We’ve covered a lot of ground in the last seven parts of our
discussion. We explored the attitude of the Emerging Church toward Scripture,
finding that some have substituted the doctrines derived from the inerrant and
inspired Word of God with a doctrine based on an uninspired melding of
Scripture, experience, mysticism, and imagination. That lack of Scriptural
fidelity has at times led to a redefined Gospel, a message that is predominantly
Law rather than Gospel, and pastors who have failed to present the whole counsel
of God.
The Church cannot surrender to postmodernism the God-ordained
fact that truth is knowable. While we as Christians, this
side of heaven, will never know all truth, we can know all truth that God
has revealed in Scripture. Jesus said "If you abide
in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free" (John 8:31-32). Truth is knowable. It is known
by abiding in the Word of God. This truth is not open to interpretation
or derivation by cultural means, because it is not derived from the world.
This truth is revealed by the Holy Spirit: “Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand
the things freely given us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:12). This truth does
not change. It was once delivered for all the saints (Jude 1:3).
The Emerging Church claims that Christianity needs to be reimagined or
reinvented. The Gospel was not invented, it was given to us in the person and
work of Jesus Christ. It is not ours to “reinvent.”
For those in the Emerging Church who have come to a different
Gospel, the root cause of their divergence is an ignorance of, or diminution or
abandonment of the single most important Christian doctrine - justification by
grace through faith. It was so important to St. Paul that he proclaimed “For I
decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1
Corinthians 2:2). If justification by faith is not the doctrine from which all
others are derived, both Law and Gospel become unimportant and fade away, which
is exactly what is happening in the Emerging Church. There is no focus on
sinners in need of a Savior. Original sin and hell are rarely mentioned. Where
there is no recognized sin, there is no need for a Savior. The means of grace,
Word and Sacrament, in which God comes to us, have been abandoned in favor of a
mystical experience in which man vainly searches for God. The Gospel has been
turned into Law - “living in the way of Jesus.” Once the Gospel becomes Law,
there is no real difference between Christianity and other religions. Other
religions now have “much to offer.”
Many in the Emerging Church, in their zeal to care for the poor
and the oppressed miss the forest for the trees. They don’t seem to realize that
when Jesus said in Luke 4:18:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
He wasn’t just talking about beggars and prisoners. Jesus came to proclaim the Gospel to those who were poor in spirit, to those who were in bondage to sin, to those who were spiritually blind. Jesus’ message was one of Law and Gospel: “...repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), “...repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations...” (Luke 24:47).
It’s never pleasant to point out the doctrinal error of a fellow
sister or brother in Christ, but at times is necessary in the spirit of true
irenics, as discussed in Part 7. It’s unlikely that the more heterodox leaders
in the Emerging church are purposely trying to mislead people, but they are
deviating from the didache of Jesus Christ.1
Any doctrine that is not based solely on the plain Word of Scripture, and
is not based on justification by grace through faith, is destined to become a
“different Gospel” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4; Galatians 1:6-12). As we’ve seen over
and over again in quotes throughout the different parts of this article, the
Emerging Church’s overall position is often not Sola Scriptura or Sola
Gratia and Sola Fide, in spite of what they claim.
Let me state again that there is an
orthodox side to the Emerging conversation which I don’t want to misrepresent
and to which this article isn’t particularly addressed, other than as a warning
flag. This discussion is not in any way an attack on particular individuals:
For
we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12
While it hasn’t been discussed in
detail, there are good things that the Emerging Church emphasizes, such as the
revival of the liturgy, and a more thoughtful approach to song lyrics that is
less anthropocentric compared with other contemporary lyrics. However, the
impression I’m left with after reading a lot of Emerging Church material is that
heterodox doctrine is the face of the Emerging Church. Head on down to your
local bookstore and check out the selection of Emerging Church books - they’re
mostly heterodox. It’s not that there aren’t more moderate voices in the
conversation, it’s just that they aren’t on center stage. In order for that face
to change, it will be necessary for orthodox Christians to step up and speak out
against the false doctrine that is caked on like bad mascara, or the face of the
Emerging Church will forever have a “black eye.” Several Emerging Church leaders
have complained that the Emerging Church has been misrepresented by
characterizing the whole movement based on the writings of a few members, but
those same leaders haven’t spoken up and pointed out the error of their peers.
That tactic is the theological equivalent of spitting into the wind.
I am not alone in my assessment.
Emerging Church leader Mark Driscoll, the pastor at Mars Hill in Ballard,
Washington, has a similar view:
If both doctrine and practice are constantly changing, the result is living heresy, which is where I fear the Revisionist Emergent tribe [his equivalent of my “squeaking wheel”] of the Emerging church is heading.2
But, what I find frightening is the trend among some to drift from what I consider to be faithful conservative evangelical theological convictions in favor of a less distinctively Christian spirituality. The result is a trip around the same cul-de-sac of false doctrine that a previous generation spent their life driving around while touting their progress.3
If the gospel is lost, as I fear it already has been among some Revisionists, then tomorrow will be a dark day for the truth about Jesus.4
While I share Pastor Driscoll’s concern for “the truth about Jesus,” tomorrow will not be a dark day for the truth of the Gospel.
We
are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to
despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always
carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be
manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death
for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal
flesh.
2
Corinthians 4:8-12
The truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ will always
remain - the gates of hell and Satan’s wiles cannot prevail against it
(Matthew 16:18).
The Emerging Church embraces
experience and mystery as means to find God. God is mysterious, but He
cannot be found in ways that the human imagination might invoke. He cannot be
found through mysticism. He cannot be found in labyrinths or incense. He cannot
be found in icons or breath prayers. He cannot be found through self-discovery
or imagination. He is hidden in places most people fail to look, because those
places are too obvious and ordinary. He is hidden in unremarkable bread and
wine, and water, along with the spoken or printed Word. But ordinary speech,
which we constantly hear and sometimes ignore, when it speaks the Gospel, is
the power of God.
The same Word through whom the
heavens were made and all their host, was incarnated in Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, the Word made flesh.
And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as
of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John
1:14
Jesus came to do what we could not - live a sinless life. He fulfilled the requirements of the Law perfectly. Yet he was unjustly crucified in spite of His innocence. Why? Because He carried your sin and my sin in His body to the cross on that dreadful afternoon. He bore the full wrath and fury of a righteous God for the sins of all people for all time.
But
he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon
him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are
healed
Isaiah 53:5
Through Jesus’ death and
resurrection, he conquered sin and death for us. By believing the promises of
the Gospel, Christians receive forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. Jesus
sent us His Holy Spirit, who lives in us and daily creates new life in us. But
God doesn’t stop there. Not only does God give His promise of forgiveness of
sins to us in the Scriptures, that promise of forgiveness also comes to us
physically, hidden in earthly elements.
If you want mystery, we’ve got it!5
God became man. He died on a cross and shed his blood that we might live
sin-free. That very same body and blood comes to us to offer us
forgiveness in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.
"Take, eat; this is my body." (Matthew 26:26).
"Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of
the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins”
(Matthew 26:27b-28). Through the Lord’s Supper we have the same opportunity as
did doubting Thomas:
Then
he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here, and see
my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but
believe."
Jesus Christ comes to us bodily and offers
us forgiveness of sins. We are here offered a full sensory experience in
the divine. This is no work that we perform, climbing a ladder to heaven where
we by faith receive Christ’s body and blood. The work that needs to be done was
done for us by Jesus on the cross. This is Christ, coming to us! His
body, in, with, and under ordinary bread. His blood, in, with, and under
ordinary wine. We can touch it, smell it, taste it. Through the mysterious
operation of the Sacrament of Baptism, our sins are washed away (Acts 22:16).
Through ordinary water and the power of the Word, as we daily remember our
Baptism we recognize that
We
were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as
Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in
newness of life. We can rejoice in this forgiveness
that comes to us tangibly through such ordinary means. God, who is Spirit,
coming to us in a way that we can fully experience, through the power of the
Word. And yet who can explain it? Even the word is mysterious – the Latin word
for sacrament, sacramentum, means “mystery.” Written by Scott Diekmann All parts of this article may be referenced or
downloaded separately or all together at: To jump from the
endnote number in the text to the actual endnote and vice versa, click on the
respective endnote number.
Endnotes
1.
If
you’re not familiar with didache, see Part 6.
2.
Mark
Driscoll, "A Pastoral Perspective on the Emergent Church,"
Criswell Theological Review,
3.2, Spring 2006, 90-91, 10 March 2007 <
https://criswell.wordpress.com/files/2006/03/3,2%20APastoralPerspectiveontheEmergentChurch%5BDriscoll%5D.PDF
>.
3. Driscoll,
92.
4. Driscoll,
93.
5. I
say “we” because I am presenting Lutheran theology. Welcome!
Sola Scriptura • Sola Gratia • Sola Fide
John
20:27
Romans 6:4
Through Word and Sacrament, we are
brought to faith and renewed in faith. These means are external to us. When I
look inward to experience God, I discover a Christian at war with his sinful
nature. Often though, it seems as if a truce has been declared. I don’t do the
things I know I should be doing. And when the truce is broken, I still
can’t meet the demands of the Law. That’s not much of an assurance. When I look
outward to experience God, what I see is a Savior offering me His body and
blood, shed for me and for all people, for the
forgiveness of sins. Even when my faith is weak, the Lord is strong. I can look
to my Baptism and know that I am a saved child of God. The promises of God are
always there, waiting to be grasped in faith.
The goal of the Emerging Church, to
“live in the way of Jesus,” a demand of the Law, cannot be met
until one is first forgiven through the blood of Jesus, a gift of
the Gospel. As the Emerging Church reaches out to a postmodern world, it is
that Gospel, a Gospel of forgiveness through the atoning blood of Jesus
Christ that it must preach and teach if it is to be a faithful member of the
body of Christ.
And now may the grace of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with
you all.
https://www.soundwitness.org/evangel/index.html.
All quotes containing
italics are those of the quoted author unless otherwise noted.
Unless otherwise
indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good
News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations
marked (NIV) are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®.
Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission
of Zondervan. All rights reserved.