“I call ‘piety’ that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their every good, that they should seek nothing beyond him - they will never yield him willing service. Nay, unless they establish their complete happiness in him, they will never give themselves truly and sincerely to him.” John Calvin in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, ch. 2:1
That last sentence reminds me that no matter what side of the theological fence a believer is on, Arminian or Reformed, the Christian life is less about choosing God than it is about desiring God. For if God is the source of all good then we will desire him since our goodness and happiness will be found in him.
Last night at our small meeting there was a small discussion which some thought was not beneficial to the group. It was a matter not of great theological significance but was Scriptural nonetheless. What sticks out to me is not the topic which was lightly debated but the lack of tenderness that I felt in hearing one of participants speak. He was completely right in what he said but he was not as clear as he could have been and did not seem very patient with those that were not up to speed with his theological education. It reminded me of a book I had to read for my first seminary class, called A Little Exercise for Young Theologians
, by Helmut Thielicke. He says, …
“There is a hiatus between the arena of the young theologian’s actual spiritual growth and what he already knows intellectually about this arena.”
and “in us men truth and love are seldom combined.”
and “It can be sacred theology or diabolical theology. That depends upon the hands and hearts which further it. But which of the two it is cannot necessarily be seen by the fact that in one case it is orthodox and in the other heretical.”
I do not feel I have always grown beyond this but I have been convicted of using the Sword of the Spirit against those I love, congratulating myself that I have forced them into an intellectual corner. Whereas instead of using my Scriptural knowledge against others I needed to use it against my sin and my flesh.
So from one middle-aged armchair theologian to all young theologians, do not use your knowledge to win an argument and show off your intellectual prowess, which you probably ripped off of someone else. But use it to display the glory of God and the joy that he offers. Only set Scripture before people and allow them to wrestle with it and what it plainly means giving them as much grace as God has given you.
In considering what is really important in the church Newton makes a wonderful point here.
“It is better people should be dissenters or Methodists than heathens.”
‘But Now I See’: The Life of John Newton, p. 337.
“But when zeal spends itself about the less essential matters of forms and names, about points in which the wisest and the best have always differed, I would, if I could, lull it fast asleep. De he wait till we are all exactly of a mind? Does He confine His regards, His grace, His presence, within the wall of a party? Is He the God of the Presbyterians of the Independents only?… And shall zeal presume to come in with its ifs and its buts, and to build up walls of separation? Yet many true believers are so much under the spirit of self and prejudice that they verily mean to do the Lord’s service by substituting their own commands in the room of His. And they see no harm in saying, ‘You must think and act as I do, subscribe to my paper, and worship in my way, or else, though I hope the Lord has received you, I think it my duty to keep my distance from you.’”
From ‘But Now I See’: The Life of John Newton, by Josiah Bull
