Some material for reflection -- instead of reaction

by Gene TeSelle



The question put by Dirk Ficca -- "What's the big deal about Jesus?" -- was intended to be Socratic, and he himself presented two kinds of answers to it. This was immediately seized upon in terms of sound bites in order to discredit the Peacemaking Conference and hold all the office-holders in Louisville somehow responsible. Before we get too far into sound-bite theology, let's look at what the confessions actually say about this issue.

There is no question that the Bible has statements that salvation is only through the name of Jesus. The confessions make the same kinds of statements, but not always in the same way. Sometimes they use the triple formula of election in eternity, salvation through the cross, and application to believers by the Holy Spirit (C-6.071, 7.169). At other times they emphasize that election is in Christ, by adoption and incorporation into Christ (C-3.08, 5.053, 5.059-60).

For reflection: What are the strengths of one and the other way of stating it?

Early on in the Book of Confessions you may be struck, however, by the mention in the Scots Confession of "all the faithful" from Adam on (C-3.04) and the Kirk "in all ages" starting with Adam (C-3.05). The Second Helvetic Confession declares, even more dramatically, that our religion is really the oldest religion in the world (C- 5.092).

For reflection: What do they mean? Why do they say this? What do you think are their reasons?

The Confessions are very clear about the link between Israel and the Church, the Old Testament and the New Testament. They constitute "one fellowship, one salvation in one Messiah" (C- 5.129). There is one covenant in two dispensations (C-6.042). They seem to be saying that the ceremonial law of Israel, since it was a foreshadowing of Christ, functioned in the same way as the Christian sacraments, as a means of grace for those who believed God's gracious promises.

For reflection: Was this grace made available without knowing the name of Christ at all, as seems likely in most if not all cases? Might it be, then, that Jews continue to receive the grace of God -- indeed, the grace of Christ -- through those ceremonies? Does God hear the prayers of Jews today?

There are more questions. Since the early centuries, the Catholic Church assumed that baptism is necessary for salvation. Therefore they concluded that, in the case of an emergency, a lay person, "even a woman," could baptize. The Reformed Church put forward an alternative argument, enshrined in the Scots Confession (C-3.22) and the Second Helvetic (C-5.191): the apostle has said that women are not to exercise churchly office, therefore they are not to baptize and baptism is not necessary for salvation. While we have abandoned their view of ministry, we have not abandoned the conclusions they drew.

The Westminster Confession declares that "elect infants" (not all infants) and "all other elect persons incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word" (C-6.066) are given salvation. In such cases it seems that the offer of salvation does not need to be mediated through Word and sacrament -- and does not need to be responded to in an explicit act of either the person or the parents.

For reflection: How are we to understand this?

There is still more. During the negotiations that led to the reunion with the Cumberland Presbyterians, who rejected predestination as "fatality," the "Northern" church, the PCUSA, adopted the Declaratory Statements of 1903, which include the statements that grace is offered to all human beings, with none of them prohibited from receiving it (C-6.192), and that all who die in infancy are given salvation (C-6.193). In once sense this is an extension of the Westminster Confession's confidence that salvation can be offered even to those who are "incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word" (C-6.066); but it broadens this possibility beyond the elect to all persons, and perhaps intensifies the questions already raised about how grace can be offered to all, and how all are really able respond to the offer of grace.

For reflection: What issues are raised here? What kinds of answers might be given? How do you assess these various answers?

PVJ's Facebook page

Mitch Trigger, PVJ's Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!

Voices of Sophia blog

Heather Reichgott, who has created this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:

John Harris’ Summit to Shore blogspot

John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive

Got more blogs to recommend?

Plan now for our 2010 Ghost Ranch Seminar!

GHOST RANCH SEMINAR

July 26-August 1, 2010

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