“There is no holiness but social holiness.”—John Wesley
“…what commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “the foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is One Lord; And you shall love the lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”—Jesus of Nazareth
Recently, I have had numerous conversations with some Wesleyan pastors and students who have voiced some concern over holiness issues and the negative impact popular evangelicalism has had on our denomination (The Wesleyan Church) and local congregations. What is being defined as popular evangelicalism is personal holiness. Reflected in our preaching, conversations, budgets and programs; the message seems to be that personal holiness is what really counts. All the things we hold dear - personal righteousness entire sanctification, tithing, worship, discipleship, and ministry programs tend to stem from the mindset of ‘personal holiness’.
The concern that some folks have for popular evangelicalism is the under emphasis of a more holistic idea of holiness. Holiness should not only bring about personal piety, but also cause the body to counter social injustices, influence political powers to effect change, conserve the resources of God’s creation, and so forth.
I would like to open up this conversation to you, so what do you think?
1. What does an overemphasis of personal holiness say about our theology?
2. What is your definition of personal holiness? What about social holiness?
3. Is the issue of personal holiness and social holiness a both/and OR either/or issue?
4. Is the Wesleyan Church doing a good job in educating and promoting social holiness?
5. What other thoughts do you have on Social Holiness (social justice, social action, etc.) and/or Personal Holiness?
13 comments:
Jeremy, hey I'm glad to see you have a blog. Hope you are well. It's been awhile since we were hangin in Hodson.
I'm think in general Evangelicism has overemphasized the idea of "personal" holiness. In fact, we see an overemphasis on "personal" in all things. We here statements like "my faith" and "my personal relationship with Christ." Yet the overall picture in scripture has little to do with the personal. Yes, persons do make up the whole, but what we see throughout scripture is God saying, "I will be your God and you will be my people." We see the idea of God establishing his Kingdom on earth and culmanating with the great City of God! This city is made up of all the nations and in is ushered in by Christ. This seems like the overall flow of the amazing story that we find ourselves in.
I'm not sure what is meant by "personal holiness" in Wesleyan tradition so forgive me if I'm missing the point here of your post. Holiness is also never truly personal even as individuals. It is always attain only in Christ and by HIS work. Also, holiness always results in action. God gives us the awesome priviledge of serving him in this world by bindiing up the brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty for the captives, and buiding up the ancient ruins. God's people, his church, are involved in the establishment of his kingdom.
Lately, I have been studying the Law and I like what has been said about the Law, the Law sends us to Jesus to be justified and Christ sends us back to the law to be sanctified. Christ commands us to love our neighbor and yet we see how we utterly fail in this. So his commands drive us to Jesus who was perfectly obedient to the law to be justified. He fulfilled the law on our behalf and in him we are justified, made holy. The result is action in his calling for us to restore the world by his spirit and power in us, his church. As his people we are actively called into the story of restoration.
1. We are more Western than Biblical
2. a. Christlikeness. b. Christlikenes.
3. Both/And
4. No
5. It is returning—now to do so without losing personal (and corporate holiness.
Shouldn't the results of our personal holiness become evident in society (fruit)? Maybe we need to emphasis more of the tranformation (not a quick change) that takes place in our lives that puts God and others first. Then it is not about "I" but about Him.
Mark:
It is good to hear from you. Remember those days in Carmin Hall when for ‘staff’ meetings we would just hang out in your apartment…those were good days!
Thanks for your thoughts on this issue of Social Holiness. As for the Wesleyan tradition of personal holiness, I currently believe we do not have a good understanding of holiness…both personal and social (which I believe is the result of inheriting fundamentalism and mainstream theology—which we have welcomed into our churches and faith communities).
-J-
Coach:
Great points, especially in regards to questions 4 and 5…I would love to discuss these issues with you (maybe when we meet in April).
In addition, I too believe that Social Holiness is returning and becoming more of a part of our conversations and table talk. Furthermore, one cannot obtain social holiness when losing personal holiness and corporate holiness. If so, than social holiness merely becomes social action. I believe we must bring forth an emphasis of a holistic holiness, one that encompasses a ‘life’ that is Kingdom driven, and not ego driven. With the influence of fundamentalism and mainstream evangelism in our institutions, pulpits, congregations, and communities, we must swing the pendulum back (which will happen through various forms and functions), and doing so without ‘losing’ the other aspects of holiness (personal and corporate). How this looks and influences our personal lives, local congregations, and denomination, especially with the rise of social holiness will be interesting to follow.
Looking forward to chatting with you in the coming weeks!
-J-
Jer - I will never forget Dr. Whiteman at Asbury Seminary lectured one day in our Cultural Anthropology class. He stated that we are more "American than we are Christian." That statement still haunts me. But I must agree with him. And in this case regarding holiness, it is negative. What am I saying? I mean that I believe we are influenced more by the contemporary, individualistic, American mindset than the Bible's mindset for us. Thus, I agree that personal holiness is pop right now, especially standing up against social holiness. For example, I know very few pastors who even want to mention anything political from the pulpit. However, we are the only denomination begun purely out of a social issue, slavery. I think personal holiness is the agenda of the day because it is Biblical...yes...but it is also safe. I am sure glad Jesus wasn't safe. And he was even social with his holiness. He sought to change the ills of the day by bringing freedom to captives. All said, I think there is a danger in merely adhereing to personal holiness and leaving out the social aspect. For if God moves and works in one's life personally, that will give evidence socially as well.
1. That we are a society that views ourself not in terms of what group (singular) do we belong to but what groups (plural) do we belong to and how that uniquely makes up me and you may be similar but certainly not identical. For that reason we have a theological look that is "tailor" made to impact the individual and not groups.
2. Personal holiness: Doing precisely what you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you (through prayer, Scripture, counsel, meditation) to do or not to do.
Social holiness: Being part of a group that can respond to those promptings and act cohesively on issues the come to agreement on.
3. both/and
4. I think the church assumes that personal holiness: a. looks the same for everyone b. therefore has a slightly distorted view of what social holiness means.
5. The theology of liberation or "Social Justice" is a huge misnomer. "Social mercy" yes, "justice", no. Justice indicates what we deserve, mercy indicates how we should treat others.
A BIG amen from California! This is what I like to read about on blog sites! Is there such a thing as personal piety at all? The phrase implies piety without others. But doesn't it take serving others and loving others to achieve holiness? I love Jesus' response to the lawyer when he asks Jesus how to obtain eternal life. Jesus goes into the parable of the Good Samaritan and then says, "Go and do likewise." So Jesus' answer has more to do with loving and caring others than the personal piety of the priests that kept their distance as they crossed the other side of the road. This maybe extreme to some, but what good is personal piety if you aren't loving your neighbor? Or the man beaten and stripped on the side of the road?
Great topic Jeremy. This is something more of us need to ponder.
Oh my word..this is soo refreashing!! I am loving the conversation here.I sure hope when I click the blog title you all are still talking,because this site came up in my google search. I love what Brian B. said.Awesome!
I cant wait to come back and read more :)
Grace to you all
Isaiah 58
Nicole
good post!!!
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