More About the Life in Christ

     I need to make a clarification on the quote I included from the book, The Torch of the Testimony by John W. Kennedy yesterday on my blog. (You can order this book through Amazon)  I used one quote about Lutheranism, which was not used to single out this denomination, but to show how the ecclesiastical structure of the day, did not teach a new life in Christ, for the most part,  but only a commitment to certain creeds, which made it cold and dead religion. This is different from regeneration, which "makes all things new" in us and brings a changed life, because of Christ in us.


Today, I am going to randomly write some more quotes from this revealing book  which is exciting my spirit and helping me immensely "see the real church" more and more clearly. It is also helping me see different thought patterns that I have had, which perhaps, have been outside of God's Spirit, and haven't aligned with His vision of His Body. For this exposing, I am grateful to Him.


In reference to Philip Jakob Spener's beliefs, the author writes: "In 1670 he began gatherings in his own house for study of the Bible, prayer and mutual edification, and proposed such meetings from other congregations as a 'church within the Church' which would be able to return to the apostolic manner of gathering, and grow in holiness of life. He emphasized that true Christianity must manifest itself in daily life, and is entered into through conscious experience of regeneration. Believers were not passive in spiritual matters, but have a responsibility for building one another up in the faith, and they live a life of moderation and separation from the grosser pleasures of this world. Spener minimized the importance of formal creeds and dogmas in order to return to the direct authority of the Scriptures. He stressed the vital importance of a spiritual experience, and said that where there was true life in the Spirit, intellectual differences in interpretation would look after themselves. His work caused violent controversy, and he was accused of heresy." (pg.189-190)


Another quote: "Those who would serve Christ enter upon a life of intense, spiritual conflict. There is a complete and infallible guide in the Word interpreted through the presence of the indwelling Spirit, but there are ever forces, be they of this world or of Satan, whose influences are subtly calculated to divert attention from the way which is straight and narrow." (pg. 186)