The Paradox of Christian Living

[Big Country]

All of Christian living appears to be a paradoxical balance. Three examples:

We are saved by God's grace, not by our works. However, we are told that anyone who lacks works (in the form of obedience) lacks salvation.

Those who are saved are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. However we have no ability to stop sinning in this life.

We live in a broken world and are commanded to not conform to it's ways or adopt it's philosophies. However Paul gives the example of becoming all things to all people so that he might win them to Christ.
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It seems to me that much of the struggle in Christian life is figuring out how to navigate these paradoxes. Likewise, I find that most debate among Christians centers around differences on where to land between the extremes.

Well it occurred to me last night that the very action of me coming to the "Christian Advice" section of this forum to offer wise counsel to others presents in itself, a paradox. Isaiah 5:21 says "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." By virtue of coming here for the explicit purpose of offering counsel to others, I confirm that I think I have wisdom that others can benefit from. Instead I should obey James 4:10 which says "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." - which is itself a bit of a paradox.

In the words of Isaiah "Woe is me! For I am undone;" It's true what Isaiah later said "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."


I realize that this thread is not particularly a request for advice, however I thouht it fit here being that this arena is what spawned the above.

 

[childofGod31]

These are not contradictory.

Re: advice
Some people CAN at times be wiser than others, and therefore, CAN offer advice. Sometimes, God offers advice through a person, so the person in himself doesn't even have to be wiser.

These two verses are not opposite, but go hand in hand. They basically say: if you humble yourself before God, then you will be truly wise, not just "wise in their own eyes" which is really arrogance plus ignorance.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."
James 4:10 which says "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you."

In more detail it's like this:
The first one talks about foolish people thinking that they are wise. Like take atheists for example, or even pharisees - they THINK that they are wise. But the beginning of wisdom is the fear of God. And if they don't fear God, they are NOT wise. On the other hand, a person who fears God and humbles himself before God, CAN be wise. Because God gives wisdom. (James said: ask for wisdom and God will give it to you).

"Humble yourself before God" goes hand in hand with then becoming wise, because God makes you wise.


Grace vs. works:

You say: We are saved by God's grace, not by our works. However, we are told that anyone who lacks works (in the form of obedience) lacks salvation.

But
We are saved by grace simply means we could not EARN salvation. We could not be good enough in order to satisfy God's righteous requirements of holy living. So God HAD TO give it to us as a gift.

Works - is simply an EVIDENCE which shows whether we were saved in the first place. For example, if a baby is born, it starts to cry, right? If it doesn't cry, it's either dead or wasn't born. If a Christian was born again, he will start to do the works. (not good deeds exactly, but works means - ACTING AS A CHRISTIAN) If you don't act as a Christian, don't produce the fruit of the Spirit, then you were never born. So works come as a result of being saved. NOT IN ORDER to get saved. If you are born, you scream. That's the rule. If you are born again, you just start to love God, be on fire for God, obey God - those are the works of salvation, the works of your faith. (And James was saying that if you don't have the evidence of being saved, perhaps you were not saved, perhaps your faith is dead)


Slaves to sin or not:

You say: Those who are saved are no longer slaves to sin but slaves to righteousness. However we have no ability to stop sinning in this life.

But
We DO have the ability to stop sinning. But not all sins are considered "sinning". Christians (true ones) are really different from the world. They DO live differently. They DO live pure and godly lives. Especially those Christians who draw close to God and live in DAILY fellowship with God. They DO NOT participate in the corruption and sins of the world. They do not obey their sinful nature as much as non-Christians do. They CAN say no to the sinful desires. On the other hand, there are Christians who still can't overcome their sinful nature - that's because they did not draw close to God yet. All the power for victory comes only by a daily close relationship with God. So it's possible to have victory, but many Christians choose not to have it by living their lives apart from God's power and a close walk with Him.


You say: We live in a broken world and are commanded to not conform to it's ways or adopt it's philosophies. However Paul gives the example of becoming all things to all people so that he might win them to Christ.

But
Becoming all things to people has nothing to do with Paul conforming to the ways of the world. It was more like a culture thing. Certain people do things a certain way (according to their culture) and it has nothing to do with doing the bad or sinful things, but just different. And I believe Paul was saying that He was adapting Himself and his message according to those people's ways and understanding. This is not the same as adapting ourselves to the WORLD. WORLD means the things our flesh desires. We need to deny ourselves and live for God. And again, this is only possible as a result of a close daily walk with God. But it is possible for those who are willing to forsake this world and walk with God.



Just my thoughts...

 

[Blackknight]

I don't see any paradoxes. We do try to walk the middle path though.

 

[Big Country]

Paradox - a statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd but in reality expresses a possible truth.

This is the definition I was working with. Sorry for any confusion. I understand that these things are not contradictions. Afterall, how can God contradict Himself? It's absurd. As such, I think you missed my point because I confused you.

We DO have the ability to stop sinning. But not all sins are considered "sinning". Christians (true ones) are really different from the world. They DO live differently. They DO live pure and godly lives. Especially those Christians who draw close to God and live in DAILY fellowship with God. They DO NOT participate in the corruption and sins of the world. They do not obey their sinful nature as much as non-Christians do. They CAN say no to the sinful desires. On the other hand, there are Christians who still can't overcome their sinful nature - that's because they did not draw close to God yet. All the power for victory comes only by a daily close relationship with God. So it's possible to have victory, but many Christians choose not to have it by living their lives apart from God's power and a close walk with Him.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding you, but it sounds like you are saying that true Christians can expect to live a pure and holy (read: sinless) life. I take issue with that for a few reasons.

#1 - It's contrary to scripture. John says "If we say that we have no sin, we are decieving ourselves and the truth is not in us." (1 John 1:8). This is an Apostle writing to saved people.

#2 - It's contrary to the experience of the Apostles. Paul writes in Romans that he is in bondage to sin (Romans 7:14) and he still serves the law of sin with his flesh (Romans 7:25). The whole passage from vs 14 to 25 is a discourse on how he can't stop sinning though he desires good.

#3 - It nullifies our need for a savior. If we can obtain righteousness, we have no need of a savior and thus nullify the grace of God (Galatians 2:15-21)
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At the same time I understand that purity and holiness is our goal. This is sanctification. We seek a goal that we cannot obtain - another paradox.