God's Grace and Our Responsibility

“no one will be declared righteous in his [God’s] sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin…righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus….He [God] did this to demonstrate his justice,…, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” Rom 3:21-26

What a passage. In some ways it is good to know that everyone falls short of the perfection demanded by the law. To realise that we are justified by God’s infinite grace and that when we fail we can always return to embrace of God, as the prodigal son did. But there is also an awful temptation in this knowledge. That it doesn’t really matter what we do because God will always be willing and able to forgive us, to remove are transgressions from us, as far as the east is from the west.

This is what Paul was being accused of teaching

“Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.” Rom 3:8

Later in the letter, he clearly answers this point

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin;” Rom 6:1-2.

When we sin we will be forgiven, but we still must strive to live a holy and blameless life. We can not serve two masters; we must serve God and not the desires of our flesh. We stand as witnesses to Christ in this deprived and corrupt generation, and everything we do and say will tell people about the God that we follow. Just think how the world perceives the church as hypercritical and how this puts of people from attending a service and hearing the Gospel.

Burning Korans and Gay Masses!

Reading Romans, I have once again been struck by how little I think about my everyday actions. Specifically how ready I am to judge those around me. Two news stories brought this home to me this week. The first is, of course, the situation with regards to Terry Jones and the burning of Korans. I do not agree with his actions but does that in itself make them wrong? I judge him and think that it must all be for the publicity. I do not, however, actually know. Only God, our creator and sustainer, knows the thoughts of our hearts.

“You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.” Rom 2:1

When I read this I realise all those times that I’ve done something with an ulterior motive. For instance, if I answer a question in a group meeting am I doing so to share what ever modicum of knowledge that God has imparted to me, or am I instead doing it to puff myself up, so that people will think that I’m clever. Put simply, am I seeking God’s glory and honour, or mine. This thought also appears later in the same passage from Romans,

“To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honour and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.” Rom 2:7-8

This says that we should seek glory, honour and immortality but that we should not be self-seeking. This almost seems to contradict itself and requires a bit of thought. The meaning depends very much on the three words glory, honour and immortality. It might be better to paraphrase this as follows.

‘..seek God’s glory, his honour and to remain uncorrupted,..’

This statement requires some justification: In the garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:22-23

Thus the glory that we are to seek has been imparted to us by Jesus, with the purpose of unifying the church. It is the not the glory of this world the limelight grabbing, celebrity glory but rather it is a glory that seeks to unify. This explains most of the phrase, the only other major justification needed is the replacement of the word immortality with uncorrupted.

In greek the word translated as immortality is “ἄφθαρτος”, in 1 Corinthians’ it is instead translated as imperishable (1Cr 15:42,50,53,54). According to Strong’s Lexicon it can also be translated as purity, sincerity or incorrupt.

Whilst we are called to live ‘pure and blameless lives’ and not to judge other we can be assured that the unrighteous will be punished and that God judgement is based on the truth.

“But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil” Rom 2:8-9a

We should bear this in mind as we see the world around us, it is not our place to judge. This was again brought home to me by a story on the BBC today about a mass for gay people. Is was reading the article thinking how bad it was until I came across this quote by Archbishop Vincent Nichols:

“anybody who is trying to cast a judgement on the people who come forward for communion really ought to learn to hold their tongue".

The Old Gospel

The gospel that we believe, that good news that Christ and his apostles proclaimed, was not a new gospel but was old, “promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy scriptures” Rom 1:1. Balaam prophesies that a “star will come out of Jacob; a sceptre will rise out of Israel.” Num 24:17 and in Jeremiah the Lord proclaims “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant…it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers….because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them…I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people….For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jer 31:31-34. Isiah 53 tells us how this new covenant will come about “ he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,…and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” Isa 53:5-6.

It is worth noting the importance of the old testament scriptures, many of the writers of the new testament refer to the old to give their arguments power; Does this mean that the old testament is more important than the new testament? I would say no, but one thing that can not be said is that the old testament is meaningless since we are under the new covenant of Christ’s blood. Indeed some of Paul’s first words in the book of Romans appeal to the old testament, referring to them as “Holy Scriptures”, to show the foreknowledge and the enduring nature of the love of God.