Stanley J. Grenz writes, "As Christians we assert that religious experience- an encounter with the divine- is foundational to our self-identity. According to the biblical tradition, the goal of the human-divine encounter is the establishment of a community of people who stand in covenant with God. We enter that community through our faith response to the proclamation of the salvific action of God in Christ, symbolized by baptism. Hence, the experience of encountering God together with the conceptual framework which facilitates it are mediated to us by a religious community-the church- through it symbols, narratives and sacred documents." (Theology for the People of God, pg. 7)
This says the way in which each member of humanity comes to know their true self identity as a child of God is through the church. It also says that the way in which we encounter God himself is through the church. All of this is mediated through Jesus. It is through the Jesus story or the biblical narrative that we get to see how God has revealed himself and interacts with humanity. The Bible is a road map for God's activity with people...his people, let it be Israel or the church.
The church functions to create a community of Christ followers in order to continue making a community of Christ followers. Yes, this sounds circular and it is, sort of, but it is not a catch 22. Here the "circle" has God as it impetus . He is the source of church and the sustainer there of. God's goal is to gather a "redeemed people living within a renewed creation enjoying fellowship with the Triune God."(Grenz, Created For Community, pg. 257) God is the trigger point at which the activities of the church start. So to say this is circle may be incorrect, but the idea of a corkscrew or spiral maybe more accurate.
It is with this in mind that Grenz goes on to point out that the theologians of the church community are the guides for the framework through which the church community facilitates the human-divine encounter. Also, he says every Christian is a theologian! Every "member a minister," they say, every believer a theologian, Grenz says. This is not as catchy, but just as true.
2 comments:
I like this quote from Grenz. It falls into what I'm currently reading in Stone. But just a word of clarification.
Grenz writes, "We enter that community through our faith response to the proclamation of the salvific action of God in Christ, symbolized by baptism."
You write, "This says the way in which each member of humanity comes to know their true self identity as a child of God is through the church."
I just want to clarify that the Ecclesia doesn't save people. God saves people. We come to community "through our faith response to the proclamation of the salvific action of God in Christ." This is not to say that such proclamation doesn't happen, can't happen, and shouldn't happen in and through the Ecclesia. But, only to point out that Grenz does talk in a sequential manner, that is salvation leads us into community.
Now, I'm trying to draw a hard and fast line here. I just want to make sure that we are always careful to not be mistaken as saying that it is the community that is salvific. The community can and does proclaim salvation. Salvation can happen within the community. But, the salvific action of God is in and through Christ.
The church can't save anyone. Only God can save.
Hey man thanks for input.
Just for the record I never said the church or community could or would save people. You have to take the paragraph as a whole, both Grenz and mine. Otherwise we run into all kinds of interpretative problems.
Anyway, there is a difference between salvation and sanctification, between being reborn and growth. Yes, only Jesus saves! But, and I believe this was Grenz’s point, it is within the context of community that a believer’s identity (who they are as a child of God) is developed and moves towards maturity. Likewise, it is the church’s task to inform humanity of the work of God in Christ.
The church exists to serve God and bring about his mission of reconciliation. Salvation is the purview of God and God alone, he uses the community of faith as an active agent on the earth.
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