Disagreeing Well: Gregory the Great

Here is a wonderful example of why we still need to read books by dead people (h/t Michael - although admittedly it comes as a quote from a contemporary book). Gregory the Great (540-604) writes:

"Provided that it is in good faith, then, it is a mark of virtue to put up with superiors' faults. One should, nevertheless, if there is any prospect that the offending trait could be emended, make a humble suggestion to that effect. Yet one should take great care, when defending justice, not to go too far and cross the threshold of arrogance; not, in an ill-judged love of right, to forfeit humility, the mistress of right; not to forget that the person of whose action one happens to be critical is in fact one's senior. Subjects will discipline their minds to guard humility and avoid the swelling of pride, if they keep an incessant watch on their own weaknesses.

For we neglect to examine our own strength honestly; and because we believe ourselves stronger than we really are, we judge our superiors severely. The less we know of ourselves, the more our field of vision is occupied by those whom we aspire to criticize." - Gregory the Great (540-604) Moralia, Book 25:16:36 in From Irenaeus to Grotius" ed O'Donovan and O'Donovan p. 202.

One of the most valuable things I learned at uni was: it is very easy to be right. It's much harder to be right and still be gracious and loving. Especially in the Sydney Evangelical culture in which I live (which I love, by the way). Yet that is what Paul urges us to do:

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." Ephesians 4.1-6

To Those Who Are Near and Those Who Are Far

Ephesians 2.

It's pretty good being a Gentile who has become a Christian. Having once been dead in my trespasses and in the sins that I once walked in, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. What is true of Jesus is also true of me.

This is by grace, and not by my works, because I am after all God's workmanship.

And now? Jesus has ended the enmity that existed between Jews and Gentiles, having killed that enmity on the cross and made peace between those who were far off and those who were near. So that now, Israel's story is now my story. Israel's hope and polis (commonwealth) are also now my hope and polis. The covenant for Israel is also for me in Christ Jesus. No longer a sojourner or a house guest, I'm know a fellow citizen and part of the household itself. And where as 2000 years ago I would have been excluded from the temple in Jerusalem, stuck in the Court of the Gentiles, I am now apart of the temple, and a dwelling place for the Spirit of God.

And it's pretty good for Jewish Christians too. The purpose and story of Israel has found it's climax in Jesus Christ, and they too can find their identity not in the works of the law but in Christ Jesus.

For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

No longer Jew or Gentile, we are the new humanity, and the great family promised to Abraham long ago. How great is God's grace and the richness of his mercy!