Theology's Importance

Since we are talking about doctrine we should define theology, the most important doctrine, since it is the study of God. C. H. Spurgeon said that the highest thing man can do is contemplate the Godhead--it would blow his mind indeed! God is the highest thought possible. Actually, theology has been called "God-talk." In the 17th century, it was the past-time of every gentleman to discuss theology and most were well studied on the subject.

Of course, Theos means God, and logy refers to the study of. Theology is the queen of the sciences since it is really the original science if you call the attainment of truth a scientific endeavor. Theology is more than a philosophy which is just speculation, conjecture and hypothesis. Theology is based on revelation, not rationalization. We could only know God if He were to reveal Himself to us. "Canst thou by searching find out God?" Zophar asked Job. Only as God takes the initiative and reveals Himself to us. This is either mediate or immediate revelation. There is general revelation such as the heavens declaring the glory of God, and there is special revelation such as God's Word. (Erasmus of Rotterdam, the unsurpassed scholar of the 16th century who debated Luther, thought theology was the "bugbear" the Church's life.)

We are not to be debating theology for theory's own sake, or to keep it theoretical; we are to live it out. The purpose of studying God is to be led to God and know Him personally. However, the case is sad today, for in the last days some will "bailout theologically" as Swindoll couches it. We are seeing orthodox theology less and less tolerated in the name of tolerance. One day we tolerate as they define the term and then we are embracing. We should never give up on sound doctrine and theology. "Teach sound doctrine." "Adorn the doctrine of God." "All Scripture is profitable for doctrine...."

Theology is not a "fool's errand of speculation," nor an "abstract science," according to R. C. Sproul, but self-attesting truth. If the Bible appealed to anything else such as human logic or reason then it would be inferior to it--we must take that leap of faith to begin our knowledge of God. Sproul calls us all theologians; the question is whether our theology is sound or not. We can have a sound theology without a sound life, but not a sound life without a sound theology.

C. H. Spurgeon said, "No subject of contemplation will tend to humble the mind than thoughts of God." "Nothing will so enlarge the intellect." God wants us to see the world through the spectacle of God's Word. "We develop a taste for spiritual things," someone has said. "Now that you have tasted that the Lord is good...." Ps. 34:8 says, "Taste and see that the Lord is good." I was hoping to "whet your appetite."

As we learn we get PROGRAMMED with the Word of God. Remember the principle "GIGO" and apply the flip side which would be "the Word in = the Word out." (Not "garbage in = garbage out".) We see the world through the spectacles of God's Word we will have divine viewpoint instead of human viewpoint.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Our Dark Side

Mark Twain is quoted by Swindoll as saying that we are all like a moon that has a dark side no one sees. This is true. We all have "feet of clay" (having weaknesses not readily apparent), and are vulnerable to sin because of our very nature. We cannot clean up our act before we can come to Jesus; we must come as we are, but we cannot stay that way. We must see how bad we are before we can become good. It's not how bad we are, but how bad off we are. It is like the distance of a deaf man to a symphony or a blind man to the Mona Lisa. We cannot bridge the gap. Jesus sees through the veneer and we cannot fool him.

Humanism means man is the measure of all things; basically, down with God and up with man and think man is basically good, but we an inherently bad. You must realize that we are not sinners because we sin, rather we sin because we are sinners. It is our constituted nature to sin. We can deal with sins in the plural, but our problem is sin in the singular--our old sin nature inherited from Adam. This is God's estimation of man, not man's estimation of man.

The totality of our nature is permeated with sin and our image of God is marred and defaced morally. "No one knows how bad he is until he has tried to be good," says C. S. Lewis. The paradox is that we must see our bankruptcy--the truly bad person thinks he is alright! We must realize how bad we are before we can be good!  The way up, by paradox, is down.

We are sinful in toto and in solidarity with Adam completely. Someone has said, "We cannot escape our birthright." We cannot ingratiate ourselves with God, because we "have feet of clay." That means we have hidden vulnerabilities. We are permeated with sin through and through--there is no vestige of righteousness.

R. C. Sproul writes of a man who never lost his faith in the basic goodness of man despite being held captive in Iraq--this is sheer ignorance! Compared to Saddam Hussein the run-of-the-mill sinner looks like a saint; however, he is just as bad off from God's viewpoint and they both must come to Jesus the same way in childlike repentance and faith.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Total Depravity

We are totally depraved, not utterly depraved--man is wicked but not as wicked as he possibly can be.. We are as bad off as we can be, but not as bad as we can be. God restrains has put limits on our iniquity and Ps. 76:10 says that God uses the wrath of man to praise Him. Man is non posse non peccare, which means he can only do evil. He has lost all ability to do good in God's sight because his motives are wrong and every part of his nature is infected with the sin virus.

Compared to Saddam Hussein the "run-of-the-mill sinner" looks like a saint, said one misguided soul according to R. C. Sproul. Man's will, emotions, and intellect are wrong. "All our righteousness is as filthy rags." "For those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Cf. Rom. 8:7) We cannot reform ourselves or change by a free act of the will ("Henceforth, I will do only good"), as Jeremiah said, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard its spots? Then neither can you do good who are accustomed to evil." "The whole heard is sick, and the whole heart faint" (cf. Isaiah 1:5).

We are volitionally defiant (we are voluntary slaves to evil) and cannot  will to do good apart from the grace of God." Every intent of the heart of man is only evil continually," says Gen. 6:5. All of our faculties are pregnant with sin, and you cannot be just a little pregnant; you either are or you aren't. Sin has affected our whole being, and there is no "island of righteousness" left. We are permeated with the sin virus.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Let's Not Ridicule Theologians

Did you know, according to R. C. Sproul, that we are all theologians? The point is:  How good of a one are you?  You cannot escape it, whether you realize it or not you have a theology. We are epistles, known and read by all men!  "For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he" (Prov. 23:7). The question is not whether you have a theology, but what kind of theology you have, and whether it is "sound." We need to have our minds renewed by the "washing of water by the Word" (Eph. 5:26).

The truth will sanctify us and set us free. There are some Christians who are the type to get A's in a theology course, but they hardly know their God! Just being able to talk about theology in itself is no clue to maturity. It was every gentleman's hobby in the 17th century to discuss theology.

We must not look down on those less informed as "poor specimens." Let us also not look down on those who have a God-given desire to learn the things of God in depth, since an immature believer balks at learning the things of God in depth. However, the aim should be to have a simple faith and to keep it as simple as possible--not secluding ourselves in our ivory towers. Yes, we cannot escape theology, it is here to stay, and to reject it is not an option. Theologians get a bad wrap, but we need them!

By the way, R. C. Sproul is rated as one of the most influential theologians in the world and I can say that I personally owe him a debt of gratitude. I don't think his knowledge is just theoretical, but that he puts it into practice. The knowledge of doctrine is meant to be a means to an end (of knowing God), not just for storing it up--but for passing it on and practicing it. In the final analysis, it is not how much we know as to how much we sow.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Knowing God

J. I. Packer wrote a book entitled Knowing God and talks about the difference between knowledge about God and knowledge of God.  We don't just believe in God, but believe God!  We can know a lot of facts about someone and yet not even know them at all. When God supposedly described Eve to Adam, don't you think he wanted to meet her and get to "know" her?  We can know a lot about godliness and still not know God. We may have simply memorized the dance of the pious or going through the motions.  Even the ability to say long prayers can be hypocritical and deceiving.

We know God by having a living and vital relationship with Him. To know Him is to love Him. To know Him is eternal life itself. We can know the Bible, or many Christians and still scarcely know our Lord. It is more than curiosity or a desire to know all the answers, it is a thirst for the living God, to love the truth, to meditate in His temple. We are meant to know God and if we want to boast, it should be that we know the Lord (Jer. 9:24 says, "Let him who boasts, boast that he understands and knows Me...").

Packer lists four propositions that show knowledge of God: Great energy for God; great boldness for God; great contentment in God; and great thoughts of God. Daniel 11:32 says that "those who know their God shall be strong and do exploits." God is incomprehensible because He is infinite and we can only know Him as He reveals Himself to us. He has revealed Himself to us in His Son. To know Jesus is to know God and to be saved is to know Jesus. Scholars seem to know a lot about God and theologians can make you think you are ignorant, but just being an enthusiast for the Bible can give you a more true knowledge of what matters than all the mumble-jumble gobbledygook. We can experience God and He wants us to know Him intimately, but we must be willing.

Knowing about God is not wrong per se, because it is a necessary precondition to knowing Him, so we must not look down on knowledge, for it has its place. Rejecting knowledge is not an option, but it is a means to the end of ultimately knowing God.

Packer says that a little knowledge of God is worth more than a great deal of knowledge about God. Sometimes we really think we know a person, but don't--it is necessary to have a relationship with that person and not just know facts. Just being able to discuss Bible themes or religious topics in itself does not mean we know our God. Our prayer life, our witness, our testimony, our fellowship are better barometers of our relationship. We can have a good knowledge of God with doctrine and we can have little knowledge of God without doctrine; we can also have knowledge of God with little doctrine--our doctrine need not be impeccably correct to be holy.

Let's not be content just to be theologically correct at the expense of living faith and the love that is so important. Being good at theology might be a gift, but it is no sure sign of spiritual maturity. A Christian can get A's in theology and be very immature (don't confuse gifting with maturity, because one can use his gift without being mature).  Some believers are more "blow than go," and are like backseat drivers or "armchair quarterbacks," thinking they know more than they do. "If anyone thinks he knows anything, he does not yet know as ye ought to know." (cf. 1 Cor. 8:2)

In the final analysis, it is not so important how well we know God, but that He knows us. (cf. Gal. 4:9 says, "But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God...."  Remember how important it is for Christ to know us: He will say to them "...I never knew you...." On the other hand, anyone who says he knows God because he has had some experience, or boasts that he knows "someone" (like knowing people in "high places") and does not obey God is a liar. Religious experiences and ecstasies are no guarantee of knowing God. Many religious mystics have religious existential "encounters."

Remember: We were made to know God with resultant love for Him. Jesus summed it up well when He said, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (cf. John 17:3).   Soli Deo Gloria!

"Bible-club Mentality"

Chuck Swindoll talks about having an "exclusive mindset" in our circles and churches. Without a mixture of love and grace, we think we have "cornered the market" on the truth and are a cut above other groups or believers. We become proud, smug, and arrogant. No church owns your mind and has a monopoly on the truth. No pastor is infallible, not even the Supreme Pontiff himself (by the way, the Pope didn't claim infallibility when speaking ex-cathedra (pontificating) until 1870). We are not to "kiss our brains good-bye" or commit intellectual suicide, but to be Bereans who check things out for ourselves and don't just take everything for granted or as "gospel truth."

We can be unbearable if we think we know all the answers or that we think we are better by virtue of superior knowledge which puffs up. We must remain teachable and humble in our attitude. Knowledge can be dangerous when not based on the Bible. When we think only our group is right and all the other groups are inferior we have become a cult and truth has gone to seed in our intolerance. We all have something to learn from each other and we all need each other.

We don't all have the gift of pastor-teacher, but that doesn't mean we can't instruct and edify one another. Let us be Bereans that go to the Scriptures to check out whether these things are so! We don't commit spiritual suicide when we join a ministry. In sum, we don't "park our brains in the church's narthex," as Josh McDowell says.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Will To Change

The Bible never attributes to man the ability to change his heart. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spot, then neither can you do good who are accustomed to evil" (cf. Jer. 13:23). "You WILL not come to Me ..." (Cf. John 5:40, emphasis mine). Freedom of the will is contradictory to the sovereign grace of God; they both cannot exist. Either man is in control of his destiny, or God is. "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts." (Cf. Zech. 4:6)

The question is what makes man willing? God must work in the heart. We cannot do anything to merit grace or prepare ourselves for salvation. God is not man's debtor.

We cannot change of our own volition or will, we are volitionally defiant. But no one is so sinful or so hardened that God cannot save him. (He can take a heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh according to Ezek. 36:26.)  Arminians give themselves the credit for responding positively to the gospel as if they took advantage and made good on the grace of God while others don't. They actually pat themselves on the back for their salvation!

To believe in free will and the sovereign grace of God, is biblical, and you are confused to dichotomize them, and you are ignorant, and if you believe you were saved by both.   Face it, God made you willing and able to believe and wooed you to Himself. Had it not been for the Holy Spirit, you would not have believed.   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Will Of Man

"Man has not ceased to be man, he has just ceased to be good," according to Martin Luther. The will is not sovereign, but operates subject to the disposition of the person. When we talk of the total depravity of man we are not saying we are as bad as we can be, just that we are as bad off as we can be; all of our nature is sick with sin, including the intellect, will and emotions. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint" (cf. Isa. 1:5).

A definition of the will by Jonathan Edwards was that it was that by which the mind chooses. We always choose according to the strongest desire at the time to suit our own best interest, all things considered. God never coerces us to do something we don't want to do. We never do something we don't want to do.

The trouble is no one wants to receive Christ apart from the grace of God. He woos us and makes us willing and able to believe by grace. Arminians think that we cooperate with God in our salvation, but Calvinists maintain that "Salvation is of the Lord." He does it all and gets all the credit--we don't contribute anything to our salvation. "He is at work within you both to do and to do according to His good pleasure." No one can say they came to Christ uninfluenced by the Holy Spirit! There is no such thing as prevenient grace given to all to enable them to make a decision. God is the enabler and is able to overcome the most reluctant, hardened, and sinful heart. (Think of Paul's conversion!)

We are free to choose our own poison, as it were. We are not chatty dolls or automatons but are free moral agents responsible for our choices.

This doctrine according to Luther is the very heart of the gospel. If you fail to realize that you really aren't grace-oriented. There cannot be both free will and sovereign grace at the same time. We don't meet God half-way, but he only rescues us like a lifeguard rescuing a drowning swimmer, when we give up trying to save ourselves. A good example of our will is like the difference between a dove and a raven; the dove has no desire to eat the raven's carrion--it is against his nature.  We did not choose our nature either.

The Council of Trent in the 16th century said that anyone who does not affirm that the freewill cooperates with God in salvation is anathema. This was the Arminian position in opposition to the Reformers (Refer to the Synod of Dort in 1618).

We are voluntary slaves who have lost our inclination to do good at the fall. There is no point of neutrality that we can cling to and have free will. We cannot change our God-given nature. There is no place of "moral equipoise" or neutral territory that we can stand on.  We are not neutral and able to equally choose to be good or evil--we're prone to evil, not inclined to good!   Soli Deo Gloria!

The Law And The Believer II

Watchman Nee explains the meaning of Romans 7 very well and says that God gives us the Law to break, He knew full well we wouldn't keep it. Gal. 3:10 says that those who rely on the Law are under a curse. Eph. 2:15 says that Christ abolished the Law for the believer. The Law is merely a shadow of things to come and is obsolete (Col. 2:17; Heb. 10:1). If the Law could do away with sin, there would be no need for a new covenant, the old covenant was faulted. The Law says we do for God, grace says that God does for us. The Law says we have to, while grace says we want to. The purpose of the Law was to make us knowledgeable of sin (Rom. 7:6-7;3:20), not to be a panacea, but a diagnosis. "...[Indeed] it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are" (cf. Rom. 3:20 in the J. B. Phillips).

We live not under the Mosaic Law, but we live according to the "Law of the Spirit of life in Christ" (Rom. 8:2). Nowhere in the NT are we exhorted to obey the Law!  When we say to God, "Oh wretched man that I am ...," this is "music to God's ears," according to Nee. "Our end is God's beginning," says Nee. Remember, 1 Tim. 1:9 which says, "The Law is not made for the believer, but for lawbreakers and rebels." Martin Luther called the Law a hammer that smashes our self-righteousness and a mirror that shows us our true nature, and a whip that drives us to the cross. It is meant to drive us to Christ as a tutor (see Gal. 3:25).

The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. The Pharisees were guilty of obeying just the letter of the Law and not the spirit. "As many as are led by the Spirit are not under the Law." We don't have to become "somewhat Jewish" to become Christians or grow in Christ. Christianity is not a branch or wing of Judaism. A good rule of thumb is that if a prohibition or command is not repeated in the New Testament it is probably not valid for the Christian, e.g. observing the Sabbath Day. The ceremonial laws and governmental laws are obsolete and the moral principles are still valid because morality never changes.

God never gives us the right to do what is wrong, or to just do what is right in our own eyes, or to be lawless. Martin Luther wrote a book, Against the Antinomians, which was a polemical book against those who thought they could live as they please after salvation. Today this kind of thinking is close to hedonism.

The Reformers who wrote the Formula of Concord in 1577 had a threefold use of the Law: to convict the unbeliever of sin or as a tutor to drive us to Christ; to bring order in society and restrain evil, and to be a light for what pleases and offends God. The Reformers were not as grace-oriented as modern-day evangelicals tend to be, e.g., they had strict Sabbath laws and rules in Calvin's Geneva and in Puritan New England. Actually, the Christian is under the higher law of love with the higher standard of Christ.  In sum, the Law doesn't save mankind it measures them.   Soli Deo Gloria!

Freewill?

 "... Why then does He still find fault?  For who can resist His will?"  (Rom.9:19, HCSB). 

Martin Luther said that the freedom of the will is too grandiose a term and fit only for God. Our wills are enslaved to the old sin nature, biased toward evil, and prone to do nothing but evil. We cannot do any good apart from God: "Apart from Me you can do nothing" (cf. John 15:5). "All our righteousness is as filthy rags" (cf. Isa. 64:6). Saint Aurelius Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, said that we are "free but not freed."  No mind game--just emphasizing that we don't have liberty, though we are responsible agents. We are free in the sense that we are not coerced from any outside force to do anything we don't want to do, that would be determinism (without our free input).

The trouble is is that we only want to do evil. Augustine also said that we are non posse non peccare, which means unable not to sin--we can only do evil. The freedom of the will is a curse in other words because we only act according to our fallen nature.  That is to say, we don't need a free will; we need wills made free.

God is perfectly free, yet unable to sin!  In glory, we will be ditto.  God's will overrides ours and His sovereignty isn't limited by our freedom (cf. Jer. 20:7).  "For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose"  (Phil. 2:13, HCSB).  A man in prison is free to play cards, but not free to leave or do as he desires--our freedom has limits and, though we maintain moral ability to choose, we have lost the ability to choose God apart from grace working in our hearts in the wooing ministry.  

There are several Bible verses that come to mind: "It is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God who shows mercy." "Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." "The way of man is not in himself, it is not in man that walks, to direct his steps" (cf. Jer. 10:23). "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him ..." (Cf. John 6:44). "No one can come to Me unless it has been granted of the Father..." (John 6:65). Does that sound like free will? "Who makes you to differ? What do you have that you didn't receive?" (Cf. 1 Cor. 4:7). (cf. Prov. 16:9; 20:24; Ps. 37:23.)   Soli Deo Gloria!