By Gospel Alone

A Historical, Doctrinal, and Pastoral Counseling Perspective on the Primacy of the Gospel

David Menendez

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781532654893
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Theology

The present work pursues an apologetic plea on behalf of the gospel. It would seem to many that the gospel is doing just fine, and we need to concentrate on other very pressing and important issues such as missions, evangelism, social justice, moral transformation, and change, just to name a few. But it will be our argument that no matter how good it may be with the gospel, and how many other pressing issues may exist, the church must continually articulate the gospel as the ever-pressing need of the day. And, by gospel we mean the doctrine of Christ's perfect God-pleasing life as empowered by the Spirit under the law, in order to be the Father's incarnate Lamb of God who takes away sin by his atoning reconciling death, for the justification of sinners by faith alone without their works, merits, or obedience before God. It is the doctrine of faith, grace, and Christ alone in order to be thus received and embraced by the lavish, abundant, and unconditional loving mercy of the triune God. Furthermore, we want to show that the Gospel provides a very practical framework to live in communion with God and with one another. It is indispensable for living, and for living such a life as it is daily delivered by God unto us sinners in the communication and apprehension of the Gospel as undeserved and unconditional, yet efficacious and transforming gift.

chapter 1

Introduction

Why the Need of Christ as the Gift for All of Life

The present work pursues an apologetic plea on behalf of the gospel. It would seem to many that the gospel is doing just fine, and we need to concentrate on other very pressing and important issues such as missions, evangelism, social justice, and moral transformation and change, just to name a few. But it will be our argument that no matter how good it may be with the gospel, and how many other pressing issues may exist, the church must continually articulate the gospel as the ever pressing need of the day. And by gospel we mean the doctrine of Christ’s perfect God-pleasing life as empowered by the Spirit under the law, in order to be the Father’s incarnate Lamb of God who takes away sin by his atoning reconciling death, for the justification of sinners by faith alone without their works, merits, or obedience before God. It is the doctrine of faith, grace, and Christ alone in order to be thus received and embraced by the lavish, abundant, and unconditional loving mercy of the triune God. Furthermore, we want to show that the gospel provides a very practical framework to live in communion with God and with one another. It is indispensable for living, and for living such a life as it is daily delivered by God unto us sinners in the communication and apprehension of the gospel as undeserved and unconditional, yet efficacious and transforming gift.

Mankind was not created to live by their own self-made resources, performance, and identification. Actually, life and all that we enjoy in it that is good comes to us as gift, a gift from our creator, from God. This is one key and foundational biblical insight, namely, that all the good we have should go by the name of gift, and that such gifts come from above. My esteemed colleague Pastor Ken Jones, cohost of the White Horse Inn for twenty years and contributor to Tabletalk publications among others, often reminds us1 how it was a feature of God’s original creation to have man created to worship God in a Sabbath day of rest, and thus Adam and Eve are welcomed in covenant after everything else has been created. They receive gifts from God in creation and ought to worship and honor God in gratitude and faithfulness. This is not the grace of redemption but the gifts and goodness of creation by which Adam, our representative head, should have kept covenant with God. Such goodness and gifts in the original creation or works covenant anticipate the future display of further and richer goodness in God, who will not only create but also redeem a fallen creation through the ultimate gift of the Son, Christ Jesus, the last Adam, and our representative head for new creation through grace.

The Reformed confessions generally recognize this reality, even more so in the grace and goodness of redemption, with its concomitant spiritual implications. The Heidelberg Catechism, just to name one, recognizes that we should be asking God for his gifts through prayer, and that those who receive such gifts should offer themselves to God as an offering of gratitude.2 If this is so, then, human life in relationship with God should be essentially about recognizing the goodness and benevolence of the gift-Giver, and consequentially, about putting them to use in a wise, grateful, and graceful manner.3 Thus, the idea of our work, vocation, and productivity should never be separated from the essential posture of being a gift-receiver, a gift-shapen and gift-sharing creature, and thus, and only thus, a human creature. This, in a few words, is the essence of true religion, of a true way of relating to God and his creation. Furthermore, this is also the way of true meaning and delight in life. Let us agree to call this gift living.

Sadly, we humans have bought a big lie: It’s the lie that we can make ourselves, that we don’t need gifts from above or from outside, but rather, have in ourselves the necessary resources to perform, achieve, and accomplish the good we want. Lane and Tripp explain this unfortunate human characteristic in light of God’s gift, particularly in Christ: “In human relationships, each person contributes some strengths and gifts, but that is not true in this case. Paul had placed his confidence in the assets of his own achievements, pedigree, and morality . . . he wrongly put his confidence in a resume of his own making.”4 Then, the personalized diagnosis as they immediately add, “We can do the same thing. We can put our confidence in our performance and obedience rather than recognizing them as gifts and strengths that should lead to gratitude.” When this is the case, man is not a receiver and a shapen, dependent being, but a god-like creature that is able to carve out his own identity, his own reality, and, hence, his own meaning and satisfaction in life. We are what we do, what we decide to be, or what we rise to become. In short, mankind’s distorted self-view in the world has to do with finding in themselves the way to redemption. This calls for action on their part—whether it be: liberation from absolute moral standards or strict adherence to them, escaping the world or improving the world, rejecting worldly pleasures and pursuits or embracing them, pursuing science or favoring religious creeds and experience, pursuing philosophical speculation or just practical pragmatic living, or any combination thereof; the end of it all is to arrive at some form of self-made, self-discovered, self-justified existence. And by self we are not just saying individually, but singling out the essence of mankind’s pursuits, both, individually as well as collectively. Let us agree to call this work living.

In the above, we have tried to offer a view of things through an existential lens. We can, and we will, also, describe things from a theological lens. The Bible does both. It addresses the plight of mankind and interprets the creature in their human quest vis-à-vis the knowledge of God. In other words, the study of God, or of theology, always takes place intersecting or, better yet, within the story of creation and redemption. We cannot know God in a vacuum; we know him in the human story, and that is the way God has wanted to be known, namely, in his self-disclosure in the human redemptive narrative, and this revelation takes the form of the cross.5 God reveals himself and speaks to the existential plight of mankind in “cross” language. God’s actions for and in creation through the cross disclose who he is and who mankind is in light of such revelation. Forde cites Luther in a passage from the Psalms worth quoting in its entirety around the same time of the Heidelberg Disputation:

In the kingdom of his humanity and his flesh, in which we live by faith, he makes us of the same form as himself and crucifies us by making us true humans instead of unhappy and proud Gods: humans, that is, in their misery and their sin. Because in Adam we mounted up towards equality with God, he descended to be like us, to bring us back to knowledge of himself. That is the sacrament of the incarnation. That is the kingdom of faith in which the cross of Christ holds sway, which sets at naught the divinity for which we perversely strive and restores the despised weakness of the flesh which we have perversely abandoned.6

Apart from such actions, God remains hidden and inscrutable. And that is precisely the Bible, the story of God’s actions for and in creation that ultimately leads to Christ, the epitome and end goal of such actions. Christ’s incarnation, identification with sinners, humiliation, death, and resurrection is God’s ultimate and final self-disclosure for and in creation. Thus, if we are going to know anything about ourselves, our world, our lives, we must know Christ. And to know Christ is to know the essence of human living, of God acting in and for creation. God, in Christ, reveals and interprets the essence of our existence, or, what we have already named gift living.

Some folks would object to such an existential approach to theology with the objection that man is not the center of things, but God. That the way to glorify God is to make him the center of our theological endeavors and practice. Such a view would contend that God does not live for us, but that we should live for him; that God does not revolve around our human needs, but that we should push through and beyond our needs to concentrate in our service of him. One of the ways in which this contention is made is to say that we should not live to be happy, but to be holy. While one must agree with the premise that God is to be glorified, not the creature, and certainly to be viewed at the center of all things, not man, we would argue that the total implication of such a contention as presented above is not biblical and, actually, amounts to work living, rather than gift living. Let us explain: simply put, mankind cannot serve God except out of the recognition and praise of the faithful and benevolent supply of God’s provision. This means that God is always the server while the creature always the receiver of such service. God is glorified in this arrangement because he is highlighted as the gift-giver for all of life. He alone is to be indispensable, needed, wanted, desired, prized, cherished, and marveled at. This he does by serving the creature, by supplying creation with all the riches of his goodness and beauty, by exalting himself as the ultimate good and need of the creature, by acting decidedly, irrevocably, and unilaterally in favor of sinful man, by acting in Christ as the gift for all of life.

Gift living as opposed to work living revolves around the premise that God’s atoning and substitutionary work in Christ received by faith is able not only to justify sinners, but also transform them to love God and serve neighbor. This transformation or being conformed to the image of Christ constitutes what some have called the process of sanctification.7 We aim to advance the premise in this work that both justification and the process of sanctification that ensues are the monergistic work of God whereby, through faith, the justified believer also grows in the fruits thereof. Many have advanced theories of sanctification that, while they rightfully make justification the starting and foundational point, yet fail to see its ongoing centrality. They distinguish justification and sanctification so sharply as to sever the ongoing significance of justification for sanctification. The ensuing approach is one where the centrality of Christ as the fountainhead of all good fruit and work in sanctification is replaced by a combination or cooperation of our works, efforts, and disciplines with the help of the Spirit. While, in the best of cases, much is made of the Spirit and dependence on Christ for sanctification, there is a practical failure to highlight the role of the gospel and faith in such pursuits.8 This work does not deny the need for effort and perseverance in the Christian life but argues for the centrality of the gospel promise, and hence of faith, as the way not only to be justified but also to bear the fruits of sanctification. Everything is gifted of God through faith. Such a view necessitates the proper distinction between the law and the gospel, and the proper role for each clearly enunciated and demonstrated. We would argue that it is a failure to do so that has made for much of the confusion and problems that has existed in the body of Christ when it comes to the topic of sanctification.

If we recognize that God must always, in keeping with his holy nature, demand of the creature tot...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: How Free Can a Free Gift Be?
• Chapter 3: How Does a Free Gift Become No Longer Free?
• Chapter 4: How Is a Free Gift Kept No Longer Free?
• Chapter 5: How Is a Free Gift Further Lost by High Middle Ages Handling?
• Chapter 6: How Can a Free Gift Be Recovered?
• Chapter 7: How Is a Free Gift “Mixed Up” in Reception?
• Chapter 8: A Redemptive Cognitive-Relational Narrative Framework to Pastoral Counseling
• Chapter 9: A Romans Catechism with Counseling Vignettes and Implications within the RCRN Framework
• Chapter 10: Concluding Thoughts to Keep the “Package” Going
• Bibliography
• Vita