On Grace and Gnosticism Part 4

Part 4 in an ongoing series on the similarities and differences between “typical” Christianity, Gnosticism, and true Christianity

In the last blog in this series, we looked at how we can make the error of treating God as merely a paradigm, product, or program, instead of treating Him as a person. Both typical Christianity and Gnosticism tend to take the personality & person-ness out of Jesus.

God is not a force. He is a person. We need to treat him as such. Let him rule and decide. But, God is not merely a person. He is infinitely wiser, more powerful, and different than us.

If we focus so much on God’s immanence (living in and among us), we can easily forget to remember the opposite pole of the paradox—his transcendence. If we start being lopsided, we lose the mystery of God, and turn him into a logical construct, a philosophy. We must seek him, but also realize he exceeds our logic and understanding. God is in us and far above us. He is intimate, but at the same time, we will never fully grasp Him. No one preposition can fully capture our relationship to God.

Americans already treat God as our “cosmic buddy,”(Philip Yancey’s term) so if we focus on Grace, we must put it in the context of our great God. God doesn’t dwell in us only because he loves us. Everything is done for his glory.

God is full of himself. (see anything by John Piper). He is full of his glory. We should be full of his glory because of that. Not because we want to feel better or be healed (physically or emotionally). Our motivation for being filled with Jesus is key.

The whole reason that God chose us to be filled with him is found in Romans 1:5. “Through him and for his name's sake, we received grace.” Pretty straight-forward. God gave us grace “for his name’s sake.” Throughout the Bible, there is a phrase, “For my name’s sake,” that shows that the whole reason God does stuff is to show off. He wants people to know how great he is. Why? Because God is the best. He is better than everything in the universe. And he’s not stupid, so he knows he’s the best. And he’s not a liar, so he has to tell everyone else that he’s the best.

An added benefit of doing things for his name’s sake, is that God advertises himself. When he takes a broken person and transforms them by giving them his grace, he shows the other people that person knows that he is the best way to live. So, people come to know that Jesus wants them.

We embrace the mystery of an infinite God dwelling within finite human beings because he tells us that’s how the universe operates. If he says it’s truth, then it is truth. There need not be the word “absolute” to make it truth. It is God’s truth, and therefore we should live in it. We don’t live in it merely to know that we can have a good self-image because Jesus is within us. We don’t live in the fact that we are royal heirs of God because that enables us to carry ourselves with dignity. Rather, we live in the truth of the grace of God—the truth that his infinite breadth dwells in us—because it puts him on display for the universe around us.

It is important to discuss Grace and all theological ideas with the right terms, because only then do we live life in a way that is correct in that it glorifies God. We need to respect Jesus as the perfect man, and as the many other things he is, far above even that. To treat God as merely a product or a way of life does not give him the praise he deserves. It is an utter shame to speak of God less highly than we should—as a transcendent God who dwells within us.