Paul's Passing Thoughts

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 

It could be said the church is not the love of God based on what has been observed in previous chapters; church orthodoxy keeps so-called Christians under law rather than under grace. The latter does not exclude law, but rather uses the law lawfully to fulfil it through love. Faith works through love. The big three of Protestantism, Augustine, Luther, and Cavin, with Augustine also being the Catholic Doctor of Grace, all agreed and taught that NO person is capable of doing a good work. That would obviously include acts of love. Though church posits itself as a love venue, its orthodoxy denies that any person is capable of doing any good works. Christians only experience graces that are manifested by God and imputed to the “believer’s” account to keep him or her saved. God does this through the Spirit when parishioners make use of the church’s “means of grace.” Though churchgoers would deny this on the one hand, on the other hand, we constantly hear them say things like, “I didn’t do it; Christ (or God or the Spirit) did it!” Indeed. These truisms are not created from nothing, they flow from ideology.

But following is the larger point. Church is made up of the big two: Catholicism and Protestantism. And remember, all denominations were birthed by one or the other. ALL claim to be church, and are the church. And…the bloody history of the church was only rivaled by the addition of Protestantism. Christ said that if His kingdom was of this world, His servants would fight. Yet, the church did not cease to wage war at any given time until the American Revolution ended the church-state. Even then, Catholic/Protestant hostilities, in the form of terrorism, continued well into the 20th century between Ireland and Britain. We all understand that humanity is weak and would not take notice of a few wars here and there, but again, Christianity has a history saturated with wars. Furthermore, the blood not only flowed up to the horse bridles outside the church walls, but inside as well with the slaughter of heretics and witches. While the banner over the church is love, its history is defined by merciless violence. Its so-called martyrs were rarely executed for matters of faith, but for perceived treason.

The church is loveless in its doctrine and history both. It is loveless inside and out. By its very own admission, it is returning to its “confessional roots” through Neo-Protestantism. James, in his letter to the Jews scattered abroad, warned that mere confessionalism without works is like a body without a spirit, it is dead faith. This warning by James is the very thing that the contemporary church brags about. This is only one among a myriad of contradictions that define church, yet, no one even blinks. While bemoaning the supposed evils of “legalism” which is nowhere found in the Bible, it is the epitome of the ekklesia’s real nemesis, antinomianism, which is the absence of love in sanctification.

The church is not the love of God.