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 K.
C. Moser, in "Gist of Romans," p. xix, says,
"That the chief characteristics of the new covenant, as
distinguished from the old covenant, is a new set of
commandments given by another lawgiver, is an error that has
scarcely been paralleled... To represent the conditions of
salvation as arbitrary commands, and having no logical relation
to Jesus as sin offering but given to test the sinner's
willingness to obey God, is a colossal and a tragic error."
Some
brethren, newly awakened to recognize that we are saved by
grace, are making even more drastic charges against gospel
preachers whose only real error is in choice of illustrations
and words, learned, for the most part, from even less
"theologically" tuned preachers. I believe any gospel
preacher worth his salt knows that Jesus Christ is our Savior,
by virtue of His death on the cross. All such know that baptism,
etc., have meaning, only as they are related to that supreme
sacrifice.
But
"we" are not theologians. Despite "schools"
that place more and more emphasis upon degrees and classic
"theological" training, most of "our"
preachers get "preacher training" from the slogging
practice of "getting up an outline" in time for the
next service. It is done with a concordance, sermon-outline
books, or
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notes from sermons by others. Even
"college trained" men usually have only liberal arts
subjects, with limited "Bible study" courses. I
believe a preacher needs more study in basic "themes"
of redemption, church and theological history, and certainly a
better grasp of the Bible as a whole, but I am not plugging for
the kind of theology that a few "Doctors" have brought
from modernistic "divinity" schools. I still believe
"study the Bible until you are full, then let it run over
on the hearer" is a very good way to preach the good news.
"Sets
of commands," "brick wall faith," "ours not
to reason why," are ways of preaching that evolved from
pioneer circumstances. The audience was unread, brought up with
protestant, nominal "faith" in Christ, but thinking
"faith only" or some mystical "experience"
would signal their salvation. Gospel preachers were not
lecturing on theology; they were trying to reach these
unlettered folk with the necessity for action. The gospel must
be obeyed (2 Thess. 1:8), and the commands must be set forth in
a clear, direct fashion — "steps" or counted on the
fingers for emphasis. Their "error" will not be
corrected by a spirit of superiority; but by humbly teaching us
a better way.
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