By most historians' accounts, Jesus Christ was a famous religious teacher and rumored wonder worker who lived 2000 years ago and was condemned to death, crucified by the Jews under the Romans. By the accounts of many historical witnesses, he rose back to life, appeared to his followers, and explained the Way to eternal life. Christ is a special religious figure to me for many reasons. Only one of those is the nearly incredible witness of the Apostles and the early martyrs. In them we have a historically verifiable group of men and women who claimed to witness a ressurection from the dead. Many of them willingly died for their faith in Christ. By all accounts, even the Apostles were not profiting from their positions as faith leaders by gaining land, property, excessive money, nor multiple wives. Unlike so many other "persecuted" faith leaders in history, these men and women seemed to be sincere. They believed they had witnessed the Ressurection of the Son of God.
A Jewish religious teacher once asked Christ what he must do to get eternal life. (see Luke chapter 10) Jesus replied, "What is written in the Law?" The man answered with a passage from the Old Testament: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." Jesus said that all God's commandments boil down to one single command. Love.
Loving people is loving God. Mankind was created in God's image. Christ plainly taught that loving our neighbor is the same thing as loving God in Matthew 25. In Luke, He again taught us to take care of the needy people around us to get eternal life. And, again, in John 15:17 Christ tells us, "This is my command: Love each other." To love one another is to truly love God the Father and is to truly follow Christ His Son.
However, to love others means we must humble ourself. We must realize, in our minds, that we have sinned against God and are unworthy servants. The Apostle Paul speaks of this, saying, "Godly sorrow produces a changing of mind that leads to salvation." (2 Corinthians 7:10) Our salvation begins when, as the prodigal son, we realize “I’m not worthy to be called your son.” (Luke 15:11-32) Only by realizing how unworthy we are in our sinful nature, by living like the tax collector, by beating our chests and crying out before God, “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner!” can we embrace our Father’s Way of salvation. (Luke 18:13) Like the prodigal son, all who find this Way will ultimately be led to the Father's feast.
I was taught in the various Southern Baptist churches I grew up in that the Christian life, eternal life, starts and continues "through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone." However, while faith is certainly an important aspect of Christianity and eternal salvation it isn't close to being the most imporant. A number of passages in the Holy Scriptures say the equivalent of, "everyone who believes may have eternal life in him," and many Christians, especially in America, like to put those passages on their cars, on their T-shirts, and on signs in the audience at American football games. Their intent is to spread eternal life around, and that is good. However, consider also these passages from Scripture they tend to ignore:
- "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life,"
- "whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life,"
- "everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life,"
- "Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day."
Faith is just one essential part of Christianity and the pursuit of eternal life; it is not the most important part. Rather, the holy Scriptures testify, "of faith, hope, and love the greatest is love." (1 Corinthians 13:13) Jesus was asked directly, "How can I acquire eternal life?" His answer was not deceptive; He was not trying to fool anyone.
I'm thankful for so much about my upbringing in evangelical Christianity, for being taught to respect the Scriptures and to pray. Nonetheless, I believe it was out of balance with respect to faith and this often helps throw people's lives out of balance as a result. The original Christian churches, historically those orthodox churches in Israel, Turkey, Egypt, and Greece, have kept the proper understanding of the roles of both faith and love in Christianity in their teachings. When we throw away the historical Church's understandings and practices, even if our intent is good, we can sometimes do more damage than good. If you're an evangelical Christian or someone who grew up as one, like me, you may want to try attending one of the original churches Christ planted if you can find one of these "orthodox churches" near you. If you're particularly interested in a more detailed examination of typical "evangelical Christian" doctrine, then you may want to give this a read. It might apply to some of the things you've been taught.
May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him,
Jason
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