Tuesday, January 03, 2006

To Whom the Grace of God

I have thought that the Christian world is divided between two modes of grace. Not determinism and freedom of the will but modes of reception regarding those good things (like forgiveness and regeneration) that we enjoy and receive from God. Mode One: A view that Christ died to save the Church and individuals are the collateral beneficiaries of the graces given The Church. Mode Two: A view that Christ died to save individuals and those individuals, due to the effects of that salvation gather with the collateral effect that a church is created. Both institutions are stressed in the New Testament but which mode is embraced seems to have a massive distinction in our approaches to piety. Mode One produces Roman Catholicism and its Protestant descendants, those with a strong creedal and ecclesiastical framework (Anglicans, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc.) while Mode Two is found in Anabaptists with modern Evangelicalism today. A question as simple as: Do We (the church) walk by the Faith of our Fathers expressed in an orthodoxy of creeds and confessions or do I walk by faith (my own affirmation that Jesus Christ is Lord)? "Anyone who would draw near to God must first believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him." Do you hear that personally or corporately? Is your faith some xerox copy (losing resolution and clarity with each generation) of the affirmations of the Church or is your church the expression of your own walking by faith? Are you more comfortable with being orthodox or biblical?

3 comments:

Mark said...

Now assuming that each understanding has equal Biblical warrant(A qualification I'm not willing to grant in any discussion but this one.), it would seem that you see God working out the Christian life in us in different ways depending on what we think about God. That doesn't appear to be the case. Once any person has been regenerated by God, whether he thinks that grace was mediated through the church or not, doen't he become His, and a part of the same Body? I guess what I'm saying is that there really isn't much of a difference in the LIVES of truly saved people in either group only in their beliefs.

Evan B. Wilson said...

Mark, ideas about the salvation we share (be we ecclesiastical or anabaptist) can and do effect the life we live. Consider the doctrine of the One Nature of the Believer. If I believe in Two Natures, even though in reality I have only one, I am more expectant and resigned to sin. Similarly, if my faith comes through the auspices of the Church I am more ready to think ill of another believer of different doctrine because my faith came to me as "orthodox" and they, for their pains, are "heretics".

Mark said...

Evan,
Sure all that's true...in theory. It does seem to be where these theologies would lead one. Given conclusions based on beliefs alone without actually examining any believers lives, you're right. Statements like the following soon arise from this sort of anaysis: Arminians believe in a weak God dependent on men. OR Calvinists believe in an uncaring God. But what do we find when we examine the lives of devoted saints in either camp? We find wonderful people in complete fellowship with each other who believe in the same God. My point here is that if we allow Him to, God forms in each of us His likeness regardless of and often inspite of the theology we hold.