Why Do People Not Want Grace?

Why do people not want God’s grace? This was the question I asked a friend of mine a few weeks ago. God’s grace is amazing, wonderful, rich, free and endless. And most people don’t want it. My friend answered that the reason people did not want grace was because they wanted to earn salvation. People want to work for salvation rather than receive it freely; thus, the old works versus faith.

However, the longer I thought about it, the more I disagree. I don’t usually see people welcoming the idea of earning salvation. I certainly would be content to get salvation as a gift rather than have to work for it.

Even in the Bible I don’t see a strong desire on the part of people to prefer to earn their salvation rather than receive it freely. Sometimes the Pharisee in Luke 18, in contrast to the tax collector, is used as an example of someone who is trying to earn his salvation by works. However, I am not sure that religious pride is necessarily a sign that someone is trying to earn their salvation by works.

I think the real reason that people don’t want grace is that the method of grace is transformation rather rescue. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 12:7-9a –

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Most of the time, God does not rescue us out of difficult situations. Rather he wants to transform us within difficult situations. The fruit of the Spirit is not health, wealth, happiness, and success, but love, joy, peace, and patience. And in the transformation process God requires our active participation. The obedience of faith responds to God’s grace in our hearts and produces salvation (look at the verb katergazomai in Philippians 2:12 and how it is used in other passages).

So when we are offering God’s grace to people, we are not offering them rescue from their problems. We are offering them a cross to carry. And most people don’t want it. But they are certainly not sitting there thinking, “No thanks, I would rather earn my salvation.” They may feel that they are somehow already worthy, like the Pharisee. And getting them to see their sin and need for salvation is always a work of God’s illumination.

The message of Christmas is not simply that God saves, but how God saves. Jesus grew up in obscurity and grew in obedience through suffering (Hebrews 5:8-9). And the message of saving grace is “Take up your cross and follow me.”

The Sacrament of Penance

I hope you don’t mind, Patrick if I mix blogs, but I read your remarks on penance and had more to say than was reasonable in a comment slot. I also just wanted to make sure it didn’t get lost because it was a post from some time ago. I was also deeply moved again by your post about Lauren. I wish I could be there to encourage and pray with you. Lord, so much I don’t understand. But I was grateful to see that we have the elite French forces to fall back on if all else fails.

I am thankful Patrick that you touch on subjects that get most people in trouble. I wanted to comment on your post about PENANCE. This is not a controversial topic among Protestants simply because it is not a topic at all, but it should be. I agree with your need for more in the repentance process, and with your concern to guard against saying that somehow we need to share with Jesus in the payment of our sins. As people who are trying to follow Biblical teaching, we believe that Christ died for our sins, and that we must confess our sins to God and repent. You are introducing the idea of confessing to another person, which I think is good (cf. James 5:16). I have also always wondered if there is something more to John 20:23, where Jesus apparently gives the disciples power to communicate God’s forgiveness to confessing sinners. But that is another topic.

I would like to advocate an additional step, and that is something that looks like the traditional form of penance as extra activities after confession, good works in some form. And why? Because sin harms and damages us, body and soul. Let me explain.

In the Old Testament, when a person stole something (Leviticus 6:2-7), the person was required to do at least three things: 1) make a sacrifice to God for forgiveness, 2) restore what was taken, 3) and (and this is the interesting part to me here) add one-fifth to what was being restored in step two. What is this third step? Is it payment for sin? No, that was dealt with in step one. You don’t pay for sin twice. God required something more than simple restitution. But why?

Isaiah 1:4-6 describes sinful Israel in terms of sickness. The truth is sin harms us. When we sin, we damage our soul. We do not only need forgiveness, we need healing. Let me quote from the Catholic Cathecism which I feel like at least on this point has some good things to say (hopefully I haven’t lost everybody at this point):

“Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, . . .). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, . . . Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused. Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for his sin.

“The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, . . .” (Taken from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1459-1460).

When I sin through hate, it makes an impression on my heart, soul and mind such that it is easier for me to hate more the next time the occasion arises. If I look at pornography, I can quickly develop that practice into a habit, and it gets stronger each time I sin. I need to counteract that habitual tendency of hate, lust, greed, whatver, with new actions, new habits.

Now, how do these “extra activities” at the time of repentance relate to normal activities in a healthy, Christian life? We can go with the analogy of a physical illness or injury. If I spend too much time out in the cold without a coat, etc., I may get a bacterial respiratory infection. I may need some special treatment to get rid of the infection like antibiotics, staying home, etc. But when I return to normal life, I will try to be more careful to live in a careful healthy way. Penance is like the antibiotic, after which a spiritually healthy way of life can keep us stable.

Alcoholics and drug addicts sometimes go into a 30 day or so rehab to break the initial hold that those chemicals have on the person, and then they have a follow-up program after that. That program could be understood as a kind of penance, extraordinary measures taken to help restore order to body and soul.

So, sin creates guilt before God and disorder in the soul. Forgiveness through the cross of Christ removes guilt, but penance in the form of an extra, additional, and temporary program activities can help bring some healing for the disorder that sin creates.

I look forward to your comments.