"The idea of man's essential passivity in God's dealings with him through Christ is false in all of its applications. The charge to each believer is: You build yourself up in the faith; you keep yourself in the love of God; you pray in the Holy Spirit; and you look for the mercy of Christ" (cf. Jude 20-21).--Fred O. Blakely
The basic thought of man's essential passivity with regard to God's salvation salvation in Christ is, and has been, subtly or even openly taught and embraced by men for centuries. This is at the very heart of the "once-saved-always-saved" teaching taught by the Baptists and "fundamentalists" of our day. It has been fueled by a misapprehension of the God of Scripture and mistaken notions regarding God's sovereignty. But most of the divisions that have occurred in that which calls itself the church have been infected and possessed by one form or another of this deadly passivity.
ReplyDeleteThis passivity of which we speak amounts to men distancing or separating themselves from the living God. It has evidenced itself in the subtle, but all too popular notion of men "waiting for God to move first". This wickedly cunning suggestion of passivity, sown among men by that old serpent, the Devil, has resulted in men either ignorantly or stubbornly neglecting to draw nigh unto God, to call upon the Name of the Lord, and consequently, failing to take hold for oneself of the blessed benefits that God is is bringing to men in Christ Jesus.--Al Stoner (--editor@banner.org)