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Children of Promise

by The Rev. Stephen E. Stults

If there is one theme for this Sunday, it might be said to be that of grace. The collect for the day and the Epistle from Galatians 4 go hand in hand to proclaim this theme. With your kind indulgence, I want to re-read the Collect: “GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen."

The key phrase in this beautiful prayer, I think, is “comfort of thy grace.” The word “grace” is one that we Christians bandy around sometimes, but what does it mean? I’m reminded of the time that my mother and father were discussing this very question one time at the Sunday dinner table. Being in my rebellious teenage years, I confess that I thought the whole discussion ridiculous. My attitude was “who cares?” Now, I wish that I had paid better attention.

There is a wide variety of meanings for “grace,” but in the Christian context, these may be helpful to us:

1. The Gift of God to humankind: in Christianity, this means the infinite love, mercy, favor, and goodwill shown to humankind by God;

 2. Freedom from sin: in Christianity, the condition of being freed from sin by confession and repentance to God.

In light of the Collect, both of these definitions make sense. We, who do deserve to be punished, especially when compared to the ultimate, perfect holiness and justice of God, are most graciously “relieved” through God’s infinite love for us. Using the second definition as well, we are freed from sin in and through Jesus Christ.

In light of the Epistle from Galatians, St. Paul expounds further on the concept of grace. He uses the term “promise” to indicate the certainty of our life in God. Before we talk about that, let me give you just a little background on the Epistle to the Galatians. First of all, lest we think that St. Paul was merely engaging in pleasant philosophical discussions about grace, salvation, promise, etc., know that he was, in fact, fighting for the infant church’s very survival. He grappled with all, and I mean all, of the issues we face today, but to a much larger degree. In the case of the Galatians, he was exhorting them to stay true to the Gospel he had delivered to them and was trying to deflect the specious and erroneous doctrines being put forth by a group called the Judaizers. These were itinerant preachers like St. Paul, who were literally shadowing his steps as he planted churches. This group was preaching that Christians needed to follow the whole lot of Jewish ceremonial law, including circumcision, in order to be devout followers of Jesus.

Much of the Epistle to the Galatians is devoted to the denial of this heresy. In this particular passage from Gal. 4: 21, St. Paul finds it necessary to develop an allegory, using Abraham’s two sons, Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael, you will remember, was the son of Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar. When the promised heir failed to appear according to Abraham’s timetable, Abraham and Sarah tried to force the issue by producing a child through Hagar. Isaac was, of course, the true, long-awaited son of Sarah and Abraham. In due time, Ishmael would become the father of the Arab nations. However, he was not the legitimate heir of Abraham and would eventually be cast out from Abraham’s family. Given the nature of this event, and the very long memories of those in the Middle East, is it any wonder that the Jews and Arabs have endless animosity? Without being overly simplistic, suffice it to say that their “beef” goes back a very, very long way.

St. Paul’s point is this: Hagar and Ishmael stand for Mt. Sinai, where the Jews received the law from God, the old covenant. This was a good and wonderful thing, yet over time the law became so complicated, so convoluted and so constricting that is served no other purpose but to remind man how sinful he was. This is a theme in St. Paul’s epistles, one that he emphasized over and over. On the other hand, Sarah and Isaac represent the New Covenant, symbolized by Jerusalem. This is the gospel of promise, not the bondage of the old law. It is, as St Paul says, much more fruitful than the old, producing many, many spiritual offspring. Thus, while Hager = Ishmael = law = bondage, Sarah = Isaac = promise = freedom.

Maybe it’s hard for us to imagine such devotion to a religious code nowadays.

In ancient times, adherence to a religious code wasn’t just something one did weekly, it was how you ruled your life. So, the bondage of the Law was real. So was the glorious freedom in Jesus Christ.

Note how St. Paul talks about the nature of the world. He says that the children of the flesh (i.e. the unregenerate) always persecute the children of the spirit: “But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.” In all this time, nothing has changed, because man’ sinful nature has not changed. I stand in constant amazement at those who believe in the ultimate goodness and perfectibility of man. While I do believe that there is some good in man, on the whole we have a pretty rotten track record. History teaches us that. Take for example, the controversy over The Passion of the Christ a few years ago. While Hollywood would have loved for it to have flopped, there was even more anguish over its success. Why? Simply because Mr. Gibson chose to cut Hollywood totally out of the deal, choosing a little-known distribution company rather than the usual Hollywood heavyweights. Once it was a roaring success, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth in California. Why? Very simply: M-O-N-E-Y. They lost out and they knew it.

Let’s talk briefly about the concept of promise and the idea of justification by faith. Once again, with your indulgence, allow me to read Article XI , which deals with this very topic:

XI. Of the Justification of Man.

WE are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings. Wherefore, that we are justified by Faith only, is a most wholesome Doctrine, and very full of Comfort, as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification.

Now, if you accept the concept of justification of grace by faith, it often brings up the topic of justification by works. Some groups still believe that this is way to go. For example, when I was a sales manager, I had a Mormon agent who was very devout. He measured his devotion by abstinence: no drinking, no smoking, no dancing, etc., rather than a belief in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

The great thing about being an Anglican is that we can usually get answers to most of our questions about the faith, that is, to those things than can be discerned rationally and are not mysteries of the faith. Article XII deals with the concept of justification by works. Once again, grant me the indulgence of reading it to you:

XII. Of Good Works.

ALBEIT that Good Works, which are the fruits of Faith, and follow after Justification, cannot put away our sins, and endure the severity of God’s judgement; yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively Faith; insomuch that by them a lively Faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit.

Thus, we see that good works spring from faith and not the other way around.

The world, as usual, has it wrong. Over the years, how many times have you heard this statement (or something like it) “Well, if I live a good life, I’ll be all right.”

This is smooth and easy, but ultimately very wrong and very dangerous. It actually is an expression of the concept of Universalism, which holds that all “good” people will be saved. One time, while an undergraduate at Sewanee, I almost fell into that trap but for the timely intervention of a good and godly young Christian.

I was musing on the concept of “many facets of God,” meaning that Hinduism, Christianity, Islam were all expressions of God, just different cultural avenues. They all lead us to God, right? Well, this young Christian got right in my face and said, “What is the matter with you? There is one way to God, in Jesus Christ, period.” At that point, something snapped and I thought, “Of course. There is only one way.”

Beloved, this is called the “Scandal of Christianity.” How dare we claim that Jesus Christ is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”? … because He told us so. There is one way to God the Father and that is Jesus Christ, whether we like it or not.

Note, please, that Jesus didn’t say He was “a” way, but “the” way. Not an alternative, nor one of many, but THE way.

This brings us full circle, back to the concept of grace and promise. Jesus has promised us eternal life with Him, in fact that we are “inheritors”, “joint heirs” of the Kingdom of Heaven. But, how do we get it, this grace and promise? What if I told you that you already have it? First of all, through your baptism, you were made a child of grace, regenerate from original sin and admitted into the family of God. Then, as a young adult, you were confirmed by the Bishop. This amounts to an adult confession of faith, a point that is lost by some other Protestant critics of Anglicanism. Next, through the life of the Church, you enter into your own personal journey of sanctification. Not that you are trying to earn your salvation, for that is impossible; the price is too high. Besides, the price has already been paid. This is expressed in the classic Anglican statement, “I am saved, I am being saved, I hope to be saved.” In other words, my Baptism washed away my original sin and made me a member of the family. Then, I progress in my journey towards holiness. Finally, I “hope,” i.e. look forward, to my eternal salvation and life with God.

Those of you who saw The Passion of the Christ got a graphic illustration of the price God paid for us, how great His love is for us. In light of that, how dare we think that we can save ourselves by own efforts?

Nevertheless, what saith the Scriptures? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall be heir with the son of the freewoman.”

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