![]() They were doing nothing more than to echo what the apostle Paul was saying to the church in Corinth - a church that was also suffering from spiritually skewed vision in relation to this doctrine. The early church fathers whose fingerprints are found all over this ancient document were Calvinists before their time! They saw the church in all her glory and sought to express that in this next clause of the creed. ![]() Too often those who have come to a Reformed understanding of Scripture have embraced a truncated form of Calvinism - one that is concerned only with soteriology and not that full-orbed understanding that leads to a biblical world view and, more importantly, a biblically balanced doctrine of the church. But the same is also true in a different way among those of a reformed persuasion. In broad evangelicalism Christians are so obsessed with their personal tastes and needs that 'church' has become little more than the spiritual equivalent of the supermarket - you take your pick as to which chain of stores best suits your tastes and your pocket. Sadly, this is something that many if not most Christians have lost sight of today. So too in an even more wonderful way our Christian identity is shaped and governed by the spiritual family into which we have been reborn and especially by the One who is both its Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. ![]() At the most basic level, personal identity is shaped and governed by the families into which we were born. We instinctively think in terms of the individual's being the supreme reference point for everything else, instead of realising that our identity as individuals has roots that run far deeper and wider than anything we could ever be in ourselves. It is a note that desperately needs to be re-sounded today for a number of reasons - largely because of the impact of post-Enlightenment individualism on the way we have become conditioned to think. At one and the same time it expresses not only the importance attached to the church by God, but also how we as Christians are to appreciate our place in it. It states, 'I believe in the holy catholic church the communion of saints' - eloquently capturing the way in which the corporate and the individual elements of salvation come together in this very visible and tangible way in the shared life of God's new community. It is striking therefore, that the Creed confesses what it means to believe in 'the church' before it goes on to speak of individual conversion and Christian experience. In recent times especially, evangelical Christians have become more interested in 'personal salvation' than salvation in its grander form set forth in the gospel - Christ's coming to 'save a people for himself'. It is his body and bride and he shed his blood for her salvation yet churches and Christians pay scant attention to what it is and why it matters. There are few things that are more precious to Christ and yet more neglected by his people than the church and what the Bible has to say about it. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |