God’s Word for You

1 Corinthians 4:20-21 The danger of pietism

by Pastor Timothy Smith on Thursday, December 29, 2022

20 For the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. 21 Which one do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?

The phrase “kingdom of God” is generally the way that God gathers his kingdom. It can refer to the future (a thing to inherit, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, 15:50), but most often it is in the present time. Jesus said, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God with? It is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until it worked all through the dough.”” (Luke 13:20-21). The yeast of the gospel is the message of the forgiveness of sins and of the resurrection of the dead. Many of the parables are about the gathering and maintaining of the kingdom through the gospel. The gospel is powerful and active. It is not an argument but a declaration: Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Mary’s son, has redeemed the world (and therefore me) by his perfect obedience and by his sacrifice on the cross in payment for our sins and the sins of all mankind. If this message had no power, there would be no Christians in the world at all today. The existence of the church is proof enough of the gospel’s power, but let anyone consider whether or not the gospel has had an effect in their own life. There, too, is proof of the power of the kingdom of God. Without it, we would all be lost and damned, terrified and beginning to smoke and smolder as the flames of hell come ever closer.

Much of Paul’s defense against his detractors suggests that they were, among other things, pietists. They thought that their righteous way of living was a purer Christianity than Paul’s insistence on teaching and doctrine. The characteristics of such pietism include these things, defined by a concerned pastor in the 1700s, when pietism once again rose up in Germany and in other places in Europe and in North America:

1, Pious-seeming indifference. The attitude that doctrine, faith, confessions of faith, pointing out error, and even religion itself are unimportant. This results inevitably in despising public worship.

2, Contempt for the means of grace. This is a disregard for the words of Scripture, and an imagining that a different truth is found in personal piety, and that there is no value in the words of Scripture for conversion and salvation.

3, The invalidation of the ministry. The false belief that teachers and called servants of God do not work anything at all internal in people, that the ministry of grace is just a dream, and that the ministry of an unholy preacher is without power or effect.

4, The mixing of righteousness by faith with an imagined righteousness through good works.

5, Millennialism. This is especially the belief that while the world yet endures, a time will come when the kingdom of the cross and the church militant will cease, and that another glorious kingdom of Jesus Christ will come and replace it.

6, Terminism. This is the belief that God removes the offer of his grace at some point (late?) in a person’s life, so that repentance is no longer possible.

7, Precisionism, the dreadful teaching that no creature (human) can be loved in moderation, and that all love for creatures is sinful, and there is sin whether a creature (wife, husband, child or pet) is loved little or much. This is always where groups begin to denounce all games, dancing, watching comedies, and jokes as sinful, and that “what one would not do if God were visibly present, that one ought never to do.”

8, Mysticism. The belief that there is a “divine spark” in all men, and that one can usually recognize the divine within himself. This comes directly from pagan teachings.

9, Abolition of the supports of religion.

10, Protecting, excusing and encouraging Enthusiasts (fanatics).

11, Perfectionism. This is the belief that a true Christian can and must be without any sins, and that a Christian can become so perfect that he does not need the forgiveness of Christ and can stand before God’s judgment with his own perfection.

And there are more. Paul was not facing a developed version of pietism like the above, yet the danger was clearly present within the church of Corinth to dismiss Paul’s teaching according to the word of God in favor of their own opinions of self-worth and authority. So Paul has to flex his muscles a little bit, not to show off but to remind the Corinthians of his call from Christ. He threatens to come “with a rod,” meaning the stick or switch of punishment. Anyone who ever got spanked with more than a hand understands what this means, and the rest might possibly imagine. What Paul is doing is pointing out “the difference between the pastor as leader and the pastor as servant, between his office and his person, between the pastor as orator and the pastor as the voice of God, between his personal rights and his public service, between a discourse on wisdom and the message of Wisdom, between personal popularity and professional respect, between Paul the man and Paul the apostle, between a congregation attached to its pastor and a congregation devoted to its Lord” (Prof. Carleton Toppe, People’s Bible: 1 Corinthians, p. 51).

Since he is asking questions that require a change of heart and a change of attitude, there is no resolution in the letter about this matter. Will they listen to him as their pastor? Must he come and correct them even more directly, or are they prepared to admit their fault and stop their sinful behavior? Or, Paul adds, will I be able to come and treat you gently and show you my love for you?

Let our love for Christ lead us to showing love for one another. Let our respect and honor for Christ lead us to show honor and respect for his called servants. Let our humble repentance when we are corrected in Christ lead us to godly living. Let the gospel of Christ bring us joy as we await his return and the day of our resurrection and reception into Paradise, not through our personal piety, but by the merits of Jesus our Lord, our risen Savior.

Blessed is God who lives forever, and blessed is his kingdom.

In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith

 

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