CHANGING CHURCH PART III

Published 10 years ago, Wagner suggest the changes we have seen of late qualify as "The New Reformation". That may be a bit of an overstatement but, be that as it may, Wagner has been a rather astute observer of the growing Apostolic nature of ministry in the 21st century.


Part II of my review ended with this quote: "I needed to explore the biblical and theological validity of the kind of sanctification that could end up with a pure heart." 

"In order to do that, I didn't join a Methodist or a Wesleyan or a Nazarene Church. I just went back to the Scriptures to study about having a pure heart. When I did, I quickly found that the holiness about which John Wesley had attempted to communicate to the body of Christ was not optional it was absolutely essential for those of us who were trying to more of move aggressively into spiritual warfare. Let me explain something of what I found.

To begin with a key biblical quote, let's look at 1st Peter 1:15, "As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." All Christians generally agree that holiness is very important. However, I have noticed that many Christian leaders, especially those who hold the Reformed doctrine of sanctification, tend to slant their teaching about holiness toward the holiness of God. Since the holiness of God indisputably belongs to the absolute circle of doctrine of all believers, camping there is safe ground. In many ways, dealing with God's holiness is easier than dealing with out personal holiness.

For example, if you ask a church music director to sing a song about holiness, in a large number of cases the director will predictably select the classic "Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty", However, when you analyze the lyrics, you'll see that the song focuses on God's indisputable holiness, not our personal holiness. It contains a line that reflects the Reformed doctrine of sanctification; "Only Thou Art Holy". Suppose we take that literally. If we do, it means that since God is the only being who is truly holy, you and I could never be holy unless we became God, which of course is absurd. Holiness, therefore is out of our reach.

On the contrary, it is imperative that we take both parts of 1st Peter 1:15 at face value. Reformed theologians tend to highlight the first part, "as he who called you is holy," affirming God's holiness, but they tend to downplay the second part, "You also be holy in all your conduct." Most apostles would conclude that God would never ask us to do something that was impossible. So if God asked us to be holy, as he does in 1st Peter 1:15, not only can we be holy, but also being holy basically boils down to our obedience."

In my next post we will see that the New Testament's expectation of holiness is not legalistic, but relational.