ARMINIANISM
29/04/24 08:11
There are bent gospels that posit ‘earning Christ’ as the way of salvation. Some are explicit as in the notion ‘steps to Christ’ while others are expressed as common pieties like ‘keeping close to Jesus.’ But we are no more adept at ‘keeping close to Jesus’ than the Jews were at keeping the law. This is a subtle legalism and unsurprising when it appears as an expression of a legalistic gospel. Its poison is that it confuses a relationship with Christ with the law – the law that has already been done away with and replaced by Christ our life. This is why the eucharist is the celebration of Christ our life law is not.
The idea of earning Christ is not usually bluntly expressed but it has seeped into Christian culture as a form of Arminianism. Basically, this asserts that our Godliness/salvation is the product of our self-effort in responding to Christ, a view that is common throughout ‘works’ oriented Christianity.
REAL GOSPEL
Myk Habets observes that, “Calvin specifically cuts out any 'extrinsecist notions of justification or reconciliation by positing justification as a benefit of union with Christ. Through participation in Christ, we receive all the benefits of salvation, including Christ's righteousness, which equates to the filial life. Calvin insists on the forensic nature of justification but is equally adamant that we are justified as a result of our union with Christ. This is affirmed when he writes, 'You see that our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess it only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all its riches.'” (1)
CHRIST IS ALL OF OUR LIFE
While Jesus did not promote a gospel of moralism He did present Himself as our life. Jesus when received into our spirit expressed Himself as us, imparts to us genuine spirit and life and forms us into our True Selves according to that which we were created and re-created to be. Jesus is not only the alpha and omega of God but the alpha and omega of us.
(1) Myk Habets. Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance. P 98.
The idea of earning Christ is not usually bluntly expressed but it has seeped into Christian culture as a form of Arminianism. Basically, this asserts that our Godliness/salvation is the product of our self-effort in responding to Christ, a view that is common throughout ‘works’ oriented Christianity.
REAL GOSPEL
Myk Habets observes that, “Calvin specifically cuts out any 'extrinsecist notions of justification or reconciliation by positing justification as a benefit of union with Christ. Through participation in Christ, we receive all the benefits of salvation, including Christ's righteousness, which equates to the filial life. Calvin insists on the forensic nature of justification but is equally adamant that we are justified as a result of our union with Christ. This is affirmed when he writes, 'You see that our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess it only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all its riches.'” (1)
CHRIST IS ALL OF OUR LIFE
While Jesus did not promote a gospel of moralism He did present Himself as our life. Jesus when received into our spirit expressed Himself as us, imparts to us genuine spirit and life and forms us into our True Selves according to that which we were created and re-created to be. Jesus is not only the alpha and omega of God but the alpha and omega of us.
(1) Myk Habets. Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance. P 98.
