Dr Peter Nelson reminds us of some home truths which need to be faced
The French historian, Elie Halévy, wrote the following.
‘During the 19th century, Evangelical religion was the moral cement of English society. It was the influence of the Evangelicals which invested the British aristocracy with an almost stoic [austere] dignity, restrained the plutocrats who had newly risen from the masses from vulgar ostentation and debauchery, and placed over the proletariat a select body of workmen enamoured of virtue and capable of self-restraint.’ It was a force in the land back then. It is not so today.
Part of the reason for this is that the beliefs and practices of Evangelicals today vary widely. A charismatic Evangelical church is very different from a Reformed one. A liberal Evangelical church is different again. Moreover, the differences go deep enough for there to be very little fellowship between the different kinds. This greatly weakens Evangelicalism and its impact on society.
If it were possible to combine the strengths and remove the weaknesses, Evangelicalism would be more united and effective.
Simple gospel
Simple-gospel Evangelicals emphasise justification by faith. They stress that everyone has sinned, that God sent his Son into the world to save sinners, that Jesus died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, and that individuals are saved, not by their own efforts, but by putting their faith in him.
This emphasis is good, but it omits other NT emphases. Peter told the crowd on the day of Pentecost: ‘Repent, and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’ (Acts 2.38). Here he combines justification by faith with the need for a change of conduct and the reception of the Holy Spirit.
Repentance involves turning from one’s old way of life to seeking to follow the teaching of Jesus. Since most people nowadays know little of his teaching, they have to be taught this, in accordance with his instruction, ‘Go and make disciples…teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Matthew 28.19–20). Observing his teaching requires the help of the Holy Spirit (Ezekiel 36.25–27). Justification is still by faith, but faith exercised by those who are aware of their shortcomings (Matthew 5.3, 6).
A further weakness of the simple gospel is that it fails to prepare converts for the difficulties they may have to face. Jesus forewarned his disciples, ‘In the world you will have tribulation’ (John 16.33) and taught seekers to count the cost of following him (Luke 14.25–35).
Charismatic
Charismatic Evangelicals emphasise the Holy Spirit and his gift to believers of abilities like those described by Paul in 1 Corinthians 12–14. Up to a point, this emphasis is good. As we have seen, the gift of the Holy Spirit is an essential part of the gospel and the picture Paul gives in this passage of everyone contributing to the life of a church is one for churches to follow.
However, the emphasis on abilities of the kind that Paul describes overlooks the main function of the Holy Spirit, to enable believers to keep the teaching of Jesus. At Pentecost, Peter linked the gift of the Holy Spirit to repentance.
Charismatics misunderstand the nature of spiritual phenomena. For example, they take speaking in tongues to be a sign of having the Holy Spirit. My understanding is that intelligible tongues are such a sign, but unintelligible tongues are not. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul says, ‘tongues act as a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers’ (v.22), by which he means that they strengthen the unbelief of unbelievers, who regard it as mindless nonsense (v.23).
Reformed
Reformed Evangelicals are typically Calvinists. They emphasize the sovereignty and grace of God, as per the five points of Calvinism.
A great merit of Calvinism is that it elevates God. Simple-gospel Evangelicalism is liable to lead Christians into thinking that being a Christian is more about God blessing us than us obeying him. They need to know that God is holy. They also need to know that he is in control of events and ‘works all things together for good for those who love him’ (Romans 8.28).
A major problem with Calvinism is that it introduces a complex issue (the precise relationship between divine sovereignty and human responsibility) into theology. Calvinists are right to be concerned when evangelists diminish the deity of God, but many Christians feel as if Scripture does not teach Calvinism plainly. While some passages, taken at face value, support the five points, other passages, taken at face value, do not. Calvinists interpret the latter in terms of the former, but it is possible to interpret the former in terms of the latter.
Liberal
Liberal Evangelicals emphasise that biblical authors wrote against the background of the culture they were living in, and that this needs to be allowed for in applying their teaching today. Again, this emphasis is good. It saves us, for example, from interpreting the apostle’s injunction ‘Greet each other with a holy kiss’ in terms of an intimate kind of kiss.
The problem comes when the principle is taken too far. For example, liberals take Paul’s restriction on the ministry of women as arising from the culture of the first century and argue that these restrictions should be lifted now that society treats men and women equally. This ignores the reasons Paul gives for his restrictions, namely that God created man before woman, and that woman was the one who was deceived (1 Timothy 2.13–14). Paul still taught the equality of men and women (Galatians 3.28) but saw them as having different roles.
Along with others, liberal Evangelicals stress that following Jesus involves helping the poor. This accords with what he taught (Matthew 25.31–46, Luke 12.32–34).
Other issues
Worship. Christians today have widely different tastes in music and worship styles. It is therefore imperative that they remember that a church is a body, and consider the needs of others as well as of themselves. Paul wrote in respect of the Lord’s Supper, ‘the one who eats and drinks not discerning the body [the church] eats and drinks judgment to himself’ (1 Corinthians 11.29). We need also to remember that the aim of worship is to please God not ourselves.
Creation. Some Evangelicals today (evolu-tionists) fully accept the secular scientific account of origins (Big Bang and evolution) and interpret the Bible according to this. Some (six-day creationists) take the Bible account literally and interpret scientific data according to this. Some (progressive creationists) take the appearance of ‘intelligent design’ in organisms to indicate that God specially created these at the points at which they appear in earth history.
All three positions have their problems. For example, evolutionists have to take ‘death’ in Genesis 2–3 to be only spiritual, six-day creationists have to argue that the ages of rocks given by radiometric methods are completely wrong, and progressive cre-ationists have to explain why God should specially create predators.
Baptism. This has long been a divisive issue for Evangelicals. Some churches get round this problem by practising credobaptism and pae-dobaptism side by side according to the wishes of parents. They see this as a helpful way of preventing it dividing a congregation.
