A Plea for Patience in the PCA (1)

Those in the PCA grieving because of the divisions caused by deviations from our Standards have cause for concern, but greater cause to labor patiently and faithfully within the PCA.

This is the first of a two-part series. Part two will be published on Monday, March 6, 2023.

In his comment on John 10:31, John Calvin makes a fascinating insight: true religion produces holy zeal and unbelief produces rage. Calvin observes a difference in how the holy zeal of true religion and the rage produced by unbelief are manifested: “unbelief is the mother of rage, and the devil hurries on the wicked.”

In that little comment we get a sense of Calvin’s pastoral heart. Despite ministering in a time of great spiritual and ecclesiastical dysfunction and in a city with grave moral depravities with staunch opposition, Calvin patiently and zealously preached and taught the truth.

Calvin understood the zeal of true religion can be patient, but the rage of unbelief acts hastily. Calvin’s demeanor and his patient plodding are instructive for our present moment in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

We should not expect the theological and practical deviations from our Standards to b…