they come on strong
& it ain't too long...
Whenever the grace of God in Jesus Christ is spoken of with any real vim or vigor, the same objections are always invariably raised. “If it’s all just grace,” goes the first protest, “then why did God give the law in the first place.” And the second objection is like it. “Well then,” goes this line of reasoning, “if keeping the law doesn’t set us right with God, then it must be opposed to the promises of God.”
However, so says Saint Paul, both ways of thinking know nothing about how the law, OR the gospel, really works in real life. And, as someone all too familiar with such quibbling, Paul knows these complaints will come up. As such, he preemptively addresses them before anyone can even make the case.
First, explains Saint Paul, the law was never how God planned to deal with us. The law's not original. It was added. And what’s more, it wasn’t added for righteousness’ sake. No, the law was added because of transgressions.
The law has two functions. The first is for keeping sin in check. At its best, the law serves to keep the disorder of sin under control. The law is for order, law and order. And it tends to work in this capacity, too. You can thank the law for the traffic enforcements that kept you safe on your way here.
And the second purpose of the law is to help us see ourselves clearly. Without the law, we tend to fool ourselves into thinking we’re more virtuous, altruistic, and faithful than we really are. But when we honestly measure ourselves up against the tall order of the law, we finally grasp how far short we’ve fallen from God’s ideal. The law isn’t opposed to the promises of God. On the contrary, it shows our need for them!
This is important, so make sure you’re getting it! The law isn’t at odds with the gospel! It serves different purposes! In its positive function, the law promotes law and order. And in its unpleasant function, at least at first, the law drives us to Christ! The law teaches us to truly sing, “Precious Lord, take my hand!”
The mistake we always make is to think that, as it is on earth, so it is in heaven. But that’s to turn the Lord’s Prayer upside-down! Yes, the law helps keep things running smoothly on this side of eternity. But when it comes to God’s word, which forever shall abide, working the law is always tantamount to pouring cold water on the fire of the gospel!
Like the folks in Galatia, we always think we ought to straighten up and fly right now that we’ve found God. And while that may seem well and good, Paul wants us to know such actions don’t bear witness to the gospel. On the contrary, they really undermine it!
Like the Galatians, we always think grace is like any other boon on this side of life. As such, we imagine it’s our JOB not to blow it. Or, at least, be grateful enough for it. What Paul knows, though, is that doing so is to take the gift of the gospel and turn it into a contract. “God has given me ‘x,’ so now I’ll repay God with ‘y,’ we wager.
However, Saint Paul points out, such logic is contractual. It’s the language of the law. And like dirty oil to baptismal waters, it doesn’t mix with the gospel!
Any expectation you add to the gospel, be it reforming your life or just being thankful enough, is to take the shouts of acclamation of how great Thou art and turn it into nothing more than petty tongue clucking and finger-wagging. And the net effect of all this is to make the gospel into nothing more than one more bit of unsolicited advice!
What makes the gospel the Gospel is that it's really Good News! That it comes with no strings attached! That it’s given without consideration for qualification or potential of repayment! That’s what we mean when we say God’s love is unconditional! It comes with no prerequisites or caveats!
This is also, by the way, what the English word “gospel” means! Gospel comes to us from the Greek word “eu-angelion.” It’s where we get the word evangelical.
The “eu” prefix at the beginning of the word is the same as the “eu” in words like EU-logy and EU-phemish. Eulogy, meaning the “good word” spoken at a funeral. And euphemism, meaning a “good way” of expressing something instead of being overly direct.
And the word “angelion” that makes up the rest of ev-angelical is where we get the word “angel!” And angel simply means messenger! So an “eu-angelion” or “ev-angelion” is a message that is good!
The gospel is the shockingly good message that in Jesus Christ, every last qualification for God’s approval has been met once and for all! Therefore, all those ways we try and earn God’s acceptance are not only superfluous, they’re also unwarranted! Trying to wrench something we must do to deserve the gospel or not mess it up is to deny the very nature of the gospel! It’s to turn good news into one more stale bit of instruction.
And to this perennial mistake, Paul throws down the gauntlet. Any and every last thing you might try and do to show how worthy you are of God’s love has been laid to rest in Jesus’ empty tomb! When God gives the goods in Jesus Christ, God doesn’t hold back! God isn’t waiting for you to get it together or be thankful enough before God’s going to give with both hands!
That, by the way, is what’s newsworthy about the message of “Good News!” For something to really be news, it must have an impact on your life. For instance, the stock report is just information. Unless that is, stock you own just took a dive. In that case, the news is decidedly bad.
On the other hand, if the report is that stock you own just went through the roof, then the news is good—albeit news that is always doomed to be contingent upon the next stock report. After all, today’s gains could be tomorrow’s losses.
The news of the gospel, though, knows no such uncertainty! This is what we mean when we say God’s love is unconditional! It’s not just that it comes with no strings attached. Although, of course, that is part of it. And it’s not just that God’s love knows no end, either. Although that’s part of it, too! No, what it means that God’s love is unconditional is that it’s not conditioned by the contingencies of life!
At the resurrection, Christ stood on the other side of death, and from there he made some promises unaffected by Death’s sting! What makes the gospel the Gospel is that it’s news that impacts your life! And the news of the gospel is that your life is no longer an endless series of to-dos! In Jesus Christ, your life is now an unbroken chain of promises!
The gospel takes that finish line we’re all trying to reach and simply brings it to you! We all want to hear God say, “well done, good and faithful servant.” And on account of being clothed in Christ’s death and resurrection at your baptism, that’s already been said over you! And so much more, too!
It’s like the Wizard of Oz. Remember that movie? The story of farm girl Dorothy who longs for exotic locals and thrilling escapades instead of her humdrum life on the family farm. Then, after she’s knocked out by debris from a Kansas twister, Dorothy dreams of a high adventure in the wonderful Land of Oz.
It ends with Dorothy waking up in her own bed, surrounded by her own family. Looking around, she stutters, “and you were there, and you were there, too!” At last, Dorothy realizes she’s had all the ingredients of the life she’s dreamt of all along!
And that’s how it is for you on account of the gospel! By the Pentecost winds that blew at your baptism, you’ve been lifted up and plopped down into the glorious world of justification. And what’s more, there’s nothing you must do to merit your place here! And there’s nothing you can do to lose it, either!
Sure, you can forfeit it with a bunch of unnecessary shoulds and oughts. But why would you want to do that? Wouldn’t you rather just go out there and enjoy it? The parables Jesus loved to tell would seem to endorse that. Don’t they?
Turning something as great as God’s unconditional love into something as small as an obligation to earn it or at least not to blow it is not only missing the point, it’s missing the party! And wouldn’t you rather just get in on the act of all that merrymaking?!?
With that, we’re hit upon the very heartbeat of grace! That eternal one-way love of God! The love that comes to you the same way right now as it did at the first, and as it will at the last, too! Unbidden and unearned!
And if that’s not news that isn’t good, I don’t know what is. You ARE loved. And loved all the way, too! And this love is not only your joy, it’s ALSO your crown!
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