It has long been a pursuit of mine to understand, practice, and teach a reformed-evangelical concept of spirituality. This is no easy endeavor. In fact it is a regular criticism against reformed-evangelicals that they are all head, no heart, and as such lack a deep and engaging spiritual life. This criticism is interesting because it is difficult to get a handle on whether or not it is an accurate description. As I have had the blessing and opportunity to study at Talbot School of Theology, I had taken classes and pursued studies engaging some of the major thinkers, theologians, and pastors in the reformed-evangelical tradition. Men like Augustine, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and Francis Schaeffer. Each of them—as well as their contemporaries that I have studied—displayed a deep, engaging, and even community altering spirituality. Take Schaeffer for example, the now famous L’Abri movement that began in the living room of his Swiss chalet with a few of his daughter’s university friends asking him questions is currently operating in several countries and (at least) two continents. This ministry grew for several reasons (Schaeffer’s cultural engagement and knowledge, the ability to dissect worldviews and expose inconsistent logic), but standing above all the reasons was Schaeffer’s spirituality. Schaeffer had a deep relationship with the God who is there, the God who is not silent. In that statement we find the key to his and the rest of the reformed-evangelicalism’s spirituality. Edwards, Calvin, and many others displayed the same thing; and yet I have many friends who have either been raise in this tradition or learned it while in school (notably Biola University where I studied for my undergraduate degree) who feel a distinct lacking in this area, a short coming in their spirituality.
It was my own feeling of lack that drove me to study this particular area, and though I believe I somewhat accidentally stumbled across the answer before picking up Peter Adam’s Hearing God’s Words, it gave me the words and understanding to communicate what I found. Adam’s thesis is, essentially, that true spirituality created and cultivated by God’s word. This should come as no surprise to those aware of the major themes of reformed-evangelicalism. God is there (he exists) and he is not silent (he speaks). He has spoken audibly, he has spoken through prophets, and finally he spoke through his son—Jesus the Christ. For us today, though he still can and does speak audibly, we primarily experience God’s speech through the recorded words of scripture, which reformed theologians describe as living and active.
So what is the cash out for us? True spirituality, deep spirituality is created and cultivated by hearing the word of God as it comes to us in the Bible. In Adam’s words:
The great means is the Bible, in which we find Christ clothed in all his promises. To love God is to love his words, and to be alert to the Spirit is to receive the words of the Spirit in the Bible…. A corporate and personal spirituality of the Word is at the heart of biblical faith and life. (173)
However, we cannot just pick up the Bible and read it, we must pick up the Bible and pursue God by reading it. What is the difference? The latter comes to the Bible with humility, gratitude, and—most importantly—understanding of brokenness. These three elements should lead into some kind of prayer that thanks God, praises God, asks for illumination and transformation, and confesses sin. From there the Bible is opened and studied devotionally and intelligently. Again Adam is very helpful to point out, “True spirituality need not and should not perpetuate the false distinction between heart and mind; and that true spirituality will find the whole person addressed by God’s powerful words” (165). After listening to God’s word, we ought to transition back into prayer that will probably focus again on gratitude, praise, and confession. I want to highlight these three as crucial because they reveal our heart in their presence and their absence. Take confession for example, if you are a Christian you have been justified, but not yet fully sanctified, you are still, like the rest of us, struggling with your sinful flesh, the depraved world, and the attacks of our enemy—Satan—because of these you fail to be holy as God is holy and in doing so you fail to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. In other words you sin constantly. When you come to the Bible you meet a holy and righteous God and in doing so your sin ought to become evident by contrast, it is crucial that we acknowledge our sin and confess it to God (1 John 1:9), as Adam points out, “the great barrier to spirituality is not a lack of technique in spiritual aptitude, but sin” (173). Confession is how we act out repentance and show ourselves to be citizens of his kingdom in Jesus.
A little bit about the book itself. The book is a theology of biblical spirituality from the New Studies in Biblical Theology series, which boasts D.A. Carson as the series editor. Adam’s book contains six chapters settled in between the introduction and conclusion. The first chapter acts as an introduction to the dilemma I mentioned above (how does one remain reformed and pursue spirituality). Chapters two and three trace the biblical theology of spirituality through the Old and New Testaments. Chapter four discusses John Calvin’s view of spirituality. And the book comes to a close with chapters five and six articulating the issues and examples of spirituality. I highly recommend it to those trying to grapple with the struggles of spirituality in the reformed-evanglical tradition. Many have opted to try a hybrid of evangelicalism and eastern or mystical Christianity from the medieval era, but Adam provides a helpful explanation and answer for engaging a deep spirituality without venturing outside of a robust and well informed reformed-evangelicalism.
Thanks for reading,
t.d.h.
Mathétés Project 