In Hamlet, Shakespeare coined the phrase: “To be or not to be, that is the question“. Hamlet mentions this in a speech in which he compares various life experiences. Two opposing ideas (to be or not to be) are mentioned.

This also happens in philosophies. The idea of “Wu wei”, for example, is well known and is found in many Chinese ideas and is often attributed to Lao Tzu (Tao Te Ching). “Wu wei” (or “wuwei”) is “not doing”, as the opposite of “doing”. This is often linked to the idea that not doing something is more important than doing something. However, this is a dramatic simplification of this idea and therefore does not correspond to what is meant by it. Wu wei is an expression that allows a natural development to take its course. Letting go in order to thrive instead of trying to influence with extreme energy expenditure. It is not a guide to laziness, but to attentiveness. The aim is to actively improve the situation, whether this takes place in personal or social life.

To do or not to do? Comparisons like these can help to simplify understanding. This juxtaposition creates a tension that can help us to see things more clearly. Biblical accounts and stories speak of doing. Is it important to do things or not to do things? And if it were important to do something, why would it be important and what are we doing it for?

Legal thinking

Legal thinking refers to ideas that you have to do in order to be accepted. These can be rigid social ideas or religious requirements. It can be about the right clothes, the right words to say, the right church or ideas to adhere to. Here is the juxtaposition: legal thinking is not about “doing the right thing”, but about “doing everything right”. But who defines what is right?

Legal thinking is not about “doing the right thing”, but about “doing everything right”. But who defines what is right?

You are, so to speak, demanding alignment with certain ideas more than the solution to an actual problem or a genuinely empathetic response to a difficult situation. The internalized idea of “truth” takes precedence over humanity. Grace ends where the ideas of “right” stop with the community. Legal thinking prevents growth or adequate responses to current challenges because it can only think in one direction and is no longer open to answering new questions.

In a legal mindset, people are often expected to be “pious” in a certain way. They should live out a certain piety, fit in or even subordinate themselves so that they conform to the ideas of the community. Humanity is rewarded less than uniformity. Good things come to those who adapt. Those who do not adapt are bad. Legalistic thinking shows itself in black-and-white thinking, in which believers are allowed to confirm the general rites and ideas, but receive no support for the open-ended solution of their own questions.

Anyone who wakes up in such an environment and asks serious questions will soon have the wind at their back. Changes or even a reorientation are not tolerated. This is not a carte blanche for sectarian behavior, but an examination of questions of life and faith. It is not about special doctrines, but perhaps it is about taking a closer look at the internalized doctrine. Should the 10 Commandments apply today? This is uncritically assumed in places. Do you have to be baptized to be considered a Christian? It is not uncommon for this to be demanded openly or tacitly.

The bottom line is this: Not every faith community is open to a learning culture. Where this is not the case, a legalistic way of thinking often prevails, in which the Christian self-image has been trimmed to black and white.

To do or not to do?

I keep noticing that many Christians have a split relationship with the term “doing”. This probably applies primarily to Protestantism, to which I also count the evangelical world. Although people talk about God’s love, it is less clear how this love is expressed. It is not uncommon for “faith” to get stuck in our heads and mean something like “believing”. People “believe” dogmas and ideas. Accordingly, there are sermons that plead for faith to slide down from the head into the heart. That marks the problem.

On this website, I advocate understanding the word “faith” as “trust”, analogous to its use and meaning in the Bible. Then it is not so much about “what I believe”, but more about “whom I trust” (cf. Acts 27:25). This is a different direction. When I “believe in something”, it really is top-heavy. When I “trust someone”, it is an alignment of the heart. Trust is always active. Trust cannot be imagined without a concrete impact.

How people or faiths define or derive “doing” is shaped by assumptions. Doing comes from thinking. They are interpretations.

Doing comes from thinking.

A thoroughly Jewish view looks at this from a different angle. It invites you to do things so that you can understand. Doing comes before thinking. It is about experience, which, together with thinking, can give direction. The attitude can be formulated as follows: “Don’t you understand? Start doing it so that you learn to understand”.

Understanding comes from doing.

I can understand both points of view and I can see something good in both. This should not be an “either/or” game. It is important to note that Christian thinking in the western world is strongly based on the head and that evangelicals and Protestants in particular often place a rather one-sided emphasis on thinking and understanding before doing. This can be deduced, for example, from the fact that the Bible is very central and that the Reformation churches often perceive themselves as “the intellectuals”. Of course, there is also a variety of counter-designs, from mysticism to bibliodramas (search: bibliodrama). My point is not that many people are well aware of this one-sided tension and might do something about it. This article is more about the value-free identification of different points of view. In doing so, I use a simplification with the aim of clarification.

But there is also another point that deserves attention: doing, in the sense of “works”, has a rather bad reputation in many circles.

When works prevent action

Quite a few people have grown up with the idea that you have to “do” something to please God. There are two extremes:

1. Works are a prerequisite for salvation
   What you “do” in this life determines whether God “accepts” you at the last judgment. Your own “good works” are something like a currency that you should use to earn a place in heaven. People see it as their duty and task to live in a way that is pleasing to God. That sounds very pious and sensible! In this duty and task, however, there is also an understanding of justice in which human justice must be great enough to find favor with God. God does something and man does something. Together it is enough for a “rescue”. The fact that salvation is a genuine gift and not a consideration from God for my works is not recognized.
2. Works are an obstacle to salvation
   What you “do” in this life is by definition bad, because we are only dependent on God’s grace. This also sounds very pious and sensible! However, “doing” is frowned upon, as if it were a kind of blasphemy. It is particularly difficult to make a positive commitment in this way. Doing is seen as inferior, if not diabolical, just as the body has been devalued over the mind for centuries.

Anyone who is frightened by these ideas is encouraged by the words of Paul:

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and this is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Eph 2:8-9

With these words, Paul answers both of the points mentioned above. The only one who works to save is God, who gives us salvation as a gift. There is nothing to shake up, nothing to add. God works. He does this so that no one can boast to him about his own achievements. You don’t score points before God with self-righteousness or supposed faultlessness.

The apostle also refutes the second statement. It is not at all about what we do, but about what God does. This is the good news, because it relieves us. So don’t put your own actions at the center. Those who are only concerned with their own shortcomings do not know the grace of God, but are only concerned with themselves. It is a covert form of self-righteousness. So watch out if you want to portray man’s sinfulness as dominating everything (Calvinism sends its regards).

Some will not be satisfied with the passage from Ephesians. One likes to refer to James, for example, who cannot imagine faith without works (James 2:14). This passage is then often played off against statements from Romans, and some may try to reconcile the two letters. This then sounds like a hybrid form in which “a little grace” is supplemented with “a little personal contribution”. Neither meat nor fish and certainly not vegan.

The discrepancy can be resolved in various ways. The simplest way is to recognize that James is not talking about “salvation by works” at all, as Paul clearly preaches “salvation by grace alone”. We need to pay careful attention to the words that are used or not used. James writes for his audience (James 1:1), just as Paul writes to a different audience (Romans 11:13). Both texts have their meaning in their own context and are by no means talking about the same thing.

Weird ideas of what “works” are may prevent committed action. I have named a few disruptive factors in the hope that this will open doors to liberation. For there are good works and joyful actions. However, they are not the precondition for salvation, but the expression of a loved and blessed life.

How it works

Now is the time to dedicate ourselves to doing the right thing. The Bible does say a lot about this. In the New Testament there are some concise statements. They show how it can work properly and in a relaxed manner.

Paul writes, for example:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but only faith working through love.”
Gal 5:6

This is “in Christ”. There are believers today. The aim here is to understand this. It is not “in us”, but “in Christ”. There are no differences based on ancestry or personal achievements. Only faith that is effective through love is valid there. Faith is effective through lived love. Faith is not separate from action, but is part of it. Living love as an expression of faith is the clear direction. Is that still too vague? Then listen to what Paul writes to the Philippians:

“By the way, brothers,
everything that is true,
everything respectable,
everything what just,
everything what louder,
everything what friendly,
everything that is melodious,
if there is any virtue
Or if there is any praise,
then take these into consideration.
What you have also learned and received from me, heard and observed in me, put into practice; then the God of peace will be with you.”
Phil 4:8-9

These are the things we can focus on. Paul even presents himself as an example. What we can recognize in him corresponds to this list. We should put his exemplary actions into practice. The promise here is “then the God of peace will be with you”. No doubt this was both his own experience and what he taught the churches.

To summarize: faith leads to actively lived love in everyday life, which can be illustrated by concrete ideas of good things. This is by no means new, but was also the case in the Gospels. When a woman with a twelve-year-old hemorrhage touched Jesus’ cloak, she was healed. Jesus replied to her: “Your faith has healed you!” (Mat 9:22).j However, it was the touch that did it, not an abstract “belief”.

Faith expresses itself in love and leads to active action, as Paul wrote:

“For the love of Christ compels us.”
2Cor 5,14

Paul does not use doing as a precondition for salvation because he recognized that no one is righteous, not even one (Rom 3:10-12). God includes all in unrighteousness so that He may have mercy on all (Rom 11:32, cf. Rom 8:20,21). Those who do, live out the love and grace they receive.

“If then you have been raised together with Christ, seek the place above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.”
Col 3:1

First Paul outlines the doctrine. This is good news that points away from personal achievement and towards God’s achievement. The gift of grace can then lead to a new life. As a result of the new life, we can now realign our lives. Whoever does something then does it out of gratitude and out of a new realization, not as an achievement with which he wants to earn a place in heaven.