Review of “Voices of Concern” . . . No. 10

SELF-RIGHTEOUS?
JAMES D. BALES

In the reviewer’s opinion the best spirit in Voices of Concern was manifested by Roy Key. This is due to his spirit in general and the fact that his article was a letter which he wrote to his parents, explaining why he entered the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) . We assure him that we do not “stare with scorn” on so personal a correspondence. His letter is touching in places, and it contains some truth.

Security and Insecurity

He tells of his sense of insecurity as to whether he was saved, even to the extent of having nightmares in which he saw himself lost eternally.

He gives three causes of his insecurity:

1. He was taught that the Gospel of Christ is another law in the same sense as the Law of Moses is law. He was taught that he was saved or lost on the basis of a complete keeping of that law.

I cannot say with certainty why Roy Key grew up with such an unscriptural position. Some few among us, of course, have such a view, and they teach this to others. It is easy to go from one extreme to another, and since the scriptures do teach that the Christian is in some sense under law, some extremists make this mean that law applies to the Christian in the sense that he must do all Christ says and do it all of the time (cf. Gal. 3:10). This cannot be true, for none of us could visualize ourselves saved on judgment day, for we have all sinned.

Or it may be that Key heard preachers who took it for granted that everyone believed in the grace of God, and so they did not stress it, giving their attention to the errors taught by denominationalists. They neglected grace by giving their attention to the “grace only” doctrine. So a generation grew up without an adequate understanding of grace.

As I grew up I did not have the idea that salvation was based on my doing a perfect job of keeping the will of God. Some may have preached that we are saved through perfect obedience, but it is unfair to charge all with having this position. Too, there were many who did not have that sense of security in Christ that we should have. We must realize that nothing outside ourselves can snatch us from His hand, and that God guards us. Yet we must nor become cock-sure and so confident that we grow careless and fall. We are guarded through the power of God through faith, and we have a responsibility in keeping the faith.

2. He also explains his insecurity on the idea that brethren knew what they believed, but not whom they believed.

This may be true of some brethren, but I do not have to go into “another fellowship” because of this. However, the what is important because it is related to and grounded in the who. If we respect the Commander we must accept the commands. Commands are significant only in that they are related to Christ. A saving knowledge of God involves submission to His will. To say that we know Him, and keep not His commandments, is not really to know Him (1 John 2).

3. He grew up with the idea that one had to be right in everything in order to be saved. One had to know all the truth. Yet he learned that we are wrong on some matters. He concluded that even though he was perfectly right in understanding he knew that he was lost.

If one has to be right in everything, there can be no hope for anyone, for no one knows it all. Even that which we know we do not know as we ought unless we use it in love (1 Cor. 8:1-2). And we can learn from those who are not members of Christ’s church, even from atheists. One is not anointed with knowledge simply because he becomes a Christian.

An attitude which I have long heard preached, and that needs to be stressed, is that none of us is right within himself, but the Bible is right, and we should study and measure ourselves in the light of the Bible.

Roy charged that we believe God will not overlook any errors in knowledge, but that He will overlook things in our lives. He says: “A long bitter road has led us to believe that God forgives every kind of error but ‘doctrinal’ error. What makes us think that He forgives stinginess, lust, character assassination, worldliness, laziness—everything but instrumental music in worship?”

If anyone among us believes this, he is simply wrong. To be sound in doctrine includes being sound in morals. Paul spoke of murder, fornication, profanity, and the like, as being “contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:10).

Now how many among us does Key think really believe anything like that? Yes, some among us live as though they believe such as that, but he is making false witness against the vast majority.

I do not know how much error God will overlook. He must overlook some or none of us will go to heaven. There is a difference between falling into sin and persisting in sin, just as there is a difference between being in Christ and having some error and not coming into Christ at all. It is not necessary for one to believe that an error will send a person to hell in order for him to teach against that error.

Christians and Security

Although it is possible to fall from grace, as the Bible teaches and as some authors in Voices demonstrates (and we are saddened by it), the Christian does have some security. Thus he ought to live with confidence, though not with self-righteous cock-sureness. Our security must be grounded in God and His promises. We cannot be saved if salvation is dependent on our merit.

We should feel secure because there is nothing outside of us that can take us away from the Savior (John 10:28). We are guarded by the power of God through faith for a salvation that will be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5).

If one were justified by merit by doing all God says and doing it all the time, he could boast of his work and would receive his reward as wages earned (Rom. 3), but no one has done this. Faith is not able to render perfect obedience, for faith itself is imperfect. Yet it is faith that brings us into the benefits of Christ. Faith functions, but never perfectly. We must trust God, not ourselves, for salvation. Faith itself has no power to save, however strong it may be. It saves because it is faith in the Savior. Neither do confession or baptism have power within themselves. They are God’s way of making men righteous, and they are related to the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In all these things our trust is in Christ and His cleansing blood.

We can have security since we are continually cleansed by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:6-7). This passage does not mean that we live perfectly, for John goes on to say that we are self-deceived if we deny that we sin (1 John 2:1-2). This does not mean that we are to take sin lightly, for he goes on to emphasize that we must keep the word of God (1 John 2:3-6) . While those who walk in the light do sin from time to time, their manner of life is not to be a sinful life. They do not dwell in darkness even though they sometimes sin, for their intention is to do God’s will even when they sometimes fail.

We are, therefore, continually under the blood of Jesus, which provides a continual cleansing process. I cannot trust in myself, for faith must be a clinging to Christ for salvation.

Are Christians Under Law?

Key does not deny that in some sense the Christian is under law. We are not under law in that we must earn our salvation through always doing all the will of God (Gal. 3:10). But if we are under law in no sense at all, it would mean that we have no obligation at all to do the will of God. If we are under law in no sense, it would not be possible for us to do any wrong, for sin is a transgression of law (1 John 3:4). If there is no law for the Christian, then there is nothing that says he must love God or neighbor, and there are no prohibitions against theft, murder or adultery, or anything else. Many passages make it clear that law does in some sense apply to us, such as Matt. 28:20; Acts 2:36, Luke 6:46, I Cor. 9:21, Heb. 8:10.

Self-Righteous Pharisees

In a lapse of charity and in unfair judgment, Key accuses us of being self-righteous like the Pharisees. Rather than being offended at this I am grieved that he made so blanket an accusation. When he gives this further reflection he may change his mind.

Undoubtedly there are Pharisees among us, but not all of us are, and one would have to know a lot about a person before he makes so serious a charge. Phariseeism is one of those dangers that has always threatened the people of God, and one that I have warned against in a forthcoming book, Woe Unto You. One can be proud about having more knowledge than someone else, or he can be self-righteous about not being a Pharisee! Each of us must examine himself in the light of God’s word lest he trusts in himself as righteous while setting all others at naught.

One is not trusting in himself, however, when he contends that there are conditions to salvation, or when he opposes what he believes to be wrong. But we are not saying that Key defines Phariseeism this way. My attitude toward Key is one of goodwill and personal friendliness. I pray the Lord will have mercy on him and on me also.—Harding College, Searcy, Ark.