The Puritans on Habits and Christlikeness

 By Greg Gifford - Posted at Place for Truth:

Published December 27, 2023

For the previous post in this four-part series, part 1, part 2, part 3.

Perhaps the most general Puritan principle on habits was their effects in promoting Christlikeness. The Puritans appealed to this in both a positive and a negative sense: the working of duties as being Christlike, and characteristics of Christlikeness developing through habits.

Peter Vinke argued for both the positive effects and negative aspects of habits in forming Christlikeness. He said, “Holiness is indispensably necessary unto all justified persons. Departing from iniquity is the duty of all that name the name of Christ. … Departing from iniquity (the aforementioned duty) hath an influence upon our salvation, though it be not a cause of our salvation [emphasis added].”[58] He went on to say that this duty of departing from iniquity promotes Christlikeness in the believer’s life.[59] Without the duty of departing from iniquity, there would be no room for greater Christlike activity, according to Vinke, yet, “Whatsoever grace you would have strong and lively in the soul, let it be conscientiously and frequently exercised.”[60]

Arguing from the negative perspective, Edward Veale noted the potential danger in the pull of ungodly habits toward un-Christlikeness: “Men are naturally backward to good, but much more when habituated to evil. For the more inclined they are to evil, the more averse they are to good; and the more accustomed they are to sin, the more inclined they are to it.”[61] Habits can pull away Christians from Christlikeness while pulling them towards evil.

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