Monday, July 30, 2018
611 - Faith, Fear, and Freedom
Spirituality Column #611
July 31, 2018
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary
Faith, Fear, and
Freedom
By Bob Walters
“…The only thing that
counts is faith expressing itself through love.” – Galatians 5:6
Will we behave and feel better – morally, civilly, intellectually, spiritually – because we love and respect something, or because we are afraid of and dread something?
I wonder about this because while the answer seems to be obvious – love is better than fear; relationship is better than abandonment – the great Christian argument about faith vs. works winds up on both sides of the same coin. Our thoughts and hearts vs. our actions and intentions define the world’s joys and miseries. It is nearly impossible for most people to rest in their faith alone, or to think works and behaviors don’t matter. Whither salvation and the Kingdom of God?
The Bible’s argument – the example of Jesus and the truth of the New Testament – resides in faith that Jesus is the resurrected son of God and in love that is spiritually animated in us by Christ’s creation, humanity, and authority (John 3:16, 5:24, etc.).
Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, cited above, is an entire book explaining the superiority of faith over works; specifically, faith in Christ over obedience to the Law. Or more specifically, really, Galatians is Paul’s bombshell lobbed at the Jews who continued to insist that Jesus was under the authority of the Law rather than the other way around; Jesus fulfilled the law, His person was the law, and Christ Himself held and holds “all authority in Heaven and on Earth” (Matthew 28:18). His followers were freed by God from the legalistic shackles of coerced, works-dependent religious slavery.
Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Americans stumble and read this as civics, but Paul is talking about freedom in Christ and slaves to the Hebrew Law, not the U.S. Constitution and the past slavery of the American south.
We bring up civics here both because of the religious freedom aspects of our U.S. government and the often negative effect of religion on civil liberty. It is an endless political topic: what to do with faith and works in the public square? In anything short of heaven on the one hand, or an iron-fisted monarchy / dictatorship on the other, the “God-shaped hole” in the human heart leads the single-soul toward freedom, and leads humanity’s fallen nature toward fearful self- survival. In other words, I’m comfortable with “my” truth but “your” truth scares me. If I have so much as an ounce of freedom or, conversely, a sliver of fear or doubt, my faith – as it crosses hopes, promises, and swords with yours – causes civic havoc. Early America saw a lot of that.
Our founding fathers discerned, rightly, that civics and religion need to be protected from each other. They knew that only a moral, loving heart allows civic freedom; and religion best promoting love of others and trust in God rises on its own.
We needn’t fear each other’s faith, but simply trust our own. Human freedom depends on understanding that freedom is originally a gracious gift-of-God thing, not a legal gift-of-government (or man) thing. If we’d all just behave like it, we’d all feel better.
That’s what Jesus was trying to tell the World.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) trusts Jesus, loves others, and always votes.
Will we behave and feel better – morally, civilly, intellectually, spiritually – because we love and respect something, or because we are afraid of and dread something?
I wonder about this because while the answer seems to be obvious – love is better than fear; relationship is better than abandonment – the great Christian argument about faith vs. works winds up on both sides of the same coin. Our thoughts and hearts vs. our actions and intentions define the world’s joys and miseries. It is nearly impossible for most people to rest in their faith alone, or to think works and behaviors don’t matter. Whither salvation and the Kingdom of God?
The Bible’s argument – the example of Jesus and the truth of the New Testament – resides in faith that Jesus is the resurrected son of God and in love that is spiritually animated in us by Christ’s creation, humanity, and authority (John 3:16, 5:24, etc.).
Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, cited above, is an entire book explaining the superiority of faith over works; specifically, faith in Christ over obedience to the Law. Or more specifically, really, Galatians is Paul’s bombshell lobbed at the Jews who continued to insist that Jesus was under the authority of the Law rather than the other way around; Jesus fulfilled the law, His person was the law, and Christ Himself held and holds “all authority in Heaven and on Earth” (Matthew 28:18). His followers were freed by God from the legalistic shackles of coerced, works-dependent religious slavery.
Galatians 5:1 says, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by the yoke of slavery.” Americans stumble and read this as civics, but Paul is talking about freedom in Christ and slaves to the Hebrew Law, not the U.S. Constitution and the past slavery of the American south.
We bring up civics here both because of the religious freedom aspects of our U.S. government and the often negative effect of religion on civil liberty. It is an endless political topic: what to do with faith and works in the public square? In anything short of heaven on the one hand, or an iron-fisted monarchy / dictatorship on the other, the “God-shaped hole” in the human heart leads the single-soul toward freedom, and leads humanity’s fallen nature toward fearful self- survival. In other words, I’m comfortable with “my” truth but “your” truth scares me. If I have so much as an ounce of freedom or, conversely, a sliver of fear or doubt, my faith – as it crosses hopes, promises, and swords with yours – causes civic havoc. Early America saw a lot of that.
Our founding fathers discerned, rightly, that civics and religion need to be protected from each other. They knew that only a moral, loving heart allows civic freedom; and religion best promoting love of others and trust in God rises on its own.
We needn’t fear each other’s faith, but simply trust our own. Human freedom depends on understanding that freedom is originally a gracious gift-of-God thing, not a legal gift-of-government (or man) thing. If we’d all just behave like it, we’d all feel better.
That’s what Jesus was trying to tell the World.
Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) trusts Jesus, loves others, and always votes.