The Call to Holiness
A Statement of Evangelicals and Catholics Together
Copyright (c) 2005 First Things 151 (March 2005): 23-26.
Over more than ten years, this group of Evangelicals and Catholics,
speaking as individuals committed to their respective communities but
without any official mandate, has explored important areas of agreement
and disagreement among us. In our first round of conversations and in
the resulting statement of 1994, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together:
The Christian Mission in the Third Millennium,” we were able to
recognize one another as brothers and sisters in Christ and to affirm
the positive value of the witness to the gospel rendered by our several
communities, notwithstanding differences and disagreements. In 1997, we
were able to issue a second statement, “The Gift of Salvation.” In that
statement we affirmed that the justification of sinners, which is not
earned by any good works or merits of our own, leads us toward the
fullness of salvation that is promised in the final kingdom.
In
our third statement, “Your Word is Truth” (2002), we found a notable
convergence in our views concerning the transmission of God’s saving
Word through Holy Scripture and tradition. The following year we took
up the interpretation of the phrase “The Communion of Saints” that
appears in the Apostles’ Creed, and there we affirmed that, by virtue
of our communion with Christ, we are in a certain, albeit imperfect,
communion with one another in his body, the Church. That round of
discussions called our attention to the holiness that is proper to God
alone but in which human beings are called to participate. Such
participation means nothing less than to be drawn into the very life
and love of God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Holiness
is also participation in the life of the Church, which is the holy
people called into being by God’s saving work in Christ. Following up
on this theme, we wish now to consider the ways in which our
communities and their individual members can and must foster and embody
holiness.
As is clear from our
earlier statements, we believe that salvation is realized through union
with God, who is all-holy (Leviticus 11:6-8, 21:6-8; 1 Peter 1:15-16).
The gift of salvation is effected and bestowed only through the one
Mediator, Jesus Christ (1 Timothy 2, Acts 4:11-12). While thanking God
for this inestimable gift, we acknowledge our failures and seek to find
ways in which we, our communities, and our world can more fully respond
to the call to holiness.
I. We Are Christians
According
to the apostolic witness, the call to holiness begins with divine
election: God’s summons to Israel, and later to the Church, to be a
holy nation, a people set apart as God’s own treasured possession,
called to worship, witness, and good works (see Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter
2:9). All of us are consecrated to the one God—Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit—in whose name we are baptized (Ephesians 4:4-6). By his
sacrificial death on the Cross, Jesus Christ enables us, by the power
of the Holy Spirit, to share in the holiness that he embodies and
accomplishes for us. Our conformity to Christ involves a radical love
that is cruciform, requiring a profound gift of self. “If anyone wishes
to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow
me” (Matthew 16:24). By incorporating us into Christ, the Holy Spirit
also makes us members of his body, the Church.
The
relationship of the Christian to Christ is expressed in a variety of
biblical metaphors. We have already spoken of our being members of his
body. We may also speak of our being branches grafted on the Vine, who
is Christ. The relationship may also be expressed as our inclusion in
the Covenant of the New Testament—a covenant in which Jesus is the Lord
and we are his servants. However expressed, our union with Christ is
profoundly transformative.
This
transformation manifests itself differently to different people. For
some it is experienced as a powerful and specifiable moment, engaging
the deepest affections. For others it is experienced as a deepening of
faith in Christ and a peaceful sense of being welcomed into the
communion of believers. For all it is the knowledge of being called out
of darkness into God’s marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9). However
differently experienced, the gift of grace is to be preserved and
cultivated throughout the life of the Christian.
Our
different traditions, notwithstanding their doctrinal differences,
agree that faith and baptism, as the sacrament of faith, belong
together. Christian faith should always lead to baptism, and baptism,
conversely, should always be accompanied by Christian faith. Baptism is
mandated, not optional. It is the gateway to the Christian life.
Some
of our traditions reckon baptism as a sacrament of constitutive
importance for Christian existence. Others see it rather as a sign and
expression of a new Christian life already received. But on either
view, baptism involves a lifelong engagement to grow in union with
Christ and labor in the service of the gospel.
Sadly,
the level of commitment is much lower than it ought to be. In all our
communities, there are many who are members in name only. Many of us
live in a manner that brings disgrace on the name of God. The call to
holiness entails a continuing call to repentance and transformation of
life. Many, however, have received practically no instruction in
Christian doctrine; many fail to measure up to the norms of Christian
conduct. Weak and sinful members, we agree, should not be treated with
harshness and contempt, but rather with compassion, each of us being
painfully aware of our own frailty. We strive to find ways of helping
inactive, alienated, and marginal Christians to rise to the dignity
that is theirs as children of God.
II. Becoming Who We Are
Christian
existence is by its very nature relational. Christians are related to
God as their Father, to Christ as their older brother, and to all their
fellow Christians as members of the same family. The Holy Spirit
maintains and animates all these relationships. “If we live by the
Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25).
To
be a Christian is always both a gift and a task. We are called to be
perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). Yet even
the most exemplary of Christians must confess with St. Paul, “Not that
I have already obtained this or made it my own; but I press on to make
it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. . . . I press on
toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus” (Philippians 3:12-14).
The
command, “Be holy, as I am holy,” already given under the Old Law,
holds in a special way for Christians (Leviticus 11:44-45; cf. 1 Peter
1:16). Paul exhorts the Philippians to be “children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom
you shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). The authenticity
of the Christian life is manifested in the fruits of holiness. Jesus
taught us that faithful disciples would be known by their fruits
(Matthew 7:20).
Holiness entails a
transforming encounter with the living Christ. This conversion, which
is ongoing in the Christian life, means that one becomes a disciple of
Christ, and discipleship necessarily entails discipline. Christians
know they are not perfect, but they together constitute a people that
is different. In the early Church, Christians were able to point to the
probity of their lives. They did not steal and murder; they did not
practice divorce, adultery, infanticide, or abortion. In the
second-century Letter to Diognetus the author boasted that
Christians “dwell on earth, but are citizens of heaven. . . . What the
soul is to the body, Christians are to the world” (chap. 5, sec. 1).
Somewhat later, Minucius Felix puts on the lips of the hero of a
literary dialogue the words: “While the jails are crammed with your
kind, they do not hold a single Christian, unless he be accused on
account of his religion, or unless he be an apostate” (Octavius, chap.
35). Christians attracted pagans to join them because they excelled in
virtue and mutual affection. They were seen to love Christ and his
Church even to the point of giving up their lives.
It
is a great scandal that so many Christians of our day, while continuing
to be identified as members of the Church, fail to respond to the call
to holiness. Too many, misunderstanding the nature of faith and
presuming upon the grace of God, disregard the commandments of God.
Such Christians rely on what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace,”
evading “the cost of discipleship.” They have drifted far from the
biblical precept: “Confirm your call and election” (2 Peter 1:10),
which is expounded as meaning, “Supplement your faith with virtue, and
virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and
self-control with steadfastness. . . .” (2 Peter 1:5-6). It is time,
therefore, for Catholics and Evangelicals, corporately and
individually, to recommit ourselves to the life of discipleship that
ought to be the distinctive mark of Christians.
Committed
as they are to Christ as the source and model of all that is holy,
Christians are in no way exempted from obedience to the moral law
permanently inscribed by the Creator in human nature (Romans 2:15).
They are bound to the moral precepts of the Decalogue which are
confirmed and brought to surpassing fulfillment in Christ. “If you love
me,” says the Lord, “you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). To
reject his commandments is to reject him and thus to forfeit our
ability to abide in him and to bear fruit (see John 15:1-11). While
individuals have different vocations, all are called to obey the
commandments and especially the commandment of love, the greatest of
them all (Matthew 22:37-40).
God
has given us ample means to participate in the fullness of His love. We
are to hear and study the word of God, especially as it comes to us in
the Holy Scriptures. There is a growing practice among serious
Christ-ians—Evangelical, Catholic, and others—to join in Bible study
and prayer groups. This is attended by a new appreciation of the lectio divina,
the devotional and meditative reading of the Bible, notably in the
discipline of daily prayer. Encouraged by these developments, we
rejoice in a greater measure of common catechesis based on Scripture
and the ecumenical creeds that we share.
Corporate
worship on the Lord’s Day is central to the Christian life. We are
agreed that the Sunday gathering should be marked by the proclamation
of the Word and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Catholics are
coming to a renewed appreciation of the proclamation of the Word in the
eucharistic assembly. Many Evangelicals are recovering historic forms
of Christian worship, incorporating the preaching of the Word within
the context of communal prayer, worship, and participation in the
Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 10:16).
As
fellow members of the community of faith, we should also confess our
sins and failures to God and one another, especially to those whom we
have offended, according to the opportunities and requirements of our
respective communions (1 John 1:8-9, James 5:16). In all cases, sinners
must be reconciled to God and the Church, making a firm resolve to
amend their ways. Whether as Catholics or as Evangelicals, we are
spiritually responsible for fellow Christians. We should engage in
mutual encouragement and correction, performing this duty with love and
tact. All of us will be summoned in the end to give an account of our
stewardship. Our source of forgiveness is in God’s reconciling work in
Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18), and our accountability is, in this and all
else, to Christ the Lord “who is to judge the living and the dead” (2
Timothy 4:1).
III. Witness and Mission
The
Church cannot rightly be conceived as a self-created or self-enclosed
entity. It is a body of believers gathered by God and sent on mission
to the world. In going forth into the world, Christians are not
venturing into a foreign territory. By his death on the Cross and his
glorious exaltation to the Father’s right hand, Christ has been made
Lord over the whole world, even though his dominion is not universally
acknowledged (Philippians 2:9-11). Those who deny his lordship or serve
idols and other deities are not beyond the sovereignty of Christ but
are, albeit unknowingly, his subjects. The world, insofar as it is
captive to sin, is under the power of the evil one and still awaiting
the liberation that Christ has won for it (1 John 5:19).
The
entire mission of the Church may be summarized under the rubric of
evangelization. Evangelization in the broadest sense is proclaiming the
good news of Jesus Christ to all people and bringing that gospel to
bear, by word and deed, on the totality of things. According to the
Scriptures, God’s Word in Jesus Christ should penetrate into the hearts
and minds of believers, governing their ideas and activities and,
through their ministry, permeating the cultures and social institutions
of the world (2 Corinthians 10:5). All of creation, wounded by original
sin, is to be healed and redirected in Christ to its true goal, the
glory of the Creator (Colossians 1:19-20).
The
missionary activity of the Church should not be understood as the task
of a few specialists. The Church is missionary in nature. It is the
duty and privilege of every Christian to “declare the wonderful deeds
of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter
2:9). The precise form of evangelization to which believers are called
depends upon their particular vocations. Some are called to travel to
other lands and bring the good news to peoples who have not previously
heard or accepted it. All, and especially parents, are called to impart
Christian truth within their own families. Those in business and
politics are called to bear witness in the marketplace and the public
square. Whatever one’s work or calling, occasions arise for professing
one’s allegiance to Christ and for inviting friends and associates, as
well as casual acquaintances, to share one’s faith.
Lay
men and women should not think that the secular character of their
vocation consigns them to an inferior rank in the Church’s mission. On
the contrary, the Church with its ministerial and sacramental
structures is entirely ordered toward the redemption of the secular,
meaning this world (the saeculum). The Second Vatican Council
was not speaking only for Catholics when it declared that the normal
vocation of the laity is to “seek the kingdom of God by engaging in
temporal affairs and ordering them according to the plan of God” (Lumen Gentium
31). The plan of God, in turn, cannot be fully understood apart from
Christ and the gospel, which alone disclose the deeper meaning and
orientation of all temporal activities. The Amsterdam Declaration
affirms, “The salvation Jesus brings and the community of faith he
calls forth are signs of his kingdom’s presence here and now, though we
wait for its complete fulfillment when he comes again in glory. In the
meantime, wherever Christ’s standards of peace and justice are observed
to any degree, to that degree the kingdom is anticipated, and to that
extent God’s ideal for human society is displayed.”
In
our first statement, “Evangelicals and Catholics Together,” we pointed
out a number of areas in the right ordering of society on which we can
and should cooperate. Our response to the call to holiness requires us
to exemplify and advance a culture of life. This includes defense of
religious freedom and the marriage-based family, resistance to evils
such as abortion, euthanasia, eugenics, and coercive population
control, and a devotion to justice for all, especially for the poor. We
now renew all of these commitments as aspects of our vocation to pursue
holiness together. Cooperation among Christians, we believe, vividly
expresses the bond that already unites them and sets in clearer relief
the features of Christ the Servant (cf. Vatican II, Unitatis redintegratio, 12; Lausanne Covenant, 7).
IV. Suffering and Hope
Christ
promised that the pursuit of holiness would be difficult. He said that
his disciples would face adversity and persecution (John 16:33).
Christians should not be surprised by opposition and setbacks. Paul
assures us that God works in all things for the good of those who love
Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Stirred by
the example of the martyrs who died rather than deny their Lord,
Christians today should be prepared to make sacrifices for their faith.
Such sacrifices can be a radiant proof of their love of God and a
source of inspiration to others.
Contemporary
culture tends to look upon suffering and death simply as evils.
Christians, however, recognize that in the plan of God suffering,
patiently endured, can deepen our union with Christ in his suffering
and thus become a royal road to holiness (Philippians 3:10). Although
Christ’s suffering was sufficient for the redemption of the world,
Christians can grow in the life of grace by uniting their own
sufferings with his. Paul refers to this great mystery when he speaks
of our filling up what was wanting in Christ’s afflictions for the sake
of his body, the Church (Colossians 1:24).
We
would find it impossible to endure suffering and failure with patience
and joy except that Christ has given us by his words, his glorious
resurrection, and the gift of the Holy Spirit a sure hope that he will
never abandon his disciples. After they have suffered a little while,
he will bring them into the fullness of his kingdom (1 Peter
1:6-7). The world today desperately needs a hope that cannot be
disappointed—a hope that is anchored at a point beyond this world and
its contingencies.
Our churches,
separated though they be, witness to this hope. It is our prayer that,
recognizing our solidarity in hope, we may now proclaim it more
effectively together. As we preach to others, we attend to ourselves,
lest in preaching to them we ourselves becomes castaways (1 Corinthians
9:27). The good example of Christians, indeed, is often the most
effective form of witness.
The
spiritual renewal of our communities, their missionary activity, their
service to society, and their quest for visible unity are, we are
confident, indivisible aspects of the Holy Spirit’s work in our day. In
all these endeavors, holiness and the pursuit of holiness has
unquestioned priority. We urge all Christians to devote themselves to
these tasks with eyes fixed on Christ, “whom God has made our wisdom,
our righteousness and sanctification and redemption”
(1 Corinthians 1:30).
Evangelical Protestants
Dr. Harold O. J. Brown, Reformed Theological Seminary
Mr. Charles Colson, Prison Fellowship
Dr. Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School
Dr. Kent Hill, Church of the Nazarene
Dr. Cheryl Bridges Johns, Church of God School of Theology
The Rev. T. M. Moore, Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church
Dr. Thomas Oden, Drew University Emeritus
Dr. James Packer, Regent College
Dr. Sarah Sumner, Azusa Pacific University
Dr. Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Dr. John Woodbridge, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School |
Roman Catholics
Dr. James J. Buckley, Loyola College in Maryland
Dr. Peter Casarella, Catholic University of America
Dr. Gary Culpepper, Providence College
Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Fordham University
Fr. Thomas Guarino, Seton Hall University
Dr. Matthew Levering, Ave Maria College
Fr. Francis Martin, Mother of God Community
Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, First Things
Fr. Edward T. Oakes. S.J., Mundelein Seminary
Mr. George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center
Dr. Robert Louis Wilken, University of Virginia |

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