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The Pelagian Captivity Of Evangelicalism—What The Reformers Would Think Of Modern Evangelicalism
March 3rd, 2013
Confession time! I’ve had more and more of a
difficult time applying the label of ‘Evangelical’ to myself as of late.
(Note: When I use the word ‘Evangelicalism’ I use it to describe the current
national-cultural form of American Christianity.) Even though the
Lutherans of the 1500′s embraced the label and could be considered some of the first Evangelicals, I have come to
wonder if they would associate with Modern Evangelicalism if they were alive
today? If alive today, could the Reformers even identify any remnants of the
16th century Reformation in Evangelicalism today? Mark Noll in his book, America’s God, states that if the Reformers were alive
today they would find themselves further removed from modern day Evangelicalism
than they were removed from the Catholic Church of the 1500′s. Take a moment and
listen below to Michael Horton commenting on Mark Noll’s amazing assessment
on Issues,
Etc.:
J.I. Packer and O.R.
Johnston, in their introduction to Martin Luther’s book, The Bondage of the Will, make a similar assessment and
observation of Protestantism in general,
So an obvious question in response to these two assessments above would be, where did things drift off course? The Calvinist theologian R.C. Sproul makes the following assessment,“With what right may we call ourselves children of the Reformation? Much modern Protestantism would be neither owned nor even recognized by the pioneer Reformers. The Bondage of the Will fairly sets before us what they believed about salvation of lost mankind. In the light of it, we are forced to ask whether Protestant Christendom has not tragically sold its birthright between Luther’s day and our own. Has not Protestantism today become more Erasmian than Lutheran? Do we not too often try to minimize and gloss over doctrinal differences for the sake of inter-party peace? Are we innocent of the doctrinal indifferentism with which Luther charged Erasmus? Do we still believe that doctrine matters?”[1]
Sproul goes on to state that Charles Finney, could be classified as the patron saint of 20th century Evangelicalism; a Hall of Famer for Evangelical Christianity in America.[3]“In the nineteenth century, there was a preacher who became very popular in America, who wrote a book on theology, coming out of his own training in law, in which he made no bones about his Pelagianism. He rejected not only Augustinianism, but he also rejected semi-Pelagianism and stood clearly on the subject of unvarnished Pelagianism, saying in no uncertain terms, without any ambiguity, that there was no Fall and that there is no such thing as original sin. This man went on to attack viciously the doctrine of the substitutionary atonement of Christ, and in addition to that, to repudiate as clearly and as loudly as he could the doctrine of justification by faith alone by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. This man’s basic thesis was, we don’t need the imputation of the righteousness of Christ because we have the capacity in and of ourselves to become righteous. His name: Charles Finney, one of America’s most revered evangelists.” [2]
While the precise derailment of the Reformation’s theology within Modern Evangelicalism could be debated, one thing is for sure and that is American Evangelicalism as a whole has taken on the theological flavor of Pelagianism. Simply put, this Pelagian theology teaches that: man is basically good, man can move toward God by his own power without the grace of the Holy Spirit, man can convert himself to God, man can believe the Gospel whole-heartedly, man can obey God’s Law thus meriting forgiveness of sins and eternal life.[4] Quite obviously Charles Finney’s theology of Pelagianism, conditioned faith, elevated the spiritual condition of mankind, downplayed sin, undercut the Holy Spirit and robbed the narrative from God in placing mankind in the starring role. Evangelicalism is now captive to a man-centered Gospel, which is no Gospel at all and plagued by sermons of good advice meant to motivate and inspire the potential ‘self’ (i.e., the old Adam).
In response to this
captivity, there has been some encouraging movement in the North American
Church. Several years back The Cambridge Declaration was released addressing the erosion of
the 16th century Reformation Solas in today’s Evangelical Churches. The popular
radio program The White Horse Inn has taken on a five year project
in drafting 95 Theses for this modern generation. There has even been the
joining of pastors in loosely knit organization such as The Gospel
Coalition. This is an organization that is deeply concerned about the
Gospel and also the condition of Evangelicalism today.
A Baptist friend once told
me that during the days of Charles Spurgeon, that the Gospel became the ‘in
thing’ among the Christians of the day. He said that it became the ‘in thing’
not because of a special marketing campaign but because it had been absent from
the church for so long. While the current condition of Modern Evangelicalism
today is something to be drastically concerned about, I am personally cautiously
optimistic that there is a rekindling of the Gospel in Evangelicalism. Take for
instance Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of Billy Graham, who hosts a
yearly convention in Florida called, Liberate. He stated in last year’s conference
invitation,
” I’m ecstatic about the resurgence of interest in the gospel that’s taking place inside the Evangelical church today. The idea that once God saves us his plan isn’t to steer us beyond the gospel, but to move us more deeply into the gospel, is gaining traction in churches of all stripes and denominations. And that’s a great thing. But as far as we’ve come, I’m convinced that God is summoning us to go deeper, to go “higher up and further back”[5]My hope and prayer for Modern Evangelicalism is that the Gospel would be rediscovered, that the Gospel would once again become the ‘in thing’ and that the church would be liberated from the captivity of Pelagianism. For this we pray… Amen.
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[1] J.I. Packer and O.R. Johnston, The Bondage of the Will [Revell, 1957], 59-60.
[2] R.C. Sproul, The Pelagian Captivity of the Church (Accessed
March 2, 2013)
[3] Ibid.
[4] Tim Ysteboe, We Believe: Commentary on the Statement of Faith [Faith and
Fellowship, 2010], 55-56
[5] Tullian Tchividjian,
Liberate Conference Inviation (Accessed March 2, 2013)
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