I am responding to an article in the June 07 Banner of Truth magazine. It was written by Solano Portela and is entitled “A Sin That Threatens Calvinists-Spiritual Pride.” In reality, while I am responding to his article, I am also responding to Reformed theology as set out and practiced today and Evangelicalism as a whole.
In the above listed article the author stated that the following attitude is pride and is something like “Reformed Gnosticism.” This attitude is: “We, Reformed Christians, are illuminated; we are the only ones to understand divine truths which are hidden from the majority of common Christians, unless they receive the logical and unquestionably correct explanation which can only come from our side.” Again we see some assumptions that are tucked away rather neatly in this statement. One assumption is that there are Reformed Christians and then the common Christians. The real issue is again the Gospel and it demands that all are saved by grace and nothing else. It also teaches us that anything we have received is from God and not obtained by ourselves. A second assumption is that it is pride to believe that you have the truth. A third assumption is that Reformed people think that illumination comes from themselves. In fact, it is the Holy Spirit alone that illuminates the text and the mind of the person. If the Holy Spirit gives light and not another person, it is not pride to rest and glory in that truth if all the honor is given to the Spirit.
Let us again plunge into the real issue. What is the content and work of the Gospel? We can go back to Luther and the content of the Gospel that he taught allows for no one but those who are Reformed to be converted. But we must also notice that it is not holding to Reformed theology that saves. In fact, there are more versions of what it means to be Reformed than one can count today. This is again a matter of great confusion in the Christian realm. While there are many that are Reformed in name, that does not mean that they believe in the Gospel that was recovered in the time of the Reformation. It could be that what we have is people under the Reformed banner that are not converted demonstrating pride to those under a different name but are also unconverted. Simply holding to a title and a form of theology does not convert a person. Believing in the doctrine of election does not convert a person and is not a reliable foundation for a person to find assurance for salvation . Believing in some form of total depravity does not convert a person and is also not a reliable foundation for a person to find assurance for salvation. If a person finds assurance because of the doctrine of depravity or because of the doctrine of election, that person has basing assurance on the wrong issue.
I would like to address the assumption that it is pride to believe that you have the truth. In fact, it is pride to deny that one can know the truth. It is pride that denies the Gospel. Yes, it is true that some can have pride in what they believe, but it is not pride if one humbly holds to the truth of Scripture. The truth of Scripture does not come from “the logical and unquestionably correct explanation” that we give, but it comes into the soul by the light and illumination of the Holy Spirit. We are to use logic and explanation, but we are to give the Word of God in a logical way with the explanations from other Scriptures.
Jesus Christ Himself is the Truth and He is the only way to the Father. Unless a person knows some truth, that person cannot possibly know Christ and the Father through Him (John 14:6). We also know that it is Christ who promised that the Spirit would guide His people into the truth. It is very possible that a person that is obstinate like Jesus, Paul, and Luther are not proud but simply holding firmly to that which has been revealed to him or her. It is possible that that those who are like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel are not proud for standing apart from others but simply holding on to the truth that God has revealed to him or her. We must be very careful in charging others with pride when in fact it may be our own pride that is judging others as prideful. The issue is again the attitude of the person (of which we must be very careful in judging) and the truth that the person holds.
Perhaps the underlying issue in the statement quoted above is the seeming acceptance of a form of relativism. With relativism all truths are considered relative and so it is pride to think that you and your group have the truth. Christians are a group of people with the truth or they would not be Christians. It is no more prideful to believe in Christ and know that you have the truth in certain things than it is to believe that all believers are Christians and only Christians will enter into heaven. At its root Christianity is the message of the truth of the glory of God in Christ to a fallen humanity that think all things are relative to themselves. The message of the Christian is that there is an ultimate reality that the glory of God shines in this universe and that we suppress that glory. It is Christ alone that can come into the human heart and change it so that the glory of God shines through it. That is not pride in any sense, but is instead humility and reality.
God Loves... Himself 
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