Devotional thot

Pavlov;

I am interested to know why you would ask me about how I reconcile Matthew 25 to the picture of salvation given in the rest of scripture; I am convinced that you will not be satisfied with my answer. I have long been of the opinion that scripture (and in a more profound way, God himself) resists systematization. In fact, the sort of generalities that I am most comfortable with are along the lines of “God is unpredictable.” When I consider the story of God’s relationship with man as presented in the Bible, there is a trend of God doing unexpected things; think of the incarnation – nobody saw that coming. Jesus promises that no one knows the day or the hour of his coming but the Father himself; this might well underlie a more profound theological point, namely, that prognostication will fall short, and God will resist our dearest efforts to understand. We know God only by the spirit of God – we know what he tells us, and nothing else.

It might sound like mere laziness to present the problem as incorrigible right from the start, but I am not above laziness, and when the topic is God, I am quick to admit that I am in over my head. Here is that admission, Pavlov: I do not understand the mechanism of salvation, and indeed, the accounts given by James, Paul and Jesus differ in important ways. That said, I must admit also that this (apparent or actual) inconsistency does not bother me in the least, nor can I think of any reason why it should. The point of the parable of the sheep and the goats is pretty clear: those who will be with Jesus in the end will be those who cared for others; there is an element of ministering to God in ministering to the ‘least of these’.

I think that you are struck by the inconsistency between the account given by Paul, which makes it clear that justification is by faith, and not by works, and the account given by Jesus, which makes it clear that the separation between those “blessed by [the] Father” and the “cursed” is made according to their deeds. So… what saves us? My short answer: Jesus. Jesus saves us. “When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” I am incapable of stating the means of salvation or bridging the gap between faith and works; wouldn’t it be just the flexing of ‘superior wisdom’ to try? Why do we need to distill the message further?