In a recent sermon I mentioned that this is the 500th
anniversary this year of the European Reformation. On October 31, 1517 a monk in Germany by the
name of Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the local church calling
for an academic debate on them. At
least, that is how the story came to be told.
What is clear is that Luther’s challenge to the system of
indulgences went ‘viral’. Luther
challenged the idea that the Pope had the authority or ability to release
people from ‘purgatory’ so buying bits of paper in order to get friends and
relatives released early was a complete waste of time and money. Ultimately, the Reformation wasn’t about
abstract theological ideas: it was about
authority.
But behind the challenge to authority there were theological
ideas and in the coming years, Luther was to spell them out. These ideas, at least as far as Luther was
concerned, were anything but abstract.
They came from intense personal experience.
Luther had been destined to become a lawyer. This was what his father had planned for
him. (Some things don’t change!) Then one day, on a journey, he was caught in
a storm and feared for his life. He
promised St Anne that if she were to save him, he would become a monk. He did live and he honoured his promise.
Being a monk, however, did not make him happy. He took the whole business seriously – some
including his confessor – felt too seriously.
He wanted to please God, but never felt good enough or that he could do
enough to please God. When he came
across the phrase the ‘righteousness of God’, it only served to remind him of
how unrighteous he was.
Then while preparing lectures on St Paul’s Letter to the
Romans, he came to see that the righteousness of God wasn’t about condemning
sinners, but offering them the opportunity to be forgiven for their sins,
freely, without having to do anything except have faith and trust in
Christ.
No need then for pilgrimages, confessions, religious acts
and devotions, good works, penances and all the other things that were part of
medieval religion. The discovery changed
his life and was to change Europe and the world.
The doctrine of ‘justification by faith and not works’ was
to become central to Protestantism. This
the Protestants believed was the message of the New Testament and the
Bible. ‘God forgave our sins in Jesus’
name’ - as we shall sing later in the service.
It is an amazing message and it has brought freedom and liberation to
many. It is celebrated in many of the
hymns we sing, for example, ‘Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a
wretch like me…’
Nowadays there is no argument over it. What was once a source of division between
Catholics and Protestants is so no longer.
If you were to put a Catholic, Lutheran, and Anglican in a room and get
them to discuss justification by faith, there would be little disagreement
between them. Indeed, I would argue that
a radical version of justification by faith is the present message of all the
churches.
What we preach is that Jesus is an inclusive, welcoming,
forgiving, and accepting Saviour. It
doesn’t matter who you are, where you have come from, or what you have done,
Jesus loves and welcomes and accepts you.
In some versions of the message, we drop the whole ‘Saviour forgiving
sins’ bit. Jesus is not the sort of
person to condemn us for what we have done: after all, who is to say what is
right or wrong?
Now I don’t want to spoil the party, and I like the idea
that I don’t have to worry about what I have done as much as anyone. Clearly, as Luther discovered, the New
Testament does tell us that God forgives us our sins and that it is all about
his grace made available to us through faith (we will talk more about this when
we study Ephesians).
Luther discovered justification by faith while studying
Romans. The problem, however, is that
while Romans undoubtedly teaches justification by faith, it also teaches
judgment by works. In Romans, God is a
God who gets angry with sin and while he forgives those who turn to him by
faith in Christ, he punishes those who fail to live as he requires.
Take, for example, this passage from chapter 2:
‘For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those
who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will
give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the
truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and
distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory
and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the
Greek. For God shows no partiality.’ (Romans 2:6-11)
It is perhaps not surprising that these verses, and others
like them in Romans, cause huge problems for those seeking to write
commentaries on the letter. We know that
human works do not count. The trouble is
that there are many passages in both Romans and the rest of the New Testament
where it seems that they do.
All of which brings us to this morning’s passage from 1 Corinthians
3.
You will remember that the Corinthians were dividing into
the ancient equivalent of fan clubs around various Christian leaders. In dealing with the problem, St Paul
diplomatically avoids talking about St Peter and instead discusses himself and
Apollos who is part of his circle. He
discusses their respective roles in ministering to the Corinthians.
St Paul says that he planted, that is he established the
Church, while Apollos watered, that is help it to grow. Each St Paul says will one day find their
work judged and will be rewarded accordingly.
St Paul says that he has applied this teaching about our work being
judged to himself and Apollos, but it is true for all of us. As St Paul is to write subsequently to the
Corinthians:
‘For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of
Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body,
whether good or evil.’ (2 Corinthians 5:10)
This is a message we prefer to ignore or to see as a minor
part of the New Testament. However, the
idea that we will all be judged according to our works, that is, to how we have
lived our lives is central, not peripheral, to our Lord’s teaching while he was
on earth.
It is a theme of many of his parables. Yes, of course, we love the Parable of the
Prodigal Son and the story who of the Father who reaches out to his lost son
and accepts him back and forgives him despite everything he has done. We take heart from the story of the shepherd
who leaves the 99 sheep to go off in search of the one that is lost.
But what of the Parable of the Sheep and Goats where the Son
of Man separates people into sheep and goats?
Each are judged on how they have lived with the sheep who represent the
righteous inheriting eternal life, but the goats who represent those who have
failed to live as our Lord expects being sent to eternal punishment.
How, in other words, are we to hold together justification
by faith and judgement by works?
Obviously, we can’t decide this issue this morning. What we can say is that we must hold them
together. While it is tempting to favour
one at the expense of the other to do so is not to be true to the Word of
God. And while it’s easy to see why we
prefer one to the other, that doesn’t make it right.
One of my favourite TV programmes is the BBC programme, Dr
Who. I particularly like the present
incarnation of the Doctor who is played by the actor Peter Cipaldi. He is the oldest actor to play Dr Who and as
grey hair. You may be able to guess why
such a representation might appeal to me!
One of the most famous quotes of the Doctor is:
‘We are all stories in the end. Just make it a good one’.
All good stories have their ups and downs, high and low
points, happy times and sad.
‘Justification by faith’ reassures us that when we make a mess of
things, when we fail and screw up, that God will forgive us and that his
approval and love of us is not based on our works. We won’t in other words be judged on the
individual chapters, we will, however, be judged and that ought to encourage us
to take seriously how we live and what our priorities in life are.
What will be our story?
One of my favourite prayers comes from an Anglican funeral
service:
Lord, give us grace to use aright
the time that is left to us here on earth.
Lead us to repent of our sins,
the evil we have done and the good we have not done;
and strengthen us to follow the steps of your Son,
in the way that leads to the fullness of eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment