This entry started with a friend’s post, which got me thinking… but this goes off on a wildly different tangent. =)
I think (like a lot of Christians) that I enjoy having a laundry list of do’s and don’ts. I understand that desire but I wonder if we want a checklist because it makes it easier to look at others and know if they’re ‘in’ or ‘out’. One of the most difficult things for me to believe in is absolute grace, the kind Jesus showed throughout his life – the kind that makes us love rather than judge.
I’ve noticed in my own life I have a tendency towards legalism. I struggle to believe I don’t have to earn God’s favor and neither does anyone else. That makes us all equal no matter our geographical location, political or religious affiliation… and egalitarianism is contrary to my culture which is set up on hierarchies of power and influence.
From what I’ve read, ‘sin’ translates as meaning “missing the mark”. I’m curious because in every church I’ve ever been in, there’s always a message of, “Sin separates us from God”. I recently stopped to actually think about that and am curious about this because it seems to contradict Jesus’ own life. I have a few thoughts, but there is no real conclusion – just more rambling.
I’ll start by assuming the universality of sin, which then implicitly means that humanity is unquestionably separated from God. Yet, many Scriptures make it clear that in fact God is the sustainer of the universe so God must not be far away but rather intimately near and involved – in addition there’s the issue of the incarnation and how entirely surrounded by sin Jesus was on earth. So if one believes sin creates a barrier to God then God can only dwell with people who aren’t sinning, which means God cannot be omnipresent. Jesus made it clear that ‘secret’ internal sins aren’t any better than outward sins. To lust is the same as adultery. Anger is the same as murder. Even the ‘best’ Christians continue to sin throughout their lives – is God always dwelling in them, or does God leave as soon as a dirty thought or angry feeling enters? Some Christians go so far as to fear that they will burn in hell if they die before having ‘asked for forgiveness’ for a sin.
This might sound nitpicky of me, but I’m really curious how we perceive sin and its effects because it’s a major theological issue. It is the foundation for so many other concepts, yet it isn’t all that clear-cut when I sit and really think about it.
We accept that Jesus was the ‘light’, he was ‘sinless’… and yet he didn’t just occasionally go into the ‘dark’ – he lived there, among sinners and outcasts, the poor, and contagious. Now perhaps if only Jesus did it then maybe I’d just chalk it up to a special ability, but then he commanded his disciples to follow his example. Not only did they hang out with people everyone recognized as sinners, but despite all the time spent with Jesus they continued sinning too!
Coming around full circle, I’ve been thinking about grace and its relationship to sin… and my perception of it all. Now Jesus certainly didn’t encourage people to keep “missing the mark”, but he didn’t leave them simply because they did. So even before Jesus’s death that Paul describes as the atonement for humanity’s sin, God was active in the sin-filled world – so what is different about the ‘dispensation of grace’? I suppose one could say the change from the requirements of the Hebrew law, to the lack of requirements of grace… or some might argue and say, the new requirements of grace.
Jesus’s best friends betrayed him and virtually everyone took issue with grace. The Pharisees hated the idea of grace because it meant their offerings and actions didn’t get them any closer to God. Many of his disciples hated the idea of grace because it meant accepting that non-Jews were no longer spiritually inferior and that their extremely important religious ritual of circumcision and kosher diet didn’t matter anymore. My guess is that today many Christians hate grace because it means that not even following a laundry list of ‘do’s’ and ‘don’ts’ will earn brownie points with God… at least I know I used to think I was on the fast-track to heaven because of all I did (and even more importantly) what I didn’t do.
There’s a verse that says grace without works is dead that seems to contradict the very meaning of grace, which doesn’t require anything. As I’ve thought about it though, it seems to fit in perfectly with Jesus’s message about the commandments we’re supposed to keep – to love God, and to love humanity. So basically all ‘works’ means is that we act in love (which also fits in well with certain aspects of liberation theology – something which isn’t a solution in itself, but that offers a lot of insight into the church’s humanitarian role).
I know this post is a bit jumbled so I hope if you made it through that you caught my general drift. This is part of a much larger ongoing internal discussion I’m having with myself… it’s actually quite entertaining. Often times I just lay in bed thinking and debating myself, occasionally having ‘ah ha moments’, but usually just drifting off to sleep with more questions than answers. Such is life. =)
8 Responses to “Sin & Grace”
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Twitter: EstherCrawford
- @jeffreine that bridge gives me chills
- @jeffreine yep! and watched tv ... I'm pretty sure every night should end like that
- @soccerhaus it was pretty hilarious... then another couple came in and started making out too.. it never ended
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:57 pm
It is always important to keep the main thing the main thing: we are saved by grace, not by works. We strive to live a holy life, but fail through the weakness of our flesh. Does that mean give up? No. We repent, get up, and go again. It is the indwelling Holy Spirit that will keep us from “missing the mark” too many times. (Is there “too many times” when we are talking grace? That’s a subject for another time:-))
God chose to deal with us, and show us grace. Paul says interesting things about the relationship with the Jewish nation in Romans 9-11 and it is worth it for us to keep in mind “He’s not through with them yet.” Yet, we all come on the same basis, not our own individual pathways to truth. That basis has to be faith; faith in His grace, not our works.
From what I am reading, we need to find new ways of expressing our Body of Christ unity, and never be satisfied with hiding in the four walls of a church, cathedral, or synagogue. There are even some mission specialists that think it is okay to call God, Allah.
Some teachers would say it is hearsay to say “they sin every day” when referring to a believer. We ought not; but we do sometimes. That is why we need grace, and we need to build into ourselves self-discipline. I am still working on it.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:42 am
Esther, you have some interesting rambles. That was a good one, very thoughtful. As long as we keep an attitude of wanting to do God’s will, it will help keep us headed in the right direction. Jesus walked among sinners without sinning. Amazing isn’t it! He can make others clean, and they can’t make him dirty. But we have to ask forgiveness to be made clean. And by grace, the forgiveness is free. Wow!
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:18 am
Definitely interesting things to wrestle with. I agree that the shopping list is a lot easier for people because they don’t have to engage in true relationship with God. They just follow the rules. But God is wooing us into a deep, eternal relationship. I think this lifetime is just the warm up.
January 23rd, 2007 at 12:09 am
Green is right it’s “faith without works is dead.” I haven’t read that scripture in years – boy do they stick. I’d add: Christianity without compassion is dead. I enjoy reading your ramblings and there’s no need to apologize for them. My contention on religion: the Jewish peoples’ way, the only way, was through following the Talmud. Then God said “bye.bye.” Now Jesus is the way, the only way. I’m wondering when God says “bye.bye.” Islam says God already has.
January 22nd, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I think you’re “missing the mark” by attempting to follow an analogy into real life. Consider sin as not the separation from God like a repulsing field, but as a state of being that will automatically qualify you for God’s judgement.
As for the disciples who continued to sin, consider that Jesus chose them from common people rather than the religious leaders of his time. Jesus did say he came for the sick and not the well. Selecting sinning disciples illustrates both God’s power to change lives and that He is powerful enough to take the shepherd and make him a king. The concept of grace is really about undeserving absolution. The disciples were not chosen because they deserved it, they were chosen because they chose to accept that grace.
Heh, you and I should talk. I think we’d have some interesting discussions. I’m currently trying to figure out something regarding God’s plan, God’s holy nature, and God’s power.
January 22nd, 2007 at 9:03 pm
1. Jesus is the way
2. There is no other way
I guess the above is the one thing that I have seen as central to salvation. That we can try to be righteous and live good lives, but in the end we are all sinful and have to lean on Jesus’ sacrifice to pay for our sins past, present and future.
I like how my pastor puts it. When we accept Jesus into our lives:
*Our past is forgiven
*Our present makes sense
*Our future is secure
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Try reading the Sermon on the Mount in one sitting. It changed my whole outlook on “sin” and Grace.
One of the things I took from it that our relationship with God is primarily executed by our relationship with our fellow men and women, not our internal doubts.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:17 pm
I like grace. It revolutionized my whole life. Back when I was in college I went through a process that sounds a lot like what you are going through. Some amazing personal realizations came out of that time. I think the idea of sin separating us from God is true, but the full sentence should read “In the absence of grace, sin separates us from God.” That is, after all, the whole point of Christ’s death–that He bridged that gap for us.
Oh, and I believe the verse you are thinking of says faith without works is dead, not grace. Although I think the point you made is valid and is still pretty much the meaning of the verse even with the word faith in it.
Your post reminded me that I dreamed about liberation theology and social action last night. haha. That was a funny thing to dream about. Pregnancy does weird things to one’s brain.