Barclay on Universal Redemption and the Saving Light

Proposition 5 & 6 Concerning the Universal Redemption of Christ and also the Saving and Spiritual Light wherewith every man is enlightened.

Barclay actually has two propositions which he considers so interconnected that he discusses them together. The text of just the propositions can be found here and his discussion of them can be found here.

I will summarize the Fifth Proposition as this: God has infinite love for all humankind and out of that love sent His son as a Light so that whoever would believe in Him would be saved. This Light enlightens everyone who comes into the world. It teaches temperance, goodness and righteousness and it reproves the sin in everyone. It is no less universal than the seed of sin in everyone.

The Sixth Proposition holds that the manifestation of this Light is available to all regardless of their outward circumstance. The Light is a grace that is available to all and can be felt and understood by all, whether or not they have heard of Christianity or not. All people, even those who lived before Jesus or who have lived in places where the Gospel has never been preached can still follow the inward manifestation of the Light of Christ and be obedient to it and so can be turned from evil and towards good and so become holy. If Christ is known inwardly, there is no need to know Him outwardly for salvation to occur.

Undergirding this view is the infinite love of God. God loves everyone in the world and would not keep any from coming to God because of the accidents of their birth that would have kept them from hearing the Christian message. God is actively seeking the redemption of everyone, that is why God made the Light of Christ available to everyone. Barclay takes the opportunity of the discussion of these propositions to utterly deny any form of the doctrine of predestination. He calls it a “blasphemy against the love of God.” because it would made God the source of evil and it would cause people to hear of a salvation that they could never have, no matter what they did. I would hope that people who come to Quakerism from other Christian traditions that make a great emphasis on the anger and judgment of God could understand that God's love is the foundation of Quakerism and not judgment and fear of damnation.

This universalism is not based on any notion of tolerance or an idea that all traditions hold a kernel of truth. Instead it is based on the ability of God to communicate directly with every person. There is one God and this God is knowable by everyone regardless of our religious or theological beliefs, or lack of them. The goal of the spiritual life is to come to know the inward promptings of God and to be obedient to them. So rather than saying there are many paths up the mountain, he is saying, there is one path up the mountain (obedience to the Light) but that the road may be given different names.

This is how Barclay puts the Quaker Gospel:

According to which certain Light and Gospel, as the knowledge thereof has been manifested to us by the revelation of Jesus Christ in us, fortified by our own sensible experience, and sealed by the testimony of the Spirit in our hearts, we can confidently affirm, and clearly evince, according to the testimony of the holy Scriptures, the following points:

First, That God, who out of his infinite love sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into the world, who tasted death for every man, hath given to every man, whether Jew or Gentile, Turk or Scythian, Indian or Barbarian, of whatsoever nation, country, or place, a certain day or time of visitation; during which day or time it is possible for them to be saved, and to partake of the fruit of Christ's death.

Secondly, That for this end God hath communicated and given unto every man a measure of the Light of his own Son, a measure of grace, or a measure of the Spirit, which the Scripture expresses by several names, as sometimes of "the seed of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:18-19); the "Light that makes all things manifest" (Eph. 5:13); the "Word of God" (Rom. 10:17); or "manifestation of the Spirit given to profit withal" (1 Cor. 12:7); "a talent" (Matt. 25:15); "a little leaven" (Matt. 13:33); "the Gospel preached in every creature" (Col. 1:23).

Thirdly, That God, in and by this Light and Seed, invites, calls, exhorts, and strives with every man, in order to save him; which as it is received, and not resisted, works the salvation of all, even of those who are ignorant of the death and sufferings of Christ, and of Adam's fall, both by bringing them to a sense of their own misery, and to be sharers in the sufferings of Christ inwardly, and by making them partakers of his Resurrection, in becoming holy, pure, and righteous, and recovered out of their sins. By which also are saved they that have the knowledge of Christ outwardly, in that it opens their understanding rightly to use and apply the things delivered in the Scriptures, and to receive the saving use of them. But that this may be resisted and rejected in both, in which then God is said to be resisted and pressed down, and Christ to be again crucified, and put to open shame in and among men, and to those as thus resist and refuse him, he becomes their condemnation.

I will write more about the doctrines expounded here, especially the idea of a day of visitation, in another post. I would like to end by drawing your attention to the first part of the statement. He is saying that this is true because of four things:

1.It was revealed to them by Christ.
2.It is in accord with their own experience.
3.It has been confirmed by the Spirit
4.It is in accord with the Bible.

Based on these things they can proclaim what they believe. Note also that Barclay is using the plural throughout. This is not an individual witness. This is a witness of Friends as a people.

In spite of the strengths of liberal Quakerism, I am disappointed that we seem to have lost this sense of confidence in the revelations of God we have received. We do not state things forthrightly and clearly. We are downright timid. How often do our statements begin with words like, “No one can speak for all Friends but ...” Have we received revelations form God? Are they in accord with our experience? Are they confirmed by the Spirit in us and in the body of Friends? Are they in accord with the Bible? If we have, why are we shy about proclaiming it? If we haven't received such a revelation, what are we doing to prepare ourselves to receive one? It is not because God has stopped talking to us. Are we waiting expectantly, stripping away all that would distract us from our attention to God? Are we practicing faithfulness in small things so that we can learn to become faithful in large things?

I have just finished reading Douglas Gwyn's book Seekers Found. I understand him to be saying in it that Truth is not something abstract but is part of the essential nature of God. This truth is made real, it is embodied, not by our intellectual understanding, but by our living it. Thus our faithfulness is a fruit of God's work in us already and at the same time it is the means by which God continues to work in us. If our lives embody this Truth, this essential essence of God, if we have become the sanctuary, the tabernacle where God lives, how can we be so timid?

Blessings to all.

Will T

Back from Africa with a broken heart

I arrived back from Kenya on Tuesday evening. That night we had our first significant snowfall of the year here in the Boston area. Except it wasn't just snow, it was ice and rain and sleet and a couple of things like grapple (little ice balls) that I had never heard of before. It was very heavy stuff to shovel. I was glad for our neighborhood snowblower. Wednesday night the weather turned cold. It was 11 degrees in the morning and what had been plowed into the end of our driveway during the night had turned into something resembling rock. So another hour of wrestling with the snowblower to clean it up so we could get to work, and to clean up the driveway of our elderly neighbor. So much for a gentle re-entry.

It was wonderful to go back to Africa after 36 years. I couldn't believe how much Nairobi had changed. In 1970 there were maybe 3 high rise buildings. The New Stanley Hotel, the Intercontinental and maybe one more. Now the entire downtown was high rises. We got in on Saturday night, attended the service at the Friends International Center on Ngong Road and then went right to the airport for our flight to Kisumu where the FUM Africa office is. Monday and Tuesday we visited the hospitals at Lugulu and Kaimosi, spending the night at the Bishop Stam Conference Center in Kakamega, which was where the Board Meetings were to be held on the weekend. We also got a chance to visit the Kakamega orphanage started by Dorothy Selebwa and sponsored by USFW (United Society of Friends Women). On Wednesday and Thursday we traveled into Uganda and visited 4 schools. There are stories to be told about all of these visits. I also have a lot of pictures but they are still in the camera.

Friday was devoted to working on a strategic plan for FUM and Saturday was the General Board meeting itself. I look at what I wrote before I left about Friends learning about reconciliation among themselves. That is not what happened. On Sunday at Ngong Road and again during the opening devotions of the General Board meeting itself, we were treated to sermons denouncing homosexuality as evil. On Friday I was in the group looking at how FUM can deal with its identity issues. In October we had felt God working among us and there had been a sense of tenderness toward each other, even when we disagreed significantly. This spirit was not present in February. Led by the Superintendents of Iowa, Indiana and Western Yearly Meetings and supported by the representatives of the African yearly meetings, there was a clear sentiment expressed that even looking at these issues was keeping them from doing the work of FUM. In the morning we did some work on discussing our plans for an identity retreat before the June General Board Meeting. In the afternoon we discussed how to address the issues of our theology, Christology, and the source of our authority. We made no progress in finding common ground and at the end, the only recommendation was that the General Board reaffirm the Richmond Declaration as a statement of faith of FUM. Christopher Sammonds, General Secretary of New York Yearly Meeting, was the co-clerk of this session and he felt it was the sense of that meeting, even though he could not unite with it.

On Saturday, the proposal to affirm the Richmond Declaration came to the General Board. Every representative present from the dual-affiliated yearly meetings spoke against the proposal. Everyone else who spoke was in favor of it and the presiding clerk, Brent McKinney of North Carolina said that the recommendation was approved. All of the representatives of the dual-affiliated yearly meetings were recorded as standing aside. This did not feel like a sense of the meeting, it felt like a vote. It felt as though the yearly meetings with dual affiliations were being told that their understandings and opinions did not matter to FUM. For me it was the most painful experience I have ever had among Friends. I do not know how New England Yearly Meeting or any of the other dual-affiliated yearly meetings will react to this. I do not know what this means for the future of FUM. I do know that it is not a step towards finding unity among Friends. This action makes it clear that there are Friends who care more for theological purity than they do for unity. Meanwhile my heart grieves for the Society of Friends.