A Little Better than Bad
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 2:3 and Romans 3:9-20
Series: Comments on Galatians
The morning after the revival service, Mr. Hunter stepped outside during his work break to enjoy a cigarette. He was still excited about the night before. He had gone forward during the service and accepted Jesus as his Savior. As he lit the cigarette, another worker on break said, “I thought you were a Christian now.” He replied, “I am. I told you so just this morning.” He was further challenged, “Then what are you doing smoking? Christians don’t smoke.” The new Christian simply replied, “I think you’re right, put out the cigarette, and never smoked again. It’s been over 40 years since that day.
If God has spoken to your heart, obey. But it would be wrong of you to make your conviction compulsory for the salvation of everyone else. Is it a sin to speak in tongues? If God gives the utterance, surely not. But should you insist that every Christian have your spiritual gift and call them an unbeliever if they do not? Is it a sin to believe that you should be immersed? Of course not, but it would be wrong to insist to another that volume of water is the ticket to heaven instead of Jesus. It is ugly and wrong to call someone a heathen who has called upon Jesus to be her Savior.
Yet we scrutinize Scripture and culture in order to discover details that will make us better than the other guys — smarter, wiser, righter, more theologically correct. Ironically, it does not take much effort to discover two things about ourselves that seem to escape the notice of many Christians. One, we are not good at all (Romans 3:10). The only hope we have without God’s gracious intervention is to be a little better than bad — and that is no hope at all. Two, there is only one way to be right and that is also by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Hold to this instead of holding your dogma over the heads of people who have already been saved — by grace. “For by works of the law no one will be justified in God’s sight” (Romans 3:20).
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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