I know the Romans outline, it always sounded to me like law first then the relief of the gospel. But I know now it’s bigger than that. Could it be that what’s missing today in our church isn’t ‘not enough Hell’ but ’not enough kindness of God’?
We still use that word repentance but we’re not doing much with it. What does it mean, where does it fit in our lives? Maybe that goes with how we’re trying to figure out how grace and law go together.
There is this ordo salutis, the way of salvation. We look at Romans 8 and enlarge it to include things that it doesn’t quite talk about. Regeneration comes before faith, God’s work before ours, that’s what Calvinist types say. But when John Murray taught us about that, it couldn’t possibly mean that there are regenerate unbelievers, that would be ‘a theological monstrosity’ at the top of his voice. He told us that the order in the ordo wasn’t in time or our experience but in logic. That was an eye opener!
Once people put repentance before faith in the ordo. You turn from sin to Christ. I’ve told you too many times about Henry Coray’s sermon when he told us we had to turn a full 360 degrees from sin to Jesus, and we wondered where that would take us. Up to date ordos usually lump them together like this: repentance/faith.
When you go back to the Reformation that makes sense. The story of most wannabe Christians just before was dismal. We just can’t live the way God wants us to, so we should try harder. We’ll never get it right though, could be God will give us credit for trying? What if we die tonight? If we’re lucky we’ve got only a few hundred more years of trying harder in purgatory to do the job.
What’s the way out? Renaissance and Reformation came along at about the same time. Renaissance said, thinking about stuff like that all the time is a waste, let’s move on to have a better life here and now. Reformation said, just stop looking so much at yourself and how you’re doing, look to your Savior Jesus Christ more and more, be extraspective.
That was a good beginning, but what do we really think about knowing his love for us, regardless? Whenever I change presbyteries I give my new brothers a little wrap-up on what I think of the Westminster Confession. I mostly take them to the assurance chapter, the one that ends with saying that even when God has taken away the light of his countenance from us, even then we’re not in a place of ‘utter despair.’ I say that’s a terrible conclusion, and that we really need another paragraph there beginning with ‘nevertheless.’ The new presbytery never gets it and is happy that I agree with all the Confession says and it doesn’t matter that it doesn’t say nearly enough.
In the days when most people were farmers so at breaks in the agricultural year you could have a week-long evangelistic meeting, Monday to Wednesday was holiness of God, a long list of biblical judgments, examining yourself really thoroughly, concluding with graphic Hell. Thursday following was a relief with the blessed gospel, for the people who got repentance right. Some people killed themselves earlier, that got the PR. Moody almost gave the gospel late Wednesday but decided to wait—oops, Chicago Fire and Thursday never happened.
That pattern doesn’t happen anymore. Who preaches Hell right now? It’s #1 topic on the liberal list of what’s wrong with us. Could be that’s part of our law grace argument, do you think? We can’t just cop out and not talk about repentance, but how?
I’m working at understanding Romans 2:4, ‘or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?’ Isn’t that about the same in the potter and clay story, 9: 22-24? ‘What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?’ The word ‘patience’ comes up again. ‘Prepared’ is not easy, but I think it talks about God’s eternal plan and how that relates to what happens now? (I need to do more work).
It’s another way of looking at everything together. Is it true that when we think about God’s holiness expressed in his law and ask ourselves, how do we measure up, that shows us our need very powerfully? Of course, and that makes the good news really Good News, doesn’t it? But can it work the other way around too? So that our hearts are so melted by finally realizing how patient and kind and loving the Lord is with us, so that we go right away to knowing how unworthy we are of love like that, so that we are finally able to recognize our sinful hearts?
That’s been part of the problem in our law/grace issue. When we hear a grace-boy talk without first doing Hell we’re sure he’s one-sided. What if when he talks we had some patience, too, and see whether he moves on to repentance? Whether his deep gratitude transfers to deep repentance?
I need to look more at the gospels. Jesus heals and feeds people without waiting for them to repent first; do I get that right? He has lunch with the rascal tax-collector Zacchaeus, and the Pharisees complain since they think they’re more worthy—and that’s when Jesus proclaims his judgment: if you think you’re righteous, get out of the doctor’s office! Is that right?
I know the Romans outline, it always sounded to me like law first then the relief of the gospel. But I know now it’s bigger than that. Could it be that what’s missing today in our church isn’t ‘not enough Hell’ but ’not enough kindness of God’?
Could we begin again by working harder on our conversations with each other? Of course Cardinal baseball is big, and weather and who’s sick. But what about doing this, saying to each other, did you ever look at this verse, did you know Jesus did that for us too, isn’t that amazing? If we shared God’s kindness with each other, what might happen, do you think?
Dr. D. Clair Davis, lives in Philadelphia, Penn., is a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America, and is a Professor Emeritus of Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia.