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By Grace Alone: No New Perspective!
by The Very Rev. Frank F. Limehouse, III
Year C, Proper 5, Galatians 1:1-12
June 6, 2010
unedited
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
From the get-go this morning, I'm going to ask that you hang in there with me and “lend me your ears” (to borrow from Mark Antony) because I'm going to begin by quoting Martin Luther's introduction to his famous lecture on Galatians in the year 1535:
We have taken it upon ourselves in the Lord's name to lecture on this Epistle of Paul to the Galatians once more. This is not because we want to teach something new or unknown, for by the grace of God Paul is now very well known to you. Bt it is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take away from us the pure doctrine of (justification by faith) and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions. It is very necessary, therefore, that this doctrine…be continually read and heard... No matter how well known it may be or how carefully learned, the devil, our adversary, who prowls around and seeks to devour us (1 Peter 5:8) is not dead... Therefore this doctrine can never be discussed and taught enough. If it is lost and perishes, the whole knowledge of truth, life and salvation is lost and perishes at the same time. But if it flourishes, everything good flourishes- religion, true worship, the glory of God and the right knowledge of all things… (So) we shall begin again where we broke off, according to the saying in Ecclesiasticus, ‘When a man has finished, he is just beginning'.
Martin Luther, perhaps the most influential theologian that lived other than the apostles themselves, saw what the Apostle Paul saw, and that is, if we Christians lose sight of the fundamental truth of grace, or Justification by Faith, or Imputed Righteousness, or however you want to term it, then we distort the gospel itself and the Christian faith, which was why Paul was distraught to learn that the Galatians were losing sight of the fundamental truth of grace. He said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel- not that there is a different gospel, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Now, before I go any further, I want to just briefly review, as we often have: What is the authentic gospel Paul preached, and then What is the counterfeit gospel Paul was attacking.
First, what is the authentic gospel? Here's the way one great Cambridge scholar put it: “What is the gospel? That man enjoys that acceptance with God called “justification”, the beginning and end of salvation- not through his own moral efforts, even in the smallest and slightest degree, but entirely and only through the loving mercy of God made available in the merits of Christ, and of his saving death on the Cross. This is not a progress of gradual and ethical improvement, but a transaction something like a marriage in which Christ, the bridegroom, takes to himself an impoverished and wretched harlot and confers upon her all the riches which are his.”
That hits the nail on the head. And theologians like Luther saw, as the apostle saw, if this doctrine of grace alone, “Sola Gratia”, is not preached and taught with unflagging diligence, we'll let it get away from us. And that is because we're all “recovering Pharisees”, which is to say, we all by human nature cannot come to really, totally believe that each of must not, cannot, bring at least a little, tiny something to the table when it comes to our salvation.
One of the Seven-Thirty ushers was telling me about the day some 10 to 12 years ago there was a sleet and ice storm in Birmingham the night before Sunday morning, and how he braved the streets and made his way to usher at church. After the service, which was scarcely attended, the usher went up to the dean at the time, Paul Zahl, and said, “Paul, do I get extra credit in heaven for being here?” And he said Paul said, “Oh dear Joe! It doesn't work that way!” And the usher received a loving theological lecture. “And I was just kidding him” the usher told me.
Well, the Galatians were not kidding; they were actually falling for a counterfeit gospel. What was this counterfeit gospel? Well, there were these teachers who were saying, basically, “Listen, you've heard Paul preach salvation is all grace and all a gift from God because of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross, and that's fine as far as it goes, BUT…”. And then they went on to say there are certain things necessary to finish up our end of the deal. These false teachers were called “Judaizers” and there were a thorn in Paul's side. What made them so dangerous is they seemed like such nice, sincere people. They had all the jargon down. They were smooth talking and persuasive. Listen, it's like John Stott said, “The church's greatest troublemakers (now and then) are not those outside who oppose, ridicule and persecute, but those inside who try to change the gospel.” (3). This is what the Judaizers were doing. They were distorting the gospel of Christ. They were taking sound theology and twisting it.
And St. Paul was incensed that the Galatians get it right. After a calm sounding salutation in which he reminded them what Jesus accomplished, “gave himself for our sins to deliver us…”, Paul went straight to the jugular, and said, “I am ASTONISHED that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel- not that there is another gospel…”. This is in sharp contrast to other epistles, where invariably Paul thanked God for the good work the church was doing” (Ryken). To use modern idiom, Paul was “all hot and bothered.”
On other occasions Paul could be patient and forbearing, “gentle as a nurse taking care of her children” to quote Thessalonians (2:7). But there are bounds beyond which continued patience is called for, and this is one of them. There's too much at stake. Get this wrong and you don't get Christianity right and the truth of the gospel perishes, to use Luther's words.
But you know, it's easy to come down hard on the Galatians, for the truth is, it's often hard to distinguish between the false gospel and the real gospel. I once heard a well delivered sermon on Jesus' words, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Some people according to Luke's gospel were asking Jesus about an accident in which many Galileans were killed, whether they had died because they were worse sinners than other Galileans, and Jesus said, “I tell you no, but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” And the preacher delivered a sermon on Amendment of Life in which he totally confused repentance with amendment of life. Repentance is turning to Jesus for refuge and forgiveness. Don't wait to amend your life before turning to Jesus for Lord's sake; you can't get clean enough! Your salvation has zero to do with how well you've amended your life. The fruit of repentance comes AFTER you are embraced and taken in, and that also by the grace of God, in God's own way and in God's own time.
Do you believe this? Do you believe that the beginning and end of salvation is not through your own moral efforts, even in the smallest and slightest degree? Do I hear someone say “No”? Then I am astonished at you! (That was fun to say.) Listen, truth be known, even Luther admitted that he himself struggled to grasp the fullness of grace. It's almost as if it were too good to be true.
Paul said “If I or any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you first received, let him be accursed.” Those are strong words. I was struck by the commentary of the great Charles Simeon, who said, “Suppose any man were found so inhuman, to poison the spring whereby a populous city were sustained, and from whence alone they could draw what was necessary for their sustenance; would not every living creature execrate him? Yet that man would be innocent in comparison of him who diffuses the deadly doctrines of a mutilated Gospel, for the former destroys only the bodies of men; whereas the latter consigns over their souls…”.
Well, I bring this home. Are you looking for salvation by faith alone? Or are you mixing your own merits with those of Christ? Galatians has been called the Magna Carta of Christian freedom, freedom for all of us recovering Pharisees. O yes, folks will say if you preach this people will just think they can “sin and sin” and do they please. This is exactly what they said to Paul and Paul replied, “Let them be accursed” because he knew only the grace of God can transform a heart of stone; not the law, not exhortation, but the grace of God alone. To quote Spurgeon, “"I preached morality till I made all the people in my parish immoral; I kept urging them to keep God's law till I made them break it; but when I turned round, and began to preach God's gospel, the dumb began to sing!"
It is my fervent prayer that we can sing (at least in our hearts if we can't carry a tune) and rejoice in the freedom Christ bought us. To differ from Paul's gospel is to differ from the Holy Spirit and from Christ himself. There is no new perspective on Paul's gospel. It is the only true gospel on the face of the earth. “No other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid.”
When it comes to the gospel of grace, “when a man has finished, he is just beginning.” May God draw reluctant hearts, and now give doubting souls courage to believe this for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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