I remember as a boy in school trying to figure out what a vision was. There was a church in our community that taught that until you saw a vision, you weren’t really saved. I wondered if I’d ever seen one.
That’s just one example of the ways we like to qualify ourselves or others in the church. We have requirements for church life, markers of success. These can be good. In my church, when you come to a believing faith you make a public Profession of Faith - it’s a big deal, and a significant step in faith formation. But there was a time when a lot of kids did it just because they were graduating from high school and it was time.
Paul puts these rituals in their proper place in 1 Corinthians 7:19: “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”
Circumcision, of course, was the marker of a proper, God-following Jew, and a lot of Jews still thought newly-believing Gentiles ought to be circumcised. Paul is reminding them that in the new covenant that’s a ritual that has lost its meaning. In fact, as a general rule, rituals are suspect in the New Testament church.
What matters is lives lived out for Jesus. What matters is a dedication to knowing and following the commands of God. A life of faithful obedience is the new marker of a faithful person.
It’s worth thinking about as I want to judge others by their clothes or participation in worship.”Keeping God’s commands is what counts.”
No comments:
Post a Comment