I've mentioned this in passing before but I think it's a
point worth revisiting. When I hear Confessionalists discussing New Calvinism
they are often uneasy with regard to several points and rightly so.
I'm not a Confessionalist either (though I certainly used to
be) and I don't share all their views or concerns but there is a marked
difference between Reformed Confessionalism and the New Calvinism.
The doctrine of the Sabbath has suffered serious decline even
in Confessional circles. I remember Free Church Presbyterians I worshipped with
back in the 1990's also expressed concern in this regard. The Scottish youth
were abandoning the Sabbath. But some Confessionalists are overtly alarmed when
it comes to New Calvinism. The doctrine of the Sabbath has all but disappeared.
I think it's not too hard to understand why.
During the years I attended OPC and PCA congregations I
remember the Sabbath was often emphasised but there was a lot of confusion and
inconsistency when it came to application. During those early years I was
actually a hard-line Westminster Sabbatarian... Isaiah 58.13 dominated my
practice... not doing thine own ways, nor
finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.
For me the Sabbath was literally a holy day. Though rather
emotionally attached to it at one point, I later came to abandon the position.
An understanding of Redemptive-History and even the influence of John Calvin led
me to understand that the Sabbath did not abide and the day was not changed to
Sunday. In fact I came to a different understanding of the Decalogue, its
context and place in New Covenant life.
That said I have always appreciated being around
Sabbatarians. If these folks want to take a day and just talk about the things
of the Lord, that's great. I'd rather talk about Zion than work, finances,
politics or any of the other things that so dominate daily conversation. I no
longer think of Sunday as being a special day, nor is it the Sabbath but I
still appreciate the practical aspects of the position even if they're
misguided. I don't keep a Sunday Sabbath. The day is just like any other day to
me. I don't work but that's simply because it's the day the Church meets.
But what's interesting in this whole debate is that in our
age of hostility toward the Sacred-Secular divide, a divide I believe to be
absolutely Biblical, the Confessionalists still retain a modicum of this
doctrine.
There's a concept that still has meaning, a concept that
Dominionistic New Calvinism has rejected and abandoned. That concept is that of
the mundane.
If you're a Sabbatarian you still must retain some sense that
daily life and work are different and distinct from the time set aside for
focusing on eternal matters, for worship, for the Church to gather.
They may not make the distinction as I do... or what they
perceive to be a radical distinction, but they still make the distinction.
They may speak of vocation, dominion and deny the
sacred-secular distinction but the fact that they believe there's a time in
which your daily concerns and labours
are to be set aside indicates that they still retain some notion that your
daily job (and yes I say job) is not of the same importance, is not as sacred
(as it were) as the meeting of the Church and the keeping of the Sabbath Day.
Dominionism actually militates against this. Career and
vocation are just as essential and critical to the Kingdom as is the Sunday
meeting or Church work. Building the stock portfolio is as important as
evangelism. Putting in some overtime is an act of worship equal to Bible study.
The new Dominionism is hostile to the Sabbath because the Sabbath demands an
acknowledgment of the mundane.
You're not likely to hear New Calvinists out and out denying
the Sabbath. After all their understanding of the Decalogue won't allow for
this. So they pay lip service to the concept but clearly have no problem with
people working on Sunday. It's just as Kingdom related as the meeting of the
Church. Excelling at your job is just as sacramental as partaking of the bread
and cup.
Again I appeal to the celebration by The Gospel Coalition and
the Evangelical Times of someone like Frank Reich. An NFL career is clearly not
compatible with Reformed Sabbatarianism. It used to be incompatible with
conservative Protestantism as all Protestants set aside Sunday as a special
day.
But New Calvinism's Evangelical ethos rolls with the culture.
Worldliness is their badge of honour and so even on Sunday I notice all the
people missing and who infrequently attend our congregation. Are they sleeping
in? I've come to discover that most of them are working. That used to be an
unacceptable compromise to conservative Christians. There were always
exceptions, nurses and the like but generally speaking you refused jobs that
would require you to work on Sunday. I realise that it's much harder today. Of
course it is but is that an excuse?
I know they want to be good financial stewards as all their
teachers have taught them. And making money is so important, right? It's a
major New Testament theme it would seem. Besides the more you make the more you
can give to the Church and all the wonderful and worthwhile things that modern
Evangelicalism spends its money on.
They would do well to consider Samuel's words... to obey is
better than to sacrifice.
Once again New Calvinism seeks to take Dominion but does so
by selling out. I'm not a Sabbatarian anymore but I respect the position. If
the Confessionalists in battling for the Sabbath recover the concept of the
mundane, I will celebrate. The Monistic view of the Kingdom doesn't transform
the world, it just leads to the world transforming the Church. New Calvinism
has opened the floodgates and risks destroying not only the testimony of
Confessionalism (as many embrace the change) but is in the process of wiping
out what was left of the Old Fundamentalism. The Evangelical movement dealt
Fundamentalism a mortal wound but New Calvinism seems set to finish off what's
left.
New Calvinism is little more than compromise. I think it can
be said that it's not really Calvinism at all. It's certainly not Reformed. If
anything it's just Evangelicalism wearing a Calvin
with sunglasses t-shirt.