Thursday, January 12, 2006

Articles 5 & 6


Draft Revision:
5. God’s gospel is accomplished through the work of Christ –
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, died on the cross as the perfect, complete, and sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His shed blood and resurrection are the only ground for salvation, and it is through faith alone in Christ and His saving work that anyone is justified before God.

Original Article:
6. That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His Resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit and, thus become children of God.

Draft Revision:
6. God’s gospel is applied and empowered by the Holy Spirit –
We believe that the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, during this age, convicts the world, regenerates sinners, baptizing them into union with Christ, and indwells, guides, instructs, and equips believers, empowering them for Christ-like living and service.

Original Article:
4. That the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and, during this age, to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, and indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.



Commentary:
I wonder if there is anyone out there who is upset that article four's wording went from "regenerate the believing sinner" to "regenerates sinners" in the new article six. If you are that person, I'd love to hear from you. My guess is that most are pleased with this change, but that's only a guess.

1 Comments:

Blogger Unknown said...

The change moves away from Arminian theology of conversion, to a carefully neutral statement. The Arminian and the Calvinist can both affirm it. If Geisler was still with us, he'd probably pop a cork, but (speaking as a Calvinist) I'm OK with it.

Thursday, January 12, 2006 9:15:00 AM  

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