CHURCH HISTORY

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH & ITS

HISTORICAL CHALLENGES #10

Ecumenism: The Seductress of 20^th Century Evangelicalism
by Ron Merryman, Copyright, 1999

ECT (Evangelicals & Catholics Together) is simply one manifestation of a much larger issue. The real problem is the rush to ecumenism that has slowly but effectively pervaded the thinking of many evangelical leaders and some evangelical churches over the last few decades of the 20^th Century. The desire for unity is slowly, but surely, superceding the desire for truth. At issue is the truth of the Gospel.

Is such a charge justified? Consider the following, all having occurred in the last few years:

James Dobson, of Focus on the Family fame, accepted an honorary doctorate from Franciscan University, a staunch Roman Catholic college in Steubenville, Ohio. "Evangelicals" like Dobson like to point out that Scott Hahn, a graduate of "evangelical" Gordon-Cromwell Semin-ary, teaches theology at Franciscan University and promotes it as being "as evangelical as it is Catholic." (Question: if it is Catholic, how can it be evangelical? Obviously, the word evangelical has lost any significance it once had … and/or Hahn totally ignores the doctrine of justification).

Paul Crouch, president of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (dominated by charismatics), said in his PTL newsletter, "I have come to the conclusion that Martin Luther made a mistake. He should never have left the Roman Catholic Church. … It is time for Catholics and non-Catholics to come together as one in the Spirit and one in the Lord." (Evidently, Mr. Crouch is ignorant of the fact that Luther did not leave the Roman Catholic Church, rather, he was kicked-out, excom-municated, over his stand for the biblical truth of justification by faith among other things.)

Prison Fellowship, founded by Chuck Colson, is now under the direction of Michael Timmis, a practicing Roman Catholic: not strange considering that the majority of Prison Fellowship’s chaplains are Roman Catholic.

Promise Keepers, which encourages Roman Catholic participants to adhere to their Church’s sacramental system, includes Michael Timmis on its board.

Pat Robertson, Chuck Colson, J.I. Packer, and Don Argue (of the National Association Of Evangelicals) met with Pope John Paul II in the New York city residence of Cardinal John O’Conner during the pope’s 1995 visit to the U.S. In his own newsletter, Robertson printed a letter to the Pope that underscored CBN’s (Robertson’s television network) commitment to Christian unity and world evangelism along with praise to the Pontiff for his encyclical on Christian unity entitled That They All May be One.

Regent College, founded by Pat Robertson, had a Catholic bishop say mass on the college campus.

Navigator Press published A House United: Evangelicals & Catholics Together, A Winning Alliance for the 21^st Century; an ecumenical appeal written by Keith Fournier and William Watkins, with an introduction by Chuck Colson. Fournier, a practicing Roman Catholic and former law professor at Pat Robertson’s Regent University, currently directs The Catholic Alliance, a political action group.

Andrew Young was installed as the new President of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA on November 12, 1999. Where? In none other than the (Roman) Catholic Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Cleveland, Ohio!

Confusion and Bewilderment: What Did Vatican II Change?

These bold flirtations by well known "evangelicals" with Roman Catholic prelates and their even bolder assertions have left many born-again believers confused and bewildered. Do these leaders know something that we do not? Has the Roman Church changed her doctrine of justification? Has the Papacy renounced the anathemas of Trent pronounced upon us who believe and rest in the scriptural teaching of this precious doctrine of salvation?

No, there has been no change. And, no, these "evangelical" leaders do not have an inside track. Their motivation is not based upon scriptural truth, rather on unity at the cost of truth. Martin Luther faced similarly motivated persons, to whom he replied, "Cursed be that unity for which the truth of the Gospel must be sacrificed."

What did Vatican II change? Nothing in regards to their doctrine of salvation meted out piecemeal via the church and its sacramental system (yet never adequate to get one to heaven without further payment for sin in a self-invented, half-way house called "Purgatory"). Vatican II, in the spirit of ecumenicity, did give Catholics the right to regard other "Christian" churches as "separated brethren," rather than "heretics and schismatics."

"Evangelical" ecumenists jumped on this. It is compatible with their smorgasbord, cafeteria style theology, particularly evidenced in their doctrines of salvation and the church. They pick and choose from various ideas of men, theologians, and popular leaders like the Pope, even if these ideas run counter to the Word of God. Some Catholics think that they can do the same and remain in the Catholic Church without conflict with the episcopacy! What self-deception! Theirs is an authoritative Church: ours is an authoritative Bible. "Evangelical" ecumenists are to be challenged and confronted with the authoritative Word of God every bit as much as ecumenical Catholics.

We can not have a smorgasbord approach to salvation/ justification, as though this doctrine was not once for all settled in Christ and recorded authoritatively in God’s Word, the Bible. The truths of salvation are not negotiable.

The Issue of the Gospel

Parachurch ministries such as Campus Crusade, InterVarsity, Young Life, Focus on the Family, Promise Keepers, Prison Fellowship, the Navigators, etc., have all made contributions to the ecumenical cause. Despite any good that these have done, their basic nature is such that knowingly or unknowingly, they nurture ecumenism. And in some cases, by downplaying the importance and role of the local church in the believer’s life, they have undermined Christ’s major institution for edification and spiritual identity in this life.

And ecumenism is the spirit-of-the-age, the zeitgeist, that takes the name "Christian" and applies it to anything and everything that somehow associates itself with Jesus Christ. Forgotten are the words of our Lord who said, "Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out demons? And in thy name done many wonderful works?’ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity" (Mt. 7: 22-23).

Did you note: many called Him "Lord;" "they prophesied in His name;" they even did miraculous things "in his name." Today, we would make them Christian heroes and see to it that they had heavily endowed television ministries. But Jesus will say, "I never knew you!" No spirit of ecumenism in Christ: in fact, just the opposite, a spirit of exclusivism. He did not say, "I am a way to God." He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father except by me" (John 14:6). Is that not exclusive? And please observe: the way to the Father is not the church, but the very person of our Lord Jesus Christ.

When our Lord prayed "that they all may be one" (John 17:21), he did not have organic unity in mind; rather, a spiritual unity, for he says, "That they may be one as thou, Father, in me, and I in you , that they may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou has sent me." As there is a spiritual unity in the Godhead, such is the case in the Body of Christ. We who have been born-again are one spiritually in Christ.

But this oneness in Christ is not a basis for organic unity. Organic unity results invariably in an ecclesiastical/ political machine. Local churches, microcosms of the Body of Christ, are to be independent and autonomous. Fellowship with others of like mind, yes: organic unity, no.

And what of the Gospel in this ecumenical mindset? Ask ten "evangelical" leaders the means of salvation and you are liable to get ten different answers. Consider these responses to the question, "What must I do to be saved?":

"Repent, believe, and persevere in the faith;"

"Ask the Lord Jesus into your heart;"

"Pray the sinners prayer;"

"Make Jesus Lord of your life;"

"Give your heart to God;"

"Make a personal commitment to Christ;"

"Repent and be baptized;"

"Put Christ on the throne of your life;"

"Pray to receive Christ;"

"Get baptized and join the church."

Sound familiar? All of us in evangelical circles have heard these and similar misleading appeals.

My point is this: even within professing Christendom’s Bible centered churches, a confusing message of salvation is being propagated. The answer to life’s most serious question, "What must I do to be saved?", is garbled! Amazing… and very disconcerting. To this very question, the Apostle Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved" (Acts 16:31). Either Paul "hit the nail on the head" or he was confused!

Would you answer the question as did Paul, or has modern evangelicalism confused your under-standing of the Gospel and the response to it that God expects from men?

A Window of Opportunity: Clarifying the Gospel

Someone has well said, "The light shines most brightly when things are darkest." Ours is the opportunity to propagate the light of the glorious Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ against this scenario of darkness and confusion. The window of opportunity is wide open. Let us clarify the issue.

This series of articles began with Job’s question of old, "How can a man be right before God?" (Job 9:2, NASV). The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is God’s authoritative answer. The Apostle Paul calls it "the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24); "the Gospel of His Son" (Rom. 1:9); "the glorious Gospel of Christ" (2Cor. 4:4); "the Gospel of your salvation" (Eph. 1:13); "the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2Thess. 1:8); "the glorious Gospel of the blessed God" (1Tim. 1:11).

"Gospel" (euaggelion/ euaggelion) simply means "good news." Paul then is referring to the "good news" of the grace of God, the good news of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ; the good news of salvation that is found only in Christ. Particularly in view is what He accomplished in His death at Calvary.

This Gospel is objective. It concerns itself with objective (and historical) facts. These facts pertain to the person who died (the Lord Jesus Christ), to the resurrection of that person, and to the purpose of God in that death and resurrection.

Let the words of Paul speak for themselves:

Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you – unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. (1 Cor. 15:1-4)

Clarifying the Gospel

Paul is clarifying the Gospel for the Corinthians. There were those who were denying the future resurrection of our physical bodies. If true, that would mean that Christ had not risen. And if he had not risen, then an intrinsic element of the Gospel was not true. Therefore, the Gospel that they had believed was empty: meaning, they had believed in vain. But, the Gospel declares otherwise as Paul goes on to clarify.

The importance of Paul’s clarification here is that it was by this Gospel that the Corinthians were saved! Likewise with us.

Please observe the details of this saving Gospel:

1. First: It was Christ that died. "Christ" is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew "Messiah." Sub-summed under that name is the fact that Messiah is the unique "Son of God;" that is, deity manifested in human flesh. Jesus’ claim to this truth caused the High Priest and the Jewish Sanhedrin to condemn him to death (Mt. 26: 63-66).¹

The title, Christ (Messiah), carries with it all the significance of WHO it was that died: Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. He is the Lord. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who died. Salvation then is embodied in His name associated with his death.² Jesus as Lord is part and parcel of this message: but the emphasis is upon WHO died, not on the hearer’s responsibility to make him Lord. The name which indicates the full identity of Messiah associated with his expiatory death is what brings salvation. Lordship salvationists misapply this.³

2. Second: Christ died for our sins. It was "on behalf of," "for," or "in reference to" our sins that He died.⁴ Here the reason for His death is in focus. He could not have died for (or because of) His sins, for He had none.

The big question is this: Did His death satisfy completely the issue of sin that separated us from God? Did He get the job done? Proof that He did from God the Father’s point of view is that He raised Him from the dead. God is said to be propitiated, satisfied, with the death of His Son. In fact, God’s Word states that Christ is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2). Proof that He did from Christ’s point of view is that He said "It is finished" (John 19:30).⁵We express our satisfaction by simply trusting, relying on, having faith in the death of Christ for our sins as God’s only answer to the sin question.

In this regard, no repentance, no faith, no sorrow, no grief, no feeling, no good resolutions, no submission to rules, ordinances or regulations of any church can add in the least degree to the value of the finished work of Christ for our sins. His death is efficacious. Are you settled on this issue, or are you in a system that has you paying for your sins (as though that were possible)? If you or any ritual could atone for sin, then why did Christ die?

3. Third: Christ not only died, He was resurrected. We do not serve a dead, impotent Savior. The resurrection is part of the Gospel; the good news of what God has accomplished relative to our sins and our relationship to Himself. Like a cancelled check, the resurrection is proof that the price has been paid.

4. Fourth: Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection were "according to the Scriptures." That is: His cross work was not an accident. Neither God nor Christ was taken by surprise. It was all part of the plan of God for the redemption of sinners foreshadowed and predicted in the Old Testament. Christ is indeed "The lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Rev.13:8).

Salvation is totally of God. It all emanates from Him. Man is the object of salvation, not its originator. Human merit is cast aside in God’s saving plan. We merited hell; Christ gains us heaven. This salvation is totally by the grace of God, not of works (human merit), thus eliminating any possibility of human boasting, arrogance and pride. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2: 8,9 NKJV).

Man’s Response to the Gospel: Human Responsibility

To this Gospel, this message of good news, God expects men to respond by faith. Men are to put their trust in what God says that He has accomplished in Christ. It is that simple. We are to rest confidently in what Christ accomplished in his cross/death. What we could not do–overcome sin and the satanic forces of sin-–He did at Calvary.

The Apostle John said, "And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:30,31).

To the question "What must I do to be saved?," Paul replied, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved…" (Acts 16: 31).

Preaching in Antioch, Paul declared, "Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through this Man is preached to you the forgiveness of sins; and by Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38,39).

John repeatedly emphasizes that eternal life is the result of belief (trust) in this saving Christ:

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life… he who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16, 18)

Note that the one condemned is so because he has not believed.

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name… (John 1:11-12)

The New Testament consistently emphasizes that in order to be saved, mankind is to believe (trust) solely in the Gospel. What about repentance? Repentance simply means "a change of mind." One cannot believe the Gospel, that describes how Christ efficaciously bore our sins, without having a change of mind relative to that issue. In other words, if one believes the Gospel, he/she has already repented.

Justification, the theme of this text, is the product of man’s personal faith in the right object. Trust Christ and Him alone. Trust nothing more and nothing less… AND YOU, TOO, WILL BE NUMBERED WITH THOSE WHO IN GOD’S WORD ARE SAID TO BE "JUSTIFIED BY FAITH."

SOLA GRACIA – BY GRACE ALONE!

SOLA CHRISTO – BY CHRIST ALONE!

SOLA FIDE – BY FAITH ALONE!

SOLA SCRIPTURA – BY THE SCRIPTURES ALONE!

Amen and amen! So be it forever. ¢

Footnotes:

^{1 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!" Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death." Mt.26:63-66, NKJV.

^{2 Peter and the Apostles make this clear in their early preaching: "let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:10-12, NKJV). The name which indicates the full identity of Messiah associated with his expiatory death is what brings salvation.
See also Acts 10:39-43, which reads in part: "And we are witnesses of all things which He did both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem, whom they killed by hanging on a tree. Him God raised up on the third day, and showed Him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with Him after He arose from the dead. And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins." There are 31 references to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Book of Acts.
^{3 It is in this sense that Paul speaks of "confessing the Lord Jesus" in Rom.10:9. Christ’s name and its significance is intrinsic to the Gospel. Notice once again how Christ’s name is associated with his expiatory death in that very context: "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9,10, NKJV). The only condition for salvation is belief (trust, confidence) in the Gospel. Lordship sanctification: yes. Lordship salvation: No.}}4 The preposition is huper (uper), commonly used as a preposition of substitution. See Hebs. 5: 1,3; 7: 27; 9:7; 10:12 "to make sacrifice for… "

5 "It is finished" translates tetelestai (tetelestai), a perfect tense, indicative mode, verb indicating the finality of his sacrificial death and its abiding results. The writer to the Hebrew Christians expresses it this way: "But this man (Christ), after that he had offered one sacrifice for sin for ever, sat down on the right hand of God" (Heb. 10:12). "It is finished," "He sat down," means the work that accomplishes salvation is done.}

All ten articles of this series will be published in book form in early 2000. Look for it!