Solus Christus
Reflections from N.T. Wright:
"Paul’s gospel of Jesus and his lordship stands over against all kinds of relativism. Again, there is no time to develop this tonight. Relativism has been a major creed in the western world since the eighteenth century. Sometimes it has even been assumed that it is a necessary part of Christian faith itself. It goes, of course, with the Enlightenment’s favourite virtue, ‘tolerance’. In this respect at least, postmodernity has simply increased the pressure, as the only virtue allowed in many parts of our world is the virtue of recognising that we are all different. Now Paul lived in a highly relativistic world, not least in terms of its various religions. Religious pluralism and syncretism was the order of the day right across the ancient world, with the notable exception of Judaism (and even that was contested in various ways). And it was of the very essence of his work that he established communities of people who were loyal to Jesus as Messiah and Lord and therefore ceased to take part in the other local cults, state religions, mystery cults and so on that their neighbours continued to patronize. The unity of this new community was therefore central and vital, since division would reflect, again and again, ethnic and cultural differences within the Body of Christ. This is where the so-called new perspective on Paul, in one at least of its manifestations, makes a decisive contribution to our understanding of Paul today. When Paul appeals, not for ‘tolerance’, but for that love that accepts a fellow Christian across ethnic and cultural boundaries, he is not, as many have supposed, weakening his ethical stance by allowing that some people see things this way and others that. In the same way, when he insists that one is not justified by works of the law, he is not saying that Christian behaviour doesn’t matter. He isn’t arguing for a laissez-faire tolerance in matters of ethics. His expositions of mutual Christian acceptance in 1 Corinthians 8 and Romans 14 are the direct outflowing of justification by faith itself, and they have nothing to do with a relativism or an Enlightenment-style tolerance, but everything to do with saying precisely that Jesus and he alone is Lord – which is of course then at the root of his ethic itself, the most bracing and exhilarating ethic the world has ever known. Thus, whenever I am asked what I think about the so-called ‘other faiths’, which I often am, including on radio shows and the like, one of the things I normally say is that Krishna didn’t die for me, that Buddha didn’t rise again, that Mohammad ruled out as an impossibility what to me is the very centre of my life, that in Jesus Christ the one true God became human and lived, died and rose again for the world’s salvation, and for mine. That is what Solus Christus must say when faced with relativism (emphasis mine)."
Read the entire article on-line by clicking here.
Source: N.T. Wright Page
Photo via
Comments