wfn.org | Exploring CCM's beliefs

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Note #7070 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

27-February-2002
02081

Exploring CCM's beliefs

Speakers note that confession poses living challenges for Christians

by Jerry L. Van Marter

ATLANTA - Theology professors from three Presbyterian Church (USA) seminaries explored the three essential tenets of the Confessing Church Movement (CCM) during its national celebration here Feb. 25-27.

Andrew Purves of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Bruce McCormack of Princeton Theological Seminary and Mark Achtemeier of Dubuque Theological Seminary explored the Biblical texts that undergird the CCM's affirmations that Jesus is the only way to salvation; that the Bible is the infallible word of God; and that God calls believers to holiness, including acceptance that marriage between a man and a woman is the only appropriate context for sexual relations.

 
Purves: "Jesus is Lord"

The Jesus of history cannot be separated from the Jesus of faith, Purves averred in his Feb. 25 address. "Because Jesus became flesh, we cannot treat him as a timeless ideal," he said. 

Jesus was "context-specific," he said, asking: "Are we evangelicals willing to accept that? We need to check out our understandings of the concrete historical contexts (of Jesus's life and ministry) ... because we are all prone to accommodate Jesus to our own agendas."

Moreover, Purves said, "We cannot separate the Jesus of history from the incarnation of God - Jesus is God's mission to the world. We cannot understand Jesus apart from 'Emmanuel' (divine good news)."

Separating the Jesus of faith from the Jesus of history "is a betrayal of the New Testament and of Jesus himself," he said. "Seminaries cannot teach Jesus of history apart from Jesus as Lord."

The ascension of Jesus is the "hinge on which all hangs," he said, because through ascension, "incarnation continues."

"Without the ascension," he said, "the Lordship of Christ is relegated to the past."

And it is through the ascension of Jesus that Christians participate in the "heavenly priesthood of Jesus," Purves said, which means:

* "We have access to the Father" - what the ascension means is that the life Jesus lived, and now lives with God, is also the (redeemed) life of humanity.

* "Jesus is our advocate and intercessor" - Christians ought to feel great peace and joy because "Jesus is pleading our case right now before the Father," and Jesus "covers us with his righteousness, so our communion with the Father can be maintained."

* "Jesus sends us his Holy Spirit" - "We are glued together, bonded, inseparable." Because God and Jesus are personal, their Holy Spirit is personal - "not an independent spiritual force apart from Jesus Christ."

Such union with Christ is eternal and beyond human imagination, Purves said, concluding: "We're skittish about the second coming, but I will thank God that Jesus is my judge, because he died for my sins and is praying me into communion with God. What is his will be mine; I will not be just forgiven and raised, but forgiven and raised for glory."

McCormack: "The Bible is the Word of God"

While affirming the "sola Scriptura" tenet of the Reformation - the belief that the Bible alone is the authoritative guide for Christian faith and practice - McCormack told his listeners that "Jesus Christ is THE word of God, in a way nothing else can be, not even Scripture." 
He said Jesus is "eternally generated" by God, while the Bible is "inspired" by God.

The Bible is authoritative, he said, because the Biblical writers "belong to the event of God's self-revelation" in Jesus, which occurred in the presence of witnesses (the Biblical writers) "chosen by God and prepared by God for this moment."

"Considering Christ means considering the Bible," he continued. "The two are inseparable." Jesus is the incarnation of God, he said, and Scripture is "the mouth of God." And because it is part of Christ's body, "Scripture does not belong to the church; it belongs to Christ. The church is the church to the extent that it stands under this Word. One hears and obeys - that's all there is to it."

The Bible is also authoritative, McCormack continued, because of the writers' humility and lack of self-absorption. "They were not so much interested in their experience as they were in God's actions," he said. "They were not so interested in how these things happened (as in) the messages themselves. They were interested in presenting a living witness to a life that endures, not to theories or apologetics."
The purpose of the Biblical witnesses, he concluded, "was to confront us with God's ice pick - to break up our frozen souls."

Achtemeier: "We Are Called to Holy Living"

Achtemeier said that people of faith who wrestle with the question, "How is one to live out the Christian confession of Jesus as Lord and the Bible as the Word of God?" must keep in mind that "abominations litter the landscape of Christendom, with a brazenness that is without a hint of repentance."

After two days of CCM denunciations of the likes of unrepentant gays and lesbians, denominational bureaucrats and "apostate" General Assemblies, Achtemeier brought his audience up short by asserting that Christians who fail to meet the needs of the sick and the hungry, or who devote themselves to accumulating possessions, are themselves sinful.

"Scripture tells us that if we have two coats, we should give one to someone who has none," he said, "that no one can serve two masters... that what is prized by humans is an abomination to God. Do our churches ever challenge us about our possessions? Do we believe in the authority of Scripture, or not?"

Admitting that his own family has two cars and that he would hate to give up either of them ("If Scripture applies to coats, then I suppose it applies to cars"), Achtemeier asked, "If I can't give up a car, how in the world can I ask a gay brother to give up the intimacy of a long-term relationship with a partner?"

He continued: "Jesus calls us to a lot more than fidelity and chastity. Does your marriage measure up to Jesus's comparison of marriage to his relationship with the church? Mine doesn't."

Too many Christians, he said, deceive themselves by condemning the sins of others as worse than their own. "Paul was a killer on this one," he said, citing Romans 2. "Paul casts a real wide net when it comes to sin: 'None is righteous - not one.'"

Achtemeier pointed out that the Pharisees, the Biblical proponents of personal holiness, were singled out for Jesus's "most blistering criticism."

He explained that the Pharisees considered those who violated their codes of virtue to be "contaminated," and guarded against "infection" by embracing "walls and boundaries, separation and withdrawal."

Jesus, on the other hand, sought out the "contaminated" in order to purify them, Achtemeier said. Citing the example of Jesus in touching a dead girl in order to resurrect her, he pointed out that "Jesus's holiness seeks out and invades the contaminated places, to bring healing and wholeness."

He said three "virtues" can lead Christians away from Pharisaic holiness and toward the genuine holiness of Jesus:

* Faith - "Jesus never told people, 'Get your life together first, and then I'll help,' so we can never say yes to some and no to others. How can we possibly set preconditions? Our proclamation must start with the 'Yes!' of the Gospel."

* Hope, "the confidence that Jesus will be there" - "He didn't tell the lost sheep, 'You're lost,' but helped them find the first step on the road home. The church is about lifting up all of us and setting us on the road home."

* Love - "Jesus does not withdraw from sinners, as the Pharisees did. Jesus embraced sinners. How can we not be there for each other?"

"We must cling to the Bible's truth, brothers and sisters," Achtemeier concluded, "but it would be unholy of us to run others out of the church, or to withdraw from them. 

"The 'Yes!' of the Gospel will show us to be bearers of the grace of God and the love of Jesus."
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