Jesus
A Credible Image from the Fayum Mummy Portraits. See Note below. (Fair Use)
Armstrongism in Contention with Christianity:
Concerning Salvation by Faith
The Armstrongist model for salvation departs from Christianity. Anyone who looks forward to a life in Paradise should consider this issue carefully.
The Armstrongism Says About Salvation
The following two published statements expose the essential model for Armstrongist soteriology. After you sift through the many sound bites in archival material, you find these principles at the center of Armstrongism.
Jesus tells us that our OBEDIENCE to the Ten Commandments is an absolute PREREQUISITE to receiving God's gift of eternal life (Mat. 19:16-17). (Ambassador College Bible Correspondence Course, Lesson 17, 1966.)
Rod Meredith writing of the “Civil Law” in the Law of Moses:
These statutes and judgments, based on the ten commandments, are “righteous” (Palm 119:7, 8). It is SIN to break them! (Roderick C. Meredith, “Is OBEDIENCE to god Required for Salvation?”, Ambassador College, 1956.)
In summary, one must have a record of effective law-keeping in order to one day receive salvation. This means that Armstrongists do not have salvation now. Their salvation is in suspense as they await judgment in their personal Eschaton. For them, the keeping of the Decalogue, the statutes and judgments are a pre-condition to salvation – an input into the salvific process. While this is “salvation by works”, even though Armstrongism denies that salvation by works is a part of its soteriology, Armstrongists do not neglect faith in Christ. So, they have a hybrid model that includes both law-keeping (the Law of Moses) and faith both as sources of salvation.
What Jesus Said about Salvation
Jesus made the following clear statement about salvation:
Very truly, I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.” (NRSV, John 5:24)
Here Jesus makes faith or belief the source of salvation. And the result is that the person who believes has (notice past tense) eternal life and has passed (note past perfect tense) from death to life. Salvation has already happened for those who have received the gift of faith. The earlier statement that I quoted from the Ambassador College Correspondence Course begins with the phrase “Jesus tells us…” This contradicts what Jesus really tells us in John 5:24.
Jesus echoes this in his response to the wealthy young man in Matthew 19:16-26. The young man comes to him and says, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life.” The answer, of course, there is nothing you can do to earn eternal life. Jesus takes him down a logical path where he quickly finds the level of “doing” that will cause the young man to reject salvation. Perfection and the resultant salvation are unattainable by doing. But with God all things are possible and he provides the imputed righteousness of Christ for the perfection of the Believer.
Summary Argument
Paul says we are saved by grace through faith and not of works. Armstrongism asserts that we are saved by grace through faith plus works. HWA maintains that only those who are keeping the commandments are recipients of grace, making grace contingent on law-keeping:
And those who, through repentance, obedience and FAITH have turned from disobedience and are, through faith, KEEPING the Law, are the only ones who are UNDER GRACE! (HWA, “What is Faith”, WCG, 1979)
In this odd, non-Biblical interpretation, grace comes after law-keeping in contravention to Paul (Ephesians 2:8-9) who states that salvation is not of works at all. It is worthwhile to educate yourself about the model of salvation in Armstrongism and how it compares to Christianity, if you seek salvation.
Note: An image of Jesus in the Catacombs of Priscilla shows him with short hair and clean shaven. I have used this very early image as a guide in choosing a likely portrait. The date for the Catacombs image is circa 225 CE.
by Scout
