(Romans 8.12-17 & Matthew 7.15-21 – BCP Lectionary)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
I’m not going to lie, I think that today’s gospel reading has some of the most gut-punching words we hear from Jesus: “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven.” There is something pleading about the repetition of the word ‘Lord’, and it is being said to Jesus as the Judge of the world at the end of time.
It is a passage which places before us two theories of salvation, and the options are on very different sides of the fence. The first is known as Christian universalism, that in the end, through God’s mercy and love, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that is through grace, all people will receive salvation. The good news of universalism is that everyone will enter God’s kingdom in heaven.
And there is plenty of scripture to give rise to this hope. For example in Romans 5:18: “Then as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men.”
On the other side of the fence we have pretty much the opposite – that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Again, plenty of scripture to back this up, most famous of all, John 14.6, which quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”.
And of course we can add the words from Jesus that we’ve heard today. It certainly suggests that not everyone will enter God’s kingdom. And that is rather frightening.
Yet we are not called to be scared into submission to our God, but to respond to his love. As always it is worth looking at the context in which Jesus was speaking. In the passage from Matthew, he begins by telling his disciples to be alert to the danger of false prophets and teachers. However, by the end of the passage he is speaking to the wider community, and the fate of the false prophets (to be cut down like unfruitful trees, and burned in the fire) is, perhaps, the frightening example which will spur the rest of the community out of their lukewarm apathy.
And this leads us to the second fence on which we cannot sit. Is salvation through faith alone, or are works required?
Sole fide, or justification by faith alone, is one of the traditions of Reformed Protestantism. Good works are the evidence of faith, but do not themselves ensure salvation.
Catholic tradition teaches that grace is essential as the gateway to salvation, but it is not the only element needed. Our whole lives are a process of sanctification, which includes good works. In the Epistle of James, chapter 2 he writes, “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him?” and “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.” (James 2.14, 17)
And we heard today that Paul in his letter to the Romans reminded the Church that having received the spirit of sonship they are not to continue living in the ways of the world.
Now obviously these are two enormous areas of theology summed up extremely briefly, and you may be wondering where the Good News is in all this. Well, of course it is there when you read the passages in their entirety, and even more so when you read them within the context of the whole of the Bible.
We are children of God, and if children then heirs of the promise of God in Christ. We might not know what will happen after we die, or the exact mechanics of the end of days, but Jesus has shown us the way to the Kingdom, and has told us how to live. Whether we do so is, through the gift of free will, entirely down to us.
But it is not a chore to live life in the Spirit. It is a gift and an honour.
It is not a burden to act in such ways that we produce the fruits of the Spirit in our lives (that is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.) It is the flourishing of our souls.
It is not slavery to do the will of the Father who is in heaven. It is joyful perfect freedom.
Why wouldn’t we want to listen to Jesus and walk in his footsteps?
Amen.