With only a couple of miles of Pilgrimage to go, Christian and Hopeful find themselves reminiscing on the journey, and those they have met on the way, including one Temporary. His is a sorry tale, but one that sounds all too familiar. He lived in a town called Graceless, next door to Turnback. It already doesn’t sound good.
He had sought out Christian and Hopeful for counsel after being troubled by sin, or more likely by the consequences of sin, which isn’t quite the same thing. When those consequences faded, so did his faith. He is an example of the seed that landed in the shallow soil and the rocky ground (Matt.13:20-21). For the short time he joined them on Pilgrimage he had been vociferous, full of good intentions, resolutions and promises. But ‘all of a sudden he grew acquainted with one Save-self, and then he became a stranger…’. I’ve known so many like this over the years, that I find this part of Pilgrim’s Progress quite poignant.
Christian and Hopeful’s conversation helps us to understand what is going on in such troubled souls. Their first insight is that they don’t allow their conviction of sin to lead them to Christ. They look to Him for catharsis, but not salvation. And so ‘when the power of guilt weareth away, that which provoked them to be religious ceaseth, wherefore they naturally turn to their own course again’. Being sorry for sin will not keep us from returning to it. Only Christ, and a love for Him will do that!
Secondly, he was too concerned about what other people thought. Temporary was never willing to pay the price of Pilgrimage; he wasn’t prepared to run ‘the hazard of losing all, or at least, of bringing themselves into unavoidable and unnecessary trouble, and so they fall in with the world again’. If friendship with God means enmity with the world (Jas.4:4), then Temporary chooses the world, even though it means enmity with God. In the final analysis he sees religion as a crutch for the weak. When he needs something to lean on, he’ll pick it up, but when he is feeling strong and self-sufficient he lays it down again. Pride and self-reliance prevent a genuine Pilgrimage. That was the third reason for Temporary’s relapse.
Finally - and most complex - is Temporary’s relationship with guilt. It was a sense of guilt that caused him to turn to Christ in the first place. The ‘Gospel’ he heard and responded to was incomplete, containing little of the cost of following Jesus, and much of the benefits. That too has a contemporary ring. Such irresponsible ‘evangelism’ might win quick converts, but it does not forge disciples, and as such, it stores up problems for Churches for years to come, filled as they are with people who think they are Christians. It stores up problems for the people who believe it too. Having come to Jesus to have his guilt taken way, Temporary was confused to find that his sense of guilt actually deepened! The more he tried to follow Christ, the more he stumbled and more intense his sense of failure and guilt. Because he knows nothing of genuine grace, and even less of the transforming power of the Spirit, Temporary is left with only despair and hopelessness. Slowly he begins to drift, quietly dropping his commitments. He becomes less vocal, less frequent at Church (for a while it seemed like he was at everything, and complaining that there wasn’t more!), less zealous.
Then in order to justify his decision to step away from Christ, he begins to marshal his excuses. He covers his own sense of hypocrisy by complaining about the hypocrisy of others. He begins picking holes in the discipleship of others, using their struggles and inconsistencies as a foil for his own. He complains that he no longer feels welcomed by the Church, although all the while it is Temporary who doesn’t welcome them. But the rhetoric allows him to feel comfortable finding friendship and companionship elsewhere.
The final nail in the proverbial coffin is Temporary’s attitude to sin. To begin with, he fought it - albeit in confusion and self-reliance. But now there is less pretence. He slowly reconciles himself to that which he had previously hated. He grows complacent and accepting, justifying his behaviour to himself, rather than seeking to be justified from it. Sin once again takes root, Temporary’s heart is hardened, but at least he feels he is being honest with himself. He accepts who he is, and takes renewed pride in it.
Unlike others who have fallen by the wayside, the Pilgrims entertain some hope. But it will take a ‘miracle of grace’.
Doesn’t it always?
Questions to ponder:
To what extent have you come to Christ for catharsis, rather than salvation, and the holiness to which it leads?
Can you think of any Temporary’s you have known over the years? Does this section of Pilgrim’s Progress help you to understand them any better? Does Bunyan’s analysis ring true?
