This article is a continuation of “moralism isn’t enough (part 1).”
I believe the American church primarily teaches moralism. By moralism I mean specifically that a good God provides a good life for good people.
How does this work in Bible believing churches? I think it’s fair to assume that most Bible believing churches teach salvation by grace and the importance of the Bible as God’s Word. But I don’t think nearly enough attention is paid to the assumptions of moralism, and so most church people still operate in a moralistic framework that is practically speaking a different religion than Christianity. What I mean is that many church folk are still operating under the paradigm of being a good person. They follow the rules of accepting Christ for salvation, do whatever particular things are required for baptism and communion, and generally try to avoid sin and follow church rules. This accounts for the differences between people who attend different churches, as they follow the rules of those churches (whether Roman Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Latter Day Saint, etc.) The problem here is that moralism does not adequately address who God actually is, what God cares about, or how God work in people’s lives. Grace has different answers from moralism on all of these questions, and is in fact an entirely different religion.
Who is God?
In moralism, God is good. From a grace perspective, a “good” or “nice” picture of God leaves a lot out. God is holy, of an entirely different character than human beings. God is scary in some senses because of his power and truth and justice. God is fiercely and sacrificially committed to redeeming a people for his name and accomplishing his purposes in creation.
What does God care about?
In moralism, God is primarily concerned with people being good. From a grace perspective, God created a good world and God charges humanity with helping him complete his creation. People are fundamentally limited and fundamentally broken. God wants to see justice done and his creation made whole from the impact of sin. God is so fully committed to making things right in creation and restoring people to fellowship with him and each other and joining him in his mission that he left his throne and came to earth in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to freely provide this possibility for every person.
How does God work in people’s lives?
In moralism, God does good things and solves problems for good people. From a grace perspective, God took action to freely give new life and energizing force to a creation and people fractured by sin’s effects. The operative principle in God’s framework is not people working hard and being good people, but God’s action and God’s gift of grace freeing and empowering sinners to new life, restored fellowship with God and other people, and a shared mission with God.
What’s the difference?
The result of a moralistic church is people who are “nice” and “good.” The primary message is to live a good life and be a good person according to a particular set of church rules, which very well may include taking difficult stands and experiencing suffering. But from a grace perspective, the purpose of the church and Christianity is not to cultivate rule following or a group of people who are trying to be good. The radical message of Christianity is that every person is fundamentally a sinner broken in significant ways, and that God is actively fiercely engaged in providing an absolutely free life-changing dynamic that changes people dramatically. The Bible talks about Christians who love others because God loved them first. People who are generous to others because God has been generous to them. People who forgive because they have been forgiven.
The problem with moralism is that it twists the whole Bible in a subtle but profound way into an exercise in being a good person to experience a good life. And grace offers a completely different framework, of a life of freedom and fellowship flowing out of the miracle of who God is and what he has done in Jesus. It is primarily about who God is and what God has done, not about human effort and rules and duty and obligation.