Where’s Jesus?

By John Page

In 2007, the Barna Group published a study of perceptions of Christianity among 16- to 29-year-old Americans.[1]  They found that among young non-Christians, 87% perceive Christianity as judgmental, and 85% as hypocritical.  Even among young Christians, about half agreed that Christianity is judgmental and hypocritical.[2]  The researchers found that one of the most frequent unprompted observations by both Christians and non-Christians was that "Christianity in today’s society no longer looks like Jesus."[3]  Little wonder, if nearly 9 out of 10 non-Christians describe Christianity with the same terms Jesus himself used to characterize his antagonists. 

Do these perceptions matter to us?  They ought to, precisely because the church’s commission[4] is to make disciples of all peoples by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ.  If proclamation is our task, clarity of proclamation is no trivial consideration.  And what we “do” is every bit as important as what we “say”, because our conduct will proclaim as loudly as – if not louder than – our words.

If the church is the body of Christ, shouldn’t Jesus be more visible among us?  Shouldn’t Jesus’ antagonists be less visible among us?  If so, we might start by examining what makes Jesus recognizable. 

Jesus and the Kingdom of God

According to the Gospels, Jesus inaugurated his public ministry by proclaiming that the kingdom of God had come near – which we are told is good news – and inviting people to turn their lives around and believe the good news.[5]  His proclamation included teachings about the nature of God’s kingdom, tangible signs of the kingdom’s presence, and its consequences for people’s lives.  But why would the nearness of God’s kingdom be “good news”?

Actually, it wasn’t good news to everyone.  But, for those living with hunger and abject poverty, for those tormented by chronic sicknesses or demons, for those grieving untimely deaths, for those treated as disposable human commodities, for those who longed for justice in a despotic society – for those people, the nearness of God’s kingdom was welcome good news.  In Jesus’ teachings which we know as the Beatitudes, we are told:

-          Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. (Luke 6:20; Matthew 5:3 reads “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”)

-          Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. (Luke 6:21a; Matthew 5:6 reads “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”)

-          Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. (Luke 6:21b; Matthew 5:4 reads “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”)

-          Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man.  Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets. (Luke 6:22; Matthew 5:11-12 reads “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”)

-          Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

-          Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. (Matthew 5:7)

-          Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. (Matthew 5:8)

-          Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9)

-          Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:10)

According to Jesus, people should expect a radically different and abundant life in the kingdom of God.  The differences will lie precisely in the reversal or abolition of abusive and unjust conditions, in relief from grief and suffering, and in a new understanding of what it means to be blessed.  We sometimes refer to popular, powerful, wealthy, or otherwise fortunate people – as defined by the conventional standards of our world – as “blessed”, but according to Jesus, in the kingdom of God, blessedness and God’s favor belong to others: the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the persecuted, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers.

And the kingdom of God is near.  Jesus did not proclaim some distant “new society” far off into the future or in another life.  Jesus accompanied his proclamation with tangible signs of God’s reign breaking into the world here and now, including healings, casting out demons[6], feeding the hungry, and raising the dead.  Jesus relieved people’s afflictions and restored them to community[7].  And Jesus sent his disciples to do the same thing:

Then Jesus called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. (Luke 9:1-2)

After this, the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.  He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!'  And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you.  Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid.  Do not move about from house to house.  Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you.' (Luke 10:1-9)[8] 

With words and tangible evidence, both Jesus and his disciples proclaimed the nearness of God’s kingdom here and now.

As noted before, not everyone greeted this proclamation as good news.  For those who only see life in categories of “winners” and “losers”, where “blessings” are in short supply and have to be rationed and hoarded, the nearness of God’s kingdom poses a serious threat.  The Beatitudes suggest a reversal of fortunes, and the wealthy fear for their wealth; the powerful for their power; the influential for their influence; and the privileged for their privilege.  Fear of becoming one of the “losers” leads to desperate actions, and in the case of Jesus and many of his disciples, that fear could only be placated with the decisive end of the so-called “good news” and those who proclaimed it.  Jesus was not the first Jewish “messiah” – nor the last – and experience taught the fearful that an appropriately gruesome and humiliating death[9] for messianic leaders effectively buried their messages with their corpses.

But Jesus’ resurrection frustrated the purposes of the fearful.  By raising Jesus from the dead, God effectively vindicated Jesus’ mission, Jesus’ proclamation that God’s kingdom has come near, and Jesus’ teachings about the consequences of God’s kingdom for humankind and for all of creation.[10]  The new community that Jesus created with his disciples was called to embody the risen Jesus and to continue his mission to all people.[11]

The Disciples

Before his crucifixion, Jesus gave his disciples a “new commandment”:

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)

By mutual love, Jesus’ disciples make Jesus’ presence known.  What’s more, the disciples are to love one another as Jesus loved them.  Often misunderstood and much abused, “love” as Jesus loved is no sentimental indulgence.  Jesus’ love was intentional under the most revolting – and risky – circumstances[12].  For Jesus and his disciples, it wasn’t just about feeling love; it was about doing love.

But Jesus’ love is not constrained exclusively within the community of believers; disciples are to love their neighbors – all neighbors – as well.  Love manifest is the sine qua non of the kingdom of God and of the kingdom’s proclamation.  Love lies at the heart of the Beatitudes, and it is the foundation upon which the entire law of God is established.

When the Pharisees heard that [Jesus] had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"  He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:34-40)

Jesus’ disciples are to love one another and all people as Jesus loves them.  By this, the kingdom of God is proclaimed with words and actions.  By this, everyone will know them to be Jesus’ disciples.  By this, everyone will see Jesus among his disciples.

St. Paul referred to the community of believers – the church – as the body of Christ.[13]   Paul’s frequent allusions to the body of Christ were addressed to churches struggling to embody the risen Jesus in their communities.  The first century believers were known to divide into factions, to treat each other inhospitably and carelessly, to intellectualize the gospel, and to question each other’s relative righteousness before God.[14]  Proclaiming the “words” of the “good news” is easy enough, but proclaiming the “good news” in both words and tangible signs of love in community proved to be a challenge to Jesus’ disciples.  And without tangible signs, the words ring hollow or disingenuous, and the community breaks.

So Paul reminds believers that they are a body – the body of Christ.  Each member of the body participates in the whole, and the whole serves the head – who is Christ.  Diverse as the body may be, each member is essentially joined to the others in Jesus’ love – for the purpose of manifesting that love with words and actions – and thereby make Jesus known and visible for all to see.

Making Jesus Visible

Why do so many today say that Christianity no longer looks like Jesus?  We know that Jesus proclaimed the nearness of God’s kingdom with words and tangible signs.  We know that God’s kingdom is welcome good news to the poor, the hungry, the abused, the sick and grieving, and those who yearn for peace and justice.  We know that God’s love pervades God’s kingdom, and that intentional self-sacrificing love is the clearest evidence that God’s kingdom is near.  We know that Jesus’ disciples are called to manifest Jesus’ own love for one another and for all people – to embody the risen Christ, and thereby make Jesus known. 

If Christianity no longer looks like Jesus, we Christians have no one to blame but ourselves.  We obscure Jesus’ presence in the body of believers when we fail to proclaim the nearness of God’s kingdom with both words and tangible actions that the poor, the hungry, the abused, the sick, the grieving, and those who yearn for peace and justice can recognize and welcome as good news.  We obscure Jesus’ presence in the body of believers when we avoid intentional self-sacrificing love for one another and for our neighbors, and instead sacrifice one another and our neighbors on the altars of our own righteousness.  We obscure Jesus’ presence in the body of believers when we hijack – or passively allow others to hijack – the name of Jesus to proclaim the bad news – the anti-gospel – that poverty, hunger, abuse, sickness, grief, violence, and injustice are perfectly acceptable if working toward their abolition isn’t profitable or doesn’t otherwise serve our own self-indulgent agenda.  We obscure Jesus’ presence in the body of believers when by words and actions we deservedly earn a reputation of arrogant pretentiousness that revels in the show of “righteousness” – as if we are somehow better than “those” people – while forgetting entirely that we are debtors ourselves whose gratitude to God can only be expressed by self-sacrificing acts of love toward our neighbors – including “those” people.  And we obscure Jesus’ presence in the body of believers when we manipulate the instruments of secular power to serve the anti-gospel – in the name of God, of all things!

Healing...  How do we make Jesus visible in the church in the midst of our current national debate about healthcare?  Jesus made healing one of the most obvious signs of the nearness of God’s kingdom, revealing God’s compassion for the sick and afflicted who were otherwise without hope or recourse.  Christians might reasonably and faithfully disagree about the “particulars” of what healthcare reform should look like, but can we plausibly dispute the claims that God desires the health and wellbeing of all people, and that profitability is an unconscionable excuse for allowing sickness and affliction to continue when remedies are available?  When fear, greed, and secular partisan ambitions conspire against efforts to make healing and relief available to all people, the body of Christ is called to act with hope, with the intentional love of Christ, and with a partisan commitment to making the nearness of God’s kingdom a tangible reality for everyone who suffers disease and affliction.[15] 

Making peace…  One of the longest running conflicts of sustained violence in this and the previous century has been the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people.  How do Christians make Jesus visible in the midst of pervasive distrust, anger, and violence?  We might reasonably and faithfully disagree about the “particulars” of what a just and enduring peace agreement should look like, but can we plausibly dispute the claim that God desires that all people live in peace with one another and be treated justly?  When hate, lust for power, and extremist religious convictions – even grotesque distortions of Christianity[16] – conspire to make violence and injustice acceptable, the body of Christ is called to act with hope, with the intentional love of Christ, and with a Jesus-like commitment to making the nearness of God’s kingdom of peace a tangible reality.[17]

Thirsting for righteousness…  Far too often throughout the centuries, Christians have abandoned mutual love for one another for the pretense of righteousness.  We have a long history of supplanting the apostles’ teachings that the righteousness of God is disclosed through faith in Jesus Christ[18] with false teachings about the righteousness of being bound to the law.  Loving one another as Christ loves us has been of secondary importance to being right about our righteousness.  “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it” – and God forbid that the Holy Spirit should act beyond the constraints of established law, dogma, tradition, and ministry policies!  How do we make Jesus visible in the midst of our family squabbles?  Surely, Jesus’ commandment “… love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another” would go far in making Jesus visible for all to see, for “by this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another”.[19]  When righteous indignation, hidden agendas, and pious contempt for others[20] conspire to rend us, the body of Christ is called to act with hope, with the intentional love of Christ, and with Jesus’ own commitment to making the nearness of God’s kingdom a tangible reality in our communities of faith, as places where Christ-like love abounds.

Following the Way of Jesus…  The Way of Jesus stands in contrast to the way of the world, precisely because hope in God’s kingdom and the work of making the Beatitudes a tangible reality for people can often seem ludicrous to the faithless; self-sacrificing love for strangers is pointless; and a single-minded commitment to the kingdom of God, and making the nearness of God’s kingdom known by words and deeds, can pose a serious challenge to the demands and expectations of human kingdoms.  The Way of Jesus is a challenging way to follow, and we Christians have often found ways to mitigate the challenges: we’ve found novel and convoluted ways to confuse the kingdom of God with the kingdom of human ambitions – to transform Christianity into Christendom; we’ve become so adept at “spiritualizing” the Beatitudes and the kingdom of God, that we are content to push out to some future undetermined date any tangible evidence of the nearness of God’s kingdom, making Christianity little more than a cognitive and largely self-centered exercise in self-justification and personal salvation – Caesar need not worry himself about the Jesus who’s just lord of my life, and who otherwise makes no inconvenient demands on the whole world, where greed, self-interest, and fear are beatified.

We make Jesus visible among us, for all the world to see, when we follow the Way of Jesus; when we embrace the kingdom of God for all that it stands for: relief and blessings for the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the persecuted, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers; when we proclaim the good news that God’s kingdom is near, by words and tangible signs; when we love one another in the body with the intentional self-sacrificing love of Christ; and when we love all people in the same way that all people are loved by Jesus.[21]

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[1] Kinnaman, David, and Lyons, Gabe. unChristian: What a New Generation Really Thinks about Christianity... and Why It Matters. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2007

[2] Ibid., p.34.

[3] “A New Generation Expresses its Skepticism and Frustration with Christianity”. Barna Group. September 24, 2007. http://barna.org/barna-update/article/16-teensnext-gen/94-a-newgeneration-expresses-its-skepticism-and-frustration-with-christianity

[4] See Matthew 28:16-20

[5] See Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 4:43

[6] Whatever you may make of demon possession, the relevant point is that people suffered.

[7] Certain afflictions could make a person “unclean”, which could require that they restrict their contact with others or be removed from communities.  Examples include leprosy (Matthew 8:1-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16), menstrual bleeding (Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-34; Luke 8:40-56), and demon possession (Mark 5:1-20; Luke 8:22-39).

[8] See also Matthew 10:1-15

[9] According to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, a person executed by hanging on a “tree” was cursed by God, making crucifixion an especially effective way of ending messianic careers.

[10] Debates about the “historicity” of Jesus’ resurrection tend to miss the theological point that his resurrection validates his mission and proclamation.  When Christians affirm the resurrection of Christ, we profess our conviction that Jesus faithfully and authoritatively represented God’s kingdom in his life and teachings.  We further profess, that in baptism we are united to Christ in his continuing life and mission, with the hope of the resurrection assuring us that Christ’s mission is valid and our participation in his mission is not in vain. 

[11] See Mark 16:14-20; Matthew 28:16-20; Luke 24:44-49; John 20:19-23; Acts 1:4-8

[12] Jesus’ willingness to suffer and die for the sake of his mission and proclamation to the world is the most obvious and dramatic example and model of how Jesus loves.  But Jesus’ ministry abounded with acts of risky and intentional love.  Examples include healing people in defiance of the law (Luke 5:17-26; Luke 14:1-6; John 5:1-16) and risking ostracism and retribution by associating with the wrong – unclean – people (Matthew 9:9-13; Matthew 9:20-22; Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 5:25-34; Mark 7:24-30; Luke 5:27-32; Luke 7:1-10; Luke 8:43-48).

[13] See Romans 7:4; Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 12:27; 1 Corinthians 12:12; Ephesians 3:6; Ephesians 4:12; Colossians 3:15

[14] Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians provides a substantial litany of some of the problems.  See 1 Corinthians 1:10-13; 1 Corinthians 1:17-31; 1 Corinthians 3:16-20; 1 Corinthians 8; 1 Corinthians 11:18-22.

[15] See the ELCA social statement Health and Healthcare – Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor.  Also, Jim Wallis at Sojourners offers some thoughts about faith-based principles to guide efforts to reform American healthcare: A Faith Declaration for Health-Care Reform

[16] Christian Zionism of the 20^th and early 21^st centuries, coupled to “dispensationalist” theology, actually justifies and encourages ongoing violence and injustice toward Palestinian people – including Palestinian Christians – because Christian Zionists are convinced that it is God’s will that the Biblical land of Israel must be “cleansed” of what they consider interlopers, in anticipation of “end-time” events.  For more information, see Toward a Lutheran Response to Christian Zionism by the Rev. Robert O. Smith of ELCA Global Mission.

[17] Ann Hafften provides frequent updates and information about peace and advocacy efforts toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at her blog A Texas Lutheran's Voice for Middle East Peace.

[18] See Romans 1:16-17; Romans 3:21-24

[19] See John 13:34-35

[20] Lutheran CORE’s website provides a number of examples: A Vision for Lutheran CORE, RECONFIGURATION, and What After Minneapolis?

[21] The ELCA tagline “God’s work, our hands.” represents something of our Church’s understanding of our mission and purpose, and encourages all of the members of the Church, individually and together, to make Jesus’ mission of proclaiming the nearness of God’s kingdom a present reality for all people, and to invite others to join that mission.  Read the theological foundation for this tagline here.

Thoughts about Scriptural Authority: Paul, the Law, and the ELCA

By: John Page

Recent events in the ELCA[1] have piqued more interest than usual in what this Church actually teaches, revealing the latest manifestation of a contentious question as old as the Christian Church itself.  The question is largely asked in terms of the authority of canonical Scripture, and how it functions as “the authoritative source and norm of [the church’s] proclamation, faith, and life”[2], but it really centers on the role that law in Scripture ought to play in the life and practice of Christians.  Anyone who has read the Acts of the Apostles or Paul’s Letter to the Galatians knows that we Christians have been here before.  And in these two canonical books, the first century church provides us with an apostolic model for both understanding the current contention and for resolving it.  They also describe a model which is antithetical to the apostles’ teachings, and which effectively subverts the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Paul and the Christian Pharisees: Council of Jerusalem

In Acts 15, we are told that some individuals from the church in Jerusalem paid a visit to the church in Antioch in Syria, and insisted that the Gentile Christians must be circumcised according to the law of Moses in order to be saved.  This ignited dissension within the church, with Paul and Barnabas at odds with the Jerusalem visitors.  To resolve the matter, the Christians in Antioch dispatched Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem to discuss it with the apostles and elders there.

On their way to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas visited churches in Phoenicia and Samaria, reporting the conversion of Gentiles and bringing “great joy to all the believers” (Acts 15:3).  Similarly, when they arrived in Jerusalem and had been welcomed by the church there, including the apostles and elders, Paul and Barnabas reported to them all that God had done with them concerning the Gentiles.  But, as occurred in Antioch, “some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.” (Acts 15:5)

The leaders of the church in Jerusalem met together to consider all this, and after some debate, Peter stood and declared,

"My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers.  And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us.  Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?  On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." (Acts 15:6-11)

Then, the whole assembly listened to Paul and Barnabas tell of “the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.” (Acts 15:12)  When they had finished, James, the brother of Jesus and perhaps one of the most influential members of the church in Jerusalem, affirmed the witness of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, concerning the Gentiles, and acknowledged that the prophets themselves had anticipated the inclusion of Gentiles among God’s people.  To resolve the present dispute, James proposes something of a compromise, which would allow the Gentiles to forgo circumcision, but otherwise abide by a “lite” version of the law of Moses.  The leaders in Jerusalem composed a letter to Antioch which assured the Christians in Antioch that the Jerusalem leaders were not complicit with the earlier visitors who had initiated the dissension, and that the Jerusalem leaders only required that the Gentiles abstain from anything that had been sacrificed to idols and from fornication. (Acts 15:23-29)  The letter was well received in Antioch.

It seemed the crisis had been resolved, though Paul’s letter to the Galatians indicates the dissension between Christian Gentiles and Christian Pharisees[3] persisted after the Council of Jerusalem.  Before moving on to the epistles, though, consider how Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the leaders in Jerusalem regard the authority of Scripture in their discernment.  The Scripture, in their case, refers to the Law and the Prophets, what we generally regard as the Old Testament.  The Christian Pharisees rightly observe that the law - that is Scripture - requires that God’s people be circumcised, and every Jew, including Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, would know this.  The Scripture is clear on this point.

Yet, Peter, Paul, and Barnabas insist that this point of Scripture – this clear command from God - may be set aside, so as not to burden Gentile converts.  Shall we assume that these three had little or no regard for the authority of Scripture?  That would be unlikely.

What I notice is the methodology these three employ to interpret and apply Scripture.  Specifically, they appeal to empirical evidence of the Holy Spirit active in the lives of Gentile converts, and they let the evidence of the Holy Spirit inform their understanding of Scripture.  The evidence is not just “private revelations” or personal interpretation; on their way to Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas make a point of inviting the churches of Phoenicia and Samaria to discern for themselves what God has done among the Gentiles, without the benefit of circumcision!  They invite the Jerusalem church to do the same.  Peter also appeals to the empirical evidence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of uncircumcised Gentiles in his speech before the Council of Jerusalem, referring to his earlier experience with Cornelius and the Gentiles in Caesarea (Acts 10:44-48).  Their methodology stands in contrast to that of the Christian Pharisees, who require an uncritical interpretation and application of the law in Scripture, without regard to anything the Holy Spirit may be doing – and especially if the Holy Spirit is doing something new and unexpected when judged against the law.

Paul and the Galatians

Even a casual reading of Paul’s letter to the Galatians reveals how very frustrated – even exasperated – Paul was with those who continued to insist on an uncritical application of the law in the life of a believer as a condition for justification before God.  He begins with a brief greeting, followed immediately by an indictment against the Galatian Christians: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Gal 1:6).  Paul is of course the one who called them in the grace of Christ, and he reminds them of his bona fides by reciting his own abridged autobiography, with particular emphasis on his divine charge to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles.[4]  But, what is the “different gospel” – which is no gospel at all – to which Paul refers?

It is abundantly clear throughout this letter, that obedience to the law as a requirement for justification before God is a “different gospel” [5] from the gospel Paul first proclaimed to the Galatians.  According to Paul, this is the true gospel:

“… we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.  And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.” (Gal 2:16)

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.” (Gal 2:19b-21)

As in Acts, the Holy Spirit figures prominently in Paul’s understanding of what God is doing.  Notably, obedience to the law has nothing to do with receiving the Holy Spirit, which for both Peter and Paul, confirms God’s justification of the believer (Acts 10:44-47; Acts 15:8-9).  Paul is emphatic that the believers received the Holy Spirit by believing the gospel of Jesus Christ, and living “by faith in the Son of God” (Gal 3:2-5).  So significant is this point for Paul, that he writes:

“Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.  Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.  As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.  There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” [6] (Gal 3:23-29)

Paul even goes so far as to state that those who rely on works of the law are under a curse (Gal 3:10).  If we depend on the law for our justification, we are bound to the entire law; we don’t get to be selective about it, choosing to do “this” while disregarding “that”.  And the futility of keeping the entire law dooms us (Gal 4:2-4).  Instead, Paul insists that it is through the Holy Spirit, by faith, that we are assured of justification before God (Gal 4:5).

If we have no law to bind us, what governs our conduct?  If Christ has freed us from the law by faith, what is the practical consequence of that freedom?  Paul argues that we have received Christ’s own freedom; believers have been made God’s children, and “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts” (Gal 4:6).  If this is true – if the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us – then Christ possesses our lives.  As a duck will act like a duck, and a horse like a horse, so Christ will act as Christ – so those possessed by Christ will act as Christ.  And to act as Christ is to share God’s love with the whole world, and in so doing, perfectly accomplish the law’s purpose without its curse.  “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Gal 5:14)

Before concluding his letter, Paul contrasts the “works of the flesh” with the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal 5:16 – 6:10), listing specific examples of each.[7]  The examples are by no means exhaustive, and they are also not “new” laws; Paul is not replacing the Law of Moses with the Law of Paul.  His entire argument in this letter is adamantly opposed to Christian enslavement to doing works of law – any law! – as the basis for justification before God.  Christ will act as Christ, and so will Christians when the Spirit of Christ is in us.  Paul’s lists illustrate the point that we know what is – and is not – loving to our neighbor.  And we ought to know better than to mock the Spirit of Christ that dwells in us by indulging ourselves at our neighbors’ expense.

The Apostolic Model of St. Paul

In both Acts and Galatians, observable evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in believers’ lives is ample proof for Paul (as well as Peter and Barnabas) that believers are justified before God.  Examples of that observable evidence include “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23), as well as “extolling God” (Acts 10:46).  Absent from these examples is “obedience to the law”.  In fact, Paul could not be clearer that those who require obedience to the law – even one commandment of law – for one’s justification, are themselves under a curse (Gal. 3:10). 

Using words like “curse”, “slavery”, “turning to a different gospel”, and “false believers”, Paul refuses any compromise that concedes that obedience to the law has any salvific consequences for believers.  To do so would imply that Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21).  Paul even rejects a partial submission to the law as acceptable, putting him at odds not only with the Christian Pharisees, but with James and the leaders of the Jerusalem church, who proposed a kind of “lite” law for Gentile Christians.[8]  If believers maintain that they are bound by any part of the law, they are subject to the entire law – and are therefore doomed (Gal. 5:2-6).

Having been justified by faith, Paul admonishes believers to live by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in us.  This is extraordinary counsel – and terrifying to some.  The reassuring do’s and don’ts of the law are gone, leaving us in the perilous wilderness without a tried and true survival handbook.  Instead, we’ve been handed a compass called the Holy Spirit, and told to make our way with confidence.  What kind of insane God are we dealing with?  (Think of the grumbling Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.)

But Paul insists we know how to read this compass; the Spirit dwells in the believer, and by that Spirit our faith comes alive in our actions.  We will find a depth of understanding and courage that no survival handbook – the collected wisdom and witness of others who’ve gone before us – could ever provide by itself.  We will have come to understand what lies at the heart of the handbook – the truth which those who’ve gone before were always trying to reveal, however imperfect their witness or our comprehension may have been – by trusting the compass of the Holy Spirit to guide us.  Terrifying stuff!  But, it is the way of faith; the Way of Jesus.

And the Way of Jesus bears fruit – the fruit of the Spirit.  Paul believed that the fruit of the Spirit was as obvious to believers as was works of flesh (Gal. 5:19-26).  Paul was convinced that when we live by the Spirit, we will know how to love our neighbor as ourselves, and perfectly fulfill the law in a way that obedience to the law could never do (Gal. 5:13-15). 

Paul’s treatment of the law reveals more broadly his approach to Scripture, and what the authority of Scripture meant to him in practice.  He insisted that the Holy Spirit must inform our understanding of Scripture, implicitly and explicitly rejecting the spiritless practices of the Christian Pharisees.  The Holy Spirit reveals God’s will in the lives of those in whom the Spirit dwells, and in ways that are broadly visible to believers – not just in personal or esoteric visions.  Believers know the Spirit is at work by the fruit of the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit always reveals God’s love for the world, and our love for our neighbor.

Paul and the ELCA

It seems to me that the current dissension in the ELCA – concerning changes to Ministry Policies and, to some extent, adoption of the social statement Human Sexuality: Gift and Trust – follows a pattern not at all unlike that of the dissension between the Christian Pharisees and Paul et al. in the first century.  One party insists that the ELCA is abandoning the ancient witness and authority of Scripture by altering long-held beliefs and practices vis-à-vis same-gender relationships and intimacy.  An opposing party insists we take into account the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of gay and lesbian believers, and like Paul, let the Spirit of Christ inform our understanding of Scripture and our practice.  The ELCA’s 2009 Assembly attempted a solution similar to that of the Council of Jerusalem, by adopting changes that would fully accept gay and lesbian believers in the life and work of the church (and without putting God to the test by trying to constrain whom the Holy Spirit calls to faith and service), while simultaneously accommodating those whose bound consciences require obedience to the law (through a “local option” mechanism, details of which have yet to be developed and announced).

In the first century, the Christian Pharisees were not satisfied with the Jerusalem compromise, and continued their efforts to require Gentile believers to submit to the law.  We see the same development today, with organized efforts to actively attack the Assembly and the ELCA with rhetorical excess and financial retaliation, while aggressively working to force submission to the law throughout the Church. [9]  Evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of gay and lesbian believers has been dismissed as either irrelevant to the question of what the law requires, or as nothing more than evidence of this world’s evil infecting the Church – a risky suggestion, given Jesus’ warning to those who accuse the Holy Spirit of doing evil. (Matthew 12:24-32; Mark 3:22-30)

But, the apostle Paul’s gospel of Jesus Christ also resonates in the Church today.  Apostolic Christians believe in the Holy Spirit as more than a cognitive principle, but as the living Spirit of Christ dwelling in believers as much today as in any other century.  That Spirit sets us free from bondage to the law, and opens our eyes to perceive what lies at the heart of the law.  When we live by the Spirit of Christ, the fruit of the Spirit will follow.  And we will know the fruit of the Spirit because it will reveal our love for all people, as God loves all people.  The Holy Spirit will inform our understanding of the law and the prophets – our understanding of the Scripture.

Key to Paul’s argument is examples of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.  He appealed to evidence available for all to see, and invited the Christians in Phoenicia, Samaria, Jerusalem, and Galatia to look and discern the evidence of Christ’s Spirit in their fellow believers and in themselves.  The fruit of the Spirit will be obvious to believers.  We are invited to do the same[10], and those of us who have experienced the ministries of pastors in same-gender relationships have seen in them ample evidence of the Holy Spirit at work in extolling God, in offering Christ’s love and peace to all people, and in demonstrating patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, despite the pain inflicted upon them by others’ contempt, false accusations, and outright persecution.

And where the Christian Pharisees saw – and see – doom and gloom, apostolic Christians saw – and see – the Holy Spirit and mission opportunities in abundance.

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[1] Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

[2] CONSTITUTIONS, BYLAWS, AND CONTINUING RESOLUTIONS of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, §2.03.

[3] In Acts, Paul’s adversaries are referred to as Pharisees; in Galatians, Paul refers to them as the “circumcision sect”.  It’s unclear whether they are the same “party”, but they clearly maintain identical positions with regard to obedience to the law.  Throughout my paper, “Christian Pharisees” refers generally to those who maintain the same position as those with whom Paul contended in Antioch and Jerusalem.

[4] Arguably, Paul’s recollection of events is not exactly identical to Luke’s recollection in Acts.  But, common experience suggests that it is not unusual for two people to remember events, and their significance, differently.

[5] In contemporary intra-Christian polemics, it’s not unusual for one party to accuse the other of “turning to a different gospel” as a cheap rhetorical maneuver.  But, it’s important to note that Paul is referring specifically to the false teaching that one is justified before God by works of law, as opposed to justification by faith.

[6] Being “Abraham’s offspring”, and therefore heirs to God’s promise to Abraham, was (and is) a significant concern to Christians, which is why obedience to the law was (and is) such a troubling issue in the church. 

[7] Beware the temptation to apply pagan Greek dualism (“form” vs. “substance”) to Paul’s contrast between “works of the flesh” and “fruit of the Spirit”.  Paul is not speaking of an ontological dualism between flesh and spirit in the human person, which is a pagan idea.  Paul is contrasting behavior that is unloving or destructive of our relationships with one another in Christ (works of the flesh), with behavior that is loving toward others and embodies Jesus’ own presence (fruit of the Spirit).

[8] Personally, I sympathize with James’ predicament, and I appreciate his efforts to find a way for Jewish and Gentile Christians to live in harmony with one another in the church.  The Jerusalem Council’s compromise seems to have been a practical solution providing a kind of “local option”, but it failed under continued pressure from Christian Pharisees to require circumcision of Gentile believers, which in turn produced Paul’s rigorous theological argument against Christian “enslavement” to the law.

[9] These efforts have been largely coordinated by an organization called Lutheran Coalition for Renewal (Lutheran CORE).  Their homepage provides access to information regarding their purpose and efforts: http://www.lutherancore.org/.

[10] In 2007 and 2009, the organization Goodsoil (http://www.goodsoil.org/) published devotional booklets which featured devotions by, and biographies about, gay and lesbian Christian leaders in, or associated with, the ELCA.  The booklets are titled A Place Within My Walls (http://www.lcna.org/lcna_news/2007_cwa_apwmw/a_place_within_my_walls.htm) and One Table, Many Blessings (http://www.goodsoil.org/2009DevotionalBooklet.pdf).  The biographies in these booklets invite all believers to see and discern evidence of the Holy Spirit in the lives of gay and lesbian Christians.