Salvation in the Synoptic Gospels
I received the latest edition of JETS (Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society) this week. The article that piqued my interest in this edition was, “The Gospel in the Gospels: Answering the Question ‘What Must I Do to Be Saved?’ from the Synoptics” by Edmund Neufeld (June 2008, vol 51.2, p. 267-296).
Neufeld suggests that there is a different view of salvation in the Synoptic gospels than what evangelicals have rallied around. Evangelicals proudly proclaim that we are saved by faith and not by works. Neufeld points out that the Synoptic gospels demonstrates a salvation that is based not on faith but on the act of obedience.
Neufeld argues that the question “How can I be saved?” actually encompasses three questions:
* “On what basis does a holy and just God grant me salvation?”
* “How does God act to graciously bring people to himself?”
* “What must I do?”
And it is this third question that Neufeld explores by looking at Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Neufeld suggests that there is indeed a work that we need to do, and that this work is obedience. While Christians are so scared of the word “works”, he suggests that when we juxtapose “grace” and “works” we are in fact contrasting “grace” and “merit”. We do nothing to earn the salvation that God has so graciously offered us, but we must act (“work”) in response to the grace.
Neufeld walks through each of the Synoptic gospels as if there were three people reading one of each without having access to any other NT writings.
For example, in Matthew, a reader would discover:
“That one accesses the saving of Jesus by repentance, baptism and confession.”
“Escaping judgment hinges not on ancestry but on bearing fruit worthy of repentence.”
“There is room for process, for Jesus’ people have poverty of spirit, they mourn this poverty, and they need the Father’s forgiveness daily.”
“The Father enables obedience, for those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be satisfied…”
“People enter by giving Jesus complete loyalty, by choosing him over family and possessions and life itself. They show their allegiance by obeying what he taught…” (p.271-279)
In his concluding summary, Neufeld makes this stark point:
“The NT never separates trusting Christ from obeying Christ, never opposes faith to these obedient works; it never says or suggests that one is saved by believing in Christ rather than obeying him.”
It is this idea that makes me wonder how different our gospel message would be, how different our personal walks with Christ would be if we emphasized this call to obedience rather than a subjective feeling of “just believing”. Have we neutered the gospel and cheapened the grace that God has bestowed upon us by omitting the “work” of obedience?
Tags: ETS, soteriology, Theology
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