Surprisingly, this problem seems to have afflicted the Reformed branch of the Christian faith—those that are the most eager to build the
Ship of the Kingdom we have been discussing. We can meticulously build it, carefully, according to the Bible, as we have done in these postings, yet nothing really happens. No wind in the sails!
That’s because we are all born unconsciously addicted to obedience to the law as our way to live. It may be the law of the Bible, Sharia law of Islam, the law of complete subjugation of the Marxist, the law of “whatever is right for you” of the humanist, or the law of the gang to which you may belong. Since we all ate of the forbidden fruit in Adam, none of us can escape, including me
Martin Luther taught that there were only two sermons preached to us in the whole Bible. Those sermons are like two fraternal twins: 1.) the Law of God—which tells us what we must do to please God—and 2.) the Grace of God—which tells us what Jesus has done because we can’t do #1!
However, when Jesus came, He did not do away with God’s eternal Law, but He added to it. By His death and resurrection, Jesus enveloped the Law with Grace, thus producing the Truth that sets us free! “For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17) The Law of God IS NOT the Truth of God, but the Law of God, applied by the Grace of God, IS the Truth of God! Law + Grace = Truth.
It is this “Truth of God” alone that fills the sails of the Ship of the Kingdom with a divine gale that propels the ship forward. The problem is that we sincere believers generally have an unrelenting addiction to always trying to be good, successful, productive Christians. This prevents that wind from blowing. And our unknown adduction has blinded us. Make no mistake—the fact that no one ever speaks of this addiction to being “good and not evil” is proof that we are unknowingly gripped by it!
I believe that 2 Timothy 2:15 is a classic example of how our addiction can distort how we understand God’s Word to us: “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth“ (2 Timothy 2:15).
This verse in Paul’s letter to Timothy is often used today to encourage serious Christians to earnestly pursue Bible study, prayer, witnessing, obedience, etc. These disciplines, we are taught, if pursued diligently enough, will earn God’s approval as a Christian worker. I then won’t ever have to be ashamed because I didn’t measure up. Such is the thrust of much teaching on this verse
However, looking at this verse with a “renewed mind,” i.e. thinking “God’s way” (Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:16; Ephesians 4:23), paints a totally different picture. Let’s look at this verse through the lens of the cross and what happened there. With my very rudimentary ability to look up Greek words, read interlinear New Testaments and use Greek lexicons, the following paraphrase seems to be a very linguistically legitimate way to look at 2 Timothy 2:15:
“Always remember to view yourself as one for whom Christ died, and therefore one who is always viewed by God with 100% approval. This is only because Jesus’ perfect righteousness has been fully applied to you. There is no need to ever feel any shame for your conduct whatsoever, because God has completely “forgiven and forgotten” your sins, so you can do the same. You are able to do this only because you have ‘rightly divided the word of truth,’ i.e., clearly distinguished between the messages of ‘law and gospel’ in the Bible.”
The mind which is analyzing what is read in this verse makes all the difference. Is it a mind that is being renewed to think God’s way and view life through the cross, or a mind that is still addicted to the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, i.e., by “making good choices?”
On the other hand, this makes no sense to the performance addict’s mind whatsoever. He sees nothing in the verse but striving to measure up; climbing the ladder of performance by faithfully exercising the Christian disciplines to get as close to perfection as possible. This is thinking man’s way, the very opposite of God’s way, i.e., the way of doing nothing but only trusting our Father—BY FAITH ALONE (Isaiah 55:8, 9)!
Paul Tillich, the foremost Lutheran theologian of the early 20th century describes God’s way of faith as follows: “Faith means accepting that I am accepted, even while continuing to find myself unacceptable.” This is living by The Truth, addiction-free, and fills the sails of the Ship of the Kingdom!
