Week of Proper 25: Wednesday, Year 1

Above:  Christ as Emperor, Ravenna, Italy

Image in the Public Domain

Predestination and Salvation

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

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Holy Women, Holy Men:  Celebrating the Saints (2010), of The Episcopal Church, contains an adapted two-years weekday lectionary for the Epiphany and Ordinary Time seasons from the Anglican Church of Canada.  I invite you to follow it with me.

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Romans 8:26-30 (Revised English Bible):

In the same way the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness.  We do not even know how we ought to pray, but through our inarticulate groans, the Spirit himself is pleading for us, and God who searches our inmost being knows what the Spirit means, because he pleads for God’s people as God himself wills; and in everything, as we know, he co-operates for good with those who love God and are called according to his purpose.  For those whom God knew before ever they were, he also ordained to share the likness of his Son, so that he might be the eldest among a large family of brothers; and those whom he foreordained, he also called, and those whom he called, he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Psalm 91:9-16 (1979 Book of Common Prayer):

9  Because you have made the LORD your refuge,

and the Most High your habitation,

10  There shall no evil happen to you,

neither shall any plague come near your dwelling.

11  He shall give his angels charge over you,

to keep you in all his ways.

12  They shall bear you in their hands,

lest you dash your foot against a stone.

13  You shall tread upon the lion and adder;

you shall trample the young lion and the serpent under your feet.

14 Because he is bound to me in love,

therefore I will deliver him;

I will protect him, because he knows my name.

15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him;

I am with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and bring him to honor.

16 With long life will I satisfy him,

and show him my salvation.

Luke 13:22-30 (Revised English Bible):

He [Jesus] continued his journey through towns and villages, teaching as he made his way towards Jerusalem.  Someone asked him,

Sir, are only a few saved?

His answer was:

Make every effort to enter through the narrow door; for I tell you that many will try to enter but will not succeed.

When once the master of the house has got up and locked the door, you may stand outside and knock and say, “Sir let us in!” but he will answer, “I do not know where you come from.”  Then you will protest, “We used to eat and drink with you, and you taught in our streets.”  But he will repeat, “I tell you, I do not know where you come from.  Out of my sight, all of you, you and your wicked ways!”  There will be wailing and grinding of teeth there, when you see prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves are driven away.  From east and west, from north and south, people will come and take their places at the banquet in the kingdom of God.  Yes, and some are now last who will be first, and some who are first will be last.

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The Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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The text from Romans is one of those I read only partially until a few years ago.  Being raised United Methodist, I did not grow up assuming predestination of any form.  Yet, as my study of ecclesiastical history tells, the following facts are true:

• The Apostle Paul believed in predestination.
• St. Augustine of Hippo believed in predestination.
• Roman Catholic theology has long included predestination.
• The theology of the Protestant Reformers of the 1500s included predestination.
• John Calvin believed in Double Predestination, the idea that all of us are predestined, some to Heaven and others to Hell.
• Martin Luther arrived at Single Predestination, the idea that some people are predestined to Heaven and nobody is predestined to damnation.  Those predestined to Heaven will be Christians, and the rest have access to eternal afterlife through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.

And, as Jesus makes plain, works play a part.  Read Matthew 25:31-46, which is similiar to Luke 13:22-30.  This formulation (faith and works) assumes that faith is intellectual, but Paul (as I have covered in earlier posts covering Romans–I am writing in a series) used the term “faith” to include actions flowing from attitudes.  Not all who claim to be of God are of God; deeds will make plain who is and who is not.

People have used God and Jesus to justify, among other things:

• Racial chattel slavery
• Jim Crow segregation
• Racism
• Xenophobia
• Homophobia
• Mysogyny
• Male chauvinism
• Economic injustice
• Fascist dicatorships (as in Spain, during the Franco era)
• Cultural imperialism
• Warfare against those whose sole “offense” is to be different

There is a simple test for determining what is of God and what is not:  Is X compassionate?  Put another way, “What would Jesus do?”

He would love.  He would have compassion.  He did.

So should we.  Then we will know God, who will know us.  And our predestined state will not be an issue.

KRT

http://blogatheologica.wordpress.com/2012/05/09/predestination-and-salvation/