Guest Blogger (of sorts…): Transaction Theology

Hi there, Aaron. Michael has written a great article about this subject: http://www.internetmonk.com/archive/imonk-101-out-of-business-with-god. In general, a transaction is an exchange, a quid pro quo. It is also the basis for all religion. You do X, and the deity does Y in return.And this is certainly an element in how the God of the Bible has dealt with us. It’s all over the old covenant, for example.But: the Gospel is the death of religion (see the prodigal son for details–the older brother had a firm commitment to transactionalism, but his father wasn’t doing business that way). God declares forgiveness of sins through his Son and makes him King. You can’t *do* anything about it. You simply embrace the reality of it. (It’s like receiving a gift that comes to you with no strings attached.) The problem with thinking of repentance, believing and confessing as “our part” in the transaction of “getting saved” is that it inserts some business we have to attend to on our end in order to get our papers stamped “Saved!” by God. But I don’t think this is the Gospel that is presented to us in the NT. God is reconciling the world to himself in Christ…entirely at his own expense. God is no liar. Therefore, your sins really are forgiven and you have new life in Christ. Transactionalism induces you to make your primary concern whether or not you are in the position to say if the Gospel promises are true about you. But what the Gospel promises, it applies to you because Christ says so: “No, this really is my gift to you. It’s the bread of life. It’s living water.” So it’s not even about “your faith.” It’s about Christ’s good word. Embrace and cling to that. And let those other things (repentance, belief, confession) be a response to the reality.

Peace,
Joel

Joel, thanks for getting back to me. I hear what your saying, and
you’ve put it in a way that really hits where I’m at. Two questions:
can i post your email on my blog? And two, I’m struggling now with how
this reality of ‘forgiveness for the world’ doesn’t end up up at
universalism. I don’t think this is what The NT proclaims, but
if there is nothing i can do to ‘get saved’ then what must one do to
be saved, what do i tell people who want in to the community of God?
Thanks for interacting with me on this. Blessings!

I agree that the NT doesn’t teach universalism. However, it does teach unimaginable and superabundant grace. If we really preach and teach the grace of God that the NT presents to us, then that not-yet-dead transactional part of us will wince at what sounds like universalism. I think D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said something like “If people can’t accuse you of preaching universalism (or maybe antinomianism), then you aren’t preaching the Gospel.” Everything about the gratuity of grace militates against our religiosity that is constantly trying to get a toe in the door by works, even going so far as to reinterpret faith and trust in Christ as a work (i.e., something you can improve upon or get better at).What do you tell people who want to be in the community of God? It costs you nothing and it costs you everything. God’s forgiveness is extended to you in Christ. Receive and embrace that. Where do you find this gift? In the empty tomb. Jesus rolled the stone away not so that he could get out, but so that he could lead you in to die, and then raise you. What must you do to be saved? Be a good corpse. Be as cooperative in your own salvation as Lazarus was. Trust him at his word that you hear proclaimed and that is given to you in baptism, and be raised to new life.A blessed Easter week to you,
Joel