Time and The Order of Salvation

"Time, why you punish me?
Like a wave bashing into the shore
You wash away my dreams.
"Time, why you walk away?
Like a friend with somewhere to go
You left me crying
"Can you teach me about tommorrow
And all the pain and sorrow
Running free?
"Cause tomorrow's just another day
And I don't believe in time"

Hootie and the Blowfish
"Time"
Cracked Rear View

As in my previous two posts, I still am requesting much prayer.

            I also have been thinking about something that I do not think is quite fully developed yet, but nevertheless, would like to get it out there.  In reformed theology, much emphasis is put on the ordo salutis, also known as the “order of salvation.”  It is very important for Calvinists to place regeneration before the moment salvation to preserve the sovereignty of God.  As a matter of fact, in the whole system of Calvinism, it is important to note that God elected believers from the foundations of the world.  It is important because the emphasis in reformed theology is grace alone through faith alone.

            To be honest, I do not know a lot about Arminianism other than that I am probably not one.  Roger Olson’s book on Arminianism is on my “to read” list, but I just haven’t got there yet.  (By the way, I just finished the 11^th and final book of Harry Turtledove’s TL-191 series.  I’m finally setting aside Turtledove for some other reading.) In Arminianism, it seems that the emphasis is on the free will of man and if I understand the theology correctly, it places the regeneration of the Holy Spirit after the initial act of salvation.

For the past few years, I have described myself as a “questioning Calvinist” with the emphasis much more on the questioning part.  It is not that I have slipped from my belief in the sovereignty of God; on the contrary, it has become stronger.  As a matter of fact, if forced into a corner, I will often err on the side of the sovereignty of God.  But it is not the only important theological issue.  In other words, is God sovereign in salvation?  I believe the Bible does teach that.  Do we come to God on our own free will?  I also believe the Bible also teaches that…

…which brings me to my thought.  I am beginning to believe that time is a created thing.  On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer.  But if time is a created thing, then there was a time (pardon the pun, but language is limited for this) that God did not exist within a time and space continuum.  Therefore, God exists outside of time, so is there really a need to talk about the order of salvation?  Think about it this way: If God stands outside of space and time, then our concept of time, i.e. past, present, and future, is all already known to God.  So, to God, everything is happening right now. Even saying the words “right now” can be a stretch to a God who stands outside of time.  Things just are.

As it turns out, in my limited research of this issue, I am not the first to try and tackle it.  St. Augustine of Hippo also tacked this issue all the way back in the fourth century.  It seems that I stand in good company.  If my research is correct, he thought that God viewed things as the “eternal present,” which is essentially what I am saying above.  I need to do some more research on this (if I can ever find the time, again, no pun intended), but if this is true, then why is it necessary to talk about the order of salvation?

My overly simplistic answer is that since time is a created thing by God and God the Father chose to insert God the Son, Jesus Christ, into this space/time continuum in the form of a human, then even if time is a created thing, God has chosen to work within it.  The only answer that my finite brain has come up with is that God has to try and help us understand the concept of salvation and what it means. 

Think about the repercussions of that, too. If God employed the use of time to help us understand salvation, then does that mean that salvation is a far greater thing than we can understand?  I think it does.  And then what do we do with the arguments of Paul in Romans?  Was the idea of justification as Paul explained it just a method to try and explain something much bigger that he was?  I’ll let you answer that one for yourself. 

I think there is a temptation here to view things as black and white and simply rely on the Scriptures for the information that we need and I am not saying that is a wrong way to approach it.  The Scriptures are what we have to help us understand the things of God; we are to view them as the infallible inspired words of God, but this goes beyond the mere question of the Scriptures being fallible or infallible and goes directly to the limits of our human understanding about who God is and just what exactly He did to save us.  Frankly, it all makes my head hurt. 

My point in all of this is that I think we should be less focused on the ins and outs of the order of salvation and more focused on helping someone come to faith in Christ and helping them to live out that faith.  I have grown very weary of those who want to argue about this issue when I think it is so much less important than what I in the past have made it out to me.  The question for me is what am I and what are you doing right now to live as saints of God?