I recently heard that some committee within the Presbyterian Church of the USA (PCUSA) has voted to not include the song "In Christ Alone" in their new and coming hymnal.
The reason for this? They are not happy with the line "On that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied." In order to include the song in their hymnal the PCUSA committee putting it together actually had the audacity to ask the writers of the song if that one line could be changed to: "On that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified." Thankfully the writers of this awesome song refused the request.
So what's the big deal? Well - for starters it seems like this denomination doesn't want to acknowledge that though God is a God of love he is also one of justice and wrath and in one act - namely the crucifixion - God demonstrated both.
"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." - Romans 5:8-11
Since I am not a member of the PCUSA I can only speculate as to the reason for this silly request to change one line in a song that would be listed with many others in a church hymnal. I want to go ahead and give these folks the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they are unfamiliar with scripture as well as orthodox/reformed church doctrine regarding salvation and what it accomplished.
Even if that is the case and they are not maliciously trying to usurp the Bible and preach "another gospel" - its still a BIG problem. If you are reading this and you are a member of the PCUSA I hope you will fight to bring it back into the realm of truth and Christian orthodoxy.
The reason for this? They are not happy with the line "On that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied." In order to include the song in their hymnal the PCUSA committee putting it together actually had the audacity to ask the writers of the song if that one line could be changed to: "On that cross as Jesus died, the love of God was magnified." Thankfully the writers of this awesome song refused the request.
So what's the big deal? Well - for starters it seems like this denomination doesn't want to acknowledge that though God is a God of love he is also one of justice and wrath and in one act - namely the crucifixion - God demonstrated both.
"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." - Romans 5:8-11
Since I am not a member of the PCUSA I can only speculate as to the reason for this silly request to change one line in a song that would be listed with many others in a church hymnal. I want to go ahead and give these folks the benefit of the doubt and just assume that they are unfamiliar with scripture as well as orthodox/reformed church doctrine regarding salvation and what it accomplished.
Even if that is the case and they are not maliciously trying to usurp the Bible and preach "another gospel" - its still a BIG problem. If you are reading this and you are a member of the PCUSA I hope you will fight to bring it back into the realm of truth and Christian orthodoxy.
