It seems to me, most people who identify as a Christian focus primarily upon Jesus—in particular, his death on the cross. This dominant focus is driven by guilt over the wrongs they have done—sins—along with the fear of condemnation and judgment that accompanies that guilt. Jesus’s death on the cross holds out the promise of forgiveness for those sins coupled with the promise of “going to heaven” when they die. These promises are claimed by inviting Jesus into their heart, that is, by accepting Jesus as their Savior. (This understanding is the storyline proclaimed by Evangelical Christianity. It is a transactional, if . . . then agreement. “If you will repent of your sin and accept Jesus into your heart, then God will . . ..”) In this understanding, the focus on Jesus as Savior is in reality a focus on self—my sin, my guilt, my need for forgiveness, my need of salvation, my assurance of eternal life in the face of death.
Sadly, this understanding falls woefully short of the apostle Paul’s description of salvation found in Romans 1-8. In these chapters, Paul outlined for the churches in Rome the salvation he proclaimed. For Paul, salvation was more than the forgiveness of sins, more than going to heaven when we die. (Nowhere in Paul’s description of salvation is there a reference to heaven.) Paul spoke of salvation as God’s transforming work in our lives.
Paul began his description of God’s work in Christ Jesus by talking about sin (Romans 1:18-3:20). For Paul, sin was an enslaving power (Romans 7:14) that dwells in us (Romans 7:15-20). This enslaving power is expressed in a self-centered, self-seeking, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit that inherently shapes how we live—what my professor called “the self-life.” This power that enslaves us operates in a progressively degrading fashion (Romans 1:18-32). Ultimately, it brings death, condemnation, and judgment (Romans 5:15-21). We—Jew and Gentile alike—are powerless to escape its power (Romans 3:9-18).
Salvation is what God has done on our behalf through Christ Jesus while we were under the enslaving power of sin. What God did in Jesus was an expression of God’s steadfast, faithful love that never gives up on us or abandons us. “God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). In Paul’s mind, God’s acting out of this steadfast, faithful love was God being righteous—that is, living rightly in relationship with us in spite of our sin. By acting on our behalf, God acted in harmony with God’s character of steadfast, faithful love (Exodus 34:6-7). “For in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed” (Romans 1:17).
In his letter to the Romans, Paul spoke of three different dimensions of God’s work of salvation.
Theologians refer to the first dimension of salvation as justification—being put right with God. Paul described this first dimension in Romans 3:21-4:25. Through Christ’s death and resurrection, we were “justified by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:24). In Jesus’s death on the cross, God restored the relationship that was broken by sin. We were reconciled with God. We have peace with God. “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand” (Romans 5:1-2). We live as beloved children of God (Romans 8:15-17).
The restored relationship sets the stage for the next dimension of salvation—what theologians call sanctification. Paul’s description of this dimension of salvation is found in Romans 5:1-8:17.
Sanctification refers to the on-going process of transformation that occurs deep within us as we live in relationship with God as beloved children and as the followers of Jesus. It refers to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, growing us up into the likeness of Christ (Romans 5:3-5; 8:29). In our baptism, we mystically shared the death and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 6:3-4). Our old self—the self that is enslaved to sin—died with Christ. As a result, we are no longer enslaved to sin. “We know that our old self was crucified with him (Christ Jesus) so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin” (Romans 6:6). We escape the grip of self-life—the self-centered, self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit—in our lives. The Spirit works to make this freedom a reality in our lives. The Spirit empowers us to put to death the deeds of the self-life (Romans 8:13), guiding us and empowering us to live the ways of God Jesus taught (Romans 8:14). Through the transforming work of the Spirit, we are empowered to live the ways of God (Romans 8:4). Interestingly, this inner transformation takes place as we deal with the sufferings that are a normal part of life (Romans 5:3-5; 8:28).
The transforming work of the Spirit in our lives—sanctification—holds forth the promise of the third dimension of salvation that Paul described: the future realization of being conformed into the likeness of Christ. “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he (the Son) might be the firstborn within a large family” (Romans 8:29). John Wesley spoke of this future realization as perfecting grace. Paul spoke of it as “our hope of sharing the glory of God” (Romans 5:2), as “adoption, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23). His description of this future dimension is found in Romans 8:18-39.
For Paul, salvation was God’s transforming work of love in our lives—through Christ Jesus, through the Spirit. It is God setting us free from the enslaving power of sin. It is God working to grow us up into the likeness of Christ. It is God working to engrain God’s character of self-giving love in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33). It is God replacing our self-centered, self-serving, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit with the servant spirit of Christ.
Setting us free from the enslaving power of sin is God’s work in us through Christ Jesus. Transforming our lives into the likeness of Christ is God’s work in us through the Spirit.
Which brings me (finally) to Pentecost. Pentecost was the day when the Spirit was poured out on us, among us, in us (Acts 2:1-4). Like Jesus the Son, the Spirit was the next expression of God’s steadfast, faithful love. As in Jesus, the Spirit is God with us, God for us.
Whenever our focus is primarily upon Jesus—particularly
on his death on the cross—we miss the Spirit and the Spirit’s transforming work
in our lives. Rather than the Spirit filling our lives with the character of
Christ, we fill our lives with right belief, right behavior (morals), and right
religious ritual. Rather than being set free from the enslaving power of sin,
we merely cover our self-centered, self-seeking, what’s-in-it-for-me spirit
with a religious veneer. Self-life remains alive and well within us.
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