The unity Christ prayed for has always existed in the true body of Christ. It is an organic, not an organizational unity...Here is an older post dedicated to Phil Johnson.
The unity Christ prayed for has always existed in the true body of Christ. It is an organic, not an organizational unity...Here is an older post dedicated to Phil Johnson.
5 comments:
The Principal Reformers themselves argued the split with Rome was over two primary issues: (1) authority - sola scriptura & (2) justification - sola fide.
I would argue the split, even today, is one largely rooted in different understanding of authority as visibly expressed through ecclesiology. Protestants argue for the visible and invisible church in which true Christians belong to both. There is some truth in this view. Catholics would argue that the depth and therefore truth of your Christianity is related to how close you are united to Rome.
The problem within the Protestant world today is that many do not believe or hold the same views on the formal and material causes of Reformation. That which united the Protestants in the past is no more. Only the confessional Protestants understand their own history and hold to the historic Protestant creeds and confessions of faith (Three Forms of Unity, Westminster Conf. of Faith, etc.) The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, Inc. (ACE) are trying to hold back the damn wall against the flood of Protestants who have forgotten their roots.
I'd like to fisk this paragraph:
The truth is that on the vital issues there is far more agreement among Protestants than Catholic and Eastern Orthodox church leaders would like to admit.
so far, so good.
All evangelical Protestants are in agreement on the doctrine of justification by faith (sola fide) and the authority of Scripture (sola Scriptura).
This statement, however, transfers the discussion from all protestants to all evangelical protestants. And what is an evangelical protestant? An evangelical protestant is a protestant who holds sola Scriptura and sola fide: by definition, then, all evangelical protestants agree on these essential doctrines.
Fred
In the old days yes, but today it just isn't so. For example refer to the development of thought regarding justification - the New Prespective of Paul and The Federal Vision, both of which have caused a great uproar in traditional Evangelical circles. Both fundamentally change the traditional Protestant understanding of justification. And these two concepts are being proposed by leading Evangelicals themselves.
Refer to the following books:
No Place for Truth or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
Power Religion
Ashamed of the Gospel
The Coming Evangelical Crisis
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