and it begins...
my long journey renouncing sola fide (salvation through faith ALONE). part 1 of ??
“Salvation is not “self-help” (as in ancient Pelagianism and modern Therapeutic Deism); not mere “fire insurance” (as in Fundamentalism); not “without cost” (as in the “Health and Wealth Gospel” preached by certain televangelists); not just “personal” (as in Individualism); not just a “legal transaction,” a “spectator sport,” or simply a “moment” (as in some forms of Protestantism); it is not “inevitable” (as in Universalism); nor is it just about the future (as in some forms of Dispensationalism).” - Dr. Brant Pitre, Salvation
So that’s what salvation is not. So what is it? That’s what I want to write about for the next few months. What is salvation? Entry into heaven? A personal relationship with Jesus? Forgiveness of sins? And how do we receive salvation? Do we have to keep it? Can we lose it?
Let’s begin with the last question: can we lose our salvation? I don’t start here as a fear mongering writer telling us we need to buck up. I start here because this was the pastoral angst that was always swimming around in my heart; watching students, graduates, peers and loved ones, walk away from their Christian faith. I could name you dozens of people who at one point demonstrated true faith - a deep and sincere love for God - and yet walked away. And it hurts every time. And when I changed my view on this it poked a huge hole in my entire system of salvation, namely what salvation is and how we obtain it.
First, I’ll tackle the theological arguments from the reformed and Catholic positions on the assurance of one’s salvation. Then I will talk about why it matters.
Here is a summarized view (and maybe overly simplistic) of the reformed system of salvation, which I will walk through in the following weeks:
God saves His elect because
Christ absorbed the wrath of God for their sin, on their behalf
And he transferred his complete and perfect merit (righteousness) to the elect
At their moment of salvation (i.e. their justification)
which was predestined
and occurred by grace and through (saving) faith (which is always accompanied with repentance)
which grants all past, present and future sins as forgiven AND
the elect child is now - at the moment of saving faith - fully hidden in Christ, i.e. “clothed in the righteousness of Christ”
and now receives and rests upon the finished work of Christ for salvation which
(is supposed to) gives the Christian full assurance of their salvation
Calvinists reading this - is this a fair description?
How does this play out? As a preacher, I told people almost every week, that by their faith - a mustard-seed-sized faith - referring to a previous moment in time where they “believed in Jesus,” they are saved and can therefore be certain of their future glory. Here was the promise: All past, present and future sins have been atoned for and the perfect record of Christ is now yours. I would remind them, “God sees you the same way today as he will in 50 years. How so? Because you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ and that can never be lost. God sees you as He sees His son: beloved and blameless.” I believed that to be true for me, for you, and for all true Christians.
There are many texts I believed which proved the inability to lose one’s salvation, namely Romans 8:29-30 which says: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” And then there is John 6:37-39 about Jesus never losing His sheep, multiple passages from the book of Revelation about the book of life and book of damnation which were written before the foundation of the world, and countless other verses.
It seemed utterly clear: if justified then glorified. Jesus never loses His sheep. Before the world was formed, names were written on books. Easy peasy.
The Westminster Confession states it this way:
“This certainty (of salvation) is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion, grounded upon a fallible hope; but an infallible assurance of faith, founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the Spirit of adoption witnessing with our spirits that we are the children of God: which Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption.”
Calvinism teaches those who love God sincerely, those who walk the talk, and show evidences of God’s graces and Spirit at work within them, these people are sealed for the day of redemption.
Whereas, in Catholicism, we pray, “Lord, save me,” as a Calvinist, I prayed, “Lord, thank you for my salvation.”
But is this certainty of salvation what Scripture teaches? That because of my love for God in the past, or my love of God today, I can be certain of my glorification in the future? Is that what the early church believed?
Here’s my argument: no.
Calvin and Calvinists are wrong on this doctrine. The Scriptures and all Church Fathers taught that a truly saved Christian can lose their salvation (which I must say… most Protestants agree with Catholics on!).
You can read the Catholic catechism chapter on justification, grace and salvation HERE. You might be shocked to read the Joint Declaration document Catholics and Lutherans wrote together, HERE. But in summary, Catholics teach the following (these are summary statements from the Catechism):
God saves His elect by
the grace of the Holy Spirit justifying us by
the cleansing of our sins and conferring (imparting) to us the righteousness of God
by faith and baptism
making us sharers in His Divine life, the renewing of the inner man
giving us our new vocation as adopted sons and daughters
for the glory of God and of Christ
introducing us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life
where we are called to the fullness and perfection of love
all of which demands man’s free response
I have been saved - receiving forgiveness of sins - and I’m being saved into a wonderfully abundant life - by grace - of which, I can reject and turn away from.
The rest of this article I will talk about that “man’s free response” and “reject and turn away from” part, which - to restate - was the pastoral angst for me and was the first hole which sank my whole reformed system of salvation.
Consider the parable of the unforgiving servant in Matthew 18: The kingdom of heaven is like this… a servant is forgiven his sin (a huge debt) and then goes out and refuses to extend forgiveness (a tiny debt). He is then punished and sent to prison forever for his lack of forgiveness.
As I Calvinist I was forced to answer something along the lines of this… he must not have *really* understood the Lord’s forgiveness, because if he would have understood it then he would have extended it. Two issues with this:
The text literally says he was forgiven and then didn’t forgive and was then punished.
Saying, “this is an example of a man who didn’t fully understand the forgiveness of God, i.e. he didn’t have true saving faith” creates a new problem… Doesn’t that actually teach that Christ’s forgiveness depends on one’s acceptance of it? i.e. the declaration of “forgiven” by God isn’t the actual saving power, but only one’s full understanding of it? Isn’t that a “work?”
Or consider Luke 10:17-20 or Matthew 19:28?
“The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he (Jesus) said to them (which includes Judas), “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
“Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones (Judas is included in Jesus’ audience), judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”
I don’t mean to ask this crassly, but is Jesus lying to the 72? Are there names really written in heaven? Or did he mean 71? Judas clearly left Jesus after being told this promise, right? Same question goes for the 12 apostles promised 12 thrones…
Or think about when Jesus teaches on the end times and then illustrates the truth of one falling away in the Parable of the 10 Virgins (Matt. 24:9-13; 25:6-10)
9 “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. 10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved… 6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ 7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ 10 And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
We must endure unto the end. Some will fall away. Some virgins (half of them) didn’t come prepared for the whole Christian journey and didn’t “make it.”
But the biblical evidence for people leaving the faith goes beyond Jesus’ teaching. It is all throughout Scripture. The author of Hebrews warns and warns his readers - gives example of people who have left the faith - because he realizes it’s a real possibility. And he pastorally encourages and commands them to endure through trials. It’s all throughout the book. Why else would he spend the ink if leaving the faith was impossible? Why be encouraged to persevere unless it’s not certain that you will?
If we sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful prospect of judgment, and a fury of fire which will consume the adversaries. . . . How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the man who has spurned the Son of God, and profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. - Heb. 10:26-31
Or consider Paul in 1 Cor. 6 where he mentions those who cannot inherit the kingdom of God because they practice sin, and then he says, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” He is pastorally reminding them who they are - baptized believers with justifying grace - but is also warning them that falling back into sin like these people has serious consequences. Why else would he write this?
And then the biggest and most obvious example is the Grand Story of the Old Testament which is the Exodus. Israel was saved through the waters (prefiguring our baptism) into the desert, only to wander, lose faith, and die in their sin. So were they saved? Yes, and no. Some persevered unto the end, but the majority of them died.
“For the people of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt, perished, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord; the Lord swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the Lord had sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.” - Joshua 5:6
And this is what the Church Fathers believed! Justified people (which was obtained through baptism - but that is a different article) could lose their salvation!
Consider these church fathers and saints:
St. Ireneaus (2nd century) says, “those who do not obey Him being disinherited by Him, have ceased to be His sons. Wherefore they cannot receive His inheritance.”
Tertullian (2nd century) says, “For do not many afterward fall out of grace? Is not this gift taken away from many?”
Shepherd of Hermas (2nd century) says, “The apostates and traitors of the church have blasphemed the Lord in their sins. Moreover, they have been ashamed of the name of the Lord by which they were called. These persons, therefore, at the end were lost unto God.”
Justin Martyr (2nd century) says, “I hold further, that those of you who have confessed and known this man to be Christ, yet who have gone back for some reason to the legal dispensation [i.e., the Mosaic Law], and have denied that this man is Christ, and have not repented before death—you will by no means be saved.”
And I could go on. The Early Church unanimously believed - and arguably all the way through to Calvin - that a justified (by baptism) Christian - someone who was truly saved, not just someone who looked the part - could commit apostasy and turn their back on God and end up deceived and damned.
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Why is this important? Well, what you believe about one’s certainty of salvation changes the entire tone of your proclamation of the Gospel, and one’s reception of it. Is salvation something that has happened and we just receive and remember and rest in it? Or is salvation something which has happened and we participate in it (or turn from it)?
(I heard this analogy) Imagine beginning college and on your first day you are handed a degree and a 4.0 GPA. You are as good as graduated, Magna Cum Laude. You are then told to go to class every day, to work hard, to serve your peers, get involved in your community, etc. etc. If you slouch off and coast for the next four years it doesn’t really matter, you already have a 4.0.
I know there are holes in this analogy, but it gets at my point. It’s not how life works and it’s not how salvation works. If you slouch off and stop going to class you won’t graduate.
And this is perhaps what I began to be concerned with. People walk away, or even worse, they stay put and never really care that much. In fact, in some circles, caring too much might come across like legalism or trying to “earn your salvation.” This bothers me deeply. Christians are called to a counter-cultural life, where we renounce and fight worldly desires, where we imitate the cross-shaped life of Jesus and His disciples, and where we love. Radically love. Not just those similar to us, but our enemies, the sinners, outcasts, and poor. We are eager to forgive. We are eager to serve. We live through our dying. This is our living sacrifice - our participation in the Divine life - our Christian vocation - our… salvation.
I began to see the difference in how we talk about salvation and our assurance, this way… the reformed Gospel speaks of salvation like something we fall back into. Week after week we are reassured of our forgiveness in Christ. It’s almost like the message was this: “I know you feel the weight of how poorly your week went. You just can’t get it together. But don’t worry… Christ forgives you and God loves you. This is grace.”
Catholics speak of salvation in that ^ ^ way - to be sure - but grace is also something we are sent out with, and empowered by. We are called to participate (this is an important and different word which I will elaborate on in the future) by the Spirit in the life of Christ, fully loved by God. Belaboring the point: salvation is life in the Trinity, participating in Divine Love and in His Divine Life.
Fall back into grace // sent out empowered by grace.
Something we remember // something we live in.
Something we’ll always have // something we can turn away from.
Perhaps it’s simply where we put the emphasis - but I believe it’s deeper than that. When you split up justification and sanctification - which is what Luther and the reformers did - this is what you get. You are forced to have to talk about one differently than the other.
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So am I really saying anything of substantial difference? Yes. Reformed folks think the invitation to participate in the life of the Trinity, to cooperate with God’s grace, to persevere unto the end, is a “gospel of works.” They fear this returns us foolishly to the Galatian-problem: turning from faith to a works-righteousness, putting the spotlight on man’s obedience instead of Christ’s finished work. We get the glory and not God. Reformed doctrine is stuck in an either-or world, Catholics embrace the both-and world.
But that’s for the next article. For now, I end with this verse and some resources:
Hold fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I (Paul) may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. - Phil. 2:16
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If you want more reading or listening, here are a few easily accessible things:
^ ^ I’ve consumed 100+ hours of this channel / podcast - and they have several on the topic of salvation.
Here is a Presbyterian Minister who outlines why he converted, and HERE he talks about salvation.
Dr. Bergsma and Dr. Scott Hahn are amazing! See below