Episode 106: Year C – 1st Sunday of Advent
In this episode, we focus on four details in the second reading and Gospel reading for this upcoming first Sunday of Advent, Year C. The second reading is taken from 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 and the details there, so we argue, relate to the nature of justification as interior righteousness versus the forensic model. The two details in the Gospel reading, taken from Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, gives opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ reliability as a prophet and the Protestant notion of “once saved, always saved.”
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Hey everyone,
Welcome to The Sunday Catholic Word, a podcast where we reflect on the upcoming Sunday Mass readings and pick out the details that are relevant for explaining and defending our Catholic faith.
I’m Karlo Broussard, staff apologist and speaker for Catholic Answers, and the host for this podcast.
In this episode, we’re going to focus on four details in the second reading and Gospel reading for this upcoming first Sunday of Advent, Year C. The second reading is taken from 1 Thessalonians 3:12-4:2 and the details there, so we argue, relate to the nature of justification as interior righteousness versus the forensic model. The two details in the Gospel reading, taken from Luke 21:25-28, 34-36, gives opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ reliability as a prophet and the Protestant notion of “once saved, always saved.”
Let’s start with the second reading, which, again, is taken from 1 Thessalonians 3:12—4:2.
May the Lord make you increase and abound in love
for one another and for all,
just as we have for you,
so as to strengthen your hearts,
to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father
at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones. Amen.
Finally, brothers and sisters,
we earnestly ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that,
as you received from us
how you should conduct yourselves to please God
and as you are conducting yourselves
you do so even more.
For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
The first detail that I want to highlight is Paul’s petition that the Thessalonians “increase” in love. The apologetical significance, so I argue, is that it provides evidence against the forensic view of justification.
Recall, the forensic view of justification entails the belief that our justification, standing in a right relationship with God, is due solely to God declaring or reckoning us just in virtue of Christ’s righteousness imputed to us, not in virtue of our interior righteousness.
Now, on this view, there’s no possibility to increase in justice, or justification, since Christ’s imputed righteousness is complete and perfect. So, if we can show in the Bible that our justification can increase, then we’d have evidence against the forensic view of justification.
Here’s where the detail about increasing in love of neighbor comes into play. James teaches in chapter 2 of his epistle that works of love toward neighbor, such as feeding the hungry and clothing the naked (vv.14-17), justify us. In verse 24, he writes, “See that we are justified by our works [the works mentioned in verses 14-17] and not by faith alone.” So, our works of love for neighbor serve as a ground for at least some aspect of our justification.
Now, since Paul says we can increase in love of neighbor, and our love of neighbor serves as a ground for at least some aspect of our justification, it follows that we can increase in our justification. There’s a “not yet” aspect of our justification that we’re able to achieve or grow into as a Christian. And if that’s the case, then the ground for justification can’t be merely the forensic declaration by God in virtue of the imputed righteousness of Christ.
The second detail, which is related to the first, is Paul’s statement about the effect of the Thessalonians increasing in love: “so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his holy ones.”
Note the connection between the “heart” and being “blameless.” Other translations render the text as, “so as to establish your hearts unblameable in holiness.” Holiness is an issue of the heart, something interior. Christians call this sanctification.
Now, for some Protestants sanctification is essentially different from, and has nothing to do with, our justification. But I think this detail at least points in a direction opposite to this belief, even if not fully a prooftext.
Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to increase in love and be blameless in the heart for the sake of being ready at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all the saints. Here’s the question: why would there be a need to be blameless within our hearts at the coming of Jesus if our justification were merely a forensic declaration by God? If our standing with God weren’t affected in any way by our interior state of holiness, then there would be no need to be concerned about being in a state of holiness at Jesus’ coming. Yet, Paul says exactly the opposite: we should be concerned. Therefore, our standing with God is affected by our interior state of holiness.
Okay, let’s turn to the Gospel reading, taken from Luke 21:25-28, 34-36. I’m also going to include the skipped verses, verses 29-33. Luke reports,
Jesus said to his disciples:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars,
and on earth nations will be in dismay,
perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.
People will die of fright
in anticipation of what is coming upon the world,
for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
And then they will see the Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
But when these signs begin to happen,
stand erect and raise your heads
because your redemption is at hand.
[29 He taught them a lesson. “Consider the fig tree and all the other trees. 30 When their buds burst open, you see for yourselves and know that summer is now near; 31 in the same way, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.]
“Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy
from carousing and drunkenness
and the anxieties of daily life,
and that day catch you by surprise like a trap.
For that day will assault everyone
who lives on the face of the earth.
Be vigilant at all times
and pray that you have the strength
to escape the tribulations that are imminent
and to stand before the Son of Man.”
The details of focus and their related topic here are similar to the details and topic that we looked at in episode 104 for the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. Much that I will say here is the same as what I said in episode 104 with a tidbit of extra material.
As mentioned before, skeptics often see this as evidence that Jesus failed as a prophet, predicting his coming “within a generation” and it not happening. But, again, there are good reasons to think that Jesus’ prediction doesn’t primarily refer to his second coming at the end of time, but to the Roman siege of Jerusalem that resulted in the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70. In other words, he’s not predicting the end of the world, but a world—the world of temple Judaism.
One clue to support this is the cosmic cataclysmic imagery that Jesus uses: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay.” Prophets used this kind of imagery in the Old Testament when they were prophesying the impending destruction of God’s enemies.
Consider, for example, Isaiah’s prophecy of destruction of Babylon in Isaiah 13:1-19. Here are a few excerpts:
The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw (vs.1)…Wail for the day of the lord is near as destruction from the Almighty it will come (vs.6)…For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not shed its light (vs.10)…And Babylon…will be like Sodom and Gomorrah (vs.19).
The imagery of the roaring sea and waves in verse 25 is yet another example: “nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the waves.” Isaiah uses this imagery for the nation God rouses to punish wayward Israel in Isaiah 5:30:
25 Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people… 6 He will raise a signal for a nation afar off, and whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and lo, swiftly, speedily it comes… 30 They will growl over it on that day, like the roaring of the sea….”
The imagery is also used to portray the anger of God raging against His foes in Wisdom 5:17-22:
17 The Lord will take his zeal as his whole armor, and will arm all creation to repel his enemies…the water of the sea will rage against them, and rivers will relentlessly overwhelm them…”
If this cataclysmic imagery was used by Jewish prophets not to foretell a cosmic apocalypse but to warn of the impending destruction of cities, then wouldn’t it be reasonable to conclude that Jesus, a Jewish prophet, would use the same imagery in the same way?
Jerusalem, in rejecting the Messiah and persecuting the fledgling Church, had in effect become God’s enemy just as Babylon and Egypt were. When Jesus’ prophecy is read against this Old Testament backdrop, the destruction of Jerusalem seems to be a reasonable interpretation.
The cataclysmic imagery also suggests the fall of Jerusalem because the temple was for the Jews a symbol of the whole universe. You can listen to episode 104 of the Sunday Catholic Word for details.
Finally, Jesus says that everything he describes would take place within a generation, which for the Jews was forty years: “Amen, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place” (Mark 13:30).
If Jesus made this prophecy around A.D. 30 to 33, and the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 during the Roman siege, then wouldn’t that put the event within a generation?
These details give a strong indication that Jesus was not wrong in his prophecy concerning his impending return. Rather than prophesying about his glorious coming at the end of time (CCC 668–682), he intended his coming to be understood in the sense of God’s coming in the Old Testament, namely, that judgment is imminent.
Jesus’ statement about “the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory” confirms this, since Jeremiah 4:13 uses the cloud imagery to describe God’s coming in judgment.
Now, this doesn’t mean Jesus’ prophecy is only about the impending judgment on Jerusalem in A.D. 70. As with all prophecy, it has multiple layers of application. It can and does refer to his second coming at the end of time, which is what the Church is ultimately drawing our attention to with this Gospel reading. How exactly does it apply? Well, that’s an open question.
But there is one detail that relates specifically. Jesus warns his listeners to be ready for his coming, lest it catch them by surprise: “Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life, and that day catch you by surprise.”
This matches what he says elsewhere about his coming at the end of time. For example, Mark records Jesus saying in 13:32, “But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”
Obviously, the theme of vigilance applies to both the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and us for Jesus’ coming, whether that be for us individually or at the end of time.
There’s one last detail in this Gospel reading that I want to highlight, and it’s related to a detail in the second reading. Notice Jesus says, “Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”
Here’s my question: Why would there be a need to be strong during tribulations and prepared to stand before Jesus at judgment if we’re already secure in our salvation? The implication in Jesus’ exhortation here is that it’s possible to not stay strong during tribulations and the consequence be an unpleasant reward as we stand before Jesus who comes in judgment. So, the “once saved, always saved” doctrine seems to be proven false by such an exhortation.
Conclusion
Well, my friends, that brings us to the end of this episode of the Sunday Catholic Word. The readings for this upcoming 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C provide us with opportunity to reflect on plenty of apologetical topics:
- The nature of justification as interior righteousness in contrast to the forensic model,
- A defense of Jesus as prophet, and
- A reason to reject the “once saved, always saved” doctrine.
As always, thank you for subscribing to the podcast. And please be sure to tell your friends about it and invite them to subscribe as well at sundaycatholicword.com. You might also want to check out the other great podcasts in our Catholic Answers podcast network: Trent Horn’s The Counsel of Trent, Joe Heschmeyer’s Shameless Popery, and Jimmy Akin’s A Daily Defense, and Tim Staples’ 1-on-1 with Tim, all of which can be found at catholic.com.
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I hope you have a blessed 1st Sunday of Advent, Year C. Until next time, God Bless!