Traditionalists and Progressives

by Gardner Hall

There are two opposite but equally harmful attitudes among churches I know:

The Overly Compliant Spirit

It’s the spirit that accepts without question whatever leaders or church traditions have historically taught. It declares, “my family has been in this church for years, and whatever they say is what I am going to accept. Our church has never taught that! Don’t rock the boat!”

This is not the spirit of the truth-loving Jews in Berea who were willing to search the scriptures daily to make sure that what Paul said was true (Acts 17:11). Those who determined it was true had to leave their Jewish synagogues and go outside the camp to suffer with Christ.

The Restive Spirit

While the traditional spirit assumes that everything that has been taught for a number of years must be true, the immature restless spirit assumes the opposite – that it is automatically suspect. It supposes that something new, trendy, or at least different must be better. It’s the "throw out the baby with the bathwater” mentality that is too hurried and judgmental to be discerning. For the restive spirit, the grass is always greener somewhere else, even where there are alarming doctrinal errors and an abundance of historical skeletons. It is inherently unstable, “tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14).

Sometimes the overly compliant and the bold nonconformist highlight each other’s extremes to justify their own, but they both miss it. Christ’s way is neither that of the stodgy traditionalist nor the “ants in the pants” progressive. It thoughtfully and unhurriedly sorts through different approaches to service to God holding fast to what is good but rejecting what doesn’t come from heaven. It respects wisdom from the past but is also willing to test it to ensure it is truly from God. It makes needed adjustments to stay on the right path, even if that means ruffling some feathers.

We live in an unstable world with an abundance of worldly philosophies and human traditions. Neither the overly compliant temperament nor the spirit that demonstrates “a touch of rebellion” give us the firm anchor of stability that we need. Only the mature way of Christ can do that.