Posted by
ValiantForTruth on Sunday, May 11, 2008 8:59:17 PM
‘If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed’ [John 8:36]
An unbalanced emphasize on grace has led men to neglect certain of the law’s various functions. In its accusing and convicting function, the law is a schoolmaster to lead men to Christ. The absence of this dimension in the preaching of today has resulted in a truncated Gospel, rushed conversion work and a shallow religious experience. The law prepares the way for the Gospel and ‘a man can never preach the Gospel that makes not way for the Gospel’.
Grievous and alarming is the present day deterioration on the moral condition of society. For this decay the Church is partly blameworthy because, as the preserving salt of the community, she has largely lost her savour. Modern theology has defected. It has cut itself adrift from the ancient landmarks, and present day society reaps ‘the evil thing and bitter’ which is the inevitable consequence. The present prevailing theology has not been able to elevate society and halt its moral decline, and unquestionably, one explanation of this is its misunderstanding of the place of the law and its usefulness in the service of the covenant of grace. The Church needs to know again the truth of Bolton’s statement: ‘The law sends us to the Gospel for our justification; the Gospel sends us to the law to frame our way of life.’ -
Samuel Bolton 1645