Wednesday, January 16, 2013
More than Salvation
Beth Pyles @ Thoughtful Christian asks a profound question:
You see, when it comes to the claims of Christ, we are the evidence.Oncve again, it is not all about us. My salvation has ramification far beyond simply my being saved of nor saved. That's why my salvation is not really mine - it reflects on God as much, actually MORE, than it reflects on me. Come to think of it, i God is entirely responsible for my salvation, as we like to say in the reformed tradition, then it is not really MY salvation to begin with. How can I claim any ownership over something I had nothing to do with?
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I listen to a sermon in which the minister propounds the question: can you be a Christian without going to church? While stressing the importance of church, his sermon at the least implies a yes, because of the truth claim that it is Jesus who does the saving – thus can one ‘be’ a Christian without going to church.
Which takes us right back to my question: is ‘being saved’ the same thing as being a Christian?She answers it just as deeply:
To say that Jesus saves is to make a truth claim about Jesus.
To say that I am a Christian is to make a truth claim about myself – that I follow the one who saves.
Note that her response is based on the verifiability of truth claims. Put another way, when we claim salvation without outward sign of evidence if that salvation - from church-going to simple obedience - we deny the truth of the salvation.
Both claims are ultimately verifiable. But they are not interchangeable.
You see, when it comes to the claims of Christ, we are the evidence.Oncve again, it is not all about us. My salvation has ramification far beyond simply my being saved of nor saved. That's why my salvation is not really mine - it reflects on God as much, actually MORE, than it reflects on me. Come to think of it, i God is entirely responsible for my salvation, as we like to say in the reformed tradition, then it is not really MY salvation to begin with. How can I claim any ownership over something I had nothing to do with?
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