A La Carte (3/17)

Calvinism - Old and New

I wasn’t sure where to post this, but I have appreciated the kind tones of discussions here at Challies, so I figure that this is the best place to voice a concern.

I’m am nervous about that Driscol’s post has opened up. I LOVE clarity. Driscol’s post was not clear. But I am even more nervous about some of the posts that are cropping up in the wake of Driscol’s post. Especially the one that was linked in this A La Carte.

R. Scott Clark cuts MOST of the people whom I know and have come to love out of the Reformed camp. I would agree with him that for clarity’s sake he is technically correct. I think one needs to look no further than the Reformed definition of the elements and flow of worship (i.e. Reformed liturgy) to see that what I have been calling the “Broadly Reformed” is not technically and completely Reformed.

But I really don’t want to have this discussion. I mean that. Maybe it is good to have this discussion internally, within a denomination or within a church, but I don’t like what I see when I look toward the future if we overly divide and define ourselves FROM each other rather than toward each other within the “Broadly Reformed” movement that we have seen God blessing of late.

Again, I love clarity! I mean that. I do not like wishy-washy pretend unity. But I think David Wells is very helpful on this front when he asks the church to have the Courage to be Protestant.. What can we call ourselves so that we can truly love and be encouraged by and call our own what is happening in both the “Strictly Reformed” as well as the “Broadly Reformed” worlds. At the base of things what unites us is the Solas of the Reformation. I think that is what people like Driscol or Mahaney or Piper or (you name the person) are getting at when they call themselves Reformed.

But simply calling ourselves Protestant doesn’t seem very clarifying. Piper is specifically of a Calvinistic breed of Protestant; generally speaking a Protestant that actually lives and believes what he has said about the solas and the sovereignty of God.

Man, I just don’t want to be SO clear in distinctions and distinctives that I serve to exclude from our center those that I want to lift up and encourage and invite into my church and serve alongside. There is a part of me that just wants to call a timeout on a discussion of Reformed distinctives and just enjoy the genuine and doctrinal and faithful unity that has been enjoyed so far.

That said, I think it is profitable to be clear and even distinctive even as we maintain a genuine unity. But this will only work if we have a particular attitude and way of being as we seek the truth together. In the three blog posts that I have read (as well as in Driscol’s post) I don’t see that genuine tone. John Piper is an EXCELLENT example of this attitude. Is anyone more clear and passionate in his pursuit of truth? And yet look at the unity among the “Broadly Reformed” (think Together for the Gospel) that has been fostered under his writing/preaching/conference leading.

Sometimes I just get worn out. I mean I even wear myself out trying to figure our who’s in and who’s out of our little circle. But the reason I think I (and we) get worn out doing this is because we are asking the wrong question. It is not who is in and who is out, it is what is the truth. I always go back to a time that a member of my congregation came into the office and asked, “So what is it that we believe about the end times again?” could have responded by quoting one of our stance papers or even a bit of one of our confessions. This is a who’s in and who’s out question. Instead, I asked, “What do you care what we believe? Shouldn’t you ask, ‘So what does the Bible teach about the end times again?’” This is a truth question. We do the same things when we prepare to preach. Read the word over and over again, then open up the confessions and commentaries.

I know that everyone interacting in the past couple days has this sola scriptura conviction. But that doesn’t mean we always have this sola scripture attitude. We read and are guided by our confessions and our alliances and our affiliations and our friendships, but our hearts beat Bible all the time. And when we hear someone talking Bible things our soul smiles before we ask their affiliation or their confessional background.

Thank you, Tim, for providing this blog as a place where I have repeatedly seen this attitude for joyful truth and mutual encouragement lifted up, even as we seek to rightly divide the Word of Truth.

I’m curious if anyone else is concerned about the “tone” of the conversation that has begun out of Mark Driscoll’s post. I would agree that Driscoll’s post was unclear at best and more likely both untrue and unhelpful. But, while the posts that have been made in response, like that of R. Scott Clark, provide clarity, I am not sure that they are accomplishing anything any more helpful. Specifically I am concerned that if we go too much further we will serve to divide a “Broadly Reformed” movement that God appears to be blessing.

To be clear, my concern is not that we shouldn’t seek the truth, but rather that we have the right attitude as we do so. I can’t exactly name it, but I’m not sure that I’m seeing that right attitude in the two links in the past two days. Hopefully we do not become in the present day exactly what Driscoll accused the “Old Calvinism” of being in the past.

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Side Note/Further Clarification

I know that the Calvinism of Piper and Driscoll and Mahaney and many others that I have come to love and affirm is not technically and purely Reformed. We can see this when we look at the nature of genuinely/classically Reformed worship (i.e. the flow of the liturgy and the sacraments). But is it really so bad to speak in “Broadly Reformed” or even “Broadly Calvinist” categories. I mean, not even R. Scott Clark is likely a “Magisterial Reformer” in terms of his view of the role of the magistrate’s role in the life and governance of the church.

I so badly want a united front of the church that David Wells does such a great job of defining as united around the solas of the reformation and, therefore, courageously Protestant. Let us each check our attitude. Are we more concerned with who is in and who is out of our circle, or conversation, or denomination, or affiliation, or network, or conference than we are in maintaining a unity that is in keeping with the truth and in service of the truth and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

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Thank You Tim,

I wasn’t sure of where would be best to post this question of a concern about demeanor and defensiveness, but I have found that I GREATLY appreciate the tone that you set here at challies.com and the tone of clarity of those who tend to post comments here. So thank you for what you do here in service of Christ and His bride, the church of God.

Sorry, for the double/triple post. I thought I lost the first one. But I think I might have said it better in the second post anyway :)

Thabiti Anyabwile (I’m still torn that I didn’t choose your workshop at the upcoming Gospel Coalition Conference) has a post where he voices many of my concerns about when the “world” starts to make a big deal out of the movement of the church and of the Spirit.

Please Read: http://preview.tinyurl.com/com8ox

“The media attention forces some superficial attempts at self-definition, and the inevitable result are “camps” of Reformed types.”

He goes on to say “Add a little carnality, and then you’ll hear folks saying they’re of Paul, or Appolos, or Peter, or Dever, or C.J., or MacArthur, or Driscoll, or the really, really Reformed, etc when those men weren’t even looking for groupies.”

I think the key is “Add a little carnality …”. Are you kidding? There isn’t one of us or our leaders and pastors that aren’t so full of carnality is just plain sick! Mark Driscoll was asked in a network interview what he thinks about those who accuse him of arrogance. His eyes widen and he looks genuinely scared … OF HIMSELF, and confesses that he struggles with pride every single day. And look at John Piper, when he turns introspective, particularly during panel discussions, anyone with discernment can see that his greatest enemy is himself. And this from a man that doesn’t even put his own graduate and doctoral certificates in frames on his office wall.

God, guard your church and your undershepherds from the congratulatory praise of man. Keep our eyes fixed upon the praise of your glorious grace, and our ears inclined both to the wisdom of the Spirit and the acceptance of our Father. Full your own High Priestly Prayer that we might be one as the Christ and the Father are one.