Striving Toward a Truth-Based Unity
A Feature Review of
Beyond the Salvation Wars: Why Both Protestants and Catholics Must Reimagine How We Are Saved
Matthew W. Bates
Paperback: Brazos, 2025
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Reviewed by Justin Cober-Lake
For the better part of a decade now, Matthew Bates has been developing a long-term project. A reconsideration of how we are saved lies at the heart of the work, first brought to light in 2017’s Salvation by Allegiance Alone. Bates concerns himself with understanding both what the gospel is and what the Greek word pistis means in the context of faith. He further developed his provocative ideas in Gospel Allegiance, furthering a valuable conversation. Now he returns with Beyond the Salvation Wars: Why Both Protestants and Catholics Must Reimagine How We Are Saved, a book that’s ostensibly irenic in intent yet likely to spark debate across the spectrum of Christianity.
The controversy arises because Bates tackles numerous long-held traditions in both Catholicism and Protestantism. Readers will most likely encounter some element of Bates’s analysis that will spark some consternation, whether it’s his take on baptism or his disruption of the order of salvation. Although Bates argues with plenty of conventional points (particularly the Catholic and more Reformed ideas), he does so charitably. It’s clear he’s worked to understand these positions deeply and honestly, and he happily acknowledges when he agrees with his likely theological opponents. (The same can’t always be said about his foils, as a recent Gospel Coalition review seems oddly combative in its willful misreading.) The sincere engagement but breadth of disagreement gives the book an unusual tone; Bates wants to get everyone on the same page, but he’s very clear on what that page should be, but he expects further debate. Bates sees the discussion in hopeful terms, writing, “Because it is united in the truth at the end, we know that the church will inevitably make progress toward reconciliation. So we should joyfully begin to work for greater unity today” (261).
While Bates may be provocative, he’s also quite convincing. Bates mixes exegesis, historical research, and logical analysis to build his argument, always working to stay in line with Scripture. Readers may benefit from a familiarity with his previous work (or with some knowledge of N.T. Wright or Scot McKnight, natural predecessors). Bates takes the time to delineate his soteriological model, which he calls “the gospel-allegiance model,” but the ideas are more fully developed and supported in his other books. Even so, there’s enough detail here to join the conversation, and his comparison of various points in Catholic, classic Protestant, and gospel-allegiance traditions is very helpful.
Central to Bates’s work is the idea that we’ve largely gotten the gospel wrong. Or at the very least, we’ve misplaced it, centering on gospel benefits and ignoring the point of the good news. Bates describes “the big idea” of his model by saying, “[W]e are saved not merely by trusting God’s saving promises for us are true in Jesus but by bodily allegiance to him as king” (4). Allegiance, then, “can help us differentiate the content of the gospel from its required response, purpose, and benefits (17, italics in the original). That proper content, to Bates, can be summarized in 10 points, which are the elements making up the narrative of Jesus’s kingship. His argument stands in stark contrast to a more typical Protestant view that might focus on the possibility of salvation for a given individual (focusing on the idea of justification by faith alone).
That reframing creates a shift in thinking about salvation from a personal, individualized view to a group-centered one (comparisons to Arminianism here are natural but inexact). He explains that “a proper nuancing reminds us that God’s saving goals are achieved in community for community” (65). This thinking includes the idea that “justification is not part of the gospel but rather a communal benefit of the gospel first, and a personal benefit only secondarily” (86, italics in the original). These points have significant ramifications on various topics related to or part of soteriology, and Bates carefully works through each of them, considering traditional Catholic and Protestant teaching.
To properly dig into each of these topics would require a string of articles (or an entire book!), but the most intriguing issue covered here might be the order of salvation. The striking point Bates makes is most succinctly put like this: “Scripture does not support a notional distinction between justification and sanctification in a personalized order of salvation” (209, italics in the original). Bates sees the Protestant divide between justification and sanctification as a hindrance to moving forward in unity across denominations. The conversation needs to begin at its roots because Bates believes, “It is impossible to discern what ails the classic Protestant and Catholic models of justification if words such as gospel, grace, faith, works, regeneration, justification, and sanctification are defined in sub-biblical ways and then deployed systematically” (215, italics in the original). It’s a noteworthy moment not just in Bates’s argument (the whole chapter is worth careful study), but in highlighting the challenge of his project. In increasing church unity, he needs to call out flawed doctrine in a way that’s honest but stark, and it will pose a challenge to many readers.
After that, Bates moves on to “Justification Remodeled,” a chapter in which he considers work by classic Protestantism, Catholicism, and N.T. Wright before finding an option that he believes best adheres to the biblical witness. Following Michael Bird, he calls this model “incorporated righteousness” (as opposed to “imputed” or “infused” models), highlighting the idea that we partake of the righteousness of God “by inclusion within the Messiah’s loyalty framework” (246, italics in the original). It maintains the community-focused structure of Bates’s theology while making sense of a variety of biblical passages.
Bates closes with a chapter on how we can move toward a gospel-allegiance culture. The suggestions make sense (though some will disagree with his more open Communion), but the real challenge will be encouraging fruitful dialogue. Bates’s work addresses the flaws he sees in Catholic sacraments, the cornerstones of modern Calvinism, and more. The conversations will be demanding and probably heated, but they’re worth having. As Bates says, “The goal is unity in the truth,” and not simply winning an academic argument (59). That’s why he’s willing to keep what’s true from other traditions while refining or replacing what isn’t. The work will require perseverance. “We must never give up on striving toward a truth-based unity for the future of the church,” he says (2). Bates will likely be an important participant in the ongoing conversation. It’s an imposing task, and ecumenical growth won’t be easy. It should, however, be part of the church’s glorious future.
Justin Cober-Lake
Justin Cober-Lake a pastor in central Virginia. He holds an M.A. in American Studies from the University of Virginia and has worked in academic publishing for the past 15 years. His editing and freelance writing have focused mostly on cultural criticism, particularly pop music.
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