Evangelical vs Progressive Christianity

What do they actually believe?

Part four: The Nature of Salvation

This is the 4th in a series of blogs where we are comparing the mission statements of an evangelical congregation with that of a progressive congregation. By scrolling down you can find the previous three blogs

1. Foundation of Faith
2. The Trinity
3. God’s Relationship with Humanity

They are located below in reverse order (newest to oldest). Feel free to read them in any order you choose, but they might make more sense if you read them in order. For what it’s worth.

Also, I need to interject here that I do not believe in the theology of either congregation. But I do have an opinion about which dogma or which view of God is healthier for humanity. Once again, what matters here is how each congregation views the… 

Nature of Salvation:

Evangelical: We believe that salvation from the guilt and condemnation of sin is possible only as the gift of God’s grace and that whoever by faith receives Jesus Christ as His Savior becomes a child of God. His salvation is not the result of any human effort or merit, rather it is the work which Christ accomplished through his life, death, burial, and resurrection that purchases salvation.

Progressive: The teachings of Jesus have led us to see ourselves as Christo-centric universalists, believing that Christ died for all the world and God’s love is accessible and available to everyone, everywhere. The embrace of God is an inclusive, unstoppable love that calls us to believe and bear witness to the belovedness of every human being. We believe that we belong to God long before, or even if we never believe in God. God’s love is eternal, always welcoming, and does not require any transaction on our part.

The interesting point about how each congregation views “Salvation” is how they view the very nature of God. Let’s start with the evangelical view.

Evangelical: We believe that salvation from the guilt and condemnation of sin is possible only as the gift of God’s grace and that whoever by faith receives Jesus Christ as His Savior becomes a child of God.

Once again, Evangelicals’ starting point is “guilt and condemnation”. Even though Evangelicals say that our salvation is not a result of any human effort, something must be done to access that salvation. One must “accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior”, (P.L.A.S.) or in less wordy terms, one must join the Jesus club. It is then, and only then, that one becomes “a child of God”.

Evangelical: His salvation is not the result of any human effort or merit, rather it is the work which Christ accomplished through his life, death, burial, and resurrection that purchases salvation.

Even though evangelicals maintain, “salvation is not a result of human effort or merit”, there is much that the “children of God” must do to stay in God’s good graces. I pulled the following two statements from other evangelical websites. From these you can clearly see that even after salvation there continues to be “works” on our part in order remain in God’s good graces.

What is required to receive God’s grace?

To “continue in” or “abide in” the Savior’s love means to receive His grace and be perfected by it. To receive His grace, we must have faith in Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, including repenting of our sins, being baptized for the remission of sins, receiving the Holy Ghost, and continuing in the path of obedience.

So, according to evangelicals we must…

1. have faith in Jesus Christ (for what is not clear)
2. keep His commandments (all of them, including those in the Old Testament)
3. repent of our sins (on a daily basis)
4. be baptized for the remission of sins (yet another transaction to perform)
5. receive the Holy Ghost, (apparently it’s not included in the receiving part) and
6. continue in the path of obedience. (a never ending list of ways to fail)

Remember that phrase “whoever by faith receives Jesus Christ as His Savior becomes a child of God”? Well, according to other evangelicals, someone might call themselves a child of God, but they’re really just adopted, (like a red-haired stepchild).

And our being called the children of God as an expression of the incredible love of God is grounded in our adoption. We are not by nature children of God. Only by adoption are we regarded as the children of God. Because of the Father’s love for Christ, the Father has adopted us into the royal family, making us joint heirs with Christ. We are beloved of the Father because Jesus is beloved of the Father, and we ought never to forget that.

For what it’s worth

If you read the blog about the trinity you will remember that evangelicals say that the three parts of the trinity “are identical in essence and equal in power and glory; they possess the same nature, attributes, and perfections” and existed before creation. If all parts of the trinity really are equal and there is only one god than the above statement should read as follows.

Because of God’s love for himself, God has adopted us into the royal family, making us joint heirs with himself. We are beloved of God because God is beloved of himself, and we ought never to forget that.

Simply stated, this means that a select few are the precarious benefactors of God’s love for himself, and they ought not forget that. What a mind game!

Compare that with how progressives view the nature of Salvation.

Progressive: The teachings of Jesus have led us to see ourselves as Christo-centric universalists, believing that Christ died for all the world and God’s love is accessible and available to everyone, everywhere. The embrace of God is an inclusive, unstoppable love that calls us to believe and bear witness to the belovedness of every human being. We believe that we belong to God long before, or even if we never believe in God. God’s love is eternal, always welcoming, and does not require any transaction on our part.

For Progressives, one doesn’t become a child of God by joining the Jesus club, everyone already is a beloved child of God… (not by adoption) and there is no need to join the exclusive Jesus club.

We are already embraced and beloved by God. No transaction is required.

Progressives mention God’s love four times in their 88-word statement, while the evangelicals have yet to mentioned a loving God in any of theirs.

Therefore, I award another Point for Progressive 4-0.

Coming up next: Man’s Relationship with God

Evangelical: The gospel is hope for healing our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and all creation.  Learning grace is the process of transformation. We are convinced transformation happens by grace as we align our lives with the gospel.

Progressive: We cannot create our union with God. It is objectively given. As Father Richard Rohr says, “There’s nothing we can do or not do to increase or decrease God’s love for us.”

 

From Where I Stand

Dale Crum