Most Evangelicals are unaware of the fact that the “famous” revivalist Charles Finney vehemently denied cardinal doctrines of the faith like Original Sin, Justification by Faith Alone, Substitutionary Atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and was above all a Pelagian (a person who does not even believe in the necessity of grace in salvation). Yet he is considered to be a hero by many. However any honest study of the theology of Finney will prove his unorthodox beliefs. Not only did he have such heretical beliefs, he devised many methodologies for achieving results in mass evangelism, which have only corrupted the Evangelical witness than foster it. His faulty understanding of man, grace, gospel and salvation led him to devise erroneous means to attain spectacular yet short lived and spurious conversions. Sadly much of Evangelicalism has only aped and developed upon these unbiblical methodologies of Finney.
Finney’s pragmatic methodologies has lead much of the Evangelical world into the pathetic state it has declined to in our day. Mere decisionism that runs rampant through most evangelism strategies can be traced back to Finney. Most of our fellow brethren in Evangelical circles who merely follow these methodologies are ignorant of the theology of Finney which lead him to develop such techniques. Here is a quote which explains the God-belittling and man-exalting understanding of Finney regarding religion, revival and massive conversions it claims to produce :
“There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means. . . . A revival is as naturally a result of the use of means as a crop is of the use of its appropriate means” [1]
Finney thus had a very natural religion – a religion of mere human cause and effect. God was reduced to a mere beneficiary of all these morally upright human endeavors. Since he did not recognize the efficacy of God’s grace in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he was forced to have a powerless, fruitless theology and ministry. At the end of his revival days, he looked at his own converts and lamented that “the great body of them are a disgrace to religion“ [2]
Finney was a man who sought to rewrite historic orthodox faith with his own novel concepts and methods. It would be wise for Evangelicals to recognize him as a heretic and stay away from his theology and methodology. Below are two good articles and one video for those who want to know more about the heretical views held by Finney. First Phil Johnson, the executive Director of Grace to You, the Christian tape and radio ministry of John MacArthur, has written a wonderful article on Finney where he surveys the unorthodox views held by Finney. The second article is by Dr. Michael Horton, Professor of Theology and Apologetics at Westminster Seminary California. Horton explains how Charles Finney distorted the important doctrine of salvation and how his "new measures" created a framework for modern decision theology and Evangelical Revivalism. The video is a 43 min section from Mark Kielar's Cross TV on "How God converts a Soul". It is an excellent video on the topic of decisional regeneration, which also explains in depth what Finney taught and practiced. It uses what John MacArthur wrote on Finney, in his book "Ashamed of the Gospel".
Articles:
Watch:
The Dangers, Results and History of Decisional Regeneration
Footnotes
--------------
[1] Charles Finney, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (Old Tappan, NJ: Revell, n.d.), 4-5
[2] cited, B. B. Warfield, Studies in Perfectionism, 2 vols. (New York: Oxford, 1932), 2:23
