 General Assembly declares Jesus alone Savior and Lord By John H. Adams The Layman Online Thursday, June 20, 2002
The commissioners made that affirmation in a statement titled "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," which was written by staff members of the denomination's Office of Worship and Theology. The six-page statement previously had been approved by the General Assembly Council and had been highly commended by Presbyterians all along the theological spectrum. The affirmation of "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ" came 25 months after a Presbyterian minister, at a denomination-sponsored Peacemaking Conference, asked, "What's the big deal about Jesus?" and suggested that Presbyterians should recognize other ways to salvation. In addition to its 97-percent approval of "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," the General Assembly voted 79 percent in favor of an abbreviated version as a comment on another overture. Some commissioners had asked for a "T-shirt" version, noting that few members of local congregations would read the full document. The amendment comment focused on two aspects of "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ" - 1) its affirmation that Christ alone is Lord and Savior of all the world; and 2) its recognition that God's way of salvation is not fully known, except that it is through Christ. There was little debate over either issue on the floor of the General Assembly. "Perhaps the most satisfying moment of our committee work was approving Overture 02-02 on affirming the document, 'Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ,'" said Anna Case-Winters, moderator of the assembly Committee on Christology and Confessions. "We commend it to the church and urge the study of it." "This document clarifies the gift of God to us, but also reminds us of the sovereignty of the Lord. This document leads us to the understanding that the grace, love and communion belong to God and are not ours to determine," she said. Commissioner Jeff Ebert of the Presbytery of Elizabeth proposed the amendment that encapsulated the two main themes of "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ." He said, "Our congregations are waiting expectantly for a word from this General Assembly on the most foundational question of the Christian faith: Who is Jesus Christ?" Noting that there had been disagreement among members of the Committee on Christology and Confessions over what Ebert was proposing, Case-Winners added her endorsement this time. "We've been hoping to find a place of greater unanimity on this matter. I think we might have found it here," she said. "The portion it [Ebert's amendment] extracts is a balanced statement. It meets the needs of brothers and sisters - the need to take back to the churches something more concise than 'Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ.'" Jerry Tankersley of the Presbytery of Los Ranchos, unsuccessful in his bid to become moderator of the 214th General Assembly, also endorsed Ebert's amendment. "We are all going back to our congregations. We need to give answers in short form," he said. Laird Stuart of San Francisco, also an unsuccessful candidate for moderator, said, "Affirming this amendment is a way of affirming with words what we have already affirmed in the basic document." Robert Stalcup, who was a member of the Committee on Christology and Confessions, was one of the few nay sayers. He argued against "attempting to reduce the good news of God, which we have discovered in Jesus Christ, to short, pithy statements." Furthermore, he said, "It is tempting to emphasize Christology to the exclusion of theology." But David Rodriquez of the Presbytery of San Jose called the vote on Ebert's amendment "a moment of truth" for "how we will answer the question" about who Jesus is. In 2001, both the General Assembly Council and the General Assembly adopted statements intended to cool off the firefight that erupted over "What's the big deal about Jesus" – but both statements were ambiguous and seemed to leave open the possibility that Jesus is only one Lord among many. During debate on the measure adopted by the 2001 General Assembly, which described Jesus as "unique" but not as the sovereign Lord of all, several commissioners said openly that they believed other faiths were just as effective as Christianity. Nonetheless, the 2001 General Assembly instructed the Office of Theology and Worship to prepare a paper on Christology and salvation. The result was "Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ," which affirmed both the Biblical and Reformed assertions that salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. The document also reflects the theological modesty of the Reformed tradition in being unable to state unequivocally how Jesus might save someone who has not heard the gospel. |
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