{"id":1470,"date":"2016-11-16T12:47:35","date_gmt":"2016-11-16T17:47:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/?p=1470"},"modified":"2016-11-16T12:47:35","modified_gmt":"2016-11-16T17:47:35","slug":"sola-gratia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/anglicanconnection.com\/sola-gratia\/","title":{"rendered":"‘SOLA GRATIA’…"},"content":{"rendered":"

R<\/span>eflecting on the American Presidential election last Tuesday my mind turned to Peggy Noonan\u2019s\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0<\/i>article (11\/05\/16) that I quoted last week. In particular, note again:\u00a0But he\u00a0<\/i>(God<\/i>)\u00a0is an actor in history also. He chastises and rescues, he intervenes in ways seen and unseen\u2026<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps for the first time in Western history, we lightly dismiss the idea of God\u2019s involvement in human affairs. But Peggy Noonan\u2019s words are consistent with how the Bible speaks of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his address to the Athenian intelligentsia Paul says:\u00a0From one ancestor he\u00a0<\/i>(God<\/i>)\u00a0made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him\u2014though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For \u2018In him we live and move and have our being\u2019<\/i>\u00a0(Acts 17:26-28a).<\/span><\/p>\n

A CREATED UNIVERSE<\/span><\/h2>\n

The universe did not come into existence by random chance, Paul is saying. It\u2019s a rather frightening thought, for it reverses what we want to think about our existence. If God exists, we would rather he did our will, and turned up only when we wanted him.<\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore,\u00a0it\u2019s too easy to say that God is distant or uncaring. \u2018Not so,\u2019 says Paul. \u2018God is near you \u2013 nearer than you think. Quoting from a 6th century BC Greek poet, he points out: \u2018In God we live and move and have our being.\u2019\u00a0When events in our lives turn out very differently from what we expect, we need to pause and ask, \u2018What should I learn from this?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

A MORAL UNIVERSE<\/span><\/h2>\n

Paul concludes his Athenian address with:\u00a0\u2018In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now God commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all people by raising him from the dead\u2019<\/i>\u00a0(Acts 17:30-31).<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, many today have a problem with the idea of God as judge. However\u00a0as Winston Churchill observed, there has to be a hell to bring the likes of Trotsky, Stalin and Hitler to justice. And we could add to the list. Paul is saying that in appointing a day of reckoning for us all, God is being just. Indeed, without God\u2019s moral constancy we have no hope of a future of perfect peace.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere Paul sums up our human condition:\u00a0We were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else.<\/i><\/span>\u00a0<\/sup><\/i><\/span>But that is not the end of the story for Paul continues,\u00a0But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us\u2026\u00a0<\/i>(Ephesians 2:3-4)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Furthermore, he goes on:\u00a0For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God\u2014 not the result of works, so that no one may boast<\/i>\u00a0(Ephesians 2:8-9).<\/span><\/p>\n

SOLA GRATIA\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n

How easy it is to gloss over familiar words such as\u00a0grace\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0faith<\/i>.<\/strong> What Paul is saying here is complex, profound yet very simple. For in tying\u00a0grace<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0faith<\/i>\u00a0tightly together, he is saying that God has done absolutely everything needed for our salvation. God\u2019s\u00a0grace,<\/i>\u00a0and the\u00a0faith<\/i>\u00a0we come to have\u00a0are divinely initiated and gifted. Our salvation, our reconciliation with God, is God\u2019s work through and through.<\/span><\/p>\n

This was something men like Luther, Calvin and Cranmer rediscovered in the 16<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>\u00a0century. For centuries these truths had been overlaid by the doctrines of merit and good works, penances and payments (indulgences as they became known). It was taught that through these means people might be able to gain some acceptance with God.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

But Paul\u2019s, and the Scriptures\u2019 clear teaching is that even the faith we have, is God\u2019s gift alone. Every generation needs to grasp this vital wonder.\u00a0\u00a0In our human pride we like to think we can contribute to or offer something in the cause of our salvation. Ironically, this offers us no assurance of salvation.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Reformers like Thomas Cranmer,\u00a0we today need to be vigilant<\/b>, ensuring that liturgies we promote are clear with respect to The Lord\u2019s Supper, for example. Yet in many American churches, Cranmer\u2019s second prayer book (1552 \/ 1662) is overlooked or simply ignored. Yet, it is this second prayer book – the one for which he died – that clearly and unambiguously sets out the central gospel truths of salvation\u00a0by grace alone<\/i><\/b>,\u00a0through faith alone<\/i><\/b>,\u00a0in<\/i><\/b>\u00a0Christ alone<\/i><\/b>, revealed\u00a0in the Scriptures alone<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his\u00a0Homily of Salvation\u00a0<\/i>(Works, Vol. II, p.130<\/i>),\u00a0<\/i>Cranmer wrote: \u201cOur justification doth come freely by the mere mercy of God, and so great and free mercy at that, whereas all the world was not able themselves to pay any part towards their ransom, it pleased our heavenly Father, of His infinite mercy, without any of our desert or deserving, to prepare for us the most precious jewels of Christ\u2019s body and blood, whereby our ransom might be fully paid, the law fulfilled, and his justice fully satisfied\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s pray for the Spirit of God to awaken us afresh to heartfelt thankfulness to our God whose nature is always to have mercy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

\u00a9 John G. Mason<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

eflecting on the American Presidential election last Tuesday my mind turned to Peggy Noonan\u2019s\u00a0Wall Street Journal\u00a0article (11\/05\/16) that I quoted last week. In particular, note again:\u00a0But he\u00a0(God)\u00a0is an actor in history also. He chastises and rescues, he intervenes in ways seen and unseen\u2026 Perhaps for the first time in Western history, we lightly dismiss the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1471,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-word-on-wednesday"],"yoast_head":"\n'SOLA GRATIA'... - The Anglican Connection<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SOLA GRATIA. 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