Category: grace

Misreading the Bible: Galatians

In an otherwise good sermon, the recent talk at a large evangelical church once again misuses the word “grace” in a way that undermines the very scripture on which the sermon was based, Galatians.
(Oct. 13, 2025, Own Your Freedom | BE FREE | Week 2, Flatirons Community Church)

The same problem has been discussed clearly in Evangelical Misuse of “Grace” and “Truth”. The reason this sermon merits attention is because it uses Galatians as its primary text.

Galatians is Paul’s letter that warns believers in Jesus to remain free from the law. It is the letter in which Paul is so concerned about those who require circumcision that he wishes they’d go ahead and castrate themselves. The reason he went to such great lengths is not because cutting off the foreskin is necessarily a bad thing but because circumcision was being used to replace the grace of God with one more act of human effort.

The verse the sermon uses is, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). It’s a wonderful verse, and, as the sermon illustrated, can be applied to our being set free from many things, including anger, fear, and lust. Of course, if one is set free from those things (or anything), one should not allow him- or herself to be enslaved once again (although we do from time to time).

Those sinful things, though, are not what Paul is addressing in Galatians. They are, in fact, the result of what he’s addressing, but not the root cause.

The root cause of all persistent sin is what Paul called the law—the moral demand on humans to be good (for starters) and acceptable to God (for the grand prize). However, as Paul points out in another letter, 1 Corinthians, the law is the strength of sin. The law puts demands on us. We attempt to meet those demands and instantly are relying on ourselves, discovering eventually that as we try to be good we become slaves to sin. If we happen to win the battles against common sins such as anger or lust, we fall prey to pride. We were never intended to be good by effort, only by faith.

When the sermon mentioned Galatians my first thought was, “Finally, correcting the false dichotomy between grace and truth!” Soon, however, the dichotomy gets repeated as this quote illustrates:

That that’s why Jesus came full of both grace and truth. Both of them. Grace and truth. Here’s what Jesus says is true and we’ve all fallen short of it, but it’s still true and it leads to freedom. Which is why we’re dependent on grace because we fall short of it all the time. But we continue to pursue truth. We don’t have grace so we can continue to sin. We have grace so we don’t have to worry about condemnation coming back online chaining us back up as we’re trying to align our lives with Jesus. We’re what Jesus says is true and we’re saved by grace when we when we fall short and we all do. (just after minute 33)

The dichotomy is that truth tells us what to do, while grace pardons us when we fall short. Both “truth” and “grace” are undermined by this dichotomy.

If “truth” means being told the right thing to do, any moralist or Buddhist could tell us more truth than we could master in a lifetime. Moses’ law did that just fine, and it never achieved true freedom or righteousness. When Jesus uses the word “truth,” he refers to the illumination of who he is as the complete savior. Truth, in Jesus’ mouth, sets us free. It’s not a hoop to jump through; it’s the revelation that Jesus has already become our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30). When Jesus says he’s the truth, once again he’s using truth in the elevated sense, as the revelation of the way and the life (John 14:6).

If, as the sermon suggests, “grace” kicks in only after “we fall short,” then grace is no more than mercy. We all need mercy, and it’s forever ours in Christ. But grace is much more than mercy. It is the power of God forming Christ in us. Whereas the law puts demands on us (do this, be like that), grace makes promises (I give you my life and my name). Grace is not the cleanup crew after we lose our struggle with the law. Grace is the way out of the struggle altogether. Only when we accept the grace of God can we trust instead of try. The life of the little self trying to be good is over. The life of Christ in us has begun.

One could re-read the quote above, but replace “law” for every instance of “truth” and “mercy” for every instance of “grace.” That highlights both the fact that “law” and “mercy” are being described and that the sermon never explains how truth differs from and is superior to the law.

Any sermon that uses Galatians as the primary text should stress the fact that if we do anything in order to be right with God we nullify Christ’s death (Galatians 2:21). The church has never fully accepted what Paul stresses: we are dead to the law and alive to God. We don’t do things to be right with God; we appreciate what Jesus already did to make us right, to make us his brothers and sisters.

If what is written above seems too fine a distinction, just remember that the law makes demands and is the strength of sin; the truth sets us free (John 8:31-32). Mercy allows us to get fresh starts; grace keeps us going. Never pit “truth” against “grace,” as if truth is no more than a set of moral demands and grace is no more than forgiveness.

 

Publishing Info
First published Oct. 16, 2025. Last revision: Oct. 16, 202.

The Great Grace Divide

What I am about to describe changed the course of Western history and, consequently, the history of the world. If the controversy had not been settled as it was, I would not be writing this post, nor would you be reading anything like it (even if you are Jewish).

Soon after Jesus rose from the dead, his followers received the Holy Spirit and began to spread the news as quickly as possible, often with signs and wonders accompanying their message. However, they preached exclusively to Jews and proselytes to Judaism. It took over five years before they wholeheartedly included non-Jewish audiences. It took about nine more years to understand the extent to which the gospel was intended for the whole world—and what that meant for gaining God’s acceptance.[1]

The text of Acts 10-15 tells the story of how the early church came to see the fullness of God’s grace expressed in Jesus. This watershed period settled two related controversies that affect our lives today. Neither controversy was settled easily, nor peacefully.

First, the apostles concluded that the good news about Jesus was for the whole world, not just for the Jews. The apostles and their Jewish countrymen had been taught for hundreds of years to remain separate from non-Jews, also known as Gentiles. Religion, culture, race, and nationality all depended on this separation. Relatively suddenly, those who followed Jesus were asked to share their faith with everyone. To many (or most) Jews, this was unforgivably scandalous.

Second, this period in the early church galvanized the replacement of the law with grace. It shifted the emphasis from what humans can do for God to what God has done for humans. It established the complete salvation achieved by Jesus, who was made the wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption of all who believed (1 Corinthians 1:30).

The reason the inclusion of all humans came about “relatively suddenly” is because it was always waiting in the wings. As early as Genesis 3, we get a glimpse of Jesus redeeming not only Jews, but the human race:

“And I will make enemies
Of you and the woman,
And of your offspring and her Descendant;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise Him on the heel.”

This early reference to some kind of messiah (Descendant) preceded the formation of the Jewish people, addressing instead the known human race. As Christians understand it, Eve’s descendant, Jesus, would bruise the head of Satan, although Satan would bruise his feet—a memorable image of the suffering and the meaning of the crucifixion.

Later in the book of Genesis, Abraham is called to be the father of not only Jews, but of many nations. He is told by God, that “all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). For hundreds of years, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob represented the beginnings of the Jewish people. Only later, in the early church, did “all peoples” gain acceptance as a literal promise.

Many other Old Testament prophecies point to a messiah who would not only redeem the Jews, but also would redeem the rest of the world. One of these in the book of Isaiah states,

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
    to restore the tribes of Jacob
    and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
    that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6).

Christians interpret “you” as Jesus the servant (the same servant vividly described in Isaiah 53).[2] This servant is endowed with power not only to help the Jews but to be a light for the Gentiles.[3]

When Jesus arrived in Galilee about 600 years later, he, too, pointed to the breadth of the kingdom of heaven. During his recorded ministry, he praised the faith of only two individuals, both Gentiles. One was the Roman centurion, who understood that creation must obey its master (Matthew 8:5 – 10). The other was the Canaanite woman, who, after Jesus recited the usual bias against Gentiles, insisted that Jesus nevertheless had something to give to her (Matthew 15:21 – 28).

Even after the resurrection of Jesus, though, none of the apostles shared the news with Gentiles. The Jews had been taught to remain separate from Gentiles, and the early believers in Jesus, rightly considering themselves Jews, practiced their faith as a Jewish sect. All along, they may have seen the gospel was intended for the world, but their traditions, culture, nation, and even their holiness forbade them from reaching out to the Gentile world. Only in 37 A.D. did this change, years after the resurrection.

The change began when Peter was praying on a rooftop and had the same vision three times in a row. He saw many unclean animals and was told by God to kill and eat them. He declared he had never eaten an unclean animal. God declared that he should never call “unclean” what God had called “clean.” This change in dietary commandments could have confused Peter except that immediately after the vision, he was visited by three Gentiles who had been miraculously guided to the house where he was staying. He accepted their invitation to go to their master’s home, as they told him, “We have come from Cornelius the centurion. He is a righteous and God-fearing man, who is respected by all the Jewish people. A holy angel told him to ask you to come to his house so that he could hear what you have to say” (Acts 10:22).

Arriving at their house, Peter told them that although traditionally it was wrong for him to enter the house of a Gentile, he now saw (in light of his vision) that “God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.” He shared that through the name of Jesus all people could be forgiven. As he spoke, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentile listeners in a visible manner and they were soon baptized in water (Acts 10:27-48).

The story is beautifully consistent with both the prophecies about the light of the world and about the hesitation the early believers shared concerning Gentiles. It tilted the scales in favor of every human being invited to believe in Christ. But as this timeline shows, it took years for the early disciples to offer the gospel to Gentiles with no strings attached.

  • 30-33 A.D.
    • Christ rises from the dead
  • 39-40 A.D.
    • Peter shares the gospel with Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48)
    • Word gets out that Peter visited Gentiles. The rigidly Jewish believers, who are called “circumcised believers,” criticize Peter for visiting Cornelius. In response, Peter goes to Jerusalem to explain the vision and the encounter with Cornelius. “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, ‘So then, even to Gentiles God has granted repentance that leads to life'” (Acts 11:18).
    • During this time, Paul goes to Jerusalem to make sure the apostles agree with his gospel (Galatians 2:1-10). The apostles agree that Paul is on track and that his message is primarily for the Gentiles.
  • 41-42 A.D.
    • Antioch promotes the gospel for all (Acts 11)
    • Acts 11:19-21 speaks for itself:
      “Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus.”
       
      Notice the role that Cyrene in Libya and the island Cyprus play: these were popular havens for Jews who lived outside of Israel, including Simon, the Cyrene, who helped carry Jesus’ cross. Perhaps the combination of being Jews yet not being in Israel allowed Cyrenians and Cypriots to see the universality of the gospel more easily.
       
      At any rate, when the Jewish believers in Jerusalem heard about the preaching to the Gentiles, they sent another person from Cyrene, Barnabas, to check up on the activity. Barnabas, a man full of the Holy Spirit, saw what the grace of God was doing, and encouraged the conversions, so that many Gentiles were converted (Acts 11:23-24).
  • 46-49 A.D.
    • Paul and Barnabas journey through Gentile lands, preaching first to available Jews and then to the Gentiles. All is going well (outside of Paul being frequently persecuted by the Jews).
       
      However, some followers of Jesus referred to as Judaizers, come to Antioch. They have a strong belief in the importance of converting Gentiles to Judaism, insisting that the Gentiles get circumcised, the act of circumcision being the most obvious (and painful) sign of converting to Judaism. While Paul saw social advantages to circumcision (Acts 16:3), he was no doubt outraged on the insistence that, “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1-5).
       
      Around this time (~47 A.D.), Peter himself visits Antioch. He and Paul’s missionary partner Barnabas had been eating with uncircumcised Gentiles. Unfortunately, when the Judaizers who follow the apostle James show up, both Peter and Barnabas capitulate and separate themselves from the Gentiles. Paul not only rebukes them publicly, but also succeeds in leading the Gentile controversy toward its glorious end.
       
      The apostles in Jerusalem convene to issue a final decision. Peter recounts his experience with Cornelius, which in itself provided a full justification for Gentiles (who received the Holy Spirit without changing a thing in their lifestyles). James himself refers to Peter’s experience with Cornelius and urges the apostles to admit that Gentiles are justified in God’s sight by faith in Jesus alone and never need to become Jews.
       
      The only recommendation to Gentiles is that they avoid common pagan worship practices. They should refrain from eating “food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood” (spoken in Acts 15:20, written in a letter according to Acts 15:29). The rest of behavior should be governed by love, which is the fulfillment of the law (Romans 13:8, Galatians 5:14).

The verdict on Who Can Belong To God is unanimous. Quoting Peter when he met with Cornelius: “God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right” (Acts 10:34). The apostles of Jesus came to agreement that the good news is truly good for Jews and Gentiles alike. Each can keep their traditions with respect to each other.

The verdict on What Parts of God’s Law Make Us Righteous is unanimous. Quoting Paul, in his rebuke to Peter:

We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:15-16)

Paul mentions the reprimand of Peter to stress the seductive power of religion to substitute human effort for faith. Later in the same letter to the Galatians he summarizes the point with a crystal clear statement that is unfortunately not always understood: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1). The misunderstood phrase is “yoke of slavery” which automatically sends modern readers into thoughts about drug and sex addiction. Bad as those states may be, the yoke of slavery to which Paul refers is worse, the strength of all sin, the impossible task of pleasing God by one’s behavior…in short, the law.

It’s worth noting that it was years after Peter’s visit to Cornelius when Peter momentarily capitulated, believing that being Jewish and acting accordingly made one a little bit more righteous. We are wrong to think this episode highlights a particular weakness in Peter’s character. The reliable Barnabas also capitulated. Instead, the episode demonstrates how deeply attached humans are to trying to be better by following rules. It shows how even those who might be considered superstars in the early church found the pull of legalistic righteousness almost inescapable. If it could happen to them, it is happening to us more frequently.

Today, the pull of legalism remains strong. Christian sermons overemphasize behavior and neglect the unqualified acceptance of God through Jesus. They might teach unmerited forgiveness, but they usually add some kind of qualifier, such as, “but you must also become disciples,” or “but we must balance forgiveness with obedience,” or some other truly undermining qualifier. What they should add is what Paul stresses, that “Nothing can ever make you more righteous than you are right now through faith in Jesus alone.” Things as helpful as keeping the Sabbath, avoiding cigarettes or wine, tithing, attending church, or reading the Bible are offered as substitutes for luxuriating in the grace of God which demonstrates plainly both God’s character and Jesus’ gift…the stuff heaven is made of.

The grace divide is clearly defined. Do one thing to obtain righteousness and you have made Jesus’ death count for nothing. Whether it is circumcision or circumscribing this or that pleasure, anything done to justify ourselves nullifies the grace of God. We can have God’s righteousness as a gift or we can work for our own unachievable righteousness—but we cannot have both. There has been only one obedient act that reconciles us to God, the one act that makes Jesus our wisdom, righteousness, holiness, and redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

§ Footnotes §

[1] These three sources agree on the approximate timeline in the Books of Acts:

[2] The servant songs are passages in Isaiah that describe (what Christians recognize as) Jesus. They prophesy some of his most significant moments in great detail:

[3] Concerning dates, both the prophecies of Genesis and those of Isaiah were composed about the same time (800-600 B.C.). The difference is that Genesis was looking backward about a thousand years, while Isaiah was addressing contemporaries. The dating of scriptures is always controversial, which is why I provide a time span.

Publishing Info
This post was first published on: November 26, 2025. If this article is significantly updated, the publication date beneath the title may change, just as it might change in order to bring current posts to the top (or bottom) of the directory.

What I Learned through Spinal Stenosis

They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow. (Colossians 2:19)

Before I was diagnosed, I spent months if not years struggling with my legs. They tired very easily and they felt wooden. Finally, I met with Andrea, a nurse practitioner. Somewhere during the exam, I had a revelation that I spoke aloud: When my hand or foot is asleep, all my muscles are there; they just cannot do much. Suddenly, I realized that my problem probably was not a lack of muscles, but of nerves. All the exercising I had been doing could not make me better, if the problem were in the nervous system.

Andrea did not need my revelation, but it concurred with her thoughts. At the end of the appointment, she assured me that what I was suffering was not normal aging, and she referred me to neurology. That led to Magnetic Resonance Images and X-rays. Both types of imaging showed my spinal column was pinching my spinal cord in my neck, causing partial paralysis. The good news was that the diagnosis ruled out multiple sclerosis. The bad news was that it required major neck surgery (discectomy with fusion).

I had a month to prepare for the surgery. Being a student of the good news taught and exemplified by Jesus, I sought a miraculous cure, a divine healing. This didn’t arise purely from cowardice. The surgery is indeed imperfect, whereas divine healing could undo all the damage that had occurred. As I write this, I do not know whether my healing will be divine or surgical. Even if surgical, I’m looking to the healing power of Jesus to make it more successful than usual.

Last night my conscience spoke to me: Louis, you are so inconsistent, applying your faith to your medical condition but not to your human condition. Believe for healing. Believe also for meaningful decisions all day long. Believe you can hear my voice at every juncture. There’s much more divine grace to go around than you realize.

For years, I have needed this realization, now galvanized by all the frustration my infirmity gives me. There’s a scripture in Isaiah that describes my worst moments, moments that occur when fatigued and discouraged: “your tormentors said to you, ‘Fall prostrate that we may walk on you.’ And you made your back like the ground, like a street to be walked on” (Isaiah 51:23). Surely, the creator who can touch the lame can guide me through better days and nights. While I’m believing for great health, why not believe for all the love and communication Jesus shared with his first disciples?

Perhaps the most important thing I’ve learned is the importance of our nervous system. No matter how healthy a limb might be, if it’s not connected to the head, it’s nearly useless. This is the metaphor Paul suggests in Colossians: Jesus is the head of the body; all who belong to him must get their signals from the head; the signals are delivered by the Holy Spirit.

Clearly the body of Christ is often missing the signals the head is sending. Instead of being guided by the head, many members follow their own impulses. To make a short list, some impulses lead to needless divisions, others to self-destructive behavior, and others to watered-down beliefs. There seems no more important task than to be sure we are connected to the head and to help others be so.

However I’m healed, I expect my limbs to respond much better to my brain, and I want my recovery to propel me on a lifelong course of helping members of Christ get better connected to the head.

Genuine Miracles (contributions welcome!)

What is a genuine miracle for the purpose of this post? The short answer is that it is one that I find convincing because (1) it is beneficial and (2) cannot be more easily explained as a natural occurrence.

The longer answer (but not dreadfully long) goes like this. On one hand, every thing is a miracle. But as soon as we admit that, the term loses its usefulness. Perhaps it’s better to say everything is a gift and some gifts are miraculous.

A physician’s report that says an individual recovered in spite of medical predictions would be bonafide in my mind, whether or not we knew that someone had prayed for that healing. Missing a flight or a ride that happened to culminate in an accident might be a miracle. Finding oneself in an airport and receiving a call from one’s grandmother warning one not to board the flight that did culminate in an accident would be an even more convincing example of divine intervention.

You get the idea: the less probable and the more helpful an otherwise difficult-to-explain event is, the more likely it is to be a miracle.

As a reminder, we believe in Jesus because his Father has revealed him to us (Matthew 16:16-18). That revelation—that conviction that Jesus is the Christ—is less tangible but more reliable than a reported miracle.

Even so, miracles that reveal the love and kindness of God deserve our attention. Frequently in the New Testament, they serve two purposes at the same time, to help the individual and to reveal the goodness and power of God (John 9:1-6).

In my experience, Christians talk about miracles and even imagine miracles far more often than they experience them. What counts as miracles here are experiences that cannot be more easily accounted for as coincidences or instances of random luck. Bonafide miracles in this context result from the Spirit of God somehow moving in this physical world to make a much-needed change.

So, if you will, in the comments below, please share any bonafide miracles you’ve witnessed. Please be as honest as you can. When I was in high school I told a friend my van had miraculously started running well. She told her dad. He was a skeptic. I stood my ground. The truth is, I didn’t mention that I had replaced a spark plug. This was something I didn’t even think about in my zeal. If I could go back in time, I’d simply thank God for the ability to put a new plug in my car and leave the miraculous out of the picture.

If I see a need to edit your comment, I’ll send you an email letting you know the reasons (for clarity and integrity). Let’s start with one of the few documented miracles in my life. There are many events that I think are divinely guided but they do not make compelling stories to outsiders.

Evangelical Misuse of “Grace” and “Truth”

Certain evangelicals contrast grace and truth because they think grace is only mercy and truth is an updated version of the law.
The apostles John and Paul, however, teach that Grace is Jesus living through us, and Truth is the revelation of Jesus living through us.

Life and death distinctions for the follower of Jesus:

  1. The fundamental definition for this post (and for life): the law makes us conscious of sin, while grace makes us conscious of the gift of Jesus’ redemption (forgiveness and deliverance… both being free gifts received by faith)
  2. The Gospel of John clearly and happily differentiates between “law” and “truth”
    • When John writes, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,” John makes it explicit: the law shows us we need grace because we always eventually fail to keep the law, and truth reveals to us that Jesus is the giver of grace
  3. Christians, and perhaps especially evangelicals, being nervous about “cheap grace” (i.e. license to sin), redefine truth as the law (i.e. a moral standard)—and this redefinition essentially ends the truth about Jesus
  4. This dilution of truth as merely a moral standard undermines the gospel badly
  5. Truth reveals the complete redemption Jesus gives us through himself, forever freeing us from the law, which, by comparison, is just a shadow of the reality of trusting in Christ
  6. Truth shifts all the emphasis toward the success and sufficiency of Jesus and away from our futile efforts at self-improvement

I do not know how widespread the grace-truth misunderstanding is among evangelicals.[1] I do know two of the largest and, for many good reasons, most popular, evangelical churches in the Denver area have propagated a serious misreading of the Gospel of John’s “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1).

Little is more beautiful to me than that scripture. It replaces the bad news (the law) with the good news (grace and truth).

Before contrasting the bad news with the good, I present an example of the muddled version that some evangelicals circulate. If it doesn’t seem muddled at first, it might appear so when we look at the way the Gospel of John uses the word “truth.”

From the Aug 13, 2023 Red Rocks sermon, we hear the highly articulate Doug Wekenman:

And this is the question we are asking in this series: is it this or is it that?

For instance, when we hear two words like grace and truth, we cannot help but place them on a pendulum: is God more about grace or more about truth? But of course the answer to that question is “yes,” and as Christians we’re called to a double major. In other words, you don’t just get to swing the pendulum to the side of grace, because then you lower the standard of truth. And in the same way, you don’t get to swing the pendulum to the side of truth because then you crush people in the process by refusing to give them the same grace that you’re also going to need.

Similarly, we hear the following from Ben Foote (perhaps my favorite speaker at Flatirons Community Church) in an otherwise engaging sermon on May 1, 2022:

You’re trying to earn, earn, earn a passing grade from Principal Jesus. There are a ton of us, myself included, who we were sold the Principal Jesus in our churches growing up. He is all truth and he is no grace.
….
So yes, Jesus is grace. But when he is all grace and no truth, you get another cheap, superstore version of Jesus. This one is called “get-out-of-jail-free Jesus.[2]

Both quotations rely on a false dichotomy between grace and truth, a cardinal error. And then they inadvertently suggest believers need their version of truth, which has been reduced to a moral standard (another name for the law). And this conflation is the very thing that outraged the apostle Paul, who said of those who muddle grace and law: “I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!”

From other sermons, I know Doug and Ben understand grace better than their false dichotomy between grace and truth suggests…so let’s put the castration tools away. But language is important, so I must persist in the analysis.

From Doug we hear that grace is balanced by truth. This reduces grace to mercy (i.e. forgiveness) and reduces truth to the law (i.e. rigor). From Ben we hear that truth makes us perform harder, which is exactly what the law does, and if you don’t believe me, read Romans 7, the apostolic statement on the law. Far from making us work harder, the truth sets us free because the truth is the truth of redemption. Ben also refers to getting a Jesus who is all grace but no truth, which is impossible if we are referring to divine grace. As with Doug, the false dichotomy reduces grace to mercy (get out of jail free), and truth to law (don’t abuse mercy).

Beneath the false dichotomy of grace or truth lurks the pernicious and perpetual bad news that humans need to try to be better. This emphasis on human effort is something the apostle Paul never recommends. In addition to distorting the meaning of “truth,” this line of thinking ignores the power of grace to fulfill the moral law in us, and this ignorance has kept Christians both unhappy and powerless for millennia.

The bad news: the law (the moral demands that Paul calls “the strength of sin”) rightly shows humans how they should live, even demands it, but in no way assists. The result? Sin increases. The more the person tries, the more the person relies on his or her self—the very self that was never intended to operate in isolation and independence from the loving provision of God.

Religion, including much of Christianity, groans beneath the joyless weight of the law. To the moral (and sometimes immoral) demands of religion, the person seems to rise to the occasion only to be blindsided by pride, or the person sinks to failure only to be depressed by guilt. Pride in one’s success, of course, leads to judging others. Failure, of course, makes one resolve to try harder next time, putting the person on a treadmill of anxiety, fear, and disappointment.

The good news: grace and truth. They are a pair not a polarity. They are two sides of the same coin, not two coins one must flip, as if to say, “Today do I follow grace or do I follow truth?” They are an and, not a but, a true identity not a false dichotomy.

“Grace” refers to the divine aid to do and be what we in our own strength and moral makeup could never achieve. By grace, we are healed, delivered, adopted, and righteous. Grace is divine life assisting us and can never “lower the standard of truth” as was suggested in the Red Rocks sermon.

“Truth,” as in Jesus’ “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14), is a revelation of Jesus, of his descent into hell and his exaltation at God’s right hand. Truth leads to revelations about our being in Christ, seated in Christ, animated by Christ. It’s the truth that provides the grace.

This truth that is infinitely superior to the law occurs again when Jesus says we must “worship in spirit and in truth” (John 4). He is juxtaposing “truth” with “the law”—one law says worship in Jerusalem, another law says worship on the mountain, but truth says worship in the spirit.

Truth, then, is the means to grace and the way to spirit. The more of Jesus’ truth we receive, the more grace we receive. The more of Jesus’ truth we receive, the more our worship is spiritual, not forced and fleshly. And it is faith, as always, that makes these things real to us.

So where do certain evangelicals go wrong? First they define grace as mercy (i.e. forgiveness). Then they worry that people will use forgiveness as a kind of fire insurance that gives them license to sin. To correct that, they redefine truth as… yes, you may have guessed it, the law. The license provided by grace-misunderstood-as-mercy is held in check by truth-redefined-as-law, browbeating us to behave correctly.

It’s amazing how historically the church in general and also in this case in particular resists full-fledged grace, which by definition includes freedom from the law. It’s amazing how the law keeps getting invited to enter through the back door. We simply cannot trust Jesus but instead want to replace him with our efforts and obedience.

Grace understood through the truth in Jesus establishes us in a new life. We are dead to sin (crucified with Christ), dead to the law (crucified with Christ), and alive to righteousness (risen, with Christ, and sitting in him in heavenly places). We are new people—new creations—and are motivated by the love of God working in our hearts, comforted by our Father in heaven. Sin, Paul says, will not be our master, because we are not under law but under grace. Note that Paul does not say the law will keep us from sin. On the contrary, whether we call it the law or truth, if it demands our compliance instead of promising our deliverance, it is the law and it will never give us the life that the grace and truth that comes through Jesus will give us.

How do we know we’ve moved away from the law and into grace and truth? We know it from the road signs that say we are on the right path: peace, love, and joy. I see the signs increasingly. When I used to confuse truth with law, I used to see only my struggling self.

 

____Footnotes for “Grace and Truth”____

[1] Apparently, one the sources of this evangelical confusion is this book: The Grace and Truth Paradox: Responding with Christlike Balance (2003). When one reads “balance” one is close to hearing that we have two elements that, if not kept in check, will tip the scale unfairly to one side or the other. Thus people think they must balance grace and the law (or truth, the new Evangelical name for the law), while in reality, they must die to the law altogether in order to walk in truth. The good news offers no balance, but instead promises a new identity that leaves behind the fallen, old, natural humanity and its insufficient remedies.

The description of the book, at it appears on amazon.com, reads: “Grace without truth deceives people, and ceases to be grace. Truth without grace crushes people, and ceases to be truth. Alcorn shows the reader how to show the world Jesus — offering grace instead of the world’s apathy and tolerance, offering truth instead of the world’s relativism and deception.” The “crush” of course echoes the sermon from Red Rocks that I cite. And the statement that truth counters “relativism” strongly insists that the author is using grace as a moral standard (i.e. as the law). If this second distinction isn’t clear to a reader, I strongly suggest reading the Book of Romans, particularly chapters 6 and 7.

[2] There’s a bit of irony in Ben’s sermon. He is earnestly railing against the abuse of mercy (which he calls grace) and legalism (which he calls truth), yet earlier in the sermon he makes a strong pitch against being against things (“Because it’s easy to be against something” [28:30]). If he followed his own good advice, he’d stop focusing on the downside of bad-faith Christianity and focus instead on the gospel of grace: we have been crucified with Christ, buried with Christ, and risen with Christ, seated in heavenly places. Perhaps this gospel is not practical enough to be appreciated by the majority of the members—but how will they ever appreciate it if they don’t see it elevated to its proper place?

 

Publishing Info
First published Sept. 30, 2023. Last revision: June. 10, 2024.

Jesus Redefines Sin, Righteousness and Judgment

Listen to the Feb 12, 2024 version of the post (3 minutes), author’s voice

First, here’s how Christians (and others) often define sin, righteousness, and judgment. The definitions are like those found in an English dictionary, but in no way do they capture the message Jesus brought:

  • Sin: Anything that is imperfect—and that’s a truckload of activities and attitudes,
  • Righteousness: The opposite of the above, (i.e. everything that’s perfect)—another truckload of things to do and be concerned about, and,
  • Judgment: The consequence of yielding to sin or slacking off on righteousness.

Note two things. First, the definitions make us and our failures the centerpiece—we are the agents of sin and righteousness, just as we are the recipients of justice. Second, as the following quotation from John shows, they are not how Jesus defined the terms. As always, his definitions deserve the final say, for in them is freedom and peace, not worry and fear.

His definitions should confuse us the first time we think about them. If we are not taken aback, we are not awake:

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate [i.e. Holy Spirit] will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgement: about sin, because they do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see me no longer; about judgement, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (John 16:7-11)

Notice the departure from our habitual self-oriented thinking. His message involves no moral bookkeeping, finger pointing, or punishment for us. Instead, we find Jesus giving exclusive attention his identity as the true savior and to the “ruler of the world” as the ultimate foe. We are witnesses and recipients only, which is another way of saying we are put in our rightful place. Here’s the definitions Jesus provides:

  • Sin: Disbelief in Jesus—the one sin that rules them all,
  • Righteousness: To see Jesus is to see true righteousness, and now that he is no longer visible, only the Spirit can reveal that righteousness to us, and,
  • Judgment: Not against us, but against the “ruler of this world” (i.e. Satan)—who stands condemned.

How should we respond to this? Many ways, no doubt, but the obvious is to admit any disbelief, admire his righteousness (which he offers to give us by faith), and rejoice that the truly sinister force behind our wayward actions stands condemned.

 

Publishing Info
This post was first published on: Feb 12, 2024 at 12:01. Revised: July 19, 2024. If this article is significantly updated, the publication date beneath the title may change in order to bring current posts to the top of the directory.