Charismatic and Reformed
I don't know if I've mentioned this here before, but when at home I'm a member of a reformed church that is also charismatic. Yes, it's rare, and yes we really are calvinists, and we really are charismatic. I've not read much on the subject or heard of many or any similar churches, and given the choice away from home I would tend to think an average 'reformed' church will probably be more biblical then average 'charismatic' church.
But anyway, while reading blogs today, I found this blog by someone I don't know named david.
Anyway he had some excellent thoughts on the reformed and the charismatic:
"...Now for some of you this news may cause some anxiety. Perhaps a few may even feel a sense of betrayal. ‘How could he have kept all this from us? We have heard him preach. We thought he was reformed!’ It is also possible, of course, that some few of you feel a touch of relief. You’re tired of the arid intellectualism of so much that passes for Calvinism these days. You have looked with some envy over the theological fence at your charismatic neighbours. You’ve watched their smiles and the obvious delight in serving Christ that they posses and you’ve asked yourselves if you really buy the notion that our gloomy spirits are actually an evidence of our correctness."
He then goes on to study the word charis which means gift or grace, and concludes:
"I am a charismatic because I have been graced and gifted with the Holy Spirit, who increasingly subdues and conquers and brings into Christ’s service every faculty and resource I have. He grants some new abilities. He sharpens others. But the point is this: to call my friends who think they can speak in tongues ‘charismatic’, while dismissing the rest of the Body of Christ as ‘non-charismatic’, is to say that there is no grace (charis) nor is there any presence of the great Charisma (the Spirit himself) among us. What an offence to Christ! What a blasphemy!
But anyway, while reading blogs today, I found this blog by someone I don't know named david.
Anyway he had some excellent thoughts on the reformed and the charismatic:
"...Now for some of you this news may cause some anxiety. Perhaps a few may even feel a sense of betrayal. ‘How could he have kept all this from us? We have heard him preach. We thought he was reformed!’ It is also possible, of course, that some few of you feel a touch of relief. You’re tired of the arid intellectualism of so much that passes for Calvinism these days. You have looked with some envy over the theological fence at your charismatic neighbours. You’ve watched their smiles and the obvious delight in serving Christ that they posses and you’ve asked yourselves if you really buy the notion that our gloomy spirits are actually an evidence of our correctness."
He then goes on to study the word charis which means gift or grace, and concludes:
"I am a charismatic because I have been graced and gifted with the Holy Spirit, who increasingly subdues and conquers and brings into Christ’s service every faculty and resource I have. He grants some new abilities. He sharpens others. But the point is this: to call my friends who think they can speak in tongues ‘charismatic’, while dismissing the rest of the Body of Christ as ‘non-charismatic’, is to say that there is no grace (charis) nor is there any presence of the great Charisma (the Spirit himself) among us. What an offence to Christ! What a blasphemy!
And let me also say this. If we ‘reformed’ believers would refuse to accept this faulty nomenclature we’d perhaps be a little more aware of our charismatic nature, a little more expectant of the Spirit’s power, a little more open to his dynamic operations among us, and a little more prone to smile!"
Please read the whole post here. (all emphasis mine)
posted by Stejahen at 7:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home