Where They Stand, and Fall


The Gift of Salvation

On November 13, 1997, ecumenical Christian humanists (1) published their second manifesto, entitled THE GIFT OF SALVATION.  This new document is largely the formal response to the negative reactions (Protestants, Independent, and some Catholics) generated by their first ecumenical declaration of March 29, 1994, entitled EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS TOGETHER (ECT). (2)

Both the documents and signers represent an effort to establish common ground and ecumenical solidarity primarily amongst the Anglo-Catholic denominations (3).  However, the content and wording are heavily weighted in the direction of making Catholicism acceptable to those outside the Catholic fold, rather that the other way around.

While some may disagree, reference to the term "Evangelical" in this context primarily means "non-sacramental," and should not be equated with the large numbers of Christians who historically have not shared this group's humanist philosophy (4).

We have inserted our comments between the various paragraphs of the document shown in the maroon text below.   


THE GIFT OF SALVATION

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God sent the  Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him." (John 3:16,17)

We give thanks to God that in recent years many Evangelicals and Catholics, ourselves among them, have been able to express a common faith in Christ and so to acknowledge one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. We confess together one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; we confess Jesus Christ the Incarnate Son of God; we affirm the binding authority of Holy Scripture; God's inspired Word; and we acknowledge the Apostles' and Nicene creeds as faithful witnesses to that Word.

In our opinion, the "common faith" spoken of by this group in not biblical Christianity.  Rather it is a religious system, spanning numerous denominations, based on the presupposition that mankind possesses indeterministic freedom -- free will.  Its popularity, in part, is due to the vast influence and acceptance of 18th century Enlightenment thinking upon contemporary society (5).

The effectiveness of our witness for Christ depends upon the work of the Holy Spirit, who calls and empowers us to confess together the meaning of the salvation promised and accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Through prayer and study of Holy Scripture, and aided by the Church's reflection on the sacred text from earliest times, we have found that, notwithstanding some persistent and serious differences, we can together bear witness to the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. To this saving gift we now testify, speaking not for, but from and to, our several communities.

This paragraph seeks to bridge the gap between those whose basis of authority is Scripture alone versus those who trust in ecclesiastic (Roman Catholic) tradition.  The phrase "aided by the Church's reflection" is an attempt to soften Romanism's exclusivistic claim to authority through a misrepresentation (subterfuge) of Catholic dogma.  Those acquainted with church history in general, and Jesuit casuistry in particular, will immediately identify the ploy of magnifying apparent similarity and softening down manifest points of difference.  For the Bible-believing Christian, "prayer and study of Holy Scripture" within the context of the sovereign illumination of God the Holy Spirit (not church tradition) is the only guide for discerning truth and error (John 16:13).  For centuries, the Roman Catholic hierarchy has attempted to usurp the Guide.

God created us to manifest his glory and to give us eternal life in fellowship with himself, but our disobedience intervened and brought us under condemnation. As members of the fallen human race, we come into the world estranged from God and in a state of rebellion. This original sin is compounded by our personal acts of sinfulness. The catastrophic consequences of sin are such that we are powerless to restore the ruptured bonds of union with God. Only in the light of what God has done to restore our fellowship with him do we see the full enormity of our loss. The gravity of our plight and the greatness of God's love are brought home to us by the life, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Given the record, readers should not be misled into thinking these authors' use of the word "powerless" to mean that man lacks free will, i.e., indeterministic freedom.  For them, Christ's "life, suffering, death, and resurrection" was adequate to "restore the ruptured bonds of union with God" thus making it possible for mankind to exercise their free will and thus save themselves.  To underscore the point, they again quote John 3:16 and judiously avoid biblical verses like "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him..." (John 6:44a) or "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy." (Romans 9:16).

God the Creator is also God the Redeemer, offering salvation to the world. "God desires all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth." (I Timothy 2:4) The restoration of communion with God is absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ, true God and true man, for he is "the one mediator between God and men" (I Timothy 2:5), and "there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus said, "No one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6). He is the holy and righteous one who was put to death for our sins, "the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God" (I Peter 3:18).

For these evangelicals and Catholics, God is not allowed to show favor toward certain men in particular.  They are like the workers spoken about in Matthew 20:11.  Under their politically-correct doctrine, God can only universally "offer" all mankind an opportunity to save themselves.   Their answer to His statement "Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own..." is, "No"!  This erroneous anti-grace doctrine coupled with indeterministic free will has been answered for centuries.  Yet, it still is an effective snare.

The New Testament speaks of salvation in various ways. Salvation is ultimate or eschatological rescue from sin and its consequences, the final state of safety and glory to which we are brought in both body and soul. "Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God." "Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed" (Romans 5:9, 13:11). Salvation is also a present reality. We are told that "he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy" (Titus 3:5). The present reality of salvation is an anticipation and foretaste of salvation in its promised fullness.

Always it is clear that the work of redemption has been accomplished by Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us." (Galatians 3:13). Scripture describes the consequences of Christ's redemptive work in several ways, among which are: justification, reconciliation, restoration of friendship with God, and rebirth from above by which we are adopted as children of God and made heirs of the Kingdom. "When the time had fully come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)

Justification is central to the scriptural account of salvation, and its meaning has been much debated between Protestants and Catholics. We agree that justification is not earned by any good works or merits of our own; it is entirely God's gift, conferred through the Father's sheer graciousness, out of the love that he bears us in his Son, who suffered on our behalf and rose from the dead for our justification. Jesus was "put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification" (Romans 4:25). In justification, God, on the basis of Christ's righteousness alone, declares us to be no longer his rebellious enemies but his forgiven friends, and by virtue of his declaration it is so.

The New Testament makes it clear that the gift of justification is received through faith, "By grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God" (Ephesians 2:8). By faith, which is also the gift of God, we repent of our sins and freely adhere to the gospel, the good news of God's saving work for us in Christ. By our response of faith to Christ, we enter into the blessings promised by the gospel. Faith is not merely intellectual assent but an act of the whole person, involving the mind, the will, and the affections, issuing in a changed life. We understand that what we here affirm is in agreement with what the Reformation traditions have meant by justification by faith alone (sola fide).

The new birth does not issue forth a "changed life."  God's way of redemption for the Christian is an "exchanged life."  The erroneous concept put forth above is the result of a deficient understanding of how God has dealt with the First Man - Adam and how He has recreated members of His body in the Last Adam - The Lord Jesus Christ.  We direct you to OUR HISTORY IN THE FIRST ADAM and OUR HISTORY IN THE LAST ADAM for a detailed explanation of biblical redemption.

In justification we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, through whom the love of God is poured forth into our hearts (Romans 5:5). The grace of Christ and the gift of the Spirit received through faith (Galatians 3:14) are experienced and expressed in diverse ways by different Christians and in different Christian traditions, but God's gift is never dependent upon our human experience or our ways of expressing that experience.

The authors' use of "different" above is fully inclusive.  For them, the Body of Christ equates to nearly all of organized Christendom. While there is room for diversity within the Body of Christ, the statement above totally fails to acknowledge the existence of false doctrine or false teachers.  For them, the Holy Spirit's statement via Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 is offensive and an embarrassment.  They ask, "Who could he have been talking about?"  "To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).  We do well to remember that it is the Holy Spirit that finds expression in Christ's Body.

While faith is inherently personal, it is not a purely private possession but involves participation in the body of Christ. By baptism we are visibly incorporated into the community of faith and committed to a life of discipleship. "We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" (Romans 6:4).

Here is the serious error of equating water baptism with the Spirit's baptism.  Romans 6:4 speaks of spiritual baptism which takes place when we are born from above, born-again and has nothing to do with water.  Failure to make this distinction opens wide the door to various forms of erroneous doctrine of baptismal regeneration.  For more detail, see the article Baptism?

By their faith and baptism, Christians are bound to live according to the law of love in obedience to Jesus Christ the Lord. Scripture calls this the life of holiness, or sanctification. "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God." (II Corinthians 7:1) Sanctification is not fully accomplished at the beginning of our life in Christ, but is progressively furthered as we struggle, with God's grace and help, against adversity and temptation. In this struggle we are assured that Christ's grace will be sufficient for us, enabling us to persevere to the end. When we fail, we can still turn to God in humble repentance and confidently ask for, and receive, his forgiveness.

Failing to grasp the essence of the Gospel of Grace, they correctly identify their sanctification as "struggle".  Their adherence to Law confines their experience to the realm of Romans 2:17-24 and Romans 7:8-15.  Their "life of holiness" is spiritual adultery -- Romans 7:4.

We may therefore have assured hope for the eternal life promised to us in Christ. As we have shared in his sufferings, we will share in his final glory. "We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (I John 3:2) While we dare not presume upon the grace of God, the promise of God in Christ is utterly reliable, and faith in that promise overcomes anxiety about our eternal future. We are bound by faith itself to have firm hope, to encourage one another in that hope, and in such hope we rejoice. For believers "through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation to be revealed in the last time." (I Peter 1:5)

Thus it is that as justified sinners we have been saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved. All this is the gift of God. Faith issues in a confident hope for a new heaven and a new earth in which God's creating and redeeming purposes are gloriously fulfilled. "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:9-11).

For the Christian humanist, his assurance is contingent upon his faith -- which soon becomes no assurance.  As Lewis Sperry Chafer mused, "It is thus demonstrated that the erroneous exaltation of human ability [free will] in the beginning becomes man's effectual undoing in the end. Over against this, the man who is totally incompetent [lost and unable to save himself], falling into the hands of God, who acts in sovereign grace, is saved and safe forever.  It is thus demonstrated that the erroneous exaltation of human ability [free will] in the beginning becomes man's effectual undoing in the end. Over against this, the man who is totally incompetent [lost and unable to save himself], falling into the hands of God, who acts in sovereign grace, is saved and safe forever."

As believers we are sent into the world and commissioned to be bearers of the good news, to serve one another in love, to do good to all, and to evangelize everyone everywhere. It is our responsibility and firm resolve to bring to the whole world the tidings of God's love and of the salvation accomplished in our crucified, risen, and returning Lord. Many are in grave peril of being eternally lost because they do not know the way to salvation.

In obedience to the Great Commission of our Lord, we commit ourselves to evangelizing everyone. We must share the fullness of God's saving truth with all, including members of our several communities. Evangelicals must speak the gospel to Catholics and Catholics to Evangelicals, always speaking the truth in love, so that "working hard to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace...the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God" (Ephesians 4:3, 12-13).

Truly, those represented here share a faith in common -- Christian humanism.  However, the Arminian evangelicals, with their indeterministic free will, are viewed by their liturgical and sacramentalist "brothers" as spiritual paupers -- possessing the basics but missing all the blessed add-ons offered by the Roman system.  For an example, use your browser's find function to search for Richard John Neuhaus and J.I. Packer's comments regarding Bill Bright in  While We’re At It.

Moreover, we defend religious freedom for all. Such freedom is grounded in the dignity of the human person created in the image of God, and must be protected also in civil law.

This group would do well to call the Roman Catholic Church to accountability for their numerous violations of the religious freedoms of others both past and present.  For Catholics, this statement represents a grotesque hypocrisy given the various forms of persecution Bible-believing Christians have and are currently enduring at the hands of Catholics.

We must not allow our witness as Christians to be compromised by half-hearted discipleship or needlessly divisive disputes. While we rejoice in the unity we have discovered and are confident of the fundamental truths about the gift of salvation we have affirmed, we recognize that there are necessarily interrelated questions that require further and urgent exploration. Among such questions are these: the meaning of baptismal regeneration, the Eucharist, and sacramental grace; the historic uses of the language of justification as it relates to imputed and transformative righteousness; the normative status of justification in relation to all Christian doctrine; the assertion that while justification is by faith alone, the faith that receives salvation is never alone; diverse understandings of merit, reward, purgatory, and indulgences; Marian devotion and the assistance of the saints in the life of salvation; and the possibility of salvation for those who have not been evangelized.

Notice that the various doctrinal areas set aside for further scrutiny are largely Catholic dogma.  There is a reason for this, but we'll let the reader think about it.  This slippery slope all but guarantees that the ranks of Romanism will receive a landslide of new members.  For an example of how this journey is easily made by even those originally opposed to Catholicism, see our THE NEW CATHOLIC EVANGELIZATION.

On these and other questions, we recognize that there are also some differences within both the Evangelical and Catholic communities. We are committed to examining these questions further in our continuing conversations. All who truly believe in Jesus Christ are brothers and sisters in the Lord and must not allow their differences, however important, to undermine this great truth, or to deflect them from bearing witness together to God's gift of salvation in Christ. "I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought" (I Corinthians 1:10)

As Evangelicals who thank God for the heritage of the Reformation and affirm with conviction its classic confessions, as Catholics who are conscientiously faithful to the teaching of the Catholic Church, and as disciples together of the Lord Jesus Christ who recognize our debt to our Christian forebears and our obligations to our contemporaries and those who will come after us, we affirm our unity in the gospel that we have here professed. In our continuing discussions, we seek no unity other than unity in the truth. Only unity in the truth can be pleasing to the Lord and Savior whom we together serve, for he is "the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6).

Christian humanism undermines the biblical message of the Gospel of Grace.  A deficient and inaccurate understanding of the ruin incurred in Adam's fall reinforces the deception that the creature was, is, or can be autonomous.  Contrary to Satan's tempt of Eve in the Garden, God alone is Autonomous.  As the author and advocate of rebellion, Satan has continued to deceive unregenerate mankind (and many regenerates as well!) into believing that they are indeed in modernist terms "absolutely free to choose their own destiny."   This stands in stark contrast to the Scriptural truth that mankind, born in the image of Adam (Genesis 5:3) is in bondage (slavery) to sin (Romans 6:17).  Satan has "blinded the minds" using the myth of free will, thus creating an obstacle to persuading sinners of their need for grace and mercy, as well as leading believers into new-creation-based, spiritual growth.

The seriousness of this error lies in the subtly of the deception.   The terrible fact remains that Roman Catholic theology and philosophy has produced nearly 1 billion adherents who know nothing of God's genuine grace and mercy, are filled with pride, and fervently work to earn merit and divine favor in a desperate hope to withstand coming judgment.  In contrast to the New Testament Epistles, the authors below have carefully avoided telling readers what they don't mean, since that would require the identification of error and work contrary to their ecumenical purpose.  THE GIFT OF SALVATION has been finely crafted so as to produce multiple meanings based on the angle from which the document is viewed.  We close with this warning by the Apostle Paul found in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-11:

The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.  They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion...

Evangelical Signers:

Dr. Gerald L. Bray (Beeson Divinity School)

Dr. Bill Bright (Campus Crusade for Christ)

Dr. Harold O.J. Brown (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)

Dr. Charles Colson (Prison Fellowship Ministries)

Bishop Williams C. Frey (Episcopal Church)

Dr. Timothy George (Beeson Divinity School)

Dr. Os Guinness (The Trinity Forum)

Dr. Kent R. Hill (Eastern Nazarene College)

Dr. Richard Land (Christian Life Commission)

Rev. Max Lucado (Oak Hills Church of Christ, San Antonio, TX)

Dr. T.M. Moore (Chesapeake Theological Seminary)

Dr. Richard Mouw (Fuller Theological Seminary)

Dr. Mark A. Noll (Wheaton College)

Mr. Brian O'Connell (Interdev)

Dr. Thomas Oden (Drew University)

Dr. James J.I. Packer (Regent College, British Columbia)

Dr. Timothy R. Phillips (Wheaton College)

Dr. John Rodgers (Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry)

Dr. John Woodbridge (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School)

Roman Catholic Signers:

Father James J. Buckley (Loyola College in Maryland)

Father J.A. Di Noia, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies)

Father Avery Dulles, S.J. (Fordham University)

Father Thomas Guarino (Seton Hall University)

Dr. Peter Kreeft (Boston College)

Father Matthew L. Lamb (Boston College)

Father Eugene La Verdiere, S.S.S. (Emmanuel)

Father Francis Martin (John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and

Family)

Mr. Ralph Martin (Renewal Ministries)

Father Richard John Neuhaus (Religion and Public Life)

Mr. Michael Novak (American Enterprise Institute)

Father Edward Oakes, S.J. (Regis University)

Father Thomas P. Rausch, S.J. (Loyola Marymount University)

Mr. George Weigel (Ethics and Public Policy Center)

Dr. Robert Louis Wilken (University of Virginia)


For a more general overview of THE GIFT OF SALVATION see EVANGELICALS AND CATHOLICS CONFUSING THE GIFT OF SALVATION.


  1. Christian humanism is a pseudo-form of Christianity built upon a deficient view of the Fall.  In today's modernist society, it represents a large percentage of established Christendom.  Christian humanists believe, more or less, in indeterministic "free will," which uphold the natural man's pretension not to be entirely lost (Matthew 9:12).  For Catholics, free will was never lost in the Fall; for several of these Evangelicals, free will was restored via the erroneous doctrine of common grace.   As such, "free will" undermines the biblical concept of grace, leaves pride intact, and forms the foundation for works-oriented religion.

  2. The list of original signers were: PARTICIPANTS: Mr. Charles Colson Prison Fellowship Fr. Juan Diaz-Vilar, S.J. Catholic Hispanic Ministries Fr. Avery Dulles, S.J. Fordham University Bishop Francis George, OMI Diocese of Yakima (Washington) Dr. Kent Hill Eastern Nazarene College Dr. Richard Land Christian Life Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention Dr. Larry Lewis Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention Dr. Jesse Miranda Assemblies of God Msgr. William Murphy Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Boston Fr. Richard John Neuhaus Institute on Religion and Public Life Mr. Brian O'Connell World Evangelical Fellowship Mr. Herbert Schlossberg Fieldstead Foundation Archbishop Francis Stafford Archdiocese of Denver Mr. George Weigel Ethics and Public Policy Center Dr. John White Geneva College and the National Association of EvangelicalsENDORSED BY: Dr. William Abraham Perkins School of Theology Dr. Elizabeth Achtemeier Union Theological Seminary (Virginia) Mr. William Bentley Ball Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Dr. Bill Bright Campus Crusade for Christ Professor Robert Destro Catholic University of America Fr. Augustine DiNoia, O.P. Dominican House of Studies Fr. Joseph P. Fitzpatrick, S.J. Fordham University Mr. Keith Fournier American Center for Law and Justice Bishop William Frey Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry Professor Mary Ann Glendon Harvard Law School Dr. Os Guinness Trinity Forum Dr. Nathan Hatch University of Notre Dame Dr. James Hitchcock St. Louis University Professor Peter Kreeft Boston College Fr. Matthew Lamb Boston College Mr. Ralph Martin Renewal Ministries Dr. Richard Mouw Fuller Theological Seminary Dr. Mark Noll Wheaton College Mr. Michael Novak American Enterprise Institute John Cardinal O'Connor Archdiocese of New York Dr. Thomas Oden Drew University Dr. James J. I. Packer Regent College (British Columbia) The Rev. Pat Robertson Regent University Dr. John Rodgers Trinity Episcopal School for Ministry Bishop Carlos A. Sevilla, S.J. Archiocese of San Francisco

  3. Family TiesThese Anglo-Catholic denominations all share in a deficient view of the Fall and an indeterministic philosophy.  Beginning with Roman Catholicism, this doctrinal heresy has been passed down through ecclesiastical history.  As a loose-knit 'family,' the youngest heirs have come full circle.  Efforts now focus on tightening the circle.

  4. "...Scripture surely teaches human freedom, [however] it does not state what kind of freedom is in view.  Thus, one must turn to philosophical discussion for an explanation of the ways in which human freedom can be understood."  "...I think the final decision must ultimately be based on scriptural concerns." John S. Feinberg

  5. Professor Thomas A. Langford (Duke University), who also shares this "common faith," candidly summaries, "More revolutionary for the West than the Reformation, which continued to accept the dominant assumptions of medieval life, the Enlightenment challenged inherited convictions about God and affirmed the radical independence and competent rationality of human beings.  Hence autonomous rational people came to be the chief assured reality."  Biblical interpretation for Christian humanists is based on the presupposition of this "chief assured reality."

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