Possibly Solving Post-Reformation Disunity

Possibly Solving Post-Reformation Disunity Diana Spencer Reformation, Christian unity, post-Reformation disunity, misunderstanding the Bible, conflicting Christian traditions On this 500th anniversary of the start of the Reformation, a possible solution to the subsequent disunity recently lamented by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York might be for the main Christian denominations to agree to set up jointly small committees of scholars, each of which would study in depth one of the many problems that have arisen during the history of Christianity—rather than looking at the Reformation itself, which was only the result of past disagreements. Such a focus on reexamining the past would need to be in the context of seeing when and how what I believe was the original understanding of Christianity (union with God through humanity being united with divinity in Christ as we "abide in him" in this life and the next) became displaced by other theories that distracted from that crucial gospel message. If agreement could be achieved on this, it might bring Christians together again and thus revitalize the church. In particular, the definition of "eternal life" has never been agreed upon, because the pre-Christian, pagan idea of the immortality of the soul in its own right unwittingly became assimilated into the official teaching of the church very early on, despite the fact that it conflicts with both biblical teaching and the inherited liturgies, and this contradiction has continued over the centuries. An example of this is Mt. 10:28, which states, "[F]ear [God] who can destroy both soul and body in hell," which has been taken to mean that the soul can exist forever anyway (the pagan idea of the immortality of the soul in its own right), being punished forever in hell if necessary, which is contrary to the Christian doctrine that "eternal life" is only to be found in the eternal God through abiding in Christ, the alternative being perishing, [End Page 610] ceasing to exist. The Greek word "Ghenna" in that passage refers to a place where rubbish was burned, that is, destroyed. This misunderstanding is demonstrated by the fact that, if one is destroyed, one cannot last forever in hell; if one lasts forever in hell, one has not been destroyed. The apostolic teaching was that the opposite of "living forever" in God through Christ was to perish, to cease to exist. There are many examples of this in the Christian scriptures, one being specifically about being saved from perishing (not hell) (2 Cor. 2:15). The Book of Common Prayer refers to "everlasting death" in the catechism, and "everlasting condemnation" in the litany; "condemnation" is not the same as "punishment" in the sense of "going to hell." The Athanasian Creed has been, and still is, similarly misunderstood and is now being omitted from current texts for that reason, with the result that it is now no longer even being thought about. Similarly, 1 Jn. 5:8 (about "the testimony of God") has now been omitted altogether from the Revised Common Lectionary, because its meaning has simply not been understood. I believe that it was meant to affirm the divinity of Christ and the inauguration of the new covenant on the cross, Christ's blood signifying the forgiveness of sins and the water symbolizing the long-promised outpouring of "the water of life," that is, the Spirit, which are the two parts of the Atonement described by St. Paul as "acquittal and life" (Rom. 5:18). The church is in danger of losing some basic understandings of its faith if something is not done to think again about such texts, to rediscover, and finally agree on, what they really mean and thus better understand the faith. I believe the author of the Gospel and Epistles of St. John—which were written long after St. Paul, who had known the original apostles, had written his Epistles, and many years after the Synoptic Gospels had appeared—was trying to correct the record on these matters by saying that "God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 Jn. 5:11). But, unfortunately, the idea of "abiding in Christ" (as in Christ's prayer in

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