No I should have faith in Christ. Packer (who is just old not dead) put it well when he wrote;
One of the unhealthiest features of protestant theology today is its preoccupation with faith, that is, viewed man centeredly as a state of existential commitment. Inevitably, this preoccupation diverts thought away from faith’s object… Though the Reformers said much about faith…their interest was not of the modern kind. It was not subject centered, but object centered, not psychological but theological, not anthropocentric, but christocentric
J.I. Packer, “Sole Fide: The Reformed Doctrine of Justification, in Soli Deo Gloria, (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1976) 20.
7 comments:
Can you define "faith?"
I will go with: "confidence or trust in a person or thing". It is more of a "in the family" debate about what to focus our faith on. How good I am at being that what I claim to be? Or in Christ's sacrifice on our behalf?
"Faith," then, is a delicate thing, and would need to be justified by something real and concrete, right?
Ok sure. Do you know everything empirically? Did you meet Abe Lincoln or do you trust that he existed based on historical records? I have never really seen an atom but I believe they exist.
Thanks for post. Packer is gem!
I don't think a protestant preoccupation with faith is a huge problem though. Seems like there is not much of an emphasis on Sala Fide. I'd like more, rather just on broad fluffy topics like "Love" and "Community."
I agree that plenty of talk about faith is good (but also the greatest of these is love, and I dig that Christian community talk, we need to work on that!). My hang up is when it goes on for to long as "viewed man centeredly as a state of existential commitment", which I think will actually undermine sola fide. I see this from time to time. But not as much as maybe 15 years ago...
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