It’s been said by someone, I forget whom (though it may have been my old theology professor, the late Dr. Stan Grenz—it sounds like him), that the evangelical heresy is believing in our creeds rather than in Jesus. We affirm our creeds and our confessions as expressions of what we believe, and as expressions which unite us with other Christians, but we don’t believe in them, only through them. Our belief is, and must always be, in God as revealed in Jesus Christ.When we lose sight of that fact, we get into trouble, as the Rev. Dr. Ray Ortlund points out, because “no matter how well argued our position is biblically, if it functions in our hearts as an addition to Jesus, it ends up as a form of legalistic divisiveness.” This is what he dubs “Galatian sociology,” the sociological error of the Galatian church. Even if you believe all the right things, if you believe in those things rather than in Jesus, then you are in effect adding those things to Jesus (the error C. S. Lewis called “Christianity And”); the inevitable consequence of that is division from other Christians, and the exaltation of ourselves and our own positions at the expense of others. In contrast to that,
What unifies the church is the gospel. What defines the gospel is the Bible. What interprets the Bible correctly is a hermeneutic centered on Jesus Christ crucified, the all-sufficient Savior of sinners, who gives himself away on terms of radical grace to all alike. What proves that that gospel hermeneutic has captured our hearts is that we are not looking down on other believers but lifting them up, not seeing ourselves as better but grateful for their contribution to the cause, not standing aloof but embracing them freely, not wishing they would become like us but serving them in love (Galatians 5:13).My Reformed friend, can you move among other Christian groups and really enjoy them? Do you admire them? Even if you disagree with them in some ways, do you learn from them? What is the emotional tilt of your heart—toward them or away from them? If your Reformed theology has morphed functionally into Galatian sociology, the remedy is not to abandon your Reformed theology. The remedy is to take your Reformed theology to a deeper level. Let it reduce you to Jesus only. Let it humble you. Let this gracious doctrine make you a fun person to be around. The proof that we are Reformed will be all the wonderful Christians we discover around us who are not Reformed. Amazing people. Heroic people. Blood-bought people. People with whom we are eternally one—in Christ alone.
I don’t think I’ve ever been too attached to a particular creed or tradition, but I realized at some point that Jesus was more a doctrine to believe in than a person to relate to. I still struggle with this, and marvel at people who seem to find it so easy to think of Jesus as a close friend.
Your post below, about the “easy yoke” Jesus offers also made me think about this. I finally decided, some years ago, that beating myself up over not feeling same sense of closeness that other Christians do was not getting me anywhere. I try to simply accept his grace – though even there I’m “trying” to do something, and I had a pastor once tell me to “stop trying” – an incomprehensible piece of advice to me. How do you stop trying if you don’t know how, except by trying to – but that’s trying to…
It is a conundrum–I’ve never quite figured it out. Eventually, I think, we get to a point where we can let go and relax a little.
I love Ray Ortlund. He’s become a great friend and mentor to me over the last few months. He’s been a wonderful gift of God to me and to Element.
Yeah, I wasn’t aware of him before you started talking about him (which is odd, since I have several of his dad’s books, which I picked up years ago, but I’ve appreciated the reference; there’s a lot of good material on his blog, and the advice you relay is consistently helpful.
I’m actually thinking, btw, of putting one of my colleagues here in touch with him, since he’s talked about reaching the stage where he needs to begin transitioning himself out of the senior spot; Larry’s a friend of mine, a Reformed Baptist pastor (in theology, not in denomination) who’s in much the same place with the church he sort-of-founded twenty-some years ago, and I think he’s looking for people to walk that road with. I think he and Ray Ortlund could have some fruitful conversations.
Rob:
Yes. I think that’s a solid diagnosis – to an outsider at least. And I agree about the prescription as well.
I would note, the same tendency operates among all Christian groups, I think; the only variance is where we tend to misplace our faith. Keeping our eyes on Jesus isn’t always easy, but it’s critical.