Grace and Disgrace part 2

In my last blog, I wrote about how we tend to view people through the lens of disgrace, while God views us through the lens of grace.  When someone does one bad thing, we tend to write off all the good things about them--to us they are in a state of disgrace.

On the other hand, God views us with grace--despite the fact that we are sinners by nature (also by action), God writes off all the bad things about us when He looks at the one good thing Jesus did.

In other words:
Our disgrace-filled mindset: Allowing one bad action to overwhelm all good in a person.
God's grace-filled mindset: Allowing one good action (by Jesus) to overwhelm all bad in a person.

That's a little over-simplified, but it works as a summary.

Obviously, it's not good that we treat people by the rule of disgrace, when God is treating us by the rule of grace.

In Matthew 18, Jesus tells a story about a servant who was in debt to his master.  Verse 24 says the man owed 10,000 talents.  A talent was 20 years wages for a day laborer.  Just for comparison purposes, if you worked at California minimum wage 8 hours a day, five days a week, one talent is the same as $332,800.  So, if you owed someone 10,000 talents, that would be $3,328,000,000  ($3.3 billion).

Obviously, if you owed someone $3.3 billion personally, you would be in enormous debt.

In the story, the master is going to take everything from the servant, including his family, but decides to forgive the debt instead.  The servant asked to have more time to pay back the debt, but the master decided to just eat the loss of 10,000 talents.

After the servant's debt was forgiven, he found a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii (v. 28).  A denarius was about one days' wages for a day laborer.  So, by California minimum wage, one day's earning would be $64.  The second servant owed the first one 100 denarii, which would be like owing someone $6,400.

The second servant couldn't pay the first, so the first one had him thrown in jail.  The master heard what happened, re-instated the debt of the first servant, and had him thrown in jail and tortured.

When we convert the numbers to modern approximations, we see how ridiculous the servant was.  If someone forgave you for a $3.3 billion debt, you would surely not care about the $6,400!

Jesus says that when we fail to forgive others in spite of God's forgiveness of us, we are doing the same thing!

In fact, after Jesus says the master threw the servant in jail to be tortured until his debt was paid, he says, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

When we allow people's sin to put them out of our good grace, we not only are ruled by disgrace, but we are choosing to live outside the rule of grace.  God views us through that lens, but He doesn't have to, and Jesus gives us fair warning that we can place ourselves back in debt.

So, all that to say...Forgive!

Forgive people when they sin against you.  Forgive people when they sin in general.

Don't keep a record of wrongs (1 Corinthians 13:5).  When we live based on disgrace, we look at all the good things people have done in light of the bad.  Instead, we ought to assume the best in others (1 Corinthians 13:7--love "always hopes").

Look at the good and bad things people have done in light of the fact that you have been forgiven and commanded to love.

Grace and Disgrace part 1

I often think about the meanings of words that include "grace."  Usually when we talk about grace in English, we're talking about doing something gracefully (with style, ease, and beauty).   The theological meaning of "grace" is quite different.  So, I will sometimes think about how the English words including "grace" are related to the biblical meaning of the word.

Grace means to receive something good that you didn't earn.

All of us are sinners.  Our sin nature is what makes us unworthy of God, and our sinful actions (trespasses/transgressions) are symptoms and signs of our guilt (Romans 1).  It is not our sinful actions that make us unworthy of knowing God; we are already unworthy by our sin nature.

God, in his radical love for us, gives us grace--an undeserved gift:  he pays the price for our sin, making us innocent, which we call justification.  The second thing God promises is to remove the consequences of our sin: death (spiritual and physical).  We call this removal of consequences "salvation."  In other words, we have been declared innocent, and our sentence has been commuted.

God shows us extreme forgiveness, and we call it grace.  We, on the other hand, tend to treat people quite differently.

Imagine a hypothetical friend.  If they have some shortcomings, it's easy to look past them by remembering your friend's positive traits.  However, if that person does something really wrong (a grievous sin) or really annoying (a "sin" against you), you tend to notice all the little bad things about them.

Personally, I tend to think back on my relationship history with the person and question everything that they did that I previously viewed positively or neutrally.  All their past actions instantly seem suspicious.  I tend to suddenly go from supporting my friend to judging them based on the broken trust caused by their one action (a severe sin, or a sin against me).

We tend to be impacted by that one misstep our friends make.  I was trying to think of a word that describes the one action that taints the whole history of a person in my mind, and I thought of one:

Disgrace.

We usually refer to a person as a disgrace, but the word has other meanings, which can refer to actions.

Dictionary.com defines "disgrace" as:
1. the loss of respect, honor, or esteem; ignominy; shame.

3. the state of being out of favor; exclusion from favor, confidence, or trust.

Simply put, disgrace happens when one thing reflects negatively on a larger situation.

When our friend does something wrong or annoying, we often allow the disgraceful act to rule our opinion of and attitude toward our (former) friend.  

When someone does one bad thing, we view all their good in light of the one bad thing. On the contrary, when God looks at us, he views all of our bad things in light of the one good thing His Son did for us on the cross.

We show others judgment, based on disgrace.  God shows us love, based on His grace.

We'll explore this issue more in the next blog.

In my weakness

I've been thinking for the last week about the issue of trying vs. grace. Many people say that Gd wants you totally surrendered to Him, which I fully agree with. A lot of people say that what that means is that we need to quit trying and just give up.

I believe that. We do need to give up and recognize that the Holy Spirit is the one who empowers us.

However, I don't think that means we shouldn't be trying our best and giving our best. I think that sometimes people talking about God's all-sufficiency can be an excuse for laziness.

The Bible doesn't say "His strength is made perfect in our laziness," it says, "His strength is made perfect in our weakness."

If you have a natural ability for something and you just choose to not use it, you still aren't weak! You are just ignoring your ability and being lazy.

If God has blessed you with a talent or ability, it is your responsibility to use it to your best ability, and then when your strength is all used up, then you're actually weak.

So it's not a matter of not trying.

It's a matter of giving your all, but realizing it's still not enough. But you still have to give your all or it doesn't work.

That's just what I think. But if you think about it logically, it seems to make sense.

My dream about heaven and hell -part 2-

Last time I wrote about a dream I had about heaven and hell. If you haven't read that blog, you should before you read this one. For one thing, it's an interesting story, and secondly, this blog won't be nearly as meaningful without reading the other one.

In my dream, when I got on the stairs and asked Jesus if we really had to walk all the way up it I was kind of messing around and fake whining. I really didn't mind the walk. I'd do anything to get to heaven with Him. It would be well worth it. Then he surprised me and said, "Of course not," and turned on the escalator.

This struck me as a good picture of sanctified living/life under grace/whatever you call it. When we are following Jesus, we are willing to walk up the stairs and put in the work. We love being with Him so much, that it's well worth it. So much so that we can joke around with Jesus. But His answer is that we don't do the work. I wonder if it's the willingness to do the work that makes not doing the work so good?

As we neared the top of the escalator, I was surprised by how close heaven was to earth. This is one of the coolest lessons for me. Heaven is so close. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of Heaven is here (once he was transfigured on the mountain). But the idea that the fullness of the Kingdom is so close was something that I suppose is true, but hadn't been so obvious to me.

The paradoxical thing was that in my dream, the escalator looked like it was really long, like the escalators in the D.C. subway system, which I mentioned are the longest in the Western Hemisphere. This also taught me about the paradoxical nature of the nearness and distance of Heaven and God.

When I got inside the airport, I noticed that to my right were 10 or 12 escalators going down into hell. This is a great picture of the broad road to destruction and the narrow path to righteousness. People heard their names called out on the intercom and were simply told, (their name) "to hell."

Looking back, this reminds me of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25), which I don't think is reference to a unique judgment, but rather another way of looking at a judgment that is talked about in Revelation. Jesus was painting a picture of the judgment in shepherding terms, similar to what his disciples knew in their culture. I think that quite possibly He was painting a picture of the same thing in airport/subway terms, which I have become quite familiar with since I began dating Julie.

Anyway, the lesson is that the righteous and the unrighteous are separated strictly, without excuse. God knows absolutely whether a person is going to heaven or hell. I know God is a God of grace and love, but in this dream, I saw Him as a God of Justice.

Next, I proceeded to the baggage claim, and I asked why there even was a baggage claim, and even after I woke up from the dream I had a little problem with the fact that people were bringing things into heaven. Then I remembered the truth that Randy Alcorn talks about in The Treasure Principle. Alcorn, who is best known for his writing on heaven and hell actually, says this is the treasure principle: "You can't take it with you, but you can send it ahead."

We were just talking about this principle on Tuesday. But I think I get it now. Just like when you check a bag on a plane, you can't take those large items with you, but you can deposit them in such a way that they make the same journey as you did, but in a different fashion.

So almost everyone had 2 or 3 bags in heaven.

When I got outside of the airport, I noticed how happy everyone was and how clean everything was. This reminded me of my question, "was there human waste in the Garden of Eden?" and it's related question, "If we're eating all the time in heaven, do we have to go to the bathroom? Do we gain weight? Do we need to eat, or is it just for fun?"

I didn't learn too much from being outside. I saw that everyone had bags and I saw that heaven was like a big city. I love what Dr. Schaefer taught in my Biblical Backgrounds class in my freshman year at Simpson. The Bible begins in a garden, and ends in a city.

I love cities, so it made me excited to spend eternity in the heavenly city.

My dream ended with something that wasn't so exciting. I heard the cry of someone dying in hell. I mentioned in my last blog that the sound was like someone being killed in a war movie, except that dying scream lasted forever. The reality that hell is like eternal death was overwhelming. You know what, I don't think hell is like eternal death, I think it is eternal death. Jesus calls it "the second death," and I don't think he means that when you go to hell you are dead again, I think he means you are dying again. But this dying doesn't resolve like your first death did.

I woke up with an urgency to help people not go there. Both last night when Chris was speaking at Youth Group, and today after my dream, I was saddened by the reality that most people who ever have/do/will walk this earth are going to hell. And I realized more than ever just how torturous that is.

Jesus, use me.

In Joel and Acts it talks about how people will dream dreams and have visions, and it says that even your sons and daughters will do those things. I love that wording. To me it indicates that God has a heart for speaking to unbelievers in dreams. 3 years ago I started praying that God would give dreams to people in the city of Redding who weren't following Him. I stopped doing that after awhile, but today my prayer is that God would give dreams to the people of Sonoma County so that they would know Him.

Peaceful Perplexity

I've had a number of conversations and experiences in the last 4 or 5 days that revolved around mystery.

I personally believe in a rule-of-thumb about how we view life. It's a theological idea, but it's an idea that affects all parts of our lives, because it informs our entire worldview.

We begin our outlook on any idea with confusion/lack of knowledge.

The first level of understanding, when you've come to a place where things make sense, means that you have arrived at a truth.

But, it is not the Truth. I believe that "All truth is God's truth." Rob Bell quotes that in Velvet Elvis, then goes on to say something to the effect of "every truth is God's truth." I disagree. The whole truth is God's truth, but it's easy to find a part of the truth and if we just talk about that, we could be actually talking about a lie, since we're missing the other half, or the other 99.999% of the truth, whatever the case may be for that instance.

The second level of understanding is when we say, "Oh, look...topic A and topic B are actually the same thing. I mean, they don't make any sort of sense together, but it's just...right."

Take for instance, God's grace and God's justice. I've always believed that they were true. God is a God of grace, and there is a lot of evidence for that in scripture, history, and in my own life. God is a God of justice. That is clear from the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, and history.

But, when we realize that grace and justice are joined at the hip, we come to a place of a comfortable confusion. Perhaps "peaceful" is a better word than "comfortable." It's not comfortable. But, there is a peace that it is truth. And, in the vein of good alliteration, I'll call it "peaceful perplexity." I know this is way out of context, but I still love to use this verse to describe the fact that we aren't meant to have everything figured out. Click on the link and read it.

Grace seems like forgiveness, while justice seems like consequences, but in the Cross, we see a God who demanded the consequences, so somebody died for my actions. But we see a God who forgave completely, so He paid the price Himself.

Grace and Justice are joined in the Cross and tied together for the rest of eternity.
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It seems like mystery is more popular with our postmodern culture than its modern predecessor. Younger people do seem to flock to the mysterious, and that could be attributed to a philosophical worldview alone (postmodernism).

Or, we can view it as the work of God in history, as He changes the perception of the Western World to more readily accept the fact that Christianity is an Eastern Religion, and to remember that God is infinite, and cannot be fully understood by the collective brainpower of every human being, let alone my own puny mind.

And here I sit, in another mystery--An infinite God who says He is in me and I have the mind of Christ.

Delightfully confusing. But that's what makes it true. That's what I'm calling the second level, even though "second level" sounds like Scientology. Maybe I need a better name.

Anything you can fully understand was probably invented by a human. Anything God made is more complex than you can fully understand. If you claim to understand anything completely, then you have put God in a box, and you are not giving Him the fear and respect He deserves. Even if I could understand grace (for instance) fully, I couldn't understand how God could be a God of justice and of grace. That's a separate subject altogether.

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.

On Grace and Gnosticism Part 3

Part 3 in an ongoing series on the similarities and differences between “typical” Christianity, Gnosticism, and true Christianity

In my last 2 entries, we examined the ways in which each of the 3 worldviews deals with the supernatural and natural.

Gnosticism teaches that we are saved from being captive to the material world. It teaches that matter is evil. On the other extreme, many Christians live their lives neglecting the supernatural world, and the power that is given them through the Holy Spirit. In fact, my friend Jason told me that at the Resurgence Conference in Washington State, the gathering of pastors there was told that one of the least preached about topics today is the Holy Spirit.

True Christianity believes in the work of the Holy Spirit, through natural and supernatural means. True Christianity teaches that the fullness of God has been revealed through Jesus Christ, this includes his grace. However, many “typical” Christians have neglected this grace and are simply trying to lead a better life. True Christians hold that the Holy Spirit works within us, and lives within us. It is only by his power that we live the Christian life.

Gnosticism also differs from Christianity in what it regards as the way to salvation. The idea is that there is a secret knowledge that saves us. What is happening is that Satan is latching on to our belief in grace as a revelation and then perverting our understanding of it.

Grace is no secret. It is available for all.

Understanding grace as a secret may lead us to treat some people as second-tier Christians. While it is true that many people know about grace, but do not live in it, that is not revelation when they internalize it. Let me explain.

During my time in Redding, I heard many people misuse the word revelation. I have heard the same word misused in Santa Rosa, as well, but I was exposed to its misuse far more while I was surrounded by people of all sorts of backgrounds and levels of theological training.

Throughout history, the word “revelation” has always meant “the self-unveiling of God.” When Jesus became a man, all of God came to be known by humans (because in Him, the fullness of God dwells—Col 1:19). Therefore, Christianity has always taught that revelation is complete, because Jesus has come to Earth, and in fact, because Jesus lives in us.

Then, what do we call a new understanding of something in the Bible or something about life?

Illumination is the word used to describe what God is showing me specifically. All truth has been revealed, because “All truth is God’s truth.”* Thus, whenever I learn something, it is merely being illuminated to me. I am being made conscious of an already existing truth.

These truths aren’t new. Almost anything new is false.

Because God has existed infinitely, and his Son came 2000 years ago, the truth of grace, along with all other truths have stood the test of time. That means that when I came to live out of grace in April 2005, I did not “receive a revelation of Grace.” In fact, I already knew about grace. I just reached my “dark night of the soul,” and finally moved from merely talking about my utter dependence on God to living in such a way.

You see, using the right words to describe things is more than just an issue of semantics. It is important that we use “revelation” to describe one thing and “illumination” to describe another because it does change how we understand life. Theologians have chosen throughout the millennia to use these words with their respective meanings, so we should join them in their use of each one to eliminate confusion. Theology is a really good tool, if it helps us live a life that brings glory to God, and/or if it helps us bring the glory of God to more people.

But, back to Gnosticism. Gnosticism teaches that we are saved through the revelation of a secret knowledge. Christianity teaches that we are saved through the sacrifice of God, who became a man. Gnosticism believes in a system. True Christianity believes in a person.

Many friends and people in my church have been influenced by a book called Grace Walk. This book by Steve McVey is a valuable tool in understanding the idea of Grace. If you are interested in knowing more about grace, I would recommend it to you as one avenue of learning that might benefit you. I would rather you read anything by John Piper, though.

Grace Walk has shaped a lot of my friends, but was not that revolutionary in my own life, because I already was living out of grace when I went through it. In the material, Steve McVey draws the distinction between “typical” Christianity and true Christianity. He says, essentially, that most Christians believe in a paradigm. In fact, recently, I was watching a YouTube video featuring T.D. Jakes, in which he refers to Jesus as a product. (A side note—Jakes also believes in the heresy of modalism, so he’s not exactly orthodox). McVey contrasts the belief of most Christians in a paradigm, with the reality that Christians should believe in a person.

I agree with what McVey is saying here—on the one hand, we have “traditional Christianity,” which just talks about having a way of life. It talks about principles and programs. Then, we have true Christianity. We believe in the person of Jesus Christ, who dwells within us, and empowers us by living His life through us. However, if we treat this unique way of life as merely knowledge, we make the same error as many Christians have made, by once again treating it all as a program, and not as a personal relationship. But this time, we err on the side of Gnosticism.

I think that many people who talk about Grace neglect to mention the error that they are more prone to than typical Christians. Typical Christians are already not living a life abiding in Christ. However, once we begin to live out of grace, we are prone to make the same mistake by becoming Gnostic, or at least Gnostic-like.

There is a fine line to walk, and it is important that we walk it. Why? For the glory of God. Next time we will examine that truth.

*The quote “all truth is God’s truth” is found in Rob Bell’s Velvet Elvis. Bell then goes on to say that “Every truth is God’s truth.” I disagree with the latter statement, because you can have a partial truth included in “every truth.” God’s truth is the whole truth. So, there is a difference in saying that “all truth is God’s truth,” and “Every truth is God’s truth.”

On Grace and Gnosticism Part 2--Natural vs. Supernatural

Part 2 in an ongoing series on the similarities and differences between “typical” Christianity, Gnosticism, and true Christianity.

In my last blog in this series, we looked at how each of the 3 worldviews interacts with the natural and supernatural realm. I have some more thoughts on this issue.

True Christianity really does focus on both the natural and supernatural. While the gospel of John focuses on the supernatural (or Jesus as God), the other 3 gospels focus on the natural (Jesus as Man). In fact, Luke writes about the materially poor.

Or, consider Acts 4:33-4a. “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy persons among them.”

This type of writing shows that the natural conclusion of the supernatural power of the resurrection is very physical, very natural.

The strongest evidence for our need to live in our natural training as much as our supernatural is this:

The Greatest Commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.

To love God with your heart is emotional, with your mind is intellectual (hence the need for theology—it is commanded of us), with your soul is to let him work within and through you, and with your strength is an indication that we must be people who use our natural bodies and their capabilities. Loving God with our mind also means that we should be lifelong learners who use the things we learn for the glory of God.

As it says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I can’t think of anything more natural than eating and drinking.

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By stripping us of our natural abilities, we are telling God, “You screwed up. When you gave me this ability— when you gave me this experience, you made a mistake.”

A major point among young American Christians is that “Everything is spiritual.” Rob Bell popularized this saying, but I have to give credit to my good old Simpson University education for teaching me the idea that there is no sacred vs. secular.

In Hebrew, there is no word for “spiritual.” Why? Because if you asked Jesus or his disciples, “How is your spiritual walk?” they would laugh. Everything is part of their spiritual walk. If God has given you training in counseling or psychology, or if he has given you medical experience (like Luke, author of two gospels, and companion to Paul), those are just as spiritual as their respective spiritual gifts of exhortation and healing.

Using medicine as an example:

Tell me, what is the harder miracle? A God who can command healing? Or a God who can use broken earthly vessels like doctors to do it?

These people who are all broken. Who are all limited. 2 Corinthians 4:7 calls us “earthen vessels.” Yes, we have the glory of God in us, but we live in a paradox. We live in a kingdom that is here, but not yet here. We are sanctified, but being sanctified. We are saved by grace, but we also must “work out our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

So, these broken people invent medicines and surgeries using the resources and creativity God has bestowed on them. Then other broken, fallen people administer those tools. Imagine a God who can create something that can take care of itself. Isn’t that a beautiful miracle? Doesn’t that display the power and sovereignty of God even more?

The problem is that we forget to give God the glory when we have medical healing or when we have a changed life through counseling. I think if we start giving God the glory he deserves for his miraculous power in the natural world he made, we will begin to see more miracles both of the “natural” and “supernatural” type.

A typical Christian response will be to turn to medicine as the answer, while a response that denies that God could use medicine is actually a simple form of gnosticism.

That's really too bad, because many great Christian teachers on healing have fallen into this error. Consider A.B. Simpson, founder of the Christian & Missionary Alliance. He was healed of a medically incurable disease, and developed a really good theology of healing. However, he erred in that he taught that medical healing is not godly. This denial of God's hand in the creation of medicines and treatments robs God of his astounding creativity and his capability to use all things for his glory.

On Grace and Gnosticsim Part 1

In the past year, many people in my life have discussed the idea of grace and the concept of sanctification.

Essentially, true Christianity teaches that humans are incapable of pleasing God, and it is only when we realize our own insufficiency and surrender to God’s grace that we can live the Christian life.

Only Jesus is capable of living the Christian life, but each Christian knows that Jesus lives through them. A great deal of writing on this topic is found in Romans.

As I’ve discussed grace with friends (particularly Josh Mello), we’ve found a few instances when the truth about grace sounds awfully close to Gnosticism. 

So, I want to start examining the similarities and differences between 3 ways of thought:

1. A “typical” view of Christianity (without enough emphasis on Grace)

2. Gnosticism

3.A correct view of Christianity (with Grace)

First off, Gnosticism needs to be defined. Gnosticism is one of the earliest Christian heresies. In fact, many of its beliefs may predate the time of Christ on the Earth. Essentially, Gnosticism is the belief that salvation is through some knowledge . This is clear from the etymology of the word (gnosis "knowledge", gnostikos, "good at knowing"). (source)

Gnosticism teaches that all matter is evil, and it is only through the secret knowledge that the soul can be freed from its slavery to matter.

The first issue to look at is the relationship between the natural and supernatural.

Typical Christianity tends to focus too much on the natural world. We think we are capable of living the Christian life. We believe we are capable of attaining holiness through our own will power and effort. This way of living neglects the supernatural empowering of the Holy Spirit and the fact that Christ lives in us. It also leaves the Cross at the moment of salvation, while in reality, we need to be constantly relying on the Cross throughout our lives—at the moment of salvation and beyond.

Gnosticism, on the other hand, rejects the natural world, and focuses solely on the supernatural. Gnostics taught that the whole point of life was to escape our trapping to the material realm. Really, this worldview is an awful lot like Hinduism/Buddhism. Both of those religions teach that beings are perpetually trapped in a variety of bodies, and it is only through Maya (Hindusim) or Nirvana (Buddhism) that the soul can be freed from its material prison.

Gnostics believe that once a secret knowledge is found, people can be freed from the material realm. Now, this sounds similar to Romans 7-8, where the flesh is talked about in great length. Essentially Paul is discussing the fact that our flesh (or as the NIV calls it “sinful nature”) still leads us to make bad decisions, despite the fact that we have died and Christ lives within us.

Again, Satan has taken a truth and twisted it. And unless we are aware of what Satan has done, we may end up falling into such a belief.

True Christianity believes that the natural and supernatural are both real and both good. You see, God says matter—the physical, natural realm—is good. Read Genesis 1. Five times he talks about physical things as good, and once as very good. Yes, we are fallen and so is the entire created order, but God has a desire to save it. Check out Romans 8:21, God desires to liberate creation, not to throw it away and start over.

Notably, this passage is found in the middle of Paul’s discourse on Grace.

So, Paul is making a point. Yes, our flesh leads us to sin, but matter is not evil. It too will be redeemed. When it is redeemed, death and decay will be done away with.

So, we live in a paradox. The doctrine of grace teaches that we used to have a sin nature. We used to be inherently sinful, but through our baptism into Christ, we now have Christ living within us. His grace permeates our being, and now our sin nature is dead. On the opposite pole, our flesh (sinful nature*) still exists, and has a tendency to lead us to sin (Romans 8:5). However, this flesh is not inherently evil, but just is an entity that is subject to decay as a result of the Fall. Eventually, we will not succumb to the desires of the flesh, and our bodies will be resurrected (Romans 8:11). The material realm will not be done away with. It will be redeemed in whole (Romans 8:21).

I believe we have a responsibility to redeem the world as much as we can. God can’t redeem the whole of material existence until the world is re-made, but for now we bear a responsibility to redeem as much as we encounter. Why? Because the Kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21).

*The NIV uses the term "sinful nature" where most translations use "flesh." There is a difference in the Greek word between "sin nature" and "sinful nature"/"flesh." Our "Sin Nature" is dead when we choose to live in Christ, while our flesh/"Sinful nature" still exists.