The World's Two Religions

This devotion is going to focused on a nuanced question that is brought about by a proper understanding of Law and Gospel. I recommend if you have not studied the law and gospel distinction to do so.

How many essentially different religions are there in the world? Lutheran theologian Francis Peiper gives a very interesting answer to this question that is quite thought provoking. He says there are not a thousand, not a hundred, not even four, but only two essentially different religions: the religion of the Law, that is to say the endeavor to be reconciled with God through man's own works, and the religion of the Gospel, that is, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ by which we have reconciliation, not because of our own works, but because of the work of Christ on the cross.

In the ease of all men who seek to satisfy God by their own efforts we find that their personal relation to God is one of fear, of hopelessness and despair, resulting from an evil conscience, from the consciousness of God’s wrath. The reason for this unhappy relation is the attempt that is so commonly found in all the major non-Christian religions; namely, the attempt to be reconciled with God through their own works. Any sort of attempt is like this is inevitably doomed to failure; for our good deeds are like "filthy rags"(Isaiah 64:6) and “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” as Paul says in Romans 3.

No man has ever eased his evil conscience through his works. This is very clear scripturally.

Yet, in spite of this truth, worldly religions endeavor to seek and maintain a relation to God through a relation of fear and despair.

This here is the heart of why there are essentially two different world religions. One focused on receiving reconciliation with God through man's own works (which we've just seen isn't possible due to man's depravity), and being reconciled with God through God's grace found in Christ and the forgiveness of sins found in His death and resurrection. But of course also applies to those within Christendom who seek to establish good relations with God through their own works. Galatians 3:10 "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse" But thank goodness, our relationship with God is fundamentally different than that of the unbeliever's.

Through faith in the reconciliation given by Christ, not of ourselves, we know God as our dear Father, we have a good conscience, the assurance of grace, and we enjoy the hope of eternal life, which God has promised all believers in Christ. The Apostle Paul clearly teaches this when he says:

"...blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin..." "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ … and rejoice in hope of the glory of God …. We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.” Rom. 4:8, 5:1, 2, 11."

This is one of the great robust and meaningful understandings we get from properly defining the distinction between the law and the gospel and one of the reasons we should study it so closely and attempt to properly divide the word of God. This is the distinction. On the one hand the Christian does works out of love and obedience because He is saved, and on the other the person who is apart of any other essentially the same non-Christian religion attempts to be justified by their own works.

What a miserable existence, to be apart of a false religion where you are constantly trying to earn something you can't earn, all while thinking if you did earn it you'd deserve it (and you wouldn't!)

Our prayer, then, should be that all those apart of such a religion would find solace in the true Christian worldview which properly divides between the law and gospel- so that we can rest assured in the objective and perfect work of Christ on cross, instead of trying to find assurance in our own good works which really are like filthy rags in God's sight.

So, who are you? Are you the blessed man of Romans 4,

(“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
   and whose sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”), or are you one who is vainly attempting to reconcile his own evil conscience through his works?

Do you have peace knowing that your right standing with God is extra nos and has been imputed to you freely by God's grace via the merit of Christ's atoning work on the cross, or do you constantly worry that your own actions aren't good enough to appease a holy God? (they aren't, as God's standard is absolute perfection- a standard only met by Christ!)

So, which of the two world religions are you a part of?

To paraphrase Pieper,

Christians worship God as the God who has bestowed His grace upon us not on account of the works of the Law, but for the sake of Christ’s vicarious satisfaction. We present our good works to God not as a ransom to pay for our sins, but as a thank offering for the redemption that Christ has effected. Thus Paul says of himself: “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20). Only such a worship and service of God is God-pleasing and fitting. Rom. 12:1: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." To non-Christians, however, the worship and service of God is the performance of a “religious duty,” dictated by the fear of God’s wrath and aimed at winning God’s favor by keeping the Law.