Are we up for it?

I have just finished reading Finney’s ‘Systematic Theology’. It is the literary equivalent of an arduous triathlon across inhospitable conditions. Finney is an acquired taste but for those that persevere a definite delicacy.

The book is challenging partly because it was written in 1851 and the language is archaic, it is (as its name suggests) theology and it is also academic (Finney was a lawyer).

However, the message it contains is so relevant to the contemporary church and especially to The Salvation Army. The protestant free church has because of its absolute fear of ‘salvation by works’ relegated obedience to the lowliest of positions in the pecking order of Christian characteristics. It is (in my opinion) this very reason that we are currently facing such struggles.

In summary this is what Finney has to say:

• Sin is the result of misplaced free will and not the result of any kind of intrinsic of inherited evil nature.
• Righteousness is ‘disinterested benevolence’ i.e. an intelligent decision to love God and love our neighbour for the sole benefit of God and our neighbour rather than for any personal satisfaction or gain.
• Sin is selfishness (the opposite of ‘disinterested benevolence’)
• Some apparent acts of kindness may actually be selfish and therefore sinful rather than righteous (‘even though I surrender my body to be burned… but have not love...’ etc)
• Holiness (righteousness) is the minimum requirement God makes upon his children and can only ever be complete (for Finney there is no such thing as Christianity by degrees)
• Holiness is the outcome of a deliberate consecration of all our faculties to the glory of God and the betterment of the universe. Though impacted by physical constitution, emotions, circumstances (etc) holiness is not subject to nor caused by any of these things but is always the result of a deliberate wilful and intelligent dedication.
• Entire consecration is subject to revelation and knowledge – the more I get to know God the more he will demand and the more I will be required to give, however consecration will always be instant and complete based upon the knowledge and revelation I currently have.
• If I offer God partial obedience then the part of my life I fail to surrender exists as a result of disobedience, disobedience is sin and an active sinner cannot be saved because Salvation is conditional upon both repentance and obedience (‘continuance in a sate of salvation depends upon continued obedient faith…) Logically therefore Salvation is dependant upon total consecration.
• Present sinlessness is both possible and obligatory as anything else suggests disobedience and a lack of repentance.
• All of this is made possible by grace which is delivered by the Holy Spirit through faith. True faith always bears the hallmark of obedience (“If you love me you will obey my commandments and I will send another, a comforter…”)

This is the briefest and shallowest of summaries of Finney’s ‘Systematic Theology’ but it does contain in essence the heart of Finney’s understanding of the gospel.

At the conclusion of the book Finney makes the following statement:

“But before I close my remarks upon this subject, I must not fail to state what I regard as the present duty of Christians. It is to hold their will in a state of consecration to God, and to lay hold on the promises for the blessing promised in such passages as 1 Thess. v. 23, 24:--"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God your whole spirit, and soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." This is present duty. Let them wait on the Lord in faith, for that cleansing of the whole being which they need, to confirm, strengthen, settle them. All they can do, and all that God requires them to do, is to obey him from moment to moment, and to lay hold of him for the blessing of which we have been speaking; and to be assured, that God will bring forth the answer in the best time and in the best manner. If you believe, the anointing that abideth will surely be secured in due time.”

Dear friends I ask you - Is this what has been missing from our gospel? Is this what we desperately need to rediscover and preach? Is the absence of constant and entire obedience in the lives of Officers and Soldiers the ‘sin in the camp’ that we hear so much about today?

This book (I believe) has been to me what ‘A plain account of Christian Perfection’ was to Wesley. I feel that it has handed down a nugget that was nearly lost forever. The nugget needs to be shaped and polished and exhibited to the world so that everyone can be cleansed, challenged and inspired by its beauty.

When will we learn that we are not unsuccessful because we wear the wrong clothes, sing the wrong songs, play the wrong instruments, call each other by the wrong names or print the wrong publications? Our problem is not that we are not culturally relevant (look at our history and you will see that we never were! How was GSR standing on a street corner preaching to a drunken, illiterate costermonger – who had never heard of Christ – ever culturally relevant?) Our problem is not to be found in the fabric of our organisation, it is not infrastructure or style but is much more fundamental and personal than that.

Our problem is SIN and our sin is a refusal to give God what we know he requires and to even suggest (in spite of that knowledge) that the requirement is unrealistic and unobtainable. The Salvation Army is a band of covenanted warriors who have surrendered everything they have to the glory of God and the salvation of the world – anything less than that is a lie and to defend any lesser definition is sinful.

There is only one way forward – renunciation of everything that we know to be sinful, renunciation of everything that is considered to be doubtful, consecration of everything to God, and then (in faith) to go on our way and ‘sin no more.”

I wonder are we really up for this? The salvation of The Salvation Army hangs on our answer.

Yours set apart by Christ, for the lost, in the Army.

AJB