The Necessity of New Birth (Part 1)

Marc Vandersluys(Van-der-sloos) is the Associate Pastor at Malmo Mission Covenant Church in central Alberta. He took up the call to the pastorate after completing his Master of Divinity at Providence Theological Seminary located in Otterburne, Manitoba. This is the first of a two part article written on the second Affirmation, The Necessity of New Birth. In this post, Marc identifies this second Affirmation as that which most strongly connects the Covenant Church with the evangelical community. Furthermore, Marc identifies the idea of "New Birth" being based and found in Scripture.

The Covenant Affirmations form the heart of our identity as a denomination. In some sense who we are is shaped by our beliefs about God, ourselves, and the world. The affirmations present a summary of the core beliefs or values of the Evangelical Covenant Church, as they relate to our understanding of scripture, our relationship to God, to each other, and to the world.

      The second Covenant affirmation emphasizes “the necessity of new birth.” This already succinct affirmation can be summarized as follows. Belief in the necessity of new birth is what puts the “evangelical” in our denomination’s name. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, forgiveness of sin and eternal life is offered to mankind, leading to reconciliation with God, regeneration, and enlistment in Christ’s service. This begins with turning, by faith and with repentance, from sin to Jesus. Turning to Jesus is not simply acknowledging ideas about him or giving intellectual assent to creeds and doctrines. Instead, it is trust in and commitment to Jesus and his way. Salvation is found only by conversion to Jesus. The evidence of conversion or new birth is the fruit of the Spirit in our lives, in our “vitality of life.”

      Conversion is only the beginning of the journey of faith, which involves a lifetime of growing towards maturity in Christ, both as individuals and communities of faith. This growth is developed in relationships with other Christians in community. Following Jesus and being formed in him requires obedience to his teachings -- always costly in some way -- and a life of discipline -- that is, cultivating and nurturing one’s spiritual life both individually and in the context of a worshiping community through prayer, public worship, service to others, and other spiritual disciplines.

This affirmation emphasizes that new birth is not simply about a conversion point...

      “New birth” is one image of or requirement for salvation (or life in the Kingdom) among several used by Jesus. In Luke 10:24ff, a lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds with the two great commandments: love God and love neighbour. In Matthew 19:16ff and its synoptic parallels (Luke 18:18ff; Mark 10:17ff) a man asks Jesus what he must do to get eternal life (equated with the kingdom of heaven/God in vv. 23-24). Jesus replies that he should keep the commandments. When the man says he does, Jesus adds that he must sell everything he has and give the proceeds to the poor. In John 3, Nicodemus does not ask Jesus about eternal life or the kingdom of God, but Jesus, perhaps anticipating where Nicodemus is going with his comments, replies in a manner implying a question similar to the ones asked by the lawyer and rich man: “no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” (John 3:3, NIV).

      “New birth” or “being born again” is the image that evangelicals have embraced to describe conversion. Warranted or not, the term “born again” carries a lot of baggage in the modern West. However, in the context of the question of entering the kingdom of God, all these different images, including new birth, have this in common: Spirit-born change. In fact, all the language we use for becoming a follower of Jesus implies change: conversion (convert from one thing to another); repentance (a turning about from one thing to another); rebirth (new life); turning to Jesus (and away from something or someone else). 

      This affirmation emphasizes that new birth is not simply about a conversion point, that faith does not begin and end at “asking Jesus into your heart”, but that new birth is entry into a new life, a new way of being. It is about becoming a new person, a new creation in Christ through the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 5:17). New birth is not just about accepting certain facts about the self, the world, and/or Jesus, but also about personal transformation and the whole Christian life.

In the second part of this article, Marc develops his point that "New Birth" is not simply a one time event but rather sets a trajectory for the life of one who follows Christ. 

Centrality of the Word (Part 2)

The second installment of Mark Jensen's treatise on the first Covenant Affirmation, The Centrality of the Word. In this half of his article, Mark discusses the roots of the Covenant Church, its influences on the development of this first affirmation in addition to providing some concluding reflections and thoughts.

The Covenant Inheritance: Philipp Jakob Spener on Scripture

Within the Covenant Affirmations the centrality of the word is the first affirmation discussed. The emphasis of this affirmation is on scripture as a living text through which the Spirit brings about new life in the believer. Inspired by Philip Jakob Spener’s 1675 work, Pia Desideria, which offered six proposal of correction for the church during his day, the first of which being a fuller application of the scriptures. The Affirmations state, “For many in Spener’s day the word of God was simply information, or law, or rules; for Spener the word was power—power to effect change in the life of the hearer through the Holy Spirit.”¹ The Covenant considers Spener’s insight on scripture as a living text through the Spirit. Practically, this insight led to the founding of coventicles (i.e., small groups), private devotional reading, and faithful preaching that was scripturally rooted oriented to convicting the human heart of the gospel message.²

This was not simply a change in an understanding of scripture’s purpose (end, telos) for Christians in generating the new life, but Spener also expanded the scope of the form of scripture’s expression by which it comes to be understood. What had been central to Christian practice for scriptural understanding was the sermon which expounded scriptural texts based on a lectionary, in addition to the recited liturgy in worship. Building on this foundation, Spener proposed that Christians should have their own Bible to read privately, but also that they participate in small groups (conventicles). Through this, Christians could meet and discuss the meaning of scripture, something they could not do during the sermon. Conventicles serve to compliment what is lacking in the sermon, with its tendency towards rendering the person a passive listener. Private reading allows one to read and digest scripture at one's pace, yet it misses out on the insights that others more knowledgeable can share when scripture is read in community with one’s fellow Christians. Both of these additions occur outside of the church, but it would be a mistake to equate this to a reduction of church's role. Instead, church practice is amplified to outside the walls of the church into the quotidian monotony of the lives of Christians, thereby transforming monotony into sacred space and building the church as a spiritual priesthood.³ Spener’s conclusion states: 

 This much is certain: The diligent use of the Word of God, which consists not only of listening to sermons but also of reading meditating, and discussing (Ps. 1:2), must be the chief means of reforming something, whether this occurs in the proposed fashion or in some other appropriate way. The Word of God remains the seed from which all that is good in us must grow.⁴

In line with the Reformation, that sought to bring the scriptures to be read by the common people and not simply with the educated. For Spener it is scripture that judges the church, and not the other way around. Scripture points us to Christ and it is the Holy Spirit who speaks to us in Christ. 

Spirit and Word, Word and Spirit

     The affirmations are interested in the new the life of the Christian with scripture assisting in the cultivation of this new life. Spener’s insight, then, is scripture’s place as a living text. The Affirmations state:

What was new in Spener’s proposal was not another doctrine of inspiration (there was general agreement on the divine inspiration of scripture in his day), or a new recognition of the authority of scripture. What was new was his recovery of the living nature of the word of God. The word is the “powerful means” to the creation of new life through the holy spirit.⁵

     Now for many this seems straight-forward, for others this might be perplexing due in part to the fact that they have existed within multiple denominations or have been exposed to multiple theological traditions. Allow me to state some reasons one would be confused by this stance on scripture. I will do this by expanding on the logic behind Spener’s position, I want to further illuminate the position taken by the ECC. 

While the Affirmations acknowledge the unity of Word and Spirit as understood by Spener, more must be stated regarding what lies behind this. What is not acknowledged is that not only did Spener dispute certain views of inspiration that he considered to be mechanistic (i.e., scripture is inspired because God dictated it), he preferred a view of inspiration in which God provided the authors of scripture with “divine truth through an inner enlightenment of the heart.”⁶ Rather than saying scripture was verbally dictated by the Holy Spirit, God spoke to the authors in a way that the writers could understand.⁷ The authors, not the words of scripture were inspired.⁸ This seemed evident to Spener by the fact that the original Greek of the text was written both poorly and eloquently at different times and places.⁹ Spener also limited the inerrancy of the Bible when it came to matters of salvation, as opposed to inerrant on all accounts.¹⁰ 

           In adopting such a position, it is less controversial to say that scripture does not supply answers for all questions we may have, but it does raise the question of its silence on certain matters. Perhaps rather than demanding that our questions set the bar for what makes scripture acceptable to us, one has to ask if rather we should be taking scripture on its own terms, asking what questions it asks, what answers it gives, what body of truths it takes as given and significant, what does it seem less interested in addressing, and so on. In being a scriptural people, we should be not be seeing scripture as an answer-book to a set of questions we have already thought up apart from scripture. One needs to also uphold what it is that scripture says, and this requires the difficult task of letting it speak for itself. Yes, in our so-called postmodern age it is a truism that interpretation goes all the way down and that we cannot separate ourselves from our readings of texts, but it would be disingenuous to adopt this truism with a lack of self-critical awareness. Otherwise, we would make scripture voiceless and vulnerable to any dominant ideological reading that takes popular influence, because, hey, it's all perspective anyway. Too often this form of reasoning occurs, and often deriving out of hidden motives that aim to preserve balance where no one can be challenged by the fact that they may be living in error. It is the assumption that scripture has a meaning independent of our individual interpretation that allows us to correct the interpretations we deem misguided. It is one thing to acknowledge we bring a perspective to the text or that the meaning of a text is to some extent constructed by a community, it is wholly another thing to say the text of scripture lacks parameters of meaning or that it has no inherent meaning apart from the person who constructs such a reading. 

       That being said, the issue for the Affirmations is not what view one has on a matter such as inspiration. On such matters there is charity and flexibility towards a multiplicity of views, even if one has views that are considered to be unorthodox and erroneous.¹¹ What is central is that scripture is authoritative in that the Spirit speaks through the text. There is, however, a touch of irony here. The ECC derives its view from Spener, who did have a developed view of inspiration, one that excluded others, but his view is arguably one that promotes a more universal and generous community, even if there are people in that community who hold to views of scripture that disagree with the ECC. Such a view of scripture advocates a bold and singular truth concerning scripture's authority, but it is a generous one that upholds a unity amidst diversity. 

In stressing the Spirit’s role as the true interpreter of scripture, Spener’s claim of scripture as the word of God is qualified. It was God’s word, but until scripture was used it was a dead letter. The Holy Spirit is distinct from the scripture to illuminate and interpret it to the person, and that is how we receive scripture’s salvific message.¹²  What is needed in conjunction with this is an understanding of the agency of the Holy Spirit and how that relates to scripture as a text with a written message.

Word and Spirit exist as a unity in their authority. The Affirmations state, “the Covenant Church believes that the effective power of the scriptural word is inseparably associated with the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit never works independently of the Word, and the Word is made effective through the Holy Spirit.”¹³ The Affirmations continue their elaboration:

It was by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that the written word came into being (2 Timothy 3:16). Through the Spirit the word of God does not return empty but accomplishes that for which it was sent (Isaiah 55:11). It is through the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit that the sinner who responds to the word is assured of being a child of God (Romans 8:16-17). 

It is essential, then, to the life of the Church that it be a company of people who desire their lives to be shaped by the powerful and living word of God. The alternative is clear. Not to be shaped by the word is to be shaped by the world. 

On every side attractive and persuasive voices urge us toward conformity to the spirit of this age. There is no escaping from these pervasive influences. Only the church that hears and responds to the word will be able to be a prophetic voice in this wilderness and bring healing to a confused and troubled world.¹⁴

       Spirit and Word relate to each other across the span of historical time where the Spirit is involved in creating the written word. Additionally, Word and Spirit relate to each other in the person's encounter  with the message of scripture through which the Spirit takes up the written word in order that it may speak to the person regarding the message of salvation. In doing this scripture "returns" in full in the transformation of the person in the new birth. Scripture becomes scriptures when it speaks, awakens, and illuminates the hearer. This is because scripture proper is living scripture. 

        For this reason, then, the church is a people who open themselves to hear scripture so that they may be changed by it. Refusing to do so opens a void, one in which the competing voices of the day will seize and form. We all know we are formed by the people around us, one way or another. Whether it be religion, a philosophy, a sensibility, or more concretely the workings the social bodies we participate in, whether that be the working  market and its many manifestations, the shifting dynamics of our "identity," our friends and family, or even the music we listen to. The question is will we have the desire and courage to ask ourselves who are we formed by and who will we be formed by. Who is our Lord? Where will we find them? The community of faith is clear on this matter: in the life of the gathered people who proclaim and worship Jesus as Lord and saviour, the people we call the church, the assembly (ekklesia). These people gather to hear the written word and also desire to be changed by it, and in being changed by it they see the world as the world in the fullest sense of how God intended it. 

        After saying all of this, there are still matters of concern, questions which should be reflected upon although more fully than I am allowed here. For example, how does one reconcile the fact that the ECC seems to state that scripture isn't fully scripture until it has been taken up by the Spirit? Does the Bible's authority, then, not exist in the mere words on the page of the text? Can the scripture serve as a measuring stick of the Spirit? This does not seem the case, simply because the Spirit produced the scripture, not the other way around. Doing so risks an idolatrous form of biblicism that can easily degenerate into the mechanistic dead letter that Spener rejected. On a more sympathetic level, there is some comfort in the mechanistic view of scripture in that it removes all fuzziness in exchange for simple certainty: "The Bible says it. The Bible is God's (dictated)Word. I believe it and that's that." 

If the ECC leans towards a pneumatological basis of their understanding of scripture, this raises another question: Does the work and revelation of the Spirit exceed that of the text of scripture? Or is there a continuity between the two in such a way that scripture can serve as a measuring stick, because it is of the Spirit, therefore, what it says is true of the Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit faithful, reliable, and consistent in its message, or does it move wherever it pleases? In short, a more thorough understanding of the relation of Word and Spirit/Spirit and Word is needed. As an Affirmation, it suffices to summarize Covenant identity, but it does raise many questions that it does not answer. Thankfully, there is another affirmation that discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian.

Conclusion

       I have spoken in ideals. I have not asked the tougher, muddier questions. What about those who feel conflicted about the word? What about those who still cannot commit? Or what about those who desire and want to be transformed but consistently fail in their attempts to embody faith? These are important questions, but I have only been interested to unpack the meaning of Scripture and how it relates to the ECC. There are still other theological pesterings that leave one unsatisfied to remain where I have ended. I could also raise other questions. Why word and Spirit? How does this relate to the Word of God, that John's gospel points to, the Word made flesh? How does the Spirit's working relate to scripture as canon, as a measuring stick. There is a strong emphasis on scripture living quality in the way it speaks to the individual, but how does this escape subjectivism?

     
      There are still more questions that can be asked about the ECC's position in the Covenant Affirmations. I have simply sought to provide an introductory exposition and engagement with these views. These tough questions should not scare us, for as one Covenant writer wrote, "A Christian is a wrestler with eternity."

Endnotes

1. Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 8. ^↩
2.  Ibid., 8. ^↩
3.  This is the second proposal Spener suggests to the church in his Pia Desideria. All the proposals are mutually intertwined because they all ultimately culminate in the pursuit of a reformed church. ^↩
4.  Philipp Jakob Spener, “From the Pia Desideria (1675),” in Pietists: Selected Writings, ed. Peter C. Erb (New York and Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1983), 34. ↩
5. Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 8. ↩
6. Cited in Dale W. Brown, Understanding Pietism, Revised Edition (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House, 1996), 47.  ↩
7. K. James Stein, Philipp Jakob Spener: Pietist Patriarch (Chicago, IL: Covenant Press, 1986), 151. ↩
8. Ibid., 152. ↩
9. Similarly, St. Augustine was known to have the style of the Bible to be, in Bruce L. Shelley’s words, “crude and barbarous.” (Bruce L. Shelley, Church History in Plain Language, 2nd Edition [Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1995), 125. ↩
10. Stein, Philipp Jakob Spener, 151. ↩
11. Spener had much to say about what to do about those who promote false doctrines and how to treat them in a Christ like manner. Spener asks that Christians pray for these people, be a Christ-like example, instruct them if we feel competent to do so, love them, and dispute in moderation (Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria, trans. Theodore G. Tappert [Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1964], 97-102. ↩
12. Stein, Philipp Jakob Spener, 152. ↩
13.  Covenant Affirmations Booklet, 8.  ^↩
14. Ibid., 8-9. ↩