Before we move on, I wanted to pause to give you a roadmap of the general territory you are about to traverse. There is a certain shape of theology which has arisen as I have gone down this road, and I want to give a simple overview of what is assumed in general here.
1. The essential nature of the fall, the inherent problem with every man that comes down from Adam, is that we desire the forbidden. Our idea of the good has split, so the aesthetic good, the good that is desired, is split from the moral good, the good that we ought to do. This split is the main thing that is wrong with us – we want what is morally wrong, and we dislike what is morally upright. We are inwardly conflicted and in turmoil because either we press moral principles upon ourselves, and sacrifice our desire, or we throw off moral constraints, and sacrifice our conscience. Either way, we suffer inner conflict. This is the rift of the soul that the gospel aims to heal. (Chapter 8, “Two Kinds of Good”)
2. Restoration to the kingdom involves the redirection of the desire to God and to the things of His kingdom. Jesus teaches about the centrality of desire in the kingdom of God in the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price, in which men sacrifice everything from joy over finding something much greater than anything they had before. The first principle in the Kingdom of God is not behavior, but the heart. Like temptation, grace appeals to our desire, although temptation twists it to the desire for the forbidden. The gospel is the story of our desire for God, but more importantly, of God’s desire for us. (Chapter 7, “Joy Over It”)
3. Grace means, that we believe that God loves us and blesses us regardless of our adherence to any idea of general principles of virtue. The condition for receiving grace is faith: “whoever believes in Him may not perish…” John 3:16.
4. Because God seeks the restoration of our desire, to reunite our sense of aesthetic good and moral good, He seeks a righteousness from the heart, not which requires law which imposes moral good over and against the inward desire. This means that we are not under obligation, even for laws such as “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor.” (Chapter 13, “In this is Love”)
5. Grace does NOT mean that God predestines some to eternal heaven just because He wants to, and predestines some to eternal hell for no other good reason. Because the Kingdom is about desire, His foreknowledge must allow free choice. Thus, the condition for acceptance and blessing has passed from law to faith, belief that God loves us and that Jesus’ propitiatory death is sufficient for justice to be served. Grace is not really about predestination vs. free will. It is the meeting of God and man in kind of romance. (Chapter 9, “Temptation, Desire, and Predestination – Oh My!”)
6. We believe that grace is something which we obtain our introduction to by faith, a grace in which, from that time forward, we stand. There is a point of conversion, a point from which we have assurance of eternal life. Our eternal destiny starts now, and from moment to moment on to the final judgement depends on God’s love for us. The minimal requirement is that we accept His offer by faith.
“Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1, 2, NASB.
7. However, grace is for our current lives. It is not operative only for a future judgement over past sins, it is the universe we now live in, the air we now breath. Repentance is not the agent of our justification, but our justification is the constant engine of our sanctification. (See “Repentance Under Grace”, “Boldly to the Throne of Grace!”)
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1, NASB.
8. This is not a calvinist or arminian theology. It is not Catholic, it is not specifically Lutheran. However, it does not disavow the theological traditions of the past; this is not change for the sake of novelty. We believe adamantly in the trinity, in the incarnation. We believe in faith alone, grace alone, in scripture alone. We aim for a more sure and a more certain orthodoxy. This is not a theology born of private interpretation. However, it is a theology which is distanced from what seem to be the excesses and possibly the errors of certain theologies in the past which have held sway. It is consistent with the early church councils, and with the main tenets of protestantism. This is a theology which I am proud to teach, which I am comfortable holding, which I am glad to face God and account for.