Writings: God's Grace Is Sufficient

By: Dr. Gregory S. Neal

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong. — 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10

The Apostle Paul is a controversial character in the history of the early church. From the very beginning, he was an outsider: he wasn’t one of the original Twelve Disciples, nor even part of the outer circle of those who had followed Jesus during his earthly ministry. No, God called him to the ministry of the Gospel several years after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. To make matters worse, God called Saul of Tarsus to be the “Apostle to the Gentiles” from among the ranks of those who persecuted the fledgling New Testament Church; indeed, he was probably the most noted, most feared, and most dreaded persecutor of early Christians. By his own admission in his surviving letters, as well as according to the account found in the Book of Acts, Saul was given a commission to hunt down Christians wherever they might be hiding and return them to the Sanhedrin – to the religious leaders of the day – to stop them from proclaiming Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah.

No wonder the early Jewish Christians feared Paul; no wonder they didn’t trust or accept him. They knew him to be a persecutor, not a Disciple of the Christ; and, he was making converts from among the Gentiles without also teaching them all of the cultural and religious rules of Judaism! Up until that time, Christianity had been a sect, or denomination, of Judaism: in order to be a Christian, one was first expected to be a Jew. But not according to Paul; instead, the Apostle was preaching a gospel of grace and faith in Jesus without requiring adherence to the Law of Moses. In other words, he was converting Gentiles into Christians without also teaching them to abide by the dietary regulations, the blood purity laws, or the circumcision mandate. This greatly offended the Jewish Christians – sometimes known as the “Brethren of James” – and further convinced them that Paul wasn’t to be trusted.
And, so, they would follow Paul on his Missionary Journeys throughout Asia Minor, Macedonia, and Greece; Paul would visit a town, preach and teach, make converts among the Gentles, found house churches, appoint and train leadership for those churches, and then depart … only to be followed by detractors, who would came in to warn these gentile converts that Paul hadn’t told them everything, and that he wasn’t trustworthy.

“Paul didn’t tell you everything! He once persecuted the Church, and we’ve never forgotten it! And, while it’s good that you’re now following Jesus, in order to be a real Christian you must also become a Jew: no more bacon or sausage, no more medium rare steaks, no more fried catfish; and men … you’ll be signing your church membership card in blood, because you all need to be circumcised!”

They challenged Paul, repeatedly, in his ministry among his gentile converts; many of the problems that he had to address in his congregations – particularly in Galatia and Corinth – can be traced back to their activity. So troublesome was their interference that Paul began thinking of them as messengers of Satan: their activity was demonic on so many levels because they were denying the sufficiency of God’s grace for the gentiles and for Paul. It would appear, from Paul’s own remarks about their activity, that he was even becoming emotionally and physically ill from their continual oppression. It’s as if they were saying to him: “Paul, God will never forgive you for persecuting the Church. You can make hundreds of converts among the Gentiles, but that will never make up for the damage you did during those early days. And, to make matters worse, these Gentiles you are converting are incomplete Christians: they need to stop being Gentiles and start behaving like Jews in order to really be part of the Church.”

This reminds me of the message that challenged me nearly every day as I grew up in the Church. I was told that I could be a Christian; I could be a person of faith, saved by grace; I could love Jesus and accept his love for me and his call on my life; I could answer his calling to the ministry and preach the Gospel as the pastor of churches; I could do all of these things, and more, but I would always be incomplete and not really a Christian because I was gay. The warning was clear: unless I stopped being gay, I would forever be a second-class citizen of the Kingdom of God.

This is the very same demonic message that confronted Paul in his mission among the Gentiles, as well as his own salvation. He begged for forgiveness, and to be delivered from this demonic thorn, but it never really went away. Instead, he heard Christ tell him that “God’s grace was sufficient for him.” In truth, this is the only answer any of us will ever need: God’s grace is sufficient for us, regardless of who we are or where we’re from.

For many years, I begged God to change me; I begged God to make me straight; I begged God to take away my sexual identity; but that wasn’t to be. Instead, like Paul, I kept hearing the promise: “My grace is sufficient for you.” Indeed, as time passed it became abundantly clear to me – as it has become clear to thousands of gay Christians like me – that God’s grace is truly sufficient. It doesn’t matter that I am gay, just like it didn’t matter to God that those Gentiles whom Paul had converted to Christianity were still Gentiles. It didn’t matter; God’s love isn’t limited by one’s identity as a Gentile, nor by one’s sexual orientation. How does the childhood song go?

Jesus loves me this I know
For the Bible tells me So.
Little Ones to him belong
They are weak, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
Yes, Jesus loves me!
The Bible tells me so.

That’s what matters: God’s love; God’s love in Jesus Christ; God’s love for you and for me; God’s love for us all; and our love for God and our neighbors. That’s what matters. Not dietary regulations, not blood purity laws, not circumcision mandates, not institutional rules and regulations or Books of Discipline; oh, all of these things have their place, but in the final equation it’s the love of God that matters as revealed to us in the teachings, healings, feedings, death, resurrection, and continued real presence of Jesus.

When I came to accept this truth – really accept it, deep down inside – I also came to accept myself for who and what God has created me to be. Despite what I had been told by so many, God doesn’t want to change my sexual orientation because God doesn’t think that part of me needs to be changed. Oh, there are plenty of things in my life that need changing, just like there were in Paul and in those Gentiles that were converted to Christianity through his preaching. But, as has been true with every other LGBTQ+ person I know, my sexual orientation doesn’t need changing because it is how God has wonderfully made me.

Today, I am the same man and minister of the Gospel that I have always been. I will continue to preach and teach the wonderful Good News of God’s amazing, unlimited, never-ceasing grace. I am a pastor, called to serve, called to laugh and cry with you, to lead and to teach and to learn with you. And, yes, I am a gay man, freed from the shackles of a thorn in my flesh that sought to convince me that God would never accept or love me for whom I am. I move forward in ministry knowing, experiencing, and proclaiming that God’s grace is sufficient for us all. Let’s not listen to the demonic voices that deny God’s love to all. Let’s not listen to the demonic voices that claim the Church’s best days are in its past. Let’s not listen to the demonic voices that tell us: “God loves you, BUT….” God’s love has no “buts” attached to it; it is freely offered to all … to you and to me. God’s grace is sufficient for us all.


© 2021 Dr. Gregory S. Neal
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