James 2:14-26 challenges the strict separation of Justification from Sanctification.
I don't think so. Yes, one FOLLOWS the other but they are not the same thing.
There are two different issues here:
Justification.... Sanctification.... Both in the narrow, theological sense.
Let me use this analogy:
FIRST: On January 23, 1988, I was born. I was GIVEN life - the miracle, the wonderful, mysterious GIFT of life (we might agree that actually happened about 9 months earlier, but let's proceed). At that point, I became alive. I became a human being - with all that means, biologically and spiritually, all that means in terms of God and me. GIFT. G.I.F.T. This purely, solely, only, exclusively by mercy since prior to that, I did NOTHING. I thought nothing. I willed nothing. I sought nothing. I desired nothing. NO good works. GIFT. G.I.F.T. Mercy. M.E.R.C.Y. On January 23, 1988 - I was removed from my mother (C-Section) - unbreathing, unconscience - I had NOTHING to do with it. NOTHING. N.O.T.H.I.N.G. Gift. Mercy. No merits. No works. No will. Nothing in or from me. GIFT. MERCY. Someone ELSE is to be credited. Entirely. Wholly. Completely. MONERGISTIC. Life is mine - by grace, by mercy, from God, as a GIFT. I am a human being, with all that means - by grace, by mercy, from God, as a GIFT.
In the same way, God saved me (what theology means here is justification - narrow sense). JESUS is the Savior (.... IS...... THE....... exclusively). God GAVE me spiritual life, God caused me to be born AGAIN, now not only with physical life but with spiritual life, now I am not only the child of my parents but a child of God. This CHANGES my relationship to God, as a result solely, only, exclusively because of God's mercy, grace, favor; solely, only, exclusively because of what CHRIST has done as THE Savior; solely, only, exclusively because God GAVE me the GIFT of faith in Christ as my Savior:
Sola Gratia - Solus Christus - Sola Fide. Classic Protestants believe this is MONERGISTIC, because CHRIST
is the Savior - not me, not you, not the Pope, not Mary, not the RC Denomination. I'm NOT the Savior (in this sense of justification) - in whole or in part - now or ever - because the job is taken and He didn't blow it. What makes me a CHRISTIAN is that God's merciful, gracious GIFT of faith means I'm looking to CHRIST as THE Savior, not in the mirror as all my Catholic teachers taught me to do, many Catholic sermons taught me to do, as Catholics keep telling us we must do. And yes, as some very modern American "Evangelicals" insist we do.
SECOND: Almost immediately after being born (well, maybe some months later, lol), my parents, my society and yes God called me to GROW. To mature. To become more loving, more caring, more righteous, more ethical. To grow toward Christ-like-ness. THIS is a process (unlike my physical or spiritual coming to life). THIS is synergistic (unlike conception). GROWING to be more God like. GROWING in the directions that my parents, my society, my God call me: "Thou shalt be HOLY just as the Lord God is holy." "Thou shalt be PERFECT just as your Father in Heaven is perfect." "LOVE in exactly the same way as Christ loved us on the Cross." High callings! I'm not "there" yet. I'm still GROWING (well, I'd LIKE to say always growing..... sometimes I'm not, sometimes I even retreat). Now, a point could be made that if I'm not growing... if there are no signs of life in me.... maybe I'm not alive! But it's not the growing that MAKES me alive, it only reveals THAT I'm alive.
And I do so in large part because of God's EMPOWERING, not due to some innate homo sapiens ability. Yes..... in a few cases, the Bible also calls this "grace" but the CONTEXT tells us this is different, here it means "strength" or "empowering". It is still ours by mercy (we don't DESIRE anything from Him), but here it means strength. This growing up, this discipleship, this CHRISTIAN-walk is something a CHRISTIAN does, not something that makes one a Christian; it is the RESULT of justification not the cause. My being nice to my neighbor is not what causes me to have physical life, having physical life enables me to be nice to my neighbor. What I do as a growing, maturing, developing man is not what makes me a homo sapien nor worthy of being given life.
It is NOT a case of SELF somehow taping into the "gas" God gives in order to slowly "save" self in a slow, progressive, SYNERGISTIC process - almost never complete in one lifetime and so (as in Hinduism) more time is supplied to finish the job, salvation being a JOINT EFFORT: Jesus doing what He can (perhaps) but it's insuffient, inadequate, He fails as a Savior - so we come to the rescue to help save Him from being a failure by supplying what He could not: Jesus does what He could (but it's inadequate, a failure) so WE help Him but adding the really important part, the part that actually results in our salvation (albeit we won't get the job done before we die - thus the RCC now gives us Purgatory). In the view of Protestants, AT THE VERY LEAST, modern Catholicism is confusing DIFFERENT ISSUES: man and God, law and gospel, sancatification and justification - leading to the Christless, Crossless, Bloodless, merciless religion we hear as constant din from them; nearly indistingishable from Judaism and Islam, all boasting of SELF. Yes, I know, as YOU like to point out (you seem to be among the 10% or so of Catholics who believe this, a bit to your credit), we get HELP. A point Jews and Muslims ALWAYS point out, always stress - but only a few Catholics do, and then usually only if pressured into it. But God HELPING us gain life is not the same as God GIVING us life. What I see is actually not a blending or confusing or entangling different issues, but the actual ABANDONMENT - entirely - of grace, mercy, Christ, the Cross, the Blood, in spite of such talk. The Gospel has simply been .... abandoned. What is left is just the growing part, the walk part, the maturing part. Christ AS SAVIOR has been lost (the key point of CHRISTianity!), all that is left is the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu point of getting closer to heaven each day by what WE do - with the HELP of God.
Yes....
with profound sadness..... I realize that SOME very modern "Protestants" have come full-circle and have returned to Catholicism on this point (IMO, worse - much worse)... and this does sadden me. This blending, entangling, strangling, mixing of Gospel and Law, of Christ and self, of justification and sanctification so that ultiamately the actual factor which results in my being heaven found is SELF and what SELF does for God, with SELF as the effectual Savior.
As I noted before, it is MY OPINION that IN SPITE OF the mess the RCC now teaches, the Gospel has not been killed by Catholicism. Because of the reading of Scripture..... because of the gospel proclaimed in the liturgy and often in hymns, because the ancient festivals continue..... Catholics STILL have some concept (however buried) of Christ as SAVIOR. IF..... oh what a big and difficult word that is...... IF you can help the Catholic untangle the MESS they've been taught, you can find they are actually Christians after all. I believe this to be the case; I believe Catholics generally ARE heaven-bound in spite of their denomination. Sad. Because the one issue a church should be MOST clear on, the MOST distinctively CHRISTian - that's the very doctrine Catholicism is weakest on, so blurry, so confused, so entangled, so NON-distinctively Christian. And as I've stated before, I'm not sure that OFFICIALLY Catholicism actually teaches what most Catholics do (it may be that OFFICIALLY, the RCC is better than a few modern "Evangelical" Protestants on this point, too). It's hard to know.... officially, Catholicism has so entertwined and mixed up these things it's just hard to know. Perhaps it is simply my hearts desire to believe that in Catholicism, the problem is more one of communication that foundational belief.
Again, answer this:
WHO IS the Savior? (in this sense of justification).....
IF you answer "Jesus" then Jesus is the Savior. Not you - not a bit, not at all, not now, not ever, not in any way or shape or form or manner. Salvation (justification) is entirely, wholly, totally wrapped up in Jesus. It's entirely HIS work. HIS heart. HIS love. HIS mercy. HIS gift. HIS blessing. His life, His death, His resurrection. His Cross, His blood, His sacrifice. His righteousness, His obedience, His holiness. Not you. Not yours. You may have some other role in some other matter, but not justification. The "job" of Savior belongs to Jesus. Not you.
IF you answer "ME!" then you are the Savior. Not Jesus. Not a bit, not at all. Not now, not ever. Not in any way, shape or form or manner. Salvation is all wrapped up in YOU. YOUR works. YOUR will. YOUR love. YOUR efforts. YOUR merits. YOUR obedience. YOUR righteousness. YOUR holiness. YOUR sacrifice. Not Jesus. Not Jesus'. Jesus may have some other role in some other matter, just not this one. The Savior is you.
Which is it? Try answering that. If you give the Christian answer, a LOT of Christianity falls into place. And you will avoid the greatest of all heresies: confusing self with Christ, denying Christ as THE (sole) Savior.
Or as some classic Protestants at times put it, there are two places to look for justification..... the Cross or the mirror. Classic Protestantism directs all clearly, boldly to the Cross. Sadly, many Catholics and a few modern American "Evangelicals" point all to the mirror.
Pax
- Josiah
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