Robert Farrar Capon, in Kingdom, Grace, Judgment: Paradox, Outrage, and Vindication in the Parables of Jesus.
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“The Gospel of grace must not be turned into a bait-and-switch offer…. Jesus must not be read as having baited us with grace only to clobber us in the end with law.”
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Amen.
Salvation and then sanctification. That’s scriptural, of course.
Yet Christians are often tempted (as am I) to twist that into this — salvation, and then salvation by law. Even though we call it “sanctification.”
We accept grace, but as time goes on, we find ourselves increasingly confusing sanctification with salvation.
Unwittingly, we begin depending on our works, and that mindset has been encouraged by a lot of spiritual leaders who claim, “Salvation by grace alone” but preaching something else.
No wonder so many feel heavy going to these churches.
“Okay, now that you’re Christians, let’s get to sanctification.”
And then we get so hung up on our sanctification that we become unwitting legalists, in the process.
Jesus had pretty stern words for those who, in Capon’s words, “clobber us in the end with law.”
And if we’ve already got the medical condition of depression, getting a sanctification beatdown will only make us feel more bleak.
So let’s end on Capon’s quote again: “The Gospel of grace must not be turned into a bait-and-switch offer…. Jesus must not be read as having baited us with grace only to clobber us in the end with law.”
