I have introduced the idea of Medieval Disputations before on this Substack. They are a great way of thinking through any issue and attempting to account for both your own position but to give some thoughts as to what others might claim who disagree. I heartily recommend the use of disputations in any classroom for thinking through topics that arise wherein differences of perspective may be voiced (or have been voiced historically). Disputations are great preparation for debate, for doing leg work prior to writing many kinds of essays or thesis papers, and they are beneficial all on their own without some other end in mind. Thomas Aquinas is the master of the disputation but this form is used all over the Middle Ages and even into the Reformation. Let’s bring it back!
Here is a disputation I am having my students do right now having just finished studying The Gospel of Luke. I wrote my own alongside them. Enjoy.
Claim: God could have saved humanity in some other way besides the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
I choose to contradict the given statement and I claim it to be false. Let me now start by stating some possible objections to my position.
Objection 1: God, being omnipotent, could have saved humanity in any way which he pleased for “with God all things are possible.” (Matt. 19:26) Therefore the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus was not necessary but only one possible way.
Objection 2: God gave mankind the law which is sufficient to teach us how to be righteous and inherit eternal life. For the Scriptures say, “And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” (Luke 10:25-28) Jesus taught us that we may have life by keeping the law, therefore the incarnation, death, and resurrection is not necessary for man’s salvation.
Objection 3: God could have put forward a different righteous man besides Jesus to die in our place. For the Scriptures say, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit” (1 Peter 3:18). We are told, however, that there are other righteous men in Scripture. For instance, “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” (Gen. 6:9) Therefore the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus was not necessary because another righteous person could have been offered as an atonement for our sins.
Sed Contra: “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” (Luke 9:22)
I Answer That: The incarnation, wherein God the Son “took on flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), is absolutely essential to our salvation. In order for God to redeem humanity Jesus had to take on a true human nature so that he could represent us in every way. If in any quality Jesus failed to be truly human then that quality of humanity would remain unredeemed. Therefore he humbled himself, taking on the form of a servant and forsook his rights of deity so that he might save us (Philippians 2:1-11). Further, it was necessary for Jesus to die because perfect atonement for human sin was still demanded by God and the blood of goats and bulls was insufficient as a perfect sacrifice. Christ alone, being God in flesh, could be the perfect sacrifice because all other creatures lack perfection, so Jesus’ death alone could atone for sin. (Hebrews 10) Finally, the resurrection of Jesus was essential for our justification as Paul tells us in Roman 4:16-25. Without the bodily resurrection of Jesus there would be no proof that God had accepted Jesus’ payment for the sins of the world. In fact, if Jesus had not been raised from the dead then the apostle tells us, “your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” (1 Cor. 15:17) Nothing in Scripture suggests that any other way to save humanity is possible, rather, from as early as Genesis 3 it is apparent that God’s intent was to save man by sending his Christ into the world. All of the teachings of the law, the prophets, and the writings of the Old Testament continuously speak to God’s intentions to send just such a Savior as we find in the person of Jesus. There is no other way back to God. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) There is no other door. (John 10:7)
Reply to Objection 1: Colloquially speaking “God can do all things” is a perfectly good and true statement to make, but it lacks the precision which is sometimes needed for the sake of clarity. A more comprehensive definition of God’s omnipotence would be, “God is able to do all things which are consistent with the perfections of his nature.” Again we might say, “God is able to do all his holy will.” Therefore it does not follow that God’s omnipotence means he could save the world in any way whatsoever, as though God could have put forth a banana to be our savior. God chose to save the world through his Son because it was necessary for him to do so while still maintaining his holiness, justice, mercy, goodness, and other such blessed perfections which are part of his nature. No other means of redeeming humanity from their sin would be possible without some violation of one or more of the perfections of God. In Christ alone God’s just wrath against the sinfulness of man was satisfied while also allowing God to justly provide redemption, mercy, grace, and new life in his name.
Reply to Objection 2: It is true that if any man could keep the whole of the law from birth to natural death then he could enter God’s kingdom without Christ’s work. It is false that any man is capable of keeping the law perfectly with the exception of Christ himself who did not inherit a sinful nature from Adam because God is his true Father (c.f. The genealogy in Luke 3). For since the fall of Adam, all mankind is under the curse of sin and has inherited the guilt of Adam. The apostle Paul teaches us that “in Adam all die” but thanks be to God “so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Corinthians 15:22) Again, the apostle teaches us in Romans 3:10-12 “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” The consistent testimony of Scripture is that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23) and for anyone who would earn their way to heaven through obedience to the law it is demanded of them that they do so perfectly. James 2:10 tells us “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Jesus reminded his disciples “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenlyFather is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) It is without wonder that Jesus’ disciples would at times ask, “Then who can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25).
The answer to this is that no one can be saved by their own merit but they must, instead, be saved by the merit and righteousness of Christ which is granted to the believer by faith. “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.” (Romans 4:7-8) We must all reject our own ways of sin and throw ourselves upon the mercies of Christ, by faith, and so have Christ’s righteousness counted as our own. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9) We should be thankful that God did not leave us to save ourselves by law keeping, because this is impossible for those of us who are in Adam (and all of us are in Adam apart from faith in Jesus). “For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)
Reply to Objection 3: The careful observer will note that the response given in “Reply to Objection 2” has sufficiently answered and overcome “Objection 3” as well. For sake of clarity, however, let it be said that the righteousness of other men (e.g. Noah, Abraham, David, etc.) is a righteousness that was acquired by faith and is not a righteousness original to their natures. It is a declared righteousness as a result of these men trusting in Yahweh to save them, and it is a growing personal righteousness as they walk in repentance and faith and are “transformed by the renewing” of their minds in Christ (Rom. 12:2). Were this not so then the Bible would be found to be in contradiction when it says “no one is righteous” (Rom 3:10). But of course the law of non-contradiction states that “a statement cannot be both true and false at the same time or in the same way.” The distinction between the actual righteousness of Jesus, who faced every temptation of man yet “without sin” (Heb. 4:15), and the righteousness of Noah, and others like him, is a distinction of the way in which they are called righteous. So, the Bible is not found to contradict itself. Those who are righteous by faith are those dependent upon a foreign righteousness, namely Christ’s righteousness, and therefore they cannot themselves save anyone.
Getting Aquinas flashbacks just reading that!