Blaming the church
Clark Whitten accuses the reformed church of wholesale legalism. In his lectures, Whitten repeatedly states, “Saved by grace, perfected by the flesh. Little has changed in 500 years! The Church still employs that same strategy and deeply believes it is biblical truth.”
From his book pages 144-147, “few ever saw the fundamental flaws in its [the Reformation’s] theology. As I stated … little has changed in the core belief system, … in the fundamental way God is perceived by the Church in the past five centuries.”
“The core presentation of the truth concerning one’s salvation and ongoing relationship with God is the same as it was in the 16th century: One is saved by grace through faith and then begins a life of human effort to modify behavior to meet standards imposed by … religious authority … meeting those standards is the whole point of the religious exercise.” All Whitten quotes are from Pure Grace (the only book he ever wrote), Destiny Image, 2012.
Whitten readily admits he lived and taught legalism for over 40 years
Clark writes, “After more than 40 years of being part of the Protestant church, I am convinced this is an accurate representation of things as they are in the understanding of most Christians today ... this legalistic mess we have made of the glorious Gospel of Christ.”
“… The leaven of the law embraced by Protestants has left the Body of Christ vulnerable to confusion and robbed us of the wonder and awe of life with God. The Great Awakening [his new teaching on sanctification] … will be resisted fiercely by the legalistic establishment which has so much invested in sin management …”.
Another hyper-grace teacher
Steve McVey is another hyper-grace teacher who accuses reformed teachings of promoting legalism. He also readily admits his former legalism.
From the back cover of Steve McVey’s book: “For years Steve passionately but unwittingly taught from the pulpit the very lies he now exposes. After burning out from religious self-effort, he began to discover and enjoy the relationship-driven Christianity the Bible reveals. Now Steve shows you how pastors and churches can end up distorting biblical truths because of their preconceptions. … He examines typical misconceptions such as: becoming a Christian means having your sins forgiven; our sins are under the blood of Jesus; and salvation is giving your life to Christ”. 52 Lies Heard in Church Every Sunday, Harvest House, 2011.
Like Whitten, McVey also has a new teaching on sanctification.
Dewey Engelsma admits his own decades of legalism on his blog, and blames the church
“ … I chose the latter route, and played the game [of church] very well.
I knew the rules and had no objection to them.
It became clear over time what worked in the PRC and what did not work. Playing church was the way to advancement. Play your game correctly, and you would be up for deacon or school board member or, maybe someday, even the vaunted position of elder.
But a line from the book by Donald Whitney on spiritual disciplines always stuck with me. In speaking about hypocritical leaders in the church, he wrote, “They may desire the recognition of applause, public acknowledgement, appreciation via social media, assured results, honor for their example, or most subtle of all, development of a reputation as holy, sacrificial, or exceptionally spiritual.” (Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 149).
That was me.
Especially the last part about wanting to be viewed as “exceptionally spiritual”. (If reading that makes you think less of me, then good, you ought to.)
But at some point, God had had enough.
He took a pompous Pharisee, and he put the love of Jesus Christ in his heart.”
Dewey continues
“… The church is the pillar and ground of a nice, easy, and smooth life.
I was right there with them….
Why was it that for 40 years of my life I never heard the call to repent and believe? ... for 40 years I was never rebuked for the wickedness in my life and for the unbelief in my heart? Why was it that for 40 years I never heard the law preached to me as something that exposed my sin and misery and as something that I could not perform”. From the post titled ‘Restored’.
Note: Don Whitney is the Professor of Biblical spirituality and Associate Dean at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He has authored 16 reformed books.
But, Dewey seems to be the only one who learned about this supposed treadmill, and the game he calls church. Because many others attended the same preaching and did hear the call to repent, heard rebuke, and heard the law as something they could not keep in their own strength. Also, what they did not hear was a message about a burdensome treadmill, or how to play ‘the game’.
Tullian Tchividjian
Tullian Tchividjian, former blogger at Gospel Coalition makes the same accusation. He states, “A theology of glory is all about us and what we do. It’s about me and my performance, my obedience, my faithfulness, my potential, my strength, my improvement, and so on. Its main message is our need to do more, try harder, get better, and climb higher.”
He also says, “Christianity is not for good people who try hard; it’s for bad people who finally give up and throw themselves on the forgiving mercy of Jesus”. The GC blog removed Tullian when he slid into his hyper-grace ideas.
Tullian admits that performancism (his word for legalism) was how he saw things all his life until he had his epiphany.
Tullian sounds like Dewey
From Tullian’s website: “My worth, my value, my deepest sense of who I was and what made me matter—my identity—was anchored in my status, my reputation, my position, who my friends were, my skill at communicating, my ability to lead, the praise I received, the opportunities I had, financial security, and so on”.
And from his book, “I used to think that growing up as a Christian meant I had to somehow go out and obtain the qualities and attitudes I was lacking. To really mature, I needed to find a way to get more joy, more patience, more faithfulness, and so on.”, Jesus + Nothing = Everything, Crossway, 2011,page 94. (Tullian is Billy Graham’s grandson)
The common theme
These authors claim the Reformation doctrines concerning sanctification made them legalists. According to these men, including Dewey, the plague of performancism that has exhausted believers like themselves is the fault of the church, especially Calvinism.
They affirm they were Pharisees and legalists while in their respective reformed churches. These all admit that they self-applied a cycle of performancism which they extracted according to what they thought they heard. Many in the RP church also claim they learned a treadmill ideology, their hamster-wheel world-and-life-view, while in the PRC.
Is their epiphany misdirected?
I am glad these authors finally understand that legalism and performancism is wrong. But, even Calvin would agree that what these men thought they saw in reformed teachings is not what the Bible teaches!
So, did the Reformation really become entangled in legalism as Whitten claims? And, would hyper-grace be the biblical answer to the legalism they perceived?
Or … is the problem the hearer? Do some people hear what they want to hear, and miss or disregard the rest?
