Let’s get spiritual!

Okay.  I’ve got two confessions to make:

1. I dislike talk about being”spiritual”.

2. I dislike talk about”spirituality”.

Why is that?

Most of the time when people start talking about “spirituality”, this sort of image comes to mind:

 Okay.  I tell a lie.

More often than not, this is what comes to mind:

The topic of “spirituality” cause me pain, mostly because the topic has generally become an excuse for flakes and fools (and life coaches…*shudder*) to unleash whatever completely nonsense ideas on the general public under the cover of painful ambiguity.

Nobody defines the terms biblically, since almost nobody who talks about “spirituality” has much concern for the Bible (let alone exegetical ability).  Nobody talks about spirituality with any sort of clarity, since clarity would unveil the charade of the whole discussion (and unveil the general theme of “clueless” pervading the conversation).  As far as I’m concerned, the term “spirituality” is a get-out-of-jail pass for people to share their favorite “kinda makes you think…” ideas on matters related to positive thinking, the angelic realm, or metaphysics in general.

What’s worse is that I recently started reading a popular-level book on spirituality (because I’m an absolute masochist and a friend asked for my opinion) and it was so utterly painful, I actually screamed and threw the book…several times.  In the book, “spirituality” is defined as “the quest for relationship to the Other”.

Good.

Gravy.

“the quest for relationship to the Other”.

That’s a definition so broad that it’s impossible not to accomplish it.

Do you try to have a relationship with any form of “the Other”, personal or impersonal, real or imagined?

Hooray!  Whether you succeed or fail is irrelevant.  You’re spiritual just for trying!  Yay!

That definition aims at fruit hanging so low you need a shovel to get at it…

Now, here’s a different question that I’ve never actually seen addressed:

What does God think about “spirituality”?

Erm…that might be a little more than I can tackle in a blog post.  I’d love to write a 10 part series on the whole topic and provide a whole lot of answers, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Let’s refine the question to something manageable:

What does spiritual, as in the adjectival form of “spirit”, mean in the Bible?

Well, the Greek term is pneumatikos, which is the adjectival form of pneuma.  Pneuma basically carries the idea of energy, movement, wind, etc. when it’s not a proper noun referring to the Holy Spirit.  We still have it in English, thousands of years later, popping up in words like “pneumatic”.

The adjective pneumatikos appears 26 times in the Bible:

1.  It qualifies the word “gifts” once (Romans 1:11) and is used as shorthand for “spiritual gifts” twice (1 Corinthians 12:1, 14:1).

2.  It is contrasted with the idea of “carnal” 9 times in the New Testament:

- Being “spiritual” is contrasted with being carnal; (sold under sin) in Romans 7:14

- “Spiritual” blessings contrasted with “carnal” blessings (namely, money) in Romans 15:27

- “Spiritual” truths (divine revelation) are contrasted with human wisdom (human knowledge) in 1 Corinthians 2:13

- The “spiritual” man (the man of regenerate mind) is contrasted with the “natural” man (the man of unregenerate mind) in 1 Corinthians 2:14-15.

- “Spiritual” people are contrasted with “people of the flesh”, which is further explained to mean “infants in Christ” in 1 Corinthians 3:1

- “Spiritual” things (i.e. the teaching of the gospel and the word of God) is contrasted with “material things” (namely, money) in 1 Corinthians 9:11.

- A “Spiritual” body (post-resurrection body) is contrasted with a “natural” body (pre-resurrection body) in 1 Corinthians 15:44 & 46.

3.  It is used in a metaphor (“spiritual food” and “spiritual drink”) that means something along the lines of “divine sustenance” or “divine preserving power” in 1 Corinthians 10:3-4, and it appears in a similar way in 1 Peter 2:5, which speaks of the assembly of believers in the body of Christ and the sacrifices offered via Christ (i.e. the acceptable “sacrifice” of obedience, only possible through the imputed righteousness of Christ.)

4.  It is used in parallel with the term “prophet” in 1 Corinthians 14:37 as a general term referring to someone who is a highly mature believer , and in Galatians 6:1 it is used as a shorthand term for someone who is a mature believer.

5.  It is used adjectivally to describe all the various blessings given to believers in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), songs believers sing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16) and wicked forces aligned against believers (Ephesians 6:12).

6.  It is used as a shorthand for “divine” in Colossians 1:9; referring to “divine” knowledge (i.e. revelation) that believers have in parallel with wisdom.

So there you go.

There’s every usage of the term “spiritual” (pneumatikos) in the New Testament, categorized by usage.  As you can see, a majority of the usages basically are contrasts with “carnal”, and the “spiritual” person in the New Testament is the person who is a mature believer that walks in obedience to the Lord.  Not that complex.

A “spiritual” person is someone who is instructed, empowered, gifted, blessed, and obedient to the Holy Spirit.

Talk of “being spiritual” is synonymous with talk about “being a mature Christian”.

So, the next time someone tells you that they’re into “spirituality”, I’d suggest responding “Oh?  I’m struggling to be a mature Christian too!”  Then, when they protest and start talking about monism vs. dualism or their inner light, you can say “Oh…you said ‘spiritual’ but you meant ‘nominal Hindu’. Gotcha!  I was thinking more about how the term is used by God, not Mike Meyers…” and then make a beeline for the gospel and help them understand true spirituality.

 

What Would Jonathan Edwards Say If a Teenage Girl Wrote to Him for Spiritual Advice?

In early April of 1741, the pastor of the church in Suffield (then part of Massachusetts, now part of Connecticut) passed away. On April 14, Jonathan Edwards filled the pulpit, and the church experienced an awakening to the things of the gospel. (Just three months later he would preach his famous sermon on “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in neighboring Enfield, just 10 miles to the east across the Connecticut River.)

Six weeks after his return to Northampton from Suffield, he received a letter from 18-year-old Deborah Hatheway, who had been recently converted (perhaps under his preaching at her church) and wrote to him for spiritual counsel on how to live as a Christian. This letter (reprinted below from the Yale edition), was later published as Advice to Young Converts and became Edwards’s most famous printed work (after Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God), with hundred of thousands printed. It is an interesting window into Edwards’s gentle and pastoral tone with young people in particular.

– 91 –* * *

Northampton

June 3, 1741

Dear Child,

As you desired me to send you in writing some directions, how to conduct yourself in your Christian course, I would now answer your request. The sweet remembrance of the great things I have lately seen at Suffield, and the dear affections for those persons I have there conversed with, that give good evidences of a saving work of God upon their hearts, inclines me to do anything that lies in my power, to contribute to the spiritual joy and prosperity of God’s people there. And what I write to you, I would also say to other young women there, that are your friends and companions and the children of God; and therefore desire you would communicate it to them as you have opportunity.

[1] I would advise you to keep up as great a strife and earnestness in religion in all parts of it, as you would do if you knew yourself to be in a state of nature and was seeking conversion. We advise persons under convictions to be earnest and violent for the kingdom of heaven, but when they have attained to conversion they ought not to be the less watchful, laborious and earnest in the whole work of religion, but the more; for they are under infinitely greater obligations. For want of this, many persons in a few months after their conversion have begun to lose the sweet and lively sense of spiritual things, and to grow cold and Hat and dark, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows, whereas if they had done as the Apostle did, Philippians 3:12-14, their path would have been as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day. Don’t leave off seeking, striving and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted persons to strive for, and a degree of which you have had in conversion. Thus pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive your sight, that you may know your self, and be brought to God’s foot, and that you may see the glory of God

– 92 –and Christ and may be raised from the dead, and have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart; for those that have most of these things, had need still to pray for them; for there is so much blindness and hardness and pride and death remaining, that they still need to have that work of God wrought upon them, further to enlighten and enliven them; that shall be a bringing out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and a kind of new conversion and resurrection from the dead. There are very few requests that are proper for a natural person, but that in some sense are proper for the godly.

[2] When you hear sermons hear ‘em for yourself: though what is spoken in them may be more especially directed to the unconverted, or to those that in other respects are in different circumstances from yourself. Yet let the chief intent of your mind be to consider with yourself, in what respects is this that I hear spoken, applicable to me, and what improvement ought I to make of this for my own soul’s good? Though God has forgiven and forgotten your past sins, yet don’t forget ‘em yourself: often remember what a wretched bond slave you was in the land of Egypt. Often bring to mind your particular acts of sin before conversion, as the blessed apostle Paul is often mentioning his old blaspheming, persecuting and injuriousness, to the renewed humbling of his heart and acknowledging that he was the least of the apostles, and not worthy to be called an apostle, and the least of all saints, and the chief of sinners. And be often in confessing your old sins to God, and let that text be often in your mind, Ezekiel 16:63, “That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.” Remember that you have more cause, on some accounts a thousand times, to lament and humble yourself for sins that have been since conversion than before, because of the infinitely greater obligations that are upon you to live to God. And look upon the faithfulness of Christ in unchangeably continuing his loving favor, and the unspeakable and saving fruits of his everlasting love, notwithstanding all your great unworthiness since your conversion, to be as great or wonderful, as his grace in converting you. Be always greatly abased for your remaining sin, and never think that you lie low enough for it, but yet don’t be at all discouraged or disheartened by it; for though we are exceeding sinful, yet we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the preciousness of whose blood, and the merit of whose righteousness and the greatness

– 93 –of whose love and faithfulness does infinitely overtop the highest mountains of our sins.

[3] When you engage in the duty of prayer, or come to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or attend any other duty of divine worship, come to Christ as Mary Magdalene did, Luke 7:37-38. Come and cast yourself down at his feet and kiss ‘em, and pour forth upon him the sweet perfumed ointment of divine love, out of a pure and broken heart, as she poured her precious ointment out of her pure, alabaster, broken box.

Remember that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin that ever was, and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan’s whole building, and is the most difficultly rooted out, and is the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts, and often creeps in, insensibly, into the midst of religion and sometimes under the disguise of humility. That you may pass a good judgment of the frames you are in, always look upon those the best discourses and the best comforts that have most of these two effects, viz. those that make you least, lowest, and most like a little child; and secondly, those that do most engage and fix your heart in a full and firm disposition to deny yourself for God, and to spend and be spent for him.

If at any time you fall into doubts about the state of your soul under darkness and dull frames of mind, ’tis proper to look over past experiences, but yet don’t consume too much of your time and strength in poring and puzzling thoughts about old experiences, that in dull frames appear dim and are very much out of sight, at least as to that which is the cream and life and sweetness of them: but rather apply yourself with all your might, to do an earnest pursuit after renewed experiences, new light, and new, lively acts of faith and love.

One new discovery of the glory of Christ’s face, and the fountain of his sweet grace and love will do more towards scattering clouds of darkness and doubting in one minute, than examining old experiences by the best mark that can be given, a whole year.

When the exercise of grace is at a low ebb, and corruption prevails, and by that means fear prevails, don’t desire to have fear cast out any other way, than by the reviving and prevailing of love, for ’tis not agreeable to the method of God’s wise dispensations that it should be cast out any other way; for when love is asleep, the saints need fear to restrain them from sin and therefore it is so ordered that at such times

– 94 –fear comes upon them, and that more or less as love sinks. But when love is in lively exercise, persons don’t need fear, and the prevailing of love in the heart, naturally tends to cast out fear, as darkness in a room vanishes away as you let more and more of the perfect beams of the sun into it, 1 John 4:18.

[4] You ought to be much in exhorting and counseling and warning others, especially at such a day as this, Hebrews 10:25. And I would advise you especially, to be much in exhorting children and young women your equals; and when you exhort others that are men, I would advise that you take opportunities for it, chiefly when you are alone with them, or when only young persons are present. See 1 Timothy 2:9, 1 Timothy 2:11-12.

When you counsel and warn others, do it earnestly, affectionately and thoroughly.

And when you are speaking to your equals, let your warnings be intermixed with expressions of your sense of your own unworthiness, and of the sovereign grace that makes you differ; and if you can with a good conscience, say how that you in yourself are more unworthy than they.

If you would set up religious meetings of young women by yourselves, to be attended once in a while, besides the other meetings that you attend, I should think it would be very proper and profitable. Under special difficulties, or when in great need of or great longings after any particular mercies for your self or others, set apart a day of secret fasting and prayer alone; and let the day be spent not only in petitions for the mercies you desired, but in searching your heart, and looking over your past life, and confessing your sins before God not as is wont to be done in public prayer, but by a very particular rehearsal before God, of the sins of your past life from your childhood hitherto, before and after conversion, with particular circumstances and aggravations, also very particularly and fully as possible, spreading all the abominations of your heart before him. Don’t let the adversaries of religion have it to say, that these converts don’t carry themselves any better than others. See Matthew 5:47, “What do ye more than others”; how holily should the children of God, and the redeemed and the beloved of the Son of God behave themselves? Therefore walk as a child of the light and of the day and adorn the doctrine of God your Savior; and particularly be much in those things, that may especially be called Christian virtues, and make you like the Lamb of God; be meek and lowly of heart and full of a pure, heavenly and humble love to all; and abound in deeds of love to others,

– 95 –and self-denial for others, and let there be in you a disposition to account others better than yourself.

[5] Don’t talk of things of religion and matters of experience with an air of lightness and laughter, which is too much the manner in many places. In all your course, walk with God and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of Christ’s hand, keeping your eye on the mark of the wounds on his hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robe of his righteousness. Pray much for the church of God and especially that he would carry on his glorious work that he has now begun; and be much in prayer for the ministers of Christ, and particularly I would beg a special interest in your prayers, and the prayers of your Christian companions, both when you are alone and when you are together, for your affectionate friend, that rejoices over you, and desires to be your servant,

In Jesus Christ,

Jonathan Edwards.

—Source: Jonathan Edwards, “To Deborah Hatheway,” in Letters and Personal Writings, ed. George S. Claghorn, vol. 16 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), 91-95. Bracketed numbering and bold emphasis are mine.

When You Track Your Spiritual Progress

The last days of December are a great time for personal inventory.

It’s almost involuntary for many of us. The close of one year naturally leads to us to think back over the highs and lows of the last 365 days (especially if we’re on Facebook). For others of us, the inventory might be more methodical. Maybe we crack open a journal from a year ago or browse through notes we’ve made or organize a list of our biggest decisions in descending order. Either way, it’s safe to say that we all do some kind of inventory.

And for the Christian, this inventory is mainly concerned with our spiritual progress. Exercise goals and staying on budget are important, and there is certainly something spiritual about them, but the main question for us is whether we grew in grace (2 Peter 3:18). Did we make real steps toward increased Christlikeness?

Are we more sanctified now than a year ago?

I think we should ask this question, even though we run the risk of making two mistakes. One mistake is to instantly theologize the answer before we really think about it. Because we know that God is at work in us, we’re temped to dismiss the question altogether. Of course, we think, we’re more sanctified (Philippians 1:6; 2:13). We consider ourselves to be on an irreversible road of progression, and therefore, we allow this to mute any serious examination. The other mistake is to answer the question in terms of our daily disciplines. We immediately mistranslate the question of our spiritual progress to mean whether we read the Bible and prayed enough.

To be sure, Christians are on an irreversible road of progression, and Bible reading and prayer are indispensable, but neither of these should silence our honest asking — and honest answer — to whether we are more like Jesus a year later. And a big reason I suggest we go there is because sometimes we will feel like the answer is no.

Maybe our assessment yields a humble recognition of true growth — that we have learned more and loved more, experienced remarkable victory over a besetting sin, and made decisions that exhibited counter-comfortable faith. But maybe it’s just no.

Maybe we don’t feel more like Jesus now than we did at the close of 2012. We don’t feel like we’ve learned as much, or loved as much, or mortified our anger, or stepped out of the boat. Maybe we feel like, compared to last year, 2013 was one big blah of spiritual progress. I know a man in Christ, as Paul might say, who has felt this way. We scratch our heads and wonder how the spiritual scenery looks the same even though we’ve been trying to move forward all year long.

Well, Christian, if that is like you, there is something you need to know. And feel.

You are more sanctified — and will be more sanctified. You will be more transformed into the image of Jesus — even if, by your assessment, it doesn’t feel that way.

Your destiny is set. Those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son (Romans 8:29). And we understand this encouragement not by skipping to it without sincere reflection, but by trekking to it through sincere reflection. We especially sense this wonder in profound ways when God’s word speaks over what our assessments might say. He reminds us that though years are good markers for us, he doesn’t work in calendar quotas. And for him, what is 365 days? If a thousand years is as one day (2 Peter 3:8) . . . you do the math.

But how? we may think.

The assurance of a Christian’s progressing sanctification goes deeper than a few proof texts, so deep, in fact, that it’s actually bound up in what salvation is. We need to look no further than the rich truth of our union with Christ.

In his book, One with Christ, Marcus Peter Johnson argues that “union with the living Christ is … what it means to be saved” (Location 198). He argues that realities such as justification and sanctification are both blessings Jesus bestows on us through our union with him. They are not mile-markers we must cross in route to a relationship with Jesus, but rather, they are wondrous gifts Jesus gives to us because he has saved us to a relationship with him. Johnson writes,

Jesus Christ does not bestow his benefits in the abstract; he bestows himself to us, that we might enjoy who he is for us in all his saving graces. In our union with him, he is the cause of our justification, sanctification and adoption. And because it is Jesus Christ in the fullness of his person and work whom we receive in salvation, we receive all that he is to us simultaneously, never one benefit without the other. (Locations 3256–3259)

The implications here are amazing. This means that because salvation is Christ himself — our getting him and being united to him — then we are assured to receive all his benefits. Nothing gets left out. There is no lesser package that offers full-fledged justification but then leaves out a subscription to sanctifying grace. That is not how it goes.

If we are justified, we will be sanctified, because in Christ we can only have them both.

So it’s yours. Even if you feel that you made less progress in 2013 than you hoped, or that you just stalled more this year than the last. If you are in Christ, you will be sanctified. You get it all. You will be transformed into the image of Jesus. Whether you sense it acutely now or not, one day you will. Keep running. You will look back and see the progress. For one day we know that we shall be like him (1 John 3:2).

Union with Christ is also the theme of the upcoming Conference for Pastors. Learn more information and register by January 1 for the current discount.

The Decline in Spiritual Maturity and How to Recover Discernment — John MacArthur

[One] factor in the abysmal lack of discernment today is a growing deterioration of the overall level of spiritual maturity in today’s church. As knowledge of God’s truth ebbs, people follow more popular views, seeking feelings and experiences. They are hungry for miracles, healings, and spectacular wonders. They grope for easy and instant solutions to the routine trials of life. They turn quickly from the plain truth of God’s Word to embrace doctrines fit only for the credulous and naive. They chase personal comfort and success. Christianity today may be shallower than at any time in history. . .

Spiritual ignorance and biblical illiteracy are commonplace. That kind of spiritual shallowness is a direct result of shallow teaching. Solid preaching with deep substance and sound doctrine is essential for Christians to grow. But churches today often teach only the barest basics—and sometimes less than that.

Churches are therefore filled with baby Christians—people who are spiritual infants. That is a fitting description, because the characteristic that is most descriptive of an infant is selfishness. Babies are completely self-centered. They scream if they don’t get what they want when they want it. They are aware of only their own needs and desires. They never say thanks for anything. They can’t help others; they can’t give anything. They can only receive. And certainly there is nothing wrong with that when it occurs in the natural stage of infancy. But to see a child whose development is arrested so he never gets beyond the stage of helpless selfishness—that is a tragedy.

And that is exactly the spiritual state of multitudes in the church today. They are utterly preoccupied with self. They want their own problems solved and their own comfort elevated. Their spiritual development is arrested, and they remain in a perpetual state of selfish helplessness. It is evidence of a tragic abnormality.

Arrested infancy means people do not discern. Just as a baby crawls along the floor, putting anything it finds in its mouth, spiritual babies don’t know what is good for them and what isn’t. Immaturity and lack of discernment go together; they are virtually the same thing.

The tendency to stall in a state of immaturity also existed in New Testament times. Paul repeatedly appealed to Christians to grow up spiritually. In Ephesians 4:14-15, he wrote, “We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves, and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him, who is the head, even Christ” (emphasis added).

How do we grow spiritually? By “speaking the truth in love” to one another. We grow under the truth. It is the same truth by which we are sanctified, conformed to the image of Christ, made to be mature spiritually (John 17:17, 19). As we absorb the truth of God’s Word, we grow up and are built up. We might say accurately that the process of spiritual growth is a process of training for discernment.

Hebrews 5:12-6:1 underscores all this:

Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil. Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity.

The writer of Hebrews told his readers, “You’re babies. You’ve been around long enough to be teachers, but instead I have to feed you milk. I have to keep giving you elementary things. You can’t take solid food. You’re not accustomed to the rich things of the Word—and that is tragic.”

Notice in verse fourteen he states that discernment and maturity go hand in hand: “solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.” Knowing and understanding the Word of righteousness—taking in solid food—trains your senses to discern good and evil.

The word “senses” is not a reference to the feelings, emotions, or other subjective sensory mechanisms. The writer of this epistle is explicitly encouraging his readers to exercise their minds. Those who “because of practice have their senses trained to discern” are the wise, the understanding, people who thrive on the solid food of the Word of God. As we have seen from the beginning, discernment results fr m a carefully disciplined mind. Discernment is not a matter of feelings, nor is it a mystical gift. Notice from the wisdom literature of the Old Testament how closely discernment is linked with a seasoned, developed, biblically informed mind.

• Psalm 119:66: “Teach me good discernment and knowledge, for I believe in Thy commandments.”

• Proverbs 2:2-5: “Make your ear attentive to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding; for if you cry for discernment, lift your voice for understanding; if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will discern the fear of the Lord, and discover the knowledge of God.”

• Proverbs 10:13: “On the lips of the discerning, wisdom is found.”

• Proverbs 16:21: “The wise in heart will be called discerning.”

The path to discernment is the way of spiritual maturity. And the only means to spiritual maturity is mastery of the Word of God.

Most people are discerning about things that are important to them. People who regard a healthy diet as crucial watch carefully what they eat. They read the fine print on the package to see how many grams of fat it has and what percentages of the daily required nutrients are offered. People who work with pesticides or dangerous chemicals must be very discerning. They study the procedures and the precautions very carefully to avoid any potentially lethal exposure. People who make investments in the stock market usually practice discernment. They study the cryptic newspaper listings on the stock market and watch the ticker tape. Lawyers are very discerning with contracts. They have to figure out the legal jargon and make sure they understand what they are signing. People who undergo delicate surgery are usually very discerning. They try to find the doctor with the finest skills—or at least verify that he or she has plenty of experience in whatever procedure is to be done. I know many people who are very discerning sports enthusiasts. They watch a football game and can assess any offense, any defense, any play. They often feel they are more discerning than whoever is calling the actual plays. They study statistics and averages and take it all very seriously.

Do you realize those are essentially the same skills that are required in spiritual discernment? Careful thought, keen interest, thorough analysis, close observation—together with alertness, attentiveness, thoughtfulness, and above all, a love of truth. All of us have those skills to some degree, and we use them in whatever field of endeavor is important to us.

Yet what could be more important than spiritual discernment? There is no valid explanation for why contemporary Christians are so undiscerning—but it reveals a spiritual apathy that is deadly evil.

Can the church regain her ability to be discerning? Only by growing up spiritually. That means confronting the spirit of a relativistic age and diligently applying ourselves to the unfailing Word of God. We cannot gain discernment overnight, or through a mystical experience. Understanding the problem is not the answer. Discernment will come only as we train our minds to be understanding in the truth of God’s Word and learn to apply that truth skillfully to our lives.

Union with Christ: A Matter of Spiritual Life and Death

Union with Christ is one of the central theological principles of the Christian faith. Its pervasive presence in the New Testament typically is indicated by the word in
, a simple preposition with profound implications.
Believers often are said to be in Christ: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). Sometimes this phrase passes by so rapidly that we may hardly notice, as in Paul’s opening address to “the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi” (Phil. 1:1). But even such passing expressions are grounded in the deep spiritual truth of our faith-union with Jesus Christ. The reason we are called “saints in Christ” is because our true and ultimate identity is found in Him: “you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

On other occasions, the Bible teaches the reciprocal principle that Jesus Christ is in the believer: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Similarly, Paul wrote of the gospel mystery that has been “hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints” (Col. 1:26). What is this glorious mystery? “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

Christ is in us and we are in Christ. The two sides of this mutual relationship sometimes appear together in Scripture. For example, in teaching His disciples about the vine and the branches—a metaphor for union with Christ—Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you” (John 15:4). Similarly, the apostle John described union with Christ as a double habitation by the Holy Spirit: “We know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).

By virtue of this mutual relationship of spiritual indwelling—our union with Christ—we receive all the saving blessings of God. In being united to Christ, we receive not only Christ Himself, but also His benefits. What is His becomes ours, for God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Thus we see, said Calvin, that “our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.” Indeed, union with Christ is the heart of the gospel, for when the apostle Paul “defines the Gospel, and the use of it, he says that we are called to be partakers of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to be made one with Him, and to dwell in Him, and He in us; and that we be joined together in an inseparable bond.”

When Calvin considered how “we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son,” his answer was that we receive them by our union with Christ. Christ must “present Himself to us and invite us into such a relationship that truly we are united to Him, that He dwells in us in such a way that everything that belongs to Him is ours.” Thus Calvin made union with Christ one of the controlling principles of his soteriology, or doctrine of salvation.

Apart from union with Christ, it is impossible to receive any of the saving blessings of God. Not even the cross and the empty tomb can save us unless we are joined to Jesus Christ. Calvin was emphatic:

We must understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value for us. Therefore, to share with us what he has received from the Father, he had to become ours and to dwell within us…. We also, in turn, are said to be “engrafted into him” [Rom. 11:17], and to “put on Christ” [Gal. 3:27]; for, as I have said, all that he possesses is nothing to us until we grow into one body with him.

Simply put, if we are not in Christ, we have no part in His death on the cross to atone for sins and no share in His resurrection from the dead. We are not justified, adopted, sanctified, or glorified without being united to Christ. “I do not see,” wrote Calvin, “how anyone can trust that he has redemption and righteousness in the cross of Christ, and life in his death, unless he relies chiefly upon a true participation in Christ himself. For those benefits would not come to us unless Christ first made himself ours.” Union with Christ, therefore, is nothing less than a matter of spiritual life and death.

An excerpt from John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology
by Burk Parsons. Download the digital edition free through October 31, 2013.

The Spiritual Decline of Once-Healthy Churches

One of the greatest warnings we find in the Bible we find in the epistle to the Galatians. It concerns the very real danger of spiritual decline in once healthy churches. It is the same danger found in several of the churches addressed in the book of Revelation (Rev. 2-3). The churches of Galatia had been planted by the Apostle Paul. They had “received him as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus” (Gal. 4:14). They had received the Gospel he had preached to them, and had become sons of God through faith in Jesus. The love that they had for him was evident in that they “would have gouged out their eyes and given them to him” (4:15). They did not despise his physical infirmity when he first came to them–though they way the apostle speaks of it, you get the sense that it was something reprehensible (v. 13). In short, these churches had begun the Christian life well. They had received the the minister of Christ and the Gospel of Christ with faith and love. But, it didn’t take long for theses Gentile converts to be “courted” by false brethren with a false Gospel. Samuel Davies made the following observation:

Alas, how naturally do the most flourishing churches tend to decay. How frail and fickle is man! How inconstant popular applause! These promising churches of Galatia soon began to decline; and their favorite, St. Paul–their apostle and spiritual father–appeared in quite another light, appeared as their enemy, because he told them the truth.1

Oh, that we would be able to see the spiritual condition of our own hearts and the local church to which we belong. May we take earnest heed to God’s word when He warns and instructs us in it as to the present reality of our spiritual condition. May we remember and heed those who have spoken the truth to us out of sincere love to Christ. May we ever distrust ourselves and our own ability to stand. May we ever be on guard and remember “how naturally do the most flourishing churches tend to decay.”

1. Davis, Samuel Sermons on Important Subjects (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1854) vol. 2, p. 301