Blogging Has Its Ups and Downs

By Robin G. Jordan

One of my readers has removed the link to my blog on his website because he believes that my views are at odds with confessional Calvinism and reformed Anglicanism. He does not specify which views or why he regards them as wanting.

He and I have periodically debated the appropriateness of reducing or eliminating the barriers that the unchurched/unreached must cross in order to hear the gospel. He may be reacting to my recent article, Reshaping the 1928 Prayer Book Services for Mission – Part 1. In that article I suggest that Continuing Anglican churches might benefit from emulating the kind of hospitality that some restaurants extend toward their patrons. This suggestion he may have regarded as a denial of effectual calling and irresistible grace. I, on the other hand, regard the extension of such hospitality as an outworking of God’s grace.

What then do I believe?

I believe that God is sovereign. Our salvation is his doing from beginning to end.

I believe that God works through us to accomplish his purposes.

I believe that all human abilities are gifts from God –so-called “natural talents” along with our spiritual gifts.

If we use our wits, our mental sharpness and intelligence, which God has given us, to accomplish his purposes, it is God’s doing, not our own.

Apart from God at work in us to will and do what is his good pleasure, we would show no inclination to share the good news of Jesus Christ with anyone or in any fashion.

I believe in the irresistibility of God’s saving grace. While one of the elect may initially resist God’s saving grace, he ultimately will turn from his sins, trust in Christ, and be saved. What God has ordained will come to pass.

I believe that regeneration precedes faith. Unless we are born again, we cannot have a vital faith. The two go hand in hand.

When it comes to election, my views are closer to those of the Swedish Reformer Henry Bullinger who succeeded Ulrich Zwingli at Zurich than they are to those of Calvin and Beza.

I recognize two sacraments – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. I view marriage as a “holy estate” ordained by God but not as a sacrament. I view the laying on of hands and anointing with oil as apostolic practices but not as apostolic ordinances, much less sacraments. I view ordination as the public recognition of an individual’s call to a particular ministry by the laying on of hands with prayer.

My views are not only consistent with the views of early Reformed theology but also the views of the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of 1571. The Thirty-Nine Articles are reformed Anglicanism’s confession of faith.

I hope that my friend will reconsider his decision to remove the link to my blog on his website since I believe that his readers would benefit from the reading the articles on my blog. I have no plans to remove the link to his website on my blog. It is a valuable resource.