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By Erroll Hulse
Introduction - The Relevance of the Puritans
Who were the Puritans? When did they live? What did they accomplish? What did they teach? History is not a popular subject.
We cannot assume that those who are British are automatically well-educated in English history. It is rare for those outside Britain to know English history. How can we introduce overseas Christians to the best theological inheritance ever?
My concern extends beyond narrating the story. I want to create enthusiasm for the Puritans in order to profit from their practical example and benefit from their unique balance of doctrine, experience, and practice. The Puritans were men of deep theological understanding and vision who prayed for the earth to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
Today missionaries are involved as never before in taking the Gospel to all the world. Bible-based Christianity is spreading gradually in most of the 240 nations of the world. Believers have multiplied in great numbers, especially in sub-Sahara Africa, the Far East, and South America. Teaching which engenders holy living and stability is vastly needed. Historically the Puritan epoch is best able to supply this need for they were strongest where the churches in general are weakest today.
In face of the philosophic and religious trends of today, the Puritans are certainly relevant.
Post-modernism (PM) — Gradually from the 1960s and 1970s, the Western World has moved philosophically from Modernism to Post-modernism. For about two centuries thinking has been shaped by the Enlightenment with its emphasis on human reason and its optimism about human ability and human achievement. This arrogance has by-passed God and his revelation and led to the collapse of morality. Is Puritanism relevant within the present philosophical climate of Post-modernism? Writing on the subject of PM in Foundations, Autumn 1997, Andrew Patterson of Kensington Baptist Church, Bristol, suggests that the Puritan approach is relevant. He maintains that “genuine spirituality consists in a re-discovery of the cohesive and comprehensive nature of the grace of God in the life of the believer.” This he urges, “rejects the isolating, fracturing and compartmentalizing effects of the last two centuries, and looks back to the time of the Puritans and Pietists, when there was an approach that was far healthier, vibrant, holistic, real, scriptural, and God honouring.”
With the demise of Modernism (the Enlightenment) we now have a vacuum. This provides us with a unique opportunity to rebuild the foundations. We are challenged to understand and apply the Word of God today. As we do so we can look back and draw on the legacies of the Puritans. We can avoid their mistakes and weaknesses but learn a great deal from their strengths. Part 3 consists of ten subjects in which we can obtain help from the Puritans.
PM is fiercely antinomian. It is admitted that people make mistakes, but the word “sin” is seldom mentioned and the idea that we all sin against God is avoided. Right and wrong are judged according to human feelings. The idea that God has an unchangeable, holy, moral law by which he will judge every person is unpopular.
What does Puritanism have to say to the different evangelical sectors of the Church world-wide today?
Neo-orthodoxy — Of the theologians classified as Neoorthodox, Karl Barth (1886-1968) is the most significant as he, more than any other this century, affected the course of Protestant theology in Europe and beyond. He set some on the road of studying Luther and Calvin and the Reformation of the 16th century. But while Barth challenged the Liberal establishment, there was a failure to set the record straight with regard to liberal views of the Bible. For instance, it is absolutely vital to believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve. It is essential to endorse the supernaturalism that pervades the biblical records. With Neo-orthodoxy one is never sure about the foundations. It is like walking on sinking sand. Puritanism shares with Neo-orthodoxy the challenge to use the mind, to think, and to analyze. But the strength of the Puritans is that there is never any question about the validity of the Scriptures. One walks always on the solid rock of the infallible Word of God.
Neo-orthodoxy — Of the theologians classified as Neoorthodox, Karl Barth (1886-1968) is the most significant as he, more than any other this century, affected the course of Protestant theology in Europe and beyond. He set some on the road of studying Luther and Calvin and the Reformation of the 16th century. But while Barth challenged the Liberal establishment, there was a failure to set the record straight with regard to liberal views of the Bible. For instance, it is absolutely vital to believe in the historicity of Adam and Eve. It is essential to endorse the supernaturalism that pervades the biblical records. With Neo-orthodoxy one is never sure about the foundations. It is like walking on sinking sand. Puritanism shares with Neo-orthodoxy the challenge to use the mind, to think, and to analyze. But the strength of the Puritans is that there is never any question about the validity of the Scriptures. One walks always on the solid rock of the infallible Word of God.
Fundamentalism — Thankfully the Church of Jesus Christ on earth is always wider and larger than any one segment or denomination. The evangelical movement known as Fundamentalism is only a part of the wider body. That movement gathered momentum in the 1920s and 1930s. Fundamentalists came together into a movement out of the need to combat modernist theology. The leaders drew up a list of basic truths designed to keep intact doctrines which were denied or undermined by Liberals. Fundamentalism was strong in the USA and spread to other countries. The Puritans would agree with the passion to defend and promote basic truths such as the reliability of Scripture, the Trinity, and the deity of Christ. Unhappily Fundamentalism added to the “basics” a premillennial view of prophecy and in some cases dispensationalism, which is a view of history as specific time periods. The biblical basis for these periods is tenuous to say the least, yet the system is imposed by its propagators in an arbitrary way on the Bible. The Puritans were mostly postmillennial. A small number were premillennial. Eschatology was not made a point of division. We can learn from the Puritans not to major on minors. Christ’s second coming to judgment, the end of the world, the universal, physical resurrection from the dead, eternal heaven and hell are major issues in which we cannot compromise. But apart from a general outline we cannot map out the future. Evangelical unity is a precious commodity, and we should avoid damaging unity over matters which are not central.
Fundamentalists have also been inclined to add such issues as a ban on alcohol, card-playing, tobacco, dancing, and theater going. This has been the cause of endless strife and division. For instance, concerning alcohol, the Bible teaches temperance, not total abstinence. Wine is used at the Lord’s Table. Some fundamentalists even try to change the meaning of the word wine to uphold their total abstinence view. Puritanism is a wonderful antidote to the harmful and needless divisions which are caused by adding manmade rules to Scripture. Worldliness is an enemy. The cure is in the heart. A man can keep many rules but be worldly still, and at the same time possess a deadly spirit of Pharisaic self-righteousness. Puritanism concentrates on the great issue of the state of a person’s soul. When a soul is truly joined to Christ, every part of him—his thoughts, his words, and his actions—will be subject to the Word of God. While he makes rules for his own life, he will avoid making them for others. The Puritans included a chapter in the Westminster Confession on the subject of Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. The Puritan message is one of liberty combined with selfcontrol and discipline. The Puritan Confessions of Faith (Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist) are silent where the Scripture is silent. For instance, there is nothing in the Bible about smoking, but there are passages which urge that we should care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Liberation from harmful habits comes through the freedom imparted by Christ. That freedom comes by the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit.
The New Evangelicalism — Fundamentalism has worn an angry face being fiercely separatistic, intolerant, and aggressive. It has been viewed as the religion of the clenched fist. It was inevitable, therefore, that more friendly and reasonable avenues of expression would be sought. This came in the form of The New Evangelicalism: broad, scholarly, and friendly. However, this movement within evangelicalism has been troubled by compromise on the central issue of the inspiration and authority of Scripture. The New Evangelicalism split over the issue of the inerrancy of Scripture. Again Puritanism is commended. While the Puritans could not anticipate the details of this controversy, we appreciate the solid foundation that is laid with regard to the nature and authority of Scripture in the opening chapter of The Westminster Confession.
Pentecostalism — The Pentecostal movement, which is as wide and diverse as a rainbow, is noted for emphasis on three important subjects: the reality of spiritual experience, the demonstration of spiritual power, and joy in public worship. These matters were also stressed by the Puritans.
First, the Puritans placed great stress on the spiritual experience of God’s free grace in conversion. The parameters of spiritual experience with regard to joy in justification, the love of the Father in adoption, patience in tribulation, and enjoyment of Christ were explored to the full by the Puritans. The Puritan view is that we are now complete in Christ. Spiritual experience consists of the ongoing application of the believer’s experimental union with the three Persons of the Trinity. The New Testament does not suggest or command a specific second experience after conversion as though something has to be added to what we already are in Christ. Many in the Pentecostal movement concede that all who are in Christ have been baptized spiritually into Christ (1 Cor 12:12); no second specific experience is mandatory, and no second experience is to be regarded as a type of “open sesame” to a Pandora’s box of new experiences. The Puritans would concur that spiritual power or the anointing of the Holy Spirit is needed not only for preaching but for service generally and for endurance in tribulation. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the believer to correct, guide, comfort, and empower.
Fundamentalists have also been inclined to add such issues as a ban on alcohol, card-playing, tobacco, dancing, and theater going. This has been the cause of endless strife and division. For instance, concerning alcohol, the Bible teaches temperance, not total abstinence. Wine is used at the Lord’s Table. Some fundamentalists even try to change the meaning of the word wine to uphold their total abstinence view. Puritanism is a wonderful antidote to the harmful and needless divisions which are caused by adding manmade rules to Scripture. Worldliness is an enemy. The cure is in the heart. A man can keep many rules but be worldly still, and at the same time possess a deadly spirit of Pharisaic self-righteousness. Puritanism concentrates on the great issue of the state of a person’s soul. When a soul is truly joined to Christ, every part of him—his thoughts, his words, and his actions—will be subject to the Word of God. While he makes rules for his own life, he will avoid making them for others. The Puritans included a chapter in the Westminster Confession on the subject of Christian liberty and liberty of conscience. The Puritan message is one of liberty combined with selfcontrol and discipline. The Puritan Confessions of Faith (Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist) are silent where the Scripture is silent. For instance, there is nothing in the Bible about smoking, but there are passages which urge that we should care for our bodies as temples of the Holy Spirit. Liberation from harmful habits comes through the freedom imparted by Christ. That freedom comes by the inward persuasion of the Holy Spirit.
The New Evangelicalism — Fundamentalism has worn an angry face being fiercely separatistic, intolerant, and aggressive. It has been viewed as the religion of the clenched fist. It was inevitable, therefore, that more friendly and reasonable avenues of expression would be sought. This came in the form of The New Evangelicalism: broad, scholarly, and friendly. However, this movement within evangelicalism has been troubled by compromise on the central issue of the inspiration and authority of Scripture. The New Evangelicalism split over the issue of the inerrancy of Scripture. Again Puritanism is commended. While the Puritans could not anticipate the details of this controversy, we appreciate the solid foundation that is laid with regard to the nature and authority of Scripture in the opening chapter of The Westminster Confession.
Pentecostalism — The Pentecostal movement, which is as wide and diverse as a rainbow, is noted for emphasis on three important subjects: the reality of spiritual experience, the demonstration of spiritual power, and joy in public worship. These matters were also stressed by the Puritans.
First, the Puritans placed great stress on the spiritual experience of God’s free grace in conversion. The parameters of spiritual experience with regard to joy in justification, the love of the Father in adoption, patience in tribulation, and enjoyment of Christ were explored to the full by the Puritans. The Puritan view is that we are now complete in Christ. Spiritual experience consists of the ongoing application of the believer’s experimental union with the three Persons of the Trinity. The New Testament does not suggest or command a specific second experience after conversion as though something has to be added to what we already are in Christ. Many in the Pentecostal movement concede that all who are in Christ have been baptized spiritually into Christ (1 Cor 12:12); no second specific experience is mandatory, and no second experience is to be regarded as a type of “open sesame” to a Pandora’s box of new experiences. The Puritans would concur that spiritual power or the anointing of the Holy Spirit is needed not only for preaching but for service generally and for endurance in tribulation. The Holy Spirit is always at work in the believer to correct, guide, comfort, and empower.
Second, there is a stress in some Pentecostal denominations on the continuation of signs, wonders, and miracles. The Puritan view is that the apostles and prophets of the New Testament were extraordinary. They were given a special enduement for the work of setting the foundations. We do not have to repeat their work. It is not necessary to vindicate the Word of God with new signs and wonders. Puritan teaching is wonderfully liberating because spiritual leaders are not required to walk on water, replace missing limbs, raise the dead, or perform stupendous miracles such as creating fish and bread. The Word of God is all-sufficient, and we do not need to exercise the supernatural gifts of prophecies, tongues, and interpretation of tongues. As we examine the history of the Christian Church through the centuries and through the 20th century, the absence of miracles is evident. A major ethical embarrassment takes place when miracles are offered, especially miracles of healing, and then failure is evident. How sad it is to claim to be a miracle-worker and then to disappoint the hopes of hurting people. When such promises fail, disillusionment sets in which is very deep and wounding. We do not make promises we cannot fulfil. Rather, we point to the promise which will never fail, and that is the promise of the gospel—eternal life to everyone who repents and believes.
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