Friends, If the death and resurrection of Jesus – and our salvation – was all such a great “free gift” from God, why are we always talking about it as a payment? Some thoughts.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #852

March 14, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Delightful Gift, Part 1

By Bob Walters

“Delight is what distinguishes a gift from a payment.” – Ephraim Radner, First Things

It is a Christian no-brainer that our eternal salvation is a gift from God.

We cannot buy salvation.  We cannot earn it or work for it.  We cannot trade for it, debate for it, bargain for it, beg for it, or pay for it.  Heck, before Jesus, humanity didn’t even know to ask for it.  

In the Bible we find the only road to it; we have to “believe” for it: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of your own doing; it is a gift from God, not a result of works...” (Ephesians 2:8). God’s grace and love save us, through Jesus.

And then, we have to love for it. Jesus commanded, on multiple occasions, to love God and love others.  Paul writes, “… If I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2).  Faith, and love … Godly salvation.

The gift of salvation is Christianity 101.  Without faith in Jesus, we are sinners far from God.  With faith in Jesus, we are sinners close to God.  It is a closeness granted to us by the grace of God; we are restored and covered by the righteousness of Jesus. 

We know salvation because there exist in this life – a life of faith in Jesus – the prayerful “heavenly realms” of faith and love that tease and peak and promise relief from our sins, witness the truth of God’s righteousness, and reveal the purpose of Jesus’s life on earth: His mission to restore fallen humanity to our Creator’s Kingdom.

That is the gift: truth in relationship with Jesus and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit now, and grace and salvation in the assurance of God’s love eternally.  It is a gift; we know it.  The Bible never says “pay for it.”  The Bible never punishes us for it.

But that brings up the points – P Points – that are today’s bullseye: purchase, price, payment, and punishment as they regard our faith, salvation, and Jesus’s mission. Salvation is an expression of God’s love; yet we regularly make it a profaned expression of earthly, consumerist transaction in monetary or punitive terms.

How? Well, even though we would all agree it is a free gift and by grace, listen to how salvation is constantly characterized and marketed in churches, sermons, hymns, and virtually all modern and therapeutic Christian theology: “Jesus purchased us.” “Jesus paid a price for us.”  “Jesus paid our debt.”  “Jesus was punished for our sins.”

Really?  Find any of those specific things in the Bible. As general metaphors they work because our modern culture – commercial, moral, judicial – is based on all value requiring payment, and all wrongs requiring restitution.  But that’s not grace; it’s a picture of guilt-ridden, “get-even” transaction that interrupts God’s work of love and faith.

Grace isn’t Jesus “paying a price”; grace is Jesus loving us and obeying God.

Punished?  Crucifixion was a punishment, yes, but Jesus was murdered by those who hated what He said about God’s grace.  Jesus’ death opened our door to heaven. 

If humans understand the loving work of Jesus as only a “paid” transaction, you can be sure humans will try to keep score … on their own judgmental human terms.  No way will that equate to the divine justice of God’s Book of Life or mercy seat of heaven.

My advice?  Delight in the Lord’s grace and live with joy, neither measuring a mythical payment plan nor fearing punishment.  The difference is eternal.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) will fill in some blanks next week.  For now: prove him wrong.