Equipping University: Recent Episodes
Western Avenue Baptist Church of Statesville, NC
A biblical, theological, and pastoral examination of annihilationism and a defense of the traditional view of hell.
A biblical, theological, and pastoral examination of annihilationism and a defense of the traditional view of hell.
Homosexual activists like to point out that Christians pick-and-choose certain Old Testament laws to condemn a particular social issues, yet ignore all the other activities denounced and condemned in the same context. Those acts, condemned in the Bible but ignored in the church, now seem quite tame and even humorous in our advanced, enlightened, post-modern age – like the “problem” of children chewing gum in school in the 1950s.
To the homosexual advocate, the argument is powerful and allows them to assume a smug stance of theological, philosophical, and ideological superiority. Many Christians are left stammering and embarrassed as they are forced to consider the shallowness of their faith, their embarrassing ignorance of the Bible, and the possibly fatal inconsistency of their religion. Too often this plan of attack is successful in ending all discussion and revealing a clear winner (the logical, loving, accepting, progressive homosexual activist) and loser (the ignorant, bigoted, hateful, inconsistent Christian) in the debate.
So, what about that charge? Are Christians inconsistent in their appeal to the Bible in general and the Old Testament in particular to argue against homosexuality? For that matter, how would you answer the charge of theological inconsistency? What about those Old Testament laws that we do not follow? If homosexuality is wrong because the Old Testament says it is wrong, should we still avoid polyester and shellfish? Should we still kill people with stones for breaking those rules? Is there a way for a Christian to respond thoughtfully and accurately to this familiar diatribe?
Many Christians do not know how to respond because most of us are as unknowledgeable about Leviticus as those making the argument. Therefore, we will take a look at each of these cases and discover the charges are shallow and ignorant. However, before we look at the individual laws repeated (incorrectly) on the growing number posters and TV shows, we must first gain a biblical understanding of the purpose behind Leviticus and its strange laws. We must gain a biblical understanding of how modern New Testament Christians relate to the Old Testament.
This passage is rightly seen as an interlude of sorts between the sixth and the seventh seals. An interlude is a short act between two main acts or a short musical piece between two longer pieces. In a play, the interlude allows the audience to catch its breath after particularly engrossing act. In this case, the interlude of chapter seven serves to encourage the readers who are surely overcome by the horror of what they have just read or heard. John sets out to answer the question that lingers on the lips of the “earth-dwellers” suffering under God’s wrath in the terrors of the sixth seal. Like the original audience hearing of the horrific judgment in the previous section, they ask, “Who can stand?” That question just hangs in the air, begging for an answer. The expected answer is, “No one can stand against God’s judgment.” However, in the passage before us, John does not want to unnecessarily terrify his readers or cause them to lose hope. They need to press on and endure until the very end. This answer he provides will give them that hope.
Rather than evolving morally, it appears that humanity has merely developed more effective ways to kill one another as we advance in other areas. The lists above do not even contain such infamous murders as Joseph Stalin, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin, Osama Bin Laden, Timothy McVeigh, and many others.
How do we explain such evil? The apostle John has just revealed to us the fact that God is seated on his throne in heaven and all authority belongs to the Lamb. If this is so, then why does so much evil continue to exist? Why do evil men rise to power only to extort and kill those under them? Why is there so much bloodshed on the earth? How do we explain the existence of diseases that can cripple entire nations? There is an answer to these questions and that answer is found in the sixth chapter of Revelation as Jesus begins to break the seals of the scroll that contain God’s plan for the world – the vindication of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked.
How are we to understand this passage? If we are honest, we must admit our first question is most likely, “When is this going to happen?” We are so conditioned to think in this way that we have great difficulty considering any other approach to the text. Perhaps, however, we should consider another approach. The first step in understanding this passage – and all the confusing passages that follow – is to consider the context through the eyes of the original readers.
How many billions of people wander through life without noticing the glorious God who created them and the world in which they aimlessly live their lives? How many millions attend houses of worship each Sunday and do almost exactly the same thing? It is so easy to live our lives distracted by our to-do lists and all the technological and social demands that we place upon ourselves. We are so consumed with the mundane that we do not even notice that we are surrounded by the inexpressibly beautiful. While that is part of life here on earth, it is a completely different story in the presence of God in heaven. If we could manage to catch a glimpse of what it means to stand in the presence of God, our lives would forever be changed. We would no longer view the world the same way. We would no longer walk blindly through life with misplaced priorities and neglected worship. Instead, if we could steal a glance into the worship of glory, we would begin to see what life is truly about and live up to the very purpose for which all of us were created.
For many families in the centuries since the King James Bible was completed, it was the only book they owned. Most learned to read from the well-worn pages of the family Bible and found their language shaped forever by the words they read. Simply put, the King James Bible has influenced the English language more than any book ever written and has done so completely out of proportion to what a single book ought to be able to do. We often do not even realize how many of our proverbs and maxims are direct quotes or allusions to this copy of God’s Word. How many times have you uttered “an eye for an eye” or “fell flat on his face” or “the salt of the earth” or asked “Am I my brother’s keeper?” without even thinking of how you know those words? Without the King James Bible, there would have been no Paradise Lost, no Pilgrim’s Progress, no Handel’s Messiah, no old Negro spirituals, and no Gettysburg Address. How did we come to possess this remarkable book?
The one primary factor about which each pastor and church member should be concerned is not the size, wealth, or style of the church. Instead, each should be concerned about their church's health. There are certain aspects that determine whether a church is healthy or unhealthy. If these marks are present, the church is healthy. If these marks are absent, the church is unhealthy and will eventually die if they are not addressed.
Sadly, our country is filled with unhealthy churches. Even more sadly, this is nothing new. Not long after the ascension of Jesus Christ, we find that the first churches to exist were just as fouled up as ours are today. We even suffer through the same types of problems.
There is one other church that is so well known for its errors that it is now stereotypical of the unhealthy church. In fact, this church is in such bad shape that it threatened to make Christ sick! This church is the church in Laodicea. The words Christ spoke to the believers there are the words believers in America must hear today.
Jesus will preserve his church and will present his bride to his Father at the end of the age. Realistically speaking, it seems an impossibility that the church made it through the first two hundred years of its existence alive. However, there are Christians in every nation and Christ will redeem "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Rev 7:9-10). God is not interested in the power of these individuals or their size when they gathered together on earth. Instead, God cares only about their faithfulness. We may never be important but we can all be faithful.
The words of Christ to the church in Sardis are the stuff of pastoral nightmares. No pastor or church member would ever want to hear the words delivered to the church in Sardis addressed to their own congregation. The letter suggests that the church in Sardis had slowly taken on the characteristics of its city, a group of people on the verge of death. Like the residents of Sardis, the Christians there were ignorant or deceived about the safety of their future existence as a church. They did not realize that the essence of a church is not found in its buildings, programs, past achievements, or reputation. Instead, the essence of a church is found only in its right fellowship with Christ as demonstrated through doctrinal orthodoxy and a holy life of loving service, continual repentance, and Spirit-filled obedience.
The situation in the church in Thyatira is almost identical to that in Pergamum. Certain teachers are making inroads within the congregation and teaching a false doctrine of accommodation with the culture and condoning spiritual adultery. We do not know all we wish we knew about this city. Our difficulty in interpreting this particular letter comes from the many references to daily life that are now obscure to us with the passing of time and lack of archaeological evidence. Yet, while Thyatira is the least known, least important, and least remarkable of all seven cities in Revelation, it receives the longest letter. Therefore, we see that even though the city was relatively unimportant, the same cannot be said for the church in that city. The words Christ directed to them still impact churches today.
People like to give nicknames to their favorite cities. In America, we have the Big Apple, the Windy City, the Motor City, the Big Easy, Sin City, the Mile High City, the Queen City, and the City of Progress. Most city nicknames try to highlight a memorable aspect of that city's history or lifestyle. Most cities are proud of their nicknames, although many have derogatory alternatives like Cleveland's "Mistake by the Lake." Even Las Vegas revels in its otherwise shameful nickname. However, the ancient city of Pergamum received a nickname from Jesus that it would surely not agree with or appreciate. Jesus referred to Pergamum as "the city where Satan dwells." This nickname reveals much of what the Christians in this city were facing at the time John wrote these words.
In his words to the church in Smyrna, Jesus does not promise to save them from physical death or even that things will get better. In fact, Jesus does nothing! He allows their suffering to continue and worsen. Why?
Have we not been told all our lives that Jesus will rescue us and keep us from suffering? Are these not the conditions under which many agree to come into a relationship with Christ? Are there not many in the church today who think that if they do their part (attend church, read their Bible on occasion, give some amount to the church), then God will do his part (make our life better)? We must come to a place where we understand and accept a biblical understanding of suffering before such suffering arrives in our lives. It is important to know God���������������������������s heart before we face suffering, so that we may understand our suffering in light of God���������������������������s love for us and in light of Christ���������������������������s suffering on the cross instead of interpreting God���������������������������s heart towards us in light of our suffering. If we wait until the persecution comes to ponder God���������������������������s plan, we will most likely come to the wrong conclusions.The letter to Smyrna gives us insight we need should the Lord ever allow such suffering to come our way.
Jesus is not interested in a church filled with sentimental ignorance any more than he wants a church filled with loveless orthodoxy. Christians must strive to have an informed mind and an enflamed heart. Sacrificing sound doctrine for love is just as bad as sacrificing love for doctrine. The church of Ephesus serves as a great model for us today. In a positive sense, we must continue the battle against false teaching in the church and test all things by the Scriptures. However, in the negative sense, we must do so while being careful that we not embark on a witch hunt and attack every small divergence in non-essential doctrine with an attitude devoid of love. The letter to the Ephesian believers teaches us that love for God and love for our fellow believers must dominate everything else that we do. A church that has forgotten how to love has ceased being a church. God loves the church and so should we.
Christians meet in Episcopal churches, Presbyterian churches, and Congregational churches. Each of these types of churches operate under vastly different forms of church governance. Can all the different views on authority in the church be right? Is it a matter of being more or less right? Is there a New Testament teaching on church government that should set the pattern for all churches today? Or is each church or denomination free to organize their church leadership as they think best?
As we begin to consider the controversial issue of church governance, we must agree that the form of church government is not a major doctrine in the Scriptures. However, this does not mean that the Bible's teaching on governance or polity is altogether unimportant. In this lesson, we will explore the three major forms of church governance and then the role of pastors, elders, bishops, overseers, and deacons in a local church.
There is much confusion in the modern Baptist church over the distinct roles, functions, and qualifications for these bibical offices. The healthy church will remove the confusion and put biblically-qualified leaders into biblically-defined roles.
There is a great need for churches to realize the value of corrective church discipline for the health and vitality of the church. Churches must realize that corrective church discipline on earth is important because it is a small act of judgment that dimly points to God's final judgment in heaven. However, that relatively small act is performed with the hope that the sinning church member will come to repentance before God's final judgment ever arrives. This decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible sign of the failure of the contemporary church, which is no longer concerned with purity of confession or lifestyle, but sees itself almost entirely as a voluntary association of autonomous members with minimal moral accountability to God or each other. Without a recovery of biblical church discipline, the church will continue its downward slide.
This is not the way it is supposed to be. The people of God are depicted throughout the Bible as people of purity. As the chosen people of a holy God, the people of Israel carried God's own name and reflected his holiness in their life, worship, and beliefs. Israel was instructed in how to live a life that set them apart from their pagan neighbors. In the New Testament, the church of God is likewise described as the people of God who are visible to the world by the purity of their life and integrity of their testimony.
Individuals and churches usually commit one of two errors when contemplating church discipline. First, they might think, "This is a private matter. We have no business interfering here. After all, we are all sinners. Who are we to judge?" With this thinking, there is no corrective discipline at all and some might get uncomfortable with the "meddling" in biblically-based discipline. Second, some go to the opposite extreme and rush into judgment with the gleeful purpose of censoring and molding others to look just like themselves. In their harshness, they forget that the purpose behind all church discipline is to be redemptive and instead settle for "enforced conformity that never penetrates the heart." However, the process of implementing discipline in a church that currently does not practice discipline will be a slow, nerve-wracking, and mettle-testing process. It is wrongheaded to think that people will understand and accept church discipline because it is in the Bible. People will resist corrective discipline. People will resent the church "prying" into their personal lives. People will choose family allegiances and personal friendships over clear Biblical standards. We must never assume that people and other churches will understand or support the process or results. Yet do it we must because the Bible demands it and the church needs it.
There is a great need for churches to realize the value of corrective church discipline for the health and vitality of the church. Churches must realize that corrective church discipline on earth is important because it is a small act of judgment that dimly points to God's final judgment in heaven. However, that relatively small act is performed with the hope that the sinning church member will come to repentance before God's final judgment ever arrives. This decline of church discipline is perhaps the most visible sign of the failure of the contemporary church, which is no longer concerned with purity of confession or lifestyle, but sees itself almost entirely as a voluntary association of autonomous members with minimal moral accountability to God or each other. Without a recovery of biblical church discipline, the church will continue its downward slide.
This is not the way it is supposed to be. The people of God are depicted throughout the Bible as people of purity. As the chosen people of a holy God, the people of Israel carried God's own name and reflected his holiness in their life, worship, and beliefs. Israel was instructed in how to live a life that set them apart from their pagan neighbors. In the New Testament, the church of God is likewise described as the people of God who are visible to the world by the purity of their life and integrity of their testimony.
Individuals and churches usually commit one of two errors when contemplating church discipline. First, they might think, "This is a private matter. We have no business interfering here. After all, we are all sinners. Who are we to judge?" With this thinking, there is no corrective discipline at all and some might get uncomfortable with the "meddling" in biblically-based discipline. Second, some go to the opposite extreme and rush into judgment with the gleeful purpose of censoring and molding others to look just like themselves. In their harshness, they forget that the purpose behind all church discipline is to be redemptive and instead settle for "enforced conformity that never penetrates the heart." However, the process of implementing discipline in a church that currently does not practice discipline will be a slow, nerve-wracking, and mettle-testing process. It is wrongheaded to think that people will understand and accept church discipline because it is in the Bible. People will resist corrective discipline. People will resent the church "prying" into their personal lives. People will choose family allegiances and personal friendships over clear Biblical standards. We must never assume that people and other churches will understand or support the process or results. Yet do it we must because the Bible demands it and the church needs it.
The SBC loves to tout that we are the largest denomination in the United States with 16,266,920 members in 44,696 churches. That sounds impressive until you read the next line on the annual report and discover that the average attendance in worship in those same churches is 6,148,868. This means that only 37.8% of all the SBC members attend worship services on any given week - a little more than two-thirds! Of course, it is possible that many are ill, at college, in the military, or have some other valid reason for not being in their home church. However, that cannot be the case for all the absentees. Every week, over 10 million Southern Baptists fail at the absolute minimum level of commitment for a church member. In the past, it was generally accepted that no church and no denomination had the right to consider itself healthy unless more people attend than were on the roll. This is the standard in churches all around the world today and by our great-grandparents in America's past. As we attempt to gauge the health of the local church, a major symptom to examine is the mark of biblical church membership. Church membership is a serious matter - much more serious than many Christians understand or believe.
There is no single statement in the Bible that says "Thou shalt be a member of a local church." However, such a membership is definitely implied in the very nature of the church and its practices. Church membership is the means by which we mark the boundaries of the church. The Christian life is not to be lived in isolation but with other Christians. Christianity is personal but not private. A Christian is depicted in the Bible as one who joins with other believers in a formal commitment to love and be loved by those with whom we regularly interact and desire to hold accountable and to whom we are held accountable. In this study, we will see several Biblical passages that indicate that the New Testament churches had membership lists of some sort. They knew who was a member and who was not. When people became a follower of Jesus, they joined themselves to their local church. They joined it! In the New Testament, there simply was no such thing as an unbaptized believer. There was also no such thing as a Christian who was not a church member.
Every year seems to produce "the greatest witnessing opportunity in decades." However in relying on events instead of a biblical understanding of evangelism, very little lasting impact is made. As Bayly tried to explain in his parable, the church spends too much time on outreach methods that are grandiose and highly visible, but often impersonal and ineffective. It appears we have drifted from the original plan given to us by Jesus.
We have looked at two marks of a healthy church the last two chapters: the gospel and conversion. Both have to do with a biblical understanding of salvation. Now, we are prepared to look at a third aspect of salvation: evangelism. There is a biblical way to do evangelism and healthy churches understand this. A healthy church is not pragmatic in its approach to anything, especially evangelism. A healthy church understands that theology matters because what you believe has an immediate impact on what you do and why you do it. That is why we studied the gospel and conversion first. Now that we have a biblical understanding of both, we are prepared to discuss how to share the gospel with others. We will do so by considering four simple questions: 1. Who should evangelize? 2. Why should we evangelize? 3. What is evangelism? 4.How should we evangelize?
If you have traveled overseas, you know you must convert your money into the local currency. It is almost always the case that vendors in foreign lands do not recognize or accept American dollars. So, the traveler must go to a bank or currency exchange to trade in his dollars for Euros or rupees or pounds or liras or francs or pesos. You end up with the same amount of money relative to that culture but the money has been fundamentally changed.
In the same way, the conversion of a lost, unsaved individual requires a fundamental change within that person. Change is necessary to be a Christian because of what men and women are naturally from birth. Of course, without this change, we remain exactly as we are and that is not good news. Hearing and responding to the gospel brings about the change called conversion. Conversion is defined as "our willing response to the gospel call, in which we sincerely repent of sins and place our trust in Christ for salvation." The word conversion itself means "turning" and here represents a turning from sin to Christ. The turning from sin is repentance and the turning to Christ is faith. If you are truly converted, you cannot have one without the other. As we saw last time, both are necessary responses to the gospel.
The message about the redeeming work of God in the atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest information this world has ever received. It is more than news; it is good news. What is this news? That is the ultimate question. People everywhere disagree over the definition of the news and even evangelicals have a difficult time coming to an agreement over what is the gospel and what is not the gospel. The gospel is not meeting physical needs, it is not irrelevant, it is not privatized religion, it is not simply that "God is Love," it is not the path to health and wealth, it is not therapy, it is not moralism, and it is not all about you. The thing that truly distinguishes Christianity from all other belief systems is not its moral code or practicality. The difference lies in Christianity's story - the story of a holy Creator, rejected by his creation, yet stooping do reconcile them through the death of his Son. Christianity is not just a worldview, a way of life, or a program for personal or cultural change. Christianity is news. It is the report of something that happened that will forever change those who truly hear it. As witnesses and messengers of this news, our job is simply to get the story right and report it to all with whom we come in contact.
The message about the redeeming work of God in the atonement of Jesus Christ is the greatest information this world has ever received. It is more than news; it is good news. What is this news? That is the ultimate question. People everywhere disagree over the definition of the news and even evangelicals have a difficult time coming to an agreement over what is the gospel and what is not the gospel. The gospel is not meeting physical needs, it is not irrelevant, it is not privatized religion, it is not simply that "God is Love," it is not the path to health and wealth, it is not therapy, it is not moralism, and it is not all about you. The thing that truly distinguishes Christianity from all other belief systems is not its moral code or practicality. The difference lies in Christianity's story - the story of a holy Creator, rejected by his creation, yet stooping do reconcile them through the death of his Son. Christianity is not just a worldview, a way of life, or a program for personal or cultural change. Christianity is news. It is the report of something that happened that will forever change those who truly hear it. As witnesses and messengers of this news, our job is simply to get the story right and report it to all with whom we come in contact.
The Christian often approaches the Bible in the very same way. Most evangelicals view their Bible as a difficult puzzle to be solved. They have been taught their whole lives -through unintentional pastoral neglect or outright doctrinal instruction - that the Bible is made up of a great jumble of disconnected pieces. In other words, many Christians have grown up in the church looking at the Bible as a collection of individual books with no commonality between them. The many who view the Bible like this have never been taught what the "big picture" of the Bible is supposed to look like. They therefore do not see how a particular piece relates to other pieces. The Bible is simply a book of puzzle pieces that belong in the same box (book) but with no discernible reason why they are there. We learned in the last chapter that the first mark of a healthy church is expository preaching. However, our main concern must not be "only with how we are taught, but - more importantly - with specifically what we are taught. We should want pastors who will preach from the Word of God, but we should also carefully listen to what the pastor says and decide whether or not what he says is according to the Word of God." The sermons must be substantially in line with how God has revealed Himself, His plan, and His purpose to us in the Bible. For this purpose, all Christians must be sound biblical theologians.
Expository preaching is becoming increasingly popular and we can only rejoice in this trend. Expository preaching is often defined as "going through a book of the Bible verse-by-verse" but it is much more than this. Some think expository preaching is doing a line-by-line verbal commentary on a passage with a few points of application tacked on to the end of the message. Again, it is much more than that. Expository preaching (or expositional preaching) is "preaching that takes for the point of the sermon the point of a particular passage of Scripture." Effective expository preaching makes clear and compelling the one thing that the text makes most central. In expository preaching, the passage governs the sermon. This type of preaching is preaching in service to the Word, not putting the Bible in subjection to the preaching event. It presumes a dependant belief in the authority of God's Word and a deep desire to hear from God's Word.
Why are we committed to expository preaching? Why is expository preaching a necessary component of every healthy church? The answer to both questions is the same: preaching should always (or almost always) be expositional preaching because the Word of God must be at the very center of the sermon, the worship service, and the church. This centrality of the Word is the pattern set forth in Scripture and in God's ordination of the church's history. A healthy church is a church that hears the Word of God and continues to hear the Word of God and is constantly growing and changing because of the Word of God. We must be shaped by the Word and not our own selfish desires and personal agendas. For this reason, the preaching of God's Word (ALL OF IT) must be central in the life of the pastor and the church.
A healthy church is not one that has arrived. It has not gotten everything figured out. I does not have a perfect pastor or a perfect blend of contemporary and traditional music. It does not mean that your children will beg you to take them there or that they will never come home complaining about being bored. However, a healthy church is filled with health-conscious Christians will continuously strive to take God's side in the battles it faces. They will seek to conform itself according to God's Holy Word in all areas of life - both individually and corporately. In essence, a healthy church will increasingly reflect God's character and God's desires for the church as his character and desires are discovered in the study and proclamation of God's Word.
The way the church has been designed to display the glory of God is through simple obedience to His ordained plan for the body of Christ. The Bible tells us all we need to know: we listen to God's Word and we follow God's Word. The church is not called to look at the worldly community around it and determine how it can more closely mirror that environment in an attempt to be "cool" or "relevant" or "sensitive." The church is called to examine itself and its ministry and discern whether or not it has been faithful to all God has called the church to be.
When we read stories of people who have allegedly "died and gone to heaven," it is easy to get excited about the prospects of seeing such wonderful sights ourselves one day. At the same time, Christians are encouraged that the biblical record is true and that their faith is well founded. However, we need to read these stories carefully and reflect upon them through the lenses of theological study. Many have theological concerns with the accounts given in these two books and the numerous other stories told by near-death "experiencers" (their term).
Research in this area indicates there is a certain consistency in NDE reports. These similarities exist regardless of gender, religion, culture, and race. Many suggest that the phenomena must therefore actually be occurring objectively outside the body. These proponents argue that such consistency allows only for the explanation at NDEs are exactly what they are reported to be - the soul's journey out of the body through a tunnel to another plane of existence.
However, beyond a narrow list of parameters that are remarkably consistent, thousands of widely subjective accounts remain. Are NDEs real? Many believe so but just as many remain skeptical. No one can deny that NDErs are definitely experiencing something. The question is: Exactly what are they experiencing? Are they leaving their bodies and traveling to other dimensions? Is there some natural explanation for what they see and hear and remember?
There are biological and psychological factors that can account for every single NDE element listed in the scientific studies. In fact, you do not actually need to be "near death" to have a near-death experience. It appears highly likely that many (if not all) NDEs take place entirely in one's mind as biologically-based hallucinations built from preexisting memories, thoughts, dreams, and religious beliefs.
No one can judge the experience that they had. However, as Christians, we have the right and the duty to judge their interpretation of what they experiences.
Modern Christians seem so desperate for tangible evidence of their personal beliefs that they gravitate and grasp at any information that would lend validation to their faith. This would explain our fascination with expeditions to find Noah's Ark and quick acceptance of forwarded email nonsense. Christians do not need this information; we have the words of God revealed to us in the Scriptures. Those words in the Bible describe for us what awaits those who truly believe. There is no reason to believe that God wants us to know more about heaven than what He has revealed to us already. As the old hymn asks, "What more can He say that to you He has said?"
You may not be familiar with the term "carnal Christian" but you have surely heard the teaching behind the descriptive classification. The carnal Christian doctrine relies on a specific interpretation of the first four verses of the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. In that chapter, Paul writes to a congregation about a specific situation in their life but tells his readers that he must speak to them on a lower level because they are carnal (KJV) or worldly (NIV). From this statement, Scofield and others after him teach that Paul recognized these Corinthian believers had settled into a state of carnality in which their desires, affections, and behaviors remain unchanged from their pre-conversion life.
Many believe that modern believers can do the same. According to this view, a truly born-again person can be completely indifferent to the work of the Holy Spirit in every area of their life for an extended period of time or even for the rest of their life. Paul's third chapter is therefore brought forth to declare that three kinds of people exist on the earth: the lost, the spiritual Christian, and the carnal Christian. However, because of the great love and grace of God, the unchanged and unaffected carnal Christian need not worry about his or her eternal soul.
According to the carnal Christian teaching, Paul later teaches in the same chapter that every believer will be held accountable before God for how they lived their individual lives. Each life will be exposed by the fire of God's judgment to reveal the quality of that life. This judgment is the ultimate in "good news/bad news." Paul says that if your life's work survives the fiery test from God, you will receive a reward in heaven. However, he goes on to write, "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved" (3:15).
Have you heard this teaching? Do you believe it? Have you ordered your life around it? Is this what Paul intended to communicate to the Corinthians? If not, then where did this teaching come from? The Scofield Reference Bible is still available for purchase today but it is not nearly as popular today as it was half a century ago. So, how did the carnal Christian doctrine become so popular in today's modern evangelical churches? How does it remain so ingrained in the minds of evangelicals?
You may not be familiar with the term "carnal Christian" but you have surely heard the teaching behind the descriptive classification. The carnal Christian doctrine relies on a specific interpretation of the first four verses of the third chapter of Paul's letter to the Corinthians. In that chapter, Paul writes to a congregation about a specific situation in their life but tells his readers that he must speak to them on a lower level because they are carnal (KJV) or worldly (NIV). From this statement, Scofield and others after him teach that Paul recognized these Corinthian believers had settled into a state of carnality in which their desires, affections, and behaviors remain unchanged from their pre-conversion life.
Many believe that modern believers can do the same. According to this view, a truly born-again person can be completely indifferent to the work of the Holy Spirit in every area of their life for an extended period of time or even for the rest of their life. Paul's third chapter is therefore brought forth to declare that three kinds of people exist on the earth: the lost, the spiritual Christian, and the carnal Christian. However, because of the great love and grace of God, the unchanged and unaffected carnal Christian need not worry about his or her eternal soul.
According to the carnal Christian teaching, Paul later teaches in the same chapter that every believer will be held accountable before God for how they lived their individual lives. Each life will be exposed by the fire of God's judgment to reveal the quality of that life. This judgment is the ultimate in "good news/bad news." Paul says that if your life's work survives the fiery test from God, you will receive a reward in heaven. However, he goes on to write, "If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved" (3:15).
Have you heard this teaching? Do you believe it? Have you ordered your life around it? Is this what Paul intended to communicate to the Corinthians? If not, then where did this teaching come from? The Scofield Reference Bible is still available for purchase today but it is not nearly as popular today as it was half a century ago. So, how did the carnal Christian doctrine become so popular in today's modern evangelical churches? How does it remain so ingrained in the minds of evangelicals?
In this final section of the letter to the Hebrews, the author asks his readers to remember their former spiritual leaders and the great unchanging truths they taught them. He ends by exhorting them to respect and follow the leaders God has currently placed in their lives. In between, the writer lays out for the final time the great truth he has labored to make clear throughout this incredible book - Jesus is superior.
Unlike most New Testament authors, the writer of Hebrews has not saved all his practical application until the end of the letter. Instead, he has interspersed doctrine and duty throughout the sermon. Now, after teaching his readers that their God is both the consuming holiness of Sinai and the consuming love of Zion, he writes in the final chapter several intensely practical commands to reveal to his readers exactly what it looks like to persevere in their Christian lives in regular, everyday ways. Each of the practical exhortations in this closing chapter provides general instructions on how to interact with those around us. The first five exhortations (vv. 1-6) deal with Christian relationships to people and things in their everyday lives.
While it is true that the New Testament does give us a fuller revelation of God, we dare not say that we read of a different God in the New Testament. The God we worship today is the same God worshipped by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, John the Baptist, and Paul. However, passages such as the one we studied last - Hebrews 12:18-24 - often add to the confusion. The same God spoke both covenants into existence and therefore, we are to follow the instruction of our author in the passage where we find the fifth and final warning to his readers: "See that you do not refuse him who is speaking" (Heb 12:25). This great command is given once again in this letter and backed up with a terrifying warning to those who would refuse to heed it.
We often long for the good ol' days but not many of us would want to give up modern conveniences like cell phones, the internet, and air conditioning. The book of Hebrews was to say the same thing on a different level to first-century Jews who had converted to Christianity. Their new faith in Christ led to significant problems in other areas of their life. They are disowned by family. They are being persecuted by society. Many are beginning to think that a simple return to Judaism will solve all their problems. The author of Hebrews wrote his letter to convince them of the spiritual death that would follow if they leave Christ to return to Moses. Now, after multiple exhortations and warnings, he offers one final summary argument in seven verses in the middle of the twelfth chapter. He reminds them of where they once were and where they now stand. In this stark comparison, the decision they must make is shown to be an obvious one.
In the previous section of Scripture, the author explains "the secret" behind all the difficult times the readers had experienced and were currently experiencing. Their afflictions did not just come into their lives at the hands of fate and destiny. Instead, the author wants his readers to understand that God was and is behind all of it, including the affliction that was just now on the distant horizon. God ordains all the rough moments in a Christian's life but he does so for a divine purpose - the discipline of his precious children. Now, with this knowledge in hand, we must and can live our lives differently than in the past. The assumption of the author is that "knowing what God is up to in our suffering is the key to pressing on in the race of holy Christian living." Prior to understanding this truth, believers were often tempted to believe that God had abandoned them. When the affliction or persecution would begin, it seemed to the natural eye and mind that they were on their own. However, now armed with the truth that all the adversity we endure is part of God's sovereign design for our good and our holiness, believers know that God is using the current situations in their lives to accomplish a very good thing in their life: growth in holiness. Such knowledge is indeed transformative and should look like the following in the life of all believers.
In the previous section of Scripture, the author explains "the secret" behind all the difficult times the readers had experienced and were currently experiencing. Their afflictions did not just come into their lives at the hands of fate and destiny. Instead, the author wants his readers to understand that God was and is behind all of it, including the affliction that was just now on the distant horizon. God ordains all the rough moments in a Christian's life but he does so for a divine purpose - the discipline of his precious children. Now, with this knowledge in hand, we must and can live our lives differently than in the past. The assumption of the author is that "knowing what God is up to in our suffering is the key to pressing on in the race of holy Christian living." Prior to understanding this truth, believers were often tempted to believe that God had abandoned them. When the affliction or persecution would begin, it seemed to the natural eye and mind that they were on their own. However, now armed with the truth that all the adversity we endure is part of God's sovereign design for our good and our holiness, believers know that God is using the current situations in their lives to accomplish a very good thing in their life: growth in holiness. Such knowledge is indeed transformative and should look like the following in the life of all believers.
The slow devolution of fatherhood in our popular media has surely had some effect on the viewers' understanding of the family in general and fatherhood in particular. Another fearful effect can be seen in the area of biblical interpretation. The Bible uses the image of the father consistently to reveal various aspects of the relationship between God and his people. As the popular image of fatherhood continues to devolve, certain characteristics of God will become less meaningful and even unintelligible to our children and grandchildren. The ability to comprehend and appreciate the biblical presentation of God as our Heavenly Father will become distorted or even lost completely. The passage we come to in our on-going study of Hebrews offers one such potential difficulty. The verses below speak of divine parental discipline - the biblical teaching that God chastises and trains his children by means of difficulties and hardships of life. This teaching is not popular or even desirous to hear among many. However, when the difficult times come in our lives, such words serves as a source of great encouragement as they help us to understand why things happen the way that they do. Just like us, the original readers were prone to thinking incorrectly about the troubles they were experiencing. To give encouragement and to motivate his readers to endure the difficulties of life, the author instructs them to persevere and hold fast to their faith.
In the first two verses of the twelfth chapter, the author of Hebrews begins to apply all the truths presented in the first ten chapters. What will a life lived in confident trust in the Superior High Priest look like? How does an enduring and obedient faith work in everyday life? There is only one exhortation in the entire passage: "Let us run." This one verb is surrounded by a series of participles and prepositions that serve to tell us how we are to run the race. Everything else in the passage supports and serves this one exhortation. This passage does not tell us to run the race and do these other things, as well. These "other things" are the ways believers are to live lives of enduring obedient faith.
It is often good to hear the bad news along with the good but it is rare that we are given the gift of hearing the rest of the story. The author of Hebrews did not want his readers to get a distorted view of life by hearing only a portion of the truth. Therefore, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, the author purposes to tell all who read this great letter that living a life of faith does not always lead to great victory, success, and prosperity. So far in this chapter, we have read of such well-known biblical heroes as Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. These men were used by God to do incredible acts and are remembered thousands of years later for their faithful obedience. Now, as we near the end of this chapter, the author wants to continue to list even more notables with similar victories of faith in the Old Testament. However, if the author of Hebrews had simply listed more victories and then moved on to his next topic at the conclusion of this lengthy recitation of names and events, his readers would have learned only a small portion of the story. Not every day brings a victory. Some individuals are never rescued, even though they lived their lives in obedient faith. No one likes to read such accounts but to fail to hear of individuals such as these would have led to great tragedy in the lives of the original readers. Sadly, many ministers and churches today teach only half of the same story and their listeners pay the price for their neglect in preaching the whole counsel of God. As we will see in the final section of this chapter, we must hear and heed the rest of the story.
Everyone loves an underdog! The idea of a smaller and outnumbered person or group defeating a more powerful opponent fits well with our study of the next section of the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. In the previous section (vv. 8-22), the author described the faithful lives of the patriarchs of the Jewish faith as they faced persistent disappointment at not possessing the promised earthly inheritance. Now, as we move into the next section, we read of the exploits of Moses and individuals of the Exodus generation. During Moses' lifetime, God was ready to deliver his people out of Egypt just as the patriarchs anticipated. Instead of dealing with disappointment, this generation dealt with perpetual conflict with unbelievers. Both examples are beneficial to the readers of this letter. Just as the patriarchs' belief in the face of unseen promises would have been helpful to the original readers also clinging to God's Word, so would reading of others standing strong in the face of great oppression and persecution.
As the author of Hebrews moves on in chapter eleven by giving examples of faithful men and women in the history of the Israelites, he comes to the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. To be sure, these men exhibited remarkable faith - particularly Abraham - without the benefit of ever seeing the promises of God fulfilled in their lives. In the middle of the passage we will study in this chapter, the author writes, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised." Some might say that it is easy to live by faith when God always answers your prayers. On the other hand, there is no doubt that to live a life of consistent faith is even more difficult when that life is lived with no answers to prayer or eventual possession of things promised. The author of Hebrews writes to his readers to reinforce within them the biblical perspective needed to survive as a believer in a world that hates God and his followers (see 1 John 3:13 - "Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you"). The men mentioned in this next section of chapter eleven lived their lives with an eternal perspective. They had their eyes on a greater prize than temporal comfort and acceptance. This faith-filled perspective is possible and necessary for any believer in any age to live a life of faith.
The men and women described in Hebrews 11 are used as illustrations for the type of saving faith that actually perseveres. Christians often study this chapter and come to the conclusion that the faith of these men and women has nothing to do with them and their ordinary, everyday lives. This is a seriously misguided and misinformed understanding of what the author of Hebrews is attempting to do at this point in his letter. The author understands what is at stake and he has warned them multiple times of the spiritual dangers of forsaking faith in Christ for faith in the old covenant laws and sacrifices. To fail to endure in the Christian faith is not to travel some less desirable path to God but to travel on a path that does not lead to God at all. The author knows that his readers must press on because the only solid evidence of authentic saving faith is in its pressing on. The examples presented in chapter eleven are therefore given for this very purpose. Each of the individuals presented in the chapter persevered and endured through some period of tribulation in their life. The original readers were being called upon to examine and emulate that type of faith. In the exact same way, modern readers are also called to imitate this type of faith so that they will persevere and walk boldly with Christ through all that that life may throw their way. He begins his chronological march through the Old Testament with three men who lived before the flood: Abel, Enoch, and Noah.
Chapter and verse divisions were inserted into our Bibles about 500 years ago. These relatively recent additions do provide a certain level of convenience. However, because of these numbers, many believers now view the Bible not as a continuous flow of thought but as a collection of sentences that we can cobble together or break apart according to our own whims. It is far too easy for Christians to focus on a single verse within a book of the Bible with no thought of the context for that verse. Though not as frequent as reading a single verse out of context, some entire chapters are divorced from their contexts. The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is a prime example. There is no doubt that this chapter is able to stand alone but the reader does miss something in divorcing the words from their surrounding context. Hebrews 11 is often called the "faith chapter" or the Bible's "Hall of Faith" and rightly so. The chapter is famous for its list of great men and women of faith from the pages of Scripture. However, readers must never forget that this list of heroes of the faith is not disconnected from what has just been written and what follows. To be sure, we can profit from reading this chapter in isolation from the book of Hebrews but we profit even more from understanding the intent of the author in writing these words at this particular point in the letter.
The only true and foolproof test of the validity of one's profession of faith is whether one perseveres in their faith for the duration of his or her life. To put it simply, genuine faith endures. Genuine faith lasts. A "faith" that does not endure to the end of life was not a genuine faith from the beginning. One of the means that God has provided for the perseverance of his children is the issuance of severe warnings and encouraging exhortations. The entire letter of Hebrews was written for this purpose. The timeless nature of this text jumps from the pages of the Bible. Every Christian in every age has needed both warning and encouragement. We need to be challenged to live in the light of God's wrath and encouraged to live in the strength of God's promises. We need reminders of the past, promises for the future, and warnings and exhortations for the present. These will carry us through the Christian life.
In our study of the book of Hebrews, we have learned that true believers in Christ have been granted benefits that make the perks enjoyed by presidents and billionaires pale in comparison. For the author of Hebrews, it is unthinkable that anyone could understand the great benefits of being a Christian and then turn his or her back on such incredible riches. It would be like watching President Obama sit in a traffic jam in Chicago while driving his own Toyota Camry or standing in line at the airport to buy a coach ticket to London. The image is preposterous yet we should have the same reaction when a Christian refuses to enjoy all that has been given him in Christ. In this next section of his letter (10:19-25), the author writes that our manner of living must be consistent with our professed faith.
In the tenth chapter of Hebrews, the author concludes his lengthy argument for the superiority of Christ to everything in the old covenant. However, he does not stoop to sheer emotional manipulation like today's televised jurists. He does not even praise the Lord for the greatness of the sacrifice of Christ's sacrifice. Instead, he presses on and repeats his primary point once more: the glory of the superior sacrificial offering of the superior high priest operating within the superior covenant. There is nothing new here. If fact, much of what he says in the first eighteen verses of the tenth chapter will be very familiar to the reader. He does not say anything new but the way that he says what he says here is new. In doing so, the author highlights for us what he deems to be the central issues in his argument.
My grandfather died during my sophomore year in high school. He did not have much in the way of material possessions. Therefore, when he died, each member of the family received certain items that do not amount to much in financial terms but are priceless in an emotional sense. The only bad side to receiving an inheritance, no matter how large or little, is that someone must die first. The author of Hebrews labors to make this point in the passage we study next. In the latter half of chapter nine, the author mentions a "promised eternal inheritance" that is set aside for "those who are called" (9:15). However, the only way these individuals can receive this incredible prize is for a certain death to occur.
If you have ever gotten blood on your clothes, you know how difficult it is to remove that stain. Because of this, we would never think of blood as a cleansing agent. We know that blood stains; it does not clean. Blood is something we try to scrub off, not scrub with! Yet the Bible speaks often of the cleaning power of blood. It is certain that the ancient Israelites knew nothing of the cleansing nature of blood. However, in his infinite wisdom and as part of his eternal plan, God gave to them a practice that would serve as a metaphor or type to explain his ability to cleanse his people from the greatest of stains: sin. In the previous chapter of Hebrews, we discovered that the Lord initiated a new covenant with his people to replace the old covenant established under Moses and the Law. Jeremiah's declaration of the new covenant revealed all that God would do in this unconditional covenant but the prophet did not mention anything about blood. However, six hundred years later, Christ instituted the new covenant in the Last Supper and proclaimed as he shared the wine, "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:27-29).
Suppose you had previously traveled to Orlando's "Holy Land Experience" and later you were invited to travel to Israel. Suppose further that you replied, "I think I'll pass. I've already been to the Holy Land Experience. There's no need for me to go to Israel." What would people think of that decision? It is ludicrous to think that seeing a few replicas in Florida would be the equivalent of actually traveling to Israel to see those same objects in reality. The author of Hebrews asks the same question to his readers in the eighth chapter of his letter. He asks, "Are you going to give up on the real thing to chase after a replica?" The rites and rituals of Judaism are shadows of the real thing that is in heaven.
The writer of Hebrews is a pastor at heart and he will not engage in reckless pastoral care. He loves this particular flock too much to let some of them slowly drift away without telling them the painful truth. He writes harshly at times to fulfill his commission as a shepherd. In fact, this strong concern for his people motivated him to write the letter to the Hebrews and include several warnings, admonitions, and exhortations. He was not afraid to "get in their face" and speak the truth in love. This particular chapter, perhaps the most controversial in the entire letter, is one of those times.
The author has just completed a lengthy section filled with exhortation. He knows another similar exhortation is needed shortly. In between these two exhortations, he introduces a new image to his readers: the picture of the Jewish High Priest. This passage in Hebrews 5 serves as an introduction to an extended discussion of Christ as the Christian's Great High Priest. In this brief introduction, the author does not intend to answer every question about this particular role or to even raise every issue he will later discuss. Instead, this passage serves to provide a broad sweep of Christ's priestly ministry relative to the role of the Old Testaments priests. We will see that Jesus meets and exceeds every requirement to be a Great High Priest.
The author of Hebrews wrote his letter while the Temple was still standing. He did not know that the great building would be destroyed in just a matter of years. However, his letter to a group of Jewish Christians in Rome provided the answers to the questions that their Jewish family members would have been asking them repeatedly: "You have no priests in this new Christian religion. How do you have access to God?" Little did their Jewish friends and family know that they would face the same situation in a very short time. The desire for a "stand-in" or mediator between God and man is a real one and a good one. As Protestants, we rarely consider the importance of a priest. we do need a priest and we have the ultimate High Priest representing us before God - Jesus Christ. With Jesus as our Great High Priest, We have a great hope. That particular understanding is the goal of the author of Hebrews and that answer is the one he wanted his readers to be able to give to questioning Jews and pagans.
The author of Hebrews is not concerned with the size of the church to which he writes. His advice does not even touch on ideas of buildings and appearances and image. He does not write about new church growth methods or worship styles. The exhortations he provides do not address the subject of making the readers more comfortable, the church more accessible, or the ministries more relevant to the culture in which they live. In fact, the last thing the author would desire for this church is that they begin to look like the Roman culture around it. we also see that a healthy church is one that leaves no stragglers to lag behind or perish in unbelief. The kind of church the author is looking for is one where the discouraged are propelled forward by encouragement and where the strong take care of the weak. When one believer becomes discouraged in the race, others do what must be done to encourage, support, and assist one another. As a believer, I am obviously concerned about my walk with Christ and the eternal state of my soul. However, what we often fail to realize is that we are to be concerned with our fellow believers, as well. We do not want to enter God's rest alone. To be sure, this is the goal of the writer of Hebrews.
The 2007 New England Patriots are widely considered the best team in the history of professional football. They won every single game in the regular season. However, they lost in the Super Bowl and, therefore, they failed in their ultimate goal. Just like in the sports world, it is possible for people to "perform" well in the church and yet fail to cross the finish line. The author of Hebrews is concerned that some of his readers might be a "rocky soil" type that reveals his faith insufficient to withstand persecution and tribulation. The author knows that true faith is a faith that obviously has a beginning point but also one that endures to the very end of life. The gospel of Jesus Christ calls on believers not only to start the Christian life but also to finish well by the grace of God. In fact, the Bible declares that only those who do finish the race can properly be called believers. In this lesson, we see that unbelief is not a passive non-response to God but an active response that deserves punishment. Because of this, the readers are urged to keep on believing.
To capture the prize, one must keep his eye on the prize. This is true in swimming, running, archery, and many other competitive sports. It is also true in the spiritual arena. As the second major section of the letter to the Hebrews begins, the author has this same truism in mind for his readers. He is fearful that some of his beloved readers will be tempted to take their eyes off the prize and will drift away. If they do this, he knows that they run the risk of losing the prize completely. The author knows the very real temptation these Jewish Christians faced to return to the religion of their fathers. Rome tolerated Judaism but there was more calling them back than cultural acceptance and social, political, and economic safety. Judaism was comfortable and one always knew where one stood and what had to be done to be right with God. Judaism was familiar with its thousands of years of well-known rituals and stories. Judaism was a source of personal and national pride with all the recorded acts of God for the sake of His chosen people Israel. It was only to Israel that God had revealed Himself in such a special way through such famous people as Noah, Abraham, David, Elijah, and Isaiah. However, in that pantheon of great religious leaders, one stood tall above the rest in the minds of Jews - Moses. The work before the author: convince his readers that Jesus is superior to Moses.
Disasters, both natural and unnatural, create aftershocks of a different sort in both survivors and witnesses. People are suddenly willing to think about their faith and its relationship to the reality all around them. In the aftermath, people wrestle with tough theological questions - sometimes for the first time in their lives. Many see a tremendous contradiction in the idea that God could coexist in a world with such egregious evil and suffering. The problem of such evil is not a mere intellectual exercise in philosophy. Among those who do not doubt His existence, the question that is always asked in times such as these is, "Where is God?" The author of Hebrews anticipates such questions and reactions from his readers. It is the author's pastoral affection for his readers that compels him to write the letter in the first place. He knows that his readers are almost surely thinking these thoughts as they underwent persecution. If the author of Hebrews is correct and Jesus is the supreme Being in the universe who now sits at the right hand of God, reigning with all authority and dominion, then why are bad things still happening?
Based on the theology presented in the first chapter, the author makes his case that Jesus Christ is worth following regardless of what perceived threats or actual persecution might come into your life. Jesus is worth following no matter what happens to you, your spouse, your children, or your possessions. People undergoing intense oppression and internal struggles do not need religious platitudes. Instead, the author's love for his readers drives him to tell them the pointed truth - even if that truth stings a little. For the author, the truth is written in the form of five strong warnings strategically placed throughout this letter. These warnings are not hollow threats to arouse fears in his readers. The warnings are not hypothetical scenarios that have no real impact on the readers' lives. The warnings are trumpet-blasts to awaken in his readers the drive to understand, heed, apply, and live in the safety of what he has just taught them and will continue to teach them in the rest of this letter.
When we think of angels as they appear in novels, movies, television shows, and art, we are prone to end up with a disjointed, inconsistent, and unbiblical view of these creatures. The only true way to gain a proper understanding of angels (and demons) is to study what the Bible reveals about them. The author of Hebrews forces us to consider angels because he mentions them repeatedly in the first two chapters of the letter. So, considering the author's inclusions of angels and remembering his purpose in writing this letter - the supremacy of Christ - the most important thing we can know about angels is where they stand in relation to Jesus Christ. It is to this matter that the author of the letter directs our attention next.
When we think of angels as they appear in novels, movies, television shows, and art, we are prone to end up with a disjointed, inconsistent, and unbiblical view of these creatures. The only true way to gain a proper understanding of angels (and demons) is to study what the Bible reveals about them. The author of Hebrews forces us to consider angels because he mentions them repeatedly in the first two chapters of the letter. So, considering the author's inclusions of angels and remembering his purpose in writing this letter - the supremacy of Christ - the most important thing we can know about angels is where they stand in relation to Jesus Christ. It is to this matter that the author of the letter directs our attention next.
In America, Christ is tiny and He is getting smaller every day. What are we to make of this Americanization of Christ? Michael Horton compares the American religious scene to Aaron and the golden calf. He notes that "It was not that Aaron was willing to have Israel worship a false God, but that he was willing to let them worship the true God falsely." We dare not repeat the same mistake. Instead, we must come to see and know Jesus in all His glory, supremacy, holiness, and beauty. The book of Hebrews instructs us in how we may best do this as the supremacy of Christ is the very theme of the entire book from the very beginning and we begin our study there.
How much could you endure? Would you endure in the faith for very long if it meant that you could not keep your job or if it became difficult to feed your family because you believed the teachings of an itinerant preacher from Nazareth? Would you stay true to your faith in Christ when authorities come to seize your car, home, and land? Would you stand strong in the face of imprisonment for the mere fact that you worship a Jewish carpenter who claims to be the Son of God? Would you endure physical torture from strong-armed thugs because you refuse to recant your faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Even worse, could you endure the slaughter of your family before your very eyes just because you refuse to renounce your faith in Jesus? These are the questions that first-century Christians were asked and these questions were no mere philosophical exercise. They awoke every day to the question, "What are you willing to trade for Jesus Christ?"
It is important to realize that the phrase "he descended into hell" does not appear in the Bible. Instead, the words are found in the Apostles' Creed, where we read that Christ "was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead." The question before us is this: "What does it mean that Christ "descended into hell"?
People come up with interesting methodsto help them complete the tasks before them. Some count on monetary reward. Others rely on praise and recognition. Still others rely on an inward fear of failure or a deep-seated commitment never to give up. These various forms of motivation serve us well in areas such as athletics, academics, or vocation. What about our spiritual walk with Christ? Biblical authors often compare our spiritual life as a race to be completed or fight to be finished. How are we to finish the race set before us? Can we rely on parlor tricks or extrinsic means of motivation? Are we to do anything at all to ensure that we finish the race? Or is God going to do it for us and all we must do is trust and believe? In this chapter, we will examine the biblical witness to "defend the thesis that God promises to sustain until the end those who are genuinely part of the people of God." Those biblical witnesses are Peter, Jude, John, Paul and the author of Hebrews.
In the eighty years since the publication of Elmer Gantry, it has become almost impossible to satirize the American evangelicalism any more. Names like Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, and Ted Haggard quickly come to mind as allegedly committed followers of Christ who have committed great scandal. Christians often wonder how to make sense of such acts committed by individuals claiming to be followers of Christ. They ask, "How can Christians do such things?" and "How can they continue to do them for so long?" Eventually, they will ask, "Are these individuals saved or not? Were they ever saved to start with? Will they go to heaven when they die?" All of these questions are legitimate and the Bible provides answers for us. The Bible never shies away from difficult issues. Regarding this particularly difficult issue, the Bible uses four kinds of passages to present the biblical perspective on those who fail to persevere in the faith they profess. We will examine these four types of passages.
Most of the disagreement on the interpretation of the five warning passages in the book of Hebrews comes from studying them out of context and in isolation from the others. We must remember that the book of Hebrews is a sermon to a particular group of people to address a single issue. Therefore, the author is not giving multiple warnings about multiple dangers but a single warning about a single danger. So, the best way to come to an understanding of these five passages is to read them together. As you do this, you will notice that the author builds on each section, intensifying the warnings. With each warning, the call becomes more urgent. Because of this urgency, there are only a few students of the Bible who have not been troubled by this book. This is natural because these passages warn of the danger of apostasy ��� a falling away from or desertion of an original profession of faith in Christ. What is the real purpose behind these warnings?
We are bombarded with warnings every day. Some are necessary ("Don't Pass A Stopped School Bus" and "Objects In Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear"). Others are ridiculously unnecessary ("Do Not Use Preparation H Orally"). The Bible never wastes words. Every sentence has meaning and purpose and the warning passages provide the reader a necessary benefit. We have asserted that the function of warning passages is to serve as the means by which God preserves his elect for salvation. Let us keep this function in mind as we examine various passages that provide readers with warnings and admonitions.
A proper understanding of God's intended function of the warnings and exhortations in Scripture will help determine the shape of our doctrine of eternal security and assurance. The Bible presents both the promises of God and the warnings of God. We must interpret them according to their intended purpose. The warning passages in Scripture function in unison with the promise passages to evoke faith and assurance in believers. The promise is that true believers will not fall away but will instead persevere to the end and enjoy the blessings of eternal life. Now, someone might ask why God would warn a believer about falling away from the faith if it is impossible that a believer will fall away. In other words, if it were impossible for a person to drink poison, why would I warn a person to not drink poison? The problem with such a question is that the questioner does not understand God's purpose in the warnings. In the Bible, God uses warnings as the means toward that end. The warnings serve to grab our attention, to preserve us, and to motivate us to persevere in the faith God has given us. Just as the Christian life begins by receiving Christ by faith, so we must walk in him ��� a picture of persistent belief.
The Christian life is often compared to a race in the Bible. Winning this race is the most important thing in anyone's life. Ironically, this race is the total opposite of the races we know today - particularly marathons. In today's marathons, officials are concerned with individuals who finish the race but do not start it. In the Bible, the more pressing concern is for those who start the race but do not finish it. The New Testament is filled with exhortations to run the race well so that you actually complete the race set before you. We must maintain this biblical train of thought: the reward that we receive by faith in Christ for winning this race is based or grounded on grace alone. However, only those who exercise faith in Christ and endure in their faith to the end will receive this reward. We see this truth in the biblical presentation of the nature of the type of faith that saves.
The Bible is not always as simplistic as we want it to be or perhaps think that it is. That is surely the case regarding the doctrine of salvation. To display the full understanding of all that is our salvation, the Bible uses a wide variety of metaphors or word pictures. We can understand the basis of these metaphors easily enough. However, we often miss a subtle difference in them ��� a temporal difference. For instance, salvation is depicted as a reality that is the actual possession of true believers right now by divine right as joint-heirs with Christ. At the same time, salvation is also depicted as a future reality that has not yet been inherited by those same true believers. This tension between past and future is usually termed the "already-but-not-yet" by theologians. Some passages describe the "already" and others the "not yet." However, a majority of the metaphors for salvation surprisingly fall into both categories. To emphasize one over the other is to fall into theological error. This type of error most easily creeps into our understanding of eternal security so we must grasp the Bible multi-faceted presentation of salvation.
The issue of eternal security is one of the most hotly debated topics in the history of Christian theology. Many believe that those who suffer from a lack of assurance promotes anxiety and a chronic uncertainty that leads to a preoccupation with oneself, one's fears, and one's failings. This lack of assurance leads to a paralyzed and feeble faith. At the other end of the spectrum, many believe that those who "know that they know that they know" they are saved with no threat of losing that salvation tend to live a life of moral laxity leading to a fatal spiritual apathy. Is it possible to avoid both extremes? There are two types of passages that the student of the Bible must strive to understand in order to come to an accurate position on this subject. First, there are passages that seem to clearly indicate a simple understanding of the absolute eternal security of the believer. However, the same individuals who spoke and recorded the divinely inspired promises also spoke and wrote divinely inspired statements that we call "warning passages." Perhaps there is a way to read both passages and allow both types of passage to stand without committing "exegetical death by a thousand qualifications."
There are those who believe that the Bible is full of such contradictions and errors. These errors are trumpeted as proof that the Bible cannot be authoritative and inerrant and therefore it is foolish to believe anything it says. Lists of these alleged contradictions can be found in multiple websites from Islamic apologists and atheists, agnostics, and skeptics. However, the Bible has been around for thousands of years and skeptics have tried for the entire duration to show its faults and prove its lack of authenticity and authority. When looking at the charges of contradiction, we find that the same verses are brought up over and over even through biblical scholars have long since shown the contradiction does not exist. This lesson will help prepare you for such an encounter by working through some of the most popular "contradictions" brought up against the reliability of the Scriptures. It is doubtful that you will be able to remember all these but this document may be helpful at a later date as you refer to it.
Since hell is no longer seen as an unavoidable fate for the unbeliever, it is often seen as incredibly offensive to tell anyone that people will actually go to such a place ��� a strange mixture of the writings of Dante, Edwards, Milton, Goethe, and the Bible. The main problem non-Christians see in the Christian belief in hell is an apparent contradiction that the Christian's belief in a God of unimaginable love could never be so unloving as to send people to a place of such unimaginable torment. While a belief in hell may stun our modern sensibilities, hell is a topic we must consider. Instead of starting with the infallible truth of Scripture, people discuss hell with their personal definitions of "fair" and "just" and "right" and "true." In doing so, personal sentiments and emotions are given a greater weight than the Word of God. When an apparent contradiction is "uncovered" between the horror of hell and the love of God, a panic-stricken search to reconcile the two begins. Too often, the solution is found in either modifying what the Bible declares or denying the Bible outright. Some may yet yield to the Bible but live in perpetual fear and doubt about God's goodness or wisdom. How do we come to a proper understanding of this difficult topic?
Over the last several years, we have heard the word "billion" used too many times in the news. We keep hearing of billions of dollars being spent on the war against terror and the hundreds of billions of dollars given in the bailout. DO we know what that number means? A million seconds in the past was twelve days ago. A billion seconds in the past was 331 years ago. A trillion seconds in the past was 31,688 years ago. It's almost hard to comprehend a billion of anything. We also use the term "billion" when we talk about the number of people on this planet who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. There are approximately six billion people on this planet at any given moment and that number continues to increase by a net gain of about 200,000 each day. Of this incredible mass of people, it is estimated that as many as 1/3 of the total are completely ignorant of the name of Jesus Christ. What is the eternal destiny of these 2 billion souls? Are these people really headed for a place called hell? A person's viewpoint ��� and, indeed, a church's understanding ��� of this issue "throws a searchlight on their understanding of the nature of sin, the content of the gospel and the task of global missions."
Non-theists have argued for years for several propositions that Christians have historically denied and have denied propositions that Christians affirm. Now, some Christians are joining them. Some argue that there is a second-chance after death for those who have never heard the gospel. Some argue that salvation can be attained through non-Christian religions like Islam or Buddhism. Beliefs about these subjects fall into three categories: pluralism, inclusivism, and exclusivism. While Christianity has historically been exlcusive, there is a noticeable increase in both pluralism and inclusivism. The Christian cannot agree with the first two categories. Christians should be unashamed to state unequivocally that there is but one God. Furthermore, there is only way to approach God and that is through the person and work of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. As you can imagine, these are "fighting words." Are believers justified in saying these words? Do Christians have ample reason to make such exclusive and restrictive statements? I believe we do on both theological and philosophical grounds.
There is a wide range of answers to the question "Does God exist?" The spectrum of belief can rest anywhere between "There is no God" to "There probably is no God" to "God probably exists" to "The God of the Bible exists." Tim Keller wisely insists that we look at all the evidence given not as "proofs" but as "clues." A proof is able to stand alone with no room for disagreement. A true proof for the existence of God would end all debate. There is no such proof for the existence of God. The Christian should also realize that God has not revealed Himself in this way. As Dawkins points out, God could end all discussion about his existence very quickly, very visibly, and very loudly. Instead, God has called on people to live by faith. However, this does not mean that God is entirely silent or hidden. There are a multitude of clues all around us that point towards God. The power of the clue is in their cumulative effect. Once this new viewpoint was adopted, the clues for God's existence are seen to provide a very strong cumulative force.
Our presuppositions determine how we view our world and how we live in that world. We interpret everything according to our worldview or presuppositions. It is wrong to think that facts are neutral (or "brute facts") because facts do not "speak for themselves." People do not evaluate facts apart from their biases or assumptions made beforehand (pre-assumptions, or presuppositions). Presuppositions are not assumptions that we make but a personal commitment to the most basic level of understanding. They have the greatest authority in your life and are therefore the least negotiable (if only non-negotiable) belief that you have. The goal in apologetics is to approach a person on the level of his presuppositions. Therefore, the best way to deal with an atheist or any other non-believer is to discover the antithesis and then push the antithesis between the competing presuppositions or worldviews. To "push the antithesis" is to force the unbeliever to live consistently with his rationalistic and materialistic presuppositions. In other words, once you discover what a person bases his idea upon (naturalism, materialism, atheism), you then get him or her to see the inconsistency between that belief and the way they actually live life.
The Bible declares that the man who hears Christ's words and rejects them for the superior value of his own - or other men's words - is a fool. A fool does not make God and His revelation the starting point of his thinking and will not submit to the Word of God or base his life upon its teachings and principles. The fool must be answered by revealing his foolishness. In an interaction with an atheist or agnostic, there is a method of apologetics that enables the believer to do such a task while also fully obeying the mandate given to all Christians in Peter's first letter. While atheists and even many Christians teach that we must put the Bible on the shelf when debating the atheist, it is foolishness to relinquish the most powerful weapon that we have in an attempt to pander to the unbeliever under the false assumption that he is entering the fray on neutral ground that we sully with our theistic biases. Instead, it must be acknowledged that there is no such thing as neutrality in the thinking of a believer and a non-believer. What one takes to be factual and how one interprets those facts is governed by one's underlying philosophy of fact ��������� one's presuppositions. The debate over the veracity of a fact will eventually work itself down to the level of one's ultimate authority. Once this point is reached, the real argument can begin ��������� which presupposition best explains reality, the ability to reason, the existence of morals, and our common experiences?
If you begin your theodicy with the assumption about the centrality of man, you will never answer the problem of evil in a way that lines up with teachings and themes of Scripture. Scripture is not based upon nor does it proceed on this assumption. The Bible is not ultimately about man; it is obsessively concerned with God. Indeed, it is not overstatement to say that the "entire universe exists to display the greatness of the glory of the grace of God." Indeed, it is quite a simple task to see that God often and usually is said to act for the glory of His own name and according to his own pleasure. God's first love is for his glory, honor, reputation, and name. The Bible teaches us that God ordains and allows evil to exist because the temporary presence of evil in this universe will result in the greatest glory to His name. God planned a universe in which evil exists and that is a good thing because all evil will be used by God to bring greater glory to Himself. God allows and ordains evil for the greater good of the display of his glory in the revelation of his myriad perfections.
D.A. Carson says that the distance between the biblical writers understanding of the problem of evil and our modern understanding is a good indication that "we have given ourselves to thinking great thoughts about human beings and small thoughts about God." Carson's response is correct and it is important. Our response to the problem of evil as we see it today is a good test of our knowledge and understanding of God and His ways. Are our understanding, faith, and trust sufficient to withstand adversity? For many people, including Christians who should know better, the desire to make perfect sense of the entire issue of the coexistence of evil and an omnipotent, omnibenevolent God has led to entirely deficient solutions. In their attempt to cut the Gordian knot, four common but inadequate solutions have been and continue to be offered. Additional theories to the problem of evil are better than the four above but still are lacking in some vital area. Finally, there are two other defenses (free will, greater good), that have been offered and both of them do a much better job. However, do they truly work as a definitive answer?
Whatever the reason, all Christians must come face to face with the difficult question: "Where was/is God in all evil?" The act of providing an answer to that question is called a theodicy. This strange word comes from the Greek: theos (God) and dike (justice). A theodicy, in its attempts to offer the reason God has for allowing evil to exist in the world, defends the righteousness or justice of God in light of accusations of unrighteousness or injustice. The question is famously phrased thusly: "Is [God] willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is impotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Whence, then is evil?" Most people do not like to ponder such troublesome issues. It is for that reason that we change the channel with certain images appear (the starving child, the politician from the opposing party that "gets under your skin," the images of actual abortions). However, Christians must ponder such issues.
The attack of the New Atheists is led by four men who have attained world-wide acclaim with the publication of their beliefs that God not only does not exist but those who believe that He does are a danger to all the sane and rational people in the world. These four men have been nicknamed "The Four Horsemen of New Atheism." They are Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens. If you have not heard of them, you will. It is vital to realize that many of the people you will meet are influenced to some degree by at least one of these men. You will see their books in major displays at our chain bookstores, being read in airplanes, lying on desks at work, and exhibiting remarkable staying power on several best-sellers lists. Learn what they are saying as we prepare to give an answer.
Al Mohler has written that while it is doubtful we will ever enter into an age of complete secularization, it is obvious that we live in an increasingly secular age. Secularization theory has failed in its major claims but in two senses it was exactly right. First, the theorists were correct in their understanding of geographic origin and advancement. Western Europe has followed the theory perfectly. Second, the theorists were correct in their understanding of the avenue of advancement: the cultural and intellectual elite. Even with the distinctions above, we must admit that we live in a different age than our grandparents. These are the conditions of belief in which we now live.
On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial jets with the intent to crash them into multiple targets on American soil. There are no known survivors from any of the flights and 2,974 people died in the four attacks. Around the world, the terrorist activity was roundly criticized and denounced. At the same time, the terrorists believed they were acting in pious obedience to the command of Allah. Terrorism continues today and Americans and others around the world continue to denounce such activity. However, when we who are Christians do so, can we avoid charges of hypocrisy? After all, individuals who reject Christianity often take glee in reminding Christians of the blood that stains history because of the followers (alleged and real) of Jesus Christ. How do we reconcile the bloody events of the Old Testament with our revulsion of terrorism and jihad?
Death is a difficult subject but we must talk about it. The only sure word on this highly emotional subject is the Word of God. It is only through the teachings of Scripture can man find victory over the fear of death and over death itself (1 Cor 15:55). However, while the Bible is very clear about the spiritual and eternal aspects of death itself, there is little instruction as to the disposition of the body at the time of death. If the Christian is to make a God-honoring decision in this matter, he or she must do so without allowing the emotions to overrule reason. The worst thing to do in this area is to make a decision during the actual time of mourning. It is for that reason that we hope you will read this and find it beneficial.
If you are a distinguishable Christian, you will engage in conversations about Christ and the Bible. What will you say? It is doubtful any of us could remember all the material presented in the previous eight chapters. However, there are four items you can present that will go a long way in disarming the skeptic, atheist, agnostic, Muslim, or any other critic of the Bible.
No matter how much we may desire the opposite, the manuscripts with their variants do exist ��� "in black and white," as it were. It is a childish faith of the highest order to pretend they do not exist. So, what do we do with them? Enemies of the faith make much of them. Those who would love to see the Bible destroyed latch onto one or two variant readings and make sweeping statements about our "corrupt" Bible. A veritable cottage industry has emerged in television networks and publishing houses to discredit the Scriptures. Church leaders must do a better job of training their people. Wallace bemoans that "we've been dumbing down the church for so long [that it] is just a crime and now people are panicking when they hear about this sort of thing." You need not panic ��� you know the facts and how to dig even deeper. In this chapter, we will examine a few of the more famous (infamous?) passages and discover what the evidence has to say.
In "Misquoting Jesus," Bart Ehrman writes of the variants in several familiar passages (none of which is new material) but curiously leaves out much important information. Ehrman does not discuss the manuscripts behind the passages and gives the impression that there is mass confusion over the readings. While quick to count the manuscripts and variants, nowhere does he weigh the manuscripts or give information of their trustworthiness. It would almost appear that Ehrman has an agenda to leave his readers in serious doubt about the authenticity and reliability of the Bible. We will look deeper into Ehrman's book in a later chapter. For now, in this chapter, we will examine the external and internal evidence for each of the passage listed above and a few others. There is nothing to hide and nothing over which the believer should be worried. However, before we do that, we must familiarize ourselves with the tools we have at our disposal for such a study - the fourth edition of the Greek New Testament produced by the United Bible Society and the twenty-seventh edition of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament.
The very phrase textual criticism conjures up an abstract academic exercise which leads many to remain unconvinced of the need to learn of this science. Pastors are ignore the subject for fear that church members will find it boring, overly technical, impractical, or that their faith (their own and the congregations') may be undermined in the process. Pastors fear the fallout of church members learning of the many variants that exist in the previously understood "golden tablets" of the New Testament manuscripts. While it is true that textual criticism can be technical and can be communicated in such a way as to threaten people's faith (see Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus), it need not be the case. The average church member can grasp the material. Furthermore it is a far more dangerous thing to leave church members uneducated of the history of their Bible. Opponents of the faith know this information; so should the people of faith.
The standard Greek New Testament of today has 138,162 words. It is a simple fact that out of the 5,745 biblical manuscripts that we have through the end of 2006, we find all sorts of variations between them. These variations are called "variants," which are "any place among the manuscripts of the New Testament where there is not uniformity of wording." How many textual variants are there? The best estimate is that there are between 300,000 and 400,000 variants between the numerous manuscripts. That number sounds daunting and discouraging to the believer and enthralling to the skeptic and atheist. Indeed, it is disturbing to many believers to see such instances of differentiation but they do exist. Because they do exist, we must deal with them. We can not afford to "stick our head in the sand" and pretend the variants do not exist. In the pages of this document, we will look at the issue of variants and discover how variants came to exist in biblical manuscripts and what they mean for the reliability of Scripture.
It is amazing that we know anything of the New Testament. The early church had no great libraries or sanctuaries in which to store its books. Persecution began early and continued for a few hundred years. During the first three hundred years of persecution and the years after of freedom, the New Testament was continuously copied and recopied as believers held fervently to the only thing that could sustain them ��� the revealed Word of God. A study of the transmission of the Bible during this time period reveals much of how we got the Bible that we have today. Read of the amazing number of ancient manuscripts that have been discovered so far. Learn the names and characteristics of the more famous and important of these ancient manuscripts (with pictures of sample pages).
It is amazing that we know anything of the New Testament. The early church had no great libraries or sanctuaries in which to store its books. Persecution began early and continued for a few hundred years. During the first three hundred years of persecution and the years after of freedom, the New Testament was continuously copied and recopied as believers held fervently to the only thing that could sustain them ��� the revealed Word of God. A study of the transmission of the Bible during this time period reveals much of how we got the Bible that we have today. Read of the amazing number of ancient manuscripts that have been discovered so far. Learn the names and characteristics of the more famous and important of these ancient manuscripts (with pictures of sample pages).
For hundreds of years, scholars refused to believe that Matthew, Luke, Paul, and Peter could have written the books of the Bible that bear their names. Instead, it was widely believed that men from the late second and third centuries wrote the documents and put the apostles' names on them for credibility. The discovery of a famous fragment from John's Gospel in 1920 changed all that forever. Read how the New Testament came together and discover that all of the New Testament was written before the end of the first century and much of it was written decades before then.
The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 was a major find for Old Testament studies. In the 60+ years since, scholars continue to learn more of these ancient books and our faith in its accuracy and reliability only continues to grow. Read about how the Old Testament was handed down and later written down and the ancient manuscripts that we have today that prove once again that we can trust the Word of God.
The Bible has long been under attack from those who would love to see its influence disappear. The attacks seem to be growing stronger and the attackers are even bolder. Hollywood, liberal scholars, Muslims, scientists, atheists, and even Christian fundamentalists all charge that the modern Bibles used by most of evangelicalism have been corrupted over time and are not worthy to be read, studied, and followed. Christians claim to know a lot of Bible (and that is debatable) but many do not know much ABOUT their Bible.
The doctrine of irresistible grace is easily understood and it all flows from the first tenet of the Calvinistic understanding of how man is saved. The Bible teaches that man is dead in sin and enslaved to a corrupt nature that does not want or seek God. Man is incapable of doing anything that is pleasing to God. Even though man is dead in his sins, he is, of course, still alive and very active in his or her rebellion. Therefore, being dead is not equivalent with inaction or passivity. Because he is dead in his sins and dead towards God, man must be raised to spiritual life (made alive by God, born again). This is all that irresistible grace means - man must be given life in order that He might (and will) choose Christ. Without this life-giving work by God, man remains dead and enslaved to sin. To be as plainly simple as possible, irresistible grace is about regeneration.
The doctrine of irresistible grace is easily understood and it all flows from the first tenet of the Calvinistic understanding of how man is saved. The Bible teaches that man is dead in sin and enslaved to a corrupt nature that does not want or seek God. Man is incapable of doing anything that is pleasing to God. Even though man is dead in his sins, he is, of course, still alive and very active in his or her rebellion. Therefore, being dead is not equivalent with inaction or passivity. Because he is dead in his sins and dead towards God, man must be raised to spiritual life (made alive by God, born again). This is all that irresistible grace means - man must be given life in order that He might (and will) choose Christ. Without this life-giving work by God, man remains dead and enslaved to sin. To be as plainly simple as possible, irresistible grace is about regeneration.
The question we seek to answer in this chapter is this: When Christ died on the cross, who did He intend to save? Did Jesus come to earth to die for every single person who ever has lived or ever will live? Or did Jesus die in order to save those chosen by the Father and given to the Son in eternity past? What was God's intent in Christ's work on the cross? The simplest way to ask the question is to ask, "For whom did Christ die?" The answer to this question lies in the discussion of the extent of Christ's atonement. The person who coined the term "limited atonement" might have been a theological genius, but he was a disaster when it comes to public relations. The very term "limited atonement" is often enough for some to close the discussion. However, suppose we alter the language just a bit and speak of "definite atonement." To disagree with a definite atonement is to put forth an "indefinite atonement." Some use the term "particular redemption." To disagree with this position, you must hold to an "unparticular redemption." This may be mere semantics but it is easy to see how easy it is to "poison the well" in theological discussions and sidetrack the discussion before it even begins. It is also important to state at the very beginning that this doctrine should never be used as a litmus test for orthodoxy or fellowship. Scripture never singles out this doctrine as one of major importance not is it the center of attention in any major biblical passage. Our knowledge and acceptance of this doctrine stems from exegetical and logical inferences made from passages of some other theological issue. A balanced perspective would say that this doctrine seems to be true based on honest and sincere exegesis and study in biblical and systematic theology.
The question we seek to answer in this chapter is this: When Christ died on the cross, who did He intend to save? Did Jesus come to earth to die for every single person who ever has lived or ever will live? Or did Jesus die in order to save those chosen by the Father and given to the Son in eternity past? What was God's intent in Christ's work on the cross? The simplest way to ask the question is to ask, "For whom did Christ die?" The answer to this question lies in the discussion of the extent of Christ's atonement. The person who coined the term "limited atonement" might have been a theological genius, but he was a disaster when it comes to public relations. The very term "limited atonement" is often enough for some to close the discussion. However, suppose we alter the language just a bit and speak of "definite atonement." To disagree with a definite atonement is to put forth an "indefinite atonement." Some use the term "particular redemption." To disagree with this position, you must hold to an "unparticular redemption." This may be mere semantics but it is easy to see how easy it is to "poison the well" in theological discussions and sidetrack the discussion before it even begins. It is also important to state at the very beginning that this doctrine should never be used as a litmus test for orthodoxy or fellowship. Scripture never singles out this doctrine as one of major importance not is it the center of attention in any major biblical passage. Our knowledge and acceptance of this doctrine stems from exegetical and logical inferences made from passages of some other theological issue. A balanced perspective would say that this doctrine seems to be true based on honest and sincere exegesis and study in biblical and systematic theology.
The question we seek to answer in this chapter is this: When Christ died on the cross, who did He intend to save? Did Jesus come to earth to die for every single person who ever has lived or ever will live? Or did Jesus die in order to save those chosen by the Father and given to the Son in eternity past? What was God's intent in Christ's work on the cross? The simplest way to ask the question is to ask, "For whom did Christ die?" The answer to this question lies in the discussion of the extent of Christ's atonement. The person who coined the term "limited atonement" might have been a theological genius, but he was a disaster when it comes to public relations. The very term "limited atonement" is often enough for some to close the discussion. However, suppose we alter the language just a bit and speak of "definite atonement." To disagree with a definite atonement is to put forth an "indefinite atonement." Some use the term "particular redemption." To disagree with this position, you must hold to an "unparticular redemption." This may be mere semantics but it is easy to see how easy it is to "poison the well" in theological discussions and sidetrack the discussion before it even begins. It is also important to state at the very beginning that this doctrine should never be used as a litmus test for orthodoxy or fellowship. Scripture never singles out this doctrine as one of major importance not is it the center of attention in any major biblical passage. Our knowledge and acceptance of this doctrine stems from exegetical and logical inferences made from passages of some other theological issue. A balanced perspective would say that this doctrine seems to be true based on honest and sincere exegesis and study in biblical and systematic theology.
Election is a controversial topic yet the church cannot avoid discussing it. Election is a biblical term, a biblical concept, and the Bible discusses it frequently. Indeed, the topic appears multiple times in almost all of Paul's letters. He even begins his letter to the Ephesians, a group of recently converted pagans, with this very topic that most Christians today believe should never be discussed at all. Therefore, the question is not "Does the Bible teach election?" but "What exactly does the Bible teach about election?" Unconditional election to salvation may be defined as God's gracious choice, made in eternity past, of those whom He would save by faith through the atoning death of His Son. This choice was based not upon anything that those so chose would do, or any choice they would make, or on how good or bad they might be, or on anything else specifically true about them in contrast to others. Instead, this choice is based solely on God's own good pleasure and will. In light of this understanding, we will see that unconditional election specifically denies that God elects persons based upon His advanced knowledge, in eternity past, of their future decision of whether to accept God's gift of Jesus Christ when they hear or read the gospel. Instead, we must say that salvation, which includes election, is all of God. We see this doctrine most plainly taught in two primary passages: Ephesians 1 and Romans 9.
A survey of the BIble reveals that God is a choosing God. God has pleasure in the doctrine of election and election brings glory to God. If that is so, why do we not focus on this vital doctrine more often? From the beginning, God had a plan to redeem mankind. This plan was made certain "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). From the beginning, God set apart a people for Himself and His infinite glory - a people we now see includes both Jews and Gentiles. It is this setting of His divine love and choice on a certain people that we know as "election." In election, God saves men and women in accordance with a plan formulated in eternity past. The events we see unfolding in time are not chaotic but the divinely ordained means that God uses to bring His plan to fruition. In fact, "this world and all that is in it exist primarily as the means to the fulfillment of a divine purpose, 'to unite [or, consummate] all things in him [Christ]'" (Eph 1:9-10).
A survey of the BIble reveals that God is a choosing God. God has pleasure in the doctrine of election and election brings glory to God. If that is so, why do we not focus on this vital doctrine more often? From the beginning, God had a plan to redeem mankind. This plan was made certain "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). From the beginning, God set apart a people for Himself and His infinite glory - a people we now see includes both Jews and Gentiles. It is this setting of His divine love and choice on a certain people that we know as "election." In election, God saves men and women in accordance with a plan formulated in eternity past. The events we see unfolding in time are not chaotic but the divinely ordained means that God uses to bring His plan to fruition. In fact, "this world and all that is in it exist primarily as the means to the fulfillment of a divine purpose, 'to unite [or, consummate] all things in him [Christ]'" (Eph 1:9-10).
A survey of the BIble reveals that God is a choosing God. God has pleasure in the doctrine of election and election brings glory to God. If that is so, why do we not focus on this vital doctrine more often? From the beginning, God had a plan to redeem mankind. This plan was made certain "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). From the beginning, God set apart a people for Himself and His infinite glory - a people we now see includes both Jews and Gentiles. It is this setting of His divine love and choice on a certain people that we know as "election." In election, God saves men and women in accordance with a plan formulated in eternity past. The events we see unfolding in time are not chaotic but the divinely ordained means that God uses to bring His plan to fruition. In fact, "this world and all that is in it exist primarily as the means to the fulfillment of a divine purpose, 'to unite [or, consummate] all things in him [Christ]'" (Eph 1:9-10).
A survey of the BIble reveals that God is a choosing God. God has pleasure in the doctrine of election and election brings glory to God. If that is so, why do we not focus on this vital doctrine more often? From the beginning, God had a plan to redeem mankind. This plan was made certain "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4). From the beginning, God set apart a people for Himself and His infinite glory - a people we now see includes both Jews and Gentiles. It is this setting of His divine love and choice on a certain people that we know as "election." In election, God saves men and women in accordance with a plan formulated in eternity past. The events we see unfolding in time are not chaotic but the divinely ordained means that God uses to bring His plan to fruition. In fact, "this world and all that is in it exist primarily as the means to the fulfillment of a divine purpose, 'to unite [or, consummate] all things in him [Christ]'" (Eph 1:9-10).
If we are as desperately lost as the Bible indicates, then we must acknowledge and hold to what the Bible teaches about our condition. We cannot come to God, choose God, or believe in Jesus Christ on our own. This is a matter of ability as well as desire - which speaks of our will. Many people are troubled by the Calvinistic understanding of man's free will because it does not seem consistent with what they know of their natural and usual ability to choose what they want to choose and reject what they want to reject. We can just examine our own lives and the lives we see lived around us and see clearly that man enjoys a very real measure of freedom of choice. Is it possible for man to be free and God to be sovereign? One position makes the best sense of that seeming contradictory position.
If we are as desperately lost as the Bible indicates, then we must acknowledge and hold to what the Bible teaches about our condition. We cannot come to God, choose God, or believe in Jesus Christ on our own. This is a matter of ability as well as desire - which speaks of our will. Many people are troubled by the Calvinistic understanding of man's free will because it does not seem consistent with what they know of their natural and usual ability to choose what they want to choose and reject what they want to reject. We can just examine our own lives and the lives we see lived around us and see clearly that man enjoys a very real measure of freedom of choice. Is it possible for man to be free and God to be sovereign? One position makes the best sense of that seeming contradictory position.
The Calvinistic understanding of man's spiritual state is often caricatured as the destruction of the image of God in man. That is not accurate. The Bible plainly says that man is dead in his sin yet he is still very active in his willful rebellion against the holiness of God. However, many still insist on saying that man is not dead but merely "sick" or "dying." In this chapter, we will look at common misconceptions, a proper understanding, and the certain implications of this biblical doctrine of total depravity. We will never fully value to amazing grace of God until we fully understand the depths to which we have fallen in sin.
The Calvinistic understanding of man's spiritual state is often caricatured as the destruction of the image of God in man. That is not accurate. The Bible plainly says that man is dead in his sin yet he is still very active in his willful rebellion against the holiness of God. However, many still insist on saying that man is not dead but merely "sick" or "dying." In this chapter, we will look at common misconceptions, a proper understanding, and the certain implications of this biblical doctrine of total depravity. We will never fully value to amazing grace of God until we fully understand the depths to which we have fallen in sin.
To fail to fully realize the extent and state of fallen man is to fall into a dangerously incorrect understanding of God, man, and God���s grace towards man. You cannot grasp a full understanding and appreciation for the amazing grace of God unless you first grasp a full understanding and appreciation of the true spiritual condition of man. You cannot grasp a full understanding and appreciation of your salvation unless you first grasp a full understanding and appreciation of what you have been saved from.
Many object that if God is sovereign over man, then man is not responsible for his actions. Also, it is widely held that God values free will so much that He would never impinge upon that most precious of His gifts to us. However, the Bible presents numerous episodes that dispel the second objection and the Bible clearly teaches the opposite of the first objection.
Sovereignty is not a belief central to Calvinism or even Christanity. It is an essential belief to theism - the belief in a God. However, if your god is not sovereign, then your god is no god at all. Tbe Bible spells out in overwhelming proof that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is indeed sovereign over the cosmos, the natural order, history, the kingdoms of this earth, coincidences, angels, Satan, and life and death.
In this introductory class, we look at extremes we want to avoid and reveal the assumptions and demands we will place on ourselves as we undertake this study. We also provide a very brief (too brief) introduction to the Five Point of Calvinism and explain why it is wrong to believe that "John Calvin invented Calvinism."
INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY! That maxim is held dear by the citizens of the United States and is to be honored in all situations. However, there is one particular instance in which the reverse is true. Typically, when skeptics consider the Bible, the Bible is "guilty until proven true." Although it is not possible to verify every incident in the Bible, the discoveries of archaeology since the mid 1800s have demonstrated the reliability and plausibility of the Bible narrative. In this chapter, we will look at the discoveries over the years that have provided a wealth of outside corroborating evidence to the stories of the Bible. PowerPoint Link: http://www.mediafire.com/?gw5z0mpoydo
Did Christ die for everyone? Again, for many of us, the question is ridiculous: "Of course He did." However, there are many throughout history and today who would answer in the negative. The difference in thought on this matter has led to much controversy in the church and on some occasions, division. Several books have been written on both sides of the issue and both sides have been guilty of over-statement and caricature. In this chapter, we will attempt to discuss the issue openly, honestly, biblically, and in brotherly love. As teacher, I will take my cues from John Newton, the famous pastor/theologian who wrote "Amazing Grace." He once wrote that he had "been thirty years forming my own views . . .; how unreasonable within me to expect all this should take place in another person; and that, in the course of a year or two." Newton patiently taught doctrine to his church for years at a time. We will attempt to understand this most controversial of doctrines in one chapter! God help us all!
Did Christ die for everyone? Again, for many of us, the question is ridiculous: "Of course He did." However, there are many throughout history and today who would answer in the negative. The difference in thought on this matter has led to much controversy in the church and on some occasions, division. Several books have been written on both sides of the issue and both sides have been guilty of over-statement and caricature. In this chapter, we will attempt to discuss the issue openly, honestly, biblically, and in brotherly love. As teacher, I will take my cues from John Newton, the famous pastor/theologian who wrote "Amazing Grace." He once wrote that he had "been thirty years forming my own views . . .; how unreasonable within me to expect all this should take place in another person; and that, in the course of a year or two." Newton patiently taught doctrine to his church for years at a time. We will attempt to understand this most controversial of doctrines in one chapter! God help us all!
It is important to realize that the phrase "he descended into hell" does not appear in the Bible. Instead, the words are found in the Apostles' Creed, where we read that Christ "was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead." The question before us is this: "What does it mean that Christ "descended into hell"? For an updated study of this topic go here for handouts and the audio recording.
A study of the atonement brings a rich meaning to the work of Christ on the cross. The Bible uses a multitude of descriptions and motifs to describe this work. The variance in terminology within Scripture has consequently led to numerous theories of the atonement in an attempt to encapsulate the entirety of the cross-work of Christ into a single emphasis. In choosing to land on a single understanding, proponents reveal their views in other areas of doctrine (such as the doctrine of man and sin and even the doctrine of God). In this chapter, we will look at the differing views put forth by men and held dearly by believers throughout the history of the church.
The atonement is the crucial point of the Christian faith. The importance of the cross is reflected in part by the attention given by Scripture to Christ's death. Matthew devoted a full third of his gospel to the final week of Christ's life. Similarly, Mark allotted 37 percent, Luke 25 percent and John an amazing 42 percent. Leon Morris wrote that "The atonement is the crucial doctrine of the faith. Unless we are right here it matters little, or so it seems to me, what we are like elsewhere." How can this sin be forgiven? Job posed the questions thousands of years ago, asking, "How can a mortal be righteous before God?" (Job 9:2). The answer is found in the nature of God the Father and in the significance of Christ's life and death.
The atonement is the crucial point of the Christian faith. The importance of the cross is reflected in part by the attention given by Scripture to Christ's death. Matthew devoted a full third of his gospel to the final week of Christ's life. Similarly, Mark allotted 37 percent, Luke 25 percent and John an amazing 42 percent. Leon Morris wrote that "The atonement is the crucial doctrine of the faith. Unless we are right here it matters little, or so it seems to me, what we are like elsewhere." How can this sin be forgiven? Job posed the questions thousands of years ago, asking, "How can a mortal be righteous before God?" (Job 9:2). The answer is found in the nature of God the Father and in the significance of Christ's life and death.
The cross is everywhere! You see crosses all over TV in backgrounds and hanging around the neck of Hollywood stars and entertainers. It is used as a prop in concerts. It is on professional athlete's hats and helmets and uniforms and ear lobes and necklaces. In this day and age, crosses can be spotted on everyone from professional athletes to celebrities to teenage girls trying to look cool. In the general public, the cross has been emptied of meaning. The cross is not a peripheral issue or a secondary theme; it is the central, indeed crucial doctrine of the faith. The doctrine of the cross is the doctrine of the atonement and it is found throughout the Scriptures. Indeed, the whole of the Bible points to the atonement - the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
The cross is everywhere! You see crosses all over TV in backgrounds and hanging around the neck of Hollywood stars and entertainers. It is used as a prop in concerts. It is on professional athlete's hats and helmets and uniforms and ear lobes and necklaces. In this day and age, crosses can be spotted on everyone from professional athletes to celebrities to teenage girls trying to look cool. In the general public, the cross has been emptied of meaning. The cross is not a peripheral issue or a secondary theme; it is the central, indeed crucial doctrine of the faith. The doctrine of the cross is the doctrine of the atonement and it is found throughout the Scriptures. Indeed, the whole of the Bible points to the atonement - the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.