In this letter, Pastor Newton simultaneously warns doctrinally-discerning Christians about the danger of pride and encourages all believers to real spirituality in applying what we know, even if it is less than others. My abridged paraphrase keeps paragraphs corresponding to the original letter.
“The Humbling Gap Between Our Knowledge and Experience”
1. Those with a clear, consistent, and comprehensive understanding of biblical truth are alike especially privileged and especially tempted to pride. It is possible, therefore, that they can be as truly ignorant and inconsistent as those they consider relatively unenlightened. Nothing is better for humbling such than to consider seriously the great gap between their theological expertise and their actual spiritual experience. We know much more than we do, especially in cases of those who think they know the most (1 Cor 8.2). Without denying or being ungrateful for what the Lord has taught us, we ought to measure our spiritual knowledge by its good effects in us. When we do that, we must admit that we have learned very little indeed.
2. Take God’s omnipresence, for example. Nearly everyone believes it, even many unconverted people. God is absolutely everywhere and sees absolutely everything at all times. What could be a better deterrent to sin? And yet we are more careful not to offend other people than God, especially if they can hurt us or we need their help. Is it not true that, even in prayer, we fail because we do not really let God’s presence have its full effect upon us? Our minds are so easily distracted. What would you think of a person who stood before some great world leader to make the case for an important matter of justice or mercy, and suddenly, the petitioner broke off in mid-sentence to chase a passing butterfly? That barely begins to illustrate our wandering thoughts in prayer. We do not fully appreciate the weightiness of the moment in God’s presence and so we yield to a thousand distractions. It is likewise when we indulge great anxiety while praying to our Father, the One who says He is with us to save us from all miseries. How well, then, do we really know God is omnipresent when this truth affects us so little?
3. For many of us, our intellectual confidence about God’s absolute sovereignty is also way ahead of our conduct. We debate vigorously with Arminians. We are amazed anyone can doubt God’s right to do whatever He wishes with His own things, including all human beings. We are so passionate about unconditional election that we instantly condemn any opponents as unbelievably stubborn and proud. Admittedly, pride is always involved, but Calvinists may be proud just like anyone else. This doctrine requires us to submit to Providence no matter what, and to accept His right to save whomever He pleases, passing by the rest. But we still struggle mightily to accept hardships when we personally are afflicted. Then we are the ones who need a rebuke. Our excessive complaining and discontent expose the fact that our knowledge is more a matter of notions than life-changing conviction. How odd that `we accept God withholding His saving mercy from the non-elect but we get upset when we have to endure annoyances on our pilgrimage to heaven!
4. God deals with Christians according to His wisdom and grace. He connects our good with His glory; He promises to make all things promote our ultimate blessing. He chooses for us better than we could choose for ourselves. Even sorrow, when it comes, is something we could not do better without. The Bible reveals reasons and comforts for us. Our concerns are in safe hands. His discipline leads to our future purity and peace. Even our trials are mercies in disguise. Remember how things ended well for Joseph, David, and Job, not to mention many other biblical examples. God makes crooked things straight and uses evil to bring about the greatest good. That is why it is wrong and foolish to question His ways. Our present sufferings are as nothing compared to the future glory. We know these things mentally, but hard it is to feel the force of them upon a sickbed, for example, or in the anguish of bereavement. Then we need fresh strength from on high.
5. With every spiritual truth, I could belabor the point of this gap between our knowledge and experience. How often we fail to live up to the light we have about God! We say that we know we are weak, sinful, and fallible, and yet we act too independently from God, as if we were strong and wise. Our theological knowledge is too similar to moonlight; it is without much heat and influence. And yet we are puffed up because we “know” so much.
6. A believer is a poor creature, strangely inconsistent. He knows some important spiritual truths—the mysteries of the gospel, the evils of sin, the vanities of the world, the beauties of holiness, and the happiness of fellowship with God. A real Christian is alive by the Spirit and has access to God through Jesus Christ. All Christian virtues have begun to sprout in him. But his strength is not his own. He is absolutely dependent. He is still weak and very sinful. If the Lord withdraws His power, the believer becomes as morally weak as any sinner. A Christian’s knowledge is like a window that lets in the light but cannot store it up. The Spirit of grace must keep supplying His light every moment if we would think godly thoughts and live a godly life. God regularly reminds us of this by letting us fall flat on our faces again and again. Eventually we begin to learn the lesson that in ourselves we are foolish and weak and that without Christ we can do nothing. He is bringing us more and more to boast, not at all in ourselves, but only in the Lord.
7. Therefore, Christians who know the most are not necessarily the most spiritual. Some poorly-instructed brethren have more real grace than others who are expert theologians. These scholars are in real danger of spiritual catastrophe if they become proud of their knowledge. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
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Ouch! A former pastor of mine once told me that I worried more than any other Calvinist he knew. In this, he echoed the counsel of John Newton. Ω