Sunday, August 19, 2007
Assured by faith, but not arrogant
From the RoundTable blog
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Christopher Hutchinson
Hutchinson is senior pastor of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Blacksburg.
In a recent Commentary page essay ("In reality, Catholics aren't like that," Aug. 12), the Rev. Msgr. Thomas Miller wrote to defend Roman Catholics from recent media attacks. I appreciate the tone and the spirit with which Miller wrote. However, in describing and defending Roman Catholic doctrine, he also implies that others are arrogant for being confident of their own salvation.
Miller writes, "No Catholic today seriously believes that we have the inside track with God. In fact, we're the people who are less confident than some that our seat at the heavenly table is a sure bet, leading us to frequently seek out God's forgiveness and mercy."
I can only assume by this statement that Miller has in mind here classical Protestants who do hold that a person can know that his or her seat at the heavenly table is a sure bet. The question is upon what basis we hold to that hope, and whether such basis is the cause for narrow-minded arrogance or rather a generous humility that gives all the credit to God alone.
If Protestants held that a person can gain an inside track with God by his or her own actions, then such would indeed be arrogant. And we would rightly be considered sectarian, exclusive and self-glorifying.
But if God offers us an "inside track" by His grace, requiring only faith to receive it, then the most humble thing one can do is to receive this gift God offers. Classic Protestantism understands the Bible to teach that all have sinned and can never attain God's loving requirement of moral perfection.
This is why God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect life we could not live and then to die the death we deserved, purchasing and guaranteeing the forgiveness of sins for all who put their trust in him.
That is why the Bible states bluntly that a believer can "know that [they] have eternal life." In fact, my own denomination's Westminster Confession of Faith teaches that believers can have an "infallible assurance" of their own salvation. If Christians lose this doctrine of certain assurance, then the good news of the Gospel is no longer very good for those of us who know how much our need is for God's grace and forgiveness. But it is not belonging to any particular church that gives us this certain assurance, but clinging to Christ himself.
Do Christians then still need to "frequently seek out God's forgiveness and mercy"? Absolutely -- more than we can ever know. And the growing awareness of our own sinfulness keeps us humble before God and men. But such ongoing repentance is in grateful response to God already having saved us through Christ, not the cause of our salvation.
Miller states that "all whose hearts are touched by the love of God" will be in heaven, but he does not describe what that love looks like. Yet the Bible does. It tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
It is neither arrogant nor narrow to lay hold of that free grace God offers to all who know they need it. Indeed, the Scriptures tell us that the multitude in heaven will consist of people from every nation, tribe and tongue, and will be so many that it cannot be counted. Yet each of us can surely know that we will be counted in that number -- because of Christ's life and death on behalf of all who believe.
I am happy for bridges of understanding and dialogue between different religions to be built -- but not at the price of losing the certainty of heavenly assurance that the Christian Gospel brings.
