The last sentence of the quote that appears below is quite provoking. If it is true, as the quote says, that “the history of Christianity is a story of continuous conflict between the contrasted tendencies,” then this shows us what one of the most important issues in the professing Church really is. There is a battle between the pride of man who wants all things to adapt to his self-centered view and the truth of the living God who loves Himself as triune and does all for His own glory. Could it be that the real issue with liberalism is that of man-centeredness and pride? Could it be that the real issue with all of the false theology that is sweeping into the professing Church today is really man-centeredness and pride? The very issue of the fall was when Eve was deceived by the Serpent and began to love herself in pride. It seems to be, then, that the real problem in each church is pride worked out in man-centeredness.
“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship…The two types of religion we have described, it is clear, stand in the sharpest opposition to one another. In their purest forms they would be mutually exclusive. But in actual practice they rarely appear in their purity. As we have already said, all religions show at least some traces of the theocentric motif; and we may add that even the most theocentric of all religions has been unable, in the course of its history, to escape the influence of man’s natural tendency to adapt everything to his own point of view. The history of Christianity is a story of continuous conflict between the two contrasted tendencies.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)
It has been said that all religions of the world fall into one of two categories. One is that of works and the other is that of grace found in Christ. But the pride of man has found a way to twist grace so that it is man-centered. In the modern day we think of grace as that mercy which God shows to people regardless of what they do. But in days past grace was that which changed hearts. Now we think of grace in such a way that people think their sin is not inconsistent with it. But in the past, and more importantly in the Bible, grace was that which delivered people from the consequences of sin but also the power of sin. It is not enough to say or think that the two ways of dividing things are works and grace, but perhaps the above quote gives us a more accurate way to look at things. The real division is between man-centeredness and God-centeredness. But even that requires us to go deeper because the tenacious pride in the soul of man will allow God-centeredness in many ways as long as God is centered on man.
The real issue, then, is that man-centeredness and pride will even take over the term of “God-centered” and use it for its own purposes. We see this in many ways all of the time on a practical level. The Pharisees, for example, would fight for the honor of Scripture. However, they would not fight to honor the God of Scripture. They wanted to appear before others as honoring God, but in fact they just wanted to be honored themselves. The Pharisee gave thanks to God that he was not like that other man and other men (Luke 18:9-14). He was using the name of God to exalt himself. There is a famous phrase attributed to various people (including Spurgeon). It has the idea of a famous man walking by a drunk in the gutter or similar circumstances. The saying goes like this: “Except for the grace of God, there go I.” It is one thing to utter that in humility and really mean it, but it is another thing to utter it in pride. A statement like that can be nothing more than the so-called prayer of the Pharisee.
What we must be aware of, in light of the statement that we are looking at from the quote, is that this is also true of each person. Each morning when we get up we will have to be humbled and filled with the Spirit or we will stay full of self and pride. We are also faced with the battle each part of the day, though most of the time we may not even notice, but the morning seems to set the tone for the day. This is not to say that we should just give up if we don’t get up and fight the spiritual battle first thing, but just to note that while the body is fasting during the night the soul is going without its food and drink also. We are told that the most important meal of the day is breakfast. Take note that the word is made of two words, “break” and “fast.” In one sense the body fasts each night and when we eat breakfast we are breaking that fast. The soul is the same way, though admittedly in a different way. The soul must break its fast by feeding on the bread and wine (grape juice if you prefer) of Christ. The soul must find food in heaven for spiritual strength. The soul must be brought face to face with its own pride and self centeredness each day and be brought to repentance for that. It is best to start with a God-centered view of God to start the direction of each day in a God-centered light. Each morning the vomit of hell, which is self and pride, must be repented of and turned from in order for the soul to eat the healthy bread of a God-centered Christ.
God Loves... Himself 
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