Today's contribution includes an important quotation from the Essenes at Qumran that was highlighted in a recent book by James Dunn. Here's the quotation:
As for me, if I stumble, the mercies of God shall be my eternal salvation.
If I stagger because of the sin of my flesh, my justification shall be by
the righteousness of God which endures forever. ... He will draw me near by
his grace, and by his mercy will he bring my justification. He will judge me
in the righteousness of his truth and in the greatness of his goodness he
will pardon [atone for/cover] all my sins. Through his righteousness he will
cleanse me of the uncleanness of man and of the sins of the children of men.
A person could be forgiven (!) for thinking that the author of such a quotation was Christian, but he/she certainly was not. The importance of this point is the reminder that Christians were not the inventors of grace. Jews, even ones that took the law as terribly seriously as did the Essenes at Qumran, knew that God was gracious.
But if grace is not the peculiar characteristic of Christianity, what is? In a word: Jesus. The most basic Christian confession is and was "Jesus is Lord (cf. Rom 10:9 and the defining, knew-bowing, ultimate confession of Phil 2:10-11)." It is not "Justification by faith" or "God is love" or any other good thing of which we've become fond.
Utlimately I am not a Christian because Christianity is a better idea than any other religion (though it may also be that); I am a Christian because Jesus was raised from the dead. The world changed on that day, and all of us who follow Jesus are merely trying to work out what that means.
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