Salvation by Bookkeeping

September 9, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
Since your response to my excerpt from Capon’s book, “Kingdom, Grace, & Judgment” was rather positive, I think I will offer another for your consideration (p. 204): “It is not just the Samaritans, though, whose bookkeeping leads them to miss the point of Jesus’ determination to go to Jerusalem and death. In Luke 9:54, his disciples James and John turn out to be no better. Even though they have heard everything Jesus has said about lostness—even though they have been the butt of his irony about Gentiles, tax collectors, and other outcasts, and even though they have heard His words to Peter about unlimited forgiveness—they still instinctively resort to salvation by bookkeeping. Confronted with the Samaritan village’s rejection of the Jesus they have accepted as the Messiah, the only thing they can think to do is even the score. ‘Lord,’ they ask Him, ‘do you want us to bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?’ They say in effect, ‘We are the ones who are winners when it comes to Messiah-watching; let’s just get this villageful of losers out of the game with one good, hot blast.’ Yet, they were not winners; they themselves consistently failed to understand Jesus’ plain words about His coming death. It would only be much later, after they had seen Jesus Himself dead and risen, and after they came to see themselves as dead and risen in Him, that they would really be winners. And even at that, most of them would win only by martyrs’ death—by the very loss, ironically, that they were in such a hurry to inflict on the Samaritans.”
Whether or not you believe everything Capon said and/or implied in that excerpt is really not important to me; however, there are several implications that are undeniably true, not the least of which is this one: Salvation by bookkeeping always causes its adherents to miss the point of the gospel—always. Sadly, “salvation by bookkeeping” is the preferred method for most, and, consequently, they have missed the point of the gospel.
The truth is this: Jesus did not come to rank us according to our goodness; instead, He came to rescue us from the pit of sin and death. Yesterday, I read this line is a book (I do not remember the name of it): God does not reward us according to our goodness; goodness is our reward. I am not sure that reward is the best choice of words, but I think you get the point. Whatever you do, do NOT miss the point of the gospel!