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Here is another dichotomy that describes how some Christians view God. I call it, “Merchantile vs. Relational.” You may see some similarities between this and the Legal vs. Healing models, but this goes into a little more detail.



Merchantile vs. Relational

In the merchantile model, God is a merchant (bean counter)

In the relational model, God is a lover

In the merchantile model, sin is a commodity- something that can be

bought, sold or traded, sorta like a sack of potatoes.

In the relational model, sin is breaking up (imagine Neil Sedaka singing “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”), or disloyalty, or infidelity, or anything that cuts off the fellowship between us and God.

In the relational model, how does sin devalue God? When we sin, it means we don’t want to keep the relationship with Him- He’s not a keeper. How does God react? He’s hurt and feels rejected.

In the relational model the Law is our love vows. It describes what we promise to do to show our love to our lover.

In the merchantile model the Law is a price list. Each sin costs something to pay for it.

In the merchantile model, Atonement is that big rubber stamp that says, “PAID”

In the merchantile model, sin doesn’t affect God except at the bottom line. He isn’t affected by your sin at all. He just wants to be paid.

The merchantile model should sound familiar because there are two popular theologies that come from it- Legalism (also called Righteousness by Works) and Free Grace.

1. Legalism is merchantile in nature because it considers sin a commodity I can pay for with the currency of my good works.

2. Free Grace is merchantile in nature because it considers sin a commodity that Jesus paid for by His sacrifice.

Viewed this way, Legalism and Free Grace are virtually the same thing! They are two sides of the same merchantile coin. They both regard God as a merchant, a bean counter, they both regard sin as a commodity to be bought or sold, paid for either by their works or by Jesus’ works. Neither Legalism nor Free Grace concern themselves much with how our sin makes God feel- all they are concerned with is, “Is my sin paid for? Do I have my ticket to the promised land?”

In the relational model, what is atonement? Sincere reconciliation. A good faith, sincere, from the heart effort to restore the lost trust and show that you value the other person and want to keep the relationship. When we reconcile to God through repentance, we’re telling God, “You’re a keeper.” (As by forgiving us, God is telling us we’re keepers)

In the merchantile model what is grace? “Discount!” It’s like getting 10% off. The most common type of Discount Grace goes like this: “You do the best you can, and Jesus will make up the difference” This sounds right, but it really fits the merchantile model, because it treats holiness like a scalar quantity.

A friend of mine gives an example where one evening while he was working on an important paper that was due the next day, his computer kept on crashing. His first thought was, "I should pray about it," but instead, he started troubleshooting. You know how these computer things go. He tried one thing after another, each time saying, "I'll just try one more thing." Finally after a couple of hours of troubleshooting and failure, he gave up and prayed that God would fix his computer so he could finish his important paper. After that the computer worked perfectly. He felt God was telling him to quit trusting in his own efforts. He realized that "Do the best you can and Jesus will make up the difference" is just another form of Works Righteousness, of trusting in your own efforts and looking for a discount from God.

As long as we see grace as merely a discount, or see it tinged with the merchantile model, we’ll never understand God’s grace.

In the relational model what is grace? “Our riches at God’s expense.” In every relationship there is give and take, but our relationship with God is extremely lopsided, and there are not many human relationships exactly like it. Because this is a relationship where God does all the giving and we do all the taking.

I’ve got more to say, but first, any comments?

telaquapacky :-6

My view and tht of many theologians is that God's love and grace are unconditional. It does, though, have some "requirements" of us: to live in an ever growing or developing relationship with God. This relationship naturally makes us want to do the will of God which is to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, do justice, and love our fellow man among others.

As Paul said faith without works is dead. We don't do the works for brownie points but in fact we do them because that is what God requires of us as in Micah 6:8. It is our now inherent desire to do those things out of love.

Shalom

Ted :-6

We are in full agreement, Ted. By "lopsided" and "we do all the taking," I meant that even our best efforts pale in comparison to the enormous blessings God lavishes on us. I've seen some in my own church become discouraged because the way they were brought up, they could never feel "good enough." I don't believe we ever can be "good enough" to deserve God's gift, and that's why it's a gift. What I believe matters is that we feel loved enough by God. Feeling God's love transforms us, and then He works through us.

I heard a very provocative statement from a pastor I highly regard. He said, "We are saved by works- we're saved by the works God does in us and through us. I think it's important to see that they aren't our works.

telaquapacky :-6

If I interpret what the pastor has said correctly then I can agree with him. Which means I also agree with you.

Shalom

Ted :-6