Interview with Andrew Farley.
I was searching recently online for a new book to read when I came across an advertisement for Zondervan’s The Naked Gospel (available for pre-order at a discount here and in bookstores everywhere September 1, 2009) . I read some reviews and visited the website and was intrigued by the author, Andrew Farley. After a several discussions via Facebook (ah, the power of social networking), I was able to ask him a few questions about his book and some questions regarding his faith.
Brandon Smith: Your unusual faith journey includes an addiction to street evangelism and Bible study that led to a debilitating depression. Tell us your story.
Andrew Farley: Yeah, I found myself lying on the floor of my apartment, begging God for answers. I was saying, “God, I’m doing everything they say to do. I’m reading my Bible four or five hours a day. I’m sharing my faith with everybody I meet. I’m at church every time the doors are open. But I still don’t feel like I’m growing spiritually. I’m stalled, and I can’t explain why. You say the truth will set me free. I’m anything but free!”
I needed God to start all over with me, and He did. Although I was already a Christian, my belief system was poisoned with religiosity. Over the next ten years, I began replacing old thoughts with new thoughts. And it changed everything for me.
Back then, if I were honest and vulnerable, my sales pitch would have been, “Would you like to become a Christian and be miserable like me?” But today I’d wish my Christian experience on everyone. I’ve learned some radical, Scriptural truths that were right there in the Bible, that I never knew existed. That’s why I wrote The Naked Gospel – to share with others the radical truths that absolutely revolutionized my life.
B: The central theme of your book is “Jesus plus nothing.” How has the contemporary church added to Jesus, in your opinion?
A: Some are saying “Jesus plus baptism.” Others are saying “Jesus plus tithing.” Others are saying “Jesus plus tongues.” And some are even saying, “Jesus plus Judaism!” Although baptisms, giving, and spiritual gifts are part of healthy church life, I think we need to be clearer about the powerful truths of the core gospel message.
The Naked Gospel was written to serve as an intravenous shot of unadulterated truth that will stir us and perhaps even rattle some of us into considering how we’ve added to the gospel and hindered the pure power of “Jesus plus nothing” in our everyday lives.
B: Why do you say that Christians should have no relationship with the Ten Commandments?
A: When Paul describes the law as a ministry of condemnation, he notes that the law was “in letters engraved on stones.” Clearly, he’s talking about the Ten Commandments. So, the Ten will only minister condemnation – to the saved and to the lost.
Of course, people will argue the importance of the Ten Commandments for Christian living today. But just ask them, “What did you do last Saturday?” If they did any work of any kind, then they disobeyed one of the Big Ten. They might say, “Well we’re free from the Sabbath now.” My reply, “So then, it’s the Nine Commandments that we’re still under?”
We Christians dice up God’s law to get it the way we like it. But the reality is that the law is an all-or-nothing proposition. James tells us that even if we keep the whole law and stumble in only one point, we are guilty of all of it. We don’t have the right to cherry pick, selecting the parts that are comfortable for us.
It’s 600+ Jewish commands and regulations, or it’s total freedom to serve in the newness of the Spirit. The choice is ours. But there’s no room for selecting from the law here and there and imposing a few on Christians. That makes no sense at all.
The Jewish Law, including the Ten Commandments, is perfect in every way. It’s so perfect that nobody can live up to it! It’s actually designed to allow sin to thrive in our lives, to convict us of that sin, and to point us to our need for Jesus Christ.
After we receive Jesus, all we need is Jesus. He produces the love, patience, and self-control we need for daily living. After the salvation experience, any return to the law or another rule-based system is essentially “cheating on Jesus.”
B: You note that the New Testament contains no instance of the Holy Spirit “convicting” Christians of their sin. How does behavior improve then for the Christian?
A: Yeah, it may be surprising to hear such a claim given all the rhetoric we toss around about the Holy Spirit convicting us Christians. But the reality is that the root “convict” only shows up about eight times in the whole Bible. And the term is never used to describe how the Holy Spirit interacts with Christians.
The word “convict” means ‘to find guilty.’ Convicts are people who have been found guilty and are living out their punishment in prison. Why would the Holy Spirit convict us, or find us guilty, when He has already said, “your sins and lawless acts I will remember no more”?
God has chosen to forget our sins. And our forgiveness is expressed in past tense – we “have been forgiven.” It’s a completed act. Therefore, for God to drum up our past is inconsistent with the core Gospel message itself.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is our Counselor, our Comforter, and our Guide into all truth. So how does our behavior improve? By these very means! How can we doubt whether personal counsel from the God of the Universe is sufficient for daily living?
On top of that, does dwelling on our past and having our sins tallied up in our minds really help us do any better? I think it has the opposite effect. If we dig up our past sins, we only continue to see ourselves as dirty, rotten sinners. Then, guess how we’ll live? Like dirty, rotten sinners!
The whole point of the gospel is that we’ve been cleansed and we now have a brand new identity as saints. So, what is the Holy Spirit doing? God’s Spirit is praying on our behalf and bearing witness with us about our new identity.
Who wants “conviction” when we’ve got total forgiveness combined with the best Life Coach anyone could ever ask for? The Naked Gospel talks about how all of this plays out.
B: You claim that it’s unbiblical and insulting to God if Christians ask for forgiveness when they sin. Isn’t forgiveness one of the essentials of Christian belief? Explain that one.
A: Yes, the phrases “ask forgiveness” and “ask for forgiveness” are entirely absent from all New Testament epistles. It has never been about making promises to God, trying harder, or listing every sin on a legal pad and waiting to be cleansed afterward.
Although it’s very religious to ask for forgiveness, it totally ignores the work of the cross. Jesus took away our sins and cleansed us “once for all.” To ask, plead, beg, and wait for a new portion of cleansing to come our way is to ignore what Jesus said from the cross: “It is finished.”
Yes, we should turn from every sin we commit. Yes, we should be honest and open about our struggles before God. But we should also be honest and straightforward about the blood of Jesus and what it accomplished – an unconditional, irrevocable, one-time cleansing from all our sins!
Requesting forgiveness is not the same as thanking God for the cleansing we already have. Now that forgiveness has been accomplished, our job is to relish the work of Jesus Christ and to deem it “enough.”
As we rest in the finished work of the Son, we please the Father.
B: You say that Christians won’t be judged for their sins when they die. What do you say to those who mention that Scripture clearly indicates a final judgment for all of humanity?
A: Jesus was judged for our sins. Jesus was judged guilty as he “became sin,” and the just punishment was death. That punishment was carried out in full on the cross. So why would we be judged for our sins if Jesus was already judged for them? It just makes no sense.
Still, there are all kinds of popular teachings out there about Judgment Day and the need for “godly fear” among Christians concerning that day. I’ve even heard some say that they gauge the effectiveness of a sermon by how guilty they feel when they leave! The gospel should have the opposite effect on Christians.
Of course, there is a final judgment, but the question is: What does it look like? The Naked Gospel explores passages about judgment. It shows why we Christians don’t have to fear the return of Christ for any reason.
If we fear punishment of any kind, the Apostle John says we need to be more “perfected in love.” That’s the intent of my book – to help people get more rooted in the unbelievable love of God.
B: You pastor a growing church in West Texas called Ecclesia (the Greek word for “church”). What would you say sets your church apart from any other contemporary church?
A: Our philosophy is “Church Without Religion.”
Ever since the days of the early church, we Christians have become very adept at adding to the gospel message and thereby making church a very “religious” experience. But Christianity was never intended to meet our ill-perceived need for religion. Instead, Christianity is primarily about restoring to us what we lost in Eden. At that time, there were no church buildings, or services, or Bibles, of course.
So, if Christianity is not primarily about Sunday morning or new building projects or studying a book for self-improvement, then what’s it all about? It’s about receiving and displaying God’s divine life on a moment-by-moment basis. And it’s about freedom to serve from a heartfelt motive, not out of any religious obligation.
In The Naked Gospel, I talk about Christ, not just as our Savior and Lord, but also as our Life. I talk about what that really means for “church life” and for an individual’s daily life.
B: What is the most crucial advice you could give someone who is reading the Bible or studying theology for the first time?
A: I’d highlight the Great Divide. It’s not baby Jesus lying in the manger in Matthew 1 that changed everything for us. But with our “New Testament” divider page placed just before Matthew 1, we Christians can lose sight of the fact that Jesus’ death, not his birth, initiated the New Testament era (see Hebrews 9:16-17).
Therefore, Jesus was born under law. And much of Jesus’ teaching was aimed at redeeming those who were under law (Galatians 4:4-5). He told them to gouge out their eyes and cut off their hands in their fight against sin. Pretty high standards, I think.
If we Christians were truly following those teachings, and not watering them down or dismissing them, today’s churches would look much like an amputation ward at the local hospital. Instead, we recognize on some level that Jesus was placing demands on his Jewish listeners that were just too great.
We see this with the Sermon on the Mount, and with the rich man too. Jesus told him to sell everything. Sell everything, really? Yes, Jesus said to sell everything in order to enter the kingdom.
But today, we don’t preach this. You’ll never see an evangelist telling people to go home and list all their belongings on eBay in order to enter the Kingdom. Why not? Those are Jesus’ own words, aren’t they? On some level, we all recognize that Jesus’ death, not His birth in Matthew 1, changed everything for us.
In The Naked Gospel, I talk about the sweeping implications of this dividing line for how we study the Bible – the teachings of Jesus in particular – and how we relate to God and live life.
B: What reactions have you received from the book so far?
A: When some hear they can be free from religion and only need Jesus for daily living, they call the idea “naive.” When some hear that Christians are totally forgiven for all sins – past, present, and future – no matter what, they actually get mad. They call that one a “license to sin” and “heresy.”
I call it the Gospel. If you’re not being falsely accused of promoting a “license to sin” then you’re probably not teaching the Gospel. The Apostle Paul was falsely accused of speaking out against Moses and the law. He also had to constantly answer this one: “Well, then, why don’t we just go out and sin so that grace can increase?”
We Christians should be accused of these things on a regular basis. Otherwise, I’m afraid we’re peddling a powerless gospel of “Jesus plus something.”
So far, The Naked Gospel has received one of two reactions – people love it or hate it. I’ve been called a heretic. I’ve even been told that the book will “destroy America’s churches.” But I’ve also heard lots of people say things like, “it totally changed my life,” and “I’ll never be the same again.”
It’s no fun to be accused, but it’s very rewarding to see people go free. It appears that some may speak out against the book. But it also appears that the book will free lots of people to enjoy the simple, powerful message of “Jesus Plus Nothing.”
And that’s what it’s all about.
*Andrew is the lead teaching pastor of Ecclesia, a growing church on the high plains of West Texas and also co-author of A Climate for Change: Global Warming Facts for Faith-Based Decisions (FaithWords, October 2009). He co-hosts Real Life in Christ, a thought-provoking television program that airs every Wednesday morning on ABC-TV in West Texas. He lives in Lubbock, Texas with his wife Katharine and their son, Gavin.
To watch or listen to some of Andrew’s teaching, visit www.EcclesiaOnline.com
To pre-order The Naked Gospel for $10.19 ($14.99 retail) click here.
I have read the Naked Gospel (pre-Zondervan). It left me wondering if the author understands much of the subject matter he tries to tackle. Mr. Farley gets so much right and for that I commend him. The stuff he gets wrong or does not understand is just frustrating. Let me take a moment to point out what I mean from a couple of the points he made in this interview.
He says…”When Paul describes the law as a ministry of condemnation, he notes that the law was “in letters engraved on stones.” Clearly, he’s talking about the Ten Commandments. So, the Ten will only minister condemnation – to the saved and to the lost.”
This is a distortion. The Law’s purpose was to bring about the knowledge of sin. Trying to be justified by the Law only brings condemnation. That is to say that the Law has a ministry of condemnation to those trying to be justified by the Law. The Gospel is that we are justified by grace through faith in Christ. For us the Law serves the purpose of showing us our sin and points us to Christ for justification. To say that the Law has no purpose for the believer is ridiculous. The leap he makes is unwarranted. No true Christian believes they are justified by works of the law.
He says….”Of course, people will argue the importance of the Ten Commandments for Christian living today. But just ask them, “What did you do last Saturday?” If they did any work of any kind, then they disobeyed one of the Big Ten. They might say, “Well we’re free from the Sabbath now.” My reply, “So then, it’s the Nine Commandments that we’re still under?”
This is an absolutely absurd statement. Again the Law points us to Christ for justification. As Christians we observe the Sabbath by being in Christ. Jesus is our Sabbath. We are justified because we are in Christ. All of the ten commandments (and more) are reiterated to the believer as valid benchmarks for the normal Christian life. We are to love the Lord alone, have no idols, certainly not blaspheme Him, honor our parents, not steal, murder, cheat on our spouses etc. I do not believe Mr. Farley would advocate disobedience to these New Testament commands. We are not justified by “doing” any of these. No true Christian thinks that these things save him. These (and more) benchmarks DO represent sin when we fail. This is big… regeneration is taking a cold dead heart and making it alive! These benchmarks do NOT save us. These benchmarks do ASSURE us that regeneration and justification have occurred. Example: John professes to be a Christian, he even reads his Bible 5 hours a day and goes out evangelizing, but in his private time away from his Christian friends he is mental adulterer viewing internet porn whenever he is alone, he frequently has sex with his girlfriend and absolutely hates his younger brother for how he has treated the family. Will it be to John that Jesus says, “’Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’” Catch that? The mark of the false believer is that he professed “Lord, Lord” but operated as though there was NO law. 1 John 3:24 says that “The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him and He in him.” 1 John 2:4 says, “The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him.”
I’m so sorry that you missed the point, Sirrod.
This is a perfect example of the radical difference between one view and another. Without question, these are opposing philosophies for daily living.
One view is that the Mosaic Law, or a select part of it, is needed as a moral guideline for the Christian’s daily life. The other view is that the Christian should have no relationship with the Law after salvation and that the indwelling Christ, the fruit of His Spirit (love, patience, self-control, etc.), and New Testament behavior verses are sufficient to guide a Christian’s daily life.
Only one of these two views can possibly be Scriptural, and the other view should not find any support at all. In fact, the inaccurate view should require a
“re-writing” of Scripture.
Below are just a few Scriptural facts concerning the Christian’s relationship to the Law:
1) We Christians died to the Law. (Romans 7:4; Galatians 2:19)
2) We Christians are not under the Law. (Galatians 5:18; Romans 6:14)
3) We Christians are not supervised by the Law. (Galatians 3:25)
4) We Christians are not perfected by the Law. (Galatians 3:2-3)
5) We Christians shouldn’t even live by rules. (Colossians 2:20-23)
Based on the passages above, what kind of relationship do you think we Christians should have with the Law?
To claim that the Law is intended to guide a Christian’s daily life requires a re-writing of Scripture. Essentially, it requires taking all of the above passages and adding the phrase “for salvation only” to each one.
Examples of this rewriting of Scripture would be: “we died to the law for salvation only,” “we are not under the Law for salvation only,” etc. These theological gymnastics simply display our lack of confidence in Jesus for every ounce of daily living.
Immorality is not a concern if we depend on the indwelling Christ for our daily lives. Jesus is not passive. Jesus in us is not passive. We are told very clearly of the life He will produce: love, patience, gentleness, self-control, etc. And as Galatians says, “against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:23)
For example, we don’t need to worry about committing adultery if we are walking in love for our husband or wife. We don’t need to worry about sexual sins if we are walking in the self-control that Jesus produces.
However, we have reason to worry if we are relying on the Law as our guide for daily living. In Romans 7, we see the result of Paul’s best effort in trying to “not covet.” Note that “Thou shalt not covet” is one of the Ten Commandments. And the result in Paul’s life was “coveting of every kind!”
So what’s the solution? “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.” (Galatians 5:18) I think Paul would ask us today: When it comes to daily living, who is leading you?
Jesus is enough, for salvation, and for daily living. Any reliance on the law, or rules, is spiritual adultery. Romans 7 speaks of our death to the Law, our marriage to Jesus, and our reliance on Him for bearing fruit on a daily basis:
“Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.” (Romans 7:4)
How do we bear fruit for God? Through our death to the Law. How do we bear fruit for God? Through our marriage to Jesus Christ. Why cheat on Jesus when He will produce the upright living that being guided by the Law never could?
If having no relationship with the Law and depending exclusively on Jesus for daily living is naïve and absurd, I am privileged to be naïve and honored to be absurd.
Jesus plus nothing.
:-) Please enlighten me.
Thank you so much for responding personally. As I said in the previous comment, I commend you for much of what you have written in your book.
___________
You have created a false premise for your argument and frankly for the book. What “Christian” is proposing that the Mosaic Law or part of it is needed as a moral guide?
The Mosaic Law is not our guide. That is a straw man not being proposed. Christ is our guide. Christ’s commands are our benchmark to assure us that we are regenerate and justified. The Naked Gospel is supposedly for “Christians”, but NO TRUE CHRISTIAN believes they are saved by any other means than Christ. If you believe that you must merit favor by following laws then you are demonstrating that you do not understand the Gospel! It’s amazing to think that a Christian needs to be taught the good news of grace through faith in Christ. On what basis did they claim to be a “Christian” prior???
As was just stated The Naked Gospel proposes “that the Christian should have no relationship with the Law after salvation and that the indwelling Christ, the fruit of His Spirit (love, patience, self-control, etc.), and New Testament behavior verses are sufficient to guide a Christian’s daily life.”
The opposing position is that the Christian does have a relationship with the moral law (10 Commandments) after salvation through Christ and that the indwelling Christ, the fruit of His Spirit (love, patience, self-control, etc.), and His Voice through the New Testament behavior verses are sufficient to guide a Christian’s daily life.
What is sin? Trangression of the Law (1 John 3:5)
Can a true Christian sin? Yep! (Gal 6:1, Matthew 18:15-20, The entire book of 1 John)
Can a believer continually sin in the same area? No, he by definition of being in perpetual sin demonstrates that he does not truly know Christ and is a false convert. (1 John 3:4-10.)
How does the true believer know if he sinned? “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
How does the false convert know he is not truly saved? He habitually sins. (1 John 3:4-10.)
How does the false convert know if he is habitually sinning? “Through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20
As I said before the purpose of the moral law for the believer (both O.T. saint and us) is to show us what sin is. We are not under the condemnation of the Law. The condemnation of the Law fell on Christ for the believer. In Christ we died to the Law. We have a relationship to the Law through Christ. The Law is holy, spiritual, perfect. The Law’s conditions and stipulations are completely fulfilled by Christ. It is an unnecessary leap to then say that the Law has no more purpose. It has exactly the same function it has always had… to help us understand what sin is.
The book is opened to accusations of antinomianism because the ongoing fence of God’s moral law (10 commandments) is sensationally dismissed.
You state that “New Testament behavior verses are sufficient to guide” Yep… Jesus gives us commands to obey. Our obedience to this “Law” is the indicator that we truly have His Spirit indwelling us. The “New Testament behavior verses” reiterate the moral law.
You give the example that “we need not worry about committing adultery if we are walking in love for our spouse.” Christ through Paul gives us a command to love our wives. Are you suggesting that Paul’s admonishment wasn’t really necessary? What of all the other commands in the New Testament? This is one of the more confusing aspects of the book… no law for the Christian, except all the laws in the New Testament, but remember you only need Christ, not the laws, round and round….
Jesus’ voice comes through scripture, guiding us into paths of righteousness, instructing us to do this, to not do that. Jesus’ sheep hear that voice and obey. Goats bleat and ignore the voice and always seem to be outside the fence.
Thank You Sirrod for encompassing the WHOLE of scripture, and not grabbing onto the ones you like, so you can make a living from them. Taking scriptures out of their context is dangerous to all believers. I also appreciate your humble responses coated with GRACE, love and truth, coming from your replies. Love your analogy to the sheep as well.
Unfortunately, when I read Mr Farly’s entries, I heard angry, hateful resentful rhetoric and a strong lack of compassion/judgment to people of *weaker faith ( Romans 14:1) because he’s right and everyone else, in “the faith”, are wrong!!
I clearly hear him elevating himself for having fresh new revelation and enjoying his put-downs to those who love and follow Jesus Christ, with their whole heart;eager to do so, for that matter! But….They all have it wrong and have had it wrong for centuries?
No-one has it right! Do they Mr Farley~except you!?!
Now that you aren’t depressed, because, “you understand”…. your anger isn’t inward anymore, it’s outward!! Depression is inward anger!
FYI~Works will make you depressed; WHEN and especially when, you do them out of obligation and not LOVE!!
Your gift my friend, is not Evangelism. Perhaps it is Piety!!
Your revelation is not based on Love, or Whole of the Scriptures.
You have taken scriptures out of their context, to not be accountable, to not have boundaries in life, and to live as you see fit! It is all about ‘YOU’ isn’t it?
I write these things knowing, it will not change you, because NOW you are in too deep and not open to anything except your translation, (what scripture refers to as the pride of life)”The Gospel according to Farly”.
I pray you truly awaken to Grace, Compassion, to Love, and to Humility, because undeniably, Jesus was the full embodiment to Grace and Truth (John 1:14) and many were drawn to Him, because of just that.
*(Be willing to) Accept him whose Faith is Weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters.
Heb 12:11For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God].
Great discussion here!
Here’s a quote from Chapter 8 of The Naked Gospel that I think may help. Reading the book will also help clarify. It’s really hard to understand the message of a 240-page book from a single, short interview.
From The Naked Gospel (Chapter 8):
“Law haters, known as antinomians, have been misinterpreting the Scriptures since the days of the early church. They peddle a false doctrine that the law is evil.
In combating this heresy, the apostle Paul notes that the law isn’t sin. In fact, he declares it to be holy, righteous, and good: “So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good” (Romans 7:12).
So there’s nothing imperfect about the law itself. It’s without blemish. The accurate position on the law is not that it’s flawed. But its perfect standard when combined with human effort results in hopelessness. In short, the law is perfect, but it makes no one perfect.” (from Chapter 8, The Naked Gospel)
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“Maybe the clearest statement concerning the law’s usefulness today was written to Timothy: “We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous …” (1 Timothy 1:8–9a).
Here we see a balanced view of the law. The law still exists and has a purpose today. But it’s not designed for Christians as a tool or guide for daily living. Its sole purpose is to convict the ungodly of their spiritually dead state.” (from Chapter 8, The Naked Gospel)
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Hope this helps! It’s really hard to know what any book fully says without reading it. But I can tell you that I could easily sign a Baptist statement of faith, for example. The Christian’s freedom from the Law and its simultaneous usefulness to point out sin is a pretty mainstream doctrine.
Grace to you all!
Andrew
Nice blog! Keep up the good work.
I am reading the book now. Let me tell you that this is exactly where I am at. I am not done reading the book, but I will review it on my blog as soon as I am done. I think it’s a great book. I do have more questions, but I am planning to read the rest of the book before I ask them!
First of all: thanks to Dr. Farley for personally taking part in such discussions. This is not the first time I have seen you do so (and doing so sure seems to contradict most of Elizabeth’s rather-cruel accusations).
I was given this book as a gift. I must say that I was also pretty skeptical. I feared it was just another “What does Jesus mean today?”/”Let’s redefine the gospel in a way that justifies my tolerant lifestyle” product of this “emerging”/”emergent” (or whatever you want to call it) movement. I gave it a chance because it was given to me by someone who I am confident does not buy into such a thing—someone I would consider quite “conservative” when it comes to such things. (How humbling it is to see an 86-year-old man still actively striving to better his understanding of the Word while some of us [read: me] often sit thinking that we have it figured out!)
Almost one-third of the way into the book, I still found myself saying: “OK. I get your point; but aren’t you taking it a bit far? Doesn’t the New Testament say that the Law is still a good guideline. You seem to be implying that I can act however I want, and everything will be dandy.” This is the same vibe that I’ve been left with at the end of several books I’ve read in the past few years. Sirrod: I was very much so in your boat. What I have to say to you is: READ THE BOOK. Dr. Farley ended up addressing every question I had—and more—and it would take my copying of all 240 pages here to explain why you are misunderstanding him. It really is entirely unfair to try to understand so much from such a brief interview.
An important point that this books makes is the importance of reading scripture correctly in context (again, contrary to above accusations by someone who did not read the book). For so long, (though I wouldn’t admit it to myself) I used the Bible as a collection of proverbs; separated into nice little verses for me to grab one when I so pleased and use it in an argument to prove my point. Even ignoring the fact that the verse/chapter/”testament” divisions are artificial: what an immature way to treat the Word! I often hear believers trying to justify that it is OK that the Bible is full of contradictions; but I find that when I “unlearn” everything I think I know about my “handy little book of proverbs for daily living” and actually read passages in context—knowing who wrote them to whom and for what reason—every contradiction I have found regarding the Gospel is resolved.
As this book points out, reading the Word this way reveals that the message is quite simple and well defined without contradiction. I think the trouble for some (read: me) is (was) that the roots of the “mixed Gospel” that I had previously been exposed to for so many years run so deep that it takes some effort to truly approach the Word with a fresh mind again and see it with the simplicity that was intended.
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This would be a nice ending to my little “2¢”, but the engineer in my blood can’t let me stop with out addressing a couple of things.
Sirrod; you stated, in response to Dr. Farley’s statement about the Sabbath with:
“This is an absolutely absurd statement. Again the Law points us to Christ for justification. As Christians we observe the Sabbath by being in Christ. Jesus is our Sabbath. We are justified because we are in Christ.”
I knew that logical inconsistency was coming as soon as I saw that your argument started with, “This is absurd…” It is not logically sound to argue that something isn’t true because it sounds/seems ridiculous, and starting an argument that way just proves your lack of confidence in what will follow. In all fairness, you did attempt somewhat of a justification after the “absurd” statement, but it is utterly flawed. You can not use our justification in Christ to excuse strict and literal adherence to one commandment without doing so to all of the others. Let me take your exact statement, but switch commandments:
Again the Law points us to Christ for justification. As Christians we “don’t murder” by being in Christ. Jesus is our lack of murder. We are justified [in our murderous actions] because we are in Christ.
As Dr. Farley (to be fair: he is reiterating what Paul said long ago) has said countless times (in the book and in this discussion): if we put our focus on “measuring” our sin rather than on living in Christ, we will indefinitely fall victim to this sin. The point of the New Covenant is not “what can we get away with?”, it is “what can Christ do through me?” When you focus on Christ instead of sin, you won’t have a choice but to live a less sinful life. The Law forces one to focus on sin, and it is intended to.
One more brief point. You have still not addressed a simple fact: You can’t pick-and-choose which laws you would like to put on your measuring stick. Let’s assume that the Law is in fact intended to be used by believers to know what is and isn’t sin. Then, who gets to filter the list of 600+ laws, picking the ones that are “relevant” to us today? I seriously doubt that you use the length of your beard and the quality of the meat you eat to gauge your morality—whether in (/through the justification of) Christ, or not. There is simply no denying the all-or-nothingness of the the Law, whether used as justification or as a moral measuring stick under the New Covenant.
Well said, Josh.
As I continue searching across the Net for a sound New Covenant rebuttal of Farley, I’ve yet to find one.
Keep up the good, just, and holy work, Andrew!!!