For Augustine love of God absorbs and reorders all other types of love; so that the one who desires the Heavenly City is driven by the vision of the holy God for which there are many benefits of course: though these are not the point. For him:
The earthly [city] lifts up its head in its own glory, the Heavenly City says to its God: ‘My glory; you lift up my head’ (Psalm 3:3). (Augustine, Concerning the City of God against the Pagans, XIV.xxxviii. )
God himself is the glory of the Eternal City; it is in the longing for and submitting to God that glory and honour are returned to the Christian. Under this way of conceiving it, the true martyr does not pursue the golden crown or the higher position in heaven; rather she testifies merely to her love of God, and seeks his honour – and in doing so, basks in his radiance.
It still might be possible, however, to see in 'the love of God' the operation of an system of exchange. Calvin, at pains to show that he agrees with Augustine, at the same time clarifies and even extends his thought by means of the Reformation doctrine of justification by faith. He interprets the promises of heavenly rewards a promise that comes after the 'free covenant of his mercy' - sealed not by meritorious works but indeed by grace through faith. The assurance given to believers that theie tribulations are not in vain is given in addition to the strength to endure. Without the free bestowal of grace upon the ungodly in Christ, there is no 'crown of righteousness' (2 Tim 4:8). As Calvin writes:
...the righteousness of good works depends upon the fact that God by pardon approves them. III.xviii.5
The emphasis lies on the self-consistency of God rather than on the rendering of a due payment.
For the purposes of the present discussion this is significant because of the motivation implied: the language of heavenly reward is not used in order to motivate a self-interested desire for heavenly reward: such a thing is impossible, in fact. Rather, heavenly rewards remind us of faithfulness of God to his promises.
2 comments:
I'm sure I'm exposing my ignorance here, but I don't understand the logic of this post.
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/8449/reward.html seems like a reasonable summary of heavenly rewards for a layman like me. Is this post trying to agree or disagree with something in that article, or make an entirely different point?
What is clear to me is that "a self-interested desire for heavenly reward" definitely is possible and has been seen both in Christians and followers of other religions.
And passages such as Matthew 6:19-21 read like motivational laguage, not like a reminder (though can of course be both). Though I admit the language seems to motivate not self-interest in the reward, but a self-interest in having a heart in the right place.
But I guess my main problem in my understanding is I don't see the logical connection between most of your post and the last two sentences - there is probably some context of martyrdom I'm not getting.
I am not quite, in my turn, what your complaint is exactly. I guess what I was getting at was that a heavenly rewards theology could look like it was teaching justification by works - martyrdom being the ultimate work of course. Calvin of course wants to avoid this conclusion. So, the rewards come not as a wage for merit, but as the glory of God meeting and recognising the work of God.
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