6 perspectives to hold onto

There are some important tensions that will affect the formation of convictions, not least ethical ones, in an understanding informed by Biblical perspectives. I would suggest 6 tensions that are, at times, in danger of being lost in some strains of current debate:

1. faith as a subscription to an invitation vs faith as a transfer of allegiance

We live in a consumer society, where an invitation to invest is dominated with the notion of the right or opportunity to consume. At the same time, the legacy of 19th century revivalism, stretching through to the present, highlights an 'invitation to receive'. Together, these convictional perspectives can conspire to frame the call to faith as an opportunity to subscribe or accept an offer: usually, in terms of the Gospel, an offer to receive the unmerited love of God, free and unconditional forgiveness.

There is a tension between this and an understanding of faith built on a transfer of allegiance that implies or requires a renunciation of old allegiance. This perspective emphasises the pivotal place of baptism as an enactment of 'death to self' and a conscious consecration to the new life that is in Christ: arguably the raison d'etre of the the call to an expression of repentance, as well as faith.

2. cheap grace vs costly grace

It is normal, across a constituency that describes itself as baptist and evangelical, to accept that our salvation is the consequence of God's costly grace, in that our salvation is the result of Christ's costly self-giving of himself. It is less common to emphasise that this leads the Christian into making costly commitments: that becoming a Christian will not be easy or without painful consequences for each or any of us, in terms of our acceptability or popularity within the dominant culture in which we find ourselves living.


3. Christ's humanity as incidental vs emphasising hIs participation in it

Incarnation describes the human 'enfleshment' of the Word of God, in the becomingness of the Son of God to participate in our condition and predicament. This implies that we are called to enter into a way of being human that represents and replicates the character and intentionality of Jesus Christ in our lives. An emphasis on the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on behalf of humanity, that does not present and preserve this insistence of a shared humanity, is in danger of presenting a skewed and inadequate perspective on the Christian life and the requirements and perspectives of God towards us.


4. Living lives as isolated individuals vs persons in committed community.


The prominent value placed on the the individual in western, Enlightenment thinking is not necessarily compatible with a perspective emphasising persons existing within and as part of community. Commandments from God, framed in both Old and New Testament settings, assume and stress the importance of community for the existence and development of a humanity that reflects the glory and goodness of God. Community is meant to shape us as people, as much as we are to play our part in shaping community.


5. assimilation into dominant culture vs establishing a counter-cultural

A desire to attract people to Jesus can be counter productive, where we fail to be true to Jesus. Salt and light; yeast in the dough: these are metaphors for a way of living that represents our bringing a different ingredient into the wider society we are part of, rather than assimilating and seeking approval by that society.


6. Gospel as a philosophy and worldview vs transformational power

Words without power come easily. Purposeful power that demands explanation, as manifested by Jesus and the apostolic church, requires the presence and the power of a holy God in our midst.

Think about these things. Hold on to them.