03.17.21
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast (Ephesians 2:8, 9).
Today is what is known as ‘St Patrick’s Day.’ The material in this article has been published a couple of times before, when the publishing date fell on March 17.
The original impetus to write on this topic was prompted by a conversation Debby and I had with a store clerk some years ago on a St. Patrick’s Day. As we were leaving the store, the clerk remarked “Don’t drink too much.” We got to thinking, is that what this day is all about? Is the celebration of a godly man all about seeing how ‘hammered’ one can get?
In view of this, I present to you the life and testimony of Patrick of Ireland. Whether we are Irish or not, as we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, it would be good to understand the message of a man who gave his life to serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and the true Gospel of the grace of God.
Though there is some mystery and there are legends that surround his life, we know that Patrick was not Irish by birth. He was born in Scotland, which was part of Britain, in 373 AD. At that time piracy was alive and well. As a teen he was captured by pirates and taken to Ireland. He came there as a lost sinner, but sometime during his captivity he heard about the Lord Jesus and was gloriously saved. Eventually he was able to escape and return to his native Scotland.
Though he did not want to return to Ireland, recalling his rough treatment at the hand of the pirates, he could not forget that land. As he studied his Bible, he began to realize that the Lord wanted him to return. God needed someone to tell the Irish about the grace of God and the free salvation by faith in the finished work of Christ upon the Cross.
He set out for Ireland at the age of thirty-two. He preached through the length and breadth of the land for over sixty years, starting over three hundred new churches. He also established many monasteries. These were not like what we picture a monastery to be today. They were more like Bible colleges, where a man would go for a time to study the Word of God. After finishing his study, the man could marry and pastor one of the churches.
Patrick’s main opposition was the religion of the Druids. Because this dark religion offered no hope to the soul, many were converted to Christ. As the churches grew, Ireland was able to send out missionaries to lands controlled by Rome. There they preached the Gospel of grace. Ireland remained free and the Gospel was preached for more than 700 years.
Eventually, in 1155, Rome and the King of England put together a plan. They sent an emissary to Ireland which eventually brought the country under the power of Rome’s religion and England’s politics. This was finalized in 1172.
Patrick preached: for by grace are you saved through faith… not of works…it is the gift of God. How then did he become the Roman-inspired Saint of Ireland? No one knows for sure. It is possible that he was confused with another man named Palladius, who came to Ireland shortly after Patrick. Sent there by Rome in hope of bringing the Irish churches under its power, his offer was rejected. In any case, the legacy of the true Patrick lives on—a man of God who came to Ireland to bring the light of the gospel of Christ, the message of salvation by grace through faith alone, not by works, including baptism or any other human effort.