Seth Udinski, FISM News
Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock found himself under fire from the evangelical community for good reason over the Easter weekend. Senator Warnock, also a pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, tweeted a very controversial statement about the Easter holiday and the nature of salvation. His tweet, which has since been deleted, read,
The meaning of Easter is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whether you are Christian or not, through a commitment to helping others we are able to save ourselves.
The tweet understandably outraged many biblically faithfully Christians, for two reasons. The first is the Senator’s blatant disregard for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Easter is perhaps the most important day in the Christian calendar, the day that the Lord Jesus Christ literally rose from the dead, vindicating His perfect life and substitutionary death on the cross. Because of Christ’s resurrection, sinners are saved from death and hell. Without Christ’s resurrection, we have no hope, and according to the Apostle Paul, we should be pitied more than anyone else (1 Corinthians 15:19). There is nothing more “transcendent” than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The second is the Senator’s apparent endorsement of works-based salvation. At the core of the gospel is the understanding that humans cannot save themselves. This is the reason we need Jesus. Salvation is a gift of grace, received by faith, and it is not through works (Ephesians 2). It is an abomination that a pastor of God’s people would even suggest that sinners can save themselves, especially on such a sacred day as Resurrection Sunday.
Jenna Ellis, former lawyer for President Donald Trump, responded to Warnock’s tweet shortly after he deleted it. She said,
Warnock deleted his heretical tweet. He should delete Reverend in front of his name too.