Chapter 11, Religion and the Gospel

We are looking at the second half of Tim Keller's book, The Reason for God. And in the second half, Keller moves from answering objections to pointing to clues, reasons to believe in Jesus Christ. One of the main clues in coming to God is an understanding of the differences between religion and Christianity. Tim Keller uses and entire chapter to differentiate the two. One of the key verses is John 14:6, where Jesus claims to be the way, not a way. Other religions claim to show the way, Jesus claimed to be the way. In its most simple form, it comes down to this: religion is salvation through moral effort and Christianity is salvation through grace. Most of us “get” religion. It is the idea that you must do enough good to either approach God or enter into heaven. Many think of it as a moral balance scale—do enough good to outweigh the bad. That appeals to us, for it allows the individual to be his or her own savior. Do enough and bingo, you win God’s approval. The problem of course is how much is enough, and can anyone really do it. I read the story, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, this summer, partly as a result of hearing Keller talk about it in a different context. But he brings up the story this chapter as well. Dr. Jekyll realizes that he has both good and bad aspects. He tries to figure out a way to separate the two, so that Jekyll can do the good he wants to do. Mr. Hyde is one result, a horrible, evil, violent man. Hyde doesn’t mind being bad, but Jekyll gets scared of ‘him’ when he commits a murder. So he vows to never take the dividing potion again and to do good to others (to make up for his bad). He pulls it off for several months. While sitting in a park, reflecting on the good he was doing, patting himself on the back as it were, he changes back to Mr. Hyde (without taking any potion). Right when he was congratulating himself for doing good, evil overwhelms him. Christianity understands this. Everybody knows that those who do wickedness deserve wrath. What most of us forget is that when we try to live such good lives that we don’t need Jesus, there is a badness within that is far worse than any other. It is the evil of the Pharisees, who prided themselves in doing right and pleasing God. But Jesus continually pointed out their failure and showed them for what they really are, impotent to save themselves. Anyone who thinks she is good enough or can work well enough is in trouble. People like this quickly become judgmental of others (who do not do enough good) or arrogant (they might not do the ‘right kind’ of good) and are like ‘whitewashed tombs’. Christianity says ‘that I am so flawed that Jesus had to die for me, yet I am so loved and valued that Jesus was glad to die for me.” The result is ‘deep humility and deep confidence.’ Because of Jesus, I don’t have to protect or promote myself to God and others. I am just a sinner saved by grace. Really! And because of Jesus, I have nothing to prove so I don’t have to fear what others think of me. If God loves me I really am okay. The other way to talk about the difference between religion and Christianity is to consider the difference in motivation within the heart. The person trying to impress God does his good deeds and expects blessing. The Christian has received blessing and then does good out of joyful gratitude.