andrewhong.net

Reformation Day is coming up soon – and so I’ve been looking at some of the key re-discoveries of the Reformation – and thinking about how they speak directly to aspects of Chinese culture!

 

Last time we looked at the Reformation slogan of sola Scriptura. But that really only laid the groundwork for another important slogan: sola Gratia! This is Latin for "grace alone", and summarised the re-discovery that we receive right standing with God by his grace alone – not by a combination of his grace plus human performance.

 

The medieval church constructed a superstructure of confession, absolution and pennance - a structure that laid the onus on the human for making the first move in salvation. Luther’s rediscovery of justification by faith alone highlighted the predominant place of God in the working of salvation. Salvation is wholly the work of God – and human performance simply does not enter into it!

 

Well how does sola Gratia impact Chinese culture? How does it contribute to the way things are done in Chinese churches?

 

Since the cultural revolution, Chinese culture has become a highly performance-based culture. The deprivations of the cultural revolution led to refugees working very hard to earn a living, and they taught their children to work hard to get ahead of the crowd. Because of this, doctors, lawyers and successful business people are held up in high esteem – despite what they may be like in their actual character. Parents boast about their sons and daughters who excel in their studies. And conversely, those who don’t perform well are written off as being "good for nothing". The Chinese culture tends to honour human performance – and it’s our own performance that predominantly feeds the self-image of Chinese Christians.

 

Add to that the strong tendency in Chinese churches to fix pastoral problems in church with rules and regulations. It’s almost instictive: "Problem? Well! We’d better make a rule about that!" And so a ‘good’ sermon in a Chinese church tends to be something which lays heavy obligations on people, with a clear list of things to do – rather than one that points people to the finished work of Christ!

 

Because of these things, when it comes to our confidence before God, Chinese Christians tend to look inward to assess our own personal righteousness. We assess how we have gone in keeping rules and regulations – but this only ever leads to a false confidence, or a lack of confidence in our standing before God!

 

In contrast, the Reformation reminded us to look outward to the alien righteousness of Christ! Luther’s rediscovery of sola Gratia is a real comfort to Chinese Christians. It frees us from thinking our standing before God is based on our own performance in godliness, our depth of feeling, or the regularity of our quiet times.

 

[ PS: the third and last post will be on Reformation Day - Tuesday 31st of October! ]