Article Eight

The last few posts have been about the EFCA revision of our doctrinal statement. I have wanted to demonstrate, however briefly, why this revision is not only a good thing, but even something worth celebrating. The final reason for celebration is Article Eight of the revision, which I will quote in full here:

We believe that God's justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

One of the questions that defines the ethos of the Free Church, that the founders of this movement of churches asked one another, is this: How goes your walk? Personal and corporate holiness have always lain at the heart of what it means to be the Free Church. Regeneration should be followed by progressive sanctification. At least in part, the absence of evidences of regeneration, namely personal holiness, drove the formation of the precursors to the EFCA, the free churches of Scandinavia.

In our 1950 Statement of Faith, the EFCA had no more extensive statement on sanctification than this in Article Four, that one ministry of the Holy Spirit is to "empower the believer for godly living and service." But no necessary connection between regeneration and sanctification was made. It was assumed and of vital importance to the writers of the old SOF, but it was not explicitly stated that the Spirit produces holiness in everyone whom He regenerates. Unfortunately that can lead (and has led in many a church) to an "easy believism" approach to the gospel such that church members who profess faith in Christ show little and even no evidence of Christlike character or Godward appetites. And that opens up a whole host of problems that keep a church from being biblical and healthy.

Article Eight of the revised SOF takes this problem head on. Those who are justified are necessarily in the process of being sanctified. And the outlines of this sanctification are drawn: love for God and one another, sacrificial living, desire for Christian community, concern for justice and mercy, spiritual warfare, gospel living in word and deed. My personal attachment to Article Eight is such that I would have traded away every other gain I have written about in the revision process in order to keep this.

Of course, I did not need to. And I thank my God for it. I am grateful for this revised Statement of Faith, and I count myself blessed to be part of the EFCA.