The Experience of Salvation
The experience of salvation is a rescue story. Rescue stories can be some of the most intense because they often require precise action. Like in 2017 when a boy got swept out in the water on a Florida beach. Then, one-by-one, nine family members went to his rescue, only to get stuck in the surf themselves. Then the beachgoers formed an 80-person human chain and pulled all nine people back to the shore. Precise action matters. If you were escaping a burning building and the fire fighter directs you to the only safe exit, you want to know if it was down the left or right hall. If you are hanging off the side of a cliff and a rescue worker lowers a harness down, you really want to be confident that you have the carabiner connected to the correct loop before you trust it with your life. In a rescue situation the details really matter.
Christians have a proven tendency to mix up what vital actions must take place for us to be saved, and who does them, and how. If we believe that our rescue from sin depends on how much we give to the poor or how much broccoli we eat, our Christian experience is going to be shaped by that wrong understanding of the experience of salvation. When we confuse the action of our rescue we pursue salvation with actions that do not save.
Where’s the action?
There are many important pieces of the experience of salvation like the conviction of sin, the offer of grace, the response of faith, repentance, forgiveness, being born again, deliverance from sin, and having assurance of salvation. For the purpose of clarity, this message is going to focus on one thing, the action. What are the actions of God and man in the experience of salvation? We will look for clarity on these actions in three places; 1. Church History, 2. Scripture, and 3. SDA Fundamental Beliefs.
Church History– A prevalent false view of the actions of God and man in the experience of salvation is illustrated in the story of Cyprians of Carthage.
Crisis #1: Drought and the pagan way of relating to God in Carthage
Cyprian was born into a rich pagan family in the North African city of Carthage. Among the many fortunate circumstances of Cyprian’s upbringing there was one major crisis, a North African drought in the 230’s and 240’s AD. As the people ran out of water, they tried to appease their gods. Cyprian watched as they sacrificed and the pagan gods did not respond to their action. Even with the sacrifice of their firstborn sons they were still not getting rain.
As Cyprian watched he began to have a faith crisis. The pagan way of relating to god is that humans act and god must respond. Humans were doing what they were supposed to do and the gods were not doing what they was supposed to do. Many were disillusioned with their gods and searched for a bigger one who would respond. Cyprian, along with thousands of other North Africans, became a Christian.
Cyprian put his rhetorical skills to use in his study of scripture under metropolitan bishop of Carthage, Caechilllius. His writing and teaching earned him respect among the Christians. This respect increased when he accepted Jesus’ invitation to the Rich Young Ruler and sold all he had and gave his great wealth to the church to care for the poor. Cyprian was so trusted that bishop Caechillius adjusted his will to place his family in Cyprians care and to recommend Cyprian as bishop in his place.
Crisis #2: Persecution and the pagan way of relating to God in the Church
Soon Cyprian faced another crisis, Christian persecution under Emperor Decius. This time he had a bigger God. His God had changed but his pagan way of relating to God had not changed. The church could have corrected this understanding that humans act and God must respond but, the church shared the same wrong view.
Decius became emperor (249 AD) with a great show of force to counter his weak claim to the throne. Immediately, he made a decree that every person on earth must offer incense to the emperor. He was especially interested in the allegiance of the influential upper 5% of society. This included the military which had many Christians. It also included Christian bishops. Bishops around the Mediterranean were killed for their refusal to offer incense. Since Cyprian had grown up among the wealthy, he had friends in high positions. The governor, likely being one of those friends, didn’t want to have to kill him. So he told him to go into hiding. Cyprian “hid” 30 miles away at his sister’s house so the governor could claim he didn’t know where he was.
The Action of the Confessors
While Cyprian avoided death and imprisonment under Decius’ decree many others could not. Those who exposed Christians were incentivized by receiving a cut of their belongings. It was also a convenient opportunity to take out opponents in business. By these means, the decree had widespread effect. This misfortune was honored by the church. Martyrs were seen as heroes and those who went to prison were respected as martyrs in waiting. Many poor Christians gained from the persecution. Having little material possessions to lose they boldly preached against the emperor. They once had little power, influence, and possessions but in prison they earned spiritual authority in the Christian community. The church had a name for all those who refused to offer incense to the emperor. They were “confessors”.
The Actions of the Fallen
People get creative when the alternative is death or prison. Christians found ways to avoid the consequences of the decree. Some Christians justified themselves in going through the motions of offering the sacrifice, but faking it on the inside, so they could keep making money and keep donating to the church. Another group refused to offer the sacrifice, but they found a way to buy a certificate saying they did offer it. This allowed them to show the Roman officer the certificate while being able to tell their Christian community that they didn’t offer the sacrifice. Others refused to offer the sacrifice but got their pagan slave to do it for them to secure a certificate. The church had a name for all those who offered incense to the emperor or who found a creative way around it. They were “fallen”.
The Action of Exchange
The church made a clear distinction between the “confessor” and the “fallen”. They believed that the right actions of the confessors had merited God’s favorable response while the wrong actions of the fallen had merited God’s unfavorable response. Humans act. God Responds.
This set up the opportunity for a pagan exchange within the church. The fallen felt a need for someone to intercede for them. The right actions of the confessors could force God to act. The fallen, still having possessions, would promise to take care of the confessors’ family and provide food for them in prison in exchange for the confessor praying for them in their fallen state. They were really trying to work a three-way deal with God. They wanted God to respond to a human action. The fallen would do actions (i.e. care for the interest of the confessors) to get the confessors to respond (i.e pray from them). Then the action (prayer) of the confessors would force God’s hand to show mercy to the fallen. This is a perfectly reasonable exchange if you have a pagan way of relating to God.
The presbyters found their own ways to make exchange with the fallen. They could give the fallen the Eucharist(Lord’s Supper) if the fallen kept donating. This is thoroughly pagan. First, they distorted of the Eucharist by assuming that it was a sacrifice that obligated God to forgive. In reality, it is the remembrance of Christ’s (once for all) sacrifice that is the source of our forgiveness. Secondly, they rooted this exchange deeper in the acts of humans by making it dependent on the action of the fallen in donating money. If they acted by donating the bishop would act by making the sacrifice to God (Eucharist) and God would be obligated to act in pardoning them. This is not the experience of salvation. Salvation is a gift not an exchange.
The Action of Penance
In the midst of the action of exchange in the Church, Decius died. The persecution was over. Prisoners were released. Now the church had to decide what to do with all the fallen. They were familiar with some strong interpretations of Hebrews 6:4-6 that allowed no room for the apostate to return to the church. Many taught that after baptism a person could no longer sin and be forgiven. Others, like the Shepherd of Hermas, were more gracious and taught that a person could be forgiven for one major sin after baptism. Cyprian rose up to help navigate this problem of the apostate. He called bishops together and they decided that the fallen would be accepted back in but they had to do penance the rest of their lives. They needed to do acts of penance to show their true inner repentance.
Penance is a human act of devotion or self-punishment performed to show inner repentance. Saying sorry was not enough. They needed to show they were sorry. It later became a sacrament of the church and is practiced through confession. Penance to earn repentance is not biblical. John the Baptist preached of bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8). We should bear fruit that is consistent with the action of God in our life. But we cannot bear fruit that earns that action. Consider how Ellen White wrote of the response of repentance in the Review and Herald, April 1, 1890, “Repentance is as much the gift of Christ as is forgiveness, and it cannot be found in the heart where Jesus has not been at work. We can no more repent without the Spirit of Christ to awaken the conscience, than we can be pardoned without Christ. Christ draws the sinner by the exhibition of his love upon the cross, and this softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition and repentance in the soul.” God will not force our response. But every response is made possible by the action of God that comes before it. Penance is not biblical. Repentance followed by good works is. Once again, the church reinforced a pagan way of relating to God. Humans act, God must respond.
The Actions of the Church
Cyprian made three statements that work together to put salvation firmly in the hands of the church to function with a pagan understanding of salvation; 1. Outside the church there is no salvation; 2. Where the bishop is, there the church is; 3. Only the bishop can declare the forgiveness of sins.Since there is no salvation outside the church and the bishop is the church then the bishop alone can forgive sins. With centralized power the church fell deeper into pagan theology. The actions of the church become the thing that God must obey to give salvation.
Beyond the story of Cyprian, the church continued to lose clarity on the experience of salvation and bring it back to the actions of humans. The atrocities of Christian crusades were made possible by the papal promise to forgive the sins of those who fought. Here, a wrong view of salvation resulted in bloodshed, rape and destruction. Elaborate buildings were constructed with the money of the sale of indulgences. This is only possible because of the belief that humans act and God must respond. The Protestant Reformation served, in part, to correct the churches wrong understanding of the experience of salvation. But somehow it leaks back in. Christians have a hard time keeping ahold of what the Bible teaches about salvation. The real danger of paganism in the church is not celebrating Easter or Christmas or having crosses on our walls. It is having a pagan way of relating to God that is at the foundation of a false view of salvation.
Scripture– Titus 3 presents the true action of God and man in the experience of salvation. God acts. Humans respond.
Notice that the action of salvation is God’s action.
Titus 3:3-7
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Notice that there is a human response.
Titus 3:8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works.
The response is to believe and to do good works. The action of salvation was already accomplished by God. And the good works we do are in the category of response.
We receive his saving action in the response of belief!
We live out his saving action in the response of good works!
We celebrate his saving action in the response of praise!
The text does not include this last one, but the rest of the Bible does (see Psalm 117).
The same truth is seen in Titus 2:11-13
For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation (action) for all people,training us to renounce ungodliness (response) and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us (action) from all lawlessness and to purify for himself (action) a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works (response).
God acts! Humans respond! God initiates every step in the process of salvation. We are saved by the actions of God. We can be lost in our response, but we cannot be saved by our response. Our response simply receives or rejects the salvation that is secured by the action of God. We emphatically affirm that God has granted humans the freedom of choice. But choice is not saving action. It is a response to God’s saving action.
Fundamental Belief #10
Read this fundamental belief with an eye for who performs the action that secures our salvation. Notice also the human response to the action of God.
In infinite love and mercy God made Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might be made the righteousness of God. Led by the Holy Spirit we sense our need, acknowledge our sinfulness, repent of our transgressions, and exercise faith in Jesus as Saviour and Lord, Substitute and Example. This saving faith comes through the divine power of the Word and is the gift of God’s grace. Through Christ we are justified, adopted as God’s sons and daughters, and delivered from the lordship of sin. Through the Spirit we are born again and sanctified; the Spirit renews our minds, writes God’s law of love in our hearts, and we are given the power to live a holy life. Abiding in Him we become partakers of the divine nature and have the assurance of salvation now and in the judgment.
God acts! Humans respond!
In the Sound of Music Captain Von Trapp and Maria held one another in a gazebo at night. Maria processed her good fortune in finding love by singing, “Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” That’s a problem. The human action of doing something good is not the source of blessing. How do you solve a problem like Maria? You solve it by recognizing the saving action of God toward us and responding in belief, good works, and praise!
Is there a little paganism in you too? Is there a little thought that the experience of salvation is in some partial way dependent upon your action? That is a misunderstanding of the divine rescue plan. Like those 8 people who tried to rescue the boy from the water by jumping in themselves, we find that our actions do nothing to save. We need the actions of another, the Savior! Our experience as a Christian will be shaped fundamentally by our clarity or lack of clarity on this point. God acts! Humans respond!