"At the end of the day, the gospel is believed because God - because God - so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son and so on. The power and persuasiveness of the gospel lies in the fact that God acted in history to save humanity in and through his Son, Jesus Christ. The experience of this salvation by the individual people and by whole churches is a source for great rejoicing but should never be allowed to eclipse the emphasis on the great saving acts of God's redemptive history.
The gospel is the story of what God has done for sinners in Christ; it is not first and foremost the experience of God by any particular individual; and, if testimonies are to be given in a useful way, they must reflect this fact. Too often, however, testimonies can become nothing more than extended reflctions upon individual experiences of God. To make room for this sort of testimony is, I would suggest, to place our own evangelical church life on the path towards liberalism which, at the end of the day, is nothing more than
a reduction of religious truth to the religious self-consciousness of the individual or community."
Reformation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow by Carl Trueman, Christian Focus Publications, 2011, pg. 24. (emphasis mine)
Amen, Persis! Thank you for sharing this. It is especially helpful to me in my current church situation.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but notice the times Jesus worked with individuals (and not always in the same way). I think testimonies are important, not so much for the hearer, but for the receiver of grace.
ReplyDeleteHow many times I have looked back on mine in times of doubt, despair and uncertainty and remembered that HE will never leave me nor forsake me.
Scripture confirms this, of course, but there is something about having that testimony in our own hearts confirmed in the Spirit that dwells within that is no where to be equaled in an academic sense.
Persis,
ReplyDeleteHow could you add yet another book to my reading list??? :)