Sin before mercy makes the gospel a reality and makes it good news. Mercy before sin obscures the gospel and rewrites the biblical narrative, making it man’s word, and not God’s.
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Although it means nothing officially, the BBC is right; the Pope’s blessing of same-sex unions is a step in the right direction for the LGBT community. You can rest assured, however, that it will not be enough. Once that door is cracked open, it is a matter of time before it is pushed further open. This is why doctrinal clarity is a blessing for the church, and why it is necessary. Once it is abandoned and God’s Word alone ceases to provide the doctrinal parameters for the church, it is only a matter of time before theological confusion ensues. What we are seeing in the RCC is clear evidence of this.
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Imagine you are a church leader, and you have the opportunity to speak to 7,500 children from 84 different countries on one single occasion. What an opportunity that would be! What would you say? What would your message be to those children? For Pope Francis this scenario became a reality on November 6th, as he had the privilege of hosting 7,500 children in the Vatican.
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From an Evangelical perspective, it remains clear that the theological foundation of the Synodal Church will not permit any real and meaningful reform in the Roman Catholic Church. The primary reason for this is the authority to which the Synodal Church submits while charting its path forward.
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Evangelicals must not fall into the trap of believing that altruism is an antonym of theological conviction and clarity. That is certainly not the case. In fact, the Gospel of Jesus Christ suggests that true altruism is best expressed in the faithful proclamation of the biblical Gospel, especially the parts of it that offend fallen human nature.
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In a recent article in Christianity Today, an influential Evangelical pastor in London by the name of Nicky Gumbel, praised the Roman Catholic Church for “leading the way in evangelization.” Gumbel pointed to Pope Francis’s 2013 Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of The Gospel) as an excellent roadmap for Christians in understanding evangelization.
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It is very difficult to make sense of and define the Synodal Church’s understanding of Gospel proclamation and mission.
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“If you are the same at the end of the Mass, as you were at the beginning, something is wrong.” These are the words of Pope Francis in a recent appeal to the Roman Catholic faithful to place the celebration of the Eucharist at the center of their lives.
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According to Rome, regeneration occurs the moment the sacrament of baptism is administered. This is the entry-point to the sacramental life and economy of the Roman Catholic Church. This, however, is problematic from an evangelical perspective.
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Evangelicals need to be aware of what is taking place so that they are equipped to understand the implications of synodality. The following reflections are by no means exhaustive, but simply provide food for thought for the evangelical church as the synodal process continues.
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The Evangelical church ought to take note of this and understand what is at stake with statements such as the Declaration on Human Fraternity. It is not an anomaly, but consistently reflects Vatican II. Peace and fraternity are admirable endeavors, but not at the expense of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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While certain aspirations of the Synodal Path being proposed by Pope Francis seem admirable, it presents several concerns for the evangelical church. Let us briefly consider two.
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While Jews and Muslims and Christians are called to live in peace, to respect one another, to dialogue, and to collaborate together on issues that do not require a capitulation of any kind whatsoever of the gospel, the Bible is crystal clear that they are not brothers and sisters in the way that Pope Francis suggests. To say otherwise confuses and distorts the gospel to a point of unrecognition. And if the gospel is no longer recognizable, it can no longer save.
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“You may well ask: how do we win in life?” The answer to this question is not a sports analogy that encourages us to pursue our dreams while Jesus comes alongside and cheers us on as our coach. The answer to how we win in life is found in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, where he claimed victory over death.
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In Roman Catholicism there is an overly optimistic understanding of human nature after the fall. This is underscored by the complete absence of sin in Pacem in terris. However, an appeal for world peace that does not acknowledge sin (i.e. the Augustinian reading) will inevitably fall short of its objective.
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Before it was the German "synodal path" that called for "no one to be excluded." Now it is the European base asking for the same. How will the Catholic Church respond?
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While the FdM is definitely an ambitious, well-organized and admirable initiative, it is also true that it is not clear what the Catholic church has in mind when it talks about mission.
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In February of this year the well-known American Catholic George Weigel wrote a short, thought-provoking article for First Things titled “Liquid Catholicism and the German Synodal Path.” And while my good friend and colleague Leonardo De Chirico has already contributed an excellent reflection on Weigel’s article, two additional reflections are perhaps merited.
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The subject of dialogue in modern-day Roman Catholicism highlights with clarity the unresolved issues of the “Roman” and “Catholic” natures of the Church. On the one hand dialogue desires to be “Roman.” It is an essential tool for evangelization. Through it the Church leaves its places of comfort and it goes forth and proclaims the gospel and makes disciples of Christ. It recognizes the importance of defining the distinctives of the Christian faith. On the other hand, dialogue is very “Catholic.” It highlights the fraternity and brotherhood of all mankind. It celebrates its commonality and affirms that which is good in humanity and its various religious expressions. It avoids discussion of Jesus and sin and refers to god generically.
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Levering argues that the 20th century witnessed an “abuse of conscience,” meaning that Catholic moral theology “gave too expansive a place to conscience in the Christian moral life” (p. 1). This problem, according to Levering, was only worsened after the Second Vatican Council.
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