Grace, real and false

This  is in response to the video by Bishop N T Wright,

 

 

 

 

 

 

where he argues that with God's help we must strive to develop good habits. I refute this notion entirely.

 

 

Christian character does indeed matter, for without it we will be lost, because  once saved always saved is heresy as is easy believism, which reduces faith to mere intellectual assent.

But the means used to pursue Christian character are crucially important.

To strive is futile, given the inner nature of sin. When one has sinned the moment the impulse has crossed your mind (for out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts) it is indeed too late. That urge is not temptation to be avoided, it is sin, and striving against it is not to overcome sin but to seek to hide it. Not only that but as it says in Romans 7 the effort will stir up the sin and make it worse

Willpower against sin is the way that seems right to man but which leads to death, for the very dynamic of this kind of striving is to set the person against himself, as it is written. "a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand"

Grace is not some kind of abstract magical power that aids our efforts, for our efforts are hypocrisy given the very  nature of them, being  brute force against what we really think and want.  For when God sees the heart what he looks at is what we strive against, not the fact that we are striving

The evil impulse is not overcome by burying it, and God will never aid the attempt. If He actually did so then there would not be multitudes of Christians living in defeat and despair or others in smug self righteousness in thinking their efforts actually work

Instead God will do something quite different

In one on one counsel (he is "wonderful counsellor")  he will persuade us in personal relationship, as a loving father might persuade a recalcitrant child to cone out with the family on the planned outing. This happened to me when I was a child, not from God but from my own father. It is the most perfect metaphor of grace I have ever seen

But such requires a real and intimate personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Without this there is nothing but Law which only produces death.  See Romans and Galatians

I am no easy believist. I am still a legalist, recovering from it but recognizing it here

I learned this the hard way, through applying what Ii was taught and failing  in agony, for my insight into the  inner nature of sin was deeper than most but my response to sin was typical

To make grace what Wright does, so following the standard church consensus, is to deny grace.

If he is not in despair he never knew the inner nature of sin

It all flows from that, from conviction of sin which itself also requires relationship with the Spirit of Christ.

And this legalists of all stripes have forsaken, or never knew