Spiritism Will Not Do for Christian Worship
The “Spiritists” as Calvin referred to them, were no friends with the Holy Spirit. They displaced both Christ and Scripture, the two most necessary subjects from spirituality. A sure sign of spiritism is that of this displacement, and lack of exultation in and through the Christ of Scripture. There is nothing worth knowing outside of Christ, but all things to be known are not only best known, but only known in and through Christ, and that stands for the Scripture and the Spirit of God as well. Christ bore the Spirit of God to also bestow Him upon us and in us. Gathering this in reflection upon Ferguson’s notes on the matter leads me to embark on book III of Calvin’s Insitutes, quoting from Mcneil’s edition:
“We must now examine this question. How do we receive those benefits which the Father has bestowed on his only-begotten Son—not for Christ’s own private use, but that he might enrich poor and needy men? First, we must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us” (III 1.1).
Calvin goes on to state that indeed we receive this by faith, but “since we see that not all indiscriminately embrace that communion with Christ which is offered through the gospel, reason itself teaches us to climb higher and to examine into the secret energy of the Spirit, by which we come to enjoy Christ and all his benefits” (Ibid).
It is by the Spirit of Christ that he gets His Word into us effectually. The Spirit is the one who bears witness in our hearts of the authenticity and power of the Scripture that we may believe. I spoke on this matter this week.
The point is that the alternative to spiritism which gathers to have some external experience generated within four walls of a building by means of stirring up the music and atmosphere for God to work is bogus. True spirituality is found nowhere outside of God’s people pursing the God’s truth in Christ.
What Calvin said of Roman Catholics of his day can be applied to the spiritism of our day:
“faith consists in the knowledge of God and Christ [John 17:3], not in reverence for the church” (Book III, 2.3).
Some suppose that true faith brags of ignorance, when in fact the best teachers are always ready to learn! (cf. Book III, 3.4). Calvin gives the example of the resurrection to explain an implicit faith in those who before being fully enlightened rushed to the tomb by means of information that the women gave them which seemed to them like a dream. They “discovered the truth of Christ’s words through the very fact of his resurrection” (Book III, 2.4). There was in each of them “a true and implicit faith because they embraced Christ as their sole teacher” (Ibid). Unlike Roman Catholic’s doctrine of implicit faith that glories in ignorance, much like spiritism, true implicit faith goes on to take hold of Christ and no longer be ignorant of his Word. In fact, implicit faith which is faith shrouded in darkness is meant to take us to the tomb and see it empty and Christ risen, and when we get there, to go on rejecting our doubts and ignorance, for now we know that Christ is indeed risen, and we thus are yoked to the teaching of him who is alive.
I certainly may not be putting all of this in the most exact terms as I wish. But the point that I am learning here and passing on to you as a reader is that of how we might avoid a sort of faith that is not really faith. Faith may be at the beginning mingled with some unbelief, but it is intent upon leading us to trust in God’s Word, and to astound us, surprise us, and make us glad. The purpose for which Paul found himself living was for the joy and progress of the church’s faith. One he had accomplished that, and they relied on the Word, he certainly served less purpose for them. But there was at that time a great need for the church to progress at his teaching. He knew something of his Words being inscripturated for the generations of the church’s faith, but I trust you get the point. The best teachers are always ready to learn, and we may add, they learn with such joy that is compelling for their listeners to take hold of the source of their teaching.
If our teaching is from God it will be made clear that it is in Christ by the Spirit, not of ignorance, but of disclosure of who Christ is and what he has done and is doing. There is no such thing as faith that does not have Christ as its object, the Spirit as its power, and God’s people as its aim. Faith leads us to love Christ and each other, not to love ourselves and our experience.
We may know truly God is working in us, by first accepting that Christ has worked for us to know him. We do not have Christ as our head, where he is not united to our body. And we are not in awe of the church, but of the one who is head of it. We are given the mind of Christ not to be ignorant of the Spirit’s real work, but to know the power of Christ’s resurrection, to share in his sufferings, with hope of our own rising beyond them both in body and soul.
Superstition does not lead us to the question, “do the dead really rise?” but God-given faith. And Spirit-generated faith takes us to affirm the things that God has declared are true in his Son Jesus Christ. So, we do not gather for an experience, but an expression of belief in him who raises the dead. We gather to boos the spiritual intelligence of those who were at once in darkness but now are light in the Lord. We are not intent on people remaining without enlightenment, but on taking them to see the tomb is empty and the Lord is risen very Sunday. Thus, if the object to which a church points to is themselves and not Christ, there is something dangerously unspiritual about them. And if there is such a “spirit” to which they worship that does not exult in Jesus Christ, there is something absolutely devoid of true spirituality. We will rest on that point for now—Spiritism simply will not do for Christian worship. We need the Word of Christ effectually put in us so we abide in him and he in us. Calvinism will do, but not Spiritism. Godspeed.
