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Soulwork

The Great Evangelical Anxiety

Why change is not our most important product.

Mark Galli | posted 7/16/2009 11:18AM

There is in the soul of American evangelicals a feverish anxiety. If our faith in Christ does not lead to our moral uplift, we jumpstart a new spiritual formation regimen that promises to lift us. If ...

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Anonymous

Posted: July 27, 2009 3:31 PM


Well writen and to the point. Grace, grace, and more grace. We sin daily and if we think we do not we have lowered our standards. Sure there is change in us but we are still, until the return of Christ, sinners in the need of a savior.

Anonymous

Posted: July 26, 2009 1:07 AM

Why is it that any time an evangelical speaks of the power of Christ to deliver from sin they are automatically perceived as if they are promoting some sort of self-earned righteousness via a checklist of dos and don'ts?? I suspect is it because to acknowledge that the power is available to deliver from sin would mean that recurring willful sin could no longer be rationalized away by the mantra of "fallen humanity". Yes, it's all about God's free gift of grace but holiness IS a grace given by God to those who seek it. It is not about a list of things that make us more moral. It is about an intentional and consistent seeking to be filled with the love of God through relationship with the Person of God which then manifests itself in the fulfillment of the new law - the law of Love. The realization of the incredible gift of grace she received is what motivated the woman in Luke 7 to ACT to EXPRESS that love.

Jim	Posted: July 24, 2009 10:51 PM

Yes, this is clearly Reformed theology on hyperdrive as is Michael Horton. The annihilation of self? What self? The self made in the image of God, that self? Or, does the author really believe that the image is so messed up God must completely annihilate it? Is death and resurrection annihilation? Is that what happened to Jesus? Or is it consummation and completion of the self? Salvation is not creation ex nihilo, which is what the author implies. And all these false dilemmas about faith. It's not a repentant heart, but the realization that we have been annihilated? What's that? Here is where the author is out of step with even classical Reformed authors like Calvin who claim that repentance itself does not occur without the effectual calling of the Spirit in regeneration. So a repentant heart is a sign of the Spirit's activity without which there would be no genuine repentance. This is article is all awash in pop Reformed (bad Reformed at that) theology. I can hear Noll's lament now.

Rob	Posted: July 22, 2009 10:32 PM


The article states that "The good news does not hinge on words like do or change, but on the powerless, irrelevant, and frightening word faith.". Don't forget though that Christ states "many who say lord, lord will not enter the kingdom of heaven but only those who DO the will of my father who is in heaven".

epost

Posted: July 22, 2009 1:23 PM

Having read your article and the comments thus far, I'm noticing again the paradox and dynamic of faith that gives credence to much of what Luther/Lutherans (at their best) describe regarding the tension between Law/Gospel, grace/"works," the "two kingdoms," first and second use of the Law, "simil justus et peccator" ("at the same time saint and sinner"), and so on. Many writers have accurately commented about American Protestantism as being predominantly influenced by different flavors of Calvinism; even some Lutherans who should know differently practice a mostly Calvinist piety/pietism. Keep it up, good stuff to ponder here.

jeff	Posted: July 21, 2009 7:11 PM

How do we know the fruit of the Spirit is love? We have to read it in God's Word. We have to DO or LISTEN. What is faith? It is being persuaded that God has the ability to do what he promised (Romans 4:21). It is not a powerless exercise. It is trust in someone who one has learned has earned that trust. Faith is not scary it is freeing and exhilirating. No matter what happens to me I am trusting in a God who was willingly gave up his only Son in my place, who split the Red Sea, who has saved civilizations through just laws, who through a tiny mustard seed can grow a tree with branches reaching throughout the world. Yes the good news is that Christ has conquered guilt and death and is now King over all. If we read, we DO, we start to understand who God is, it is EASY for us to understand that Christ is able to do all these things, and gives us all the more reason to serve Him. We love him, because he first loved us (I John 4:19)

JerryV

Posted: July 21, 2009 2:04 PM

This article points out a failure in the language of spiritual formation. The term "change" and "transformation" can certainly mean a desire to finally conquer the moral failings that we have struggled with for years, similar to finding a new weight loss plan that will finally work. However, the same terms are used to express the process that will allow me to live under a rock and still consider this the best possible life as long as I have submitted fully to Christ. The "good life" may very well be similar to C.S. Lewis' view of heaven in The Great Divorce; it is available to all those who can stand it. However, it takes the Holy Spirit's work of transformation to bring us to the point that the good life is completely independent of our circumstances and even moral failings.

Dyron

Posted: July 21, 2009 10:45 AM

This article causes me to think the author is either from the Orthodox, Roman Catholic, or Anglican tradition, or perhaps should be. "Pure grace. Grace as a gift. No strings attached." This quotation reminds me of the grace extended to a newborn babe in those traditions that emphasize grace coming through the apostolic succession of the church. God chooses a person from the foundation of the earth. A person becomes "in Christ" shortly after birth, by virtue of being born into a Christian family and experiencing the sacrament of baptism--"an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace"--to borrow from the Anglican tradition. It's all very moving, but it is certainly not the words of an evangelical American who has been touched so profoundly by Wesley and Whitefield. Evangelicals pride themselves on that Protestant ethic--that desire to improve, to purify, to accompany faith with good Christian deeds. However, as works become trumped by grace, that ethic recedes.

Al Wayne

Posted: July 20, 2009 12:47 PM

The Glory of God is our product. The Glory of God is His Love. When we Love Him in return and Love our neighbor as ourselves we are Glorifying Him at the highest level. The Holy Spirit then gives us common sense on how to live here on earth. Our lives {marriage , parenting,Church, relationships,work, etc.} all become Holy and we have peace in our soul. Mark explains this very clearly in his article.

Howard

Posted: July 20, 2009 11:29 AM

The anxiety to which this article refers would better be described as a "holy discontent" that emerges from non-discipleship Christianity. When the cost of discipleship is deemed too high the cost of non-discipleship is eventually invoiced through the broken marriages, impotent ministries, and unchanged, loveless lives that are so tragically common in the church today. The tragedy is that many who value saving grace most highly have no faith at all in empowering, transforming grace. They are like millionaires with great wealth in their accounts but no ATM card with which to access it. The historic means of grace--the spiritual practices and sacraments--have and will be used by the Spirit to transform lives that become a "city set on a hill" whose light shines in such a way that people see their good works and glorify the Father. How is this, the Glory of God, not our most important product?

Bob	Posted: July 20, 2009 8:03 AM

Thank you for this wonderful article. The Evangelical church has, in many places, been dominated by legalism. Christ followers must think like Christ, in order to really behave as He did. We substitute the teaching of the deep truths about God with techniques, bullying, guilt, and a bootstrap mentality. Yikes! But we have the MIND of Christ. We are on a journey toward spiritual maturity. My kids can put on my shirt shoes and clump around the house, playing grown-up, but it doesn't make 'em grown-ups. Your articles are a breath of fresh air!

Dan	Posted: July 20, 2009 6:27 AM

I understand. In the words of Paul, "Gal 3:3-4 How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? TEV Viz., do not make the "work" of circumcision a necessary requirement of salvation. But let's not forget Paul in another place:Phil 2:12-13 So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, 13 because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.TEV Salvation in this context is seen as a process, not yet completed.Paul is probably refering to the believer's arrival in Heaven at history's end. Fear and trembling, lest our faith fail and living in obedience to God's purposes is the norm until that time. It is as if Paul is telling us to process the salvation accomplished by faith in Christ by working until he calls us home.

Marsha

Posted: July 19, 2009 9:30 PM

In the ancient church, the Fathers spoke of "theosis"-" being partakers of the divine nature" as scripture describes it. I find the most spiritual freedom when i trust in Jesus AND work out my salvation with fear and trembling through scripture, worship, prayer, fasting, and service. That frees me and gives me peace. We use spiritual disciplines to strengthen our spiritual muscles not to save us. Grace is free, but it is not cheap! The ancient church taught that we have a synergy of faith and works together-inseperable and all is imbued with holy grace. The struggle to become Christlike grants peace because He changes us on the inside and that in turn changes even our circumstances. Ironically, life becomes beautiful when we aren't chasing happiness success, etc as goals.

Rick	Posted: July 19, 2009 2:41 PM


You are so right on, Mark! It's not about me, it's about Jesus for me, in me, and through me. My old nature will never change until it is destroyed at death or the Second Coming. But the Lord lives in me through His Spirit and will use me for His kingdom.

Al Wayne

Posted: July 19, 2009 12:45 PM

I concur, the best article I`ve read in many years! God bless you Mark Gali. When we love because we are forgiven, change takes care of itself in us, without us even having to think about it.Jesus explains this in John 3. 1-8 Change is completely redundant to someone who is born again. Its like saying I am going to change an elephant into an elephant. If you don`t understand you need to be scared, very scared. read John 3.1-8

Christof

Posted: July 19, 2009 9:19 AM


It is a scary thought, to think there just might be no better I then myself in me. And I don`t dare to think it until reality doesn`t allow me to avoid it anymore. My reaction can go two ways: 1. Try harder, Ortberg calls that pseudo-transformation, 2. running in the arms of god. But isn`t that a discussion, that is on for 2000 years now?

Jeremy

Posted: July 18, 2009 8:13 PM


I like where your head's at. Christ has given us The Answer. That WILL impact your life. Not SHOULD impact; it's not a matter of working harder. If it's not impacting your life, maybe you don't really have the answer and your job is not working, working, working, but instead searching for that Answer so your soul will be at peace, and only then will you be able to give peace to others.

Rev'd John von dem Beck

Posted: July 18, 2009 6:35 PM


This article really reaches into the heart of the matter.

john smithson

Posted: July 18, 2009 4:11 PM

I run a rather insignificant blog dedicated to Karl Barth. I have studied the pastor for 5 years, now (I am 64) and only wish that I had had his teaching in mind when I served the church as pastor, myself. We hear much about New Perspectives and Emergent Theology. And then, suddenly, we come across an article such as this and are reminded of the power of incarnational theology - the Living Christ effecting your - our - lives. And the excitement of it all comes back on stage. The message is powerful because it is the Message. Barth figured it out. Galli shares it with us. And in the end, it is all by the appointment of the Sovereign God who causes our success (Philip 2:12-13) . I posted the article on my blog - best thing I've done in months, heck, years !! God bless jds

Howard Pepper

Posted: July 18, 2009 2:55 PM

Some good points here, Mark. But I don't see any clarification about one of the great disconnects of Evangelical theology (or any orthodox form of theology): Just what IS to be "believed in your heart" as in the Paul quote. His "that God raised him from the dead" is notably unclear in all his writings, leaving quite open that he himself perhaps did not believe in a literal bodily resurrection. Or, at the least, the spiritual aspect was what mattered, the bodily irrelevant; basically the same about the life and most of the teachings of the earthly Jesus. Much of the anxiety of Evangelicals and others is around the tensions of thinking one must believe certain things, even if basic, about Jesus and what God was doing in him. The most foundational faith is indeed merely in the graciousness of God, without concern for those things we can never know, but there is certainly reason to question... was Jesus really virgin born? Divine as well as human in nature? Raised bodily? etc.

susan

Posted: July 18, 2009 2:28 PM


This is well done. Thank you, Mark. May God continue to Bless the sisters and brothers, Eunice, Anonymous, Carol and others whose comments show that they know what Mark Galli is saying.

Eunice

Posted: July 18, 2009 10:49 AM

"our first prayer is not a plea for changed behavior but "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Ps. 51:10)." I grew up under Evangelical 'laws' that I found impossible to keep. My constant prayer was a 'plea for changed external behavior' so I would 'look like a good Christian'. It was only when I discovered that He saw me as I truly was (sinful heart and all), and still loved me, that I discovered grace & forgiveness. As He began to change me 'inside' through the path of repentance of the sin within my heart, those inner changes began to affect my external behavior. It's all about His Grace - not my struggle of good works. I am always amazed today when I do the 'right thing' - not because I 'must' but because it is who He has changed me into. Thank you for this article. The timing was perfect as I prepare to share my testimony tomorrow.

Anonymous

Posted: July 18, 2009 9:31 AM


Thanks, Mark, for proclaiming the Good News once again!

Carol

Posted: July 17, 2009 9:45 PM

The sub-title "Why change is not our most important product" was important for me to remember as I read this piece. Change, of course, does occur as we surrender to and follow Christ. Sometimes it's a quick change, but for many of us, it's excruciatingly slow. And for people like me, sometimes I want to hurry it up with something, anything, rather than continuing to surrender to God. I'm glad to know I'm not alone in that, and I'm VERY glad to have someone call me on it.

Jason

Posted: July 17, 2009 9:06 PM


This is a perfect example of how we evangelicals, in our desperate effort to affirm that Christianity is "all about Jesus," end up making it look nothing like him.

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