Is Both/And the Path to Truth?

Carolyn Arends:

My friend John Blase is a writer who chooses his words with utmost care. So when I noticed he refers to his wife as his "girlfriend" in his blogs, I knew the quirk was intentional. It turns out the habit goes back to the time when John was asked whether the lovely lady next to him was his wife or his girlfriend. He gave the only answer that made sense: "Yes."

I've been thinking about John and his girlfriend/wife a lot lately, especially when I read my Bible. Is it faith or works? I demand of the text, and the answer seems to be: "Yes." Is God a God of revelation or of mystery? Is he as close as a whisper or beyond all things? Yes. Yes. Is the kingdom of heaven now or not yet? Should I be wise as a serpent or innocent as a dove? Should I fall headlong into grace or work out my salvation with fear and trembling? Yes. Yes. Yes.

This is valid, to a point. We can indeed create false dichotomies by separating things that should not be separated, yet the distinctions are also important.

Thus, when the author asks, "Is it faith or works?"-- well, it matters a great deal what one means by "it." If you are asking, "Is justification faith or works?" Then your answer better be this: "I am not justified by my works, but by faith in Christ's finished work on the cross." That distinction is absolutely vital. There's no way we could read Galatians (where we've been this summer in our sermons) and think that Paul would say, "No, it's both/and! Justification is both faith and works." He comes down hard on justification by works and makes it clear that if we try to do both Christ and law, we've really chosen law. We can only be justified through faith in Christ.

However, if the question is, "Is the Christian life faith or works?"-- then I think we must give a both/and answer, and that too we can see from the letter to the Galatians. Paul does not merely describe doctrine to be believed, but spells out the way Christians should be living in holiness, by the power of the Spirit, in community with other believers. This question is what is being answered in the book of James, and this is often why that epistle is misunderstood as being inconsistent with the message of Galatians and Romans. They are answering different questions.

Let's try another one. Is it making disciples or doing justice? Well, if "it" is "the mission of the church," I don't think we can use the "both/and" card. However, if "it" is "the activity of the church," I think we could say both/and, though this means that we must make sure all of our activity somehow serves the mission, the primary task that we've been given. I believe this can be demonstrated from Jesus' words. At his ascension, his parting words were instructions on disciple-making. That's mission. Yet he gave many more commands and parables that taught us to love our neighbor, even our enemies. Just because making disciples is our primary task doesn't mean loving our neighbor is optional.

This doesn't mean that, say, our efforts at the local food pantry have to be overtly evangelistic all the time, but there does need to be a conscious desire and effort to make and take opportunities to point people to Christ. Sometimes that is honoring him as the reason why we do the work, and sometimes it is a more specific personal presentation of the gospel. This is an appropriate both/and.

All this to say, the distinctions are important, but because some things are meant to be understood distinctly does not mean that we can pick or choose one and not the other (e.g., salvation and discipleship). They just need to be held together in the right way. Sometimes, we need to say this/not that, and sometimes we need both/and. and with a thoughtful reading of Scripture, the Spirit will guide us to the right one.