The five “solas” of the Protestant Reformation were: sola scriptura, sola fide, sola gratia, sola Christo, and soli Deo Gloria.
The regular articulation of the resultant soteriology was that we are saved “by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”. Founders pastor Douglas Shivers had this to say about the doctrine of justification and the Southern Baptist's confusion of it and how to make it clear,
“When preachers cannot distinguish and articulate these truths, and then cannot find help to do so in a sound confession, the task is made much more difficult. Recovery of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone ought to be our priority.”
Christians by necessity are confessional, therefore our creeds ought to be as clear statements of our beliefs as possible. Sadly, what we find in a quick overview of at least American Christianity is that the vast majority of persons calling themselves Christians cannot articulate the doctrine of justification and its immediate theological context. What’s more is that many of them don’t even think that is important! Just check out some of the polls conducted by Shane Rosenthal at “The White Horse Inn”.
One symptom of this nonsense is contained in Rick Warren’s latest offering where he says that (paraphrase) we need to participate in a second reformation; the first was about reforming creeds, but this present one is about the reformation of deeds. This sloppy handling of the distinction between law and gospel is born out of a mishandling of the doctrine of justification. In a theological environment influenced by the likes of Zane Hodges and his model of sanctification, it should surprise no one that Warren and others stomp out the mantra about deeds. The problem isn’t that we have truck loads of Christians who have all their theology straight and simply need to reform their deeds (and we all certainly should do that every day) but what we do have is truck loads of persons who are only professing to be Christians who actually need to repent and believe before they make any attempt at behavioral reformation.
The denial of creeds and the adoption of behavioral reform outside of Christian discipleship are for some, the symptoms of a semi-Pelagian view of regeneration and for others, they are the disease that causes them to embrace a semi-Pelagian view of regeneration. But as far as the Reformation is concerned, both the grace of regeneration and the faith by which it is received are contained in the gospel, but today instead of hearing the biblical statement from Eph. 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”, what we actually hear is exactly backwards, because so many have forsaken God’s sovereignty over regeneration many have a theology that states that: the simple faith of man obliges God toward his regeneration, in other words, …for by faith you are saved, through grace, and that grace not of yourselves: that grace is the gift of God.
The problems that lie therein are both deep and wide!
The regular articulation of the resultant soteriology was that we are saved “by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”. Founders pastor Douglas Shivers had this to say about the doctrine of justification and the Southern Baptist's confusion of it and how to make it clear,
“When preachers cannot distinguish and articulate these truths, and then cannot find help to do so in a sound confession, the task is made much more difficult. Recovery of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone ought to be our priority.”
Christians by necessity are confessional, therefore our creeds ought to be as clear statements of our beliefs as possible. Sadly, what we find in a quick overview of at least American Christianity is that the vast majority of persons calling themselves Christians cannot articulate the doctrine of justification and its immediate theological context. What’s more is that many of them don’t even think that is important! Just check out some of the polls conducted by Shane Rosenthal at “The White Horse Inn”.
One symptom of this nonsense is contained in Rick Warren’s latest offering where he says that (paraphrase) we need to participate in a second reformation; the first was about reforming creeds, but this present one is about the reformation of deeds. This sloppy handling of the distinction between law and gospel is born out of a mishandling of the doctrine of justification. In a theological environment influenced by the likes of Zane Hodges and his model of sanctification, it should surprise no one that Warren and others stomp out the mantra about deeds. The problem isn’t that we have truck loads of Christians who have all their theology straight and simply need to reform their deeds (and we all certainly should do that every day) but what we do have is truck loads of persons who are only professing to be Christians who actually need to repent and believe before they make any attempt at behavioral reformation.
The denial of creeds and the adoption of behavioral reform outside of Christian discipleship are for some, the symptoms of a semi-Pelagian view of regeneration and for others, they are the disease that causes them to embrace a semi-Pelagian view of regeneration. But as far as the Reformation is concerned, both the grace of regeneration and the faith by which it is received are contained in the gospel, but today instead of hearing the biblical statement from Eph. 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”, what we actually hear is exactly backwards, because so many have forsaken God’s sovereignty over regeneration many have a theology that states that: the simple faith of man obliges God toward his regeneration, in other words, …for by faith you are saved, through grace, and that grace not of yourselves: that grace is the gift of God.
The problems that lie therein are both deep and wide!
2 comments:
…for by faith you are saved, through grace, and that grace not of yourselves: that grace is the gift of God.
Excellent distinction...Do you think that the corresponding view of a god up in heaven that is helpless wringing his hands trying his best to woo us, and hoping that at least someone would choose him so Christ won't have died in vain, is one of the reasons that we are experiencing a moral decline in this post-christian culture. That god doesn't seem like one that would command holy fear.
It seems like if Warren went back and understood the orginal reformation his desire for a second reformation would be nugatory.
Yes, I do think the corresponding view does contribute to such a lack of holiness. Certainly, sanctifying grace is just that--grace, but when even a genuinely regenerate person fails to see the vast chasm across which only Christ is the bridge, then that person will likely not struggle against sin the way he should, or pursue desiring God above all else. I believe we are all prone to this contradiction from time to time, but to remain in it for one's life is to prove that one is still under God's judgment.
I hate to beat up on the man, but Warren's statements regarding "deeds not creeds" is paramount to saying "law not gospel" or at worst, "me not Christ". I don't think he has knowingly rejected the gospel but he certainly seems to have a very skewed view of it; at least a different view of it than I do, and I dare say a different view of it than the Bible reveals.
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