Lesson #2 – Tradition a Good Servant – A Bad Master
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. This is a second in the series.
2. Tradition is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. Frelinghuysen followed the Three Forms of Unity. He often preached from and referenced the Heidelberg Catechism. He was, gladly, a confessional Calvinist. He believed in harnessing the power of tradition.
But he was not a slave to traditionalism. In objecting to Frelinghuysen’s insistence on using free prayers and his collaborating with other evangelicals, Classis Amsterdam hurrumphed, “We must be careful to do things in a Dutch way in our churches.” The Dutch leaders did not like his deviation from the liturgy, nor did they appreciate his enthusiasm and the subjective nature of his preaching. They wanted a Dutch preacher who stuck with the Dutch ways.
Frelinghuysen did not reject his Dutch Calvinism, but he wanted to do more than carry on a tradition. He wanted to preach the new birth. As such, he was willing to partner with those who shared his theological convictions and ministry goals, regardless of denominational attachment, ethnic or linguistic background, or social distinctions.
We must be very careful that in our ongoing desire to be biblically orthodox that we do not hold tradition equal in authority to the Scriptures. However, we do hold that the Scriptures regulate how God desires us to worship Him and we must be careful that we do not allow subjective pragmatism to dictate how worship is to be offered to God. We believe that God honors preaching that is biblical, enthusiastic and pointed. The “partnership” issue would have been a somewhat different matter in Frelinghuysen’s time and ours. How to carry out partnerships now would have to be one that was cautiously and very carefully considered in our day.
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