try to return the empire to paganism. He ruled about 19 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_s2mail":"yes"},"categories":[18,17,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2361,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359\/revisions\/2361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nettelhorst.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}