“The moral hedges that surrounded our collective life have been trampled down.”[pp.161-166] No Place for Truth Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology?
By David F. Wells
One of the categories of principles that I see in Scripture and have taught tenaciously is what I call the five values.
I contend that these values are the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. They are the Divine design results of the Spirit who causes us to be born again.
They are not “add ons” to faith, as if we could be more serious Christians if we could just practice them. They do not earn us faith. Only faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross, and His resurrection to the right hand of God, does that.
But they are natural results of being born again and having the Holy Spirit set up the deepest parts of our being as the temple of God. Ephesians 2:19-22.
These five values describe the most important aspects of what it means to be in relationship with God and His Son.
The place of greatest attack by Satan and his minions is centered upon these values and our growing maturity in each of them.
These values are the very center to what ought to be the body life of the church. They form the most important topics for anything that proposes to be called discipleship.
When I read the quote above from David Wells about the moral hedges being trampled down, it is these five things I think about.
In the maturation of these values in the life of every believer there is safety and assurance. Safety from the evil one who wants to destroy God by destroying us. Assurance because these things deeply affirm the transformation that has and is taking place in the lives of the true followers of Jesus. I am reminded that the Spirit lives in me and is wooing and compelling me down the path of maturity into the life and witness of Jesus.
In order not to take anymore space to list these values, I will simply reference you to where you can find them listed and explained. You can find all five values in chapters three and four of my book “Renovation.”
