Torch, Fall 1996

she think? Had she been living in spiritual defeat? As I pondered her story, I knew I could not bring myself to make such a negative assessment of her experience. In light of all the obstacles she faced (and the sacrifices she had made in going to this remote and rather primitive place), it did not ring true to me at all to say, "Yes, you're right: you were spiritually defeated during that time of service, but if you'll just apply the Bible truths we discussed tonight you can 'get the victory."' (There was an additional reason for my not wanting to answer her in that way. "Spiritual victory," I have to admit, is one of those realities that I know more about in theory than I do in practice.) So what should we say? How do we affirm the truth of biblical teaching about spiritual victory in a way that does not contradict the real experience of even godly, committed Christians? Here is an area where Christians need to be discerning and to think carefully. Bible-taught believers recognize as incorrect the modern-day teaching that God wants all his children to be healthy and wealthy. That perfect condition is still in the future- in the new heavens and the new earth. But what about perfectionism when it comes to our sanctification and our service? Maybe somewhere along the way we have picked up the notion that spiritual victory is essentially a form of perfectionism applied to the pursuit of holiness and fruitfulness. Isn't the expectation of perfection- or something very close to it- also incorrect as long as we still have a sin nature and live in a fallen world? The poet William Cowper wrote realistically of the sometimes forgotten reality that we live as those who are saved but not yet glorified. My God, how perfect are Thy ways! But mine polluted are; Sin twines itselfabout my praise, And slides into my • pray r. When I would speak what Thou hast done To save me from my sin, I cannot make Thy mercies known But self-applause creeps in. This heart, a fountain of vile thoughts, How does it overflow, While self#!on the sur ace oats Still {~bb ingfrom below! Let others in the gaudy dress Offancied merit shine; The Lord shall be my righteousness; The Lord forever mine. Eventually, I pointed my missionary friend to some passages in 2 Corinthians. For the same apostle who wrote, "Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57) also wrote 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 and 7:5ff. and 11 :23-33 . In passages like these, Paul is uncompromisingly candid about his own spiritual experience. I doubt that any of us would say that the apostle lived in a condition of spiritual defeat. But passages like these warn us away from any concept of spiritual victory which implies that we stride through life, grinning from ear to ear, unmoved by troubles and trials in a state of virtual perfection. Of course, newness and power and victory are blessings that come from the Gospel. But Paul reminds us that "we have this treasure in jars of clay.. ." (2 Corinthians 4: 7). The treasure is the Gospel and the blessings of knowing God's grace and truth, along with the saving (re-creating) power that the Gospel brings (see vv. 5-6). But we believers, even believers like the apostle Paul and his fellow workers, are the "jars of clay"– the frail and fragile "earthen vessels" that God in His grace still uses. In his letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul is quite open about the troubles and trials he faces– and the effect that those troubles have on him. "We are hard pressed on every side ...." In other words, Paul says, "We are under enormous pressures ...but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." In all of those phrases, Paul begins with the reality of his situation, and his honest assessment keeps us from being too glib or continued on page 13 Torch