WE ARE INCLUDED IN CHRIST ALWAYS
20/05/24 08:42
An unfortunate and pseudo Christian notion can be expressed in the words, ‘Keeping close to Jesus.’ Along with the notion of ‘steps to Christ’ these words undo the atonement and make people their own Savior. This might surprise those who have been raised in a sub-Christian gospel in which the means of salvation has been taken away from Christ and placed on ourselves. Such gospels, regarded as normal, tout grace but deny it in their mindset. Grace is Jesus – not a word. Grace means we are included in God. Obedience is living in this inclusion instead of trying to conjure up our criteria of merit.
IT’S NOT A CONTRACT
The core of Pelagianism is salvation by self-effort. It is a common misunderstanding and the basis of both a subtle and overt legalism. However, it suffocates true spirituality and promotes contractual formulaic religion.
Douglas Campbell observes that, Pelagianism. “strips the electing and covenantal frame of learning away completely, setting a disastrous set of consequences in train. Instead of locating the progress of disciples and their acquisition and description of freedom within a strong relational and covenantal frame, the relationship itself, as well as its first establishment and underlying maintenance, is drawn into a notion of human action and progress.” This is why steps to Christ and all that entails is a parody of the Gospel.
“..This [miasma of self recommendation] replaces the unconditional covenant,
with all its insights into God's initiating and sustaining love, with a conditional arrangement .. God’s covenant with us is erased, which is quite a loss!
A WAY-OFF GOSPEL
“If Jesus’ followers have to act in a certain way not only to advance in their
lives ethically but to relate to God in the first place, a fundamental displace-
ment takes place in the whole relationship between God and humankind.” (1)
The point being made, is that in this deviant gospel, one has to be worthy of Christ before one can be saved and have a relationship with Christ. So one ends up with nothing and is left in the position that Paul describes when he writes, “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” Gal 2,21 Paul not only abolishes this kind of Pelagianism but assumes that this kind of Christianity is not in fact Christian. We could examine ourselves to see if we are following a mistaken ideology or the Gospel of Jesus, Paul and John.
(1) Douglas Campbell, Pauline Dogmatics. P 182.
IT’S NOT A CONTRACT
The core of Pelagianism is salvation by self-effort. It is a common misunderstanding and the basis of both a subtle and overt legalism. However, it suffocates true spirituality and promotes contractual formulaic religion.
Douglas Campbell observes that, Pelagianism. “strips the electing and covenantal frame of learning away completely, setting a disastrous set of consequences in train. Instead of locating the progress of disciples and their acquisition and description of freedom within a strong relational and covenantal frame, the relationship itself, as well as its first establishment and underlying maintenance, is drawn into a notion of human action and progress.” This is why steps to Christ and all that entails is a parody of the Gospel.
“..This [miasma of self recommendation] replaces the unconditional covenant,
with all its insights into God's initiating and sustaining love, with a conditional arrangement .. God’s covenant with us is erased, which is quite a loss!
A WAY-OFF GOSPEL
“If Jesus’ followers have to act in a certain way not only to advance in their
lives ethically but to relate to God in the first place, a fundamental displace-
ment takes place in the whole relationship between God and humankind.” (1)
The point being made, is that in this deviant gospel, one has to be worthy of Christ before one can be saved and have a relationship with Christ. So one ends up with nothing and is left in the position that Paul describes when he writes, “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” Gal 2,21 Paul not only abolishes this kind of Pelagianism but assumes that this kind of Christianity is not in fact Christian. We could examine ourselves to see if we are following a mistaken ideology or the Gospel of Jesus, Paul and John.
(1) Douglas Campbell, Pauline Dogmatics. P 182.
