My answer to her question initially recapped what the Bible study materials had already pointed out, that the Ten Commandments is а) like a mirror, showing us our sin, б) like the reins on a horse, keeping us “reined” in, and г) like a compass, pointing to moral north. But as others joined the discussion, another thing remained clear to me: Russians, by tradition, cultural or church, are innately programmed to believe that God exists in the good all around them, and being good, naturally, brings them closer to Him. To put it bluntly, Christ’s work on the Cross is a hard sell-- to get something for nothing goes against not just a Russian’s mindset, but the mindset of most folks in this you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours world we live in.
Most Christians and at least some Russians learning to become Christians know that the believer in Christ must also be the follower of Christ. After all, Christ Himself tells us by way of the Gospel accounts of Mark (8:34) and Matthew (10:38) to drop everything we have, everything we own, everything we are doing, pick up a cross, and follow Him. We are called on, as the Christians we profess to be, to live a Christ-like life. To be like Christ. My Russian folks, for the most part, and, sadly, many Christians in America, see this as a paradox because we are told that, since no man can keep the Law, God sent Christ so that the only “law” in effect now is to be like Christ. (So if we couldn't keep the Ten Commandments, we surely can’t be expected to live poor, homeless, and, even worse, sinless!)
Getting back to the lady whose question started this discussion about living in or out or around the Law, I felt the need to reemphasize a few points to set the record straight.
First and foremost, I told them, is that, yes, Christ came to Earth to take away the sins of the world on the cross; we, I emphasized, are “saved,” that is, justified, reconciled with God, REGARDLESS of our past transgressions by believing that Christ’s work for us on the cross really happened. There is absolutely nothing we can do to gain favor with God or secure a place in heaven outside of faith. As for the Law, Christ freed us from it, so that by faith in Him, we are freed to love our neighbors as God loves us. Love, Jesus teaches us (John 15:12), is the new Law in town. Love is the “Law of Christ,” through which all other Laws can be ascribed. Love is a “fruit of the spirit,” along with joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control that the Apostle Paul writes about in Galatians 5. We are called to live a Christ-like life, not to try and be right with God by driving the speed limit, remaining faithful to a spouse, being honest on income tax returns, and giving money to the church each week, but to be right with God through faith.
In the next study, I led my Russian Bible study group through Galatians chapter 5. In particular, we looked at verses 19-26, which they seemed to understand just fine. It was verse 25 that gave them a little bit of trouble (the English translation of the Russian text read “So as the Spirit gave us life, so should we act by [according to] the Spirit.”). They began asking questions about the Holy Spirit’s role in all of this Law business. I explained, again to them (as I had done in previous sessions) that when we hear the Gospel proclaimed, the Holy Spirit works faith in us, so that we may have salvation, not by being a good Christian (in other words, just living a good life), but by believing that Christ died in the place each and every one of us.
Still unsure of who was grasping what, I related to them Martin Luther’s anecdote about becoming a monk which he includes in his commentary on Galatians 5:
Some of the old saints labored so hard to attain perfection that they lost the capacity to feel anything. When I was a monk I often wished I could see a saint. I pictured him as living in the wilderness, abstaining from meat and drink and living on roots and herbs and cold water. This weird conception of those awesome saints I had gained out of the books of the scholastics and church fathers. But we know now from the Scriptures who the true saints are. Not those who live a single life, or make a fetish of days, meats, clothes, and such things. The true saints are those who believe that they are justified by the death of Christ. Whenever Paul writes to the Christians here and there he calls them the holy children and heirs of God. All who believe in Christ, whether male or female, bond or free, are saints; not in view of their own works, but in view of the merits of God which they appropriate by faith. Their holiness is a gift and not their own personal achievement.
Ministers of the Gospel, public officials, parents, children, masters, servants, etc., are true saints when they take Christ for their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, and when they fulfill the duties of their several vocations according to the standard of God's Word and repress the lust and desires of the flesh by the Spirit. Not everybody can resist temptations with equal facilities. Imperfections are bound to show up. But this does not prevent them from being holy. Their unintentional lapses are forgiven if they pull themselves together by faith in Christ. God forbid that we should sit in hasty judgment on those who are weak in faith and life, as long as they love the Word of God and make use of the supper of the Lord.
I thank God that He has permitted me to see (what as a monk I so earnestly desired to see) not one but many saints, whole multitudes of true saints. Not the kind of saints the papists admire, but the kind of saints Christ wants. I am sure I am one of Christ's true saints. I am baptized. I believe that Christ my Lord has redeemed me from all my sins, and invested me with His own eternal righteousness and holiness. To hide in caves and dens, to have a bony body, to wear the hair long in the mistaken idea that such departures from normalcy will obtain some special regard in heaven is not the holy life. A holy life is to be baptized and to believe in Christ, and to subdue the flesh with the Spirit.
Ahhh, one lady said, and told me she understood what Luther means by subduing the flesh-- those immoral things in the first three verses of the Galatians passage-- with the Spirit. She explained TO ME very eloquently that the once we have faith, the Holy Spirit works in us to resist the temptation of sin. Jumpin’ Jehosophat! She had gotten it!
After a little more discussion, when I felt certain that the others were on board, I posed what I thought to be a simple enough question to them: What, then, would be the definition of the “true” Christian? They agreed that the “true” Christian has faith in Christ, and that by this faith, he or she is no longer a slave, shackled by sin. That this freedom in Christ from the Old Testament Law makes possible those “fruits of the Spirit” Paul talks about. I was smiling inside and out.
But I couldn’t stop myself. I had to ask one more time about the Law. Does a “true” Christian have to live by any Law or laws? No, one person said. As long as the “true” Christian knows the Law is there...maybe that’s why we learn about the Ten Commandments in church, another added...Yes, still another said, the “true” Christian has to live the Law of Christ, the one Commandment that covers all the others: love. We revisited Paul’s advice in verse 25, that if the “true” Christian lives by the Spirit, he should also walk by the Spirit. Then to drive the point home, I read Luther’s poetic definition of the “true” Christian...and just about every one of the dozen or so of them wrote it down: “A true Christian conducts himself in such a way that he does not need any law to warn or to restrain him.”
Boy, we had come along way, from ending a study on the Ten Commandments to justification and, though I didn’t mention it directly, sanctification.
I miss those days, those Russian Bible studies, but I know God has a place for me somewhere after seminary. Perhaps, as a teaching pastor? :)
С Богом!
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