Collect of the Day: Proper 15
Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Book of Common Prayer
I began with a prayer above that spoke of Jesus as both the sacrifice and the example or exemplar. These are two Christologies, understandings of the person and work of the Messiah, Jesus.
Because some more rationalistic (antimiraculous) theologians didn’t like the bloody Old Testament sacrifice of atonement and didn’t like the idea of someone else dying for them or anyone else (This seemed “unfair” to them.) and because they did not believe in the deity of Christ (They were Deists, rather than Theists.), they proposed a view of Christ in which he was a wise teacher and a good person, who left us an example of how to act. This is called an Exemplarist Soteriology. Soteriology is the teaching or doctrine about how we are saved.
These theologians believed that Jesus was not a sacrifice, but only a moral example, a teacher. They did not believe Jesus was the son of God or a miracle worker. For them Jesus’ teaching and life laid down the perfect example of a good person, a person who pleased God.
There is no doubt that Jesus meant us to follow his example. There is also no dout that Jesus gave his teaching so that we could be conformed to his image, to his moral will.
However, Exemplarist Soteriology begs a few questions. First if Jesus is an example, why would he be “THE” example? In other words, why Jesus and not Buddha? “It’s my tradition,” is no answer. If Jesus is not the Son of God who died for me and paid the price for my sin, why follow his teaching? Examplarist Soteriology doesn’t answer the question about how to deal with our “sin problem.”
Generally speaking these theologians didn’t accept that everyone was born in sin and so needed redemption (the doctrine of original sin). They were more in line with the thinking of Pelagius, an early theologian, who believed that we did not need a sacrifice for sin, but only need to work harder and longer to overcome our sins.
Exemplarist Soteriology also doesn’t answer HOW we can follow Jesus’ example. If he is the greatest, most perfect teacher, how are we to find the strength and will to follow him?
Biblical soteriology gives us the answer: the answer is the Holy Spirit. Following salvation (being saved from sin) is sanctification (being conform to Christ’s likeness). Once we are saved the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us and guides us into growing in holiness. Not only does the Holy Spirit indwell us and guide us, he gives us POWER to live the Christian life, to follow Christ’s example.
Jesus’ example may be a beautiful thing. Immanuel Kant, the Enlightenment philosopher, loved Jesus the Teacher. He called him Master. Kant’s Categorical Imperative, a law which he believed we could reach by practical reason alone, was a paraphrase of the “Golden Rule.”
Kant said, “Act in such a way that your action could become universal law.” He claims that we can know this by thinking alone without revelation. His law means in paraphrase, “If you don’t want someone to steal from you, don’t steal. Stealing can’t be allowed.” In simpler, positive terms he could have said, “Do unto others what you want them to do unto you.”
In his book, Religion within the bounds of reason alone, Kant talks much of the Teacher, but not of the Savior. Kant is a Deist who does not see Jesus as the Savior or the Son of God.
We cannot accept an Exemplarist Soteriology. Jesus is not just an example, he is the Savior of the whole world.
We should follow his example. The New Testament is full of commands to follow Christ’s example. The goal of sanctification, growth in holiness is to make us like Jesus, to conform us to his image.
The sacrifice of Jesus is the accomplishment of our salvation, our atonement with God the Father. The presence of the Holy Spirit is the motive power of sanctification. Salvation is a moment, a decision to accept Christ. Sanctification is a lifetime of effort to live like and for him.
I like that prayer above because the “two wings of the dove,” so to speak, are balanced. There is no real growth in Christ or outcome of salvation without conforming to his example and teaching. There is also no growth without the presenec of the Holy Spirit within our lives. But there is no hope of following that example without first being redeemed and reconcilied with God without the death and sacrifice of Christ.
So, let us rejoice in his redeeming sacrifice for us and let us strive to be more like him.
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