It is not possible to survey theological liberalism here but those liberals who continue to profess some degree of adherence to the Christianity usually redefine the faith in subjectivist terms. Christianity becomes the quest to recover Jesus’ religious experience. Doctrine becomes a metaphor for personal experience, not claims about objective truth and reality. Liberals have typically set Jesus’ teaching against that of the apostles (especially Paul) and reduced the core of the faith to the Sermon on the Mount.

1 Peter 3:8–12

v.8: United In Mind, Feeling, Affections, Compassion, and Humility
When a group faces external pressure, criticism, or perhaps even persecution of some kind it may lead to internal fractures and schism. The Apostle Peter was aware of this possibility among the congregations in (modern) Turkey. He has been urging them to respond appropriately to those outside the congregation but in this section he turns his attention to those within the congregation. How ought they to relate to one another?

When he says “finally” (Τὸ δὲ τέλος) he is only drawing this section to a close. He wants the congregation to foster among themselves five qualities or virtues. The first of these is having a like mind (ὁμόφρονες). This word, like several others in 1 Peter appears only here in the NT. It does not seem to occur in the LXX but it did occur in secular literature where it signals “of the same sentiment” or “of the same opinion.” In short, the first of the human faculties Peter addressed was the human intellect. Peter assumes the essential perspicuity (clarity) of Scripture on the Christian faith and the Christian life. It is clear from the context of this epistle, the gospels, and 2 Peter that Peter believed that Scripture is normative and that there is Christian doctrine that is objectively true and that can and must be believed by all (πάντες) Christians.

Peter’s approach is in sharp contrast to the way that post-19th century evangelicals and liberals have often talked about unity. Among evangelicals, the basis of unity is usually located in subjective religious experience. Liberals, i.e., those associated with the mainline churches (the so-called “Seven Sisters of the Mainline”) and the associated ecumenical groups (e.g., National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches) typically begin with subjective but from a different direction. It is not possible to survey theological liberalism here but those liberals who continue to profess some degree of adherence to the Christianity usually redefine the faith in subjectivist terms. Christianity becomes the quest to recover Jesus’ religious experience. Doctrine becomes a metaphor for personal experience, not claims about objective truth and reality. Liberals have typically set Jesus’ teaching against that of the apostles (especially Paul) and reduced the core of the faith to the Sermon on the Mount. We may be forgiven for wondering how often those who say such things have actually read Jesus’ words. One may be reasonably sure that Jesus would be denounced in most mainline assemblies as an intolerant fundamentalist.

Unlike evangelical subjectivists (e.g., Pietists) and liberals, Peter does not set objective truth against Christian experience or feeling. The next virtue or quality to which Peter exhorts us is translated by the ESV as “sympathy” (συμπαθεῖς). Our English word “sympathy” is borrowed from the Greek word that Peter uses here. Again, like the first, Peter uses a noun here that occurs only here in the canonical Scriptures. It occurs in the Apocryphal book of 4 Maccabees 13:23 in the same sense as here. In secular usage it bears the same sense and that is that we ought to feel with and for one another. This is an essential part of what it is form and be a community of believers in a congregation. Each of us needs to know that our brothers and sisters feel for us as we struggle with sin or as we face pressures from the unbelieving world.

Read More