Lesson #1 – Dead Orthodoxy Is Deadly
Kevin DeYoung has a very helpful post regarding an obscure Dutch Reformed minister, Jacobus Frelinghuysen (1691- 1747) who pastored at the beginning of the great awakening. Frelinghysen was known by George Whitefield and respected by Jonathan Edwards. In DeYoung’s article he highlights seven important lessons that can be gleaned from his ministry that can benefit all of us who hold to a reformed position. Since it may be beneficial for us to think through each of these slowly, I thought that I would be best to post each of the seven individually in a series:
“1. Dead orthodoxy is deadly. It can be hard for those who bemoan the atheological nature of today’s church (as I do) to admit it, but it’s true: orthodoxy can be dead, and when it dies it is deadly. Frelinghuysen encountered Reformed churches filled with self righteousness and empty formalism. They had the appearance of godliness, but knew not its power. His emphases on conversion and piety were not always welcome, but they were necessary. Let us not be so afraid of emtionalism and subjectivism that we mistake lifeless orthodoxy for faithfulness.”
It is very easy for us to allow our heritage, our doctrine and our order of service to place a thin veneer of godliness over our cold, indifferent, stubborn and rebellious hearts and therefore deceive ourselves as to our true state before God.
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