The Inward Light: Christ Within, Silent Worship, and the Testimonies of Friends
As taught in the Quaker / Friends tradition
The Quaker Inward Light: ground of silent worship, free ministry, and the testimonies
The Quaker tradition — the Religious Society of Friends, gathered under George Fox in the 1650s and given its first systematic defense by Robert Barclay in 1676 — is organized around a single luminous claim: that Christ gives an Inward Light to every human being, and that this Light is sufficient, when heeded, to lead the soul into truth. Every other Quaker distinctive grows from this root.
By the end of this lesson
- Explain the Quaker doctrine of the universal Inward Light of Christ given to every person (John 1:9) and how it grounds the whole tradition.
- Describe waiting, largely silent, unprogrammed worship and the Spirit-led ministry and priesthood of all believers, men and women alike.
- Summarize why Friends practise neither outward baptism nor the bread-and-cup Supper, holding both to be inward and spiritual.
- Trace the testimonies of peace, integrity (refusal of oaths), simplicity, and equality back to the Inward Light and the Sermon on the Mount.
- Attribute the tradition's distinctives to Robert Barclay's Apology and the Journal of George Fox, and state plainly where Friends differ from most of Christianity.
Scripture
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