God has given us everything we need.

Steve Brown:
God has given us everything we need. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Justin Holcomb has been teaching us all this week. Justin is an Episcopal priest, an author, and he teaches at Reformed Theological Seminary.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Justin Holcomb is with us. I should say the right Reverend Dr. Justin Holcomb. He is required and I have refused to do it to kiss his ring.

Justin Holcomb:
I’m not even wearing the ring. You’re lying.

Steve Brown:
He’s a Bishop of the Central Florida Diocese of the Episcopal church. And I’ve known him since he was a kid and love him big. And amazed in the way he teaches me so many good things. And this week, if you’ve been listening, we’ve been talking about heresies and heretics. And there’s a book that Justin wrote a number of years ago called Know the Heretics. You can find it at Amazon or maybe a good bookstore will order it for you. And it’s important that we talk about this sort of thing because it has to do with what we believe. Justin teaches in graduate schools along with other things and he really makes it tough going but he’s getting the fodder down for me and for you, so listen up. Who are we going to look at today?

Justin Holcomb:
Pelagius and again, spelling them because some people want to see it, P E L A G I U S Pelagius. He was, and there’s numerous heretics, but I just picked the favorite four. These are some doozies. And to show that they’re a little bit different. He was in around 350 A.D. In Britain. And he was different from some of the other, Marcion talked about, Jesus being different from Yahweh. So, that one’s about Jesus. Sabellius talked about God being one being with three different modes, that was about doctrine of God specifically in Jesus. And then Arius talked about Jesus. This one’s a little bit different because this one’s about mostly the human nature and what are humans really like and how does that relate to salvation. So, It does get to Jesus, but it’s not a Christological heresy, meaning about the person and work of Jesus Christ. Pelagius, and he was responded to by Augustine. So, all of these heretics, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Augustine, Athanasius were the Orthodox people who responded to them. So, just to help place people, historically, if they want to. So, what you said at the beginning was God gave us everything we need. His big idea was two things, Jesus said, be holy as I am, as God is holy. Well, why would he give you a command that you can’t accomplish? That one passage was the main passage. Why would God command, that would be cruel. And he’s not messing with you. He told you to be holy. So, you must be able to be holy. Again, the problem is a simplistic reading, not a nuanced reading of all of Scripture, by picking a verse like all the heretics do. They pick one or two verses and run with it and make a whole system. And so, what was happening is in the context and there was Rome where he was looking at things where it was morally lax and he was similar to what Luther was dealing with, where he was looking at a bunch of people and Christian leaders who were just train wrecks morally. So, it came out of a good thing of like, Hey, wait a second, this isn’t what Christians are supposed to look like. And so, he was really disappointed. He also didn’t, so he had this very moralistic, pietistic version of Christianity. And so, there was a little bit of the self righteousness kicking in there, but he would never command anything that’s impossible for a human to carry out. And he did not like Augustine’s prayer and the confessions when Augustine said.

I have no hope at all, but in your great mercy. Command what you will, give what you command.

He read that and was like, okay, whatever, that’s the problem. Cause that’s what makes people morally lax. We’ve got to do the opposite of that. So, he’s basically arguing against Augustine’s point, again.

I have no hope at all, but in your great mercy. Command what you will, give what you command.

Because he thought that encouraged laziness. And so, what he said was, humanity, we have everything we need. He didn’t agree with original sin, which doesn’t mean that humans were originally sinful. Original sin as a doctrine says, Adam and Eve represented humanity. Adam and Eve, but Adam as a representative sinned, and then threw humans headlong into sin as a representative. Now, because of that, we all have a sinful nature. So, people would say, are we sinners because of what we do? Or are we sinful because of our nature? Both, you are sinful by nature and deed. We are sinners, so we sin. We don’t, we’re not somehow here and then we sin and go, oh now i’m a sinner. We were born in sin. We have a sinful nature. Now, we’re not as bad as we could be, we could be worse. So, when we say language like total depravity, we mean that all dimensions of humanity are tainted by sin.

Steve Brown:
pervasive

Justin Holcomb:
We don’t mean total, we don’t mean utter depravity, like we’re as bad as we could be. We’re not only poison, we are water, which was originally good that has poison in it. And every drop of that water is now poisoned, but it’s not poison. So, that’s what we’re teaching. He didn’t believe that humans, he believed that Adam was a bad example. And he was, so Adam was a bad example and then he was a bad example to certain people who were bad examples to us. And so, we’ve all had bad examples. And so, what we need is a good example. And Jesus was a good example. This is what it looks like to be obedient to God and then therefore be saved. He actually believed that you could actually be perfect and you could, because Jesus was and so that’s what you’re shooting for and that’ll kill you but that’s what he was shooting for, I would be sensitive because the what would Jesus do question is an appropriate question in the right setting. So, we’re not just tossing it out.

Steve Brown:
But you can make a heresy out of that if you’re not careful, entire sanctification can kill you.

Justin Holcomb:
Pelagius did that in a heretical way. There’s a beautiful way. My daughter wears one. And I was like, what do you think about that? And she goes, I just need to be reminded that because I’m a daughter of God, what it looks like. And so she, her is an example of what would Jesus do in a really beautiful, sweet way. It’s so beautiful.

Steve Brown:
Now Justin, if you don’t get your act together, I’m going to start crying.

Justin Holcomb:
Well.

Steve Brown:
And this is radio, and it’s not going to work if you and I get emotional and can’t talk. So, get your act together

Justin Holcomb:
I’m trying to.

Steve Brown:
and say again what your daughter did. I love that about you. That is so good.

Justin Holcomb:
Yeah. But it’s, there’s a heretical way of reading that, which is what would Jesus do? I’ll go do it. He’s my example. I’m earning my salvation, which is a lie from the pit of hell and smells like smoke.

Steve Brown:
I agree.

Justin Holcomb:
Yeah. And then there’s the beautiful way, which is my daughter, which was, Man, Jesus saved me, forgave me of my sin, and he’s a great picture of what gratitude and faithfulness looks like.
That’s why I wear this, to remind me, I kind of need a reminder because I’m a sinner, she gets it. Not because she’s earning anything, but because that’s what worship and gratitude looks like. I was in a line with my family, and I was ordering from Chick Fil A, and there was a woman who had a bracelet on, and I thought it was like a, What Would Jesus Do? And it said H-W-L-U-F. So, W W J D.

Steve Brown:
What Would Jesus Do?

Justin Holcomb:
WWJD and her’s said H W L U F. And I said, I was kind of snarky and I said, Hey, what’s that bracelet for? And I kind of looked at my kids, my daughters, and I was like, yeah, look at this person. Probably Pelagian is what I was trying to say. And she smiled and she goes, Oh, He Would Love Us First. I was like, literally in the Chick fil A line started crying because this 19 year old college intern or whatever is proclaiming the gospel to me when I’m being a snarky jerk. And she said He Would Love Us First. I pulled up to get my food and I had tears in my eyes and the guy said, what happened? I was like, that bracelet. And he goes, yeah, that happens sometimes. But that’s,

Steve Brown:
that goes back to this

Justin Holcomb:
going back to Pelagius is if all you have is a bad example and all you need is Jesus to be a good example, then it’s putting your salvation back on you. And so, go follow the law and you will earn your salvation and you’ll be made right with God. Get it together. So, basically, this is both a justification, how we’re made right with God. It’s a heresy about that. And it’s a heresy about sanctification. How are we obedient? And what does that look like? And so, basically Pelagius says you have everything you need because Jesus was a good example. Jesus was fully God and fully man. So, he’s all on in all the Christological stuff, when it comes down to what is salvation. He is doing the opposite. I mean Paul basically wrote Galatians for this type of heresy, he wrote against the Judaizers and it is relevant against the Pelagians. And that’s why Augustine said, no, salvation is by grace and grace alone, faith in Jesus Christ. That doesn’t lead to moral laxity, that actually leads to gratitude. That’s the point about my daughter. That’s the point about the Christian faith is God works in you. He hated Philippians 2:12 God works in you to will and do his good pleasure. And we are obedient out of gratitude, not because we have to, but because we get to, and we have new heart, new will because we’re made alive in Christ. That’s why we go, Hey, you loved us way more than we ever deserved. Thank you. And that’s what sanctification, that’s what the Christian life looks like, empowered by the Holy Spirit. So God, is an example to us. God works in us in the Holy Spirit. So, we go to the Father and say, thank you. And that’s what our life of

Steve Brown:
And there is imputed righteousness too.

Justin Holcomb:
Not only is our sin going to Jesus, but his perfection, his righteousness, the words used for us in Christ, pure, perfect, righteous, and holy. Not because we are, but because Jesus gives us that because he was and the Holy Spirit makes us what he calls us.

Steve Brown:
So, if you’ve been trying to work your way into getting God to be pleased with you, I say this kindly and with compassion, you’re a heretic. Repent. It’s all Jesus. Hey, you think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve Brown and Justin Holcomb. What an insightful study on heresy and the heretics. Remember that you can re listen to and share any of these episodes on our website keylife.org. next week, we start a brand new series with Steve teaching through the Book of Philippians. And join us again tomorrow for Friday Q&A, when Steve and Pete will answer a challenging question about baptism. Hey, are you feeling a lot of stress, pain, or worry right now? Well, believe it or not, Jesus identifies with you. And we know this is true because in John 11, Jesus weeps for the loss of Lazarus. But why did he weep? Well, Steve spoke about that in a powerful sermon called, When Tears Are All That’s Left. If you’re going through it right now, could we send you this sermon on CD for free? Just call us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that CD. And if you’d like to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses. Again, just ask for your free CD called When Tears Are All That’s Left. Finally, if you value the work of Key Life, you can join us in that work through your financial support. Giving is easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950 then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.