In the providence of God today, Pastor Murray Brett of Commerce Ga. offered this thought on facebook
; ON DIVISION CAUSED BY BEING THEORETICALLY TRINITARIAN AND THEORETICALLY CHRIST-CENTERED!
The way which we in our different groups have our particular gravitas or emphasis is causing division, not solving it. The Reformed community has come to be increasingly only theoretically Trinitarian, and theoretically Christocentric. Reformed orthodox academics emphasize truth and doctrine--- and "God, the Father" is primary.
Reformed broad evangelicals emphasize the gospel-- and "God, the Son" is primary.
"Reformed Charismatics" emphasize high emotional experiences-- and "God, the Spirit" is primary.
Kept indissolubly together such emphasis is the source of spiritual life and vitality among us. Separate the Trinity and it produces spiritual death among us, death meaning "alienation from God and the life of God" and the inevitable consequence of alienation from one another.
You cannot find this kind of separation of the Trinity in Calvin, Luther, the Puritans (with the exception of Richard Baxter), 18th century Scottish Presbyterians who followed "the Marrow tradition", 19th and 20th century men like Spurgeon, William Jay, and Octavius Winslow in the UK, and B. M. Palmer, John Murray, and James Dagg in the US.
One of the clearest examples of being "experimentally Trinitarian and Christocentric" for communion with God and His People to make God’s name great among the nations (Covenant Prologue) is "Our God" by Octavius Winslow.
In it, Winslow can't speak of one member of the Trinity without speaking of each, and even then, Christ's atoning work is central to bring in Everlasting Righteousness to establish God as the Only Just One and the Justifier of the ungodly to build His Everlasting Kingdom.
Being experimentally Trinitarian and Christocentric for communion with God and His people is the answer
for our prevailing legal-righteousness, the elevation of self and groups above others, and the division that such self-righteousness and self-elevation and group-righteousness and group-elevation causes.
Being "blind and drunk with self-love because we create standards of measure of our own making” (Institutes, 2.7.6), individual-standards, family-standards, and group-standards of legal-righteousness is a far greater problem than any of us realize. The very extensive problem of our legal-righteousness makes being clothed in Christ's righteousness experientially for communion with God and all fellow-believers is one of the greatest needs of the hour.
Without being clothed in Christ experientially, we can never move away from our mercenary self-interests and our mercenary group-interests. And if we don’t move away from legality and the mercenary interests caused by legality, together, we will plunge the world into even greater darkness. We are terribly turned in upon our individual-self and our group-selves, but elevating Christ and His righteousness will surely turn us outside our individual-self and our group-selves. Elevating Christ and His righteousness above our own, not theoretically but truly and experientially, for communion with our Triune God and one another must be our concerted and constant aim in order to participate in "winning the day" for Christ! Seeking to live upon Christ for Trinitarian communion with God and all of you!
This charge was recently made against the Calvinists on this board, [with dissolving ink evidently} as it was removed. Nevertheless, the charge was made, and even if externally withdrawn it lingers beneath the surface.
Is this charge valid in part? Is it valid to say that those holding to God's grace are not seeking to elevate the righteousness of Christ?
