One of the trendy things that seems to come into vogue
lately among Protestants is the idea that you can be saved by simply professing
faith in Jesus Christ. Protestants use this argument to make the case that
sacraments are unnecessary. No need for baptism, chrismation, regular
participation in the Eucharist, anointing of the sick, or reconciliation. I’m
curious where this idea originated. It seems to have caught on quite recently and
spread like wildfire through the Protestant faith communities. The proof they
provide to support this claim lies in the gospel of Luke and the confession of
the thief that was crucified with Christ.
And one of the
criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not
the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear
God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving what
we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You
come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say
to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”
- Luke 23: 39-43
As the argument goes, the thief wasn’t baptized and took
part in no other sacraments and yet was saved, so that should be good enough
for us.
One of the hallmarks of the Protestant movement seems to
be a complete ignorance of Christian history. There are no new heresies, just
variations on old ones that are often as ancient as Christianity itself. This
particular case resembles the heresy of Pelagius in the fifth century which was
condemned in the Second Council of Ephesus in 431.
The salvation of the thief was never intended to be a
model for the salvation of all the faithful. It must be understood within the
context of Scripture. To start with we must consider the story of the widow's
offering:
And He sat down
opposite the treasury, and began observing how the multitude were putting money
into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. And a poor
widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. And
calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor
widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put
in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all
she had to live on.”
- Mark 12: 41-44
The
thief had nothing to provide except his faith. He couldn’t
spread the gospel, be a living example to others, raise children in the faith, participate in
the Eucharist, or in any way be a member of the early Christian community. His
profession was the final act of a dying man. Should you be lucky enough to be
executed alongside the Christ, it’s probably all you would need, too.
We should also consider the parable of the
laborers in the vineyard:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a
landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And
when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them
into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing
idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard,
and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out
about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the
eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he *said to them,
‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They *said to him,
‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’ And
when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call
the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the
first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a
denarius. And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive
more; and they also received each one a denarius. And when they received it,
they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one
hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching
heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing
you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ‘Take what is yours and
go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ‘Is it not
lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious
because I am generous?’ Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.”
- Matt 20: 1-16
The good thief was most certainly one of the last. His life was at its end, he
would be dead within hours. And yet he would be the first Christian to join
Christ in heaven, and indeed one of the first saints of the church. But his example in the extremis of torture and death is not -
and never has been - the blueprint for salvation. For those who profess that it
is, they ignore Scripture at their peril. Jesus himself commanded his apostles
to baptize the faithful:
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given
to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy
Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with
you always, even to the end of the age.”
- Matt 28: 18-20
The importance of baptism cannot be understated. Even Jesus
refrained from beginning his ministry until his own baptism by his cousin John
in the River Jordan, which is recounted in all four Gospels:
Then Jesus arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized
by him. But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized
by You, and do You come to me?” But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at
this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
Then he *permitted Him. And after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately
from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and he saw the Spirit of
God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, and behold, a voice out of the
heavens, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
- Matt3: 13-17
Indeed, Jesus emphasizes this to his Apostles. Are we to put ourselves above the Apostles?
And gathering them
together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the
Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; for John baptized
with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from
now.”
- Acts 1: 4-5
The ancient rite of baptism is performed by full immersion
in water, symbolizing death and resurrection. We are born anew in baptism, as
faithful followers of Christ. It’s not a solitary act, but a community event in
which all of the faithful participate to recognize and welcome the newly
illuminated into the church. In the ancient church and today in the Eastern
Orthodox baptism was accompanied by an exorcism and absolution. The Sacrament
of baptism isn’t the final act of salvation, but the first step of a lifetime
of seeking perfection. As we continue to live our lives, it is in our nature to
sin. The purity of the newly illumined in baptism must be regularly renewed by
the sacrament of reconciliation. It’s said that we are purified by the holy
waters of baptism, and that the purification is regularly renewed by the
baptism of tears in the sacrament of reconciliation.
As members of the Christian community we are obligated to
perfect our understanding of the faith through regular participation in the
liturgy. In the early church the liturgy of the Word was literally preaching
and homilies by the eyewitnesses who had traveled with Christ. As time passed
and the church communities became more numerous in the eyewitnesses succumbed
to their repose, extemporaneous sermons gave way to reading the accounts from
the Gospels, accompanied by sermons to place those gospel stories in context
and relate them to everyday Christian living. The liturgy of the word was
accompanied by the sacrament of the Eucharist which the earliest Christians
understood was the literal transubstantiation of simple bread and wine into the
literal body and blood of Jesus Christ. This understanding survives today in
the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic traditions. The celebration of the
sacrament of the Eucharist is not merely a symbolic act. Its source is in Scripture:
And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He
broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of Me.” And in the same way He took the cup after they
had eaten, saying, “This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in
My blood.
- Luke 22: 19-20
Christ didn’t say that this is like my body, or that this represents
my body. He specifically said this is my body and that this is my
blood. The miracle of the Eucharist is repeated weekly across the world as the
Holy Spirit changes simple bread and wine into the literal body and blood of
our Savior. This is what the ancient Christians believed and practiced all the
way back to the mass of St. James the Greater, apostle of Christ. If you have a
theological problem with that I suggest you take it up with the apostle James.
The sacraments are a vital part of our Christian life, to
be illumined and to grow closer to God as individuals and participate in play
our role as members of the body of Christ on earth, as described by St. Paul in
his letters to the Romans and to the Corinthians. Salvation is a process, and
faith is a community activity centered around the sacraments. One does not take
a small lump of iron and proclaim, “Behold the sword!” The sword is forged through
a process of cleansing fire and cooling water, shaped by the craftsman to
perfection. Likewise, one does not proclaim oneself a Christian and thereby
claim salvation without participating in the lifelong process of perfection with
the goal of eternal theosis — the unification with our Creator.
