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The Violence of Grace

by Gene Stansel

Most of us, myself included, consider the grace of God to be like gentle rain even surprising us with the goodness of God. We often respond, “God, you are so good; I do not deserve such grace, but out of your abundant love, you sent it.” We often think that grace is like a fluffy bunny that we can cuddle up to and thereby enjoy the fruits of being loved by an infinite Creator God. But, do we dare think that we can really enjoy the fruits without the pain of sanctifying grace? The process of conquering our ego, pride and self-enthronement is a sticky business. In fact, it is a huge business, and we cannot do it by ourselves. God intervenes in our lives to perform the function for us. Maybe we should take another look at grace and consider its violent nature.  

There’s a story that made the preaching circuit for many years. It involves a shepherd and an errant sheep. Because the errant sheep constantly left the flock and enticed the other sheep to follow its example, something had to be done about it! So, in wisdom, the shepherd hobbles the sheep (breaks its leg) in order to nurse it back to health and thus have it bond (trust) to the shepherd. Perhaps you have heard this story. When I was much younger, I did, and it made quite an impression on me, because I immediately thought that God would do something like that to me when I sin. Could God’s chastening grace ever be so violent? Apparently it was in the example of Jacob who was a liar, a cheat and a thief. God was violent with Jacob and left him hobbled for the rest of his life. Could God do that to me as well. What a scary thought!

Scholars have almost unanimously agreed that the story of the shepherd with the errant sheep is not factual. There is no evidence to suggest that the practice was common among shepherds in biblical times. Severe injury to a sheep could lead to infection and almost certain death. Such practice would negate the very character and nature of the shepherd. Notwithstanding antidotal evidence to the contrary, the shepherd’s dilemma simply has no basis in Scripture. Other means might well have been used instead of such violence to the animal. However, it does make a good story, because the truth is: God’s chastening may seem harsh or violent at times, but his purposes are always right. The story has a bit of truth in it.  

But, putting the shepherd’s story aside for a second, we have to honestly ask ourselves if God would exact such violent methods on us, his people? And the answer probably is “yes” and “no.” We are told that God’s discipline (might we also call discipline a grace?) proves that we are his children. See Heb. 12:5-11. And, David says that the person who receives discipline is actually “blessed” (Ps 94:12), because that person learns God’s Law. It is true that the grace of discipline often works for the purpose of bringing us “back into his fold.” Since godliness is the aim of our sanctification, God Himself will shape our character, perhaps through violent ways, and thus perfect our witness for Him. It’s the word “violence” that we react to when we consider grace. But, what about Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Paul says it was God’s way of keeping the great apostle from arrogance and pride (2 Cor. 12). Did the thorn hurt? You bet it did.

There are myriad examples in Scripture of God’s training and shaping people and nations. Many of those examples we would consider violent. However, we just don’t have time in a brief blog like this to elaborate more. But, it is at this very point that we must also make a distinction between God’s judgement (or retribution) on sin and God’s fatherly discipline of those who put their faith in Jesus. Let’s only consider the violent grace of God where it applies to Christians.

Michael Card, singer, songwriter and scholar, recently wrote a book entitled Violent Grace which is a study in Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22. Card turns our petty thoughts away from ourselves and shows us a better way to approach an understanding of God’s grace. I am reminded of the acrostic G-R-A-C-E, God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense. That seems to be the approach that Card takes. The cross is the epitome of the bloody violence of God’s grace, but in the same way, it is also the source of unlimited blessings for us. That is why the Cross is central to our faith! On the Cross Christ withstood the unimaginable violence of grace, so that we his people would not have to. He was literally sacrificed to assuage God’s wrath! And, I cannot miss the symbolism that his legs were NOT broken as in the shepherd’s story recounted above. The legs of the two thieves were. Not a bone of His body was crushed or broken…He was a perfect sacrifice. Yes, grace is violent, but we do not ever receive THAT violence, whatever we may think of God’s discipline. That destructive and violent grace was reserved only for Jesus as our substitute. All else pales, including God’s discipline of us, in the light of that fact. So when we are tempted to think that God is using the violence of grace towards us, we might remember that Christ received God’s violence even to the dregs.   

Consider this following quote from Come Let Us Adore Him, A Daily Advent Devotional by David Tripp:

“Jesus came to decimate our self-oriented kingdom of one, so that he could welcome us to his glorious kingdom of wisdom, grace and love. Grace destroys so that it can rescue. Grace destroys so that it can bless us with something much, much better. Grace destroys what has held us in bondage and frees us to live, love, and serve one greater than ourselves. Jesus came to endure a violent death so that in the violence of grace, he could free us from the kingdom of self and transport us to his kingdom of life and light that will never, ever end. Now that’s a story worth celebrating”.

Indeed, it is.  

 

Gene Stansel
1/27/2020

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