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BY THE AUTHOR
Dr. W. Robert Cook, Th.D
Internal conformity unto his habitual grace and holiness,
is the fundamental design of a Christian life.
That which is the best without it, is a pretended imitation
of his example in outward duties of obedience.
I call it pretended, because
where the first design is wanting,
it is no more but so;
nor is it acceptable unto Christ,
nor approved by him.
And therefore an attempt unto that end
hath often issued in formality, hypocrisy, and superstition.
John Owen (1616-1683)
I. The Governing Principle for Christian Living
While it may seem that the subject matter of this section of study now moves from faith (matters of doctrinal belief) to practice (matters of experiential Christianity) we should note at the outset that such thinking is decidedly unbiblical. Scripture does not divorce Christian living from Christian believing. The foundational principles of Christian living are theological (that is, God-oriented).
A. The Standard Established
1. The sovereignty of God
God is creator and sustainer of the universe and all that is therein. His kingdom rules over all (Ps. 103:19). He establishes the character of truth and determines ultimate standards of right and wrong. His truthfulness establishes the trustworthiness of his word and his holiness establishes the morality set forth therein.
2. The holiness of God
Throughout every age God's standard is invariable—his own holy character (Lev. 11:44-45; 1 Pet. 1:15-16). T his standard applies to man despite the fact that he is a finite creature and a sinner.
Because of sin man is not completely rational in all his choices and evaluation (while because of grace he is not completely irrational, either). For this reason his systems of ethics and theology tend to be unreliable. His loves, beliefs and decisions tend to be egocentric. Self-love and self-will tend to mar and/or destroy his philanthropic and agapeic concerns and efforts. When his ethic is situational or his theology is existential it is relative rather than absolute. The reference point determinant is himself, a depraved sinner, rather than a holy and changeless God.
B. The Enablement Provided
God has made provision to meet his own standard through the enablement of the indwelling Holy Spirit. It is the believer's responsibility to yield himself to his control (John 14:16-17, 26; 16:13; Rom. 6:14; 8:1-11; Gal. 5:16-18; Eph. 5:18). All the privileges of liberty in Christ, all the righteous exhortations arising from the laws of God, all the responsibilities that are ours because of his love will go unrealized apart from the holy control of the Holy Spirit and the absolute mastery of the Lord Christ.
C. The Purpose Stated
The fact that God has saved us by grace and given us a perfect standing in Christ (Heb. 10:10, 14) by grace has removed the obligation to gain merit from being a legitimate motive in the Christian life. Because we have received of his grace .our response and desire is to live a life that responds in love to his grace. The purpose, then, is to manifest our gracious salvation because we want to not because we have to.
D. The Result Noted
God the Father has chosen to deal with his family on the basis of an economy of grace. For practical purposes we may describe this economy of grace by means of a contrast. Instead of motivating his children to honor the family name by saying, "do, and I will love and bless you," God has said, "I have loved and blessed you, therefore, do." He followed the same pattern in salvation, for he did not say, "Be good and I will save you,” but, he said, "I will save you that you may be good."
The response to life that this approach to family government is calculated to call forth is one of spontaneous love and service. It is no longer a matter of saying I will love and serve because I must, or that I may boast, or that I may gain; but, rather, I will do these things out of genuine thankfulness for having been loved and served and a genuine desire to impart this love and service.
The institution of such a plan involves an immeasurable advantage and, from a human standpoint at least, some risks. The advantage is that each member of God's family is thus freed from the anxiety of maintaining status or of gaining merit and thus may direct his whole energy to the best performance of the family business viz., the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). The element of risk arises out of the fact that it is the most sacred things in life which may be most profaned. The dangers are that some may interpret this gracious liberty as an invitation to license and that others may attempt to hedge it in with legalism.
The consequences of the application of the economy of grace are several.
1. The freedom of grace reserves the proper meaning of intellectual freedom
It guards against intellectual legalism, on the one hand, which would make learning purely a matter of indoctrination, cut off the right of inquiry, and stifle any tendency toward creativity. This extreme may be avoided because grace assures the believer that the pursuit of truth does not lead over a precipice or into a blind alley, but into new vistas of the God of all truth.
On the other hand, grace prevents intellectual freedom from degenerating into intellectual license which would make learning a wholesale exposure to the speculations, doubts, and uncertainties of great minds with the end result being skepticism and despair. Grace enables us to avoid this danger because it teaches us that genuine liberty which leads to genuine maturity is based upon the existence of eternal truths and values which are administered with divine authority.
2. The freedom of grace preserves the proper meaning of social freedom
The Christian who operates within an economy of grace need not be threatened with social ostracism for failure to fulfill a merit system, nor will he threaten the freedom of the society by a failure to act in a responsible way. Grace is wrongly understood when it is interpreted as the absence of ruling principles or rules proper. Thus, the proper response to grace is a matter of motivation and enablement in addition to a decision of will I live by the rules or not.
This means that living by grace involves a what, for grace incorporates certain rules; it involves a why, for grace provides the "I want to keep the rules because of what I have received" attitude rather than the "I must keep the rules in order to receive" attitude; it involves a how, for grace cannot operate apart from the energizing of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
3. The freedom of grace fosters a true spirituality rather than a spiritually of necessity, convenience or snugness
It will prevent Christian love from becoming laxness, or sentimentality and it will keep holiness from becoming carping criticism or unapproachable superciliousness. It provides an atmosphere in which the Holy Spirit can operate without hindrance and thus conform the Christian to the image of Christ. Thus, the religious and spiritual life of the believer becomes a matter of divine regimentation rather than human.
II. The Problem of Doubtful Things
Throughout the history of the church it has been recognized that along with the doctrines of the faith surely to be believed there is a category of reality which may be classified as being indifferent (adiaphora). These are matters about which specific instruction is not given and yet concerning which decisions must be made in the course of day-to-day living. As Ryrie observes, "many things the Christian faces are under some circumstances right and under others wrong. This is because the thing itself ... is not right or wrong—it is without morality; or sometimes it is because a right thing may become wrong under certain circumstances or within certain relationships." [i]
A. Introductory Considerations
1. Definition of terms
In the process of arriving at guidelines or principles to apply in the face of decisions about appropriate Christian conduct regarding the biblically unspecified it will be well to have a common understanding of certain key terms.
a) Love
That God-prompted and enabled activity of the human personality which moves us to communicate goodness to another with wisdom and warmth. It is deliberate, intelligent, and with passion (Eph. 5:1-2; 1 Pet. 1:22).
b) Lust
Inordinate desire which when it is others-oriented issues in sentimentalism and when it is self-oriented issues in self-indulgence. Sentimentalism may be construed as an attitude which confuses giving no offense (i.e., giving no occasion for stumbling) with not being offensive (i.e., the “I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings” complex).
c) Law
A rule of action or established principle for personal conduct set forth by God (Rom. 8:1-4; 1 Cor. 9:21).
d) Legalism
A fleshly attitude which conforms to a code for the purpose of exalting self or gaining merit.
e) Liberty
Freedom to do the will of God as the result of being released from the bondage of sin and the law (i.e., the Old Testament rule of life not the general concept of law as set forth above) (John 8:31-36; Gal. 5:1-4).
f) License
Anarchy or the disregard for standards in relation to personal conduct.
2. The doubtless distinguished from the doubtful
The Word of God written is the product of the breath of God and is profitable for both doctrine and discipline in righteousness. Being inspired the scriptures are wholly true and wholly trustworthy. Consequently, they are authoritative, that is, binding and normative for Christian belief and life. Thus, when the Bible gives specific instruction on a matter that is the final answer. There is no room for debate, dialogue, question or equivocation.
a) The doubtless
Several things may be noted, by way of example, which must be believed because clearly specified by scripture:
i. In doctrine—the deity of Christ is affirmed (John 1:1);
ii. In morals—fornication is sin (1 Thess. 4:3; 1 Cor. 6:18);
iii. In ethics—preaching the gospel by means of deceptive techniques is wrong (1 Thess. 2:3-6).
b) The doubtful (non-doctrinal, non-moral) matters
Even when the scriptures do not make direct pronouncement on matters of Christian conduct, there are certain biblical principles which must be brought to bear and which are equally authoritative with the above-mentioned items because they are equally inspired. The need for such principles is illustrated by the following, using the previously given definition of terms:
i. The danger license—an extreme. License constitutes an imbalance in the exercise of Christian liberty.
ii. The danger of legalism—an extreme. Legalism is an imbalance in the application of divine law.
iii. Love-limited liberty—a balance. When isolated and made to carry the whole load as a basis for conduct, liberty, law, and love (all biblical concepts) are inevitably perverted. Love tends to become lust; law tends toward legalism, and liberty toward license. Freedom in Christ must be tempered by love and grace. Grace is not lawless, on the one hand, nor legalistic, on the other. There is a law of love which limits Christian conduct. Grace is disciplined and orderly. The Christian is truly free, but his freedom is ordered by holy precept and disciplined by divine love (see Rom. 6:22; 8:2; 1 Cor. 9:19; Gal. 5:1-3, 13; Titus 2:11-13).
B. The Principles to Apply
There are three questions to ask which are answered by a series of principles.
1. How will a given course of conduct affect me?
a) The principle of excess (Heb. 12:1; cf. 1 Cor. 9:24-27)
i. As regarding a weight with a runner, so regarding certain practices with a Christian the question may be asked, is it a help or a hindrance?
ii. The principle of expedience (1 Cor. 6:12a). It is a question whether things lawful are always profitable or useful.
iii. The principle of enslavement (1 Cor. 6:12b). Who or what is in the position of control in my life?
2. How will a given course of conduct affect others?
In answering this question we must remember that others includes other Christians and the unbelieving.
a) Fellow-believers
1) The principle of example (1 Cor. 8:13)
This principle, in turn, is based on several others:
i. The principle of freedom in Christ (Rom. 14:1-12, esp. vv. 3-4, 12). "Each one of us shall give account of himself to God."
ii. The principle of body-consciousness or love which gives no offense (Rom. 14:13-21; cf. 1 Cor. 8:1-13; 12:14, 25-26). This is a form of Christian nobles oblige, that is, nobility obligates. High birth (being in the family of God) brings an obligation of honorable and generous behavior.
iii. The principle of having a clear conscience (Rom. 14:22-23). "Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin."
iv. The principle of surrendering our own rights for another's good (Rom. 15:1-3; 1 Cor. 10:32-33). "Now we who are strong ought to bear the weak- nesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves."
2) The principle of edification (1 Cor. 10:23)
Even though lawful, will a given matter build up my sister or brother in Christ?
b) The unsaved
i. The principle of evangelism (1 Cor. 9:19-22; 10:27-29; Col. 4:5). In any given action my witness to "outsiders" must be considered.
3. How will a given course of conduct affect God?
i. The principle of exaltation (Rom. 15:4-13; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 10:31). Will my action glorify God, i.e., will it manifest his character?
ii. The principle of emulation (Eph. 5:1-21; 1 John 2:6). Does this matter enable me to imitate his (Christ's) walk in mine?
In the larger kingdom purposes of God the church is a wonder of his gracious creative handiwork. As with Israel of old so with the church, God has loved her despite herself (cf. Deut. 7:7-8; Eph. 5:25-27). As the body of Christ she is responsible to submit to the leadership of the head and to care for the needs of the members of the body through the nurture provided by the head. Although the church is not the final stage in the unfolding of God's kingdom purposes she enjoys the privilege of an intimacy of relationship with the King which will not be exceeded short of the New Jerusalem.
Finally, in concluding Part Six—Ecclesiology, we must refocus our attention upon Christ the head of the church, the savior of the body (Eph. 5:23). It is he, and he alone, that gives her existence, meaning, direction and destiny. What glory will be hers in her day of presentation is because she is his (Eph. 5:27). The freely bestowed grace she enjoys is hers because she is "in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6). We need not wait for that eschatological day to join with the angels in saying, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing" (Rev. 5:12). As Samuel Rutherford wrote,
Our love to Him should begin on earth; as it shall be in heaven; for the bride taketh not by a thousand degrees so much delight in her wedding-garment as she doth in her bridegroom; so we, in the life to come, howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much affected with the glory that goeth about us, as with the Bridegroom's joyful face and presence. [ii]
The Bride eyes not her garment,
but her dear Bridegroom's face:
I will not gaze at glory,
but on my King of grace-
Not at the crown he giveth,
but on his pierced hand:
The Lamb is all the glory
of Immanuel's land.
(Anne Cousin)
[i] Charles C. Ryrie, Balancing The Christian Life, p. 154
[ii] Samuel Rutherford, Selections From the Loveliness of Christ
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12.13.07