# Gratitude vs. faith in future grace



## Mr. Bultitude (Feb 3, 2014)

John Piper, _Future Grace_, page 3:



> One of the main claims of this book is that the Bible rarely, if ever, motivates Christian living with gratitude. Yet this is almost universally presented in the church as the "driving force in authentic Christian living." I agree that gratitude is a beautiful and utterly indispensable Christian affection. No one is saved who doesn't have it. But you will search the Bible in vain for explicit connections between gratitude and obedience. If, as I will try to show in chapters 1 and 2, gratitude was never designed as the primary motivation for radical Christian obedience, perhaps that is one reason so many efforts at holiness abort. Could it be that gratitude for bygone grace has been pressed to serve as the power for holiness, which only faith in future grace was designed to perform? That conviction is one of the main driving forces behind this book.



My understanding is that all of the major reformed confessions hold up gratitude as the grounds of our obedience. Piper disagrees. Is his position compatible with reformed confessionalism?


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## posttenebraslux83 (Feb 3, 2014)

I think our confessions are clear that the believer's motivation for obedience/good works in the Christian life is primarily that of gratitude for God's mercy/grace. The Heidelberg Catechism itself is divided into three sections: GUILT, GRACE and GRATITUDE in light of God's grace.

*Q. 2.*How many things are necessary for thee to know, that thou, enjoying this comfort, mayest live and die happily?*

A._*Three;*the first, how great my sins and miseries are;*the second, how I may be delivered from all my sins and miseries;*the third, how I shall express my GRATITUDE to God for such deliverance._ *(Heidelberg Catechism #2)*

*Q. 86.*Since then we are delivered from our misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works?
*
A.*_Because Christ, having redeemed and delivered us by his blood, also renews us by his Holy Spirit, after his own image; that so we may testify, by the whole of our conduct, our GRATITUDE to God for his blessings,*and that he may be praised by us;*also, that every one may be assured in himself of his faith,*by the fruits thereof; and that, by our godly conversation others may be gained to Christ._ *(Heidelberg Catechism #86)*

*Q. 116.*Why is prayer necessary for Christians?
*
A.*_Because it is the chief part of THANKFULNESS which God requires of us:*and also, because God will give his grace and Holy Spirit to those only, who with sincere desires continually ask them of him, and are thankful for them._ *(Heidelberg Catechism #116)*

_"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, By The Mercies Of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship._" *(Romans 12:1, ESV)*

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## jwithnell (Feb 3, 2014)

Rob, I think your emphases might be skewing your perspective here. Though I don't think as readily with the Heidelberg Catechism (the Westminster standards are far more at my fingertips) my reaction to the Q&As you posted would be that our being _able_ to act in righteousness is in itself a deliverance from sin so that we don't continue to reap the natural consequences of sin in this life. We are being renewed by the spirit -- renewed into what? We've left the old, what does the new look like? It is defined by the righteousness of the law, the very righteousness that Christ lived and imputed to us. And these righteous acts bring praise to God, even among those who don't know him. (The opposite is equally true -- look how quickly the world jumps on a religious leader who acts unrighteously. Look how quickly God is dishonored in such a situation.)

As far as what Mr. Piper is saying, I'd have to see the larger context. Sometimes he is straight-on from a reformed perspective and sometimes he does his own thing. Generally, I'd agree that from a reformed view the reason for our righteous acts is more nuanced than simple gratitude. I'm not saying that gratitude is not a major motivation for us -- certainly your confession says it is and within my own life I find myself asking: "why won't I do this small, right thing after Christ has done so much for me?" At the very least, the confessions tell us our chief end is to glorify God and that might include gratitude, but thankfulness is not presented as the driving force. To define what is glorifying to God, we'd have to turn to what the law teaches is good and right and pure.


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## posttenebraslux83 (Feb 3, 2014)

Thanks for sharing J. I would agree with you that our ABILITY to perform good works comes only through the grace of the Holy Spirit who regenerates the hearts of His elect and works in us to will and to do his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13)

That being said, according to our confessions (which I believe David's question was regarding) the Westminster Confession of Faith states that good works are the evidence of someone possessing true/saving faith and then it goes on to list the believers' motivation for good works:

*WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH CHAPTER 16.2*
"_These good works, done in obedience to God's commandments, are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith:*and by them believers manifest their thankfulness,*strengthen their assurance,*edify their brethren,*adorn the profession of the gospel,*stop the mouths of the adversaries,*and glorify God,whose workmanship they are, created in Christ Jesus thereunto,*that, having their fruit unto holiness, they may have the end, eternal life._"

The first motivation for good works that our confession gives is that, "_believers manifest their thankfulness..._" to God. I agree with you that our cheif and highest end is to glorify God in all we do (*WSC #1*), but it seems to me that our confessions do list thankfulness/gratitude as our primary motivation for doing good works. Thoughts?


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## jwithnell (Feb 3, 2014)

Rob, I do appreciate the opportunity to think about this. I can see a logical connection that says thankfulness is a fruit or evidence of someone's faith, but do the reformed confessions make gratitude the _grounds_ for our obedience as was stated in the OP? Sometimes, an emphasis is given by order, such as the Westminster divines placing a discussion of the holy scriptures _first_ before all other doctrines. As I understand it, that ordering was quite deliberate because one cannot make a statement about God, His Decree, and so forth, without first establishing a _source_ for these doctrines. (The other confessions disagreed, saying God had to come first, but a primacy is strongly intended in either case). But is gratitude being placed in such a logical sequence? I'm not so sure. It makes perfect sense to say we engage in good works to strengthen our assurance ... we engage in good works to edify the brethran ... we engage in good works to adorn the gospel and so forth. In other words, no additional information or meaning is added to these other phrases by placing gratitude first.


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## posttenebraslux83 (Feb 3, 2014)

That's a great question J. As I have studied through the confessions (Westminster Standards & 3 Forms) I have seen a unity of thought in placing Christian service/good works under the heading of gratitude. 

In terms of your question, the grounds of our sanctification is our justification. Christ has justified us, in order that He might sanctify us (*Romans 8:30; Ephesians 2:8-9*).

Here is an article from the OPC that speaks in part to this discussion on our obedience to the law and our motivation of gratitude. 

http://www.opc.org/qa.html?question_id=165

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## Jack K (Feb 3, 2014)

The way the Heidelberg structures its section on holy living as coming under the "gratitude" heading is one of the great beauties of that catechism. Certainly, it is both correct and helpful to think of our holy living as flowing from gratitude. Without gratitude, holy living is sorely lacking. The first and great commandment is "love the Lord your God..." and gratitude is surely included in such love.

But Piper may be on to something if he's concerned that some of us get stuck on looking back at what God has already done for us while we fail to also look ahead in expectation. Forward-looking elements like sanctification and glorification are parts of our salvation just as much as are the more back-looking elements like justification and adoption. Believing _all_ of these is important for growth in holiness. And certainly our hope in the future is a big motivator used in the Bible; a big way that believing the gospel helps us to live for God.

Not having read Piper's book, I can only guess at the following: Perhaps he isn't denying the idea of gratitude as much as he's concerned that we not merely look back. If that's the case, I doubt he's really much at odds with the Heidelberg Catechism, which likewise loves to encourage us with what Christ is yet to do for us.


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## posttenebraslux83 (Feb 3, 2014)

Amen Jack! BTW David, I'll have to read Piper's book so I can know more accurately what he is trying to say.


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## timmopussycat (Feb 4, 2014)

Having read Piper's Future Grace which explicitly treats of this question let me repeat a few points in Piper's introduction so that readers will know the basics of his argument. 
1) He is not denying that gratitude arises from the Christian's experience of grace.
2) He affirms that making gratitude the sole motivation for Christian obedience too easily, but not inevitably, leads to working to "pay back the debt we owe to God" which he calls "the debtor's ethic".
3) He affirms that gratitude is not often "explicitly made the motive of moral behaviour" in the Scriptures.
4) He affirms that God does not rebuke his faithless people for their ingratitude but their unbelief.


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## InSlaveryToChrist (Feb 4, 2014)

I think _gratitude_ is simply _delighting in the giver's delight in his giving_.

Even by John Piper's own words,

"gratitude is a species of joy which arises in our heart in response to the good will of someone who does (or tries to do) us a favor."

I find it highly ironic how Piper _rightly_ does not make _gratitude_ the ground of our obedience, yet in his teaching of "Christian Hedonism" he makes _joy in God_ the ground of our obedience. And gratitude, by Piper's own definition, is just that: joy in the delightful giver (God).


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