Following the examination of the origins of faith and the intended role of community to be a part of passing that legacy on to the next generation, it is important to understand more about what such an assembly is like.
The development of faith is NOT the same thing as the development of a religious lifestyle. Learning to do certain things can well become a pattern for life choices and can be a path toward personal faith but it can also end up in a spiritually dead, constricting type of lifestyle that seeks to please God by personal works or worth. It is usually called “legalism.” (What is usually NOT mentioned is the equal and opposite error of “antinomianism” which denies the validity of the Law. A.W. Tozer rightly observed that “The bird of truth has two wings;” which we understand to mean balance is necessary. Salvation and sanctification!)
This is where the leaders and adults in an assembly are so important for their ability to genuinely walk out and live what they believe, not just talk about it. This community surrounding those who haven’t yet come to personal faith is their tutor “until faith comes” as was covered in Part 3.
“But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be g ...
