George MacDonald seems to have upset some church people in his day,
particularly those who leaned toward the teaching that salvation is
achieved simply by reciting the right formula, since Jesus had already
paid for all of your sins.
Reading his comments in “Justice” of his “Unspoken Sermons Series
III” reminds me of some of my comments about “Cheap Grace”:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/5dec98.html
Here is an excerpt from “Justice” by George MacDonald:
The notion that the salvation of Jesus is a salvation from the
consequences of our sins, is a false, mean, low notion. The salvation
of Christ is salvation from the smallest tendency or leaning to sin.
It is a deliverance into the pure air of God’s ways of thinking and
feeling. It is a salvation that makes the heart pure, with the will
and choice of the heart to be pure. To such a heart, sin is
disgusting. It sees a thing as it is, – that is, as God sees it, for
God sees everything as it is. The soul thus saved would rather sink
into the flames of hell than steal into heaven and skulk there under
the shadow of an imputed righteousness. No soul is saved that would
not prefer hell to sin. Jesus did not die to save us from punishment;
he was called Jesus because he should save his people from their sins.
(“Unspoken Sermons Series III, Justice”)
See also –
“Cheap Grace”:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060128.html
“God’s Grace Continues to Be Cheapened”:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20070723.html
“Works and Changes”:
http://www.all-creatures.org/heart/blog-20060202.html
