Jan
5
Holiness = Happiness
Filed Under Christian Living, Holiness, James Henley Thornwell | Leave a Comment
It is hard not to notice that Calvinism (Reformed Theology) is making a steady comeback in Evangelicalism, especially amongst the younger crowd. I was not exposed to Reformed Theology until College and really not comprehensively until seminary. As I learned Biblical doctrine, one doctrine became exceedingly precious to me: the doctrine that says my happiness is intrinsicly linked to my holiness. It is what the first question of the Shorter Catechism means when it says our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. One of the reasons I love the Reformers and Puritans is that they saw this holiness/happiness doctrine at the root of Christian living and the root of what Jesus provides in salvation. Reading James Henley Thornwell (Southern Presbyterian) the other day I came across the following quote, which I include below, concerning this precious doctrine of holy happiness.
He [Jesus] is styled Savior because he delivers His people from eternal death and gives them eternal life. If we bear in mind that happiness is not an independent, isolated object of existence, but merely the natural consequence of uniform concomitant of holiness, we shall see at once that the salvation of Jesus necessarily includes ample and adequate means of destroying the depravity of the heart and of rendering His followers holy. Happiness and virtue have been linked together by the eternal fiat of Jehovah, and no human ingenuity can tear them asunder. Without holiness it is impossible to see the Lord - that is, to be completely and eminently happy.