Theological Musings on Christian Discipleship

Part 2, Soteriological Distortions that Undermine Spiritual Formation

In the last post I noted that when we import spiritual formation practices from the Catholic tradition into low-church Protestant spaces there are often cultural frictions. And while we need to be mindful of these cultural allergies, they are not my main focus. My main focus concerns deeper, theological disjoints.

There are a lot of ways I could approach this, which is why I'm using the word "musings" for this series. I'll be dipping in and out of topics, often approaching the same issue from a slightly different vantage point. But to start us off, I'll offer here a general assessment, which I'll go on to unpack in posts to follow.

Let me suggest that historical soteriological debates, especially those between Protestants and Catholics, have had distorting effects in ways that theological impoverish, and even interfere with, our spiritual formation efforts. Broadly speaking, there have been two distortions:

1. Distortions in describing the relationship between justification and sanctification.

2. Distortions in describing the relationship between nature and grace.

Let's take these in turn.

The soteriological debates that emerged during the Reformation mainly concerned justification. The merit/reward aspect of Catholic theology was a target of the Reformers who, in response, proclaimed that justification came through sola gratia and sola fide, grace alone and faith alone. This criticism caused the Catholic church to clarify its doctrine of justification in the Council of Trent, which was keen to point out that merit did not apply to justification. In short, there is agreement between Catholics and Protestants that our justification is through grace alone. We can do nothing to merit our salvation. 

And yet, these debates had a distorting effect. Our vision of salvation tipped toward justification. So much so that, in many Protestant spaces, salvation is wholly identified with justification. The critical role of sanctification in our salvation is either an afterthought or ignored.  

Phrased differently, a vision of salvation forged in a soteriological debate about faith versus works is going to be poorly positioned to support a vision of Christian discipleship where strenuous effort across the lifespan is demanded in a journey toward sanctification. This isn't a new observation. It has long been observed that the Protestant fixation of "getting saved," and by "saved" we mean justification, has poorly served spiritual formation efforts within evangelicalism. By and large, "accepting Jesus into your heart" has taken precedence over discipleship. 

Beyond tipping soteriology toward justification over sanctification, another way historical debates between Protestants and Catholics has undermined spiritual formation efforts concerns the relationship between nature and grace.

To be fair, these debates predate the Protestant Reformation and go back to Augustine's debates with Pelagius. Specifically, what is the role of human agency in salvation? Since Augustine, the answer has been zero. Again, sola gratia. Grace alone. Salvation is wholly and unilaterally the action of God's divine favor and election. The seeds planted by Augustine in his debates with Pelagius were eventually taken to extreme conclusions in the thought Martin Luther and of John Calvin. The bondage of the will. Election. Predestination. Total depravity. 

Basically, in the hands of the Reformers human nature is a ruin. We are totally depraved and our wills are in bondage. Free will is denied. There is zero human capacity. Consequently, God has to act unilaterally in an act of election to justify us and regenerate our sinful natures. Everything comes from grace.

Once again we find here a distorting effect. While the Reformers were attempting to win a legitimate soteriological debate in denying the role of human agency in salvation, the soteriology that resulted was poorly positioned to support a vision of Christian discipleship where our lifelong participation in the process of sanctification is demanded. Human agency matters. 

I've observed these frictions firsthand. Whenever robust calls for spiritual formation are made in Protestant spaces soteriological alarm bells start to go off. We worry about "legalism," a creeping "works-based righteousness," and becoming too "Pelagian." In short, spiritual formation and Christian discipleship demand some focus upon human agency, but any such focus creates fears given how Protestant soteriology has been distorted by historical debates.  

Summarizing, conversations about Christian discipleship will, necessarily, focus upon sanctification and human agency. And yet, the theology found in many low-church Protestant spaces--focused as it is upon justification, God's unilateral election, and the total depravity of human nature--is poorly positioned to articulate a positive vision of human agency in the journey of sanctification.