Q. I’m not sure I like you. You seem like some kind of anti-religious nut. So I suppose all of man’s religious efforts over the centuries have been nothing but man spinning his wheels, as far as thinking it was making him acceptable to God?
A: That is correct.
Q. But wait! Christianity is a religion. (Now I’ve got you.) Why is it any different? You just condemned Christianity.
A: Christianity, as pro forma church-going on Sundays, is not any different. In fact, if we each will be judged by our response to the light we had, the Truth to which we were exposed, then God’s greatest condemnation will in fact fall upon many who are in name, “Christians,” being those who have exchanged the Gospel of Christ for a fallacy, for another Gospel that is, in fact, a Gospel of works, or conduct – a Gospel that consigns to the outer reaches the cross of Christ and the amnesty proffered by God through it to secure our salvation. And as we said above, conduct does not address the basic problem, as it does nothing to change one’s evil and rebellious nature.
Q. Now you’ve turned my worldview upside down completely. I mean, what about all those good church-going people, the upstanding citizens, the people that never did anything really wrong, except maybe cheat on their taxes once in a while? You’re saying God will not only not let many of them in heaven, he’ll treat the car-jackers and thieves better… and even Muslims who were never exposed to the Bible, as long as they accept this so-called amnesty offer.
A: The Gospel of Christ appears to lead us to that conclusion. Consider, all religions are man-made schemes, or systems of rituals, which have as their premise an intention to impress the Creator. But if the Gospel’s original diagnosis is true – that man is corrupt by nature, and conduct is ineffectual in changing that nature, then all religions are false. Christ Himself was killed by the most upstanding religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees, who we discussed above. They were His main enemies. Why?
Because He exposed and offended them by condemning their religiosity as faux righteousness, or self-righteousness, which only obscured the wretched state of their hearts, and rendered them prideful and judgmental. Their earthly track records were one big lie, and a barrier to, instead of the basis of, their acceptability before God.
Likewise, a number of today’s upstanding citizens, religious bureaucrats, and many modern church-going Christians are, sadly, the spiritual progeny of the Pharisees. They reject the Lord’s assessment of their résumés – that they are worthless in respect of gaining God’s acceptance, and instead they have comforted themselves with a performance Gospel which instead glorifies those résumés. Their premise is that what the world values, God values, and affirmation by the world translates into acceptance before God.
Nothing could be further from the Truth.
And herein lies the problem, the point of issue. Those who rely on their own résumé, and spend their waking moments burnishing it, hold to that résumé as a matter of pride. And, because it offends their pride, they will reject outright any Gospel that teaches that those résumés are actually a hindrance to receiving God’s acceptance.
God’s acceptance results from one thing: your receiving with humility the amnesty offer communicated through the very Life of His only Son. And you only receive it by heartfelt repentance – by agreeing with Him that you are completely incapable of pleasing Him, of changing your own nature, and that you have despaired of trying. He then takes over, and He takes it upon Himself to make you acceptable to Him by changing the very nature of what you are.
Q. Sorry. I can’t let go of this! What about all the wonderful religious stuff done by men, all the great churches of Europe, the magnificence and tradition of the Catholic Church, the pensive musings of the great theologians, the ruminations of the master intellects, the résumés of good men? You seem to discount it all. What is its role in all of this?
A: None. It is all brought to naught, to nothing. This is a salvation procured, offered, and secured by the Creator Himself, without the slightest participation or help of man. The glory is God’s alone. He will share it with no man.
Man only must respond to the amnesty offer – accept or reject. And that is why it is usually rejected. Innately, most men do not like the terms of the deal – of the amnesty offer. They prefer to think that what they have done, or not done in this life, is so worthy of God’s approval, and other men, that they have no inclination to turn their back on it, to admit it was all, ultimately, done for the adulation of men, to feel good about themselves while still harboring an evil nature. As Christ says, men reject the light and prefer the darkness, because the light shows that, in the end, all of man’s deeds were done for his own glory, and to justify himself before God while still in a state of rebellion against God.
Q. Come to think of it, maybe that is why I have never really heard this in church before. The message there is always “you’re alright because you go to church; now work on this project, OR you are not alright because you do this, like smoke or drink, or you don’t do that, like tithe.” So Christ Himself did not start a religion of “do’s and don’ts”?
A: Correct. Christ came to end man’s pursuit of religion, and instead to substitute a relationship with Himself.
Q. I’ve heard that mantra a lot – “a personal relationship with Christ.” That sounds like just so much religious gobbledygook to me, just like the type of “religious” stuff you say is worthless. What on earth does it mean?
A: Remember a few moments ago when we talked about the origin of the problem in Genesis – that Adam, our forefather, on his most fundamental level of existence was somehow “joined” to the Spirit of Rebellion? And that man, himself, can do nothing to alter that basic fact about the nature he inherited from Adam? Well, that is the root of the problem, as we said, and that was the focus of the Creator’s rescue mission. Going back to our fairy tale, what the Creator decided to do is analogous to the kiss bestowed on Sleeping Beauty, or on the frog by the Princess. And here’s what it is:
According to the Gospel of Christ, marriage is for life. And likewise our spiritual “marriage” to the Spirit of Rebellion, a condition which we inherited from Adam, from our physical parents, is for life. We know that Death ends a marriage. Therefore, what the Creator chose to arrange, to make available for all who are willing, is our spiritual death, while we are physically still alive. Why? So that once free of our “marriage” to the Spirit of Rebellion, our spirits might be literally raised to life again by being joined or married, if you will, to the Spirit of Righteousness, Christ Himself.
And we are “willing” to proceed with this spiritual death, only to the extent that the rebellion we have lived becomes truly odious to us, so that we sincerely repent, or turn away from, all that we worshiped or lived for before we heard the Gospel. This is a revelation that God’s Spirit alone gives to us – it cannot be manufactured by you, the latest star on TBN, or your local pastor.
Until we actually become “sorry” for our lives as lived, until He has made us “sorry” by the conviction of His Holy Spirit, we are not ready for God and His salvation.
But if we are honest with ourselves about our standing before Him, and our hopelessness before a just Judge, we can prepare our hearts to receive that revelation, that conviction, and when we do, He does the rest.
As explained in Romans 6 and Colossians 2, what He does is this: He joins us to Christ on the cross, outside of Time, away from our senses and emotions, far below our conscious level of existence. This is the mystery of salvation and the awesome power, and Love, of God.
All to this end: that we might be translated out of the race of Adam, and out from under His judgment, into the race of His Son, and the objects of His favor, that we might be transformed from rebels by nature to something radically, radically different.
Q. And what is that?
A: A new species – Princes and Princesses of the King of the Universe, actual sons and daughters of the Most High God.
Q. Now that is starting to blow my mind.
A: It should. The Gospel doesn’t give us all the details. No doubt we couldn’t understand the depth and complexity of the Creator’s plan. But what it does make clear is that, for those who are willing, the Creator will, in effect, create us anew, remake us from the bottom up, by “marrying” us to the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, His very Son, whereby we partake of the very nature of God Himself. Using another analogy from our physical lives to demonstrate a spiritual truth – in effect, He spiritually births us. And since He births us, He is our Daddy, with all the attendant responsibilities. And Christ Himself says that the Creator is a very, very good Daddy.
Christ’s righteousness, therefore, has now become our righteousness, making us fully acceptable before God. And we did absolutely nothing to earn it.
Q. I’ve got to tell you. This sounds way out to me, way, way out. How do I know your version of the Gospel is true, because I’ve never heard it before, at least like this?
A. You don’t. But the Scripture says that if you believe that God exists, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him, then you will find Him. I submit that when you do, He will open your heart to receive this message and you will know that it is true.
Q. If all this is true, that He really changes our nature, then why do people who have been changed still commit sins? The proof is in the pudding.
A. A valid point, and one that Paul addressed directly in Chapter 7 of the Book of Romans.
He talks about how he often does what he doesn’t want to do, and what he wants to do deep down, he doesn’t do or does the exact opposite. It perplexed him, until he concluded that although his basic nature had been changed, the principle of rebellion was still alive within him, and actively at war with his inner man, his new spirit joined to the Spirit of Christ. Remember: only his spirit had died on the cross with Christ so only his spirit was re-born. He still had the same old body and the same old habits.
Man consists of body, soul (personality), and spirit (or essence). Paul understood that the Spirit of Jesus to which his human spirit had been joined was now out to conquer the remaining strongholds of the Spirit of Rebellion in Paul’s body and soul, and that battles would be won and lost depending on the will of Paul himself as to whether in any given situation he would accept the rule of God in his life (remember Adam’s choice?). Hence, the opportunity for sinning remained for Paul after he had been changed.
Q. I need to think about this amnesty offer. Death, and accountability – these are things I can’t really cope with.
A. No one can, regardless of how they may kid themselves. Understand that an offer of amnesty is only effective upon acceptance, upon a sincere acknowledgment of guilt. Understand also that this amnesty offer, and the benefits of its acceptance, are the free gifts of God. They cannot be earned.
This has really been the whole point of this discussion. It is given perfunctory attention in most of today’s churches because it is offensive to our pride, but it is the secret to understanding the Gospel, as it shifts the focus completely from our own performance to Christ, and His performance.
Since God’s favor is a gift, life is no longer a performance test. Christ has performed, and God is completely satisfied with His performance then, now, and forever.
The benefits of His performance accrue to us, who have been joined to Him as one. (1 Cor. 6:17) The remaining task of those who have received the gift is to rest and trust, and to communicate the resulting joy to those around them, which is the natural response to believing that God has sent Christ, and understanding what God has actually done in doing so.
Nothing else remains to be done by us to receive God’s favor. Nothing.
Since life is no longer a performance test for us, we are free, free indeed, as Christ said, from the worries, pressures, and anxieties of death, and even of life, because our eternal destiny, and our present acceptance before God, is secure. Moreover, if it is true that the Creator of the Universe has agreed in fact not only to pardon us, but, what is more, much more, to become, in truth, our Father once we accept the amnesty offer, then what shall we worry about in life knowing who our Father really is?
Think about it. How much does your own young child worry about life knowing he has you as a Daddy. Must he perform to receive your acceptance, your love? How much better a Daddy might our Father in heaven be?
The ultimate response to the Gospel of those who honestly seek the truth, once understood, is always, ultimately, not performance but rest, peace, and joy – a joy that can never be taken away because the truths upon which it depends are eternal, and secured by the very reputation and word of the Creator of the Universe himself.
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