- Jul 12, 2004
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God Without Religion
Can it Really be this Simple?
Andrew Farley
(Baker Books, 263pgs, $18h)
Andrew Farley has written things I wish I had said a long time ago. In his recently released book, “God Without Religion: Can it Really be this Simple,” he has tackled something that has troubled me for decades: how Christians so easily mix Law and Grace, two economies that are as incompatible as oil and water. The demands of Law, Farley contends, is an unattainable summit that cannot be reached by human effort. But the accepted belief is that Christianity helps us reach that summit by telling us how to do it. But the truth is Christ did not come to help us achieve perfection; he came to be perfection for us. For Farley, there is a clear division between the Old Covenant of divine acceptance based on personal performance and the New Covenant based solely on Christ’s performance. Christ did not come to help us attain moral perfection; he came to be perfection for us; to give us God without religion.
Granted, that idea baffles the minds of those who cannot accept the notion of somebody, even God, doing something for them without their help, but Farley in a clear and engaging way, with anecdotes and lots of biblical texts, shows us this is the clear, unambiguous teaching of Jesus; it is the “better way” Christ died to give us.
Take the practice of tithing (please). The idea of “paying” 10% of your income to the church is a concept long held by ecclesiastical leaders responsible for meeting a congregation’s financial obligations. According to Farley, tithing is an Old Testament practice (which amounted to more like 23% than 10%): 10% required for the support of the priests and Levites and another 10% for the maintenance of the Jerusalem Temple (that’s 20%) plus a triennial tithe for the poor (i.e., 3.3% per annum). Farley faces the entire concept of Christian tithing, demonstrating that giving is meant to be the response of grace on our part, not a legal obligation like a tax (or, worse, extortion). Of course, grace-giving is risky; it’s just easier (and seemingly smarter) to shake down people by telling them that either they will be punished for not “paying” their tithe or rewarded for doing so. That’s performance-based “religion” and more like a divine protection racket than Christianity, making God more of a Godfather than our heavenly Father.
I think Farley’s aim is for a grace-based approach to Christianity. Mixing Law with Grace, he claims, is “spiritual schizophrenia.” Christianity’s intent should be to foster deeper relationships with Christ rather than impose pharisaical restrictions on believers, whose service should be out of love, not duty; grace, not Law. But Farley does not stop with the tithe. He also confronts the sacrosanct Ten Commandments, predestination, spiritual discipline, and other beliefs that Christians tend to practice “religiously.” For some, he may be a bit heavy on the Calvinism but all-in-all his book is a must read for those who long for a grace-filled rather than duty-driven approach to Christianity.
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Author’s bio
Andrew Farleyis senior pastor of Ecclesia, an evangelical Bible church that has resided on the high plains of west Texas for more than 55 years. Andrew serves as the Faculty Adviser for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and he frequently speaks to Christian university groups like Campus Crusade for Christ and at many churches around the United States and in Canada. Andrew is also an Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics at Texas Tech University. Andrew lives in Lubbock, Texas with his wife Katharine and their son Gavin. He is author of The Naked Gospel, Climate for Change, and God Without Religion.
