NO SALVATION OUTSIDE THE CHURCH
Beginning with Augustine but continuing with Luther, Calvin, The Scots Confession, and the Second Helvietic Confession, the church, both Protestant and Catholic, has declared that there is “no salvation outside the church.” The Westminster Confession is a little more cautious by saying that outside the church “there is no ordinary possibioity of salvation.” Does such an assertion sound arrogant and triumphalistic in our time.
IS THE CHURCH NECESSARY?
If the polls are correct, there are millions of people who claim identity as Christians but do not see any necessity to belong to a church. Even the majority of members of churches, while finding the church helpful to their own personal faith, do not agree that the church is necessary for salvation. The church is being challenged by people to answer some very serious theological questions. Can we support the historic claim that God established the church as the instrument of our salvation? Even if God once chose the church as an instrument of our salvation, do we now have to conclude that this divine experiment was a failure?
SUPERSESSIONISM
Some streams of thought in historic Christian faith concluded that Israel had failed to be obedient to God’s gracious choice and so God replaced them with the Christian community. This is known as supersessionism. While I do not agree with this understanding of how God works, the logic of such thinking would suggest that if God made one such mistake, it may be only one of series of such mistakes. This is the path of thinking that led Joseph Smith to found The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or Mormons. The logic of such thinking not only places the church in question but also challenges the omniscience of God.
I would like the claims of the church to be more humble. That we bear witness to the salvation we have experienced, rather than telling people they have to become like us or join us to be saved.
Jesus invited disciples to join him is proclaiming the kingdom of heaven. I would say that God established the church to bear witness to that new reality, not to dispense salvation as if it were a product people had to get from the church. It comes from God. We are called to demonstrate the new reality that is possible.
Thanks for your responses, Sam. What I struggle with is if, as you suggest, we have misunderstood, then are we caught in an endless chain of supersessionism. Or, if God is God, did God understand the challenge from the beginning and will not be defeated by our misunderstanding. Maybe salvation, our healing and wholeness, comes about when we liberate ourselves from meritocracy and open ourselves to God’s grace that is effective even in less than perfect communities of faith.