4. Our Response in the Holy Spirit to the Gospel
We agree that evangelism is not just a proclamation
of Christ's historic work and saving offer. Evangelism also includes
a call for response which is often called "conversion."
1)
The Work of the Holy Spirit
This response, however, does not depend on
the efforts of the human person, but on the initiative of the
Holy Spirit. As is stated in the Scripture, "for by grace
you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing,
it is the gift of God - not because of works, Test any man should
boast" (Eph 2:8-9). There is therefore a trinitarian dimension
to the human person's response: it is the Father who gives; his
supreme gift is his Son, Jesus Christ for the life of the world
(John 6:23); and it is the Holy Spirit who opens our minds and
hearts so that we can accept and proclaim that Jesus Christ is
Lord (1 Cor 12:3) and live as his disciples. This means that the
Holy Spirit guarantees that the salvation which the Father began
in Jesus Christ becomes effective in us in a personal way.
When human persons experience conversion,
the Holy Spirit illumines their understanding so that Jesus Christ
can be confessed as the Truth itself revealed by the Father (John
14:6). The Holy Spirit also renders converted persons new creatures,
who participate in the eternal life of the Father and the Son
(John 11:25-26). Furthermore, the Holy Spirit, through the gifts
of faith, hope and love, already enables converted persons to
have a foretaste of the Kingdom which will be totally realized
when the Son hands over all things to the Father (1 Cor 15:28).
Thus, the work of the Holy Spirit in Christian
conversion has to be seen as the actual continuation of his previous
creative and redemptive activity throughout history. Indeed, at
the beginning the Holy Spirit was present at the act of creation
(Gen 1:2), and he is continually sent forth as the divine breath
by whom everything is created and by whom the face of the earth
is renewed (Ps 104:29-30). Although all persons are influenced
by the life-giving Spirit of God, it is particularly in the Old
Testament, which he inspired, that the recreative work of the
Holy Spirit, after the fall of humankind, is concretely manifested.
In order to ground the divine plan to recreate humanity, the Holy
Spirit first taught the patriarchs to fear God and to practice
righteousness. And to assemble his people Israel and to bring
it back to the observance of the Covenant, the Holy Spirit raised
up judges, kings and wise men. Moreover, the prophets, under the
guidance of the Spirit, announced that the Holy Spirit would create
a new heart and bestow new life by being poured out in a unique
way on Israel and, through it, on all humanity (Ezek 36:24-28;
Joel 2:28-29).
The recreative work of the Holy Spirit reached
its culminating point in the incarnation of Jesus Christ who,
as the New Adam, was filled with the Holy Spirit without measure
(John 3:34). Because Jesus Christ was the privileged bearer of
the Holy Spirit, he is the one who gives the Holy Spirit for the
regeneration of human beings: "He on whom you see the Spirit
descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit"
(John 1:33), Through his death on behalf of sinful humankind and
his rising up to glory, Jesus Christ communicates the Holy Spirit
to all who are converted to him, that is, receive him by faith
as their personal Lord and Savior. This new life in Jesus Christ
by the Holy Spirit is signified by baptism and by membership in
the Body of Christ, the Church. Furthermore, through his indwelling
in converted persons, the Holy Spirit attests that they are coheirs
with Christ of eternal glory.
2)
Conversion and Baptism
We have been agreeably surprised to discover
a considerable consensus among us that repentance and faith, conversion
and baptism, regeneration and incorporation into the Christian
community all belong together, although we have needed to debate
their relative positions in the scheme of salvation.
"Conversion" signifies an initial
turning to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, with a view to
receiving the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Spirit,
and to being incorporated into the Church, all signed to us in
baptism (Acts 2:38-39). The expression "continuous conversion"
(if used) must therefore be understood as referring to our daily
repentance as Christians, our response to new divine challenges,
and our gradual transformation into the image of Christ by the
Spirit (2 Cor 3:18). Moreover, some who have grown up in a Christian
home find themselves to be regenerate Christians without any memory
of a conscious conversion.
We agree that baptism must never be isolated,
either in theology or in practice, from the context of conversion.
It belongs essentially to the whole process of repentance, faith,
regeneration by the Holy Spirit, and membership of the covenant
community, the Church. A large number of Evangelicals (perhaps
the majority) practice only "believer's baptism." That
is, they baptize only those who have personally accepted Jesus
Christ as their Savior and Lord, and they regard baptism both
as the convert's public profession of faith and as the dramatization
(by immersion in water) of his or her having died and risen with
Christ. The practice of infant baptism (practiced by some Evangelicals,
rejected by others) assumes both that the parents believe and
will bring their children up in the Christian faith, and that
the children will themselves later come to conscious repentance
and faith.
We rejoice together that the whole process
of salvation is the work of God by the Holy Spirit. And it is
in this connection that Roman Catholics understand the expression
ex opere operato in relation to baptism. It does not mean that
the sacraments have a mechanical or automatic efficacy. Its purpose
rather is to emphasize that salvation is a sovereign work of Christ,
in distinction to a Pelagian or semi-Pelagian confidence in human
ability.
There is a further dimension of the work
of the Holy Spirit in our response to the gospel to which we have
become increasingly sensitive, and which we believe belongs within
our understanding of the work of the Spirit in mission.
In the light of biblical teaching, particularly
in the Epistle to the Ephesians,24
and also in view of the insights gained through Christian missionary
experience, we believe that, although the revelation of Jesus
Christ as the Truth by the Holy Spirit is in itself complete in
the Scriptures, nevertheless he is wanting to lead the Church
into a yet fuller understanding of this revelation. Hence we rejoice
that in the various cultural contexts in which men and women throughout
nearly twenty centuries of Christian history have been enabled
by the Holy Spirit to respond to the gospel, we can perceive the
many-sidedness of the unique Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of
all humankind.
Accordingly, we hope that the Holy Spirit
will make us open to such new and further insights into the meaning
of Jesus Christ, as he may wish to communicate by means of various
manifestations of Christian life in our Christian communities,
as well as in human societies where we earnestly desire that he
will create a response to the gospel in conversion, baptism and
incorporation into Christ's body, the Church.
3)
Church Membership
Conversion and baptism are the gateway into
the new community of God, although Evangelicals distinguish between
the visible and invisible aspects of this community. They see
conversion as the means of entry into the invisible church and
baptism as the consequently appropriate means of entry into the
visible church. Both sides agree that the church should be characterized
by learning, worship, fellowship, holiness, service and evangelism
(Acts 2:42-47). Furthermore, life in the Church is characterized
by hope and love, as a result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit:
"And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has
been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has
been given to us" (Rom 5:5). It is the Holy Spirit who arouses
and sustains our response to the living Christ. Through the power
of the Holy Spirit, the unity of the human family, which was disrupted
by sin, is gradually being recreated as the new humanity emerges
(Eph 2:15).
The issue of church membership has raised
in our dialogue the delicate and difficult question of the conversion
of those already baptized. How are we to think of their baptism?
And which church should they join? This practical question can
cause grave problems in the relationship between Roman Catholics
and Evangelicals. It is particularly acute in places like Latin
America, where large numbers of baptized Roman Catholics have
had a minimal relationship with the Roman Catholic Church since
their baptism.
When such Roman Catholics have a conversion
experience, many Evangelical churches welcome them into membership
without re-baptizing them. Some Baptist churches, however, and
some others, would insist on baptizing such converts, as indeed
they baptize Protestant converts who have been baptized in infancy.
Then there is the opposite problem of Protestant
Christians wishing to become members of the Roman Catholic Church.
Since Vatican II the Roman Catholic Church has recognized other
Christians as being in the first place "brethren," rather
than subjects for conversion. Nevertheless, since the Roman Catholic
Church believes that the one Church of Christ subsists within
it in a unique way, it further believes it is legitimate to receive
other Christians into its membership. Such membership is not seen
as an initial step towards salvation, however, but as a further
step towards Christian growth. Considerable care is taken nowadays
to ensure that such a step is not taken under wrong pressure and
for unworthy motives. In other words, there is an avoidance of
"proselytism" in the wrong sense. Then, provided that
there is some proof of valid baptism having taken place, there
is no question of rebaptism.
Church members need constantly to be strengthened
by the grace of God. Roman Catholics and Evangelicals understand
grace somewhat differently, however, Roman Catholics thinking
of it more as divine life and Evangelicals as divine favor. Both
sides agree that it is by a totally free gift of the Father that
we become joined to Christ and enabled to live like Christ through
the power of the Holy Spirit. Both sides also understand the Eucharist
(or Lord's Supper) as a sacrament (or ordinance) of grace. Roman
Catholics affirm the real presence of the body and blood of Jesus
Christ and emphasize the mystery of Christ and his salvation becoming
present and effective by the working of the Holy Spirit under
the sacramental sign,25
whereas Evangelicals (in different ways according to their different
Church traditions) view the sacrament as the means by which Christ
blesses us by drawing us into fellowship with himself, as we remember
his death until he comes again (1 Cor 11:26).
Despite the lack of full accord which we
have just described; both Evangelicals and Roman Catholics agree
that the Eucharist is spiritual food and spiritual drink (1 Cor
10:3-4, 16), because the unifying Spirit is at work in this sacrament.
As a memorial of the New Covenant, the Eucharist is a privileged
sign in which Christ's saving grace is especially signified and/or
made available to Christians. In the Eucharist the Holy Spirit
makes the words Jesus spoke at the Last Supper effective in the
Church and assures Christians that through their faith they are
intimately united to Christ and to each other in the breaking
of the bread and the sharing of the cup.
4)
Assurance of Salvation
In has always been traditional among Evangelicals
to stress not only salvation as a present gift, but also the assurance
of salvation enjoyed by those who have received it. They like,
for example, to quote 1 John 5:13: "I write this to you who
believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that
you have eternal life." Thus, eternal life begins in us now
through the Spirit of the risen Christ, because we are "raised
with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from
the dead" (Col 2:12). Yet in daily life we live in the tension
between what is already given and what is still awaited as a promise,
for "your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who
is our life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory"
(Col 3:3, 4).
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals are agreed
that the only ground for assurance is the objective work of Christ;
this ground does not lie in any way in the believer. We speak
somewhat differently about the work of Christ, however, and relate
it differently in terms of practical piety. Evangelicals refer
to the "finished" work of Christ on the cross and rest
their confidence wholly upon it. Roman Catholics also speak of
Christ's work as having been done "once for all"; they
therefore see it as beyond repetition. Never less, they understand
that through the Eucharist Christ's unique, once-for-all work
is made present, and that by this means they maintain a present
relationship to it. The relationship to Christ's finished work
which Evangelicals enjoy is maintained by faith, but it is faith
in what was done, and what was done is never re-presented.
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals both claim
an authentic religious experience, which includes an awareness
of the presence of God and a taste for spiritual realities. Yet
Evangelicals think Roman Catholics sometimes lack a visible joy
in Christ, which their assurance has given them, whereas Roman
Catholics think Evangelicals are sometimes insufficiently attentive
to the New Testament warnings against presumption. Roman Catholics
also claim to be more realistic than Evangelicals about the vagaries
of religious experience. The actual experience of Evangelicals
seldom leads then to doubt their salvation, but Roman Catholics
know that the soul may have its dark nights. In summary Evangelicals
appear to Roman Catholics more pessimistic about human nature
before conversion, but more optimistic about it afterwards, while
Evangelicals allege the opposite about Roman Catholics. Roman
Catholics and Evangelicals together agree that Christian assurance
is more an assurance of faith (Heb 10:22) than of experience,
and that perseverance to the end is a gratuitous gift of God.
ENDNOTES
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Cf.
Eph 3:10; 3:18; 4:13.
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Constitution
on the Sacred Liturgy (Sacrosanctum concilium), 7,
47.
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