The Lost Doctrines of the Church: Eleology

Not so long ago, I created a post that I imagined would be the first in a short series.

The idea was that I'd highlight important themes in the teachings of Jesus that have never been reflected in the teachings of the church since the church began to chisel its importance beliefs into granite in its so-called creeds.

Christian belief systems have many -ologies:

Christology-the doctrine of Christ
Soteriology-the doctrine of salvation
Pneumatology-the doctrine of the Spirit
Eschatology-the doctrine of last things, and
Ecclesiology-of course, the doctrine of the church.

to mention only a very few of many.

Previously, I noted that the church and its creeds don't have a doctrine of dikaiology.

Jesus commanded disciples to seek first God's Kingdom and RIGHTEOUSNESS. He warned that if one's righteousness doesn't surpass that of the Scribes and Pharisees s/he will not enter the Kingdom of God. (That is, they will, well, go to hell.)

In fact, Jesus seems to have talked Himself blue in the face teaching about and emphasizing the importance of being righteous.

Dikaios is the Greek word for righteous. Yet, the church doesn't have a word for its teaching about being righteous. It doesn't have a doctrine of righteousness, despite the centrality of personal righteousness in the teachings of Jesus.

---------------

Here's another crucial Jesus-teaching the church doesn't have:

Eleology.

There's a stark warning buried in the blessings Jesus announces at beginning of Matthew 5, a passage which Bible scholars call, The Beatitudes, in which Jesus says,

Blessed are the merciful,
  for they will be shown mercy.

Eleos is the Greek word for mercy.

The church doesn't have and never has had a doctrine of Eleology.

However, the red letter parts of the Bible return to the theme of mercy repeatedly.

Mercy, it seems to me, is at the root of Jesus' teaching in the Sheep and Goats prophecy of Judgment Day in Matthew 25 in which He focuses on how disciples behave toward "the least of these."

And, if you take the Beatitude about being merciful at face value, Jesus seems to be saying that only people who live mercifully will receive mercy from the Father.

That interpretation fits the rest of His teachings in which He warns repeatedly that, on the Day, many who call Him Lord will be stunned to hear Him say to them, "Away from me, you evildoers."

In my many decades in the church, I can't recall being taught much of anything about mercy. I'm not sure that I've even been taught a helpful and reliable definition of the term.

And, I'm certain that I've not been taught that showing mercy is a part of the good works God created His people to do in Christ. (Ephesians 2:10)

The Western church today, as others have said before me, is designed around the notion that its clergy provide religious products and services to be consumed by the laity.

Today's church invites people to be consumers. In fact, since the first creeds, it has been built on the notion the typical church member consumes mercy which is provided as a religious product/service by the church's priestly class.

Yet, when I read the red letters, Jesus is saying that if you are a disciple you are, by definition, committed to being a net provider of mercy, not a net consumer of it.

When I read the red letters and look at most people who attend Western churches, I see people who will be stunned to hear Jesus tell them to get away from Him because they are evildoers.

Those people have never been empowered with a good eleology. They have been, however, enabled to consume.

I'm afraid that they are going to hell.

The people who style themselves as church leaders, need to become empowerers of mercy, not enablers of spiritual consumption.

We must repent.