I wish these posters weren't hoaxes.. it would certainly make the election more interesting.
I never thought I'd enjoy something done by The Grauniad..!
Tag Archive for 'election'
I had a long conversation last night with a good friend about various theological topics. Some of them will find their way on here, in time. The first of them is the doctrine of assurance. How can we be confident that we are saved? Is such confidence possible?
For Methodists, 'assurance' historically refers to a feeling of peace and joy that our sins are forgiven. An example might be John Wesley's famous line, 'I felt my heart strangely warmed.' He goes on to say:
I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation. And an
assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and
saved me from the law of sin and death.
On this understanding, assurance is the feeling that accompanies faith in God's promises.
The difficulty is of course that feelings can mislead us. It is entirely possible for someone to feel 'assured' of their salvation, without having the accompanying faith.
It is therefore perhaps more helpful to talk about assurance in terms of faith. God has promised that those who believe in him will have eternal life, that if we believe in the salvation won for us by Jesus on the cross, we will be saved:
It is not possible for someone to be genuinely broken by sin, genuinely
to believe that Christ is the only way to salvation and genuinely to
have asked God for salvation, and yet still to be unsaved.
This is the most we can say: God has promised certain things in Scripture. Therefore if God is true to his Word, then what God has promised will happen. At the end of the day we can never be 100% certain that God exists, or we would not have faith, we would simply know.
However we can be almost 100% certain that he does, and therefore almost 100% certain that we will be saved if we trust in his promises.
I once got into an argument with a leader of a Christian organisation about various things, one of which was five-point Calvinism. The five points helpfully make up the word TULIP:
Total depravity
Unconditional election
Limited atonement
Irresistible grace
Perseverance of the saints
(T) The definition of the five can go to extremes. For example, my definition of 'T' is that every area of our lives is tainted by sin – in that sense, we are totally depraved. The cariacature of 'T' is that every area of our lives is totally tainted by sin.
(U) Unconditional election – no problem, I think the Bible is absolutely clear that we are (and can be) saved only by God's grace, so that when he chooses us it is not based on merit, but on his grace. And election is a concept that runs throughout the Bible.
(I) Irresistible grace – an interesting one, it doesn't spring to mind immediately from my own knowledge of Scripture. It is effectively another safeguard for 'grace not works', like 'U'. If we can resist God's grace, that means we have some measure of power over him, and that in some way we must be responsible for our salvation, by not resisting his grace. Besides, in my own life I'm not sure I have a choice when it comes to believing in God – there have been times when I have wanted to stop, but I haven't been able to.
(P) Perseverance of the sains – true, but a difficult one in churches, because you can never be sure who the saints really are! We should always assume that people who appear committed to Jesus and his church actually are, but of course they may not be. Those that are, have been unconditionally elected by God, the recipients of his irresistible grace, and so must persevere.
(L) As you have probably noticed I missed out 'L'. Limited atonement is, for me, the one I don't quite agree with. 'L' states that Jesus died only for the sins of the elect. However, 1 John 2.2 makes it perfectly clear that Christ died for the sins of the whole world. However, his death is only efficacious – that is, it only has salvific effect – for those who believe. Christ died for all, and welcomes all – but only those who receive him by faith receive the benefits of his passion (to use the traditional language of BCP).
That is why I am not a five-point Calvinist, but a four-and-a-half-point Calvinist.
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