Polycarp Ministries

Grace. I used to define it simply as “God’s unmerited favor.” And it is definately that, but it is so much more than a concept. Defining grace was a huge part of my conversion. In fact, as I read Calvin’s Institutes I found that grace was “stuff”, an agent of transformation in our lives. I realized that there were means of God’s grace that He had established so that we could receive Him and be restored, strengthened, and transformed. I did not yet believe in 7 sacraments, but my working definition of grace included them as means of communing with God and growing closer to Him. My wife and I described marriage as a sacrament in our wedding invitations. There was so much more than ritual observance (sorry Ulrich Z.) and the deeper I searched for the truth, the further into the ancient Church I was drawn.

My newfound convictions drew some heavy fire from some of my more fundamentalist friends, but they really had little to say for their side. I found a great help in Wayne Grudem (evangelical scholar) because he seemed to be on the same page with me. What’s more, his theology textbook gave a decent number of source documents for differing theological opinions at the end of each chapter. Now I had means of comparison. Rather than trust one source’s description of all dissenting opinions, I knew it was best to let each side speak for itself.

At that point in life (college Senior) I had come to the conclusion that God was in the process of conforming me to the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. This process of purification was brought about by the Holy Spirit via God’s grace. I also knew that if I was to understand anyone, I must let them speak for themselves (so when it would come to Catholics later, I would not waste my time with the Bill Websters or Jack Chicks). I was also falling in love with the ancient Church as I continued to translate early documents such as Didache, Martyrdom of Polycarp, and 1 Clement. What ideals were these people willing to die for? The only logical source was the writing of the early Church. What I found would be the agent of grace that brought me to Rome 4 years later.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2005 at 12:52 am and is filed under My Story. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.