Monday, December 12, 2011






















The Obedience of Faith: Intoduction

In the first chapter of his Letter to the Romans Paul states clearly what his understanding of his commission from Christ Jesus:

Romans 1:1-6: 1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,  2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,  3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh  4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,  5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,  6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

Paul’s purpose is stated in verse 5:   “we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name.”

Our charge is to bring about the obedience of faith and the first challenge is the question of our own obedience.  Immediately I see that bringing about perfect obedience in others is not the charge; at least not until we ourselves have achieved perfect obedience.  I can’t remember who said, “Faith cannot abide sparkling sins.” It might have been Van Ruysbroek, or perhaps even John Cordelier.[i]  Before the end of this first chapter of Romans, Paul will begin to speak clearly about those sparkling sins.  Our current generation looks back on the ancient world and says the ancients did this or that, so it is natural that we should do the same things; therefore we are justified by the example of the ancients.  Paul says “No!”  That is one reason why the authority of Scripture is called into question; unfortunately it attacks the corruption of the ages. 

That Socrates did such and such is no justification of our actions.  On one level I feel like a cad saying this; a thousand compassionate voices are crying out against my opinion, but compassion without truth would let others descend into unrestrained immorality rather than be so harsh as to say “No!”  Love without truth is a lie.  On the other hand I don’t think Paul holds the view that there are mortal and venial sins.  For him a sin is a sin is a sin.  Each sin, whether socially more acceptable than others, breaks not only the law of God, but also flies in the face of created order.  To be blunt there is no qualitative difference between homosexual acts, or heterosexual adultery, or fornication.  By the time we have arrived at chapter six Paul will have had a go at most of the things that men think that they love to do.  Whether they actually love to do them is another matter.

In our baptismal vows we not only accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and put our whole trust in his grace and love, but we also declare that we will follow him as our Lord.  In that threefold vow, for each part is inseparable, we acknowledge our continuing need of a Saviour, our heartfelt intention to trust Him, and our pledge of personal obedience.  That’s tough stuff, but its Gospel tough stuff.

Paul goes on to say:

Romans 1:16-32:   16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."

What is the gospel? 

1 Corinthians 15:1-4: 1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,  2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain.  3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,  4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

A mistake common to our age of wishful thinkers is that you can have the pure gospel without gospel holiness.  That is a fiction that would have horrified Paul and the Early Church.  You cannot in fact separate faith from works.  If you think that is possible sit down at the breakfast table and have a discussion with Paul and James.  By the time the last Danish pastry is eaten you will find that they essentially agree that faith always issues in good works even though they express it differently.

Faith is not mere assent to a set of propositions.  Faith is resting your entire being, your past failings, and your future hope of glory on the fact that Christ died for you; that you are have been forgiven, that you will be forgiven, and that you are accepted by our holy God who is a consuming fire.  Faith lives out the truth of the gospel in the process of theosis, that is, that we are being transformed from one glory into another, and that transformation has the practical effect of separating us from our sparkling sins.  In the context of this first chapter of Romans the knight of faith can no more continue in consumed with passion for other men than he can be consumed with fornication with women.  In fact the knight of faith does not look like other men in our society; rather he shows that the image of the Christ is in the process of being stamped upon his face.  That idea is so odd that we are embarrassed if anyone points refers to us as “a holy man.”  Have we yet reached the point that being called a holy man is an insult?


[i] Evelyn Underhill

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