{"id":1302,"date":"2010-12-20T02:25:25","date_gmt":"2010-12-20T02:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life--part-five.html"},"modified":"2010-12-20T02:25:25","modified_gmt":"2010-12-20T02:25:25","slug":"a-normal-christian-life-part-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life-part-five.html","title":{"rendered":"A Normal Christian Life—- Part Five"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Thumbnail<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

JOHN
\nWESLEY ON A KEMPIS’ ‘IMITATION OF CHRIST’<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

            <\/span><\/span><\/b>Perhaps more
\nthan any other devotional book of its time, John Wesley pointed his Methodists
\nto a book he came to call ‘The Pattern of Christ’ by Thomas a Kempis.  <\/span>A book originally written in Latin for the
\nBrethren of the Common Life in about 1411, Wesley saw such merit in this book
\nthat he translated extracts of it into English, calling the work The Christian’s Pattern<\/i>.  <\/span>We know it today as ‘The Imitation of
\nChrist’.  <\/span>Typical of Wesley, he not
\nmerely told his audience to read the book, he told them how t<\/i>o read it as he wanted them to absorb it, and then change the
\nway they practiced their Christian lives. <\/span><\/p>\n

If we carefully read
\nthrough Wesley’s extracts from the classic by a Kempis, while we might think
\nthat this is yet just another ‘how to’ manual for our private devotions, this
\nwould in fact be a mistake.  <\/span>What Wesley
\nis trying to do, and what a Kempis was originally trying to do,  <\/span>was inculcate an attitude towards all of
\nlife, not just one’s devotional life, an attitude of humility, and in this
\nrespect it corresponds quite closely to what we find in Paul’s Christ hymn in
\nPhil. 2.5-11 in its original context.  <\/span>In
\nsome ways in fact, what we find in Wesley’s presentation of this classic is
\nvery similar to the work of Soren Kierkegaard who spoke about purity of heart
\ncoming from willing the one good thing. 
\n<\/span>Wesley is trying to deal with the root cause and motivator of all our
\nactions, sometimes called ‘purity of intention’, a cause that we have absolute
\ncontrol over, unlike the lack of control of the outcome and consequences of all
\nour actions.  <\/span>Wesley is not merely trying
\nto inculcate a certain kind of private devotional practice, though that is one
\nmanifestation of following a Kempis’ advice. <\/span><\/p>\n

            <\/span>Indeed, Wesley is not merely concerned with spiritual
\npractices, he is concerned with all
\nChristian behavior<\/i>.  <\/span>Thus for example
\nhe quotes a Kempis in the very first chapter of his extract as saying that we
\nare indeed called to imitate the praxis of Christ. The goal is to live a
\nvirtuous life not merely to be a more spiritual person, thus we hear <\/span><\/p>\n

We
\nare admonished, that we ought to imitate his [Christ’s] life and manners, if we
\nwould be truly enlightened and delivered from all blindness of heart.  <\/span>Let therefore our chief endeavour be to
\nmeditate upon the life of Jesus Christ.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

What
\nwill it avail thee to dispute sublimely of the Trinity, if thou be void of
\nhumility, and art thereby displeasing to the Trinity?  <\/span>Truly, sublime words do not make a man… a virtuous
\nlife maketh him dear to God.  <\/span>I had
\nrather feel compunction, than know the definition thereof.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

If
\nthou didst know the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers by
\nheart, what would all that profit thee without the love of God ?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

Vanity
\nof vanities! All is vanity, but to love God and serve him only.  <\/span>It is therefore vanity to seek after perishing
\nriches.  <\/span>It is also vanity to seek
\nhonours.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

It
\nis vanity to follow the desires of the flesh, and to labour for that for which
\nthou must afterwards suffer grievous punishment.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

It
\nis vanity to wish to live long, and to be careless to live well.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

It
\nis vanity to mind this present life, and not those things which are to come.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

It is vanity to set thy love on
\nthat which speedily passeth away, and not to hasten thither where everlasting
\njoys remain.<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

            <\/span>Notice that this is primarily about not striving after
\nriches and honor, and instead living humbly before one’s God.  <\/span>Wesley was perfectly happy to exhort people
\non how to spend their money, and what to strive for in life.  <\/span>Indeed, late in his ministry, the second most
\nfrequently preached sermon of all of Wesley’s sermons was ‘On the Use of Money’.[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>   <\/span>The net effect of reading a Kempis is that
\none is called to live a simple Christian life, a message John Wesley’s Puritan
\nborn parents had ingrained into him from childhood.  <\/span>The book is not just about humility and
\nprayer and private spiritual disciplines. 
\n<\/span> <\/span>It is about living out humility
\nby self-sacrificial service of others, by choosing a simple, not a
\nself-indulgent lifestyle, by walking what we talk as we follow the actual
\nbehavioral example of Christ.  <\/span>The problem with many modern readings of
\nWesley’s treatment of a Kempis, is that it is read through the lens of modern
\nindividualistic Christianity which tends to spiritualize and privatize even
\nsocial and public praxis and behaviors.<\/i>  
\n<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span>           <\/span><\/span><\/b>We must bear in mind that a Kempis’ advice was
\ngiven to a group of Christians, the Brethren of the Common Life, to practice together.<\/i>  <\/span>He did not expect individual Christians to
\nmanage this all alone, as a private devotional practice.  <\/span>Consider the example of Jesus’ first
\ndisciples.  <\/span>He called them as a group to
\nbe his disciples and come and follow the pattern of his life.  <\/span>Usually they were called in pairs, and they
\nwere always sent out in pairs to do mission. He did not expect any of them to
\nbe a singular superman or superwoman for Christ.  <\/span>They were called to be part of the fellowship
\nof followers, supporting one another, encouraging one another, lifting up one
\nanother, helping one another on the bumpy road to the Kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n
\n
\n

[1]<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a> On
\nwhich see the appendix to my Jesus and Money, <\/u>(Baker 2010), where the
\ntext of that sermon is quoted in full and discussed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOHN WESLEY ON A KEMPIS’ ‘IMITATION OF CHRIST’             Perhaps more than any other devotional book of its time, John Wesley pointed his Methodists to a book he came to call ‘The Pattern of Christ’ by Thomas a Kempis.  A book originally written in Latin for the Brethren of the Common Life in about 1411,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nA Normal Christian Life- Part Five - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2010\/12\/a-normal-christian-life-part-five.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Normal Christian Life- Part Five - 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A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}