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The Auburn Affirmation 12: Lessons We Must Learn

By Dr. Paul M. Elliott
Opposing theological liberalism is an all-or-nothing proposition.

From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Part twelve (final) of a series. Read part eleven.

Opposing theological liberalism is an all-or-nothing proposition.

We conclude our series on the one hundredth anniversary of the Auburn Affirmation with this question: What lessons must Bible-believing Christians learn from the publication and broad acceptance of this infamous document, and failure of many professing Bible-believers to oppose it? Scripture and the subsequent history of the church point us to five main lessons that apply to the church in our own time and to all future generations.

1. Present Apostasy Always Has Roots in the Past

As we have seen in this series, the Auburn Affirmation of 1924 was the culmination of departures from the fundamentals of Biblical Christianity in American churches dating as far back as the late 1700s and early 1800s. Likewise, as we examine Scripture we find that Jehovah sent Israel and Judah into captivity in Assyria and Babylon because of spiritual adultery that dated all the way back to their captivity in Egypt many centuries earlier. In Ezekiel chapter 23 God through the prophet spoke against the two harlot sisters, as He called them:

She [the northern kingdom of Israel] has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt, for in her youth they had lain with her, pressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their immorality upon her. Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.

Yet she [the southern kingdom of Judah] multiplied her harlotry in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, when she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. (Ezekiel 23:8-9 & 19)

In the book of Revelation we find Christ's letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor, which contain several allusions to historical apostasies that the contemporary churches of that day had made their own. To Pergamos Jesus said,

...you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. (Revelation 2:14-18)

To the church in Thyatira, Jesus said,

you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.(Revelation 2:20-22)

In this connection we must also remember that Satan's war against the authority of the Word of God began at Eden (Genesis chapter 3). His continuing war against the Word extended to Christ's temptation in the wilderness. Satan sought to twist Scripture in tempting Jesus, but Jesus continually answered in rebuttal, "It is written..." The Second Adam remained perfect at this crucial point of temptation in which the first Adam had failed. So it must be with us today.

2. "A Little Leaven Leavens the Whole Lump"

Matthew, Mark and Luke in their Gospel accounts each record Jesus' warning to His disciples, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy" (Luke 12:1). By "leaven" he meant their false teachings. To the Pharisees Jesus said directly,

Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men." For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men... (Mark 7:6-8)

The Apostle Paul rebuked the spiritual compromises of both the Corinthian and Galatian churches by citing the same spiritual principle: "a little leaven leavens the whole lump" (1 Corinthians 5:6, Galatians 5:9). The Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul also compared false teachings to cancer:

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. (2 Timothy 2:15-17).

In writing about the deadly effects of the Auburn Affirmation eighty years after it was written, I spoke of this:

Members of the medical profession will tell anyone willing to listen that cancer is a silent enemy. It begins undetected and unrecognized. Physicians have learned that much of their success in treating cancer depends on early diagnosis. Otherwise, treatment is usually a losing battle.

Doctors say that cancer's three great allies are ignorance of the nature of the disease, complacency when warning signs are present, and denial when it is clear that something is wrong. Often, people are simply not willing to listen. As one Canadian health care report put it, "We need hard-hitting information to break through ignorance, complacency, and denial."

Like cancer in the human body, liberalism in the body of the church begins undetected and unrecognized. By the time Christians who are still true to the Word of God recognize the cancer of liberalism and are stirred to action, often it is too late to stop its deadly progress. The damage has been done, and a spiritual crisis is upon the church. [1]

3. Be Constantly Vigilant

Because of the insidious nature of apostasy, Bible-believers must be continually on their guard against error. The need of the hour is for watchful people, and for jealous shepherds.

All Christians must be watchful people. It is the duty not only of the elders but of all the flock to be watchful. In Acts chapter 20, the Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders:

For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.

"Therefore watch." The word "watch" in the original is the word from which we derive our English name Gregory. We can remind ourselves of our calling in this verse by saying, "I must be a Gregory." We need to be on the lookout constantly for counterfeits. People who work in banks need to be on the lookout for counterfeit money. How do they spot counterfeit money? They do so by knowing the real thing. They study real currency. They get to know it intimately, so that they can spot a counterfeit even if it looks and feels very much like the real thing.

How do we spot counterfeits in the church? By knowing the real thing. By immersing ourselves in the truth of the Word of God. That is how we discern falsehood.

Much of today's post-evangelical church is on a spiritual starvation diet. A church in this condition cannot tell the real from the counterfeit. The church needs to become immersed in the Word once again. Everyone - not just the man in the pulpit. Only those who are solidly grounded in the Word can be truly watchful people. Like the Bereans of the book of Acts, the people of God must be a people who go home and compare whatever they hear from the mouth of a Christian teacher with what the Word of God itself says. No true Christian teacher should resent that. No true Christian teacher should resent honest questions when what he is saying does not seem to match up with the Bible.

And, we need jealous shepherds. The Apostle Paul spoke of being jealous of the Corinthian church with a godly jealousy (2 Corinthians 11:12). And we read in Exodus that God's name is Jealous (Exodus 34:14). Thou shalt have no other gods before Me (Exodus 20:3). No other Jesus - no other gospel - no other spirit (2 Corinthians 11:4).

The crying need of the church today is also for pastors and elders who still hold to the truths of the Word of God to be jealous shepherds. They must be jealous with a godly jealousy to protect and nurture the flock of God. The Apostle Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:1-4 that this is the only acceptable position of a legitimate under-shepherd of Christ. Christ's under-shepherds need to be jealous men - jealous not for their own interests, or what they delude themselves into thinking are God's interests, but jealous for God's genuine interests - His holiness and truth, guarding His Gospel, protecting His people, pointing the lost to that which will truly save them.

May God enlighten those who are being deceived by the serpent in the church today. And may those who have been given light act on that light. To whom much is given, much shall be required. We are without excuse.

4. Make No Compromise With Unbelief

We must unashamedly and courageously take to heart the words of the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul to the compromising Corinthian church:

O Corinthians! We have spoken openly to you, our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted by your own affections [more literally, your fleshly emotions]. Now in return for the same (I speak as to children), you also be open. Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people."

Therefore, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 6:11-7:1)

Let us apply these words to the church today: If you say that you believe the system of doctrine that is taught in the Bible, and yet you say that we do not really need to deal with false teachers in the way the Bible says we must, then you really do not believe the system of doctrine that is taught in the Bible. It is an all-or-nothing proposition. You cannot just have the pieces you like, and discard the rest. That is a liberal notion, the mentality of higher criticism. Anyone who embraces that way of thinking but still calls himself a Bible-believing Christian has been deceived and is living in hypocrisy. The Lord will not bless the one who takes such a position.

5. Take Immediate & Decisive Action Against Error

Because of the cancerous nature of apostasy, the Lord commands His people to deal with it immediately and decisively:

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. (Ephesians 5:8-12)

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly... (Psalm 1:1)

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (1 John 4:1)

To the Law and to the Testimony! If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them. (Isaiah 8:20)

References:

1. Paul M. Elliott, Christianity and Neo-Liberalism: The Spiritual Crisis in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Beyond (Unicoi, TN: The Trinity Foundation, 2005), page 11.

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