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Patrick R. Briggs – ST502 – Winter 2008
Critical Reflection #7 & 8
– Following Grenz (but not limited to him), produce a 500 word ‘ordo salutis.’“That concept of vocation is rooted in a deep distrust of selfhood, in the belief that the sinful self willalways be ‘selfish’ unless corrected external forces of virtue. . .Discovering vocation does not meanscrambling toward some prize just beyond my reach but accepting the treasure of true self I already possess. Vocation does not come from a voice ‘out there’ calling me to become something I am not. Itcomes from a voice ‘in here’ calling me to be the person I was born to be, to fulfill the original selfhoodgiven me at birth by God.”
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"The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." – Frederick Buechner I believe salvation has much to do with a human being able to answer the fundamental and universalquestion, “Why am I here?”. The journey to understand one’s purpose in life is crucial to me. Vocation as Parker Palmer describes above, is the central theme of this journey. To a human being, this gives life meaning in a very realand subjective sense. In this same sense, I believe I am saved by meaning. Perhaps this is another way of saying Iam saved by Christ?It is with this predisposition that I look up on an Ordo Salutis (order of salvation) with a bit of curiosity and bemusement. I don’t mean to diminish this exercise for determining the “exact order of the Spirit’s working and our human response,” but it does seem a less direct hermeneutic for dealing with that fundamental question all human beings ask, “Why am I here?”.There are differing perspectives on Ordo Salutis. Reformed tradition(Calvinism) for example, based on animpassable view of the nature of God, believes that God has an overall calling for the human race and choosesspecific individuals to be saved and others are not chosen – election. This election is irresistible and predestined. Itis a Justification by election. In the words of the words of one Congregationalist church preacher I had themisfortune to sit in on a sermon for in Sierra Madre, “There are two kinds of people in this world. Them that aresaved and them that ain’t.”Lutherans base their Ordo Salutis on Justification by faith. “The cause for justification is Christ (proper Christum: because of Christ[‘s merit]), and the way to receive it is faith. The justification is based on God’sreckoning of Christ’s righteousness on our behalf.”
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Clearly in the Reformed tradition, human merit for salvation isnot possible. Within the Lutheran tradition, it is equally impossible.Roman Catholics, unlike the prior two traditions view Justification as a process. While acknowledging thatthe human person cannot turn to God without grace. Baptism as a child or the choice to accept this state of graceoffered by God through Christ is the beginning of this process. It continues through life in sanctification, through
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Palmer, Parker J.
 Let Your Life Speak: Listening for the Voice of Vocation
.(San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2000), 10
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Kärkkäinen, Veli-Matti.
Class Notes
. 144.
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