1 John 3:16


"By this we perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."

Saturday 7 August 2010

Shifts in Evangelical Views

The 19th Century saw many influences which helped form the background to modern Pentecostalism. These influences were seen particularly in American and British revivalism, from which the modern Pentecostal movement came.

The motto of the Four Square Pentecostal Church, founded by Aimee Semple McPherson, depicts the main themes that came out of the 19th Century: Christ the Saviour, Baptizer in the Holy Spirit, Healer and soon coming King. It also shows some of the changes in Christian thought over the period.

This motto expressed the developing themes of subsequence or second blessing, made popular through the Methodist revivals; Restorationism, made popular through Edward Irving and John Alexander Dowie; and pre-millennialism, made more popular by Dispensationalism. We will discuss these below.

Here we introduce just a few of the main factors that bear on Evangelical and Pentecostal movements today:

1. Wesleyanism

John and Charles Wesley were gifts from God. Their ministry was a great blessing to the church and many nations. Charles passed on inspiring gospel truths through his hymns. John had many influences in his background. He started in a High Anglican holiness group, which tried to earn salvation through works.

He claims to have been born again after meeting with Moravian Pietist Christians who told him about faith in Christ. He was also influenced by the Reformed Puritans of England. There was a mixture of teachings in his ministry.

John advocated a second blessing experience which he said promoted sanctification. We call this the doctrine of subsequence, meaning a work of sanctification in the believer after being saved. This was not seen as just a progressive work, but a subsequent instantaneous miracle. In many people’s minds this blessing came about when the believer adhered to religious requirements.

19th Century Methodist and Baptist revivalism in America and Britain emphasised different forms of this teaching in meetings and publications. They may not have all agreed to the Methodist model, but held to similar revivalist concepts to promote Christian sanctification and growth. Charles Finney, Phoebe Palmer, Dwight Moody and the English Keswick movement all emphasised Wesleyan type themes of Christian Perfectionism.

2. Humanism

Modern humanism stems from the Renaissance (14th – 17th Century), which refers to a period of re-birth of knowledge in European history. People freeing themselves from Papal authority and church dogma emphasised the importance of the individual. In secular communities humanists were generally also atheists. In church communities, humanists such as Philip Melanchthon, Erasmus, Huldrych Zwingli and Jacobus Arminius and the Pietists, emphasised compassion for all individuals.

Arminius (1560-1609) noted that cold Reformed churches cared little for humanity, while he respected Calvin’s publication, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, as “second only to the Bible”. Wesley later entered the Arminian dispute, but he was also careful in the matter. Wesley claimed that the new birth was a sovereign creative act of God, not man’s decision, but emphasised the human role in seeking God for salvation and sanctification.

The major change with regard to modern Christian humanism came through Charles Finney (1792-1875). One must go back to early publications to appreciate this. He claimed that new birth was a human decision made from a person’s own will and did not require a change of nature and that it was not a miracle of God. This period caused the biggest shift in church theology and practice since the Reformation and brought in a form of Arminianism that would be unrecognizable by John Wesley.

3. Dispensationalism

Dispensationalism has impacted a huge number of modern Evangelicals and Pentecostals. Many may not be aware of what the term means, but would nevertheless be Dispensationalist in several beliefs they hold. Dispensationalism is a way of interpreting scripture that relates particularly to end-times teaching.

Early Dispensationalism was founded by John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), who was an elder in a very legalistic and Cessationist church denomination in England. Edward Irving also promoted some Dispensationalist ideas at the same time.

Later Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921) popularized the teachings in his reference Bible. We will look at Dispensationalism more later on. It denies historic Covenant Theology and scripture, which shows that no man has been justified by any means other than by the faith of the Messiah (Rom 4:1-16, Gal 3:18), whether before or after the cross.

Before the cross believers in Israel were justified by a free gift, which they acknowledged by the offering of blood. We are justified the same way, which we acknowledge by the Holy Sprit who is within us. They were under the law, not for justification, but to keep them as a guardian as they awaited the promise, the gift of the Spirit. The law offered righteousness by works, but all fell short of that.

Dispensationalism holds that man is justified by various means in changing dispensations that God imposes. The view is that after the church age, God will return to justification by the law when, it is claimed, Jesus will reign in Jerusalem on earth. Dispensationalism has the following outcomes:

(a) It sees the evil in the world as an indication of the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

(b) It views the evil somewhat fatalistically, claiming there is little the church can do about it.

(c) It sees the church’s task as to withdraw from society and await the rapture into heaven.

(d) It claims a special role for the nation of Israel in our day, meaning that God has two separate covenant people including the church and Israel.

(e) It claims the Law of Moses will be reinstituted in Jerusalem after the Second Coming of Christ, resulting is an antichrist position on the atonement.

Though early Dispensationalists were Cessationists, some Evangelicals and Pentecostals found the teaching attractive because it related to our Restorationist ideas, the belief that God is restoring the gifts of the Spirit in the last-days for a final world harvest before the Second Coming of Christ. Dispensationalism is also attractive because it relates to our Piestist background of withdrawal from the world.

4. Animism

Animism relates to native or natural religion, occultism, or witchcraft religions, found in all cultures of the world. The pagans of the Celtic tribes in the UK were called Druids. In some parts of Africa these practices are referred to as Ju Ju. Animism holds to certain views about truth, the spirit world and holiness that are formed out of experience.

Initially, missionary work in nations around the world did not entertain these views, but as the modern world moves closer towards multi-culturalism the views are embraced more freely and today are having a big influence on Christian belief worldwide.

5. Post Modernism

Post Modernism means after the modern scientific era. It considers the scientific age as objective and impersonal, while the Post Modern age today is viewed as subjective, experiential and relational. There is a denial of absolute truth and a concern for relationships, experience and emotion, which fill the need in people that materialism cannot satisfy.

Churches that hold doctrinally sound positions may be seen as impersonal and non-relational to the world around them and this may often be true. Jesus is both the truth and a person, so in Him we have both truth and relationship because we are Spirit filled.

Post Modernism, in elevating the personal and emotional, claims that there is no one correct view on truth and considers correction of others impolite and dogmatic preaching harmful. It believes therapeutic (softly spoken, healing) style ministry improves a person’s self-image and life style.

This has suited a current trend called Neo-Orthodoxy. Neo-Orthodoxy, founded by Karl Barth in the 20th Century, holds theology less rigidly than Orthodoxy, claiming truth is more subjective and adjustable to personal and cultural preferences.
These terms may seem new, but all Christians today are affected by them.

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