Who Said That?

"What then is obedience?"

"Under the Gospel it is this, that after being adopted by God for his sons, and endued with a filial spirit, we conduct ourselves as becomes obedient children, doing with our whole heart and with all our strength those things which we know that our heavenly Father requires us to perform, and giving all heed not to offend him in any thing.  That is, that we put off the old man with his works, and desist from all our former sins; that we walk not after the flesh, but by the spirit mortify the deeds of the body. In short, that we continue in the habitual practice of no sin, but be endued with every Christian virtue; so that, if a fault occur in our pious course, it may proceed not from any evil disposition or design, from any habit or custom, but from some weakness of human nature or from ignorance: all which indeed the Scripture is wont to comprise under the name of penitence: and as such an obedience is not servile, but filial and voluntary."

Update on Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 02:19PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This comes from chapter nine of the Racovian Catechism.  The catechism is Socinian and anti-Trinitarian in its theology.  Faustus Socinus and followers of Michael Servetus produced the document in Poland in 1580.

Comments

[Ken Rapoza]

John Wesley?

[Charles S]

Arminius?

["lee n. field"]

Looks like a catechism question.

Hmmm. Catholic catechism?

[PB]

Definitely sounds Wesleyan...

[Jim Vellenga]

No idea. I'm not even sure what is being said here, but my brain is a little fuzzy this morning. The way things are stated it is likely not someone contemporary, but beyond that . . . I'll guess John Wesley.

[Coyle]

It does indeed sound Catholic- perhaps Thomas Aquinas? He's got some good stuff (especially on apologetics, justification, and election), but he's got some real "gems" similar to this also...

[dsanger]

John or Charles Wesley

[Dusty]

John Owen

[Wood]

Definitely Wesley

[Matt]

Sorry to be off topic but can someone suggest a good book/resource for a small group study of systematic theology?

thanks

[Steven Carr]

Wesley

Matt,

If the small group is made up of people who normally don't read systematic theology, I recommend Louis Berkhof's Summary of Christian Doctrine. If the group is really up for a challenging but worthwhile reading experience, then they ought to try Wilhelmus a Brakel's four volumed Christian's Reasonable Service. Don't let the four volumes scare you. Though it was published in 1700, the writing is very accessible. It was written for laypersons and was originally read in small groups. It would, I realize be a big commitment, but it would be very rewarding.

[John Y]

Sounds Puritan to me- the line that confuses me though is "that we continue in the habitual practice of no sin." I do not think anyone who has read Calvin could make that statement. Puritans frequently wrote about "mortifying the deeds of the body."

The emphasis here is on the subjective work of the spirit rather than the objective works of Christ for us. Pietism has infected all branches of Christendom- including Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed and especially all forms of Charismania, the Church growth movement and the emerging movement.

Could be a Catholic I suppose but am not sure they used the phrase" mortification of the body" much. I cannot say I have read that many Catholic theologians. Mortification is not a word used by most contemporary writers. I have not idea who it is- it could be any number of older theologians from the reformed, Wesleyan or Catholic traditions. I will stay with a Puritan but do not know which one.

[reg]

This may be way off, but maybe Oswald Chambers?

[Matt]

To Steven,

I thank you for your suggestions. I will look into the Berkoff summary; as this will be a group of "newbies".

Matt

[Michael William Smith]

Charles Finney, but probably Richard Baxter.