As Chair of the House of Bishops Theological Group, I am glad to reaffirm the biblical teaching on the utter uniqueness of the God who reveals himself to Israel but also on the universal significance of this one God, the source and ground of all that exists, for all peoples and the whole world. The New Testament tells us, and the Catholic Creeds declare, that, in Jesus Christ, God himself has entered into human history and we encounter him in this human person. But because it is God who is encountered, the particular becomes full of universal significance.
Of course, it can be shown from Scripture that God reveals something of himself through the created order, in conscience and in the spiritual awareness of which everyone is capable. But we should note that such knowledge cannot save of itself not least because it is affected by human sinfulness and rebellion. The early Apologists for the faith believed that, even in midst of falsehood and superstition, people could know something of God because they were made in the divine image, because the Logos, the Eternal Word, incarnate in Jesus Christ, illuminates the minds and hearts of all (John 1:9), even if they turn away from this illumination, and because the Holy Spirit is everywhere and always convincing people of sin and righteousness and judgement (John 16:8-11). For the Apologists, however, such knowledge pointed to and was fulfilled in Jesus Christ; his Incarnation, Cross and Resurrection.
We recognise God’s presence and work in our world precisely and authentically only because of his revelation in the call, liberation and history of his Chosen People and supremely, of course, in Jesus Christ. This history of salvation and judgement is the touchstone, or canon, by which we are able to recognise God’s providence anywhere.
The Anglican formularies affirm such an understanding of salvation history. No-one can be saved by any ”˜natural’ knowledge of God, nor by religious observance but only by God’s graciousness, fully revealed in Jesus Christ.
This is excellent. I’m sad to see no one else has commented. This once again shows that the CoE House of Bishops is in a totally different league theologically than the TEC HoB. There are still some sound theologians who are respected in the CoE. Most in TEC have retired or have been forced out…
I like this paragraph by +Nazir-Ali. It’s a good answer to the universalism rampant in much of TEC:
[blockquote] No-one can be saved by any ‘natural’ knowledge of God, nor by religious observance but only by God’s graciousness, fully revealed in Jesus Christ. This does not bind God in any way. He is fully sovereign in how he acts to judge and to save but wherever and whenever he does this we know it is by the merits of Christ’s work on the Cross and the prevenient work of the Holy Spirit. There is no room for human scrupulosity or pride. It is all of God alone.[/blockquote]
Amen.
I was thrilled to see the overwhelming margin by which the vote passed at the CoE General Synod. Thanks be to God. I wonder if there’s still time to get such a resolution (via one of the House of Deputies???) to TEC’s General Convention. It would be good for further clarity’s sake…
Karen, I hope that someone still in TEC will bring such a resolution to the General Convention for a vote. My belief is that it would fail. Its failure would bring clarity, as you say.
The clarity you mention has been achieved previously; I believe such a resolution failed in 2003 and 2006 – am I incorrect on this?
Montanan, it’s true that there were resolutions in 2003 ([url=http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/03_b001.html]B001[/url] affirming the historic doctrines of the church) and 2006 ([url=http://gc2006.org/legislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=322&type=ORIGINAL]D058[/url] on the uniqueness of Christ) that failed and provided clarity. Here’s how the recent AAC report describe both:
[blockquote]At General Convention 2003, the House of Bishops rejected on a roll call vote Resolution B001, which would have reaffirmed ―Holy Scripture as the foundation of authority in our Church‖ and ―historic positions adopted by previous General Conventions,‖ as well as the principle that ―no member of this Church shall be forced to practice anything contrary to the clear meaning of Holy Scripture.‖
General Convention 2006 refused to consider, much less approve, a resolution (D058) declaring salvation is through Christ alone because, as one Evangelism Committee member noted, the debate would likely be contentious. The Evangelism Committee voted to discharge this resolution, claiming that 1982 Resolution A047 stated the same thing. Attempts to bring the resolution to the floor for a current reading failed.[/blockquote]
Nonetheless, a resolution based on the overwhelmingly approved CoE resolution would still be useful. Such a resolution could note that this was recently approved by a large margin in the CoE and could encourage affirming their position as a way of affirming our “Anglican heritage” or some such…
I would expect such to fail or die in committee at GC09, yet it would continue to put more bishops and deputies “on record” as to where they stand and what they believe the mission of the church to be. Every GC needs some such resolutions to allow folks to know where their bishops and deputies stand. It’s not enough to point to resolutions from 3 years ago or 6 years ago. Probably a third of the current bishops weren’t at GC03, for example.
Not to rain on your parade, but the resolution as I read it does not actually affirm the “uniqueness of Christ,” it just asks the House of Bishops to “report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society.”
If you brought a resolution to GC ’09 requesting that the HOB Committee on Theology prepare a report on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in America’s multi-faith society, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it passed without much contention.
Ross, here is what I believe to be the text of the full CoE Synod resolution (emphasis added):
[blockquote]That this Synod request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain’s multi-faith society, and [b]offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.[/b][/blockquote]
I would like to hear TEC’s bishops and deputies questioned on the record re: their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ, particularly as relates to witness to those of other faiths or of no faith. What do they believe, preach and tell others to proclaim re: salvation?
I would like to see TEC affirm that salvation is through faith in Christ alone and commend ways of sharing that in a multi-faith society.
If I were a betting woman, I’d wager a pretty large bet that TEC’s HoB (to say nothing of the deputies) could not pass that resolution as written. I’d like to see if I’m right.