I have been marinating on a thought, and I want to try and flesh it out here.
Some people know that one of my spiritual practices is to memorize entire chapters of the Bible. I finished up memorizing each chapter of the New Testament about a year ago, and now I’m going through it again. I’m currently in the Epistles, and I’ve been thinking this thought:
The Epistles follow a basic outline. They being with a greeting; something like, “Paul, an apostle by the will of God, and Timothy our brother…to the church, or to the faithful brothers in Colossae or Ephesus or Corinth…grace and peace to you.”
The letter then goes to a bit of gratitude; something like, “We always thank God when we remember you because of your faithfulness to the gospel…”
After that, the letter gets into some theology. It usually begins with, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who…” and then Paul begins to talk about what God is doing or has done. He talks about how God loves us, and shows grace to us. He has chosen us and has forgiven us. He talks about how great God’s love is, how sovereign that He is; how he has gifted us and has shown kindness to us.
After that, the letter makes a transition. In Romans 12:1 it says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to…” In other words, Paul says, in light of all of this theology that I just presented, do this or that. Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.” Or be obedient to God, in light of all of how good God has been to you.
Each Epistle has this transition phrase from the theology part of the letter to the “do’s and don’ts" part of the letter. But the do’s and don’ts don’t exist by themselves; they are there in light of the theology. Our behavior as Christians (the second part of the letter) comes from what is true about God (the first half of the letter). Romans 2:4 says that “God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance.” Our repentance, or behavior comes from what we have learned about god in the first half of the letter. Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26 tell us that our obedience comes from our faith.
I was a youth worker for many years, and I worked with some students who were rough around the edges. I had a number of adults in the church who wanted me to focus on those do’s and don’ts from the epistles, or the 2nd half of the letter. They wanted me to talk to these students about respect for elders, and modesty, and purity. This frustrated me, because they wanted me to focus on the behavior, when these students did not yet have faith. In my mind, obedience comes from faith, but these adults, wanted obedience before faith. They wanted me to focus on the second half of the letter, when these students did not yet know the first half of the letter, that speaks of the love of God. I interact with many believers, who I would consider to be “2nd half believers.” These people operate as though the only thing that matters is the outward behavior, or the obedience to the second half of the letter.
As a chaplain, I also meet many people who seem to live only in the first half of the letter. They seem to live as though obedience doesn’t matter- only faith does. Their lives communicate that they can have a vibrant faith without showing up to church, without changing their words or destructive habits, and God is ok with all of it; He even endorses it. They seem to live as though the only thing that matters is living by the first half of the letter.
This is the thought that I have been meditating on: God wants us to be people of both the first half of the letter AND the second half of the letter.
He wants us to understand the depths of His love and grace; and for that understanding to lead us to godly living.
He wants us to know how gracious and generous that He has been to us, and then to turn and be gracious and generous to others.
He wants us to live with an understanding of how much we have been forgiven, and then choose to be a forgiver ourselves.
He doesn’t want us to live in the first half or the second half of the letter only, but to be people of the whole letter; the first half AND the second half.
James writes, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? …faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
In other words, theology without obedience is nothing.
Not only that, obedience without the theology to fuel it, is just legalism. Paul writes in Galatians, “We … know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”
I don’t know if this thought is sticking or not, but its been on my mind;
to be people of BOTH halves of the letter-
the the love and grace of the first half, and the obedience and godliness of the second half.
One is not more essential than the other; but they build on each other.
As Paul says, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”
Or since you know that you have been forgiven, choose to be a forgiver. One flows from the other.
May we be people who live out the second half of the letter in light of the first half of the letter.
God is love.
-rev-rob
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