Years back, when I was still a young lay preacher, I preached a sermon with the title, “If You Think You’re In, Better Think Again.” The text was Philippians 2:12, and the gist of the message was the import of Paul’s admonition to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” My point then–I still think it essentially valid–was to get my hearers thinking about the arrogance of salvation certainty. The notion is uncomfortable to most everybody.
After nearly fifty years as a disciple, I sometimes think that otherwise well-meaning folks fall into a mindset that emphasizes the assurance of salvation over what I have come to refer to as “kingdom awareness.” I said in my first first post that I believe the religion of Jesus–not necessarily his latter day followers–is all about this kingdom awareness, and not about personal salvation. Even if we accept the notion that the historical Jesus was himself an adherent to apocalyptic theology, there is still little evidence that he dwelt on personal salvation. On the contrary, he always emphasized the idea of the Kingdom as a communal reality. Much of this has to do with the divergent worldviews of Eastern versus Western theology in the centuries following the Council of Nicaea (325 C.E) and later, i.e. after the Great Schism of the 11th century. That is a whole other discussion.
This Western tendency to think of salvation primarily in terms of justification may be a serious fallacy. I struggle to reconcile the parts of Western theology I do not like or which I find offensive. And here I am a Calvinist of all things! I am much more comfortable with Eastern Orthodoxy in its thematic emphasis on restoration and the healing of creation, vis-a-vis the substitutionary atonement thinking of Augustine and his progeny. Nonetheless, I try to remember that this salvation business is complex and that there is value in the many and varied ways of thinking about it.
So what is salvation anyway? I suggest that it is a blessed awareness of–and respect for– the inter-connectedness of all of creation, which plays out in the reverential way we live our lives. It is an understanding that God loves all of the Universe, including those parts we may disavow or find troublesome. And though I certainly believe salvation is free, it is not without a price. Perhaps that is where the working-it-out part comes into play. Perhaps we come to a gradual realization (or not) that God desires better for us than what we are willing to settle for as we willingly and far too easily accept lies as truth, both individually and collectively. The latter acquiescence is what makes structural sinfulness so easy to accept.
My Reformed roots teach me to appreciate the absolute sovereignty of God. It’s what keeps me continually aware that my salvation ultimately is not my call and that I rely solely on God’s grace. Even the death of Jesus on the cross is cosmically redemptive, not so much because it is a sacrifice, but because even he could rely on nothing but God in the end! And of course, Christians affirm that it was God who had the last word.
Most of the time, I think I’m in, but not always. Those moments of doubt remind me of Who is really in control.
Raising Basileia 
I want to start by sharing that I like to think about theology– and don’t have much opportunity to discuss theology on this level — so I hope you don’t mind if I respond more often than most, shalomista. 🙂
I’m in — but I’m not going to tempt God by Lording it over anyone else. I’m simply grateful.
Coming from the Lutheran tradition, I’ve always believed that one of the essential marks or charateristics of salvation among Christians is “humility”. When we are “saved” in baptism, we are given the identity of chidren of God — brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ — who revealed to us that God’s character reflects “servant love.” That means we have some responsibility to align our lives with the identity of our spiritual family — although ultimately we have to rely heavily on God’s mercy and grace.
The first thing I’d like to do is to put the verse you site in Philipians in context of the point Paul was making:
Phillipians 2 — Paul writes “1 Your life in Christ makes you strong, and his love comforts you. You have fellowship with the Spirit, and you have kindness and compassion for one another. 2 I urge you, then, to make me completely happy by having the same thoughts, sharing the same love, and being one in soul and mind. 3 Don’t do anything from selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast, but be humble toward one another, always considering others better than yourselves. 4 And look out for one another’s interests, not just for your own. 5 The attitude you should have is the one that Christ Jesus had: 6 He always had the nature of God, but he did not think that by force he should try to remain equal with God. 7 Instead of this, of his own free will he gave up all he had, and took the nature of a servant. He became like a human being and appeared in human likeness. 8 He was humble and walked the path of obedience all the way to death – his death on the cross. 9 For this reason God raised him to the highest place above and gave him the name that is greater than any other name. 10 And so, in honor of the name of Jesus all beings in heaven, on earth, and in the world below will fall on their knees, 11 and all will openly proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 12 So then, dear friends, as you always obeyed me when I was with you, it is even more important that you obey me now while I am away from you. Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, 13 because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.”
The whole idea of Salvation assumes that there is something we need to be saved from — and that something is ourselves and our sinful inclination toward one another. As you know Martin Luther developed his take on justification from Paul — but also from Augustine. The “thing” we are to be saved from is “sin” in it’s largest sense: the spiritual illness that estranges all human beings from the goodness and righteousness of God as well as from one another. Sin is manifest both in individuals and in the social systems that define communities, nations, and every sort of human organization. It is promoted among us by the spiritual powers and principalities of this world which tempt, cajole, entice, and wrench it from relatively weak human beings — and no one is totally immuned.
As Christians, we say that God — through Jesus, his sacrifice, and his resurrection — offers human creatures a way out of our conundrum through forgiveness and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. And this kind of salvation is offered both now in the future — by the presence of God’s Kingdom in the world today and the certain knowledge of the full consumation of Kingdom to come. God’s presence influences both the personal and collective. As social justice Chrisians point out, there is an element of judgement placed upon those who embrace, act upon, and build sin into social and economic systems. (I’ve come to the conclusion that there can’t be “universal salvation” because the notion ignores both the idea that people need salvation in the present and that God highly values justice. We are not to sin more in order to increase mercy and grace. How is that following the servant King Jesus?) Even so, all human beings are fortunate, because our God also values mercy and grace, knowing that human beings are suseptable to selfishness, power, and arrogance. Heaven rejoices when humans repent — and align ourselves with the spiritual presense and concrete example of Jesus as related in Scripture.
In the view of my faith tradition, the most dangerous attitude for those who “claim”
Jesus as Lord and yet buy into “self-righteousess.” Christians attracted to the idea that — if we just try hard enough we can always be good — aren’t working out their salvation “with fear and trepidation” because they don’t really need Jesus at all. They believe that we humans can be good and righteous all by ourselves — because we each have the individual power to choose between right and wrong thinking and doing and participating. It’s a theology that produces people who are narrow-minded and arrogant regarding their own salvation, blind to their own imperfection, and cocky about their own blessed prospects — both in society and in the promise of eternal life. They better hope God is merciful! Jesus said a lot of harsh things to people with similar attitudes in the Gospels.
These days it’s easy to find this thinking among members of the religious right and political right. Thoughts like “of course people can pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. If you don’t have health care — work harder. God will reward you! If you don’t, well it’s your own fault. stop complaining about your disadvantages. You deserve to be insuranceless.” I get viral emails reflecting this sentiment all the time.
But you can also find the same kind of narrow-mindedness among ideologues on the religious left who discount the ethic of servant-love in our personal lives — and then are quick to point out the hypocrisy of the religious right. I don’t sense much humility among some social justice activists either.
So I am with Paul when he urges those us who are disciples of Christ Jesus have the same thoughts, share the same love, and be one in soul and mind. We won’t accomplish this through selfish ambition or from a cheap desire to boast. We will accomplish the same mind among us — the Kingdom present with us — when we are humble toward one another and always consider others better than ourselves. On the one hand, the offer of salvation from God is freely offered. On the other, he act of receiving salvation from God is defined by a commitment to the spirit of “servant love” — to agape’.
So anyone concerned with working out our salvation — whether placing an emphasis on social justice or personal morality — would do well to follow Paul’s advice: look out for interests of one another, and not just for your own. I agree with Luther when he teaches that the best way to do this is to keep our eyes on Jesus Christ, and not fight the Spirit as Lord works on us from within. Our “working out” means to recognize Jesus as our example, our standard, our holy inward presence, our servant King, and our loving brother. When we succeed, arrogant notions about “whose in or who is out” may be left behind.
Quick question…. Is there a way to edit a post once it has been made? I always seem to find typos and errors after I’ve hit the “post comment” button. 😉
I don’t think that can be done with comments. I sometimes compose in MS Word, where I can more easily spot typos, and then copy/ paste it into the post.
Some blogs have this ability — and I find typing in the comment box makes it more convenient to reference the post being responded to. I also use the MS notepad program so I don’t accidentally erase what I type by mistake. But I will take your suggestion and use a word processor to compose when I respond to your blog. Maybe I’ll repost the response above after editing it.