The ECM Series Part 3

Emergent Church Theology Proper & Soteriology: The Error in One Affects the Other Drastically

Theology Proper

There are no apparent statements from the ECM that would cause concern when dealing with the non-moral attributes of God. However, God’s moral attributes of love and forgiveness are bolstered well past their Biblical emphasis. Instead of God being primarily holy, holy, holy (which attribute in turns gives way to God’s justice, love, grace, and forgiveness); they emphasize God being primarily loving or forgiving.[1] This, as with many Annihilationists or Universalists, plays a huge role in their incorrect view of hell. Of course, this issue of God’s attributes could be an entire blog article in itself. But for now, it will be assumed that God’s love will not overturn His justice. God’s love is what makes propitiation possible – the satisfaction of God’s wrath.[2]

Soteriology

With a theological view that God’s love and forgiveness overshadows all other attributes, it is no wonder why an ECM soteriology could be found wanting. The ECM soteriology is not too aberrant from orthodox soteriology on the surface.[3] There are of course variations within emerging and emergent churches just as there are variations among Evangelical churches. However, most often it seems that the substitutionary atonement is minimized, misunderstood, or flat denied because they are unable to see God as vengeful or vindictive (what we would call justice).[4] This goes back to their view of God.

Others put a large amount of weight not on the eternal destiny of a believer but the current ministry of a believer. There is a level of balance, as with almost anything. But the Bible often does speak of things like a future blessed hope (Titus 2:13), a future glorified body (Phil. 3:20-21 & 1 John 3:1-3), and a future day of redemption (Eph. 4:30) to name a few. So to only emphasize the present sanctification and neglect the future glorification is an injustice to Biblical teaching.

Timothy L. Decker
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[1] God’s holiness is the attribute which He promotes of Himself above all others (cf. Isa. 6:3 & Rev. 4:8). The debate between which of God’s attributes is greatest could be surrounded around the wrong question. Rather, the issue should be which attribute God seeks to proclaim above all others. After careful analysis of Scripture, it is clear that God wants the world to see Him first and foremost as holy.
[2] Their view of hell or eternal damnation is a big question mark. Rather than answer the question, they would rather avoid it to avoid the obvious Scriptural teaching. After all, how could they know for certain anyways considering their views of truth?
[3] For more on this issue, see a great article written entirely on this subject: Trevor P. Craigen, “Emerging Soteriology: The Dark Side,” in The Master’s Seminary Journal 17 no. 2 (Fall 2006), 177-190.
[4] Cf. Dave Tomlinson, The Post Evangelical (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003) 110. This book is given praise by McLaren in A Generous Orthodoxy, 120. He says that Tomlinson’s book is “a very important contribution to the conversation about Christian faith and the emerging postmodern culture” (footnote).