This morning I was profoundly encouraged and challenged as I read over several documents produced by the "Gospel Coalition." Convinced that you will be equally blessed if you take the time to peruse their web site, I wanted to give you the link so you can check it out:
http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/
Below is a brief excerpt from a section of the Theological Vision for Ministry, entitled, "In what ways is the gospel unique?" Several statements here struck me in light of my previous post. For those that might be interested, an earlier section of this same document, entitled, "How should we respond to the cultural crisis of truth?" engages the common accusation of "arrogance" that I recently touched on.
To give a little context, this passage treats, in light of the gospel, the limitations of both religion or moralism (traditions and practices that are not rooted in and flowing from a right understanding and application of the gospel) and irreligion or secularism (a way of thinking and living that excludes God and His revelation). The language is a bit dense, but worth the multiple readings that may be necessary for proper digestion.
The text:
This gospel fills Christians with humility and hope, meekness and boldness, in a unique way. The biblical gospel differs markedly from traditional religions as well as from secularism. Religions operate on the principle: “I obey, therefore I am accepted,” but the gospel principle is: “I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey.” So the gospel differs from both irreligion and religion. You can seek to be your own “lord and savior” by breaking the law of God, but you can also do so by keeping the law in order to earn your salvation.
Irreligion and secularism tend to inflate self-encouraging, uncritical, “self-esteem”; religion and moralism crush people under guilt from ethical standards that are impossible to maintain. The gospel, however, humbles and affirms us at the same time, since, in Christ, each of us is simultaneously just, and a sinner still. At the same time, we are more flawed and sinful than we ever dared believe, yet we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.
Secularism tends to make people selfish and individualistic. Religion and morality in general tend to make people tribal and self-righteous toward other groups (since their salvation has, they think, been earned by their achievement). But the gospel of grace, centered on a man dying for us while we were his enemies, removes self-righteousness and selfishness and turns its members to serve others both for the temporal flourishing of all people, especially the poor, and for their salvation. It moves us to serve others irrespective of their merits, just as Christ served us (Mark 10:45).
Secularism and religion conform people to behavioral norms through fear (of consequences) and pride (a desire for self-aggrandizement). The gospel moves people to holiness and service out of grateful joy for grace, and out of love of the glory of God for who he is in himself.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
arrogance and "the only way"
I recently spoke with a dear friend from high school who I respect enormously even though she continues to reject the idea of a personal God. Over the years, we have had many profound conversations about faith and philosophy. Each of them ends the same way: we agree to disagree.
In this most recent interaction, she brought up the Christian claim of “exclusivity”: the idea that salvation is found in no one but Jesus. Like the vast majority of postmodern thinkers, she finds this assertion to be disgustingly arrogant. And I must admit that, at first glance (as well as at second, third and fourth glance), the Christian belief that Christ is the “only way” to be reconciled to God smells like a superiority complex: we’ve got the truth . . . you don’t . . . so if you’ll just think like us, you’ll be alright.
Isn’t it contradictory for men and women who are called to lowliness and humility to accept a belief that fuels arrogance and superiority? Lowliness and superiority, humility and arrogance are mutually exclusive. And there is no question that belief in the uniqueness of Christ has fueled attitudes of arrogance and superiority in a substantial number of Western Christians. The stench of pride permeates much of what we hear from Christians on television, on the radio and on the internet: we’ve got it . . . you don’t . . . get with it!! And no place reeks more with the putrid odor of pride than the Christian blogosphere (if you don’t spend much time reading Christian blogs like mine, I recommend that you continue to keep your distance . . . it can honestly be a nauseating experience).
So what do we make of this dilemma? Does the ample evidence of arrogance in Christians suggest that there is something flawed in the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone? I honestly don’t think that it does. Rather, I think that the arrogance that manifests itself in many of us is the result of a misunderstanding and misapplication of this precious truth. And unfortunately, our mistake makes it very difficult for the world around us to digest what it is that we have to offer.
And what do we have to offer? We offer the idea that there is a God who exists . . . a God who is there (as Francis Schaeffer puts it). This God has a personality, a character that is on certain levels knowable, and on other levels beyond comprehension. We believe that God has chosen to reveal His character, His nature to mankind through the wonders of His creation, as well as through written texts that we call scripture. These texts have been compiled in a book that we call the Bible. Through the Bible, we believe that God shows us not only who He is, but what He wants. He explains why He created us and what the purpose is behind our story.
Now, if I sat down and came up with my own concept of a deity, wrote a book about it, and submitted it to the world as the exclusive truth about the one and only God, this would undoubtedly be arrogant. But, if I am exposed to this book called the Bible, which was written by many different people in many different places over the course of many centuries and yet still presents a unified vision of a God who claims to love people like me and to want a relationship with them, a God who claims to have a purpose and goal for their lives . . . and if I choose to believe that what this book says is true and to live according to what it says rather than to live however I want, then this would be anything but arrogant. Foolish maybe, but not arrogant. Naïve perhaps, but not arrogant.
If I believe the Bible when it tells me that I am helpless to rescue myself from the flawed nature of this world and that I need God’s help in order to be saved, then this is anything but arrogant. If I believe the Bible when it tells me that God showed mankind His love by coming to earth in the form of a man and living among us, and dying on a cross to pay the penalty for our rebellion against Him, and rising again from the dead in order to defeat the power that sin and death once held over us, then this might border on insanity, but it is not arrogant.
When I tell others that God wants a relationship with them and that He has made a way for such a relationship to take place if they will only believe, this may be complete nonsense, but it is not arrogant. When I say that God invites all who trust in Him for salvation to spend eternity with Him, and that this invitation requires nothing of us but simple faith in His promise, this may be a pipe-dream, but it is not arrogant.
The point that I am trying to make is that the idea that there is one God who has expressed Himself to the world through one Book (though divine truths can be found all over the place), and who has chosen to save the world through one historic event, and who invites all of mankind to receive salvation by taking one simple step of faith may be entirely ludicrous, but it is not arrogant. Nothing about this belief elevates the individual who believes it. In fact, everything about it lowers, even humiliates the believer.
If you believe the Bible, then you accept that in your strongest moments, you are actually very weak. If you believe the Bible, then you accept that your most intelligent thoughts are actually quite foolish. If you believe the Bible, then you accept that your best effort to earn for yourself a safe place in the afterlife won’t get you anywhere. If you believe the Bible, then you accept the fact that you need God, and that you are lost on your own.
A right understanding and application of the truths of the Bible should always humble and lower us. These truths pour cold water on the fires of arrogance and superiority that tend to burn in our hearts. Christians who believe the Bible should be the most humble men and women on earth, because they know that this God is usually most appealing to the poor, the marginal, the weak, the helpless, the outsider, the reject, the good-for-nothing. Choosing to follow this God will place me right alongside of such people, and will help me to see, in case I hadn’t seen it already, that I am one of them.
Although that may sound depressing, it is actually incredibly liberating. Once I realize that I am nothing, I can make room for this God who is everything to come and fill my life from head to toe with His grace and power. And the joy and satisfaction that accompanies the life lived with a daily filling of this God’s grace and power is truly indescribable.
Unfortunately, there are many people out there who claim to be Christians, who claim to love God and His Word, who claim to follow Jesus, but whose lives show little or no evidence of the impact of the humbling, lowering truths of God’s Word. But I would like to suggest that those men and women who have been impacted by these truths, though they passionately proclaim the uniqueness of their God and Savior, are anything but arrogant.
In this most recent interaction, she brought up the Christian claim of “exclusivity”: the idea that salvation is found in no one but Jesus. Like the vast majority of postmodern thinkers, she finds this assertion to be disgustingly arrogant. And I must admit that, at first glance (as well as at second, third and fourth glance), the Christian belief that Christ is the “only way” to be reconciled to God smells like a superiority complex: we’ve got the truth . . . you don’t . . . so if you’ll just think like us, you’ll be alright.
Isn’t it contradictory for men and women who are called to lowliness and humility to accept a belief that fuels arrogance and superiority? Lowliness and superiority, humility and arrogance are mutually exclusive. And there is no question that belief in the uniqueness of Christ has fueled attitudes of arrogance and superiority in a substantial number of Western Christians. The stench of pride permeates much of what we hear from Christians on television, on the radio and on the internet: we’ve got it . . . you don’t . . . get with it!! And no place reeks more with the putrid odor of pride than the Christian blogosphere (if you don’t spend much time reading Christian blogs like mine, I recommend that you continue to keep your distance . . . it can honestly be a nauseating experience).
So what do we make of this dilemma? Does the ample evidence of arrogance in Christians suggest that there is something flawed in the doctrine of salvation by faith in Christ alone? I honestly don’t think that it does. Rather, I think that the arrogance that manifests itself in many of us is the result of a misunderstanding and misapplication of this precious truth. And unfortunately, our mistake makes it very difficult for the world around us to digest what it is that we have to offer.
And what do we have to offer? We offer the idea that there is a God who exists . . . a God who is there (as Francis Schaeffer puts it). This God has a personality, a character that is on certain levels knowable, and on other levels beyond comprehension. We believe that God has chosen to reveal His character, His nature to mankind through the wonders of His creation, as well as through written texts that we call scripture. These texts have been compiled in a book that we call the Bible. Through the Bible, we believe that God shows us not only who He is, but what He wants. He explains why He created us and what the purpose is behind our story.
Now, if I sat down and came up with my own concept of a deity, wrote a book about it, and submitted it to the world as the exclusive truth about the one and only God, this would undoubtedly be arrogant. But, if I am exposed to this book called the Bible, which was written by many different people in many different places over the course of many centuries and yet still presents a unified vision of a God who claims to love people like me and to want a relationship with them, a God who claims to have a purpose and goal for their lives . . . and if I choose to believe that what this book says is true and to live according to what it says rather than to live however I want, then this would be anything but arrogant. Foolish maybe, but not arrogant. Naïve perhaps, but not arrogant.
If I believe the Bible when it tells me that I am helpless to rescue myself from the flawed nature of this world and that I need God’s help in order to be saved, then this is anything but arrogant. If I believe the Bible when it tells me that God showed mankind His love by coming to earth in the form of a man and living among us, and dying on a cross to pay the penalty for our rebellion against Him, and rising again from the dead in order to defeat the power that sin and death once held over us, then this might border on insanity, but it is not arrogant.
When I tell others that God wants a relationship with them and that He has made a way for such a relationship to take place if they will only believe, this may be complete nonsense, but it is not arrogant. When I say that God invites all who trust in Him for salvation to spend eternity with Him, and that this invitation requires nothing of us but simple faith in His promise, this may be a pipe-dream, but it is not arrogant.
The point that I am trying to make is that the idea that there is one God who has expressed Himself to the world through one Book (though divine truths can be found all over the place), and who has chosen to save the world through one historic event, and who invites all of mankind to receive salvation by taking one simple step of faith may be entirely ludicrous, but it is not arrogant. Nothing about this belief elevates the individual who believes it. In fact, everything about it lowers, even humiliates the believer.
If you believe the Bible, then you accept that in your strongest moments, you are actually very weak. If you believe the Bible, then you accept that your most intelligent thoughts are actually quite foolish. If you believe the Bible, then you accept that your best effort to earn for yourself a safe place in the afterlife won’t get you anywhere. If you believe the Bible, then you accept the fact that you need God, and that you are lost on your own.
A right understanding and application of the truths of the Bible should always humble and lower us. These truths pour cold water on the fires of arrogance and superiority that tend to burn in our hearts. Christians who believe the Bible should be the most humble men and women on earth, because they know that this God is usually most appealing to the poor, the marginal, the weak, the helpless, the outsider, the reject, the good-for-nothing. Choosing to follow this God will place me right alongside of such people, and will help me to see, in case I hadn’t seen it already, that I am one of them.
Although that may sound depressing, it is actually incredibly liberating. Once I realize that I am nothing, I can make room for this God who is everything to come and fill my life from head to toe with His grace and power. And the joy and satisfaction that accompanies the life lived with a daily filling of this God’s grace and power is truly indescribable.
Unfortunately, there are many people out there who claim to be Christians, who claim to love God and His Word, who claim to follow Jesus, but whose lives show little or no evidence of the impact of the humbling, lowering truths of God’s Word. But I would like to suggest that those men and women who have been impacted by these truths, though they passionately proclaim the uniqueness of their God and Savior, are anything but arrogant.
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