Paul's Passing Thoughts

As anyone remotely familiar with the Bible knows, Christ made use of parables and illustrations to teach about life and the gospel. This post will point out 5 of His illustrations that contradict Protestant soteriology and will end with Peter’s last exhortation to God’s called-out assembly.

The first is the woman at the well in John chapter 4. Christ explained to the woman that anyone who drinks of salvation will not be thirsty again, and the life of salvation is a well that springs up inside of the saved person. That is not Protestant soteriology. The Protestant Reformation was sparked by the issue of infused grace, which it rejects. Furthermore, clearly, Protestantism isn’t about the gospel fully satisfying the soul without a need to return to the gospel. Hence, “We must preach the gospel to ourselves every day.”

The second is Christ’s statement that we cannot serve 2 masters in Matthew chapter 6. Though the example of money is used, how much more would this be applied to serving God and not the sin master? Though Protestant scholars play word games with the definition of being enslaved to sin, Protestant soteriology rejects the idea that salvation changes the “believer’s” state of being. This is because perfect law-keeping is the standard for justification according to Protestant soteriology—not the new birth. Hence, if the law cannot be kept perfectly, one is not justified as a state of being and necessarily remains enslaved to sin.

Next we have Christ’s illustration of whitewashed tombs in regard to religious hypocrisy in Matthew chapter 23. Actually, Protestantism is the perfect example of whitewashed tomb soteriology. The so-called “believer” remains full of dead bones inside while the outside whitewash is the substituted righteousness of Christ in the double imputation schema of Protestantism.  As the Steve Camp song states, “He covers me.”

In John chapter 13, we have the foot washing episode that took place between Christ and Peter. Christ made it clear to Peter that he didn’t need a complete washing as salvation does that in the same way that salvation only requires one drink that results in an inner well of life. Not so with Protestantism; a perpetual return to the cross is needed for continued washing. John Calvin and Martin Luther refered to this as a return to our original baptism.

In the parable of the talents (Matthew chapter 25), Christ speaks of rightous servants using their gifts to produce fruit. The wicked lazy servant hides his talent in the ground and gives the master back what was originally given. Apparently, the servant was afraid that he would fail somehow and lose the original amount he was left in charge of. But this is exactly what Protestant orthodoxy promotes; anything that can be added to any gift given by God is a works salvation.

Lastly, in 2Peter chapter 1ff, Peter is writing about what he thinks is most important for the saints to remember because his departure is near. Preaching the gospel to yourself every day, right? Not moving on from the cross to something else, right? No, the exact opposite. Peter reminds them to add 8 virtues to the foundation of their faith.

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