{"id":10087,"date":"2017-04-23T05:51:39","date_gmt":"2017-04-23T09:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/?p=10087"},"modified":"2017-04-14T19:54:15","modified_gmt":"2017-04-14T23:54:15","slug":"salvation-allegiance-alone-interview-matt-bates-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/euangelion\/2017\/04\/salvation-allegiance-alone-interview-matt-bates-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Salvation by Allegiance Alone – Interview with Matt Bates (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King<\/a><\/em> (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017)<\/p>\n

MIKE BIRD: In this <\/span>book you argue that pistis<\/em> should often \u2013 but not always! \u2013 be understood with connotations of \u201callegiance.\u201d So rather than justification by faith alone we have justification by allegiance alone. Dude, seriously? <\/span>You do know it\u2019s <\/span>like the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of the Reformation right? Aren\u2019t you turning faith into a work, confusing law and gospel, or adding works to the child-like faith of the Bible?<\/span><\/p>\n

MATTHEW BATES: Mike, dude!, I am a native of California. So I seriously like how in touch you are with my native lingo. It\u2019s, like, really touching, man. It\u2019s heart-speak, bro.<\/p>\n

It would be impossible not<\/em> to notice that this is the 500th<\/sup> anniversary as publishers are opportunistically hocking Reformation-themed books left and right. And I can see why some feel that my title, Salvation by Allegiance Alone<\/a><\/em>, is a pointed challenge or an insult to the cause. In fact, upon learning of my title, Martin Luther did not just roll over in his grave, but performed four somersaults. It\u2019s troubling\u2014especially as I am a Protestant, albeit an ecumenically minded one.<\/p>\n

I am arguing in the book that \u201cfaith\u201d and \u201cbelieve\u201d do not correspond very well to the Greek words pistis<\/em> and pisteu\u014d<\/em> in describing what is necessary for salvation in the New Testament. In particular the range of meaning carried by pistis<\/em> is not just faith or belief (in something), but also faithfulness, trustworthiness, and the like. This is well-known to all New Testament scholars and uncontroversial. It may be slightly less well known that pistis<\/em> can also mean loyalty or allegiance in the New Testament time period, but this should likewise be uncontroversial.<\/p>\n

In light of this, I am asking something quite controversial<\/u>: Why have scholars, pastors, and church leaders tended to exclude the loyalty or allegiance portion of pistis<\/em> with regard to salvation? Could this have more to do with Protestant anxieties about \u201cworks\u201d than we would like to admit?<\/p>\n

As to whether I have simply turned faith into a work, or confused law and gospel, I\u2019ve attempted to fend off these charges in Chapter 5. Readers will have to make their own judgments about whether I have slipped the noose.<\/p>\n

MIKE BIRD: You make the case that the gospel is about king Jesus \u2013 the crucified, <\/span>risen, and exalted Jesus \u2013 to whom allegiance is our best response. You go so far as to say, \u201cJesus\u2019s reign as Lord of heaven and earth fundamentally determines the meaning of \u2018faith\u2019 (pistis<\/em>) as \u2018allegiance\u2019 in relation to salvation. Jesus <\/span>as king<\/em> is the primary object towards which saving \u2018faith\u2019 \u2013 that is, our saving allegiance \u2013 is directed.\u201d Why do you think this?<\/span><\/p>\n

MATTHEW BATES: This question gets to the heart of Salvation by Allegiance Alone<\/a><\/em>. Why should we feel compelled to reassess the meaning of \u201cfaith\u201d (pistis<\/em>)? Above all because the gospel itself demands this reevaluation<\/em><\/strong>. Yet the gospel has frequently been truncated and misunderstood\u2014even within churches and organizations that claim to be gospel-centered or gospel-driven. (Yes, I respect much of what happens over at The Gospel Coalition, but I would include many TGC folks in my assessment here!)<\/p>\n

If you ask someone, What is the gospel?, you will hear about faith, trust, the cross, forgiveness\u2014and perhaps justification, Jesus\u2019s righteousness rather than our own, and the resurrection. If you\u2019re lucky you might hear that Jesus is Lord. But you won\u2019t hear about Jesus\u2019s enthronement<\/u>. This is the central problem: an inadequate articulation of the gospel has prevented us from seeing what saving \u201cfaith\u201d really involves.<\/p>\n

Certainly most Christians believe that Jesus is the king, but this is felt to be a fact extrinsic<\/em> to the gospel rather than intrinsic<\/em> to it. The gospel is frequently summarized: \u201cjust trust in Jesus\u2019s death for your sins and you are saved.\u201d A more scholarly way of describing this view would be to equate the gospel with \u201cjustification by faith alone.\u201d That is, we are \u201csaved\u201d when we have faith in Jesus, trusting him alone rather than our works.<\/p>\n

The problem is this view introduces three errors. First, our faith in Jesus is not part of the gospel; rather it is our response to the gospel; second, our justification is not part of the gospel either; rather, Jesus\u2019s justification is part of the gospel as he is vindicated by his resurrection. Third, we have made \u201cJesus\u2019s death for sins\u201d the principle object of \u201cfaith\u201d within the gospel. For most today, What are we to have faith in? Jesus\u2019s sacrifice on our behalf. So we have made the gospel contain three items: \u201cour faith,\u201d \u201cour justification,\u201d and \u201cfaith in Jesus\u2019s death for us.<\/em>\u201d My contention is that the gospel proper only includes the last item, Jesus\u2019s death for our sins, but even then this is only a small part of the gospel and not the central target of \u201cfaith.\u201d Saving faith is better understood as allegiance to Jesus the atoning king<\/u><\/em>. The emphasis in Scripture is on loyalty to him as Messiah-king as that which forges the saving union.<\/p>\n

When the Bible articulates the gospel precisely, its climactic energy lands on how Jesus has become the \u201cChrist\u201d or \u201cLord\u201d or \u201cSon-of-God-in-Power,\u201d all titles that speak of Jesus\u2019s exalted sovereign role (see Romans 1:3-4, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, 2 Tim 2:8). Moreover, in the Gospels, Jesus\u2019s proclamation of the nearness of the kingdom of God anticipated his own installation at the right hand of God (e.g., Mark 14:61-62; cf. Matt 19:28; 25:31-32). The climax of the gospel is Jesus\u2019s enthronement as king.<\/p>\n

So, yes, we are saved by pistis<\/em> (traditionally \u201cfaith\u201d) in Jesus Christ, but we can\u2019t treat \u201cfaith\u201d and \u201cChrist\u201d as if the relationship between these words is devoid of a demand for ongoing allegiance between a loyal subject and a sovereign king.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matthew W. Bates, Salvation by Allegiance Alone: Rethinking Faith, Works, and the Gospel of Jesus the King (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017) MIKE BIRD: In this book you argue that pistis should often \u2013 but not always! \u2013 be understood with connotations of \u201callegiance.\u201d So rather than justification by faith alone we have justification by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nSalvation by Allegiance Alone - Interview with Matt Bates (Part 1)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Matthew W. 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