[This is a post from the Searching for a Third Way series, first published November 2008. Some readers found this very helpful at the time. I thought it might be relevant to the current discussion. Besides, football is on my mind … The Objections section at the end is new, however.]
I love college football. Doesn’t everybody? And it occurs to me that a football example would help make some sense of what I’m talking about. I mean, it’s been pretty philosophical — even metaphysical — to this point. It’s time to get a little more down to earth.
Consider the 1979 Rose Bowl. Michigan vs. Southern Cal. The game was tied late, 10 to 10. USC drove to near the end zone. The quarterback handed the ball to running back Charles White, and on the 3 yard line, he fumbled. The ball was recovered by Michigan. But the referees signaled touchdown for USC! The game ended 17-10, and Southern Cal was voted national champions — even though millions of TV viewers saw the replay and knew to a certainty that White had not scored.
Now, this is not a lesson on grace. Well it is, but not exactly. It’s a lesson on time. The question isn’t why or how, but when did White score the touchdown? He absolutely did not cross the goal line with the ball, but the score is 17-10, USC won the game, and White received statistical credit for the yardage all the way to the end zone and for the touchdown. And so — he must have scored. But he didn’t.
When did he score the touchdown? Did he score it when he carried the ball across the goal line? Well, he didn’t. Did he score it when the referees raised their arms to signal a touchdown? Sort of. But the play had already been blown dead and the ball wasn’t even in play. How could he score when the play had already ended? And yet he scored.
You see, this is an example of that strange phenomenon called “reverse causation.” At the end of the play in real time, White had not scored. But when the referees raised their arms, he had scored. Their judgment “related back” and changed the reality of what happened in the past!
You say it wasn’t real? Well, the scoreboard disagrees. So do those who voted USC nationals champions! So do the statisticians. He scored.
The future really can change the past.
Just so, as N. T. Wright argues, baptism is when the Christian is justified. Baptism is God’s gift to the convert, demonstrating to him and the world that he’s been redeemed. “Justification” is God’s declaring the convert acquitted. And it’s also the time that the Spirit is given. Hence, justification is very similar to the referees raising their arms.
We’ve all seen touchdowns that weren’t credited and non-touchdowns that were. What matters is what the referees decide. Just so, we’re not saved until God says we’re saved. His is the only opinion that matters!
But the justification relates back. It makes the faith matter. Because what’s matters most is not when we have faith, but whether God says the faith saves. And that’s at baptism. Normally.
So when are we saved? Well, when we come to faith. But only if God declares us justified, at baptism, which then makes the faith save. It empowers the faith.
Is this contradictory? Not really, not any more than Southern Cal’s national championship.
And what if we messed up the baptism somehow? What if the baptizee’s nose never went under? Or the water was poured or sprinkled? Or faith only came later?
Well, what happens if you cross the goal line after fumbling the ball? You don’t score. No you don’t. Until you do.
Objections:
* The referee made a mistake. God makes no mistakes. [Since when does saving the soul of a penitent believer in Jesus constitute a “mistake”?]
* God always follows the rules. [No, he doesn’t. Miracles don’t follow the rules. Grace doesn’t follow the rules. God constantly violates his own rules — when it suits his redemptive purposes.]
* But God said he’d only saved those baptized exactly the right way at exactly the right time. [No, he didn’t. That’s what our tracts say, but it’s not what the Bible says. God promised to save all with a genuine, penitent faith in Jesus.]
* Sounds like Postmodern malarkey to me. [I can’t control how things sound to you, but Charles White scored, not because there is no absolute truth, but because a score is whatever the refs say is a score. They are the final authority. That’s an absolute truth. The fans have no authority at all. That’s an absolute truth. Someone is saved when God says he’s saved, because God is the final authority. That’s an absolute truth. We’re God fans, but we can’t tell God who to save and who not to save. That’s an absolute truth. In fact, the parables of Jesus have a recurring theme that some in God’s household will be upset as his seemingly excessive generosity. And that’s an absolute truth. ]
* If we can’t tell God who to save, how dare you say that he’ll save someone who’s been baptized incorrectly! [I can’t make up rules for God, but I can count on God to keep his promises. And he’s repeatedly and plainly promised to save all with faith in Jesus. And I can observe that God has never once in the Scriptures rejected anyone who came to him with penitent faith — even those who didn’t follow the prescribed atoning rituals of the day.]
Judgment call plain and simple, we are not afforded that choice.
One of the poisons that killed the spirit of the Restoration Movement was the idea that becoming a child of God was a simple mathmatical formula; this + that + the other things = salvation. The mystery of God was, over time, totally shut out of it preaching and teaching.
What should have been a blessing to the religous world, that the common man can sit down with scripture and grow in learning and digesting the word of God, actually regressed into a pride of “knowing verses” and became a theology that one can put on the front and back of a 3×5 card, namely the plan of salvation and correct worship. The scriptures that supported these were the only important ones, in the name of “rightly dividing the word of truth”. Once this happened the sovereignty of God was gone. Being in awe of GOD was no longer necessary.
While we do see in scripture the good news of Christ, the reponse of those who came to believe, and the family life of believers, we also see, as we see now, the reality of diversity. There is an old proverb that says, “As one face differs from another, so does one human heart from another”, and only God knows the borders, as well as the intent, of each human heart.
“Once this happened the sovereignty of God was gone. Being in awe of GOD was no longer necessary”
John, I know most commenters here will not agree,and be agast at the thought, but if they were to think about what is popular teaching today, they would have to admit, you are right. Jesus has been elevated to God Almighty, and Paul has been given the place of messenger.
“God always follows the rules.”
If this is true, then the rules are God. The lesser submits to the greater.
Jay’s terminology here is better: God always keeps his promises. Sometimes that offends us. We should re-read the parable of the laborers hired at the eleventh hour. As is usual in Jesus’ parables, we “early hires” can find ourselves there.
I get the point of your example, but it’s not an actual case of reverse causation.
Of course, that’s not to say that reverse causation is not possible with God, nor that it cannot help us understand certain aspects of salvation.
It’s just that the example you gave is not reverse causation. (It’s not that the referees saying that it was a touchdown caused the ball to cross the line before they signaled the touchdown. That, strictly speaking, is reverse causation.)
Micah,
The post was originally posted as part of series that considered modern physics and Calvinism — and discussed genuine reverse causation. However, more readers got the idea from the football illustration than got it from the real thing. Such is the nature of quantum physics.