|
| Christian news worldwide |
 Home |
 Archives |
 Subscriptions |
 Adverts |
 Find a church |
 About us |
 Contact us |
 Site Map |
 PrintableVersion The faithGiven once for all - Jude 3An exercise in compromiseTHE FAITH ‘This book reads like a novel and packs the wallop of a sledgehammer. I think it is quite possibly the most important book Chuck has ever written’, writes Bill Hybels. J.I. Packer, Rick Warren and a host of others pay similar tributes. It certainly is well written and some of it is excellent. In my view, however, the book is not ‘a clear, concise and compelling summary of what followers of Jesus actually believe’ (Warren) but rather a manifesto for Evangelicals and Catholics Together (ECT). The title of the book comes from Jude 3: ‘I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints’. Colson is absolutely right in reminding us that, in a day when therapy all too easily replaces theology, Christians need urgently to know what they believe, why they believe it and why it matters. His assessment of contemporary church culture in America is very good, including the ‘emerging church’. His response to Dawkins and Da Vinci are superb, but it isn’t all like that! The book is split into two parts. In the first, ‘God and the Faith’, the authors look at the Christian view of God against a backdrop of postmodernism and confusion. There are many good things, though two things nagged from the outset. Firstly, the lack of any distinction between Protestant and Catholic teaching and experience. He records the ‘conversion’ of the founder of monasticism — Anthony of Egypt — as being identical to the conversions of Luther and Augustine (p.54) as they each responded to the Bible. Secondly, in a book that claims to be a defence of orthodoxy, calling on Christians to get back to their Bibles, the lack of clear biblical exegesis was alarming. For example, in the chapter ‘He has Spoken’, there is no reference to crucial verses such as 2 Timothy 3.16, 2 Peter 1.20-21. The majority of argument seemed to rest on anecdote and church history rather than clear Bible teaching. In the second part, ‘Faith and Life’, he looks at true Christian living, with chapters such as ‘Exchanging Identities’, ‘Reconciliation’, ‘The Church,’ ‘Sanctity of Life’. It is here where the biggest alarm bells went off. You would imagine that a chapter entitled ‘Exchanging Identities’ would include a clear unpacking of the biblical teaching on justification by faith alone in Christ alone. However, though it claims to do this, it is, in reality, a chapter about sanctification! He is, of course, right in showing that the two are inseparably linked. However, the lack of clarity regarding how we are declared righteous, and the complete absence of penal substitution was hugely disappointing. The chapter begins lauding the achievement of ECT in its statement on justification, published in January 1998, which seems to rewrite 500 years of church history, claiming that actually Protestants and Catholics really believe the same thing about justification! Martin Luther would certainly not agree! It is, therefore, no surprise that the chapter on reconciliation is largely an emotive plea for Catholics and Protestants around the world to bury their differences and work together in the gospel. While we do share things in common with Roman Catholics, and we should most certainly contend with them on moral issues such as abortion and euthanasia, and while we should recognise that there are true believers within Roman Catholicism, the fact remains that the gospel according to Rome is not the biblical gospel according to Jesus. There is so much more I could say, but suffice it to say that, though the church does need easy-to-read books that call the church to contend for the faith, this is not one I would recommend! David Sprouse,
|
|
