Following Jesus

Sharing his priorities for the next thirty years, best-selling author Richard Foster disclosed his "spiritual formation agenda" in a January 2009 Christianity Today article. Foster observes that there is a lot of interest these days in "social-service projects." "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but where, oh where, are those who think of changing themselves?"
Besides the obsession with world transformation, he complains that an overemphasis on grace in some circles "will not allow for spiritual growth."

Having been saved by grace, these people have become paralyzed by it. To attempt any progress in the spiritual life smacks of "works righteousness" to them. Their liturgies tell them they sin in word, thought, and deed daily, so they conclude that this is their fate until they die. Heaven is their only release from this world of sin and rebellion. Hence, these well-meaning folks will sit in their pews year after year without realizing any movement forward in their life with God....People may genuinely want to be good, but seldom are they prepared to do what it takes to produce the inward life of goodness that can form the soul.

Foster also blames much of the distraction from spiritual growth to "a Christian entertainment industry that is masquerading as worship" and "an overall consumer mentality that simply dominates the American religious scene."

I find much of what Foster says about contemporary spirituality persuasive. It should come as no surprise to a regular reader of this magazine that I would find him spot-on in his worry that the holiness of God has been eclipsed by the ephemeral exuberance of entertainment passing for worship and consumerism packaged as mission and discipleship. I think he's right that there is a kind of "cheap grace" that fulfills the fond dreams of the antinomian who comforts himself with the syllogism: "God likes to forgive, I like to sin: what a great relationship!" Even if we eschew antinomianism, there is a kind of laziness that does not revel equally in the "already" of new life in Christ and the "not yet" of its consummation. There are too many passages in Scripture that call us to go on to maturity, to leave our old life behind, and to strain toward the prize. Many of those passages are found in the same chapters as our favorite verses on the Good News of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. For example, after announcing that we are saved by grace alone-and that even faith is a gift-Paul adds, "For we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which he predestined us to walk in" (Eph. 1:8-10).

More than Imitation

The Reformers recognized that grace is first and foremost God's favor toward sinners on account of Christ. This "justice" or "righteousness" by which we stand accepted in God's presence is imputed, not infused; declared immediately, not progressively realized. At the same time, they just as strongly affirmed that God's Word does what it says. Everyone whom God declares to be righteous is also progressively sanctified. While remaining sinful, believers now struggle against indwelling sin.
But why? If the full remission of sins and favor with God is the believer's possession through faith alone, and God's grace is greater than our sin, why shouldn't we go on sinning? That is the question Paul knew his teaching on justification would provoke. His answer, in Romans 6, is that the same Good News that announces our justification also announces our death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. Paul does not threaten with the fears of purgatorial fires or worse, but simply declares to those who believe in Christ that he is not only the source of their justification but of their deliverance from sin's all-controlling dominion. They still sin, but never in the same way that they did before. Now they love what they hated and hate what they loved. I am among a dwindling number of exegetes who still believes that Romans 7 focuses on this paradox: only believers struggle with sin, because sin is both an enduring reality (with many setbacks) and yet the believer's enemy.
Nowhere in this lodestar passage for the Christian life does Paul direct our attention to the imitation of Christ. He has already painted too dark (realistic) a picture of human depravity to imagine that the devil, the world, and our sinful hearts could meet their match in our deeper commitment to follow Christ's example. He calls us not simply to imitate Christ but to live out our union with him. But before he speaks an imperative, he announces the indicative of the gospel: Christ's saving work has accomplished far more than we imagined. The Spirit's work of uniting us to Christ makes us not mere imitators but living members of his body. We are incorporated-baptized-into Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
Jesus said the same thing in John 15. His disciples are not only forgiven; joined to him as the life-giving Vine they become living branches, bearing fruit that will remain. We have no life in ourselves, he tells them. There are no resources for following Jesus, imitating him, becoming his disciple. We are dead branches, cut off, without hope in this world. Only then does Jesus issue his imperatives to love and serve each other as he has loved and served us.
There is a world of difference between having a role model whose example we fall short of ever reproducing and having yourself "killed" and re-created as branches of the Tree of Life. Doing what Jesus did is different from bearing the fruit of Christ's righteous life. In fact, the most important things that Jesus did cannot be duplicated. Because he fulfilled the law in our place, bore our curse, and was raised in glory to take his throne at the Father's right hand, we can have a relationship with him-and with the Father-that is far more intimate than the relationship of a devotee to a guru, a student to a teacher, or a follower to a master.
Following Christ is the consequence, not the alternative to or even means of union with Christ. Even when Scripture calls us to follow Christ's example, the relationship between master and pupil is asymmetrical. For example, Jesus refers to his impending sacrifice for sinners as the model for his followers in Matthew 20:28. It is obvious, however, from the context that Jesus' act of self-sacrifice is unique and unrepeatable. We are not called to die for our neighbors' sins or to bear the wrath of God in their place. When Paul calls us in Philippians 2 to "have the same mind" as Christ in his self-humiliation, he obviously is not calling us to set aside the heavenly glory and power belonging to the second person of the Trinity and to descend to earth-even hell itself-in human flesh. We are not incarnations of God. Nevertheless, we are beneficiaries of his Incarnation, united in body and soul to his glorified flesh.
As George Lindbeck observed (see the "Justification and Atonement" sidebar on page 18), imitation has its place, but not under the category of "gospel." The call to follow Christ and his example is an imperative-the third use of the law directed to Christians rather than to unbelievers. The "imitation-of-Christ" paradigm of spirituality makes Christ's self-sacrifice and humility an analogy for our discipleship. The "union-with-Christ" paradigm makes our love and service an analogy of Christ's inimitable accomplishment.
Calvin offers helpful insights on this point in his comments on Jesus' prayer in John 17. Believers are "sanctified by the truth," which is God's Word (v. 17), "for the word here denotes the doctrine of the Gospel": here Calvin challenges the "fanatics" who imagine a sanctification that comes from an "inner word" apart from the external Word. "And for their sakes I sanctify myself," Jesus prays (v. 19).

By these words he explains more clearly from what source that sanctification flows, which is completed in us by the doctrine of the Gospel. It is because he consecrated himself to the Father that his holiness might come to us; for as the blessing on the firstfruits is spread over the whole harvest, so the Spirit of God cleanses us by the holiness of Christ, and makes us partakers of it. Nor is this done by imputation only, for in that respect he is said to have been made to us righteousness; but he is likewise said to have been made to us sanctification (1 Cor 1:30) because he has, so to speak, presented us to his Father in his own person, that we may be renewed to true holiness by his Spirit. Besides, though this sanctification belongs to the whole life of Christ, yet the highest illustration of it was given in the sacrifice of his death; for then he showed himself to be the true High Priest, by consecrating the temple, the altar, all the vessels, and the people, by the power of his Spirit.

The goal is "that they may be one" (v. 21). Calvin is as much on home ground in discussing the richness of the organic-horticultural metaphors as the legal. While they are distinct, the organic and the legal are two sides of the same covenantal coin.

Paradoxically, it is this very liberation that issues in constant inner struggle, since we belong definitively to the new creation-"the age to come"-with Christ as our firstfruits and the Spirit as the pledge. Yet we still live in "this present evil age" and continue to pretend that we are not those whom God has worded us to be in Christ. By contrast, the struggle of the unregenerate, according to William Ames, is "not the striving of the Spirit against the flesh but that of the flesh fearing flesh inordinately desiring." Ames's statement points up the fact that however useful Aristotelian or Kantian conceptions of "ethics," "virtue," and "duty" may be, the definitive categories for theology are covenantal and eschatological: the tyranny of sin (flesh) and the reign of life in righteousness (the Spirit). Natural ethics and the enabling power of the Spirit in common grace may check immoderate habits, but the Spirit creates a new world through the gospel.
Just as Paul's treatment of justification led logically to the question, "Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?" (Rom. 6:1), the Reformation unleashed radical elements that went well beyond the views of the Reformers. Lutheran theologian Gerhard Forde reminds us, "Luther had hardly begun to proclaim the freedom of the Christian before he had to fight against abuse of the term. He did not do this in such a way as to speak about the good works that must be added to faith. Instead, he did so by calling people back to that faith that occurs 'where the Holy Spirit gives people faith in Christ and thus sanctifies them.'" Luther's response at this juncture was precisely Paul's: Though justified through faith alone, this faith "is never alone, but is always accompanied by love and hope," according to the Formula of Concord (Epitome III, 11; cf. Solid Declaration III, 23, 26, 36, 41).
Apart from the imputation of righteousness, sanctification is simply another religious self-improvement program determined by the powers of this age (the flesh) rather than of the age to come (the Spirit). This gospel not only announces our justification, but our participation in the power of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. Therefore, we cannot look to Christ at the beginning for our justification, and then look away from Christ to our own progress and countless manuals that offer formulas for spiritual and moral ascent when it comes to the Christian life (sanctification). Again Forde is insightful:

In our modern age, influenced by Pietism and the Enlightenment, our thinking is shaped by what is subjective, by the life of faith, by our inner disposition and motivation, by our inward impulses and the way they are shaped. When we think and live along these lines, sanctification is a matter of personal and individual development and orientation. It is true that we also find this approach in Luther. No one emphasized more sharply than he did our personal responsibility....But this approach is secondary. 'The Word of God always comes first. After it follows faith; after faith, love; then love does every good work, for...it is the fulfilling of the law.'

Even in sanctification, "the focus is not upon the saints but upon sanctification, upon the Word of God in all its sacramental forms, and also upon secular institutions that correspond to the second table of the law....Only God is holy, and what he says and speaks and does is holy. This is how God's holiness works, which he does not keep to himself, but communicates by sharing it."

What this means is that we who once were curved in on ourselves, seeing the world but not really seeing it rightly, must be called out of ourselves to be judged as ungodly and then dressed in Christ's righteousness. This is necessary not only for our justification but for our sanctification as well. Our identity is no longer something that we fabricate in our bondage that we mistake for freedom. "To become new men means losing what we now call 'ourselves,'" C. S. Lewis observes. "Out of our selves, into Christ, we must go." "Your real, new self (which is Christ's and also yours, and yours just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it," he adds. "It will come when you are looking for Him." To be in Christ is to be "very much more themselves than they were before." "He invented-as an author invents characters in a novel-all the different people that you and I were intended to be. In that sense our real selves are all waiting for us in Him. It is no good trying to 'be myself' without Him." "To enter heaven," Lewis says, "is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being on earth."
Far from creating a morbid subjectivity and individualism, as is often charged, this view frees us from being curved in on ourselves, fretting over our own souls. In a moving letter to Cardinal Sadoleto, Calvin made much the same point, when he argued that only by being freed of having to love our neighbor in the service of our own salvation are we able to really love them for their own sake. Sanctification is a life not of acquiring but of receiving from the excess of divine joy that then continues to overflow in excess to our neighbor and from our neighbor to us.

Conclusion

I agree with Richard Foster's concern to step away from our daily routines and to be silent before the Lord, to receive his commands and promises, and to pour out our cries, praises, and intercessions to the Father, in the Son, by the Spirit. Many of us coming out of "monastic" evangelicalism may easily overreact, neglecting-even ridiculing-habits of daily Bible reading and prayer that nourish our souls. I think Foster is right that the problem for evangelicalism today is not that it is too monastic, but that it is too worldly. However, Christ has not left us as orphans, to fend for ourselves by finding spiritual directors and our own means of grace. He promises to work in us by his Spirit through preaching and sacrament.
Paul says in Romans 10 that the message of the gospel ("the righteousness that is by faith") has its own method: Christ himself descending to deliver the Good News through his ambassadors and to unite us to him through faith in his gospel. The imitation paradigm easily slips into "the righteousness that is by works," offering agendas for ascending to heaven to bring God down or descend into the depths as if to bring Christ up from the dead. But Christ is not dead. Nor must he be pulled down from his throne in order to be present in our lives. Paul says that he is present objectively through his Word and Spirit.
When it comes to his methods, Foster's advice is consistent with his message. Where Scripture teaches that Christ's objective work outside of us in public history is the gospel-"the power of God for salvation"-Foster writes,

The most important, most real, most lasting work, is accomplished in the depths of our heart. This work is solitary and interior. It cannot be seen by anyone, not even ourselves. It is a work known only to God. It is the work of heart purity, of soul conversion, of inward transformation, of life formation....Much intense formation work is necessary before we can stand the fires of heaven. Much training is necessary before we are the kind of persons who can safely and easily reign with God.

It would be a travesty simply to lump together medieval mysticism, the Anabaptist tradition, Quakers, Pietism, and Protestant liberalism. Nevertheless, there is a common thread running through these diverse movements-a theology of works-righteousness that emphasizes:

• Christ's example over his unique and sufficient achievement;
• The inner experience and piety of believers over the external work and Word of Christ;
• Our moral transformation over the Spirit's application of redemption;
• Private soul formation over the public ministry of the means of grace.

When we reverse the priority of these emphases, however, we experience more profoundly the delight of our inheritance, grow in our faith and gratitude toward God and our love toward our neighbors, are constantly renewed inwardly, and take from our public assembly enough morsels to feed on in our family and personal prayers and meditations throughout the week.
We do not need more spiritual directors, but more pastors who feed us, elders who guide us, and deacons who care for the flock's material welfare. Realizing more and more what it means to be living branches, we need more and more to put to death the actual deeds of unrighteousness and live more and more to the Father, in the Son, by the Spirit.
Baptized into Christ, fed richly by his Word and at his Table, let us not leave the festive day forgetful of God's service to us, but be led back each day into his Word and into the world with joyful hearts to be conformed to Christ's image as we work, play, raise children, steward earthly resources, enjoy dinner with friends, and breaks with coworkers. Don't feed off of your New Year's resolutions; rather, feed off of your union with Christ. You are part of the harvest of which the glorified Christ is already the firstfruits! Then resolve again, every day, to return to Christ, to recall your baptism, and to repent of all that weighs you down and distracts you from running the race with your eyes fixed on Christ.

How to Read The Book

One of the difficulties of reading the Bible is the Bible itself. Not only new believers, but old ones as well, often find it tough slogging to pick up the book at Genesis and wind up at Revelation without giving up somewhere in between. The Protestant Reformers never said that the Bible is an easy book. What they said, and the confessions confirm this, is that its basic message is essentially clear, even if not everything in Scripture is equally clear. The Westminster Confession reminds us in a wisely constructed sentence:
What God requires and what he has done to save us in Christ is evident from Genesis to Revelation.
The Bible can be understood by anyone with energy, patience, and wise instruction. As Mark Twain quipped, "It ain't the parts of the Bible I don't understand, but the parts that I do, that trouble me." Yet the more we read it, the more we appreciate its depth and complexity. Like the Ethiopian treasury secretary who asked Philip how he could possibly understand the passage from Isaiah he was reading without a teacher, all of us need to be helped along by people who are even just one step ahead of us.
All the more, it is important for us to read with the wider church. Pastor-teachers and elders are given by Christ to guide us in this privilege of hearing and reading God's Word. The creeds and catechisms are great places to start. After all, they emerged from periods of confusion and controversy. Instead of representing the idiosyncratic emphases of a single leader or school, they are consensus documents forged within actual churches as they sought to clarify the most central teachings of Scripture. It is especially significant that in spite of so many disagreements and divisions, orthodox Christians have for so many centuries affirmed the ecumenical creeds as faithful summaries of Scripture.

The Bible Is a Book…

It seems rather obvious that the Bible is a book. Sometimes, however, we forget this in actual practice. Scripture comes from God, not from human beings (2 Pet. 1:20); it is inspired by the Holy Spirit—"God-breathed" (2 Tim. 3:16). In that sense, it is unlike any other book. However, Scripture itself teaches that God works through ordinary means. So it's never a choice between God's Word and human words; rather, it is God's Word through human ambassadors. Unlike Islam's view of its Qur'an, Christians do not believe that the Bible fell from heaven, dictated by an earthly messenger. Coming from God, the words of the prophets and apostles nevertheless bear the evidence on every hand of their human ministry.
We should not be surprised at this, since God became flesh in our history and through the eternal Son, Jesus Christ, assumed our humanity. He inherited a specific genetic code, including features and characteristics of his family tree; he spoke a particular language that had evolved centuries before he spoke it; and he behaved in ways that reflected the norms of his unique time and place in the world. We can so emphasize the deity of Christ that we forget his humanity or see it somehow like an old-fashioned pair of scales: the more we affirm one, the less we affirm the other. No, Christ is fully God and fully human. He was like us in every way. In fact, he was "tempted like us in every way, yet without sin" (Heb. 4:15).
Analogously, Scripture can be entirely human and yet without error in all that it affirms. When we see evidence of Scripture's humanity, we should not imagine that it is not from God. The Triune God works mysteriously above, within, and through history in a way that connects with us. Given this fact, we should not read the Bible like any other book when it comes to authority. God has the first, middle, and last word. We should meditate on Scripture as God's speech, not only in terms of its authority, but also its comfort and assurance. It would be inappropriate for us to treat any other book in this manner. Yet we should read it like any other book when it comes to interpreting its meaning. The same grammatical and stylistic rules that went into composing these books must be understood in order to interpret them.

…But More Like a Library than a Book

It has often been said that the Bible is more like a library than a book. This is an important point. It was written over twelve centuries with many writers, under many kings of Israel, as well as during exile under three pagan empires. Differences in style and even in the evolution of different languages can be detected by scholars as one moves from book to book. There are also different emphases in each book. There are many reasons for this.
First, each was written from a different perspective. Even the historical books of the Old Testament or the Gospels of the New Testament reveal different standpoints and interests. At first, that might startle us. If there is one message—one gospel— how can there be different versions? It may help to use a courtroom analogy. While serving on a jury, you may hear discrepancies between various testimonies. Yet, as the judge will tell you, discrepancies do not mean contradictions. Each witness saw the event described from a particular angle and at a particular time in the unfolding of the scene.
Second, the diversity of standpoints is compounded by the diversity of emphases. Even the Gospels—as eyewitness reports—are evangelistic tracts. All witnesses bring their own biases and interests with them to the stand. However, the apostles make no effort to conceal their bias. They were convinced by what they saw and heard that God had acted in history for the redemption of the world. The Gospels are therefore not simply chronologies or records. Each writer wove the details of what they and others saw and heard into a pattern that proclaimed Jesus Christ as the only hope of salvation. Each writer emphasized particular facets of Christ's multifaceted person and work, reflecting their own backgrounds, interests, and styles as authors. Yet it was the Spirit who prepared each writer's ordinary life for this extraordinary calling.

One Message, Many Genres

One of the ways we can downplay the humanity of Scripture is by thinking that it transcends normal rules of interpreting different genres. Because we understandably privilege the historical narratives and Gospel reports, we can easily assume that everything in the Bible is a straightforward assertion or proposition, a true statement.
The danger is apparent when poetry is read as prose, apocalyptic is read as historical narrative, and figures of speech are treated as literal descriptions—or when the relation is reversed, as when a historical report is interpreted as allegory or poetry. People used to reading different genres in secular literature are in a good position to read the Bible.

Covenant Canon

The different genres are bound together not simply by a unified plot, but by a unified canon. Scripture is rightly divided between Old and New Testaments, because each has its own constitution around which all of the various writings fit.
Other nations had the gods as witnesses. Only in Israel, however, was the deity also the head of state—the emperor or "Great King." Many ancient Near Eastern treaties display common features: (1) a preamble, identifying the great king who is imposing the treaty on the lesser nation; (2) the historical prologue justifying his right as sovereign maker and enforcer of the treaty; (3) the stipulations governing the servant nation; and(4) sanctions—the specific benefits for loyalty and judgments for disloyalty. Finally, a copy of the treaty would be deposited in the shrine or archive of the suzerain and the vassal. The Old Testament displays these characteristics.
First, there is the covenant with Adam in the Garden with the preamble ("In the beginning God…"); the historical prologue, justifying God's sovereignty over creation, including humanity; and the command, along with the warning for disobedience. Then there is the promise to Adam and Eve of a Savior.
Second, there is the historical narrative that justifies Yahweh's sovereignty over Israel, specifically. It leads from Abraham to Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph, with the promise of a new exodus. God will bring his people back to this land that God swore to Abraham and establish them as his holy nation.
Third, jumping to Deuteronomy, we have the constitution that forms the core of "the law." It spreads back into Exodus and forward into Leviticus. The wisdom literature displays the universality of God's moral law. Although Israel has been given a specific constitution, with laws that mark it off from every other nation, the core of that law reflects the moral fabric of the world that God has made, which is summarized in the Ten Commandments.
Fourth, the Psalms are the hymnal in which we have the songs that emerged from this story of Israel. The worship commanded in Leviticus is assumed in these songs. So too are the promises that transcend the era of the Sinai law, looking forward to the greater Son of David.
Fifth, the prophets are God's covenant lawyers bringing his suit against Israel. They invoke the sanctions: curses for transgression and exile from God's holy land.
Nevertheless, the Abrahamic covenant of grace has not been set aside by Israel's failure, because it is not based on the people's oath that they swore at Sinai. Rather, it is an everlasting covenant that depends exclusively on God's faithfulness in sending his appointed Messiah. Prophecy and apocalyptic swirl together in the prophetic books, because "eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor. 2:9). Only these genres will do, because they give us intimations, sudden insights, snapshots, and the strange strains of songs from a faraway place.
The same pattern is discerned in the New Testament. In broad terms, the Gospels give us the preamble and historical prologue, the Epistles give us the doctrines and commands that arise from this drama, and the book of Revelation is God's prosecution of his lawsuit against the oppressors of his people and the promise of the new creation. The sanctions unfold: it is the Last Judgment.
So we not only have to see the one plot unfolding from Genesis to Revelation, as if it were one historical narrative, but we have to see how Israel's story—the old covenant rooted in Sinai—is, like Hamlet's play-within-a-play, distinct from the Abrahamic promise that also unfurls its banner throughout the otherwise depressing episodes of Israel's defiance. We have to see how Proverbs serves as a testimony to the universality of the moral code at the heart of Israel's covenant, how the Psalms form the hymnal of covenant worship. We have to recognize the distinct lines of the Sinai covenant, so that we see the gospel in the Old Testament and do not confuse the unique stipulations and sanctions of the Sinai treaty with those of the Abrahamic promise. So now we read the commands even in the Epistles from Zion, not Sinai. They are not conditions for "long life in the land," but what Paul calls "the reasonable service" that we are to offer "in view of the mercies of God" (Rom. 12:1).

Hermeneutical Rules

Two more aids to interpreting Scripture are worth mentioning. First, it is crucial to distinguish covenants. We have to distinguish the law from the gospel. This does not mean Old Testament versus New Testament. Nor does it mean that law is bad and gospel is good. Both come from the mouth of God. So it is a matter of distinguishing between what God is doing and not doing when he is speaking. Is he judging or delivering, convicting or comforting, revealing his moral will for our lives or revealing his saving purposes? The principle of inheriting everlasting life by law is totally opposed to the principle of inheriting everlasting life by promise. This is clearly stated in many places, but especially in Galatians 3 and 4. Second, it is important to interpret all of Scripture in the light of Christ. Jesus Christ is the central character in this unfolding drama. This is how Jesus and his apostles themselves interpreted the Old Testament (see, for example, John 5:39-40; Luke 24:25-27; and the sermons in Acts).
I have heard sermons that make me ask at the end, "Did they even need this particular text to preach that sermon?" It may even have been theologically sound and evangelically motivated. But they thought that preaching the law and the gospel and preaching Christ from all the Scriptures meant simply repeating the same formula every week. That is easy, but it is unfaithful to the text. Some lose the forest for the trees; others lose the trees for the forest.
To put it concretely, the command not to have any other gods but Yahweh can be heard (by someone trusting in Christ) as the promise that God has made us his own and will never forsake us. You cannot just come up with an omnibus list of "law" passages and "gospel" passages.
We do not see Christ in every passage explicitly any more than the central character of a novel or play appears in every scene. Part of the charm of a good story is that central characters impose themselves in the process of a thousand scenes that seem to be about something or someone else. Jesus also reveals the Father. He even reveals what it means to be human. There is a wealth of key teachings in Scripture, which itself impels us to seek the Trinity, the kingdom of God, and wisdom for daily living. None of them can be abstracted from the drama of redemption in Christ, but we do not get to Christ by leaping over the text. There is a passage in front of us, either as preachers or as hearers and readers. Each piece fits into a puzzle that reveals Christ as the center, but each piece must actually fit. You can't just force it into place in order to "reveal Christ." Christ is the Rock in the wilderness (1 Cor. 10:4), but that doesn't give us license to find Christ under every rock, as it were. There is a hasty—and lazy—kind of typology that ignores the immediate context and meaning of a passage in order to make it a "code" for deciphering Christ.
The meaning of a passage is not found above, behind, or beneath the text. You don't preach the categories but use the categories to preach Christ as the central character of the whole story, from every particular text.

If We Have Died With Him We Will Also Live With Him

1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. (Titus 2:1 ESV)
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober- minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 10 And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Peter 5:6-11 ESV)

Our enemy is quite clever in his deceit. He knows exactly what buttons to push to incite us to step into conflicts or situations designed to do damage to our faith and our relationship with our Lord. He also has his own deceived people whom he has convinced that they are the only Christians who have it right and everyone else, including such Bible scholars as John Owen or John Calvin or preachers such as Charles Spurgeon were heretics and tools of the devil. I have been approached by numerous individuals and groups demanding that I join with them in their attacks on men such as John MacArthur or R.C. Sproul. If we are not very careful, we can be drawn into “discussions” with these people whom our enemy is using for his own heinous purposes. These discussions can grow into conflict very quickly because it will not take long for these servants of our enemy to go for the jugular and attempt to demolish our faith by casting doubt through distracting arguments. I find it interesting that if we refuse to ‘go along’ with them they will then turn on us.

Thank God that He gave His Spirit to all of us who know Him and that we can come boldly to the throne of grace. I pray every day that God will give me wisdom, discernment, and direction. I am so grateful that God is faithful and answers these prayers according to His will. I am contacted nearly every day by at least one person whose first appearance is that of another Christian, but who is soon revealed to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. I am able to detect this because of God working through our interaction to reveal what is really going on. Sometimes I am not very quick to catch on. However, there are other times that the alarm in my Spirit is going off very early in the conversation that there is something amiss. Those times that I am taken off guard are frustrating for me, but I am still grateful because God does make sure that I eventually catch on that something is not right. It is then that I know I must ground the “discussion” in the succinct, black and white standard of God’s Word.

The scenario I encounter most often in these attacks are attempts to cast doubt on the men of God who teach us. That would include men such as Luther, Bunyan, Owen, Spurgeon, Edwards, MacArthur, Sproul, et cetera. These are personal attacks on their character and I am nearly always taken aback because I simply cannot understand why they do that. I teach from God’s Word. I use exegetical word studies and contextual studies to mine out God’s truth from His Word for the edification of God’s people who read these posts. I am not worshipping these men. I am not placing them up on pedestals of infallibility so the only thing I can come up with that would cause these “attackers” to try to torpedo these men is that they are assuming that we are getting our doctrine from them or that our trust is in them.

The challenge in this blog to any who would disagree with what we post is that any disagreement with any point made in them must be countered through Biblical exegetical expositions. No personal attacks are allowed even against men who lived hundreds of years ago. No, the truth is the truth regardless if it is believed or not. The only valid argument against a statement that professes to be true is to prove it to not be true through Biblical exposition. I have yet to have anyone respond to what we post and discuss here that way. No, it is always personal attacks by quoting men, but there has yet to be one substantial Biblical, exegetically based argument against what we have written.

God never promised that this walk of faith would be free from conflict, temptation, and spiritual ups and downs. In fact, the Bible promises us very succinctly that in the world the Christian will have trouble. Why? It is because genuine Christians are new creations. They are changed. They are continually being drawn to walk through this life on the narrow, difficult path of discipleship. This causes the disciple to not be conformed to this world. Instead, he or she is called to become imitators of Christ Himself. This is a recipe for conflict. It also marks the disciple as someone our enemy is determined to attack and discourage. However, I am writing this post to not discourage you, but to encourage each of you to stand firm, commit yourself to denying your flesh, and making up your mind to live this Christian life intentionally focused on obeying Christ in all things. 

11 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful—for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13 ESV)

Let us look at this passage very carefully. Paul wrote the Epistle of 2 Timothy during his final imprisonment before his execution as a Christian martyr. He was encouraging Timothy to be faithful and a good soldier of the Lord. The phrases “the saying is trustworthy” or “This is a faithful saying” in the New Testament were unique to the Pastoral Epistles (cf. Ephesians 1:15; 4:9; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2 Timothy 2:11; Titus 3:8). This phrase was used to announce that the referenced statement summarized key doctrine. Bible scholars believe that these sayings were well known in the 1^st Century churches as concise expressions of cardinal gospel truth. Therefore vv11-13 of 2 Timothy 2 must be vital for Christians to grasp, take to heart, and meditate upon in order to line up the heart to the will of God.

The first part of this “saying” is, “If we have died with him, we will also live with him.” This refers to the believer’s spiritual participation in Christ’s death and Resurrection.

4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. (Romans 6:4-8 ESV)

There is also the possibility for all genuine believers to suffer martyrdom for Christ’s sake, which is supported in the context. Notice also the word “if” at the beginning of each of these statements. This word in Greek in this context could best be understood to be saying, “forasmuch as…” In other words, it is describing the conditionality of Christian authenticity in order for the statement of fact in the statement to be true of the Christian. Therefore, the genuine Christian has died with Christ eternally and could very well die with Him in reality if martyred. That being true then they will also live with Him eternally.

The second true statement about genuine Christians is, “if we endure, we will also reign with him.” This is speaking of perseverance in the face of hardship. Genuine believers persevere to the end (Matthew 24:13; cf. Matthew 10:22; John 8:31; Romans 2:7; Colossians 1:23). Since all genuine believers prove their authenticity by persevering, they will also reign with Him. This is speaking of the New Testament image for the eternal glory what Christians receive through Christ (Matthew 19:28; Romans 5:17; Revelation 3:21; 5:10; 20:4, 6; 22:5).

The third true statement is about disingenuous Christians. It is, “if we deny him, he also will deny us.” This should get our attention. This is speaking of apostasy and its consequences. This is the final, permanent denial of Christ by the apostate. Remember, the Lord restored Peter to Himself even through he denied Christ three times during His trial. Apostasy is different and of eternal consequence. Apostasy marks those who once professed Christ as never truly belonging to Him (1 John 2:19). All apostates will face the reality of one day being denied by Christ (Matthew 10:33).

The final trustworthy saying here is, “if we are faithless,  he remains faithful-for he cannot deny himself.” The word “faithless” here refers to a lack of saving faith, which is unbelief. This is referring to professing Christians who do not really believe. They are in unbelief even though they claim to be Christians. This is not referring to Christians who have a weak or struggling faith. No, we all struggle here at some point in our walk, but there are a great number of professing Christians who are not genuine. These will ultimately deny Christ because their faith is not genuine (James 2:14-26). What does it mean that even though many professing Christians are actually faithless, but Christ is faithful? He is faithful to save all those who truly believe (John 3:16), He is equally faithful to judge all who do not (John 3:18). This is Christ’s faithfulness to Himself. He is Holy and immutable and will be consistent in all He does concerning all believers and unbelievers.

Now my brethren, with these truths about Christ’s faithfulness and the assurance that all genuine believers will endure to the end, be encouraged and confirmed in your heart that you will pursue Christ as you obey Him on the difficult and narrow path of discipleship. Do not be surprised when some come upon you pretending to be a fellow Christian, but whose goal is to discourage and drive a wedge between you and Christ through false doctrine and distracting arguments. Pray continually for wisdom, discernment, and direction. Study God’s Word as much as possible and let no one rob you of that precious time set aside each day to commune with the Saviour in prayer, meditation, and consuming God’s Word. Then place all your hope in Christ alone and His soon return.

Who are the Wheat and Who are the Tares?

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel .” (Genesis 3:9-15 ESV)
24 He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? ’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this. ’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them? ’ 29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:24-30 ESV)
36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law- breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear. (Matthew 13:36-43 ESV)

Several years ago a preacher ask me what a tare was. He knew that I was from Oklahoma and he thought I would know. I am no country boy, but when I was a young man, I worked in a grain elevator. Actually, most wheat farmers I knew complained about a weed, which grew in their fields, they called “Cheat.” I may not be spelling it correctly. I have seen the weed though. Wheat looks like a thick-bladed grass when it is young and green. “Cheat” is a native rye grass whose species name is Lolium Temulentum. When it is young, it looks just like the Wheat. However, when it matures, it has a head on it as does Wheat, but you can tell them apart. Wheat has value, but “Cheat” is a nuisance. We offered a Wheat cleaning service to farmers just prior to planting. To clean Wheat seed we ran it through a screening process to remove any other seeds that were not Wheat. We would drop the grain down a chute into a cleaning machine that had several well-placed screens that allowed only the Wheat grains to make it through the process. The rest of the chaff and weed seeds were waste, which we bagged. Some of the farmers took that waste and fed it to their chickens.

I placed three scripture passages at the beginning of this chapter. The first one explains the events immediately after Adam’s sin that we call the original sin. God questions Adam who blames Eve. God questions Eve who blames the serpent. God then addresses the serpent who we know is Satan. Let us look at that part of the passage again.

14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15 ESV)

This passage is symbolic. The serpent is Satan. The woman represents the Church, which is the elect. The seed of Satan are all reprobate people who are not part of the elect. God proclaims to Satan that He will put enmity between him and the elect. That is no surprise. He also tells him there will be enmity between his seed and the Woman’s seed. Women do not have seed, men do. Women have ovaries and eggs not seed. The Woman’s seed symbolizes those who are not born of Man. This statement symbolizes the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. Is there enmity between Satan and our Lord Jesus Christ? Satan bruised Jesus’ heel at the cross, a non-fatal blow. However, Jesus bruised or crushed Satan’s head, a fatal blow, in His victory over sin at the cross. The seed of the Woman also includes the elect who are regenerated, reborn, through saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This regeneration is followed quickly by justification by God declaring these Born Again believers righteous. This is possible because of the act of Atonement for the elect’s sin. (Romans 5:11) Jesus paid the price for the elect’s sin by becoming sin on the cross. This satisfied the justice of God against that sin. As regeneration becomes fact, because of the Atoning work done by the Lord, God the Father adopts all new believers into the family of God. This is why the Woman’s seed includes Jesus Christ and all believers because God the Father considers all in Christ as Jesus’ brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:14-18)

As we have seen, there is enmity between Satan’s seed and the Woman’s seed. Since the Woman’s seed is Jesus Christ and all of His brothers and sisters, we must conclude Satan and his seed really hate the true Church as much as they hate Him. Satan’s seed are the reprobate non-elect in this world who will never believe. Unlike the unregenerate elect, these unregenerate will always hate God, the gospel, and the true Church.

The next two passages I placed at the beginning of this chapter are a parable Jesus told followed by His interpretation. I have heard many sermons and teachings on the “Wheat and the Tares” parable. After I studied this for myself, I have found that most of those sermons were dead wrong.

Many years ago a very famous evangelist came to our Church in Yukon, Oklahoma when I was a deacon there. He preached a sermon titled, “The Wheat and the Tares.” His sermon had Jesus give this parable to us as a warning that the Church contained true believers (the Wheat) alongside phony believers (the tares). He has boasted that this sermon usually results in most of the deacons at whatever church he preaches it in “getting saved.” I remember like it was just the other day when he preached it in our church. I knew I was a believer and his sermon did not cause me to doubt. When he gave his invitation at the end, he seemed very disappointed when none of our deacons “got resaved.” His approach was Arminian to the core. He also misinterpreted Jesus parable of the Wheat and the Tares. Let’s look at Jesus own interpretation of this parable.

36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. (Matthew 13:36-37 ESV)

Who sows the good seed? Jesus told us that He does that. This is talking about salvation. This is describing the regenerate, the chosen of God, as seed the Lord sows. The seed do not choose this. The sower sows them. The Lord saves those who are His. There is no human choice involved here at all. Where does Jesus sow His good seeds?

38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, Matthew 13:38 ESV)

This verse shows us that Jesus sows His good seed in the world and those seed are the children of the kingdom. The chosen of God are Jesus siblings by adoption. They are God’s children. Since they are in the world this is referring to living believers. This is not a picture of the Church as a whole, but is a picture of believers living in the world. What about the tares, who are they?

38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. (Matthew 13:38-39 ESV)

This is very clear. The tares are Satan’s seed that he planted in the world. Notice very carefully, the Wheat does not become tares and the tares do not become Wheat. This is a very straightforward teaching on election and perseverance of the Saints. God knows those who are His. He also knows who the tares are. Could it be possible for tares to be part of the Church? There most definitely are tares in the visible or physical Church. If there are tares who are professing believers then they are part of what some of us call the “Counterfeit Church”, spiritually. A local church body may very well contain members of both the Counterfeit Church and the true Church, side-by-side. All genuine believers, the chosen, are part of the true Church, spiritually. However, physically they may be part of the Counterfeit Church if they are mired in false doctrine. The physical churches contain believers and non-believers. However, the spiritual true Church is 100% chosen of God. The following diagram may help.

• The Spiritual True Church contains all of the chosen no matter if they are in physical churches that are Counterfeit doctrinally.
• The Spiritual Counterfeit Church contains all false professors.
• The Physical (Visible) True Church contains the chosen that are part of doctrinally pure churches and some false professors.
• The Physical (Visible) Counterfeit Church contains some deceived chosen and many false professors.
• There are millions of tares that are pagans or atheists so are not part of any “church.”

All non-professing reprobate people are Satan’s seed and are not part of any church but are tares in the world. The false professors are those who claim to be Christian but are not so they are Satan’s seed as well. These would be tares in the physical church. The Spiritual true Church contains no tares. The false professors are not the chosen of God. They are tares. What happens to the tares at the end of the age?

39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law- breakers, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 13:39-42 ESV)

There is nothing funny about that message. The chosen of God will avoid the furnace of fire. However, the tares will not. It is at this point the Pelagian, Semi-Pelagian, and Arminian would step up and say something like, “There must be something we can do to get these poor people to decide for Christ in light of their future!” This is not a message of evangelism. This is a message by our Lord about the future of those who are not the chosen of God. However, we must get the gospel to all people because there are many elect who have not yet believed. The gospel must be freely given to all people so the elect will come to faith, but only the chosen of God will believe because they are the only ones given God’s effectual call by His grace.

Who Are the Poor in Spirit?

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 ESV)

One the most disturbing aspects of the churches who practice Christianity “lite” is the near total abandonment of a call to personal holiness. Even more discouraging is the fact that they preach a version of the gospel that has had any mention of repentance severed from it. The reasoning behind this, of course, is that they are building bridges to the unchurched. If they preach the whole gospel they will drive away those they are attempting to draw to join their churches. The problem with that sort of reasoning is that it is based in pragmatism. It is based on fleshly reasoning and the ways of the world. It is actually unbelief in the form of ministry. The architects of Christianity “lite” do not believe that God is still building His Church, therefore, they will do it themselves using marketing techniques constructed around “cultural-relevancy.” They reason that if they build “cool churches” that it will draw people who hate “traditional church.” They may not go to the old Baptist Church on main street, but they might go to a gathering that is more of an entertainment venue than a church.

They claim that they are bringing thousands into the Kingdom by doing church this way. However, we must remember that the gospel they preach goes something like this: “God’s got a great plan for your life. Jesus wants you to be happy and fulfilled. So, why not let Jesus come into our life so He can redecorate it in such a way that you will find true happiness.” Of course, this is just one example, but the gist of this sort of gospel call is all man-based. It presents God as the servant and man as the determiner. There is no mention of sin and the fact that all sinners are condemned in their sin because our Holy God cannot even look upon it. Since this is never mentioned then the call to repent and believe on Jesus is never mentioned either. Instead, it is a call to ask Jesus into their life. Of course, since these folks are not regenerate, they continue in their sins. They may feel guilt about not living like a Christian consistently, but they are not Poor in Spirit. They are not broken and grieving over their sin. Their Christian leaders tell them that their faith has saved them and there is really no need to worry about obedience and repentance. They counsel them to try to live holy lives, but they have no way to help them do so because they don’t believe that Christians are actually changed at the new birth.

What does the Bible say about this? Look at the passage I placed at the top of this post. Read it carefully. What does it tell us? Who has the Kingdom of Heaven? Is Jesus telling us that the Kingdom of Heaven will contain the poor in spirit plus everyone who professed Him as Saviour? No, this is telling us that those who are genuine Christians are those who are not self-sufficient. They humbly recognize their own spiritual bankruptcy apart from God. Their lostness and hopelessness apart from the grace of God causes them to be broken and grieving. They are not grieving because they might go to Hell, but are broken because their sin and rebellion has offended our Holy, Just, and Righteous God.

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)

Who is Jesus calling to Himself in this passage? They are those who labor and are heavy laden. The Greek word translated “labor” simply means to work hard, however the word translated here as “heavy laden” is very different. It describes one who is “overburdened with ceremony.” This is describing those who have realized that they cannot do anything to please God with their religiosity or good works. However, as Jesus calls them they realize their spiritual bankruptcy and see the great chasm between them and God. They realize they can do nothing to bridge that gap, but Jesus is calling and telling them that if they come to Him that He will give them rest. What is involved with “coming to Jesus?” We find that in v29. They must first take up Christ’s yoke. What is this? This is His Lordship. We must get this down and never forget it. All calls to repent are calls to submit to His Lordship. All calls to submit to His Lordship are calls to repent. Both are calls to humble oneself before Him in submission and surrender. What happens when these Poor in Spirit folks take up His yoke? Christ teaches them and they will find rest for their souls. This is a permanent rest from having to work for salvation in the grace of God.

Now, how do people become Poor in Spirit? Is it their natural tendency or is it caused by something God does. As we saw in the passage above, Jesus calls and they realize their spiritual bankruptcy, they became Poor in Spirit. But what caused it and when did it happen?

27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27 ESV)

Who is Sovereign in salvation? Is it man or is it God? This is a pretty emphatic statement by our Lord. What we must never forget is divine election as we see in v27 is not incompatible with the free offer to all we see in vv28-30. How could this be true? All unregenerate humans stubbornly cling to their sinful rebellion. In fact all are spiritually dead outside of God’s grace. Unless God “quickens” people unto the New Birth they will never see their spiritual bankruptcy. However, once He does that, once the incredible gulf between God’s Holiness and Righteousness and their utter spiritual bankruptcy is revealed to them, they respond in brokenness. They are now Poor in Spirit. They see their utter lostness for the first time. We see this clearly in Ephesians 2:1-10.

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV)

Jesus is calling them to come to Him for rest. They then respond by repenting and believing according to the gift of faith given to them by God. (Ephesians 2:8) Now they have rest for their souls because they are now saved by grace through faith. They are the Poor in Spirit and theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The Deity of Christ — J.C. Ryle

“My Father has given me authority over everything. No one really knows the Son except the Father, and no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” – Luke 10:22

“These are the words of one who was very God of very God, and no mere man. We read of no patriarch, or prophet, or apostle, or saint, of any age, who ever used words like these. They reveal to our wondering eyes a little of the mighty majesty of our Lord’s nature and person. They show Him to us, as the Head over all things, and King of kings–’all things are delivered to me of my Father.’ They show Him as one distinct from the Father, and yet entirely one with Him, and knowing Him in an unspeakable manner. ‘No man knows who the Son is but the Father–and who the Father is but the Son.’ They show Him, not least, as the Mighty Revealer of the Father to the sons of men, as the God who pardons iniquity, and loves sinners for His Son’s sake–’no one really knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Let us repose our souls confidently on our Lord Jesus Christ. He is one who is ‘mighty to save.’ Many and weighty as our sins are, Christ can bear them all. Difficult as is the work of our salvation, Christ is able to accomplish it. If Christ was not God as well as man we might indeed despair. But with such a Savior as this we may begin boldly, and press on hopefully, and await death and judgment without fear. Our help is laid on one that is mighty. (Psalm 89:19.) Christ over all, God blessed forever, will not fail any one that trusts in Him.”

- J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)
taken from: Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: St. Luke, Volume 1.

How to Have Peace in Every Circumstance — J.C. Ryle

J.C. Ryle, 

Bibles read without prayer,—sermons heard without prayer,—marriages contracted without prayer,—journeys undertaken without prayer,—residences chosen without prayer, —friendships formed without prayer,— the daily act of private prayer itself hurried over, or gone through without heart,—these are the kind of downward steps by which many a Christian descends to a condition of spiritual palsy, or reaches the point where God allows him to have a tremendous fall.

This is the process which forms the lingering Lots,— the unstable Samsons,—the wife idolizing Solomons, —the inconsistent Asas,—the pliable Jehoshaphats,— the over-careful Marthas,—of whom so many are to be found in the Church of Christ. Often the simple history of such cases is this, they became careless about private prayer. . .

We live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came in. There cannot be sin without sorrow. And till sin is driven out from the world, it is vain for any one to suppose he can escape sorrow.

Some without doubt have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others. But few are to be found who live long without sorrows or cares of one sort or another. Our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relations, our servants, our friends, our neighbours, our worldly callings, each and all of these are fountains of care. Sicknesses, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander, all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Some day or other they find us out. The greater are our affections the deeper are our afflictions, and the more we love the more we have to weep.

And what is the best receipt for cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better receipt than the habit of taking everything to God in prayer.

This is the plain advice that the Bible gives, both in the Old Testament and in the New. What says the Psalmist? “Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” (Psalm 1. 15.) “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.” (Psalm lv. 22.) ‘What says the apostle Paul? “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Phil. iv. 6, 7.) What says the apostle James? “Is any afflicted among you? let him pray.”

This was the practice of all the saints whose history we have recorded in the Scriptures. This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau. This is what Moses did when the people were ready to stone him in the wilderness. This is what Joshua did when Israel was defeated before Ai. This is what David did when he was in danger at Keilah. This is what Hezekiah did when he received the letter from Sennacherib. This is what the Church did when Peter was put in prison. This is what Paul did when he was cast into the dungeon at Philippi.

The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is the trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will only tell their troubles to God, He will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will find one day that the very grasshopper is a burden.

There is a friend ever waiting to help us if we will only unbosom to Him our sorrow,—a friend who pitied the poor, and sick, and sorrowful, when He was upon earth,—a friend who knows the heart of man, for He lived thirty-three years as a man amongst us,—a friend who can weep with the weepers, for He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,—a friend who is able to help us, for their never was earthly pain He could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to Him. . .

Jesus can make those happy who trust Him and call on Him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison,—contentment in the midst of poverty, —comfort in the midst of bereavements,—joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fulness in Him for all His believing members, —a fulness that is ready to be poured out on every one that will ask in prayer. Oh! that men would understand that happiness does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.

Prayer can lighten crosses for us however heavy. It can bring down to our side one who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down one who will say, “This is the way, walk in it.” Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down one who will say, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down one who can fill the gap in our hearts with Himself, and say to the waves within, “Peace, be still.” Oh! that men were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them!

taken from: J.C. Ryle, Home Truths: Being Miscellaneous Addresses and Tracts, Volume 2, 1859.

Grace that is greater than all my sin...

Grace that is greater than all my sin...

...the common assertion, "You just need to believe the gospel more," essentially undermines the position of the antinomian... - Antinomianism, Mark Jones

Yesterday, I was speaking with a young student about his faith and he was describing a church he'd attended when he was in high school. He said that, while wrong on a number of Biblical truths, the church "got grace."

A few minutes later, he spoke of the first Sunday he attended another church. He'd been displeased by the preaching because it focussed on specific Biblical truths. As he saw it, specific truths weren't needed as much as simple faith in Jesus, so he left the worship service angry. Another student met with him during the following week, and as he described it, "(John) did an excellent job helping me to see my pride. It was the first time I saw my sin. Grace."

Yes, that's precisely how he said it. "Grace" came out sort of under his breath, as an afterthought. He didn't say, "It was the first time I saw my sin and God's grace." He didn't say, "It was the first time I saw my sin and understood grace." He said, "It was the first time I saw my sin." Full stop. Then a soft and almost imperceptible... utterance: "grace..."

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.

The problem with many churches today is not that there's too much grace, but that there's no grace. Remember my young Christian brother had just said a couple minutes earlier that his earlier church "got grace?" Yet, just a few minutes later he said that it wasn't until a man pointed out his pride to him that he came to see his sin "for the first time." So in what sense did his prior church "get grace" if he'd never been brought under conviction of his sin there?

Let me tell you what I suspect. The earlier church had made a big show of "getting grace" and their marketing worked. Everybody told everybody they were the church that "got grace." And in the church that "got grace," everything was "grace" this and "grace" that and "grace" the other thing. But it was an empty mantra because that church didn't preach God's perfect law and man's perfect depravity and Christ's perfect righteousness. This seems the best explanation of this brother telling me the first church "got grace," but then a minute or two later uttering "grace" almost subconsciously after explaining his first realization of how sinful he was.

Many Protestant churches today are led by pastors who are opposed to calling men to repent. These men are antinomian ('anti' meaning "against" and 'nomos' meaning "law"), but they certainly don't announce it. The sheep would be scared off.

Instead, they patter on and on about "grace" this and "grace" that and "grace" the other thing, with the occasional "Ya'll know you need grace, right?" thrown in for good measure. They are enemies of the holiness without which no man will see God, hiding their hostility underneath grace-patterned camo.

Ask them how the souls in our churches come to know they need grace if God's Law and His coming judgment are never proclaimed, and they answer:

"People already know they're sinners. People are materialistic and selfish—they get it. Everyone gets it! People don't need the law—they need grace. They don't get grace. They think they have to perform better, to be better, to try harder, to make themselves good enough. But no one can ever be good enough for God. It's grace they don't get! The church is all about performance, so I'm calling people back to the wonderful grace of God, to freedom in Christ. That's my calling."

Thus souls seeking relief from ennui, angst, and alienation are pacified with cheap grace, never coming to the knowledge of God's holiness and their depravity, and thus never coming to any knowledge of grace. They sing and talk of it. They drone on about grace being their deepest passion, but they're graceless because they've never been under the preaching of God's Law and judgment.

Any explanation of God's grace to sinful man must begin with this explanation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit given us by Jesus:

But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment" (John 16:7, 8).

In certain circumstances when the sin is serious and has become public, our elders require the repentant soul to confess his sin publicly before the congregation. Anyone who has had the privilege of being a part of those services will testify to you that they have never seen or felt the power of God's grace more than then. Those services of worship are not punitive or moralistic or Pharisaical, but joyful and holy and pure and joyful. All of Heaven rejoices and it's contagious.

Forget all the verbiage: where God's Law is not preached, men are not called to repentance; and men who have not repented know nothing of the precious grace of God.

Ennui, angst, and alienation are simply the sorrow of the world. 

For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2Corinthians 7:10)

What we must pray for and preach towards and seek is the sorrow that is according to the will of God, the sorrow that produces repentance without regret, leading to salvation. Pastors who love their sheep will preach and counsel toward that sorrow, knowing it is all of grace.

So, the reason "the common assertion 'You just need to believe the gospel more' essentially undermines the position of the antinomian" is that believing the Gospel more is, in the antinomian scheme, the work that pleases God.

Tim Keller's "divine dance": the Trinitarian twist...

Reading some of Tim Keller's books recently, certain emphases stood out. One being something he calls the "divine dance." Keller prefers framing discussions of the Trinity with this analogy. He concludes with it in The Reason for God and opens with it in King's Cross (aka Jesus the King: Understanding the Life and Death of the Son of God)...

Exploring the background to this analogy, I came across a very helpful book, Engaging with Keller: Thinking Through the Theology of an Influential Evangelical, contributed by various authors, including Pastor Kevin J. Bidwell.

In chapter three, Pastor Bidwell delves into Keller's "divine dance," highlighting significant problems with the analogy. Engaging with Keller has been reviewed several times and I've noticed this chapter three receives the brunt of reviewers' criticism. Reading those criticisms, though, the criticisms seem to be due to our ignorance of the doctrine of the Trinity and our sloppy thinking.

Pastor Bidwell studied under Robert Letham for his M.Th. and Ph.D. Letham is one of the most helpful contemporary theologians on the doctrine of the Trinity with a knowledge of historical theology that is vast, deep, and very helpful to the church. And from these two students of the doctrine of the Trinity, we learn that Pastor Keller's divine dance isn't simply a weak analogy. Rather, it is Keller's paradigm for the relationship within the Trinity, as well as man's relation to the Trinity in redemption.

As Pastor Keller states it, the "dance" of the Trinity precludes any notion of self-centeredness. Rather, it is a constant voluntary deferral from one Person to the other Members of the Trinity:

The life of the Trinity is characterized not by self-centeredness but by mutually self-giving love. When we delight and serve someone else, we enter into a dynamic orbit around him or her, we center on the interests and desires of the other. That creates a dance, particularly if there are three persons, each of whom moves around the other two. So it is, the Bible tells us. Each of the divine persons centers upon the others. None demands that the others revolve around him. Each voluntarily circles the other two, pouring love, delight, and adoration into them. Each person of the Trinity loves, adores, defers to, and rejoices in the others. That creates a dynamic pulsating dance of joy and love. The early leaders of the Greek church had a word for this—perichoresis. Notice the root of our word ‘choreography’ is within it. It means literally to "dance or flow around." [1]

Although Pastor Keller references both C.S. Lewis and Cornelius Plantinga in support of the particularities of his "divine dance," he's hanging his hat on Plantinga. Pastor Bidwell writes:

Such a concept (of mutual deferral) is not to be found in the Nicene Creed or the Reformed confessions and catechisms...One place such language is to be found, however, is in the "Men, Women, and Biblical Equality" statement of which Plantinga is listed as an endorsing signatory. The statement includes the following: 'In the church, spiritual gifts of women and men are to be recognized...in pastoral care, teaching, preaching, and worship [...] In the Christian home, husband and wife are to defer to each other ..." [2]

Pastor Bidwell goes on to explain that Plantinga is simply projecting his egalitarianism onto the Trinity. 

"Ah", you say, "but that's only Plantinga, Keller is a complementarian." 

Sure, Pastor Keller is a complementarian...

"Perhaps Pastor Keller is simply rehabilitating a helpful concept. Perhaps he's appropriating helpful ways of communicating timeless truths from contemporary sources," you say?

Perhaps.

But then again, maybe Keller is accommodating God's truth to the preferences and tastes of his contemporary audience. No one of a metropolitan persuasion would find a divine dance offensive. It would reaffirm their sensibilities.

Then too, Keller's definition of 'perichoresis' is wrong. Perichoresis does not "literally" mean "to dance or flow around." Neither in etymology nor historical theology is there any basis for a connection between perichoresis and choreography. Rather, this etymological error seems to have been the brainchild of Feminist theologians such as Catherine Mowry LaCugna.

Pastor Bidwell points out that LaCugna admits there's no philological warrant connecting dance to perichoresis, but she links them together anyway. Why?

The divine dance imagery eliminates the divine ordering of the three Persons of the Trinity.

Some might defend Keller by saying he's simply highlighting the dynamic and perpetual activity of the Trinity over and against a static view of God. Perhaps, but if it's all about dynanism versus stasis, Pastor Bidwell highlights how Keller's "divine dance" portrays the wrong kind of motion:

There is a dynamic movement between the persons of the Trinity. This is the act of the Father eternally begetting the Son, and then sending him as the God-man, along with the action of the procession of the Holy Spirit. These movements do not portray the being of God as static, but that of one who is "outward-moving." [3]

This is the Trinitarian motion ordered according to God's Word.

Living deep within egalitarianism, though, it should surprise no one that Keller's "divine dance" hamstrings the Trinitarian motion revealed by Scripture. Bidwell points out the crucial question is "How are we to distinguish the three persons..."

Keller's "divine dance" of perpetual deferral does not describe the Trinitarian God revealed in the Bible.

In Keller's "dance," it's impossible to distinguish "who's who" among the three Persons of the Trinity. [4][5] His dance eliminates ordering, leaving each Person of the Trinity interchangeable with the other Members of the Trinity. Bidwell notes:

The notion that the Trinitarian persons 'defer to one another' is inadequate to handle the teaching that Christ is sent by the Father, and that the Son, as mediator, obeys the Father, he does not 'defer to' the Father. [6]

Pastor Bidwell raises many other problems with Keller's construct, doing so with clarity, helpfulness, thoroughness and great organization—all in approximately 30 pages, which is no small feat. I commend this book to you.

There would be very little reason to criticize Tim Keller's use of the dance analogy if he used it in passing to communicate a singular truth. Instead of an aside, though, this is Keller's paradigm for the Trinity. And within Reformed circles, Keller's egalitarian paradigms are très chic.

[1] Reason for God, pp. 214-215

[2] Engaging with Keller, pp. 110

[3] ibid, pp. 114-115

[4] ibid, pp. 117

[5] ibid, pp. 119: "Without this ordering of the persons, all you have are three interchangeable persons having names that mean nothing. The 'divine dance' teaching that lacks the doctrines of the eternal generation of the Son and the distinguishing relational properties of the persons of the Trinity thereby introduces theological weakness into the doctrine of the Trinity, with implications for Christology. This metaphor then, does not serve to enhance our appreciation for the doctrine of the Trinity, it undermines it."

I have noted elsewhere this same tendency in Reformed circles. I would have liked for Pastor Bidwell to delve into the Christological implications, but that likely exceeded the purview of his chapter. One possibility may include an implicit Nestorianism when shifting the metaphor of dance with regard to the Son to His incarnation. Another possibility may be a form of Adoptionism where the appellation of "Son" is in consequence to His incarnation (both could actually be implied).

[6] ibid, pp. 123

Sermon notes: Galatians Number 7...

NOTE: This is number 6 in a series on Galatians. If this is your first time reading sermon notes here, please take time to read a helpful explanation at the bottom of this post.

* Galatians 1:6-10 This is the Word of God, eternally true.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. (NASB95)

We have a habit of speech when we want to add an explosive element to the rebuke of a family member, yet to keep the rebuke fairly soft. We say something like, “I can’t believe you did that! What on earth were you thinking?” Or, “It boggles my mind you could have even thought about doing that, let alone actually do it!”

So the Apostle Paul begins the substance of his letter to the Galatians saying, “I can’t believe…,” “It boggles my mind…,” or “I am amazed."

What boggles the Apostle Paul’s mind?

His mind is boggled that they are deserting Jesus Christ for another gospel; and not just deserting Him, but doing it with "so quickly.”

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel;

Adding to his incredulity is the fact that the One the Galatians are deserting is the One Who had “called them by the grace of Christ.” In other words, part of the surprise the Apostle Paul expresses is the fact that the Galatians were abandoning Jesus Christ so soon after He saved them. No sooner had He drawn them to Himself than they turned away from Him. To Paul, this was too hard to believe.

Note how different, though, is the Apostle Paul’s reproof of the Galatian believers than his condemnation of the false shepherds who were leading them away from the Gospel. To the Galatians, his rebuke is fatherly, whereas the rebuke he is about to unleash against their false shepherds is a flame of white hot intensity:

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!

Why such a difference?

Because leaders are always judged more severely than those they are to lead.

James 3:1 “1 Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.”

And when leaders fail by leading souls astray, leading the sheep under their care away from Jesus, it is not simply this world’s judgement that they come under, but that of the next—the judgement of God. Remember Jesus’ warning:

Matthew 7:22, 23 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

It was no small thing that was at stake with the new interpretation of the Gospel taking the Galatian church by storm. Rather, this new interpretation was nothing less than a denial of the Gospel, the true way of salvation.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Look at what the Apostle Paul writes and it’s clear that the false teachers, false shepherds, are leading the Christians there in Galatia to desert Jesus Christ, to believe another Gospel that was really not another Gospel, but bondage; instead of healing and guarding the Galatians, they were disturbing them and distorting the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God to save all those who believe.

And part of what saddened Paul about the situation was that it all happened so quickly—he says that he is “amazed (they) are so quickly deserting (Jesus).”

We cannot date this letter precisely, but it’s likely Paul wrote it within just a few years of the time he preached the Gospel in Galatia and saw many souls believe in Jesus Christ.

It’s not hard, then, to imagine why his disappointment is so raw as he writes. Imagine a pastor who labors faithfully within a congregation, establishing them in the Good News of Jesus Christ and teaching the path of Christian discipleship. Seeing them well on their way to Christian maturity, he receives a call to another place and moves on. Then several years later, he hears that the people he loved are now under the sway of another pastor who is not faithful, but is leading them back into bondage to the law.

And noting that one of the things he finds it most difficult to bear is that it’s all happened so quickly—so soon after they first came to Christ—we ought to take warning ourselves concerning the ease with which we too might find ourselves led astray.

1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

We must be on guard today against those who seek to lead Christians astray, enticing them to deny the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is no little thing to find a wolf among the sheep, and finding one preying among them, shepherds must be as bloody as the Apostle Paul, not hesitating to enter the fray, risking their lives for the souls God has called them to guard.

Think of the Children of Israel, wandering in the desert; and how quickly their hearts turned back to the bondage, the slavery, of Egypt:

Exodus 16:1-3 “1 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. [in other words, about forty-five days after they had been freed by God from their bondage] 2 The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.””

Just so, the believers in Galatia had been set free by the Son of God, but were now turning back to bondage; they were ready to trade in their freedom in Christ for bondage to the Law and Satan.

Luke 4:16-21 And He (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME, BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.””

John 8:31-36 “31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” 33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” 34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 “The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. 36 “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

Galatians 5:1-4 “1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.”

Note that the false shepherds come, not as demons denying Christ explicitly, but as if they were really as faithful to Jesus Christ as the Apostle Paul, only they had more truth—a more impassioned and faithful Gospel than Paul. Claiming apostolic authority, they aimed to improve upon the Gospel. And this is the way of Satan attacking the Church still today, seeking to subvert souls safely gathered into her bosom, drawing them down the road to perdition under the guise of leading them to Heaven.

2 Corinthians 11:12-15 But what I am doing I will continue to do, so that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. 13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

But the center of the truth-question the Apostle Paul addresses in Galatians is not a matter of whose apostolic credentials are true and whose false; rather, the center is the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus Christ—and men and angels demonstrate the legitimacy of their claims of authority by their actions either defending or attacking that Gospel.

You can imagine what the Judaizers were saying about the Apostle Paul:

That man Paul is not a true apostle, but only a Johnny-come-lately to the Jerusalem crowd. You remember that he used to run around persecuting the church—men and women alike? And we all know a leopard can’t change its spots; he’s dangerous and he’ll do anything to get an audience. Always the big statement—the grand gesture—for him. He only barely escaped from Damascus; he was such a troublemaker that he had to be let down over the city wall in a basket in order to escape. And then, remember Lystra? There he was, stoned and dragged out of the city, left for dead. He was beaten in Philippi, and then again, outside the temple in Jerusalem.

No, there’s something not entirely trustworthy about this man, Paul, and you Galatians need to be careful placing all your eggs in his basket.

And another thing; he’s inconsistent. Why does he tell you Galatians not to circumcise yourselves, whereas he has his pet junior preacher, Timothy, circumcised? What’s that about, huh? Which is it, Paul? Make up your mind. Talk about speaking with a forked tongue.

Look, dear Galatian friends, if you want to be safe, you better travel further down the path of faith than where Paul dropped you off. Truth is, he wants to reserve the best stuff for his family and friends—for Timothy, for instance—while holding you at bay, back in the milk stage.

Apostle my foot; what a hypocrite!

Often we place our faith in the man rather than the truth of his message. And down through history, this is a great danger to the Church and her souls.

Paul makes this danger clear in verses 8 and 9:

8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

No man is to be trusted, but God and His Word alone. To raise a man into the position of infallibility is idolatry. And the Apostle Paul makes this clear by going through a list of those not to be trusted, starting with himself. Who is not to be trusted?

Paul starts with himself, then goes to the angels, and finally to any other man. And he says that none of them—not even himself or the angels from Heaven—are to be listened to or trusted if they turn away from the true Gospel, to a false one.

In fact, he doesn’t say they are not to be trusted, but he says they are to be devoted to the Lord; in other words, to be accursed, or damned.

“Let them be accursed!”

“Let them be damned,” he declares.

Papal claim of infallibility when speaking ex cathedra.Then remembering their accusations against him, the Apostle Paul turns from calling down fire from heaven on the false shepherds, back to the sheep. And he pleads with them, on gut level, to stop and consider whether things are, really, as the false preachers claim. Who is it really seeking to please them? Who is it really who’s scratching their ears? Who really ought properly to be acknowledged as the man-pleaser?

10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Come, Though Long Expected Jesus

-by Charles Welsey

Come, Thou long expected Jesus

Born to set Thy people free;

From our fears and sins release us,

Let us find our rest in Thee.

Israel’s strength and consolation,

Hope of all the earth Thou art;

Dear desire of every nation,

Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,

Born a child and yet a King,

Born to reign in us forever,

Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.

By Thine own eternal Spirit

Rule in all our hearts alone;

By Thine all sufficient merit,

Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

* * *

EXPLANATION: Sermons are pastoral, and therefore of only limited value to those who are not present when a pastor feeds the flock God called him to serve. Yet, knowing even notes may be of some value to others, I'm posting past sermon notes here on Baylyblog. Because the notes weren't written for publication, no editor has cleaned them up for reproduction on the web. So, for instance, although the notes I take into the pulpit have formatting that highlights quotes, I haven't taken the time to reproduce that formatting here.

Please keep in mind these are only notes and not a transcription of the sermon that was preached. It is my commitment to depart from them, seeking freedom from the Holy Spirit to proclaim and apply God's Word to the souls under my care in a way that is helpful to them and gives all glory to God.

Bible quotes are from the New American Standard Bible (Updated '95 Edition). This is the best Bible available in the English language, having by far the closest correspondence of any English Bible in common use today between the original Hebrew and Greek and the English translation. We should all own a print Bible and it should be a two or three decade investment, so here are the NASB Bibles that will read easily and hold together best for twenty years. Their paper is opaque, their type is clean, their binding is superb, and I have no hesitation saying you would do well to spend one or two hundred dollars on one for yourself, your wife, and each of your children.

If the reader has good eyes, buy the Pitt Minion. It's very small and light and will last for decades. If the reader has fading or poor eyesight, buy the Clarion Reference. It has the larger typeface and, again, will last for decades. If the reader likes writing notes in the margin, buy the Wide-Margin Reference. It's big and heavy and you will be able to write to your heart's content.

Finally, near the beginning of each week's notes you will often notice repetition from the previous week. Each week I pick up where I left off the previous week.

May God bless you, dear brother and sister, as you study the Word of God and, only by faith, find it sweeter than honey.