I. The Church Is Holy qadosh, hagion: Cleansed, pure; set apart (1 John 2:15)
Israel/Church is holy as God is holy (Ex. 19:5, Lev. 11:44/1 Pet. 1:16, 1 Pet. 2:9, Eph. 5:27, 1 Cor. 5:6-8, 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1)
Its people are hagioi, holy ones (Phil. 1:1, etc.)
Salvation describes that remaking of cosmos, people of God, and persons
II. How Does It Happen? The Order of Salvation (ordo salutis) New Time: "new creation," where we're headed (Rev. 21:5, Rev. 21:22-22:5)
Old Time: What won't be around anymore (Rom. 8:18-24a)
What time is it? Both (Rom. 8:29-30, John 5:24, 2 Cor. 5:17)
Salvation is a trip to "New Time":
Justification: Relational change (being called or made right) before God
Jet lag: We are in New Time, but Old Time is in us
Sanctification: Real change, growth in holiness; the overcoming of jet lag
Righteousness is the outward aspect of right relationships, holiness the inward
III. From Old Time to New Time in Three (or So) Steps
Augustine: Salvation is (1) an event, (2) a process, (3) an endpoint
(0) Preparation: Evangelism, mission, hospitality
God initiates blessing to all families through Abraham (Rom. 10:11-17)
Operative (prevenient) grace precedes cooperative grace
Greeting signifies God's and the Church's hospitality to insiders and outsiders
(Deut. 10:12-22, James 1:27-2:9)
Pacifism as missionary strategy?
(1) One big event: Regeneration (Rom. 8:15, Acts 2:38, Rom. 6:17-23)
God creates (patriarchs), liberates (exodus), and constitutes (Sinai) Israel (Rom. 9:4-5)
"Rebirth" newly creates believers (John 3:1-8, 2 Cor. 5:17)
Baptism signifies (and/or accomplishes) this transformation (1 Cor. 10)
Protestants call this "justification" by grace (favor) through faith (trust) alone
God gives us his righteousness for the sake of Christ
Passing the peace signifies believers' new community of just relationships
Ascetic rules of Christian behavior are a "purgative way"
Must conversion be experienced? Wesley and evangelicalism
(2) A long process: Renewing justification, growing holy (Rom. 6:22)
God sustains Israel, forgives after sins, promises a future, and grafts in Gentiles (Rom. 9:25-28)
Later Protestants call this "sanctification" (after Melanchthon)
Jesus' community gains his character, which is God's character
A holy community will be different as Jesus is different (Wesleyan Holiness Christianity)
We give and receive gifts of the Spirit to build up ("edify") Christ's body
Christian life is perfect holiness, along with limitless mercy (Matt. 18)
Old Time is a zombie, Christian life is a Spirit-powered "endgame"
Thomas Aquinas: God infuses righteousness, virtue through sacraments
Radical Reformation: Discipline is a necessary mark of the Church
Signifying practices of the "illuminative way" include discipline and reconciliation (Matt. 18, 1 Cor. 5)
Others include confirmation, marriage, ordination, healing
(3) The final result: Christian maturity or perfection (1 Cor. 3:1-3, 2 Cor. 7:1, Eph. 4:11-16, Col. 1:28-29, Heb. 5:11-14, James 1:2-4)
God will save Israel and have mercy upon all (Rom. 11:2, 11:26-29, 11:36)
Perfection means finishing, reaching the goal (as sin is falling short of it)
Life in eucharistic fellowship signifies/anticipates/embodies the "unitive way"
Full acclimation to the New Jerusalem ends jet lag
Christians with such stories become authoritative examples, "saints"
IV. The Earliest Order of Salvation: Faith, Baptism, Eucharist
Faith: God's and our reconciling acts of trust
Baptism: The once-only event of identification with Christ
Eucharist: The ongoing process of re-membrance awaiting consummation
Word and sacraments signify incorporation of both a people and its people
(so salvation is irreducibly cosmic, communal, and personal)
The Church is an unfinished work of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 7:15-25a)
The Church is a colony of New Time in a world of Old Time (1 Cor. 7:29-31)
The Church is the central sign of the Kingdom of God
V. When Does It End?
(1) Sanctification may come before death: Wesley
"Entire sanctification" (2 Cor. 7:1), with works "conditionally necessary"
(2) Sanctification comes after death: Roman Catholicism
Transformation continues to take time, in the afterlife
The place of perfection: purgatory (Dante)/paradise (Wesley)
(3) Sanctification comes at resurrection (I): Luther
Justification is first imputed, alien righteousness
Result: a civil war between the natures (simul justus et peccator)
Resolution at the general resurrection, when righteousness is imparted
Effect: Growth in holiness, but jet lag never eases
(4) Sanctification comes at resurrection (II): Calvin
Salvation results from incorporation into Christ, "spiritual union"
Justification and sanctification come together, and progress Victory is only complete at death, then comes perfection
VI. In the Meantime: Whatever Happens to the Soul?
Problem: Do soul and body separate between death and resurrection?
Most traditions: The soul goes "to be with the Lord" until resurrection
Thus the Church is both "militant" and "triumphant", of the living and the dead
Radical Reformation: The "intermediate state" is of "soul-sleep"
The Church is then fundamentally local
