Category Archives: Theology

All things concerning the nature, attributes, character or works of God.

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus

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Did you get that? Sound like Greek? Close. It’s Latin for “Outside the Church, there is no salvation.” The Roman Catholic Church has been saying this for centuries, and although I can’t speak for the Roman Catholic Church, I do think it’s appropriate and necessary for us to think through that statement.

We are in the middle of what’s called Holy Week. It’s the time when we as Christians remember with profound gratitude and sober reflection the sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. It ends with the celebration of Resurrection Sunday–also known as Easter–when we joyfully relive the morning on which Mary found Jesus’ tomb empty. All the affliction Christ endured was not meant to end in a sealed tomb forever. It was designed to blow open the doors of all our tombs! Jesus said He came to “seek and save the lost.” He also said that He is the “way, truth and the life. No man comes to the Father, but by me.” Our Messiah’s agony, death and resurrection provide the path for us to follow into eternal life.

And so, how could it be that extra ecclesiam nulla salus could possibly be true? Did our Lord truly have in mind that after all He undertook in His mission to save lost souls there would be a stipulation to our salvation like going to church? Yes, if going to church actually made you a part of the Church. 

It is clear that Jesus’ intent was not only to save us from something, but to save us to something. What was the great effect of sin? Isolation. Eternal separation from God and therefore separation from any kind of loving relationship. The only way one can be saved from isolation is to be saved into community. If our Lord had removed from us the punishment of isolation and had not made us a community, we would be suffering the same fate as if still under the weight of our sins!

God didn’t send Jesus to die for us so that we would go to church. He died for us so that we would be the Church. Being the Church means active participation in community life. It’s true. This means that going to church is a part of being the Church. But let’s not make the mistake of associating going to church with being the Church. I like what Eastern Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware had to say.

Outside the Church there is no salvation, because salvation is the Church. Does it therefore follow that anyone who is not visibly within the Church is necessarily damned? Of course not; still less does it follow that everyone who is visibly within the Church is necessarily saved. As Augustine wisely remarked: “How many sheep there are without, how many wolves within!”

This Resurrection Sunday, I am not only celebrating that my Lord Jesus saved me from isolation, but that He saved me into this beautiful family called the Church. For my part, I believe that there is no salvation outside the Church. My question is, “Why would anyone want to be saved outside of her?”

How are you going to celebrate this Easter with your church family? How do you celebrate with your own family?

Faith Communities

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There are a lot of Atheist blogs out there, and for everyone of those there is a Christian one bent on refuting the Atheist claims. There are Muslim blogs, New Age blogs, hedonist blogs, Buddhist blogs, Agnostic blogs and so much more. As I continue reading, I find that must of us are focused on either defending our beliefs or disproving the beliefs of the others. This makes for some great controversy. Interminable comment strings of impassioned cries clutter the screens on our blogs. In the middle of the crossfire, sharp lines are formed. A feeling of “us” and “them” develops. Communities are established by the clashing of the swords  of ideology.

We all have our communities. Those havens of solitude where others feel and think the way we do. In these places, we can hang our hats, take off our shoes and socks and spread ourselves on the couch while enjoying a glass of milk from the fridge to which we helped ourselves. Take a look at someone’s blogroll and you will discover their faith community online. For example, check out Suddenly Atheist‘s blogroll. It is decidedly atheist. Now look at my blogroll–decidedly Christian in worldview. When I read through my blogroll, I am at ease and looking for a good time. I almost always leave with a smile.

When I look through his blogroll, I am tense and looking for controversy.

I almost always leave with more wrinkles on my forehead.

Faith builds communities. These communities are not like American communities; they are more like Third World communities. They have walls with shattered glass on top. Faith by nature shields its residents and keeps vigil against those outside the walls. Keep “us” in. Keep “them” out.

Faith is certainly important, but it is not paramount in God’s kingdom. There is yet another which trumps the wall builder. Love.

Love does not push Faith out, but it loves to jump walls and watch Faith shake her head in helplessness. Faith is scared and awkward in other faith communities. Love laughs at fear and embraces the people in the other community. Faith must be right all the time. Love must be sincere all the time. Christianity at its core should be built on love, not faith. Love of a Savior. Love of a God. Love of others.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:8 (NIV)

While we were still in the other faith camp, Jesus died for us. Even while we did not believe in Him, He gave up all He had that we might have eternal life. This is love that jumped every wall among humankind in a single bound!

So, I ask: How then shall we live? Shall we continue on with the bitter war of ideas? I’m sure we will. However, I would make the argument that argument never convinced anyone of anything, but the ever-winsome call of love has won over many. Besides, it’s the only thing the Bible says will never fail.

To which faith community do you subscribe?

Yom Kippur: Holiest Day of the Year

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There was once a time when a man would enter the inner sanctum called the Holy of Holies once a year. Obscured by the dense, pungent smoke of incense and vested in the bright white of linen, the high priest would offer his prayers and the blood of an animal on behalf of the sins of his people–sins that they did not even know they had committed. Outside the temple, all of Israel waited in silence for the answer. On that day, the Celestial Judge would grant mercy to the nation of Israel for one more year. It is the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

For the Jewish people, this day is both filled with trepidation and joy. Trepidation for it is a day of judgment and every sin shall be examined. Joy for it is the day when God will do miracles for their little nation; He shall grant mercy. Because of this, it is customary to wear white garments when fasting in remembrance of one’s sinful condition on the Day of Atonement. White signifies purity and right-standing with God.  The question naturally arose in me: How could a person come before the Lord on a day of judgment dressed in a garment of white? If God is to examine that person’s sins, is it not presumptuous to wear the colors of purity and innocence?

This cannot be presumption because God Himself told the people that if they follow His commandments on that day, that He would atone for their sins. The high priest would enter the Holy of Holies a sinful man, yet clothed in white, because of his faith in the Word and goodwill of his God.

In the same way, we are to come before God in faith when confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness. The Word of God says, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” And for the sins that we are unaware of, Jesus our Messiah is making intercession for us to the Father, just as the high priest of old did to the Lord on the Day of Atonement. Knowing this, as the Day of Atonement comes (it starts on sundown this Sunday), we can rest assured that we are going to receive grace and mercy from the Judge because our high priest, Jesus, is working on our behalf.

Sharing to Save

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Getting Christians to actively share their faith is one of the toughest jobs of a pastor. Romans 1:16 tells us that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. If there ever was a part of the Christian’s job that Satan will throw his weight at, it is the duty of every believer to share his or her faith. He will hurl every fear, every excuse and every obstacle known to man at the Christian believer in the effort to strangle their witness.

As I considered the matter, I believe that the Holy Spirit showed me one of the most effective tactics that Satan has used to get us to be quiet. This tactic is essentially a misunderstanding of the purpose of Christ’s death and resurrection. There is a popular teaching in the Church today that Jesus died so that we might be freed from sickness, poverty and personal weakness which deter us from success (Oh, and He also saved us from hell, but that’s just a side benefit.). In other words, through Christ’s death on the cross, we are healed, made wealthy and successful in this life. If we’re not, then we hold God to the wall until He gives us our healing, money and success.

How does this affect evangelism? Simple. We believe that the Gospel is good news because it is a life enhancment anouncement from heaven that will cure every woe and sorrow, and accordingly, we tell everyone this in our evangelism efforts.

“Don’t you know that God has a wonderful plan for your life? The only thing keeping you from this wonderful plan is a little thing called sin. Yeah, it kinda separates you from all the good things God wants for you. So if you just pray this prayer with me, then you will have dealt with the sin problem and now health, wealth and success are yours!”

Great. But what if I’m sick? What if I’m in debt? Or lost my job? Do I still have any good news to share? I’ve got some news for all of us. Many of us are sick! Most of us are in debt! Most of us struggle daily to live life! Therefore, according to the above mentioned misunderstanding of the purpose of the atonement of Christ, most of us cannot share the Gospel with others because our lives aren’t perfect. The spread of the Gospel has been squelched by an erroneous doctrine within the Church itself.

However, if we adopt the correct view of the purpose of the atonement, that is, to save our souls from eternal damnation due to the BIG problem of our sin, then we are free to share the Gospel with anybody. In light of an eternity in heaven with God instead of our deserved punishment of darkness and unimaginable pain, I can be joyful despite the seasonal allergies that afflict me, the debt crashing on my shoulders and the failure of my plans and schemes for life.

We share the Gospel to save souls from hell, not earth. Now, go and tell someone.

Circumcision: Sign of the Covenant

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Here in the United States, 56.1% of all males born were circumcised in the year 2006. I don’t know who was the 0.1%, but I wouldn’t want to be him. That’s a little over half of the male children born in America. Have you ever wondered why we would choose to cut off that small piece of skin on their most vulnerable part? Let’s start with the first reason:

Sign of the Covenant

Sign of the Covenant

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.        Genesis 17:9-14 KJV

This operation performed on over half of all the little boys born in the US started with a covenant that God made with Abraham. To the Western mind, this bloody ritual is entirely unnecessary and gruesome; however, the truth is that every great covenant must be cut with blood. Blood is the sign of the covenant made between two or more persons. It is not the covenant itself, yet it is a symbol wherein we know that the covenant has been sealed.

Think about it. God makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. When Abraham asks God how he could know that the covenant was legitimate, God responds by telling him to divide a heifer, a goat and a ram into two pieces. There was blood everywhere. Then, at night God passed between the pieces of the animals sacrificed as a sign of the covenant He had made with the Hebrew. The blood was a symbol of the covenant.

Weddings are wondrous occasions of great joy, but if the newlyweds are virgins, they are in for a rough night. There will probably be blood. this blood is the sign of the covenant, showing to the husband that the promise of virtue is true.

Yes, it is bloody. Yes, it is harsh. But it is essential; that all may know that there is a covenant and it is legitimate and true. There is another covenant of which I wish to allude. The God-man, Jesus the Messiah, died on a roman cross two thousand years ago as a sign of the new covenant cut with His own blood. Little did Abraham know that as he spilt the blood of his son that God would also spill the blood His only Son. And just like the Abrahamic covenant remains, the new covenant in Christ’s blood endures. The blood of Messiah will continue to show the world just how much God loves us all.