What are the origins of the popular Christian paradigms of today? Where did they come from? Are the practices sound or not?

To understand the populist practices of Christianity today, one must understand history. Dudley Hall said this about the importance of history and, specifically, the Christian metanarrative:

It is vital that we know where we live in the timeline of history. We are not yet in the culmination phase of history, but we are not in the preparation phase either. We live after the battle has been won, and we are privileged to enforce it on earth, waiting for the full revelation of the sons of God and the final restoration of all things.^[i]

Christians should live as people on assignment from God to play a role in his metanarrative of history. Therefore, they should recognize that they exist for a purpose and align their divinely ordained assignments with the will, ways, timing, and glory of God. Disciples of Jesus must think Christianly so they can live Christianly.

To visualize how to do this, consider the following imagery describing the default condition of every human at birth. Assume that you are in a rowboat in an ocean. You don’t know your location. The sky is overcast concealing the sun, moon, and stars. You have no navigational aids—no map, compass, or GPS. There is no land in sight and no indicators as to how to make land. You must find land to survive, but you have no idea which way to row. What do you do? You must discern your location; you need a map and a compass (or GPS). Without the information from these tools, you are lost. This illustrates the condition of mankind at birth—lost and unable to navigate life without help.

We live in a created universe. Therefore, to know how to live in his universe, we must begin with the Creator.^[ii] How does he define who we are, where we are, why we are here, and how to survive in his material universe? To answer these questions requires divine revelation of the will and ways of the Creator. This revelation is given to mankind in two basic forms: general revelation (truth found in creation) and special revelation (truth found in the Bible). Everyone needs this revelation about God who is the Creator of the material universe. This knowledge provides human identity, wisdom, and purpose to live wisely in his universe.

Everyone experiences the benefit of common grace, which is the ability to know some rudimentary truth about God and his creation in order to survive. But only true Christians with the help of the Holy Spirit fully embrace the Scripture as a tool of special grace to enable us to live beyond survival in God’s universe.

Humans who do not embrace Scripture as divine revelation have no reference point for making wise choices. They are humanists who presumptuously assume the role of God. As such they self-define truth and live as they wish. Consequently, they deny God as the Creator and his Scripture as his revelation to humanity and live in rebellion against the will and ways of the Creator. This will not go well.

On the other hand, by the sovereign grace of God, Christians are granted special grace to live humbly, submitted, and teachable before God. They embrace both general and special revelation. They understand that the only sound reference point (aka, arche’) is Scripture as historically understood by the true Christian church (ekklesia). They build on the axioms that the God of the Bible is the Creator (Genesis 1:1) and has given mankind special revelation to guide us (2 Timothy 3:16–17).

Scripture is the best guide for how to live well in God’s universe. Some organize the revelation of Scripture into four segments:

creation (Genesis 1–2),
the fall of man (Genesis 3),
redemption (Genesis 4–Revelation 20), and
recreation (Revelation 21–22).

The fall of man is the beginning of the metanarrative of redemption. At the fall, the rule of the sovereign Creator was contested. The metanarrative of redemption is first the restoration of the uncontested rule of God and second, at God’s sovereign pleasure, the redemption of God’s people.

Most of the Bible covers the metanarrative. About 73 percent of the Bible is the Old Testament and 27 percent is the New Testament. Why does Scripture devote so much time to the Old Testament? To teach mankind the depth of human depravity that resulted from the fall of man. A major lesson from the Old Testament is the total inability of mankind to remedy his fallen condition. The judgment on fallen mankind is spiritual, temporal, and eternal death. Furthermore, mankind cannot remedy or self-save from this judgment. This is the bad news; therefore, mankind needs a Savior.

The New Testament is a story of the good news of Jesus as Lord and Savior. As Savior, he is the one who can remedy the fallen condition of mankind and grant salvation from the judgment of death. But Jesus is not just Savior, he also Lord. He accomplished his redemptive work during his first incarnation and is presently seated at the right hand of the heavenly Father, waiting for the restoration of his uncontested rule. He is Lord, but human rebellion against his rule will continue until the final judgment (Revelation 20).

Currently God is setting the stage for the restoration of Jesus’ uncontested rule. Simultaneously Jesus is building a people for himself [his church (ekklesia)].

Building the church is an arduous task because through this process God is continuing to redeem fallen mankind. Under the Old Covenant, an external law was given to mankind, but mankind lacked the internal potency to obey the law. In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit regenerates and indwells mankind. Regeneration is an expression of divine grace. People are regenerated at God’s sovereign will and pleasure. They are transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light. They are adopted into the family of God. This is an event.

And, simultaneously, a process begins. The Holy Spirit indwells each regenerated person to provide the potency to mature in Christ. This process is called sanctification. It continues throughout each regenerated person’s life until physical death and transition into the presence of Jesus.

The sanctification process is arduous and perplexing. The history of the church is rife with testimony to the difficulties. These challenges have been manifested throughout the past two-thousand-year history of the church (ekklesia). Particularly, in the past three hundred years, the people of God (the ekklesia) have been fraught with what some call cheap grace, meaning that the full richness of the biblical revelation of the redemptive work of Jesus has been compromised.

In her book Total Truth, Nancy Pearcey noted four major errors in the first and second Great Awakenings that continue to haunt Christianity today.^[iii] These can be summarized as follows:

Emotional experience as the mark of conversion and a truncated gospel focused on salvation.
Disdain for education and accountability by both leaders and followers.
Human autonomy (independent choices instead of interdependent lifestyles).
Celebrity leaders seeking self-glory instead of humble shepherds facilitating discipleship.

These errors have led to some toxic practices and beliefs that are common today. Consider, for example, the following four examples:

1. Dualism: The lordship of Jesus is limited to spiritual matters.

Salvation is simply a ticket to heaven with little benefit before physical death.
Success is money, living the good life, making memories, and executing a bucket list.
Converts are viewed as disciples.

2. Authority of Scripture is minimized.

Humanism is an acceptable philosophy of life for Christians.
New Testament truth is bifurcated from the Old Testament, which is denigrated.

3. Christian gatherings focus on evangelism and experiences.

The church (ekklesia) never meets as a church; all meetings are evangelistic.
Worship is viewed as an event (like a rock concert) not a lifestyle of faithfully following Christ.

4. The focus on evangelism denigrates discipleship and Christian education.

Discipleship is marginalized and minimized.
Christian education based on Scripture is not a major focus.

These distorted practices of today largely arose during and after the Great Awakening. Notwithstanding the flawed thinking and consequent practices from the past, there have been (and continue to be) numerous godly people who offer more robust truth to guide Christian practices. Consider, for example, the following:

Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer (1801–1876) maintained the primacy of the lordship of Jesus over all.
Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920) (van Prinsterer’s spiritual son) applied the lordship of Christ and developed the spheres of sovereignty authorizing humans to rule as his agents.
Cornelius Van Til (1895–1987) recognized the supreme authority of Scripture over all aspects of life and developed an approach to apologetics predicated on the revelation of the triune God of the Bible.
R. J. Rushdoony (1916–2001) (Van Til’s spiritual son) developed holistic kingdom (aka, dominion) living established on the lordship of Jesus as revealed in both the Old and New Testament.
Dennis Peacocke (1943–) teaches a holistic kingdom gospel and worldview that should be normative for Christian living.

These are some of the sound Christian leaders of the past two hundred years who have made positive contributions to gain a more profound understanding of Christianity.

If we want to join them and make a positive contribution to the future practices of Christianity, we must seek to understand the errors in the current practices and correct them with practices that reflect more clarity of the truth.

Jesus is Lord and Christ; he is the sovereign Creator and sustainer of the universe. The full implications of this truth must be biblically examined^[iv] and holistically applied.^[v] In whatever ways truth has been impaired, Christians must be courageous enough to face the distortions and facilitate correction. This is the way to bless those who follow us because the past shapes the present.