30 years ago — October 28, 1995
What have you quit lately? … According to a classic biblical theme, the thing we all need to quit is the endeavor to save ourselves, to prove ourselves good enough for God. It is the attempt to demonstrate that we can, on the basis of resources already available, go it alone, achieve the good life, solve whatever problems we encounter and through it all be assured of a place in the world to come.
This is what we are really called to quit. …. Luther and the other Reformers called Christians to quit trying to save themselves by meeting the requirements of a comprehensively authoritarian church. Correspondingly, they called upon the church leaders to quit laying unjust, unbiblical burdens on the people.
The heirs of the Reformers have repeatedly found it necessary to call the church to quit “falling away from grace” by … attempts to save itself. The catalog of these … is lengthy: confessional orthodoxy, racial or ethnic purity, the possession of special gifts of the Spirit … et cetera.
From the article “Time to quit” by Albert N. Wells.
