Monday, January 24, 2011

M. Horts & Biblical Testimonies

Whenever I think of what a 'testimony' should be, I'm reminded of, humbled by, and challenged with this quote. But I can never find it when I want it. So I sat down and spent about 40 minutes finding it. It's long, but at least chew on the bolded sections:

"Evangelicals, of course, have courageously defended the historicity of Christ's bodily resurrection and return in glory against the dogmatic anti-supernaturalism of liberalism. At the same time, when it comes to popular piety, both evangelicals and liberals (to the extent that they share a common heritage in pietism) often emphasize the immediacy of Jesus to our experience more than the reality of his bodily resurrection, ascension, and return. Whenever this happens, however important these dogmas may be for defending Christ's diety, his humanity seems to play a minor role. For example, why should we long for Jesus Christ's appearing in the flesh when he already lives in our heart? As one gospel song puts it, "You ask me how I know he lives, he lives within my heart," but this is a sentiment that could just as easily warm the heart of any liberal protestant. It makes no difference whether Jesus rose from the dead in the flesh two thousand years ago, as long as he is somehow "still with us" in our personal experience today.

In sharp contrast, Paul defended the resurrection in the flesh as a datable event with eyewitnesses. John begins his letter of warning about the "antichrists" who deny that Christ has come in the flesh by immediately stating, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life--the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it" (1 John 1:1-2). Similarly, Peter testifies, "For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty" (2 Peter 1:16). It is significant that for the apostles, offering their testimony meant witnessing to the concrete person and work of Christ in history, where for us today it usually means witnessing to our personal experience and moral improvement."

-Michael Horton, Christless Christianity, p. 182-3

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