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Guest
One of the biggest issues that I have with many Protestants is that they seem to confuse redemption with salvation; I don’t think they’re the same thing. From my studies, I have come to believe that when Christ died and was resurrected, he didn’t save us. He opened up salvation and made it available to us, by redeeming us. I think that Christ’s death redeemed us; it didn’t automatically give everyone on Earth forever instant salvation. It seems to me that Protestants confuse redemption with salvation, especially Lutherans. They think that when Christ died, he didn’t redeem us; he immediately gave everyone salvation. Based on what Jesus, Paul, and the rest of the Bible says, that wouldn’t make any sense. For instance, why would Jesus give moral teachings if His death gave instant salvation to everyone? As Luther taught, if we’re all saved, we should “sin boldly”. And yet, Paul said, “and everyone will be judged according to their works”, and James said, “faith without works is dead.” If we’re all saved, why would faith, much less works, be necessary? Hitler would be just as saved as Mother Theresa, based on that scheme. Like I said, I think that Jesus’s death redeemed, but salvation is something worked on throughout one’s life, involving continued reception of God’s grace through the sacraments so as, to use a common Biblical analogy, to make every person like a sword, burnt into purity through the fire of love of the Holy Spirit, to then be soothed by the Living Waters of the Spirit, and eventually made pure for Heaven.
Feel free to comment.
Feel free to comment.
Thanks, I’ll take that as a compliment that my assertion doesn’t need commentary.