In 418 AD, the Church held a council at Carthage, today in Tunisia, to deal with a false teaching in the Church. That teaching was called “Pelagianism.” Pelagianism taught that we humans are born neutral before God, neither good nor evil. And because we are neutral, someone’s own choices or efforts get him into heaven.
The Church council at Carthage condemned Pelagianism as heresy. But people being what they are, wanting to choose the doctrines they like, some protested against the Church’s upholding of the truth. Some who liked Pelagianism began causing problems within the Roman Empire, protesting and creating civil unrest.
So, the Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Flavius Augustus Honorius, became involved. Now, we must remember the Roman Empire was then split into a western empire, based in Rome, and an eastern empire, based in Constantinople. And by this time, the Roman Empire had largely become Christian. And so the Roman Emperor even involved himself and issued a decree, hoping it would not only help get rid of a heresy within the Church, but end the civil unrest. Emperor Flavius declared, “Praise the Name of the Lord, who saves us by grace alone, apart from our efforts, works, or decisions, because of Christ.”
But by human logic, Pelagianism sounds reasonable–that a person’s own choice gains him entrance into heaven. Often our own experience even supports this. We think back in our lives and say, “Yes, I remember a time, many times, when I considered who Jesus is and what that means for me. And yes, I chose to follow Him.” And although our human experience often leads us to think that we are neutral before God, that experience contradicts what God Himself tells us about ourselves. Romans 3:10-12 says, “Not one is righteous, not even one. No one understands. No one seeks God. All have turned away.”
Even more, as we learn more about what God expects of us, how His standard for our lives is perfection, fear begins to fill our hearts. For when moments of brazen honesty seize our hearts, we can’t explain why we sometimes do what we know is wrong, even when we don’t want to do such deeds. Those few moments of brutal honesty destroy our excuses and rationalizations, letting us know that we aren’t neutral before God. We then realize that we are messed up in many ways.
Well, what happened to Pelagianism? It disappeared. It would not rear its hideous head again until Protestant churches formed and began to promote a “decision theology.” Today, the teaching that you become a Christian by asking Jesus into your heart as your personal Lord and Savior is just Pelagianism wearing a new mask.
Well, if we cannot choose God, what does it mean when–as far as we can tell–that we do choose Him? It means that when we do “decide” to choose Him, God has already placed faith in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That means such choices we make toward God are a result and fruit of faith, not that which brings about our salvation.
But how can we miss such a work of God in our hearts? Ah, now we get to the Gospel reading for today. It’s because the work of the Holy Spirit is a quiet work. In our Gospel reading, we heard these words: The Holy Spirit “will not speak on his own, but he will speak only what he hears.”
The message from the Holy Spirit is not about Himself; He speaks what God the Father gives Him to speak. And so the Holy Spirit does not create and work fervor in our hearts about Himself. Instead, the message from the Holy Spirit is about grace–God the Father’s grace in sending God the Son to us and for us.
In other words, the Father tells the Holy Spirit to speak about and bring us Jesus. It’s as Paul wrote in 2 Thessalonians: “God chose you from the beginning to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. He called you to this through our gospel, so you would obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 2:13-14).
When Flavius decreed that God “saves us by grace alone, apart from our efforts, works, or decisions, because of Christ,” that decree pointed Christians away from themselves and their choices to the grace of God. And what is the “grace of God”? It’s is an attitude that originates from God Himself; it’s a judgment in the mind of God.
Now, you’re probably thinking that “judgment” is automatically something bad. If God passes judgment on me, then I’m already without hope. But that’s not the case. For the “grace of God” is a judgment from God that you do not receive what you deserve because of your sins. And that grace of God then foists all of that on the shoulders of Christ Jesus.
God’s judgment of grace is something good for you. For God’s judgment of grace is that He chooses to see you and treat you as He would Jesus, His own Son (and it treats His Son as you deserve). Do you see who’s doing the choosing? And so, God’s grace is His attitude toward you that grows from an eternal love, granting and giving complete and eternal forgiveness. Since this grace originates in the mind of God, that means it doesn’t come about from your efforts, works, or decisions. God holds such a judgment because of Jesus.
Yet, sadly, because we American Christians know almost nothing of our own New-Testament Church history, we often think that “grace alone” means “grace plus.” It’s grace plus your efforts. It’s grace plus your works. It’s grace plus your decision.
That’s how the human world works, right? We barter for something. Each side has to give, so it can take. Otherwise, it’s no deal. We expect our elected leaders to pass legislation, which means that both Democrats and Republicans have to give up something, all so they can get something they each want passed into law. And so we naturally bring that thinking and mindset to our relationship with God. We think, “I’ve got to give something to God for Him to give me salvation.” And so, today, many think we have to give Him our heart before He will save us.
But there’s nothing that we can exchange for the grace of God! Apart from Christ’s blood already covering our sins, no effort or decision to choose God will even do. For sin even taints our decisions, which make them unacceptable to God. That means not even a choice you make to choose God will enable you to receive and enjoy God’s grace. For if your salvation needed anything from you, even your self-generated belief, you would die in your sins. For you can’t self-generate faith. After all, as Ephesians 2:8 tells us, faith is a gift that God gives you.
Every form of “grace plus” denies and rejects the grace that God gives, which is only by grace alone! It’s as we earlier sang: “Not what I feel or do, can give me peace with God; not all my prayers and sighs and tears can bear my awful load…. Thy grace alone, O God, to me can pardon speak; Thy pow’r alone, O Son of God, can this sore bondage break” (LSB 567, 2, 5). That’s grace alone! And this grace alone is God’s idea, God’s promise, God’s doing, and God’s gift, which we receive in exchange for nothing! The grace of God is not grace plus our intent, decision, effort, or work.
Well, we now know what grace isn’t. Our decision or works have nothing to do with His grace. All right, that’s what grace isn’t–but what IS grace? Grace is a promise from God to you and for you! God’s grace is the promise of God the Father’s love–for you. This grace is a promise of the Son’s full redemption from sin and death–for you. And this grace is a promise of the Holy Spirit’s presence in your life–for you.
The Holy Spirit is not some impersonal force, like gravity. Through the Holy Spirit, Your heavenly Father comforts you, bringing to you His blessing. Your elder brother, Christ the Lord, sends the Holy Spirit, which is how He is makes His face to shine on you. And this Comforter and Advocate, the Holy Spirit of Truth, works within you, so your God, the only true God, the Blessed Holy Trinity, gives you peace. And that all this is true for you–and to you–is the work of the Holy Spirit!
The work of the Spirit is to bring you to Christ. Every day, and every moment after the Spirit has begun living within you, He even brings you to “decide” for Christ, keeping you with Christ. The Spirit comforts you with Christ. And where the message from God’s Word is doing these things, there the Holy Spirit is at work. And this work of the Spirit is grace alone!
Where the Gospel is proclaimed, where the Sacraments are given out, there the Holy Spirit is at work, which means that Jesus Christ is also there! Through this work of the Holy Spirit, Christ comes to you in what He has chosen to use to bring you Himself: Word, water, bread and wine. Sunday after Sunday, year after year, century after century, Christians hold on to Christ by the Spirit He has sent.
The Spirit has called you by the Gospel. He has turned on the light of faith within you with His gifts of Word and Sacrament. He has kept you in the faith until this moment, even as He promises to finish this good work in you by keeping you in the faith until Christ returns on the Last Day.
The Holy Spirit has gathered you with others by putting you in Christ’s Church in this place. And you can spot where the Spirit is at work whenever you spot where Jesus has promised to be: in the preached word, in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and absolution. That is how you receive and get God’s grace on this side of heaven. Amen.
