We've been watching a DVD series, South Riding1, and it's got the usual Christian character who is held up for ridicule. He is judged harshly because he is a hypocrite. The character is a married, Methodist lay preacher -always fertile soil for Christophobia- who is committing adultery with a seductive, deceptive Delilah. He is conscience stricken about what he is doing but she can always bend him to her wishes.
But it got me thinking. Are Christians really more hypocritical than others as is often alleged and represented?
My simple point would be that all people are guilty of hypocrisy whether Christian or not because we are all tempted to present ourselves in a certain way which is contrary to what we truly are.
However, perhaps Christians are an easy group to hang upon this judgement of hypocrisy. All those who attempt to live by a code that calls them to moderate their actions so that their bare desires and lusts are not given preeminence over God's wishes for them will find it difficult to act consistently. Western societies in general are societies that cultivate the desire for sensation, pleasure and entertainment; hence, living in such societies does increase the ready access to the forbidden.
Perhaps Christians also are a 'soft' target because they are usually law-abiding people and commanded not to take revenge on their opponents but rather clothe and feed them if required (Prov 25.21-22; Matt 5.43-48; Rom 12.17-21).
This foregoing discussion raises the question of the grace of God because it's just possible that the presence of hypocrisy is directly connected to the grasp one has upon the teaching of grace.
Now you might not believe my next statement but at least four positions exist concerning the receiving of God's grace which have various disagreements even within themselves. (These brief summaries do not purport to sum up everything a particular view teaches.)
1. The classical Reformed (Calvinist) view is that we must repent of our sins and receive Christ as our Saviour by faith. Furthermore, we must become disciples of Christ and follow Him as Lord in order to be saved, so-called 'Lordship Salvation'.
2. The 'Free Grace' group believes that all we have to do to be saved is to confess Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead2 (Rom 10.9). They draw most of their understanding from John's gospel account with its emphasis on believe/believing and from Paul's letters.
3. The 'evangelical Calvinists' believe that God has already extended his grace to all people without their needing to meet any conditions such as faith or repentance. (However, oddly this doesn't mean all will be saved.)
4. The Arminian view (stemming from Jacobus Arminius) is that all people receive 'prevenient' (preceding) grace that precedes the decisions made by hearers of the gospel message enabling3 them (but not coercing them) to respond positively.4
The gospel is the good news about the God of grace, the God who showers his grace upon us in magnanimous variety. We don't deserve his grace but he gives it freely to us nonetheless.
Pointedly, we deserved not his mercy but his wrath (Rom 5.9). Yet, God has sent His Son into the world to save us from the fundamental sin of our broken covenant with Him by dying for our sins and rising again to life in Palestine 2000 years ago.
If I know grace to be God's initiative towards me to do me eternal good, how might that alter how I might view my own hypocritical failings?
1. Set in Yorkshire in the fictitious South Riding, it is based rather on experiences related to the East Riding.
2. I went to a Brethren Sunday School in my primary school years and remember our singing a chorus about 'Romans 10 and 9'. It's now interesting to find out all these years later that the song related directly to this teaching about 'free grace'.
3. Contrariwise, Augustine much earlier (c. AD400) had a similar idea but for him 'prevenient' grace was irresistible.
4. John Wesley held an Arminian view and hence, the Pentecostal Movement I was raised within was much dominated by it as Pentecostalism is a direct heir of Methodism's emphasis upon experience.
But it got me thinking. Are Christians really more hypocritical than others as is often alleged and represented?
What is hypocrisy?
Hypocrisy is the sin of professing one thing but acting in a way inconsistent with that appearance. One writer has said, 'Hypocrisy is the art of affecting qualities for the purpose of pretending to an undeserved virtue.'My simple point would be that all people are guilty of hypocrisy whether Christian or not because we are all tempted to present ourselves in a certain way which is contrary to what we truly are.
However, perhaps Christians are an easy group to hang upon this judgement of hypocrisy. All those who attempt to live by a code that calls them to moderate their actions so that their bare desires and lusts are not given preeminence over God's wishes for them will find it difficult to act consistently. Western societies in general are societies that cultivate the desire for sensation, pleasure and entertainment; hence, living in such societies does increase the ready access to the forbidden.
Perhaps Christians also are a 'soft' target because they are usually law-abiding people and commanded not to take revenge on their opponents but rather clothe and feed them if required (Prov 25.21-22; Matt 5.43-48; Rom 12.17-21).
This foregoing discussion raises the question of the grace of God because it's just possible that the presence of hypocrisy is directly connected to the grasp one has upon the teaching of grace.
Differences about the Grace of God
C.S. Lewis went as far to declare that grace is what sets Christianity apart from all other religions. Yet as ever, we in this mortal, fallen existence have various 'schools' of opinion haggling over the action of grace in our lives.Now you might not believe my next statement but at least four positions exist concerning the receiving of God's grace which have various disagreements even within themselves. (These brief summaries do not purport to sum up everything a particular view teaches.)
1. The classical Reformed (Calvinist) view is that we must repent of our sins and receive Christ as our Saviour by faith. Furthermore, we must become disciples of Christ and follow Him as Lord in order to be saved, so-called 'Lordship Salvation'.
2. The 'Free Grace' group believes that all we have to do to be saved is to confess Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead2 (Rom 10.9). They draw most of their understanding from John's gospel account with its emphasis on believe/believing and from Paul's letters.
3. The 'evangelical Calvinists' believe that God has already extended his grace to all people without their needing to meet any conditions such as faith or repentance. (However, oddly this doesn't mean all will be saved.)
4. The Arminian view (stemming from Jacobus Arminius) is that all people receive 'prevenient' (preceding) grace that precedes the decisions made by hearers of the gospel message enabling3 them (but not coercing them) to respond positively.4
The Gospel of Grace
Despite all this disagreement, isn't it encouraging to know that you can be saved despite your faulty theological views? Salvation isn't based on the rightness of your knowledge about salvation as much as it is based on whether you have believed from the heart in Jesus as Saviour. (I for one hold that the people of God are found holding all these different views.)The gospel is the good news about the God of grace, the God who showers his grace upon us in magnanimous variety. We don't deserve his grace but he gives it freely to us nonetheless.
Pointedly, we deserved not his mercy but his wrath (Rom 5.9). Yet, God has sent His Son into the world to save us from the fundamental sin of our broken covenant with Him by dying for our sins and rising again to life in Palestine 2000 years ago.
If I know grace to be God's initiative towards me to do me eternal good, how might that alter how I might view my own hypocritical failings?
1. Set in Yorkshire in the fictitious South Riding, it is based rather on experiences related to the East Riding.
2. I went to a Brethren Sunday School in my primary school years and remember our singing a chorus about 'Romans 10 and 9'. It's now interesting to find out all these years later that the song related directly to this teaching about 'free grace'.
3. Contrariwise, Augustine much earlier (c. AD400) had a similar idea but for him 'prevenient' grace was irresistible.
4. John Wesley held an Arminian view and hence, the Pentecostal Movement I was raised within was much dominated by it as Pentecostalism is a direct heir of Methodism's emphasis upon experience.
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