New Wine understands God's salvation as "wholeness of life", but this is a contested concept. For mainstream Protestant theologians - and maybe even more so for the Evangelical and Reformed theologians among them - embracing the concept of “salvation as wholeness” isn’t obvious at all. In fact, it is a concept that is mostly overlooked and if not overlooked, it is often contested because of specific theological concerns.
How do the Orthodox-Reformed, Evangelical and Modern Protestant traditions perceive "salvation"? A typological overview.
[Part 5 in a series on New Wine and systematic theology, drawn from my research master thesis Life to the Full. From Creation to Re-Creation, VU University 2014]
Salvation as Wholeness – A Contested Concept
Within the
charismatic renewal of New Wine God’s salvation is understood in a holistic
way, comprising wholeness of being in all aspects of life. We have seen that
from the viewpoint of mainstream Protestant theology, this raises several questions. How then could the charismatic concept of “salvation as wholeness”
be grounded in Protestant theology - if at all?
By the end of this thesis I
will be saying that theology in the tradition of the Reformation indeed does harbor resources to do so.
Theological notions on the scope and nature of salvation may sometimes have
been narrowed down, or slipped to the background of both piety and theology,
but they can and should be retrieved and interpreted afresh in the light of the
charismatic renewal.
It goes beyond the scope of this PhD-research to construct
such a Protestant soteriological framework. I’ll be merely “testing the
waters.” But drawing from Moltmann and Pannenberg I will suggest that such a
framework would need to be eschatological, trinitarian and pneumatological in
thrust, with the concepts of the Kingdom of God and the baptism with the Spirit
figuring as its key metaphors.
But first we
have to take a better look at the concept of salvation itself. For mainstream
Protestant theologians - and maybe even more so for the Evangelical and
Reformed theologians among them - embracing the concept of “salvation as
wholeness” isn’t obvious at all. In fact, it is a concept that is mostly
overlooked and if not overlooked, it is often contested because of specific theological
concerns. Other concepts tend to be prevalent, mostly with a strong focus on
the justification of sinners - although, indeed, the resources to vindicate
“salvation as wholeness” have always been present.[1]
What has been the distinct contribution of divergent strands within
Protestantism to the understanding of salvation? Which concerns and emphasises
have been expressed? A brief typological overview of perspectives within three
divergent strands of Protestant theology - Reformed, Modern Evangelical, and
Modern Protestant - will shed light on these contributions and concerns.
1.Salvation according to Reformed theology
Within
Reformed theology “salvation” is primarily
understood as the “redemption” or
“salvage” of “sinners”, though especially Calvin’s theme of “double
grace” emphasized both the justification and
the sanctification of sinners (in
contrast to Luther’s focus on justification). Especially within the strands of
orthodox-Reformed and Puritan Pietism - such as the Dutch “Nadere Reformatie” or
“further Reformation” - the focus is predominantly on the order of salvation in
the spiritual formation of the individual, with much emphasis on the personal
appropriation and assurance of salvation. At the same time, especially Puritan
Pietism emphatically addressed the purification of the believer’s daily life
and induced a strong social involvement in terms of charity and social justice,
expressing that God’s salvation impinges on societal realities. The pressing
question in orthodox-Reformed piety, however, is: “When God’s judgement on sin
comes, will my soul be saved for eternity?”[2]
Also in the
broader Reformed tradition there has been a long-standing tendency to portray
the message of salvation as being focused on the redemption of sinners that
stand in need of forgiveness. “Justification by faith alone” has remained a
cardinal doctrine within Reformed theology - and rightly so, I would say.
However, this doctrine has become paramount to the extent that salvation becomes almost synonymous with
“justification”, as British Anglican theologian Alister McGrath has pointed
out in his classic study Iustitia Dei.[3] Most
Reformed soteriologies, McGrath argues, focus mainly on the believer’s “right
standing before God” through the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to
the sinner: Christ took our place and bore the wrath of God’s judgment on sin,
that we might be declared righteous (substitutionary atonement).
In his
comprehensive article on the doctrine of justification throughout the history
of Protestant theology, German Lutheran theologian Gerhard Sauter confirms that
Reformation theology “took the word field of iustitia / iustificatio from
biblical language (especially Paul) and understood ‘justification’ as the
quintessential experience that supports a life of faith”.[4]
In the Western tradition the word “justification” of course played a role
already, “but it was a casual and subordinate role”. With the Reformation
“justification” moved to the centre of theology. However, Sauter argues that
the understanding of justification was meant
to be broad, comprising endowment of humanity with God’s righteousness,
giving humanity hope of participating in what God is, and hope of experiencing
in human existence the overcoming of everything that is contrary to God -
harbouring powerful resources for a comprehensive understanding of salvation as
wholeness. Nonetheless, Sauter analyses, within the tradition of the
Reformation all of theology becomes subsumed under the rubric of justification,
understood from a clear focus on the problem of sin and the solution of
forgiveness of sin. Sauter quotes Luther, stating that,
“The characteristic subject of theology is humanity, who is guilty of sin and condemned, and God who justifies and saves sinful humanity (deus iustificans et salvator - homo peccati reus ac perditus) Whatever is asked or discussed outside this subject in theology is a misconception and poison.”
The
Calvinistic strand within Reformed theology harbours better resources to retain
an understanding of salvation in the broad categories that Sauter would like to
define justification in, as it emphasizes both justification and
sanctification. The theological notion of “participating in what God is” is at
the core of Calvin’s spirituality, as he emphasizes the unio mystica of believers with Christ.
Recent Reformed studies on
Calvin as “theologian of the Spirit” claim to “retrieve” these resources, as
they have supposedly slid to the background of Reformed theology, and these
studies certainly seem to be promising for our inquiry into a Protestant
soteriological framework that is able to vindicate and asses the charismatic
notion of salvation as wholeness.[5]
The
theological notion of “experiencing in human existence the overcoming of
everything that is contrary to God” is deeply embedded in Calvin’s concept of
“double grace”, too. In Calvin’s theology the theme of sanctification includes
political and societal dimensions, enabling Calvinistic-Reformed theology to
address the political order of society, stressing the task of achieving an
order of justice and peace in social life. This strand within Protestantism
offers rich theological resources to include issues of social justice in our
understanding of God’s salvation as wholeness.
It must be
noted, however, that Reformed dogmatics usually addresses these political and
societal dimensions of sanctification not under the rubric of
salvation/soteriology, but under the derivative rubric of Christian ethics.
Social justice then might be perceived as a matter of ethics, and not so much
as characteristic for the substance of
the salvation of God. Astonishingly, the vast majority of Reformed treatises on
soteriology fail to define the
substance of salvation (for instance in the broad categories that Sauter would
like to understand justification). Their indexes of subjects may contain
entries like “history of salvation”, “appropriation of salvation”, or
“mediation of salvation”, the key word itself often misses altogether.[6] The
content of the term is simply assumed, and the apparent presupposition often is
that “salvation” narrowly means “forgiveness of sin through the atoning death
of Jesus Christ”, since in most cases this is the focus and scope of dogmatic
chapters on soteriology.[7]
The Reformed
concern for the theological focus on the problem of human sin is to be taken
serious in any attempt to outline a Protestant soteriological framework for the
charismatic renewal of New Wine, while at the same time the notions of the much
broader scope of God’s salvation that are so deeply embedded in Reformed
theology should not be overshadowed by this focus.
2. Salvation according to Modern Evangelical theology
Quite the
same is true for the Modern Evangelical movement that became prominent in the
United States and Europe after the Second World War. The Reformation
understanding of salvation as “the reconciliation of sinners” through the
substitutionary death of Christ “has flowed into evangelical theology”, as
David Wells puts it.[8] The
core and essence of salvation is justification, understood in a legal and
forensic way: Christ died at the cross for our sin, he bore the wrath of God’s
judgement in our stead, and his righteousness is imputed to us.[9]
The
Reformed notion of the political and societal dimensions of salvation often
received far less attention within Evangelicalism due to the influence of
Anabaptist theology, while other strands of Evangelicalism were strongly
socially engaged (though, like in Reformed theology, understood from the rubric
of Christian ethics).
The
Evangelical movement has to a large extent be determined by its focus on world
mission, and its missiology might be characterizing for its soteriology. Its
priority has always been “saving souls for eternity”, and therefore many
Evangelical leaders were strongly opposed to so-called “integral mission”
(aimed not only at “saving souls” but also at social justice), fearing that
integrating social action into mission would avert from this priority of
evangelism.[10]
Though this might still be true for large parts of conservative Evangelicalism[11],
within wider Evangelicalism the so-called Lausanne Movement stands out as a
movement that calls for “holistic mission”, associating evangelism with the
wider mission of the Church “within the divine Plan of redemption”. The Manilla Manifesto (1989), an extension
of the original Lausanne Covenant
(1974), states that a commitment to justice and peace necessarily accompanies
any legitimate evangelism, for “good news and good works are inseparable”.
The
references to “God’s mission” and “cosmic purpose” might suggest a broad
understanding of salvation as wholeness. However, it must be noted that
“concern for justice” and “human dignity” are regarded as part of the mission
of the Church, but not as part of its core. The core of mission remains defined
as the conversion of individual souls, and salvation remains implicitly
understood as forgiveness of sin (more on these debates within Evangelicalism follows later in this series, Reformed-Evangelical
Theology and the Kingdom of God).[12]
For similar
reasons, many conservative Evangelical leaders have just as strongly been
opposed to Pentecostal healing campaigns
and the so-called “Power Evangelism” of the Third Wave of charismatic renewal.[13] At
best, these healing ministries avert from what the gospel message really is
about, namely reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of sin. Even John
Stott, who clearly advocates integral mission addressing both spiritual and
physical needs, denies that healing “either is, or is included in, what the Bible
means by salvation.”[14]
The
Evangelical focus on mission thus seems to induce a more narrow understanding
of the nature and scope of salvation than its Reformed roots would allow.
3. Salvation according to Modern Protestant theology
Modern
Protestants might not have emphasized so much the need for “substitutionary
atonement” as orthodox-Reformed theology, or the need to “save souls for
eternity” as Evangelicals, they too have often tended to a narrow understanding
of salvation in terms of “personal redemption”. Jürgen Moltmann rightly
observes a “retreat from cosmology into personal faith”, as modern Western
Protestantism struggles to plausibly view the world as God’s creation.[15] It
has become less and less clear how salvation is supposed to relate to God’s
actions in the world. Perhaps mostly in Protestant piety - or “lived theology”- salvation is spiritualized and
personalized.
Rudolph
Bultmann might be illustrative for this spiritualizing and personalizing
movement, holding that salvation is existential in character, and is not
expected to materialize - neither in terms of personal wholeness nor in the
world. When a person becomes a new creation, he asserts, “outwardly everything
remains as before.”[16]
In wider
Protestant academic theology and in ecumenical debates on soteriology, the
focus has been as much on justification as it has been within the strands of
Reformed and Evangelical theology.[17]
Modern Lutheran theology provides a good example. Liberation theology, Black
theology and feminist theology may have influenced the debate by drawing
attention to political and societal aspects of salvation, Lutheran theology
still wrestles with - and often holds on to - their conviction that the
doctrine of justification is not merely one soteriological model among others
but the central soteriological model.
Lutheran systematic theologian André Birmelé is certainly not the only one to
maintain that the doctrine of justification is not only the centre of the
Lutheran interpretation of salvation, but the exclusive content of Christian soteriology. Birmelé clearly equates
salvation with “justification of the sinner”.[18]
Dutch
Protestant theologian Bram van de Beek strongly argues against any expectation
to see anything substantial of Gods kingship and salvation in the world: It is
still hidden and will not show before the consummation of this world. Christ
did not come to “change the world”, and if we think about his salvation “in
terms of justice, peace and wholeness for creation” our understanding will
become “clouded”. It is “fundamentalistic” Bible-reading.[19]
It might be
telling, that in the mainstream Dutch Protestant Christelijke encyclopedie (“Christian Encyclopedia”), “salvation”
is unhesitatingly defined as “a deliverance from sin”.[20]
In the next blog in this series, we will look into the criticism that arose (both within Western theology and non-Western theology) against this narrow understanding of salvation.
Series on New Wine and systematic theology:
Part 1: The First Time I Found Myself Praying in Tongues...Part 2: A New Reality: Challenges from the Global Charismatic Movement
Part 3: The Third Wave of Charismatic Renewal: Characteristics and Theological Roots
Part 4: New Wine and Salvation as Wholeness
Footnotes
[1] Obviously,
each strand within Protestantism will assert that its understanding of the
scope and nature salvation has always retained its breadth and richness.
However, both non-Western theologians and many Western theologians in the
second half of the twentieth century have perceived this differently, pointing
at a prevalent focus on individual justification of sinners at the expense of
other aspects of salvation (see below; also Gerrit Brand, ‘Salvation in African
Christian Theology: A Typology of Existing Approaches’, Exchange 28:3 (1999), 194-223 (analysing different approaches both
within African theology and in comparison with Western theology); Martien E.
Brinkman, Justification in Ecumenical
Dialogue: Central Aspects of Christian Soteriology in Debate, IIMO Research Publication 45, Utrecht 1996; and Alister
McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the
Christian Doctrine of Justification from 1500 to the Present Day (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986).
[2] Represented for instance by
Wilhelmus á Brakel (1635-1711, author of De
trappen van het geestelijk leven - “The Steps of Spiritual Life”) and
Bernardus Smytegelt (1665-1739, his collection of sermons Het gekrookte riet - “The Bruised Reed”- is famous). See also Joel
R. Beeke, The Quest for Full Assurance.
The Legacy of Calvin and his Successors (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth,
1999).
[3] Alister McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian
Doctrine of Justification from 1500 to the Present Day (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1986).
[4] Gerhard Sauter, ‘God
Creating Faith. The Doctrine of Justification From the Reformation to the
Present’, Lutheran Quarterly, Vol. XI
(1997), 17-102.
[5] For
instance Hans Burger, Being in Christ. A
Biblical and Systematic Investigation in a Reformed Perspective (Eugene:
Wipf & Stock, 2009); Julie Canlis, Calvin’s
Ladder. A Spiritual Theology of Ascent and Ascension (Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans, 2010); J. Todd Billings, Union
with Christ. Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids:
Baker Academic, 2011), even earlier, Kees van der Kooi, Als in een spiegel. God kennen volgens Calvijn en Barth (Kampen:
Kok, 2002). See also Chapter 4 of this thesis.
[6] For
instance J. van Genderen and W.H. Velema, Concise
Reformed Dogmatics (Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed Publishing
Company, 2008); Hendrik Berkhof, Christian
Faith: An Introduction to the Study of the Faith (Eerdmans, 1979); Louis
Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1932); Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (Grand Rapids: Baker Academics, 2008).
[7] The title
of the soteriology of Presbyterian theologian John McIntyre is telling, and no
exception at all in its understanding of the scope of soteriology: The Shape of Soteriology. Studies in the
Doctrine of the Death of Christ (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1992). Soteriology
is narrowly understood as inquiring into the death of Christ and in which ways
this could mean to bring about redemption. It is obvious how this downgrades
the life and ministry of Jesus Christ prior
to his death, but also the ascension, the outpouring of the Spirit, and the
mission of the Spirit after his
death, to a second-rate-importance without salvific
meaning. It must be said, to
McIntyre’s defence, that he argues for retaining all Biblical models of
salvation, though still he speaks narrowly of “salvation from sin”.
[8] David F. Wells,
‘Evangelical Theology’, in: David F. Ford and Rachel Muers (ed.), The Modern Theologians. An Introduction to
Christian Theology Since 1918 (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005),
608-621.
[9] See authoritative
evangelical publications as Leon Morris, The
Apostolic Preaching of the Cross (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1955)
and John Stott, The Cross of Christ
(Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 1986), more or less equating “salvation in
Christ” with “justification”. Also Donald G. Bloesch, Essentials of Evangelical Theology, 2 Vols. (San Francisco: Harper
& Row, 1978-79). More recently also Edmund P. Clowney, ‘The Biblical
Doctrine of Justification by Faith’, in: Donald A. Carson (ed.), Right with God: Justification in the Bible
and the World (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), and John Piper, The Future of Justification: A Response to
N.T. Wright (Wheaton: Crossway, 2007).
[10] Joel Nichols, ‘Mission,
Evangelism and Proselytism in Christianity. Mainline Conceptions as Reflected
in Church Documents’, in: Emory
International Law Review, Vol. 1 (1998), 563-656.
[11] As Tom and Christine Sine observe
in their essay ‘The State of God’s World: Globalization and the Future of
Integral Mission’, in: Tim Chester (ed.),
Justice, Mercy and Humility. Integral Mission and the Poor (Carlisle:
Paternoster, 2003).
[12] Nichols, ‘Mission,
Evangelism and Proselytism in Christianity’, 596-605.
[13] For the Third Wave Movement,
see C. Peter Wagner, The Third Wave of
the Holy Spirit (Ann Arbor: Servant Publications, 1988), and Kevin Springer
and John Wimber, Riding the Third Wave:
What Comes After Renewal? (New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1987).
[14] John Stott, Christian Mission in the Modern World
(Nottingham: InterVarsity Press, 1976), 88.
[15] Jürgen
Moltmann, God in Creation: An Ecological
Doctrine of Creation (London: SCM Press, 1985), 34.
[16] Rudolph Bultmann, ‘New
Testament and Mythology’, in Hans Werner Bartsch (ed.), Kerygma and Myth: A
[16]Theological Debate (London: SPCK, 1957), 20.
[17] See for a detailed overview
of these debates, Martien E. Brinkman, Justification
in Ecumenical Dialogue: Central Aspects of Christian Soteriology in Debate,
IIMO Research Publication 45, Utrecht 1996.
[18] Brinkman, Justification in Ecumenical Dialogue,
201.
[19]Bram van de
Beek, Jezus Kurios. De Christologie als
het hart van de theologie (Zoetermeer: Meinema, 1998), 216-217 (transl. as Jesus
Kyrios, 2002).But even Hendrikus Berkhof - who does emphasize the renewal of both humans and the world and
explicitly understands salvation as bearing on our earthly lives “with all its
facets”, and “God’s healing and salvation-bringing work” to be “directed to us
and the world in which we live” - can elsewhere unhesitatingly state that
“salvation can be summarized in words as: suffering, cross, dying, blood”,
suggesting an equation between “salvation” and “atonement” - or not clearly
distinguishing between salvation and that which bring about salvation. See
Berkhof, Christian Faith (Grand
Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 360, 4, 308.
[20] George
Harinck (ed.), Christelijke encyclopedie
(Kampen: Kok, 2005).
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