Kierkegaard, Charlie Ray, and sanctification “versus” justification

[essius]

The other day I cited a line from Kierkegaard and incurred the wrath of a Reformed Anglican 5-point Calvinist named Charlie Ray. Writes Kierkegaard,

It is very dangerous (and very seductive for those concerned) if a religious speaker capable of exercising great influence upon others does not himself in the deepest sense give the impression of being

Comments

[ckrp]

I have no answers - I fully agree. I'm currently in school with some neo-Lutheran Anglicans who seem to think the same thing. Seems to me it's not even faithful to Luther or Calvin. (Especially Calvin, geez! Is he totally unaware of what Calvin's efforts in Geneva were like, or is he simply against them?)

Anyway, I just figured I'd pop in to say 'Keep fighting the good fight!'

[alasthai]

Justification is all that matters: get your free ticket to Heaven and you are set. No need to worry about all of that sanctification bit because it is a/ a distraction from back-patting about being in the elite Saved Club, b/ just papistry in disguise (and everyone knows that Catholics are not Real Christians(tm)), and c/ rather too much like hard work.

More seriously, I disagree with the sentence from Kierkegaard, too, although admittedly without knowing the context for it. The religious speaker, I would suggest, ought to be bound by far harsher strictures than those which s/he applies to others, since anyone who presumes to teach indoctrinates not only by words but also by actions. That said, the extent to which s/he gives an impression of this is a separate issue, since a saint ought not to be trying to appear to be a saint.

[pastorlenny]

God changes us. I'm not sure why people are so intent on arguing against this.

[thehonorableryu]

Why should a preacher, or anyone attempting to witness to the truth of Christianity, stop at the doctrine of justification and not stress the much bigger picture of the New Testament gospel?
There is no good reason why they should. But the doctrine of justification is all that they really see concerning salvation, and they are committed to a tradition and system of theology that emphasizes only the judicial aspect of salvation. The kind of Bible we have depends upon the kind of person we are.

[martiancyclist]

I think it's a systematic weakness in Protestantism -- particularly the more self-aware varieties like Calvinism -- that any imperative in a discussion of post-Justified life is suspect, lest it turn you Catholic. Not that reasonable people can't overcome it without too much trouble, but it's there. It does give Protestants a handy way to dismiss any preaching they dislike about post-justification imperatives: "works-righteousness".