| Book
Review – Free of Charge: Giving and Forgiving in a
Culture Stripped of Grace |
|
Author —
Miroslav Volf
Published by Zondervan
Review by Tom Gilbert
Miroslav Volf is a distinguished theologian
and his book, Free
of Charge – Giving and Forgiving in a Culture Stripped
of Grace (Zondervan) explores two essential
elements of Christianity. Giving and forgiving are given
great lip service by Christians, but how many of us consistently
practice both?
Volf shows us in this book, both through personal experience,
and from his interpretation of the true meaning of giving
and forgiving, how to practice these virtues. He relies
on Martin Luther’s and St. Paul’s teaching
to a large extent and he writes about it eloquently. A
basic theme in the book is that at the heart of giving
and forgiveness we discover the heart of God. In fact,
only with God can we embrace with grace both giving and
forgiving.
The age old dilemma of human self will makes it impossible
for us to give, or forgive, like God does. God does for
us what we can’t do for ourselves. We often place
restrictions or limits on giving. When our gifts are essentially
transactions, when we hope that in giving we will get
something in return, we miss the point of unconditional
love. The same is true of forgiveness. We can try to forgive,
but on our own we are powerless to release guilt or resentment.
But with God’s gift, expressed in human form by
Jesus Christ and manifested by the sacrifice made on our
behalf, we are invited to participate in the way of love.
We can give of ourselves with God’s grace flowing
through us. We can also forgive in this way.
There are many challenging questions that we all have
about how to give and forgive rightly. We know intellectually
that we should do so as God does, as shown to us through
the God-man Jesus Christ. But we are often so consumed
by justification, righteousness, worry over whether our
gift to someone in need will be received and not abused
and whether it is right to forgive someone if they are
not repentant. Volf illustrates through example and teaching
that we must trust that God’s way is perfect. Love,
in its true meaning, is unconditional. Giving and forgiving
must also begin with this premise. We give and forgive
unconditionally because to hold back in some way has us
putting restrictions on these matters. God so loves us
that through Jesus he forgave us all first, whether we
choose to accept the forgiveness or not. And, God does
so despite our unworthiness and or unwillingness to repent.
This is the greatest gift, the gift of abundant life free
of restrictions. God gave his only son so that we may
all become free.
Of course, it is our human choice whether to accept a
gift, or to receive or offer forgiveness. Again, we must
face the fact that we cannot do it on our own. We have
to have God’s help. Thus the indwelling of Christ
in each of us allows God to give and forgive others by
doing it through us!
The challenge for all humans is to believe and accept
that God’s love is perfect and that we can be both
recipients and transmitters of this divine love. Throughout
my reading of this book I discovered new insight and an
enlightened perspective from Volf’s writing. The
author recognizes how difficult it is to give and forgive
in today’s culture. Our society does not celebrate
such unselfish virtues. So he shares with us his own struggles,
his soul searching and theological study, and how ultimately
we show we are true Christians when we learn to embrace
forgiveness and giving.
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| Miroslav Volf is the
Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity
and Director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture. |
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Scripture taken from the
Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.Copyright ©
1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights
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NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® and NIV® are registered
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Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy
Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996. Used
by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton,
IL 60189, USA. All rights reserved.
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