1.
“The Problem of Religion in Theology”
Only
God can establish the reality and even the possibility of objectively and even
subjectively revealing himself to us. But God really does reveal himself to us
in concrete forms which we may experience. We may even compare these forms with
other religious forms. But when we do so, the question we must ask ourselves is
this: do we understand God’s revelation in terms of universal religious
phenomena or do we understand all human religions, including Christianity, in
terms of God’s revelation? In Latin Christendom during the 1500s, freedom in
theology meant freedom to understand Jesus Christ as Lord. By the 1800s,
freedom in theology came to mean freedom from confessing Jesus Christ as
Lord. With this came the substitution of ourselves for Jesus Christ as the
starting point of our talk about God. But if we are rightly to understand both
revelation and religion, we must again begin with Jesus Christ and understand
religion in relation to him.
2.
“Religion as Unbelief”
If
we look at religion from the standpoint of the revelation to which Scripture
bears witness, we must say that religion actually is unbelief because it is
both idolatry and self-righteousness.
Religion
is idolatry. Scripture tells us that God does not reveal himself to us in
response to our faith. He reveals himself to us despite our sinful religious
unbelief and in so doing creates faith. In religion, humans talk; with
revelation, humans hear and obey God’s living Word. Religion, then, is not
human cooperation with God but a human substitute for God. It is an idol which
does not point to God but falls before him.
Religion
is self-righteousness. Jesus Christ reconciled us with God. Our faith, itself a
gift from God, is simply our grateful acknowledgment of this. It is simply our
recognition that Christ took our sin upon himself and gave us his
righteousness. In contrast, religion is our attempt to reconcile God with us.
Religion as self-righteousness, then, does not lead to God because it is
contradicted by God’s gift of justification and sanctification revealed in
Christ.
3.
“True Religion”
Only
by grace is Christianity more than idolatry and self-righteousness and apart
from grace that’s all it is. In Jesus Christ the Word of God became flesh. In
doing so, he revealed God to man and reconciled us with God. From him comes the Holy Spirit by whose power we may participate in the one Church as
children of God. In Jesus Christ, or by God’s grace, we may affirm in our
hearts and with our lips that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Christianity
is the one true religion when we Christians together confess the lordship of
Jesus Christ. Apart from that name, we as members of his body are nothing. If
we continue to confess his name, it is only because God first has continued to
elect us as those who may do so. If God justifies Christianity alone, it is
only because in Christ alone we have received an unmerited yet unconditional
forgiveness which extends to the one religion named after him in order to
vindicate his name for the sake of all people. And if by grace God has
justified Christianity, he has sanctified it as well.
Copyright © 2019 by Steven Farsaci.
All rights reserved. Fair use encouraged.
