Tried With Fire

Forgive me for being blunt, but I might as well call it what it is. Perfectionism is worse than "You will be like God." It's "You must be like God or else ..." Perfectionism is a dystopian version of " The Little Red Hen " on steroids, where you ask for help and receive none. "Then I must do it myself or else ..." It creates a virtual reality where there is no God. There is no common grace and especially no grace to sinners. But it's a lie. All of it. This world is groaning under the curse and we are groaning, too. But we live as imperfect people in an imperfect world where there is a merciful, compassionate, and perfect Savior. We live in a world where this is true: The Lord is compassionate and gracious,  Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ...

I got B.B. Warfield's book on the deeper life movement, Perfectionism , several years ago to try to make sense of my former theological beliefs. I never thought I would be referring to it regarding the current discussion on sola fide . This debate is more than academic hair-splitting over theological terms. It is critical to how we answer the question, "What must I do to be saved?" Consequently, I am very concerned that a prominent theologian in the loosely reformed-ish camp is answering that question in this way. John Piper  (ht:  Brad Mason ) - "Electing love is unconditional, regenerating love is unconditional, and all other loves are conditional. Everything after regeneration that you benefit from is conditional, including glorification, salvation, sanctification, and everything else. It’s conditional, one, on faith, and second, upon the evidences of faith in obedience. Anybody in my church can understand that. Electing love is unconditional. The act of sett...

Whenever someone implies that there are multiple tiers to salvation, I get suspicious. It's mainly due to a "once bitten twice shy" reaction to the deeper life/early Keswick theology which informed 40 years of my Christian life. This is one teaching that will rob you of your assurance and confidence in Christ. Why? Because there is an "initial" salvation that gets you in the door - forgiveness of your sins, but you need to haul yourself to the next level by your surrender. The act of surrender also needs to be a surrender in itself because "you" aren't supposed to do anything. Only "Christ" can. This becomes such a mess of spiritual pulse-taking to check if you are sufficiently dead to yourself. It then produces an underlying fear that never goes away because if you don't reach the next level, your acceptance into the kingdom is at stake. This particular twist is courtesy of the partial rapture teachings of D.M. Panton, and G.H. Lang....

The following excerpt is from B.B. Warfield's Perfectionism. He is critiquing the work of William Boardman who was the author of The Higher Christian Life . According to Warfield, this movement took off where Oberlin perfectionism left off. One common point of all these perfectionist movements is the separation of justification and sanctification chronologically and the separation of Christians into two classes. Christians who are only justified or carnal Christians and Christians who have received the 2nd blessing or 2nd work of grace. Notice the problem here? So little is Mr. Boardman inclined to sink "the second experience" in the first, that his tendency is to exalt it above it. He speaks of it as "the second and deeper work of grace." He declares plainly that "the second is the higher stage, and more difficult too. It is really harder to overcome sin in the heart, than to break way from the world at first. And it is harder to come to the point of trus...

In the Biblical doctrine the sinner, being justified, receives the Spirit of holiness, through whose prevalent operations he perseveres to the end. According to Finney the justified person remains justified so long as he perseveres in the obedience which is the condition of his justification. In the Biblical view it is God, in Finney's it is man, who determines the issue: The whole standpoint assumed by Finney is that of a God responsive to human actions rather than that of a man operated upon by divine grace. Perfectionism , B.B. Warfield, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1958, pg. 158. (italics mine)