Introduction: This article comprises a portion of an interview between J Michael Feazell, the now retired Vice President of Grace Communion International, and Alan Torrance, Professor of Systematic Theology at St. Andrews, Scotlands oldest university.
AT: I was blessed with a very devoted, faithful, loving wife. Theres one period in my life when I was involved in theological conversations in the Netherlands. I was quite regularly going off to Amsterdam. Lots of non-theological things go on in Amsterdam, and its sometimes known as sin city. (I used to pull Janes leg about this.) Lets just imagine that my wife had come to worry as to whether I was actually engaged in illegitimate activities on my travels, wherever those travels were.
Two responses she might have given. She might have said, Alan, I just want you to know that if you even contemplate involving yourself in any illicit activities while youre away in your travels, I get the kids and I get the car and youre going to pay for this the rest of your days. She could have just spelled out the ramifications and implications, the costliness of any sinning I got up to.
Or she might have said this: As she waved me goodbye from the front door of my house, Alan, I just want you to know that if ever you find yourself in trouble, no matter what comes your way, Ill always be there for you. Youll always be welcome home. Ill always love you, Ill always be there for you. That sounds a little bit like Mills and Boon. [Mills & Boon publishes romance novels in the U.K.]
But ask yourself which is most likely to lead me to engage in un-theological activities on my trips to Amsterdam? There is absolutely no question in my mind that Id be much more likely to go my own way in the first situation, because the first response basically said, well, theres no real unconditional love between us, its a contractual deal. If you play the game, then Ill play my part, etc. Thats not love.
What makes us faithful?
The second was genuine, unconditional, costly love, and that is what converts us, and thats what makes us faithful. When we are brought by the Spirit, we are given the eyes to see the lengths to which God goes out of unconditional love for each of us as a particular person, as an individual. When you see that and are given to live in the light of that, youre liberated from sin. It doesnt encourage us to go and sin, thinking its not going to matter. It has exactly the opposite effect.
Thats the difference between whats called legal repentance and evangelical repentance. Its when were presented with the gospel, the euangelion, the unconditional love and forgiveness of God – when we see that, believe it, are given eyes to recognize it and to affirm it – that sets us free from sin. It actually liberates us from sin. When were presented with unconditional love, it transforms our minds.
So the church is often trying to prop up the gospel either by dangling people over the pit or setting up conditions: if you commit this sin, youre beyond the
pale. No. We should have the courage to trust in the grace of God and the work of the Spirit getting people let in, liberating people by giving them eyes to see the meaning of the unconditional freeness of grace.
JMF: It reminds me of Pauls letter to Titus [2:12] where he says, For it is grace that teaches you to say no to ungodliness.
AT: Precisely. I like that. Why did I take five minutes to say what you said in a sentence? Exactly.
JMF: Its like when people ask that question, it doesnt work like that. Christians who receive the grace of God dont think like that.
AT: Theres no question at all: good, devout Christians do sin. I dont mean to claim that Im a good Christian, but I sin all the time. Why do I sin? Why do I sin when I believe so strongly in the unconditional freeness? I am absolutely convinced when I look at a moment that Im sinning, its because for that moment, Ive lost my faith. Im not actually believing in the grace of God.
When to believe in the grace of God is to believe that the risen, crucified Jesus, the sole Priest of our confession, is before us now saying, Alan, there is nothing you can do that will separate you from my love, and when I believe that, when Im presented with that, and have the eyes to see that and hear it, Im not tempted to sin. Its when I look away from that, that sin becomes a temptation. So the answer to sin, I think, is for the church to continue to remind people of the unconditional, costly freeness of grace in Jesus Christ. Its when were living in that reality that were liberated. Not just liberated from sin but, more importantly, from the desire to sin.
JMF: So its fair to say that the gospel is not about rules and law-keeping. The gospel is about the positive relationship that were brought into with God and with one another. In other words, the gospel is a gospel of relationship, not behaviour.
AT: Precisely. And thats not just the New Testament. Thats the heart of the Old Testament. Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments, the laws, where do they start? The first one, I am the Lord thy God who has brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. When people talk of the Ten Commandments, they immediately want to start with the thou shalts and the thou shalt nots. But it only makes sense in the context of that first verse, which spells out the nature of Gods unconditional covenant commitment to Israel. He loves Israel and has delivered them from bondage in that love.
It should read I am the Lord thy God which has delivered you from Egypt therefore, as I am unconditionally faithful to you, have no other Gods before me. And as I am unconditionally faithful to all of Israel, so be faithful to each other. Dont kill, dont commit adultery, dont lie, dont steal, etc.
In other words, the Torah, the Jewish law, the commandments, are simply spelling out the structure, the logic of a relationship of love and faithfulness. The key concept in the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, is Gods shesed, or loving kindness, Gods covenant faithfulness, or beriththats the word for covenant. In other words, its about relationship. The whole of the Pentateuch is a relational gospel.
So when Jesus summed up the law, in love God and your neighbour as yourself, he wasnt introducing some new formula, he was being a good Jew. He was simply summarizing the heart of the Ten Commandments.
So I couldnt agree more with what you just said.
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