No 40, Dec. 1999

 

IS THE GRACE OF GOD A QUID PRO QUO?

 

            The Latin term quid pro quo is often used in political circles. One party in Congress yields to another on a certain measure in order to get what it wants from the other party. Or a donor offers a large sum of money to a politician or a university with the expectation of something in return, such as an ambassadorship or an honorary degree. It is a quid pro quo, which means “this for that” or “something for something.”

 

            Are we guilty of preaching the grace of God as a quid pro quo?

 

            Have we been saying, “The grace of God is for you, and you can be saved if you will believe, repent, and be baptized”?

 

            How good is the good news if it is quid pro quo? Is there an if to the gospel of the grace of God? Is it that God will do such and such if you will do such and such? If the grace of God is conditional, if it is a quid pro quo, is it really grace?

 

            Is this our message to the world: Christ died for you and you can be saved, if you will believe and obey? Is it a this for that?

 

            Or is it: Do I have good news for you! Christ died for you and saved you, therefore you must believe and obey.

 

            The gospel presents Christ as the Savior of the world, not the potential or provisional Savior. It is not “He is your Savior if. . ..” but “He is your Savior, therefore. . . We do nothing, absolutely nothing, - not faith, not repentance, not baptism, not good works – to make the grace of God a reality. It is there for us, and it is free, unconditional. Christ died for our sins (period) unconditionally and wholly by grace. There are no ifs. There is no quid pro quo.

 

            Paul put it pointedly in 1 Cor 15 :22: “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” Again in Ro. 11 :32: “For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”

 

            Notice his use of all. In Adam all die; in Christ all are made alive. God has consigned all to disobedience. Why? So that he might have mercy on all. We are unfair to Scripture if we make all mean all in one part of the verse but not in the other part. All means all.

 

            Or as our Lord put it in Jn. 12:47: “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.” When he died on the Cross he saved everyone.

 

            Does this mean that everyone in the world is saved? Yes! Except that the Bible makes it clear that some will be lost, and it tells us who they are: Those that disbelieve (reject) the gospel once they hear it, and persist in that disbelief.

 

            While the Bible condemns the disbeliever, as in Mk. 16: 16 (“He who disbelieves will be damned”), it never condemns the unbeliever, those who have never heard the gospel or never understood it or can’t understand it because of imbecility.

 

            This means that everyone is saved, as the above verses indicate, except those that disbelieve/reject the gospel once they hear it.

 

            But do people not have to believe in Christ, repent of their sins, and be baptized? Yes, once they hear the gospel!

 

            Now we have a gospel that is truly good news. God’s grace saves everyone through the Cross of Christ, like the Bible says. Everyone, that is, except those who disbelieve. This makes the grace of God free and unconditional. No quid pro quo.

 

            The alternative is to say everyone is lost except those that believe and are baptized. But this contradicts the Bible when it says Christ has saved everyone, and it makes the grace of God conditional, something for something, and it is not good news.

 

            And it leaves out masses of humankind. How about babies? How about the mentally deficient? How about the multiplied millions who have never even heard the gospel through no fault of their own? Is God a demon who takes vengeance on people for not doing what they didn’t know to do?

 

            On the Cross Christ saved every person born into this world! — except those that reject that good news once they hear it. It is a thesis that will survive the scrutiny of both reason and Scripture, and it makes God what He is, the God of abundant mercy, and it makes the gospel of the grace of God free and unconditional. No this for that.

 

            I know what some will say. If the millions who have never heard the gospel are saved, why take the gospel to them and risk their rejecting it and being lost?

 

            We are to take the gospel to them because Christ tells us to. And we can be assured that all who are of the elect, those whom God has called, will believe and obey Christ. And all are of the elect except those who reject Christ once they hear the good news and keep on rejecting him to the end. No one is worse off for having heard the good news!

 

            To put it another way, those among the masses who believe and obey the gospel when they hear it will do so because they have already responded to such light as God has already given them. They all have some light, for God never leaves himself without witness (Acts 14: 17). Those who reject the gospel will do so because they have already rejected such light God has already given them, and are therefore lost if they persist in their disbelief.

 

            So, I could broaden my thesis to read: All are saved (because of Christ and the grace of God) except those who reject and keep on rejecting such light as God gives them. whether gospel light or moral light.

 

            If Paul is right in Romans about all or most all being under condemnation because they sin against such law as they have, including moral law, then many among the masses are lost because they sin against such law as they have. All the more reason to take the gospel to them, for no one is finally lost until he or she finally rejects. And the gospel has unique power to save, even perhaps those who have previously rejected lesser light from God.

 

            And yet Paul allows that some “who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law” by obeying “the law written in their hearts” and are thereby excused, their conscience bearing them witness (Ro. 2:14-15).

 

            This must mean there are many among the multiplied millions who have never heard the gospel who are nonetheless responsive to “the law written in their hearts.” These are the elect who will also obey the gospel if and when they hear it. But they cannot in the meantime be seen as lost because they are not among those who reject such light as they have, whether gospel light or moral light. And only those are lost who reject such light as they have. All others are saved. Thanks be to the gospel of the grace of God!

 

            This is the great truth of the gospel that at last converted even reluctant Peter: “In truth I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him” (Acts 10:34-35). – Leroy

 

 

 

THERE IS ONLY ONE CHURCH

 

            Elizabeth Achtemeier is one of my favorite theologians, so I was pleased to hear her recently in a series at a local Presbyterian church. Following one of her lectures I engaged her in conversation. I explained that while I was a member of the Church of Christ, I had been educated in part by the Presbyterians and felt a closeness to them.

 

            Then she said, somewhat to my surprise, “Well, we’re all members of the same church anyway.”

 

            A noon session was set aside for questions, so I posed this question, “Last night you told me that we were members of the same church. Would you elaborate?”

 

            She replied that there was only one church, which is the Body of Christ, and Christ cannot be divided. All of us who are in Christ are in that one church, denominations aside. She said something to the effect that in another 50 years there might not be any denominations. But she emphasized: One thing I know: There will always be a church, the church of Jesus Christ for he promised that the gates of hell would never prevail against it.

 

            Then I said, “Let me be sure I understand. You are a Presbyterian and I am a member of the Church of Christ, and you say we are members of the same church? She said yes, of course, that is what she was saying.

 

            I then asked her if she would be willing to come to my church and say those things! The audience of Presbyterians got a bang out of that. Several gathered around me afterwards, expressing delight in the exchange, and expressing some surprise that it went the way it did.

 

            One couple said to me, as if thinking out loud, Yes. there is only one church. isn’t there?

 

            I say bully for Betty, as they affectionately call this noted theologian at this particular church where she is well known. I told some of them that she is a good Campbellite, for it was that great truth – the church is one! – that led Thomas and Alexander Campbell to launch a movement to unite the Christians in all the sects.

 

            The Campbells said, “The Church of Christ upon earth is essentially, intentionally, and constitutionally one.” And they said, like Betty Achtemeier said, that that one church is made up of all those who believe and obey Jesus Christ. And the Campbells said that before they ever had a congregation of their own. The church by its very nature is one and cannot be other than one, for Christ cannot be divided.

 

            That the church is one is in the light of Scripture an incontrovertible truth. It cannot be gainsaid. There may be a thousand denominations but there is but one church. Believing that truth and acting upon it will do much for the cause of Christian unity. To claim it as God’s truth is in essence a repudiation of denominationalism.

 

            I think of great men in our recent past who were inspired by that truth. My old friend and colleague, the late Perry Gresham used to say, “Let our leaders come together and proclaim that the church is one.” C. C. Morrison, founding editor of the Christian Century, insisted that the denominations must cease being churches, for there is but one church. Another friend and fellow-worker, the late Carl Ketcherside would say, “There never was but one church and there never will be but one.”

 

            The more we implement that truth the more denominations will recede into the background and the less important they will become. And the more we take the oneness and unity of the church to heart the more we will take each other to heart. As Dr. Achtemeier put it, “We are members of the same church.”

 

            There is only one church! We cannot forever be a divided people if that truth takes root in our hearts and minds. – Leroy

 

 

 

Between Us . . .

 

Ukraine

 

            My trip to Ukraine began with a stopover in Detroit where I spent the night with Joe and Geneve Jones. The next day Joe and I flew on to Amsterdam, which turned out to be the roughest flight that either of us had ever encountered. It was so rough that they had to postpone serving dinner. From Amsterdam we flew to Geneva, Switzerland where we were met by Stephen Bilak, longtime missionary to Ukraine, who took us to his home in Lausanne. Our two days there enabled us to visit that historic city. We stayed in the facility of the Slavic People for Christ, a Church of Christ where Brady Smith ministers.

 

            With Stephen as our trusted guide we drove in his car across part of enchanting Switzerland into Germany and on to Worms where we spent the night in an old hotel close to where Martin Luther made his fateful “Here I Stand” speech that fired the Protestant Reformation. The old reformer stands watch over the city in the form of an impressive monument in the heart of the city. One cannot be in Worms without sensing the heavy hand of history.

 

            We drove on to Frankfurt and from there we flew to Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, and from there we flew on to Simferopol in Crimea in the southern part of Ukraine, which was our destination. The contrast to Germany and Switzerland was striking. Those two countries are the essence of modernity with their sleek buses and new cars that streak along super highways at incredible speeds (No speed limit in Germany!), and state of the art restaurants and shops. Ukraine, especially in the south, is Third World with its older and fewer cars, its narrow, pot-holed, unkempt streets and many dilapidated buildings.

 

            It took some getting used to: Our hotel in Kiev had no hot water, no hot water in Simferopol except on weekends, no heat until November, and it was cold in October. And while Ukraine has been free of Soviet domination for eight years, there are remnants of a totalitarian way of life. While I kept in touch with Ouida by e-mail, I was cautioned to be careful about what I said, for the mail might be read. As if I had something subversive to say!

 

            Most people seemed to live in high rise apartments, which they might proudly own, but they neglect the exterior, even the stairs and halls. Public toilets were generally ill kept, sometimes incredibly filthy. But the oddity that most impressed me was that businesses posted the credit cards they accepted but would not accept them. Cash! Even hotels.

 

            These negatives aside, Ukraine is a beautiful and interesting country with lots going for it, including a growing economy now mostly free of totalitarian methods. Long recognized as the bread basket of Europe, it is now free of a communal farm system and is progressing under a free market economy. We saw new farm implements as we drove through the countryside,

 

            It is becoming more industrial and technological. A physician told me that while medical supplies were difficult to come by under the old regime, they now get most of what they need. A citizen of Simferopol told me that they had only one filling station in the entire city under the Soviets, and it was state-owned. Cars would line up for blocks trying to get gas. “Now we have seven or eight stations, all privately owned,” he told me.

 

            They are learning that freedom requires getting used to. Once a nation is dictated to by bureaucrats for two generations, it does not learn to do its own thinking overnight. Freedom takes time. Change comes slowly.

 

            Ukrainians are a proud, intelligent, and peaceful people. One of them reminded me that while numerous nations had invaded them through the centuries, they have never invaded anyone. Betrayed by Hitler, who promised them security if they would allow him a corridor through Ukraine to Russia, their greatest challenge came in driving the Nazis out of their country. It cost them over 300,000 lives, but they succeeded.

 

            There is a touching story growing out of their struggle to be free of Russian domination. There was this singer-poet who wrote and sang songs of freedom, with subtle references to Soviet tyranny. While only 30, he was murdered by the Soviets at the height of his freedom campaign. While in Kiev, Stephen took us to see the tomb of this brave Ukranian. He took a picture as Joe and I placed a flower amidst a bank of other flowers.

 

            A nation now free has not forgotten. A singer of freedom songs is a Ukranian hero!

 

            I was reminded of Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s description of freedom: If all the earth were covered with concrete, cracks would form in the concrete, and there green grass would grow; that is freedom.

 

            It is true of religion in Ukraine. While even the dominant religion, the Ukranian Orthodox Church, was persecuted by the Communists, all religions are now free. But there is much disbelief, and the Orthodox faith has long been viewed as ineffective. Our own people are free to build schools and churches, to use the media, and to preach at will, a few old-line bureaucrats to the contrary not withstanding.

 

            Our Christian Church brethren have a college in Simferopol called Crimean American College, which does a great work, particularly in teaching Ukrainians English by teaching them the English Bible.

 

            They also conduct symposiums and conferences in an effort to reach the intellectual community with the gospel. Christians and non-Christians alike participate. I was there to take part in one of these. I spoke on “World Peace Through a Global Ethic.” There was vigorous exchange of ideas. I also met with several groups at the college, including the faculty.

 

            I also addressed a Christian Church in Simferopol and a Church of Christ in Ternopil, a church that resulted from Stephen Bilak’s radio ministry. This was the most rewarding part of the trip. Both churches are free in Christ and rejoicing in their faith.

 

            I fared unusually well, not only because I was amidst gracious people but also because I had Stephen Bilak and Joe Jones watching out for me.

 

Indiana

 

            I was home from Ukraine only two days when Ouida joined me for a 9-day visit to Indiana. Old friends Stan and Dot Carpenter met us at the Indianapolis airport and took us to Terre Haute for a weekend with Lloyd Gobel and the Eastside Church of Christ. This was followed by a 3-day Seniors Retreat, an annual affair conducted by folk from Eastside church at McCormick State Park. I gave a series on the nature of unity. We met many new friends. It was a great time of year to be in Indiana.

 

            Longtime friends Bob and Sherry Campbell came for the last session of the retreat and took us to their home in Salem. They have a large facility in their home for a house church, which I had the honor to address. Since the Campbells and we go way back we had lots to talk about.

 

            They took us on to Linton where we were guests of still more old friends, Tooger and Nancy Smith. On the Lord’s day that we were there I twice addressed the First Christian Church of Linton. There is a pizza cafe in the Smith family, so we delighted in feasting on especially good pizza, and got to look in on how they do it.

 

            I brought Ouida home sick. The doctor diagnosed it as pneumonia, which caused us to cancel an upcoming trip to Tennessee and Alabama. She was awhile recovering, but she is now back to her old self. We will be home during most of the winter.

 

            Just before Thanksgiving I underwent cataract surgery in one eye, and I am progressing as well as my ophthalmologist hoped for. He will likely do my other eye soon. I look forward to the results since for sometime my glasses never seem adequate. I have’ had to use an illuminated magnifying glass to read fine print, but not the type now on my computer screen. My doctor, who is a committed Christian, promises that better days are ahead for me, that I am in for a surprise.

 

            In December I turn 81, while Ouida remains young. We rejoice and thank God that we can still do what we have been doing together for 56 years come February. She works in the yard and I still get on the roof to fix things, as well as walk/run my two miles five mornings a week. And lots and lots of travel all through the years. With the passing of years we identify with Ps. 92: 14: “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”

 

 

 

            Those who look for meaningful change in Churches of Christ have cause to be encouraged. Some instances:

 

            The Central Church of Christ in Fayette, Alabama hosted the annual Thanksgiving service of the cooperating churches in that city. The pastor of a Baptist church was the main speaker. Randy Harris is the minister at the Central church.

 

            In Pampa, Texas a Church of Christ, an Independent Christian Church, and a Disciples of Christ congregation had a joint Sunday evening service that brought over 400 people together at the Disciples’ facility. They dined, sang, and prayed together, and Doug Foster of ACU led them in a study of their common heritage.

 

            The Farmers Branch Church of Christ near Dallas recently hired a non-Church of Christ youth minister. The elders instructed the search committee to find the best qualified person. It came up with a young man of Pentecostal/Baptist background (Christ for the Nations and Criswell colleges!), who was at first reluctant to work with a Church of Christ. This is a First among us insofar as I know. It was not without some trauma in the congregation (“He’ll have our kids speaking in tongues!”). Latest report after several months: It is all going great!

 

            In June of 2000 the Woodmont Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, where Rubel Shelly ministers, will help host a Billy Graham Crusade, which may be Graham’s last. Those who “make a decision to follow Jesus Christ” will select a counselor to guide them in their commitment. Several Church of Christ ministers will be among the counselors, including Rubel.

 

            The Encyclopedia of the Stone-Campbell Movement, a cooperative publication of Christian Churches (Disciples of Christ), Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and Churches of Christ, is proceeding on schedule and is to be issued early in the new millennium. There are three editors, one from each of the churches, and 45 others from all three churches serve as an editorial board and consultants. Still others from all three churches are writing the hundreds of entries. This may well be the most significant cooperative effort, including all the churches, in the history of the Movement.

 

            The ACU Lectures continue to be more open. This Lectures for 2000 in February will have representation from the Independent Christian Church. I have also been invited to be on the program, which some will see as at least a modest change.

 

            We are cautiously optimistic about these changes. We are to be aware, of course, that change is not to be for the sake of change itself, but must have virtue.

  

            Books that may interest you: A Barclay Prayer Book, 347 pages, ideal for devotionals, $14; The Stone-Campbell Movement (Revised Edition), by Leroy Garrett, 573 pages, $25; The Divine Conspiracy, Richard Foster, 428 pages, $23; Our Heritage of Unity and Fellowship, Ketcherside and Garrett, 349 pages, $8; Distant Voices: Discovering a Forgotten Past for a Changing Church, 199 pages, Leonard Allen, $13. Back issues of Restoration Review, 25 for $5. All prices include postage.