Gospel Credentials Dr

Gospel Credentials
Dr. D. William McIvor
June 20, 2004
Presbyterian Church in Sudbury

Beginning today I’m going to preach six sermons from Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Often called the Magna Carta of Christian liberty, this letter specifically addressed whether Gentiles needed to become Jews before they could become Christians. That may not seem like a burning issue for us but the outworking of the principles in this letter made Christianity a world religion instead of Jewish sect.[1] That fact gives the book much relevance even today.

I hope that you will do your part in this series by reading through Galatians at least a couple of times over the next six weeks. I want you to read the book because preaching requires both speaking and hearing. Your hearing will be better if you have read the texts on your own. I also want you to read Galatians because it’s complicated. Paul argues his case logically, precisely, and passionately. But following the argument isn’t easy. And while these sermons will work on major pieces of the letter, there are parts of Galatians that you need to wrestle through on your own. So read it. The more you do, the more you will benefit.

Today we’re going to take up the first twelve verses. Paul carefully followed the letter-writing style of his day.[2] At the beginning of a letter the identity of the author was noted as well as the recipients. There was a greeting, typically followed by an expression of thanksgiving for those receiving the letter, and then a brief statement of what the letter was about. Paul left out the thanksgiving and replaced it with an accusation and a curse. He was hopping mad at those Galatians and the burden of today’s sermon is to understand why. Let’s read it in Galatians 1.

Paul an apostle — sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead — and all the members of God’s family who are with me,

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!

Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

Who gets to speak for God? That question may be the best way to see what’s at stake in Galatians. Who gets to speak for God? As we go along in this series, we’ll try to understand the specific issues that faced Paul and the Galatian Christians. But the general question is who has the authority to speak for God.

Let’s think about this in our own world. Does the pope speak for God? Most Catholics would say “yes” but lots of Catholics don’t agree with everything the pope says. And Protestants tend to demur on the subject of the pope. Does the good Reverend Katie Lee, who shepherds the flock at the Unitarian Church across the street, speak for God? Or, just having celebrated Trinity Sunday two weeks ago, are we going to insist that only trinitarian believers can speak for God? What about Rabbi Boaz and Rabbi David who sit in fellowship with us at the Sudbury Clergy Association? Can Jewish leaders speak for God? Or Moslem leaders? Or Buddhist or Hindu? And what about all the different types of Christians?

Let’s bring the question home. Do I speak for God? Your initial impulse might be yes but you furrow your brows because you sense what a dangerous question this is. If I do speak for God, why don’t you always do what I tell you, and if I do not speak for God, why bother even coming to church? Or maybe I’m only speaking for God when you agree with me and not speaking for God when you don’t like what I say. In that case, however, you would be the one who speaks for God or at least the one who knows what God wants to say!

I’m not trying to be cute. Who speaks for God is a very tricky question and the question comes right at us from the start in Galatians. There are two primary issues here. Is Paul a legitimate apostle, and, is his proclamation of the gospel true?[3] That’s what we need to wrestle with today.

So I want to begin with the dilemma of credentials. Paul talks about his credentials in the very first sentence of the text and the very last sentence: “Paul an apostle — sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ … ” and “ … the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul says his credentials have nothing to do with humans. His credential is Jesus Christ. How could the Galatians who received this letter know that? How can we know that? How can we be sure Paul speaks for God? How do we test Paul’s credentials or anyone’s for that matter?

You see, credentialing is an important but very tricky business. For example, as a society we do not let just anyone drive a car, at least not legally. There is a credentialing process for getting that driver’s license and it is probably still the most important rite of passage from childhood to adulthood. Even though it has been more than 40 years, I still remember the day I got my driver’s license. I remember my first solo drive and what car I drove and where I went.[4] The credential to drive is mighty important and we don’t let just anyone have that credential.

Of course, there are many kinds of credentials. Passports are credentials identifying someone as a citizen of a certain country and giving that person the right, other things being equal, to travel outside his or her country. Doctors and beauticians and nuclear power-plant operators and airline pilots and dental hygienists need credentials to do their jobs. And we want those credentials to mean something.

Even clergy must have credentials and many denominations, including Presbyterians, have rather strict credentialing requirements. In fact, if the apostle Paul came back to earth you could not call him as your pastor because he wouldn’t pass the Book of Order’s requirements for ministers of the Word and Sacrament. Being a Presbyterian minister requires satisfactory grades and degrees from an accredited college and an accredited seminary, including some competency in biblical Greek and Hebrew. Potential ministers must have successfully passed five standard ordination exams. They must also “demonstrate readiness to begin [a] ministry of the Word and Sacrament.”[5] I guess Paul could handle the Greek and Hebrew and he might demonstrate readiness. But he would never pass the five standard exams — Paul’s never read John Calvin! And he would never get by a presbytery committee on ministry without those degrees from accredited educational institutions.

Now not all denominations or churches are as fussy as Presbyterians about credentials. Do a Google search and you’ll find any number of “churches” or “schools” that will be happy to “ordain” you and sell you the credentials to prove it. The one that intrigued me the most was St. George Evangelical Church in Pataskala, Ohio. For $25 the Reverend Dale L. Veach, Ph.D. whose nickname is “Deuce,” will send you the “Ordination Credential Package” which includes an 8.5x11 parchment paper certificate of ordination. What’s really neat about this is you can pick what you want to be ordained as: “reverend, minister, chaplain, pastor, evangelist, bishop, elder, missionary, deacon, or parson.” No mention of cardinal or pope! Maybe that would be too much, though on one of his web pages Deuce does claim to be Father Veach.[6]

Well, maybe I shouldn’t make fun. Maybe the Reverend Fr. Veach, Ph.D. is quite sincere. But how do we know? And what if I wanted to be ordained as “Bishop Bill” and sent in my $25 and got the certificate and hung it in my office? Would that make any difference for you? Of course, not! What if I hung my real diplomas and certificates in my office? I’ve never been a big fan of doing that but I think I still have my credentials stuck in a file folder somewhere. What if I framed them and hung them up? Would that make a difference to you?

Probably not much. You assume that someone — the Pastor Nominating Committee or Boston Presbytery or someone — has checked to be sure that I do have bona fide credentials. But even if my credentials are genuine — and I assure you they are — does that guarantee that I won’t be incompetent? No, of course, not! Credentials mean something but they guarantee nothing. You can have all the degrees and credentials in the world and be a lousy or unfaithful minister. You can be credentialed a doctor or a pilot and still kill patients or crash planes. You can be a licensed driver and still have no business driving a car. That’s the dilemma of credentials. They are important but not foolproof, especially if we look for credentials of divine origin.

Now I’ve used modern, even silly examples to help us see what made Paul so angry with the Galatians. He had been one of the founders of the churches there. But after he went on to preach in other cities and towns, other leaders came to the churches in Galatia and said, “You know, that Paul, you can’t really trust him. After all, he wasn’t one of the original disciples. And remember, he even persecuted Christians for awhile. So you can’t really trust what he taught you about Jesus. We’re going to teach the truth to you.”

Hearing about that made Paul so mad he began his letter without saying “thanks” and in the very first sentence he defends his credentials. Paul says his credentials have nothing to do with other humans or human teaching.[7] His credentials come straight from Jesus Christ. But now we really have a dilemma. Can we trust people without credentials who say they speak for God? Fr. Veach says he speaks for God and to prove it he will sell you an ordination as bishop. How do we decide between Paul and Deuce? How do we resolve this dilemma of credentials?

Paul answers the dilemma of credentials by insisting that only the gospel he preached is the right gospel. This can seem to us pure arrogance for we are taught to respect the views of others, to be tolerant of other opinions, and least in our better moments.[8] Paul seems to be saying, “You must think like I do or you are wrong!”

Actually Paul’s argument is more subtle than that. For he talks about his authority coming from the gospel and the gospel belongs to Jesus Christ. Only the gospel of Christ counts. In fact, Paul said that even if he preached a different gospel, even if an angel from heaven preached a different gospel, let a curse fall upon them because only the gospel of Christ counts. Only the gospel of Christ has authority.

I only have time left today to outline what this means, but we’ll pick it up from here next Sunday. The gospel that belongs to Jesus Christ is grace — pure grace. We’ve known that for twenty centuries but we still struggle with it and need to hear it again and again. It comes down to this. There are many times in the life of Christians and the Christian church like the times in Galatia when the gospel gets compromised. The culture, the political climate, the idiosyncrasies of a place or a preacher take over and domesticate the gospel. We make it an ideology and use it to control and beat up others. But the true gospel of Christ is eternally free. No church, no culture, no political system, no country, and no preacher can long capture the gospel.[9] Paul insists that it is Christ’s gospel. Not mine, not yours. Not Presbyterian. Not white. Not black. Not American. Not poor, not rich. The gospel belongs only to Christ and Christ’s gospel is pure grace to “set us free from the present evil age.”[10]

This is where we will pick things up next week. But today I want to end with just a brief thought from Kathleen Norris, one of my favorite writers, about how important the gospel is. And by the way, if you have not become acquainted with Norris’ books and want help in your spiritual journey, I cannot recommend too highly three of her books: Dakota, The Cloister Walk, and Amazing Grace. This story comes from Amazing Grace.

Ms. Norris gave a lecture one time at a Catholic college. She was talking about some of the important words of the Christian faith and during the question and answer period a woman in the back of the auditorium asked, “I don’t mean to be offensive, but I just don’t understand how you can get so much comfort from a religion whose language does so much harm.” The question reveals that the woman had been beaten up by the church, by church leaders who used their credentials to do harm, even if they intended to do good.

Kathleen Norris was raised Presbyterian but for much of her life she had also been estranged from the church, put off by words that were scary and hurtful and incomprehensible. So she knew exactly where this woman was coming from and she responded this way. “I don’t think it’s comfort I’m seeking or comfort that I’ve found. As far as I’m concerned, this religion has saved my life, my husband’s life, and our marriage. So it’s not comfort that I’m talking about but salvation.”[11]

It’s that important. The gospel is salvation because the gospel of Jesus Christ is pure grace. Grace is the only credential that can shine through all the distortions and give us the salvation we so desperately need. That’s where we’ll pick up next Sunday.

[1] Bruce M. Metzger, Roland E. Murphy, eds., The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version (New York: Oxford University Press, 1991) 263NT.

[2] Charles B. Cousar, Galatians (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982) 15.

[3] Charles B. Cousar, Beverly R. Gaventa, J. Clinton McCann, Jr., James D. Newsome, Texts For Preaching, Year C (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 1994) 368. “The letter opens, then, with two foci. It addresses both the legitimacy of Paul as an apostle and the content of the gospel. If Paul here insists on his own apostolic role, that is because the proclamation of the gospel depends on the apostle just as the apostle’s preaching role derives from the gospel. The two cannot be separated, however uncomfortable and dangerous the connection.”

[4] December 31, 1963 in a maroon 1962 Ford Fairlane four-door sedan to the Kirkland Safeway to buy some milk.

[5] Book of Order, The Constitution of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Part 2 (Louisville: Office of the General Assembly, 2003). G-14.0310 stipulates: “In the final year of theological education or when a candidate has satisfied the requirements of G-14.0310, and before a candidate may receive a call, the committee on preparation for ministry of the candidate’s presbytery shall conduct a final assessment of the candidate’s readiness to begin ministry … The candidate’s presbytery shall require a candidate to fulfill the following requirements to be certified as to be ready for examination for ordination, pending a call: (1) demonstration of readiness to begin ministry of the Word and Sacrament as required in G-14.0305j; (2) presentation of a transcript showing satisfactory grades at a regionally accredited college or university, together with a diploma; (3) presentation of a transcript from a theological institution accredited by the Association of Theological Schools acceptable to the presbytery, the transcript showing satisfactory grades, and presentation of a plan to complete the theological degree including Hebrew and Greek and exegesis of the Old and New Testaments using Hebrew and Greek texts; (4) presentation of satisfactory grades together with the examination papers in the five areas covered by the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee on Examinations for Candidates.”

[6] Internet, http://www.stgeorgechurch.net/id29.htm.

[7] James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993) 24. Dunn points out the irony that the vehemence of Paul’s argument suggests that in some way human validation was important to Paul (“Paul was anxious to gain the recognition of the Jerusalem leadership”) and to the extent that human authority was relevant it was the authority in Jerusalem.

[8] Cousar, Texts, 367.

[9] This keen insight is drawn from Cousar, Galatians, 21.

[10] Roger E. Van Harn, ed., The Lectionary Commentary: Theological Exegesis for Sunday’s Texts, The Second Readings (Acts and the Epistles) (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001) 279. In the comments on this text, Thomas Gillespie says that Paul believed the false gospel prevented it from actually setting people free. “This connection between ‘the truth of the gospel’ and its performative ‘power’ is crucial. The gospel is ultimately authenticated by what it does.”

[11] Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith (New York: Riverhead Books, 1998) 3-4.