Plantinga Chapter 4: Redemption

I struggled a bit reading this chapter of Engaging God's World. I was overcome by the prideful attitude that I had heard it all before, and that Plantinga could not possibly have anything new to say to me. I found, however, that while it may not have been much "new" material, God did remind me of a few things. So even though I was not the biggest fan of the way that Plantinga chose to communicate the information, I did come away with some new thoughts about a few things.

One thing in particular that caught my attention was the idea behind God's rules in our lives. Plantinga discusses both the Ten Commandments as well as the added suggestions from the new testament, which he refers to as "glad instructions" (p. 93). I was reminded by his discussion of how God chose to give the commandments after the Exodus that our "religious rules" are not a deal with God. He didn't give them to the Israelites and say "if you follow these, I will deliver you". Instead, they were guidelines to give His chosen people freedom to the fullest extent, to help them flourish, to work towards shalom. God knew that they could never obey His commands perfectly, but it still honored Him to see them try. It is the same situation with us. Following the guidelines that God gives us in the Bible will not get us into Heaven. Only what Christ did will give us salvation. True redemption means following all the rules perfectly and having shalom. But we are too fallen-we need Christ and His atonement for our shortcomings. Plantinga says, “Proclamation of the resurrection of Jesus isn’t nearly everything Christians have to offer the world, but it’s the platform for everything they have to offer.” Everything we do must be seen in light of how we have been redeemed by Christ- we must admit that we are helpless to do anything on our own.

Another reason that Plantinga gives for God’s rules is that they are the only way we can have true and lasting freedom. In “Learning in Wartime”, C.S Lewis said, “Christianity does not exclude any of the ordinary human activities.” In the sense that Lewis means this, as far as eating, drinking, sleeping, etc., this is true. One might say that Christianity restricts us from a lot of the sinful human activities. But God doesn’t physically prohibit us from doing these things- it is our choice whether or not to obey God’s command. But when does adultery have a happy ending? God gives us these commands to allow us to live life to the fullest; and this rule is no exception.

On the first page, Plantinga comments that “Fallen people can’t stand scrutiny.” In other words, none of us can stand scrutiny. I know there are many times in my life when I cannot stand criticism or am too prideful to accept advice. In this case, it is important that I hear God’s words through Plantinga reminding me of the right reasons to obey His commands.