It sounds good. Until you think about it some;
Salvation
WE AFFIRM that salvation is granted by God’s grace alone received through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. Every believer is united to Christ, justified before God, and adopted into his family. Thus, in God’s eyes there is no difference in spiritual value or worth among those who are in Christ. Further, all who are united to Christ are also united to one another regardless of age, ethnicity, or sex. All believers are being conformed to the image of Christ. By God’s regenerating and sanctifying grace all believers will be brought to a final glorified, sinless state of perfection in the day of Jesus Christ.
WE DENY that salvation can be received in any other way. We also deny that salvation renders any Christian free from all remaining sin or immune from even grievous sin in this life. We further deny that ethnicity excludes anyone from understanding the gospel, nor does anyone’s ethnic or cultural heritage mitigate or remove the duty to repent and believe.
So, this is true. Some do add works to the gospel, and that is wrong. The good news is through faith(which is not a work - trust is not a work people, get that into your heads, but I digress) by grace. We have every believer united to Christ and adopted into his family. Great! No difference in spiritual value between believers? Depends what you mean, but on a charitable reading, we can also say great! All believers united? Excellent! Sinless perfection? Sure. We'll get there one day. Nice.
Ok, lets move on. Salvation can't be received other than faith and grace, sure, no problems there. Salvation doesn't instantly cure sin(though it should lead down that road surely...?), we can agree. And yes ethnicity doesn't exclude anyone, nor mitigate their duty to repent.
On the face of it, I could almost sign this page. Almost. Let's add the context back in. Remember the statement is on social justice. As we saw last time, James, John and Jesus himself all say we have to be made right with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We have to be God's light in the world. The implication of "he who hates his brother does not know God" is that he who hates his brother cannot know God because hating one's brother is incompatible with the gospel. So, if you hate your brother, and you say "Just Preach the Gospel" is the solution, well, the problem there is it is you who needs the gospel, not your brother.
So, how do we hate our brothers? Could it be denying their pain, and suffering? Trivializing their history? Ignoring their context? ("You have the gospel now, what my ancestors did to yours which still lingers like a festering wound doesn't matter now!")
So, on the face of it, we could almost pass it. All it is, in it's context is an extension of the most feeble excuse we looked at last time. The Gospel is enough, but only because it implies more than pie in the sky when you die, and a superficial covering of pain and suffering. The power of the Gospel to heal these wounds stems from it's implications. Out of this spring all manner of healing, light and life should flow.
Instead what we find here are the "pious" desperately defending what they think is the core, and ignoring the conflagration around them. Will they escape the fire that burns up the chaff? God is the judge there.
Make no mistake here, the heart of this statement is legalism. "You shall not add to the gospel!" Despite the fact that other than some fringe groups, nobody is trying to add to the gospel. And the world wonders, if our gospel is true, why aren't we acting like it?
Normal disclaimer. I decide what comments get posted, so be charitable, even if you feel I'm not.
Although come to think of it, I have never not published a comment. So there is that.
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