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I am learning all kinds of things about myself going through Galatians. I’m really learning what a tight-bum I can be with others & myself. This “freedom in Christ” lived out in the real world is at the very least challenging, at the most it’s scandalous. It feels like license to sin.
So what does it look like to walk in grace, with freedom in Christ? I have no clue. And I think any attempt to codify it has the danger of becoming yet another list of rules for us to be legalistic about. A classic Catch-22 situation, right? What constitutes sin? Stumbling block issues like movies, drinking, music get all the headlines but what about heart issues like pride, critical spirit, and cynicism? So it’s okay to be gay, then?
I wrestle with two equal and opposite (this-side-of-heaven-perspective) truths. I see Jesus speaking plainly and harshly against sin - pharisees, woman caught in adultery, woman at the well. I also see him love and heal scandalously - pharisees, woman caught in adultery, woman at the well. How in the world am I supposed to duplicate that correctly?
2 responses so far ↓
1 tom // Nov 16, 2004 at 11:56 pm
I heard someone say once, “If your view of grace doesn’t teeter on the edge of license to do whatever you want, then you don’t really understand grace”
I think too many times in the church we run from the edge of this cliff and miss the grace that God wants us to have. The Pharisees ran from the cliff too.
Stu’s bro-in-law
2 Mile20 // Nov 17, 2004 at 11:19 pm
Living by faith “in Christ” does not put us in a catch-22. It is the reaction of others and ourselves that put us there. In Mark 2:15, Jesus was in the zone when he decided to have dinner at Levi’s house. No catch 22, just living out his oneness with the Father in obedience. It would be a catch 22 only if he wanted it both ways, obeying the Father and wanting to be viewed in good standing with the religious community.
The challenge is being sensitive enough to “hear” from God about where we should go and what we should do. If we do that, we may intrigue those living in self and incite those living by a set of moral rules. At least that is the effect Jesus had on these two types. I have experienced the same in my life.
You duplicate Paul’s third alternative for how to live by having a mystical relationship with God. One where the spirit guides and prompts and we obey. We need to cultivate some spiritual disciplines in our life, not as rules, but as a means to an end. There is fierce, fierce competition, though. I would not set out on that journey alone.
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