By Rudy Barnes, Jr., September 28, 2024
God’s amazing grace isn’t just for Christians. It’s a universal and reconciling spiritual power available to all who seek it, and those who seek it will find it. I’m awed by the power of God’s grace when I hear Ray Charles sing Amazing Grace. It’s a transforming power of God’s love that enables the spiritually lost to be found and for the blind to see.
That may not be obvious to those outside the church, since the exclusivist doctrines on salvation of St. Paul and Martin Luther conflict with the universalist teachings of Jesus. While God’s saving grace is needed for salvation, it’s not limited to Christians. It’s a joint venture between a God of love and mercy and all those who are spiritually lost and blind to God’s truth.
The early church knew that if discipleship were essential for salvation, Christianity would never be popular, so it promoted exclusivist beliefs in Jesus Christ as the alter ego of God as the only means of salvation. Such exclusivist church doctrines never taught by Jesus are a form of cheap grace, yet they enabled Christianity to become the world’s largest religion.
The concepts of cheap grace promoted by St. Paul and Martin Luther in the Reformation reflect the contrast between the universal teachings of Jesus on God’s grace and exclusivist church doctrines on the divinity of Jesus. Jesus was a Jew who called his disciples to follow him, not to worship him. He knew that any claim of divinity by a Jew was blasphemous.
Paul’s exclusivist atonement doctrine in Romans 3 opposed the universal truth taught by Jesus that all who do God’s will are his spiritual brothers and sisters (Mark 3:33-35). God’s amazing grace is universal, based on the transforming power of God’s reconciling love, and then sharing that love with others. It’s not dependent on a person’s religion.
Exclusivist church doctrines began to lose their popularity when reason and advances in knowledge ushered in the 17th century Enlightenment. The church began to shrink in the 20th century, and it lost its legitimacy in 2016 when most white Christians elected Donald Trump President. Trump’s narcissistic moral standards are the antithesis of those taught by Jesus.
The church should reject the exclusivist doctrines of St. Paul and Martin Luther as the only means of salvation, and conform its doctrines to the universal teachings of Jesus. That’s unlikely with ancient church doctrine that limits salvation to exclusivist beliefs that conflict with the altruistic teachings of Jesus, yet allowed Christianity to become a popular religion.
In the Reformation Martin Luther affirmed St. Paul’s emphasis on exclusivist Christian beliefs as the only means of salvation. In modern times UMC Bishop Kenneth Carter articulated a version of John Wesley’s concept of God’s grace that more closely conforms to God’s universal love as taught by Jesus. It’s a good beginning point for reforming church doctrine.
Notes:
The Prayer of St. Francis describes the reconciling power of God’s love in this life and the next: Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; Where there is injury, pardon; Where there is doubt, faith; Where there is despair, hope; Where there is darkness, light; Where there is sadness, joy. O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; To be understood, as to understand; To be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; It is in pardoning that we are pardoned; And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. See https://www.loyolapress.com/catholic-resources/prayer/traditional-catholic-prayers/saints-prayers/peace-prayer-of-saint-francis/ife.
On A Wesleyan understanding of grace by Retired Bishop Kenneth L. Carder that describes prevenient, justifying and sanctifying grace, and emphasizes that “The early Methodists devoted themselves to pursuing holiness of heart and life by practicing the "General Rules for the United Societies." Continuation in the societies required that the members demonstrate their desire for salvation, "First, by doing no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind. ... Secondly, by doing good: by being merciful after their power; as they have opportunity, doing good of every possible sort, ... Thirdly, by attending upon all the ordinances of God" (The Book of Discipline 2012, 78-79). https://www.resourceumc.org/en/content/a-wesleyan-understanding-of-grace#:~:text=Wesley%20described%20prevenient%20grace%20as,are%20all%20givens%20or%20gifts.
On Ross Douthat’s commentary on What Has Trump Cost American Christianity?, see
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/24/opinion/tim-keller-donald-trump-election-2024.html.
On Musings of a Maverick Methodist on the Divinity and Moral Teachings of Jesus, see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2019/05/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on.html.
On Religious Exclusivity: Does It Matter? see http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2017/06/religious-exclusivity-does-it-matter.html.
On The Cost of Discipleship and Cheap Grace, see
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2022/12/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-cost.html.
On The Cost of Discipleship to the Church, see
http://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2023/06/musings-of-maverick-methodist-on-cost.html.
On How Following Jesus, Not Worshiping Christ, Can Bring Light Into a Dark World, see https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/03/musings-on-how-following-jesus-not.html.
On Going Back to the Future on the Evolution of Christianity, see
https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/04/musings-on-going-back-to-future-in.html.
On Why Churches Ignore the Moral Teachings of Jesus, see https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/06/500-musings-on-why-most-churches-ignore.html.
On Popularity as the Measure of Success in the Church and Democracy, see
https://www.religionlegitimacyandpolitics.com/2024/08/musings-on-popularity-as-measure-of.html.
By Rudy Barnes, Jr., September 28, 2024
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