Writing at a time of intense controversy and division within Reformed
ranks, the English Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote, “Factions breed
factions.” We are called to the peace and purity of the
church, but when is the concern for peace a crutch for compromise and
when does our appeal to the church’s purity become a cloak for own pride
and dogmatism?
Of course, we all say that we should find our unity around primary
truth, but I know of no historical debate in which a partisan advocated
schism in the name of “secondary matters.” Repeatedly these days I hear
church leaders dismiss important age-old debates because they are not
“gospel issues,” as if we had not been commanded by our Lord to “teach
them everything I have commanded you.” At the same time, some of the
most divisive issues in our churches today concern matters that are not
even addressed clearly in God’s Word.
One issue that is clearly addressed in Scripture is sanctification:
the work of the Spirit through his Word in uniting us to Christ and
giving us the grace to grow up into Christ, bearing the fruit of the
Spirit. Given the centrality of justification to the Reformation
debate, it is not surprising that Reformed, Lutheran and other
evangelical bodies are crystal-clear in their confessions and catechisms
on this point. In some circles, though, it is at least assumed in
practice that our confessions aren’t quite as clear or as emphatic on
sanctification. Reformation theology is great in defining the gospel,
but when it comes to the Christian life, we need to supplement it with
healthy doses of Thomas a Kempis, Spener, Wesley, and their contemporary
voices. Continue at Michael Horton
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