But when he, the
Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak
on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet
to come. (John 16:13 (KJV)
It seemed good
to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the
following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from
blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will
do well to avoid these things. (Acts 15:28 (NIV)
If I am delayed,
you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which
is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV)
Now, allow me to intertwine these verses into a logical
whole.
We Pentecostals, Charismatics and other Evangelical
Protestants come in a variety of theological hues. Some pretty, some not so
pretty. For some 1500 years, give or take a little, two branches of Christendom—that
is, Eastern Orthodoxy or the Roman Catholic Church, dominated the Christian
religious scene. These Christians gave us the great creeds as well as the
Scriptures as we know them.
In brief, to summarize, the first ecumenical
council convened in Nicea in the mid and late 4th century and gave
us the great (what else?) Nicaean creed (AD 325)—actually, this is officially
known as the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed since the second session convened
in Constantinople (AD 381) to put the finishing touches on the original draft.
Interestingly (although, I must say sadly) the "Nicene Creed" is the only
authoritative ecumenical statement of the Christian faith accepted by the Roman
Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican, and the major
Protestant denominations. Primarily the subject matter dealt with the nature
and purposes of Christ and the Church He founded. At about that time the canon
of Scripture was loosely configured and in circulation. Surprisingly—to some at
least—the final verse, and therefore, the complete canon had to wait until the
Council of Trent (AD 1545 and 1563) at which time the verses dealing with Jesus and the woman taken in adultery (John
8:1–11) was finally accepted as part of the New Testament thereby fixing the
New Testament canon in its present form. From that time forward for all
practical purposes both Protestants and Catholics have used the same Bible with
the exception of the Apocrypha which is used almost exclusively by the Roman
Catholics and Orthodox communities, but also including a few High Anglicans.
Granted, anytime history is condensed or summarized some of
the finer details are left wanting; none-the-less, for purposes of
understanding the origins of what we Evangelical consider the sole and final
source of the Christian faith, this summary will do.
This brings us to the central question: that is, since the
church of the living God, is the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15 (NIV) which church are we
talking about? Certainly, not one that has splintered into thousands of shards—yes,
you read me right, shards. What else are we to call schismatic who feel
comfortable in starting their own brand of Christianity, or morphing a very
good one into apostasy? If truth is one (and it is) then where is that true and
original Church which Christ founded of which He promised that the gates of
Death (Hades) would not overwhelm?
Now, either, Christ was right or He was not. If the Church
apostatized early, as some contend, in the 2nd century; then why accept
a canon of Scripture or creeds developed by this apostatized church? Instead of—
"[Marking] those who cause division, and
offences contrary to the doctrine which were learned, and avoid them... (Romans
16:17-18)”
I am afraid that we have for the most part embraced many of
them. These are, however, the facts; an open secret, you might say.
As for example, Luther because of his exclusive affinity for
the role of faith in salvation never developed a recognizable doctrine of
sanctification. Thus, the praxis of faith was never fully appreciated. A shard,
you might say. Of course, a natural corollary to that was advanced by Calvin
who when overboard and attributed all acts of charity to a sovereign work of
irresistible grace, as if the roles personal choice and obedience were a matter
of providence; including that first act of faith which is considered by most
evangelicals that I know as necessary for our salvation.
This initial act of faith, however, leaves unanswered the
matter of salvation for the very young and by implication the severely mentally
retarded. Please excuse me if at this point I insert that my God is bigger than
that. Would it not be much better if we insisted that it is a willful act of
disobedience—that is, going against the Godly sense of morality that excludes
us from the Kingdom of God? Could it be that as the whole world died in Adam,
so it is that all were made alive in Christ? I think so. This, I believe covers
the age of innocence as well as that of ignorance. It does not, however, cover
the willful disobedience of those who refuse to repent or live in the light
that Scripture says shines in the heart of every man.[i]
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