Within the apostolic writings the gospel is hardly ever expressed in terms of being
the means to get to heaven, for that it is not what the gospel, church or sacraments are for.
They pertain respectively to the calling, assembling and sanctifying of a people that the Bible makes clear is a relatively small minority, elected through unmerited grace to become kith, kin and consort to the Lord of Glory151. Matthew’s reference to the Kingdom of heaven is synonymous with the Kingdom of God and is not referring to the place spirits go after death. Whilst the soul/spirit when separated from the body by death does go to heaven and some elsewhere, avoiding perdition is not a matter that has ever required special revelation or religious practice but pertains to natural law, being intuitive for those having been made in God’s own image. For God is and always has been concerned for the eternal wellbeing of all true humanity, not just the men and women He has chosen to partner His Son152.
Christians have been called out from the world to be a special blessing to the world.
The fact that many who remain outside the Church or have no religious faith at all are not doomed to eternal misery is something the Catholic Church has only clearly articulated since the mid-twentieth century153, whilst Evangelicals’ primary concern when presenting the gospel has consistently been to affirm that all human salvation is dependent upon Jesus Christ and His atoning death. That incontrovertible truth shall now be re- affirmed, albeit within the context of the broader benign providence being outlined.
All human salvation achieved through Christ’s Passion
Whilst it would be perverse to regard an instrument of torture as a theological end in itself, the cross is a vital means to an end; that end being glory154. The Atonement is central to Christian soteriology, not just for the benefit of specific individuals but “for the life of the world”155. Yet it is only those who in some meaningful sense partake of the Victim’s flesh and blood that experience its full benefits in the present:
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no Life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has Life (of an eternal quality), and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me will live because of Me” .
God’s plan to restore the world and its inhabitants from the damage of the Fall is entirely dependent upon the Passion of Christ. But as will be shown in chapter seven, those who partake of His body and blood and daily take up their own cross are not merely to be 150 2Thes1:10
151 Heb2:10-11
152 Jn17:6
153 Vatican II Lumen Gentium 16
154 Cf. 1Pet5:10; Heb2:10
155 Jn6:51
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restored to a state of Adamic innocence but perfected for future service and glory in a way that could not have occurred had the events that led to the Christ’s crucifixion not come to pass. That had been the introduction of evil to the world through the permission granted to Satan to test humankind in her primeval infancy. And having failed that test God’s seemingly inscrutable decision to utilize our disobedient first parents as the sin-polluted procreative fountain source for future humanity. As will be shown, the resultant suffering, division and ongoing struggle with Evil is no accident but a providential necessity. Christ as human creation’s firstborn, in the sense of her representative/leader156, epitomized such suffering and He did so on the cross; hence Paul’s emphasis:
“God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world”157
Paul could have gloried in his own labour and suffering for the gospel – but he knew it was nothing compared to the munificent sacrifice and undeserved suffering on the part of the Word Incarnate, needed to remedy Satan’s treachery and our first parents’
disobedience. For as Eastern Orthodox Christians are keen to emphasize, the cross defeated the devil and his hold over death. In fact, that is the sacred Victim’s most direct reference to the matter158. But in view of Paul’s revelations (God’s secret plan), the full fruits of that aspect of God’s victory at Calvary have been deferred.
The historical reality is that much of human creation has not had the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom faithfully rendered, particularly as for the last 500 years about a third of the Church has had a substantially different rendering concerning what is required for Christian salvation than the rest. Given that God our Saviour
“will have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth”159, it is inconceivable He would permit such a situation if avoiding perdition were dependent on a particular understanding of “justification by faith” or whether one has the understanding or more likely the cultural upbringing to receive the sacraments of the Roman or Greek Church. That is not how the perfect justice of God operates, being impartial yet merciful and generous towards all. The next chapter will examine in more detail the biblical account of the incident at Eden that demanded such a drastic remedy, its effect upon the human condition, and how and to whom the fruits of the Passion are applied.
156 Col1:15
157 Gal6:14
158 Jn12:31
159 1Tim2:4
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Christians and the Jewish nation before them are members of exclusive covenants evidenced at their inauguration when Abraham’s own beloved circumcised son Ishmael was excluded together with his offspring160. Yet Paul will have been aware of an inclusive covenant to which God was being faithful by which the likes of Ishmael and the righteous before him had been accepted on the basis of their “faith” through the merits of Christ’s faithfulness. This Universal Covenant of life is more explicitly referred to in the fourth chapter of Genesis to be considered in more detail in chapter six in the context of those who default from it; for it is a key to understanding the mystery of evil. Prior to “the Fall”, a short-lived implicit covenant was in place relating to God’s instruction to our first parents to make free use of all that had been provided for them in the Garden of Eden but not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It is referred to by some as the “Covenant of Works” but really it is also a Covenant of Faith, for acceptance with God has never been based on attaining a standard of worked merit but to the obedience of faith and remaining faithful. Justification will be dealt with in more detail in the next chapter but basically it consists of demonstrating that one is a valid participating member of a covenantal community such as the Church, or indeed the redeemable human race that benefits from the Atonement in the context of the eluded covenant being considered.