Who Said That?

"It should never be forgotten that the faith that is the condition of justification, is the faith that works by love. It is the faith through and by which Christ sanctifies the soul. A sanctifying faith unites the believer to Christ as his justification; but be it always remembered, that no faith receives Christ as a justification, that does not receive him as a sanctification, to reign within the heart. We have seen that repentance, as well as faith, is a condition of justification. We shall see that perseverance in obedience to the end of life is also a condition of justification."

Leave your guess in the comments section below.   Please, no google searches or cheating!  The fun is in the guessing! 

Update on Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 05:49PM by Kim Riddlebarger

This comment comes from page 326 of Charles Finney's Systematic Theology.    Once again this demonstrates that there is nothing new under the sun, and that if you reject justification sola fide, you'll end up somewhere down the road towards a final justification based upon works.

Comments

[John Yeazel]

N.T. Wright

[Tad G.]

Wright was my first guess as well.

["lee n. field"]

Ditto. Sounds like what I've heard of Wright.

["lee n. field"]

Googled it. Tee Hee. That's interesting.

[Lloyd]

The Pope.

[Zrim]

The same one who ranted about "paper popes."

http://graceonlinelibrary.org/articles/full.asp?ID=43%7C43%7C613

This man's portrait hangs in the halls of Billy Graham's offices. It may sound like a bad Kevin Bacon joke, but can anyone who would the Reformed tradition really render Graham more a good thing than bad?

[Gene Frenkel]

Finney

[Matt]

I'm a newbie. I've read/heard that the Reformed faith is not a fan of Finney, which makes sense for the few things I have read of his. Can someone unpack this for me and explain why this particular statement is bad or questionable?

Thanks.

[Coyle]

Hmm... Tempted to say one of the Wesleys...
But I'll go with E.P. Sanders.

[Lloyd]

Hi Matt:

This will help you: Faith is a gift that God gives us, not something that we have to work up on our own. Phil. 1:29 says, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." (ESV) Repentance can only take place after God has first created faith in us through the proclamtion of the Word of God -- or the Word of God and Baptism (John 3:5, Titus 3:5 or 1 Peter 3:20 & 21). Luther calls baptismal water without the Word, dead water.

Sanctification is an ongoing process that takes place throughout our lives on earth, and only takes place after justification.

Unfortunately, the quote in "Who said that", is a Roman Catholic view, that is found in most of the Christian church's today, and if Luther and Calvin were alive today, would undoubtedly lead to another reformation!

[Ivan]

My first guess is NT Wright, but reading above the comments, it looks like I am again wrong.Hero of Billy Graham? Well, I once recall hearing Jerry Falwell on the WHI tell Mike Horton that Finney was a hero of his too.

So, apparently some of you guys are saying it is Finney?

[Philip Walker]

How about Norm Shepherd?

I have to say, using the language of "conditions" confuses the issue, at least for anyone with a mathematical or perhaps philosophical background. In logic, "necessary condition" means the direct opposite of how most people use and understand the phrase.

[Zrim]

Ivan,

Re Falwell, the funny thing is how enemies can share heros. Any friend of Finney is an enemy of a confessionalist, but two people who can't get along about the kulturekampf can agree on human depravity. Talk about your kumbaya sessions. What's that about Households and Outhouses?

[Matt]

Thanks, Lloyd. I totally understand and agree with your reply. I guess I couldn't understand it as well because it seems so convoluted in the wording of Finney.

Matt

[Zrim]

Matt,

I deliberately didn't use his name above, but for more general unpacking on Finney here is the link again...

http://graceonlinelibrary.org/articles/full.asp?ID=43%7C43%7C613

Also, it can be a fun party trick to suggest that salvation is indeed by works. The polite gasps you'll hear, though, likely will be from those confused heirs of Finney who never took the time to read him a bit more closely and sure never read any paper popes.

[George]

I moved to a house located just a few miles away from the Billy Graham Center about four years and was always puzzled about the salute to Finney that they have there. Wheaton College is so conservative (it's only been about 5 years that they've allowed dancing and the town was a dry city for years) that the strict fundamentalism always seemed to me like a contradiction with what what I knew about Finney's radical theology.

Then I read Horton's book "Made in America: The Shaping of Modern American Evangelicalism" and it clarified everything - the conservatism, that actually seemed to be intolerance of worldliness on the surface, was really just part of an attempt at making one's self "holy".

As Lloyd pointed out, it's a false view of sanctification piled on top of an even more errant view of justification. That and the decision-based theology that runs rampant through this area makes it difficult for congregations like this little OPC church down the street really struggle to reach people with the truth.

[Zrim]

I hear you, George. But I guess if the church has survived Nero's candle gardens she can get through the burned over districts of Charles Finney and Billy Graham. Gates of hell, you know.

(Speaking of dancing, Cornerstone University recently dropped that one from their institutionalized legalism list. They celebrated with a bunch of line dancing on campus...I guess no points for taste or comportment. Still can't drink and smoke though, or play poker. Don't tell anyone, but I'm "betting" those might go in time. How folks drop certain legalisms and not others is interesting.)

[Kyle in WI]

I would say Warren, but that statements seems to deep and "preachy" for him. I will go with Wesley?? Can't wait to find out!

[Matt]

Zrim: I'll take a look at the link and will definitely try that as a party trick. Lately I've been taking a poll at the (gasp) Wesleyan church I (unfortunately) attend. From my White Horse Inn influences I have asked this question to fellow members.

Agree or Disagree? The best way to explain that Christianity is true is to tell others how it has worked for you.

To my astonishment, 40% of the church has said disagree. I thought it would be like under 5% disagreeing.

[Robert Widdowson]

Would someone explain to me what the burnt-out areas are? I've heard that New York state was/is a burnt-out area due to revivalism. Are you seriously stating the area around Billy Graham's home is also a burnt-out area? More explanation required.