New Thoughts (06/23/14-07/02/14)
Wisdom, Fear and Foolishness (06/27/14-06/28/14)
The admonition which begins this passage can take one’s thoughts in any of a number of different directions. As noted previously, the introductory ‘therefore’ sets the intention. Christ suffered. You are His. You will suffer in your turn. Therefore be ready, physically and mentally prepared for what may come your way. But, there is the added note. Jesus teaches that those who would follow Him must first count the cost. But, there is also this: Count the reward. Don’t lose sight of the grace to be yours at His return, against which gain no cost could be too high.
If we connect a few of the dots Peter presents in this section, we see a secondary theme emerging, one which connects this sobriety of mind and spirit with the matters of fear and wisdom. These matters are depicted in the positive light of life redeemed as well as in the negative light of former practice. In line with this secondary theme, we do well to heed the advice the Wycliffe Commentary offers: Assess the facts with sane appraisal, not emotionalism.
That is actually sound advice for life most generally, and particularly when considering the myriad truth claims that come our way. It is a call to logical assessment. Emotionalism misleads. Logic can do likewise when poorly applied, but used properly, it will not. Assess the facts and arrive at the truth. It might be argued that this is a male / female thing; that the male is more inclined towards this cold, logical assessment where the female tends towards a more emotionally based evaluation. Truth be told, though, men are just as inclined towards emotional responses. They just don’t look the same. But, in matters of faith, matters that touch on eternity, emotionalism simply will not do. The stakes are too high to take off after mere excitations.
There are those churches which specialize in emotionalism. In these places, the focus is more on ‘creating an atmosphere’ than on teaching the Truth in love. Indeed, atmosphere will often trump Truth in such a setting, and that quite simply ought not to be. Arguably, the entire system of modern thought is inclined to run counter to this advice. Our youth are no longer given the tools for sane appraisal. After all, the mind exercised only by emotion is far more easily manipulated. The fallen state of mankind assures us that there will be plenty of men willing and able to take advantage of that fact; men who, in their own darkened way, are inclined to sane appraisal, but would prefer that their victims not be so equipped.
So, the call: You, Christian! You are in the midst of this fallen world. You are beset by it, abused by it, persecuted by it. You are maligned by former friends. Libelous charges are levied against you for no greater reason than that you profess your faith. Children reject you. Parents reject you. You have lost your job, your house and everything else you held dear. There’s a lot of emotions roiling about you because of this, and rightly so. It’s normal. It’s human. The Christian is not immune. But, you must see past these things. Don’t lose sight of the goal. Don’t lose sight of your inheritance; that one Peter’s pointed out to you. That’s yours; signed, sealed and guaranteed to be delivered. Just hold fast. Settle the emotions and measure the real facts. Weigh one against the other. It is inevitable that, having thus assayed your profits and losses, you will count all those losses as dross.
This assessment concerns itself with our fears and fears are for the most part matters of emotion. Why do we fear the bully? Well, there may be concern for physical harm involved. But, it’s more to do with feelings associated with being humiliated. There are those feelings of inadequacy because we could not defend ourselves. There are those feelings of shame because our inadequacy has been so exposed to public view. There is the fear of ridicule to come.
Why do we fear the worldly? Yes, there are matters of power involved. Bosses have a certain power over our daily lives. Coworkers have a degree of power to make our days pleasant or miserable. It must be said that we have the same sort of power over our coworkers. I wonder how often we give thought to that part of the equation. It’s worth quoting Groucho Marx here. “Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself: I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today.” Now, as a believer, I have to acknowledge that this is not quite correct. I have no more power than events. But, God in me? If I am making sane assessments, it is because He is with me and empowering me to properly assess events. If I am assessing events as He gives understanding, I shall not be made unhappy because I know He is in events. That’s a large part of Peter’s message here. This is all God’s plan. It’s all aimed at getting you to the goal. Yes, bad things are bad. But, they are to good purpose, so stand fast, young mule. Stand fast.
Oswald Chambers picked up on the very contrast that Peter is drawing. He wrote, “The remarkable thing about God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God, you fear everything else.” The Wycliffe Commentary offers a variation on this same point. “The wise man is known by what and whom he fears.” I might add how he fears. There is a distinction to be made.
The fear of man, or of fate, or of anything apart from that fear of the Lord which is in Christ, is a matter of dread. It’s a matter of sensing the danger to ourselves and the very great likelihood that harm shall come to us from this source. That’s fear of the bully. That’s fear of the boss, the coworker, the civil authority. When you are pulled over for some traffic violation or other, there is fear. It is that fear which is certain of consequences about to be felt. When you experience an accident, or a near miss, there is that adrenaline-drained response you feel; the fear of what might have been. But, if I might expand that quote a bit, a man is known by his fears. Isn’t that something?
The fear of man, of worldly things, even fear of the devil and his minions: These are all of a piece. They are a cringing, debilitating emotional response. There may be very sound logical cause for such fear if we are assessing only our own capacities to counter what we fear. But, it is emotional by very nature. The fear of the Lord, to which we are constantly encouraged (as here in verse 17), certainly takes into account the infinite power of God as over against our own powerlessness. But, it’s more. It’s reverence. It’s deference given one Who has shown Himself not only powerful, but worthy of our honor and respect. It is clothed in love, recognizing the love God has towards us. It is adorned with assurance that God being Who He is, and Christ having done what He has done, we have nothing to fear from Him. It is acknowledgement that we have to do with the Judge of the whole of creation, but that He is also our Father who art in heaven.
We ought not to become so enamored of Him as Father that we neglect His Righteousness as Judge. We cannot toss out His wrath because we prefer His love. But, the reverse holds as well. We who come to Him in Christ our Mediator, do indeed know Him as our Father. He is our Father by His own choosing. He is yet Judge and King, but He is Father, and we have His utmost assurances that our every crime against Him has been set to rights. We’re good. All is forgiven.
So, then, a man is known by his fears: the sum of who, what and how he fears. Proverbs makes the point repeatedly. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge (Pr 1:7a). Blessed the man who finds wisdom and gains understanding (Pr 3:13). There is strong confidence in the fear of the Lord. His children will have refuge there. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life by which one avoids the snares of death (Pr 14:26-27). That’s not emotional concern for danger ahead. That’s wisdom. That’s sane appraisal. That’s assessing the facts with all facts accounted for.
But, I must stress that if we would have this reverential fear of God which does not reflect slavish dread, it must be in Christ. The fear we are encouraged to have is sandwiched, as it were, between faith and hope. It can only exist in that state. Knowing we have an Advocate pleading our case before the throne of heaven; knowing we have access to Him through the One Mediator between God and man; thus is our fear firmly upheld by faith and hope.
“Apart from Christ we could have only feared, not believed and hoped in, God.” Those words come from the JFB. They touch on the theme brought out in pastor’s sermon last Sunday, concerning the judgment depicted on the Last Day in the Revelation. The Judge judges righteously and therefore judges all. Anything less would be unrighteous and therefore impossible to Him – insomuch as that word applies to Him at all. But, in Christ the wrath of God has already played out in relationship to those who are the elect of God. We have no cause to fear the Day of Judgment, for we are judged already, and our debt has been paid.
Thus, (again drawing on the JFB,) fear of the sort commended to us does not stand opposed to assurance. It only stands opposed to ‘carnal security’, false hope. To the degree that we fear aright, we hope aright. Those whose hope is set on anything other than that faith which is ours in Christ have great cause to fear God, for all that they can expect from Him is His wrath. But, we who are in Christ, called by the Father and set apart as His adopted children – an act of His own will: We know only that fear which is reverential and full of love for the object of our fear.
The image of that empty space within which only Christ can fill is often used as part of our evangelistic efforts. You’ve been searching; trying this, trying that. But, nothing satisfies. Nothing satisfies because nothing can. It strikes me that this has particular application to matters of wisdom and knowledge. Scripture informs us that the wisdom of this world is foolishness. It informs us, as we have already seen, that wisdom has its roots in the fear of the Lord. The two points connect. If one has no fear of the Lord, there is an empty space where knowledge and wisdom ought to be. Having rejected the basis for wisdom and knowledge, it is impossible that anything would be built in that space. But, foolish men that we are, we will go off looking for something to fill the void. Men will pursue the wildest of dreams, the most ill-founded theories, and the most misinformed views, and call that knowledge. But, it’s a fabrication with no framework, and it must collapse.
Consider what has happened in the realm of philosophy with God removed from its center. Nihilism comes to the fore. But the nihilist, seeking to discover purpose after eliminating the source of purpose, arrives not at wisdom, but at despair. We get others writing great clouds of words seeking to seem profound. But, the clouds only obscure an utter inanity. The space remains empty. The words are hollow. The meaning is absent. These have cause to fear God in His wrath. “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks. They became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools” (Ro 1:21-22).
It used to be that wise men sought after Truth. But, if you have rejected the God of Truth, the very One who defines Truth, what hope can you have of finding it? And remember Paul’s statement. They knew God. They knew they were rejecting the one path to the answers they sought. That being the case, they must end the pursuit of Truth and pursue something else. But, then, to tell men you are in fast pursuit of the Lie isn’t likely to impress. So, dress the Lie up as truth and pretend as though your pursuits never changed. Vanity and wind! And here it is, written for all to see. The seeker after Truth has only to consider the clear message of Proverbs and the blunt conviction of that first chapter of Romans. Here is the path. Walk ye in it. But, they would not.
Holiness (06/28/14)
Peter’s thread of reasoning, for all that he circles about, is clear enough. You have come to faith. You have suffered for this. You have your doubts, but keep your hope fixed on Christ. You are His kids, so act like it. How do we act like His kids? We do so by coming to resemble Him in His ways and more particularly in His character. What is His character? Holiness. If we must reduce our description of God to a single word, it must be this one, “Holy.” In our day, it is far more popular to place “Love” at the apex of our definition of God. But, love must have its balance with wrath, just as mercy must have its balance with justice. God is all these things together and simultaneously so. But, to His Holiness there is no counterbalance. It stands alone, unmitigated and unchecked.
God is Holy. As I wrote in my first notes on this passage: “From the first day in Eden to the final day in the Revelation, this drumbeat of holiness continues.” Here, we have Peter quoting Moses, which is near enough to having a single declaration at both ends of the text. “You shall be holy, for I AM holy.” Oh! The wonder of realizing that this is both command and promise. You must obey, my child. And you shall obey, for I AM your Father. This is the power of that verse in Philippians which seems to find its way into everything I write. “It is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Php 2:13). This is our proper fear, and also our proper hope, to connect us to the preceding section.
God is Holy. God was Holy from all eternity past, and He shall remain Holy through all eternity future. This is part of the ‘isness’ of God. What He is this moment, He ever is. He is unchanging. It is not that He loves one moment, and expresses wrath the next, as His moods change. These are not moods we’re dealing with, they are matters of essential being. His is Love and Wrath simultaneously, and this remains true for all eternity. He is Mercy and Justice simultaneously, and this remains true for all eternity. To return to our point here, He is Holy above all, and this remains true for all eternity. His Holiness is so great that He will not tolerate the least hint of sin in His presence. Great, then, is the mystery of His presence in me. But, the Truth holds.
This Holy God, as Peter obliquely reminds us, declares us His children. He did not look down upon you or I, saying, “See that one there? He’s proven himself My boy.” No! He initiated legal proceedings before Himself, proclaiming us His children, adopting us legally into His family, while we were yet His enemies! This ought properly to astound. This is stuff that makes angels shake their heads in wonder. And, this is our inheritance. This is that thing Peter tells us to take in as the anchor of our hope.
But, neither Peter nor the God for whom he speaks is willing to leave this as a passive matter. Oh, our adoption is surely in the passive voice, but it does not permit of us remaining idlers lounging about until the end. No. We have work to do. We have first an inward work, that work which we do because God is within us both empowering us to the work and causing us to have interest in doing the work. That work is commonly referred to as sanctification. In some points in Scripture, it will be referred to as salvation, but it amounts to the same thing. Salvation was settled at the Cross. That is our cause for hope. Sanctification continues its development throughout this life. That is our response.
All that we have in the Gospel is given us to this end: That we might be urged towards a more thoroughly engaged pursuit of sanctification. Remember that pursuit of wisdom we were discussing; how it finds its beginnings in the fear of the Lord? Well, how do we express this reverential fear of our God and Savior? The answer is right here before us: We obey. How do we obey? By pursuing that holiness which defines our Father who art in heaven.
I understand well that the Gospel is declared as the necessary (or all but necessary) means of salvation. How shall they believe if they have not heard, must requires a preacher to preach (Ro 10:14). But, we also know that all the preaching that preacher may do will be wholly in vain unless the Holy Spirit not only inhabits the words he preaches, but also the heart that hears those words. To that degree, then, I must maintain that the Gospel is not so necessary as to be the cause of salvation. It is assuredly the prescribed, typical means of salvation. But, God being the cause, can assuredly achieve His ends without a preacher if He must.
Do we do any better to understand the Gospel as the means of sanctification? I suppose that suffers the same problem. Except the Holy Spirit of God inhabit the reader, willing and working in him to make him willing to the work of sanctification, the Gospel is no more than words on a page. It may as well be a romance novel for all the good it’s going to do the character of a benighted reader. But, it is given to this end. It is given that we might have every possible encouragement towards the effort of sanctification. And believe me, it’s an effort! Even with the power of God working within, it is an effort. Any Christian who has been around awhile either knows this or has deluded himself.
Yes, there have been those movements in the history of the Church that thought perfect sanctification a possibility in this life. But, if it were a possibility, surely we ought to be able to drum up at least one example of a person who has attained this perfect sanctification? And in this search, Jesus does not count. Would any man dare make the claim himself? Would any man accept it as true were another to point him out and say, there is the one who did it! Even Finney, who if I recall correctly, was a strong proponent of this view, would no doubt have admitted that he had far to go.
But, we are called to pursuit. We are repeatedly urged to it. God’s grace towards us, this free gift of forgiveness and adoption, must produce in us a strong obligation, as Matthew Henry points out. There can be no other response. He has done so much, how can I do nothing in response? He who has been forgiven much, loves much, and love of this sort is expressed in the desire to be like this one who has forgiven us. Obedience is demanded, but obedience is the only response possible to a heart of gratitude.
Calvin makes what seems a rather surprising statement on this subject, coming from him. If we would truly have the hope of grace, he says, we must disentangle ourselves from the cares and enticements of this world. Is he urging a works-based salvation after all? No. We must read with care. He does not say that if we would have grace we must labor to earn it. He says if we would truly have the hope of grace. And I would also emphasize the truly part of that statement. It is a very easy thing to have false hope. We see it all the time. We have seen it over the last several years in this country, as many set their hopes on a candidate who promised hope and change. But, the hope was empty wishful thinking, and the change has been for the worse.
Listen! If you are of the elect, if you have heard God’s call, then you have grace. Again: It is God who determines to write out the adoption papers, not you. If He has done it, it is done. But, that hope of the Christian is a matter of certainty. It’s not wishing things would work out differently; it’s knowing that they will. The thing is, even though we know that this is what hope is supposed to be, even though we know we ought to be certain, we often have our doubts. Can it really be that God’s determined will has saved us in spite of how much of our sin remains? Can it really be that He who cannot tolerate sin is within me, a sinner? Can it really be that He is determined to call me home in spite of the seemingly infinite list of sins and failure on my part?
How are we to know that hope? How are we to lay hold of that blessed assurance of salvation which is our re-birthright? This is what Calvin is getting at. This is what Peter is getting at. This is what God, in the Gospel is getting at. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” It’s a mutual work of God and man. You work towards it. Shake off those entanglements of worldly desire. You used to do this. Now do that. You have been redeemed, bought out from slavery to those old, destructive ways. You are no longer obliged to pursue them. You are no longer blind to the alternative. And, this too is grace beyond measure! We have been freed to desire better for ourselves, to long for this holiness to which we are urged. Indeed, I would say the saved cannot but desire it. But, the saved also bear the flesh of the old man, and that flesh will continue to get in our way as we pursue obedience to God.
We know our fallen present. We hope in our risen future. There is significant debate, it seems, as to the way we ought properly to understand this perfect hope or hoping completely to which we are urged. Are we being called to perfect our hope? Inasmuch as our hope ought to have one exclusive object in view, yes, I think you could say so. “Hope completely on the grace,” is how the NASB presents the idea. I might opt for ‘solely’. There is no other proper object for hope that is as certain as this. But, Barnes, amongst others, urges a different sense; that we are called to persistent hope. It is hope until the end, until that grace which is hope’s proper focus has been brought fully to you at the return of Christ. Don’t let hope flag. It is certain hope after all. The circumstances of this life, those trials which are the cause of Peter writing, must not erode hope. Arguably, they cannot, for hope is also of God’s grace and not our working. But, the working of our mind is such that we often lose sight of that fact. We fall back to the sort of hope common to all men, the wishful desire that things might turn out one way, but always with the doubt that they might not. No! Cries Peter. No! Cries Jesus. Your hope is fixed up here, where your inheritance is held in perfect safety, guaranteed by the Bank of Christ and waiting for you. Your anchor holds within the veil. Do not be dismayed by this passing storm of life. Hope persists. Now persist in hope.
There is one further thought I want to touch on under this head of holiness. We are urged to this holiness by, amongst other things, consideration of our sonship. You are children of the Father, so represent Him well. Along these lines, Clarke makes the following observation. We often recognize a man’s occupation by his attire. Think, for example, of a military officer whose attire is designed to reveal not only his service but also his rank. Think of the policeman. If he were dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, we would pay him no mind whatsoever. Or, consider a doctor. We expect the white lab coat and the stethoscope draped around the neck, else we’re not sure this guy is qualified. Well, Mr. Clarke observes that the sinner is likewise recognized by his livery, as the term used to be. He wears the uniform of the world; worldly fashions and worldly lusts. These are indicators of a worldly mind.
While he does not, to the best of my recollection, build the case further, we can turn that image to the child of God. He, too, wears the livery of his employ. Here, I think we draw nearer the old, medieval idea of wearing the livery of one’s liege-lord. One knew the lord you served by the attire you wore. Emblems were emblazoned upon you declaring your fealty. Turn back to the image of the high priest, with his carefully specified attire of office, and particularly that gold emblem affixed to his forehead proclaiming, “Holy unto the Lord.” It’s the attire of office, the livery of one who serves the King of kings. And we are, as Peter reminds us, a nation of priests unto our God. We, too, ought to bear this badge of honor, “Holy unto the Lord.” No, we don’t engrave it on a gold medallion to drape over our head. We bear it in our character, a deeper engraving, a livery that never comes off.
If the sinner is known by his livery, ought not the redeemed to be known by theirs? What is that livery? It is our obedient pursuit of sanctification, of becoming more and more like our Father who art in heaven every day of our lives.
Universal or Limited? (06/29/14)
It really ought not to surprise me to come up against the Calvinist / Arminian divide in this passage, and yet it did surprise me. I say it ought not to do so because these two systems of theological thought are both so all-encompassing that they must have an impact on how we perceive any Scripture. I will say this: It is not so much the case that Calvin and the other commentaries are debating their way through one of the critical points. But, Clarke in particular demonstrates his underlying assumptions in some of what he says here.
The thing that particularly jumped out at me is this idea of his that God provides salvation for all but loves those who resemble Him in holiness. He adds to this that God’s love is in proportion to that resemblance. This would suggest that God’s love is not unconditional. This may be true, but it certainly flies in the face of common understanding. It stands opposed to the whole concept of God as loving Father. As parents, we understand our love for our children is to be unconditional. We also understand that the unconditional nature of our love does not preclude disciplinary action where needed. Where do we parents get this idea? Is it nothing more than the construct of modern psychology? I don’t think so. I think it is obtained from the example of our Father, whose love was so magnanimous, so evenly dispensed, that He gave His only Son for us while we were in utmost rebellion against Him. His love is so unconditional that He sends His rain to water the gardens of good men and evil alike.
Yet, this is really the lesser problem I have with Clarke’s assertions. To say that God provides salvation for all is far more problematic. If He provided for all, and yet it is clearly the case that not all attain to salvation, then His provision must be defective. He is not omnipotent if my mere disinterest in the offer of salvation can cause His purpose to fail. Worse yet, if His purposed salvation cannot be counted on, I have no grounds for hope, no reason for confidence in that grace to be brought at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Perchance I’ll find I am His, but perchance I shall not. Where is the surety in that?
It will be argued counter to this view that such a view of all God’s doing and none of my own leaves me lackadaisical about sanctification. No doubt it can do so. Paul defended the doctrines of grace against that very response. “Shall we continue in sin that grace might abound the more? No way! If we have died to sin, how can it be supposed we ought still to live in it?” (Ro 6:1-2). But, you may say, if my salvation is assured then why is there this urgency about sanctification? If it’s all God’s doing, why am I constantly admonished to the pursuit of holiness by Scripture?
In part, I could answer from Peter’s message here. Because it is written, “You shall be holy for I am holy.” You claim God as your Father? Act like His children. Represent! Is that not cause enough? Is not gratitude for the costly redemption of your soul, your passage from death into life cause enough? Understand: God does not need proof of your belief. He knows. Either way, He knows. You, on the other hand, are full of uncertainties, just as these folks Peter is addressing. The exchange is too wonderful, the unwarranted benefit to you inconceivable. What man would do a thing like this? There is none. As Paul concludes, maybe a particularly good man might die for a righteous man. Maybe you would exchange your life for somebody you held in such high esteem. But, for those who despise you, who hate the very idea of your existence? No.
So, we have difficulty accepting this unconditional redemption. We’re pretty sure there must be something we have to do to render it valid. That’s where Clarke stops. The offer is made, but you have to accept it before it can be of use. God makes possible, but you must make real. Oh! But, there’s no solid ground in that! No! God makes real and therefore it is possible. God is at work in you and therefore you are capable of the work. God has said it and therefore it is settled. No power in heaven or hell can alter the outcome because He is Lord of all. That includes you. That includes me. There is aught that remains to us but gratitude for what we have so freely received.
I am put in mind of Psalm 50, which I set before the prayer group Wednesday. The concluding verse of that Psalm speaks to this issue. “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me; and to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God” (Ps 50:23). I am particularly concerned with the first clause. It is the sacrifice of thanksgiving which honors God, pleases Him. All the rest, as the Psalmist has laid out, provide nothing He has need of. You sacrifice to feed Me? I don’t need it! Your works are fine, I suppose. You keep the sacrifices going day in and day out. But, again: I don’t need it. “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Ps 50:14)!
If you must have a work you can do, that would be it. Be thankful. Demonstrate gratitude. Make known the fact that you appreciate what God has done for you. You call Him Father? Then obey Him as a proper son of His household. You would be sure of your salvation? Look to see if your thankfulness is intact. You need assurance that you are truly among the elect? Observe the progress of your sanctification. Not the perfection of your holiness (as if!), but progress.
Dig it! If there is progress, what does this prove? Does it prove you were worthy of salvation after all? No. Does it prove that you chose God, accepted His offer? No, although we are inclined to word it that way even when we know better. What it proves is that God is at work in you. The Holy Spirit is present and active in your life. And that, friend, is the only assurance you can possibly have, let alone the only assurance you will ever need.
The clear reality of both experience and Scripture’s teaching is that redemption, as Matthew Henry writes, ‘belongs to none but true believers’. It is not universal. Scripture is absolutely exclusive in its language. The salvation of God encompasses all who believe, yes! The redemptive power of Christ’s blood is most assuredly capable of redeeming all mankind in all ages from end to end. But, God’s purpose is not the salvation of all. If He simply saved everybody then His justice would not stand. If His justice does not stand then His essence is not unchanging. If He is not unchanging then He is not God.
Hear it from Scripture itself. “And for this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). I’ve taken that straight from the NASB on this occasion to ensure I have not inserted opinion in the paraphrasing of it. Look at it! It is ‘those who have been called’ who may receive the inheritance. Here, we must understand ‘may’ not as implying doubt, but as indicating the eventual realization of that inheritance. To understand it otherwise, we must do utmost violence to what Peter has already told us. Your inheritance is reserved in heaven where nothing can destroy it. You are protected by the very power of God, ensuring that you will get there to receive your inheritance. Thus, and thus alone, can he urge us to fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought! That is our inheritance he’s talking about. That’s certainty he’s talking about.
No, redemption is for ‘those who have been called’. As concerns that set of humanity, redemption is universal. As concerns the rest? Redemption is universally absent. But, the distinction between the elect and the reprobate does not like in some power of self-salvation. The distinction, as Calvin points out, lies in a change of heart and mind. And, we must note, that change itself is a thing done to us, not by us. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from you and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and be careful to observe My ordinances” (Eze 36:26-27). Notice who is doing everything here. It’s not you! It is God who is working in you (Php 2:13).
Are we to suppose ourselves capable do doing this heart surgery on ourselves? Clearly not. Are we to suppose we are capable of changing our spots (Jer 13:23)? Only then can we hope to do good, being so accustomed to evil actions. But, God has done it. God has changed our spots and our hearts. God has put His Spirit within, thereby doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. And only thus are we able to even make a start at sanctification. But, sanctification is a response to love, not an act that earns His love.
Obedience, Calvin points out, does not make us children. It distinguishes us from those who are not His children. It goes back to that idea of livery that Clarke brought out. Or, we might think in terms of genetics. A child is born and what is our response when we see this child? Oh, he has his father’s ears, his mother’s eyes. The lineage is clear by the resemblance. We have been reborn by the Father. We were created in His image, and then recreated that the image might be clearer. We carry His genes in us, but we are as yet earthly beings and incapable of physically demonstrating our lineage. The genetic code, at this point, is a matter of character, of essence. It is the fruit of the Spirit, growing in us – and quite often growing in spite of us – that demarks us clearly as children of the Living God. In the fullness of time we shall be made entirely as He is, but that time is not yet. In the meanwhile, we seek, through obedience to His ways, to offer a continual sacrifice of thanksgiving to this God who loves us, that the world may know we love Him.
There is a dread counterpoint to this. I will again draw on Calvin to begin the thought. Apart from Christ we can have nothing but dread for His drawing near. This actually goes back to the previous matter of fear. Let us distinguish again that reverential fear which is the foundation of wisdom, and that dread which knows only destruction. And that is exactly Calvin’s point. Apart from Christ, if God draws near, the ‘full flame of Justice’ must consume us. There can be no other outcome. “Hypocrites and unbelievers,” writes Matthew Henry, “will be ruined forever, notwithstanding the death of Christ.” How can that be? If His blood is powerful to save, how are they ruined? Because it was not God’s purpose to redeem them. They were not called.
The unbelievers have proven that to themselves and all who know them. The hypocrites have, perhaps, the saddest lot. They were sure of their salvation, but not on the basis – the sole basis – for such surety. Their faith was not in Christ, but in some figment of their own imagining. We might set those of the ‘once saved, always saved’ camp in this category, alongside those who pursue the god of health and wealth. Oh, look at the riches being showered upon me. Surely, God must love me! Somebody needs to go reread the parables. As to those who cling to a once-saved, always-saved theology that leaves them free to sin the more, well, we’ve already addressed that from Paul’s writing. It is one thing to know the assurance that comes of seeing that it is all God’s doing. It is quite another to presume upon that grace and continue in sin. How can we, if we are truly dead to sin? How can we assume the reality of life if we insist on continuing our walking death? Hypocrites will be ruined forever. The death of Christ was not applied to their accounts.
Here, I want to turn to a piece of information that the JFB sets forth regarding this matter of redemption. If we go back into the Mosaic provision for life in Israel, the idea of redemption is clearly set forth. There was the possibility that an Israelite might, because of debts incurred, find himself in bondage to another. Slavery was, whatever we say of it in our time, a fact of life in that time and place. In this case, we might more properly refer to it as bond-servitude. You took on a debt you could not pay, so now you will pay with your free labor. But, here’s the thing: It was also arranged for in the law of the land, that an Israelite thus enslaved could be purchased out of bondage by a brother. From this point, the JFB proceeds to another: For this reason, Christ became our Brother. This is to do with the Incarnation, His becoming fully man. He had to be our Brother so as to have the right of redemption over us.
Blending this into our current point, Christian theology has long seen that there are effectively two families occupying the earth: The family of man and the family of God. Augustine set it out as two cities, but the concept is the same. You are in one camp or the other. You are in one family or the other. By physical birth, you were native to the city of man. By rebirth, you were adopted into the city of God. But, that required the redemption price, for all who are in the city of man are enslaved there. Jesus Christ became man that He might be Redeemer from the city of man; but, only for those whom the Father called, whom the Father gave Him to be His brothers amongst whom He is the firstborn.
As to this call for childlike obedience, Barnes makes the point that every last one of us fashions our life after some model. The myth of the self-made man is just that. Even supposing the capacity, after what plan did he make himself, and from whence was the plan obtained? We choose our model and we seek to emulate. The simple truth is that even in our rebellion against everything, we are really just emulating some other rebel. Our greatest efforts at nonconformity turn out, in the end, to be just another act of conforming. This is something that is ever lost on youth and rediscovered in adulthood.
But, to our point of holiness, the best model we have is our Father, and we have Him perfectly modeled in Christ. The best model those still in darkness have is us, as we seek to follow the Model set before us. “Conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay.” You are children of the living God! Do Him proud.
I’m going to circle ever so briefly back to the matter of knowledge, for the sole purpose of capturing this quote from Calvin. “Hence all knowledge of God without Christ is a vast abyss which immediately swallows up all our thoughts.” He sets the example of Jews and Turks before us as proof, which is to say Judaism and Islam. Interesting, that. These are the two that are held up to us as being our sister religions. We see the bumper stickers on the cars of the ignorant, proclaiming to us that, hey, you’re all worshiping the same God anyway, why not just get along? But, any serious examination must demonstrate that this is not truly the case, particularly where the contrast is with Islam. The one promotes Life, the other death. Where then is the common ground? The one forbids idols, the other makes hadj to honor an obelisk. Where then is the common ground?
As much as we share with Judaism, in the end the same lack of common ground separates us. The one awaits Messiah’s return, the other rejected Him at His first visit. The one trusts wholly upon the grace that is ours in Christ, the other remains intent on their works and their lineage. Where is the common ground? No, it is as Calvin has said, though it is painful to hear it. They worship ‘their own dreams’ in place of the True God. This is not to set them beyond hope. Far from it! There is none so far gone that God cannot reach. But, so long as they cling to these dreams, God is displaced. Unless God sovereignly moves upon them, to give them hearts of flesh and the Spirit residing within, be they ever so religious, yet they remain hypocrites who can expect nothing but utmost destruction in the Last Day. The same, it must be said, applies to any number of purportedly Christian denominations who lay claim to the name but refuse the Authority. May we ever be careful that this is not our lot; that we remain faithful to the Truth revealed in the Gospel of Christ.
Active Faith (06/30/14)
Here, then, is the balance point. Faith is a gift of grace given to us, yet faith is necessarily accompanied by works. There is the tension of the Gospel. God does it all, yet we must be about doing. Hope being so firmly connected to faith, we discover that hope leads to action. Hope urges us to the obedience which is the outworking of sanctification. This action reinforces hope as it confirms to us that our faith is real.
This balance is on display in Peter’s progression through this passage. First, the cause for doubt is removed in order that hope may be certain. God is working in you. God’s grace has been given to you. Your inheritance is prepared and waiting for you. Hope completely. Fix your every aspiration on the grace to be yours in heaven, the grace given you already in heaven. But, knowing that our flesh will gladly take advantage of this certainty to tempt us to idleness, he adds the point that God is a perfect and impartial Judge of all. You are yet part of that all. This, too, serves to move us to action.
He is Father, but He is still Judge. Somehow it seems we have come to think these two things incompatible. He cannot be our Judge if He is our Abba Father. But, He can. God is Who He is. He holds His several essential characteristics in perfect harmony one with the other, as I have already said. Knowing that God is our Father does not, should not, cannot preclude thinking upon the fact that He is our Judge. As Barnes points, we can be certain that God judges based on real character. Yes, He views us through the redemptive work of the Son, else there is no hope for us. But, He still judges our character. It is on this basis that Scripture so consistently urges our effort in sanctification. Seeing that He is impartial, surely we find plentiful cause to try and lead our lives in such fashion as He can approve.
Consider the many passages that decry the sluggard. Do we suppose this pertains primarily to our labors in the field or factory or office? Are we yet so tied to the temporal aspects of life that we suppose this is where God’s focus lies? But, no! The message is for our inner man, for our character and spirit. Think upon that. No idler can expect that God is at work inside of him. If we are not working out our own salvation, there is no reason to suppose that God is picking up our slack and doing it for us. Christianity is not for idlers. Faith is not passive, and hope is not welfare. We strive.
This striving does not suggest we have not entered into His rest. It is, in fact, the evidence thereof. We strive, Calvin says, in the knowledge that it is God who sanctifies us, which is simply to say that Philippians 2:12-13 is accurate. If He is not building, we labor in vain (Ps 127:1). But, if we labor not at all, what is this but denying that God is at work? What is this but willful disobedience and outright rebellion? If God is working towards a particular goal in and through us, and we are doing nothing, are we not in reality working to impede His progress? Of course, our efforts to impede must be every bit as ineffectual as the devil’s, but that does not remove or reduce our guilt. So, we strive. We strive to be what God has declared us to be. We strive in full awareness of the impossibility of the task at hand. Be holy as He is holy? It would be the height of arrogance and the worst idolatry of ego to claim to have achieved that goal – even to have approached it. But, in Christ we are promised that we shall achieve that goal. We know that when He appears we shall be like Him because we shall see Him just as He is (1Jn 3:2b). But, we know that this shall be when He appears. Until then, we strive.
Barnes points us to the basis for this command to be holy, and the basis, after its fashion, lies with us. We claim to be God’s people. Granted, we do so only because He called us as His people, but we have claimed it. In our own right, we are much like the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, saying, “So be it! We agree to abide by the commands of this covenant with You.” Of course, to agree to the commands is to agree to the penalties as well. And herein lies Good News for us: We have a cosigner. Think of it in terms of a loan contract. You have agreed to repay. The terms have been set, the rates settled, and you have signed on the line. You have set your seal to the promise of repayment. But, it was deemed necessary to have a cosigner. Why? You are a risk. There is a high likelihood that however earnest your intentions you shall prove incapable of keeping your promise. So, here is one who shall act as your guarantor, who will take upon himself the penalties that accrue should you fail of your word. This is a reasonable analogy of our relationship with God in heaven. We have indeed made covenant with Him. We have made our promises to abide by His law, and we have done so with the best intentions of truly doing so. Perhaps we did not yet recognize our own limitations. Perhaps we knew we were safe given our Cosigner. But, either way, we have a Cosigner. We have One Who has already proven Himself capable of the terms, and He has agreed to be our Guarantor in the event (in our case, the inevitability) of failure.
But, that does not, because we did sign with earnest intent, remove from us the obligation of obedience. We claim to be His people. We lay claim to the benefits. This obliges us to the requirements. It would be like getting paid in advance for your work. You are obliged, therefore, to actually do the work. That was the effective deal made in times when indentured servitude was common. That’s the form and function of every financial loan. Arguably, that’s the power of the marriage covenant: For better or for worse. You have now the benefits of marriage. You are obliged to see to the obligations.
As regards having God as our Father, the obligation is to be as like Him as we may be. Having laid claim to His parentage, it is our obligation to show that claim to be true. Plenty of others have claimed God as Father before us, but did not honor Him as such. “I do what I have seen My Father do, and you do what you have learned from your father,” Jesus told the Pharisees (Jn 8:38-42). You claim Abraham as your father, but you don’t do as he did. You seek to kill Me for telling you the Truth I heard from God. Abraham would never do such a thing. But, you are doing the deeds of your father. If God were your Father, you would love Me. And so it continues. Add to that, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15). It goes to Peter’s point: If you call Him Father, act like His children.
With that, we arrive at a point the JFB brings out; one I find makes me uncomfortable. There, the authors write that our outward behavior reflects our inward character. We may seek to pass off much of our outward display as humorous misdirection, if you will. We offer ourselves with a nod and a wink, as if to suggest that what we are displaying does not reflect our true, inward state. But, the truth is that these moments most likely reflect our true, inward state more accurately than those times when we are carefully on our best behavior.
There is that aspect of truth, alethes, which speaks to the idea of appearance agreeing with essence. Things are what they appear to be. In the rather cheesy parlance of modern technology: What you see is what you get. This is how a Christian ought to be described. Our outward display ought to reflect our inward character. But, we know our inward character is flawed. Our natural tendency is therefore to dress it up, to act the way we know we should be: To play the hypocrite. Do you know that term at essence goes to the idea of acting? You are acting the part. It is not the real you. You pose at piety and righteousness, but it isn’t really there. Your outward does not reflect your inward. You are not true.
We know this as the constant charge of the enemy, and he is so consistent in bringing this charge because he knows that the charge is accurate. Worse, he knows that we recognize the fact. Were it not for the Holy Spirit so actively at work in us, we should despair utterly at the charge. Yes, you are right. I am trying to look better than I am. But, here’s the kicker; here’s the thing that sends him away: I am trying to be better than I am. Therein lies the critical distinction. Because God is at work in me, I am at work in me. I want nothing more than to obey Him, even though I find myself too often double-minded in that pursuit. I want this me I am more or less pretending to be to be the real me. I am practicing at it, not playing at it. I know my failures full well, for they are many. But, I know Who has me firmly in hand to shape me after His own perfect image.
I know that where repentance is, there is forgiveness. I know this because, as the JFB says, “Where repentance is, there is faith.” I might turn that around, for apart from faith, I should despair of truly repenting. Apart from faith, I would find cause to expect nothing other than judgment should I confess my sins. Apart from faith, I would not have courage to repent and lay myself on the mercy of my Judge. But, in faith, knowing Him true to His word, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive, I come and repent. I lay before Him once more the long list of my failures since last we talked. And I am strengthened to stand up and try again. I am reminded that the command is itself a promise. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Sanctification and Eldership (07/01/14)
I shall attempt to be brief as concerns this section, although that never seems to work out in practice. Some nine months ago, I made my way through these verses. I was then about halfway through my first term serving as an elder in our church, and feeling less than confident that I was intended for this role. Now, here I am at the start of a second term. Am I any more confident? Only insomuch as I can keep hold of the lesson I drew from these verses the first time through: He has chosen me to take up this task.
As with salvation so with this: I did not choose to become an elder. He chose to make me one. Also similar to the work of sanctification, it seems to me, He has called me an elder and therefore I am becoming one. But, the work lies wholly in His strength to be done right. If He has called me to serve as His under-shepherd, then to satisfy that call I must serve not in my own strength and knowledge, but in His power and wisdom. Either He is making me a useful and effective shepherd or I am but stroking my own ego.
I am very much mindful of a comment made to me last Sunday. It is best I presume the comment made in jest, but there is cause to wonder. And there is more than sufficient cause in me to take the words seriously however they may have been offered. Pride is an ever-present danger. Whether joke, accusation or a bit of both, I know the issue exists in me. I would say it exists in all of us, even the most self-abasing. Too often, that self-abasing becomes one more bit of fuel for pride. Look at me! I’m being humble! See my sanctity shine? But, we know better.
I know better. I know how easily I could allow this matter of being an elder to become a case for pride. But, I also know how utterly humbling it is. I see the things I am called to consider, called to deal with, and I know they are far and away beyond me. You want me to teach a book of the Bible? I’m fine with that. I don’t take it lightly, but I know I have the requisite skills at this point. You want me to deal with personal problems? That’s another matter. But, You do, so I shall. You want me to challenge the traditions and assumptions? As You wish, but I’m cannot say I’m happy doing so. And yet, it seems to be so much of what I wind up doing.
I can further confess that this week in particular I’m feeling more than a little overwhelmed by it all. Much of that is doubtless because I’ve been back to doing in my strength. Some is to do with things slipping through the cracks. Some is to do with perceived conflict ahead, the need to assess and confront a matter which on its surface is doctrinal (and therefore right up my alley), but more critically and disconcertingly, involves several people whom I know and appreciate.
I could add to that the concern and sorrow for a friendship apparently damaged, if not lost, due to other actions taken. This question of humor or accusation would not otherwise occur to me. But, I am not so immune to emotions as to either suppose this person unaffected by the board’s decisions or to sense the chill towards myself. There are no doubt thoughts of, “I thought you were my friend,” there. It’s only natural, under the circumstances. But, still it hurts. This will have to be addressed eventually. In the meantime, examination. If ego has begun to creep in, it’s time for me and my God to deal with it – primarily my God. I know only too well that I can’t deal with it, or won’t, which amounts to the same thing.
I must take my stand on this: He has chosen me for this task. I know the circumstances of the call. I know I would not have volunteered. I know I would not have expected to be returned to office, let alone by unanimous vote (along with all my brother elders). I could chalk that up, in my cynical fashion, to the fact that nobody else wants the job. But, the greater reality, the reality that lies behind the whole system of Congregational governance, is that God speaks through His people. We must trust that the congregation hears Him and acts according to His express will. His express will is, then, that I continue at my post.
So, I circle back to this: He called. It lies wholly in His strength to make me useful in this calling. If I am going to be an effective shepherd (and yes, I still feel that is an if) it will only be as He works in and through me. If ever there was a place for that, “More of you, less of me,” character, it is here. When I come through, it gets ugly. When I come through, I have need to go seek out my brother’s forgiveness. But, when He is given full rein over me? Then, I have a chance. Then, I can hope (with that confident hope of the Christian) to serve in a fashion that will bring honor to His name.
Lord, this is not the prayer I was expecting to come to in this section. But, it is the prayer I feel need of today. If, indeed, I am suffering from a head swollen by ego, my God! Rescue me! Restore me to my proper humility before You. Let me be reminded, even by the suggestion of an accusation, that I am nothing – less than nothing. I am but a dust mote in the shadowed corner of creation. You are Almighty. You are Wisdom. You are in charge. You have set me here to this task. Let me, please God, fulfill my assignment to Your satisfaction and to Your glory. If pride still corrupts my service to You, crush it out of me. No, I don’t welcome the process, for I know too well its hurt. But, I welcome the result, my Lord, for the result is a drawing nearer to You, depending more fully on You, resting in You even as I labor for You. I know from the failures of spirit this last day or so that I have not been in that place. I need to come back. Bring me back, Lord, I pray, to that place of safety, that place of surety and rest which is only found in Your presence and in Your service. Work in me, my God, that I may work for You.
Now, perhaps, I can reflect upon that previous prayer of mine, for it still holds.
Lord, give me both the strength and the gentleness to do this right. Let me not run from the battle, but join it in Your strength. Let me not shirk my duty in favor of a comfortable and relaxing day, but let me take up the responsibility You have set upon me and discharge my duty in full. But, Oh! Go ahead of me, God, and prepare the ground. Go ahead of me, and show me every step to take, that I may be faithful in doing all You desire of me.
Honestly, I need this pasted before my eyes somewhere for the duration. But, I know what happens then. It becomes part of the landscape and wholly ignorable. And, that will never do.
Father, keep this before my eyes that I may see more clearly. Let Thy will be done.
Planned Redemption (07/01/14-07/02/14)
Now I am arrived at the part of this study that has really been stirring up excitement in me this last week and more. I will go this far: If there is one key point to take out of this particular part of the letter which sets it apart from the rest, this is it. The themes of perseverance and sanctification are the constants of the letter. But, here is a special note – a grace note, but on magnificent scale. It’s as if a symphony in a minor key has suddenly switched to the relative major for a moment, to make a particularly point. It arises in verse 20. “He was foreknown before the foundation of the world.”
Well, certainly! The Son of God is every bit as eternal as the Father, being One. Of course, He was foreknown. He fore-existed. But, if that was Peter’s point, it would be pointless. No. What he is driving at, what seemingly every commentator has taken note of, is that His Incarnation, His coming to Redeem fallen man, was foreknown. And, note the timeframe. His death was foreknown before Creation’s birth; from before the foundation.
The point arises as yet another basis for confidence, as Peter is laying out his letter. Calvin expresses Peter’s purpose thus: The arrival of Messiah is no novelty or invention that has been added to the ancient faith of Israel. No! God “provided a restoration to life before the first man had fallen into death.” We can go further. He made this provision before the first man took his first breath. He made this provision before there was dust from which to form the first man or air for him to breathe.
Here, I would add a curious note that Clarke offers up. Amongst Jewish theologians, he says, there is a school of thought that holds there are seven things which predate the creation of the world. One of these is Messiah. He does not express what the remaining six might be. Surely, the Father is chief among them. But, Messiah! The Redeemer Who comes ever was and ever shall be! And let there be no doubt about this: His activity as Redeemer, His sacrificial life and death as Son of Man, even the manner of His dying; all of these were foreknown.
Here, I have to say, is the strongest counter to the idea that God’s foreknowledge is merely an awareness of how all our contingent decisions shall play out. God’s foreknowledge is not speculative. It’s not a case of, “if things go thus, then I shall counter with this.” Indeed, this foreknowledge is an act of His will. It is God determining that this is how things shall be. You and I are the contingent part of the equation. Our course of life is determined by His will, not determining His will. God’s word, mind, does not return to Him empty, but accomplishes His desire for which He sent it (Isa 55:11). We must understand that Christ’s suffering was not an emergency response, but the plan and purpose. God laid this out to happen as it has. He knew man’s sin before He made man. He also knew the cure before there was disease. It is purposeful, and it is purposeful in God’s purpose. It is, therefore, wholly Good.
I will explore this more fully tomorrow, building on the points Barnes makes in this regard, which really triggered something of a mental cascade in me. But, before I do, there is one other point from Calvin that deserves attention.
He points to the lack of novelty in how Christianity has developed from Judaism. The Ancient Faith is, properly understood and pursued, faith in Christ. The Evangelists, particularly Matthew, took pains to demonstrate this. The author of Hebrews spends the entirety of his epistle establishing this Truth. Calvin boils it down to four words. “Novelty is always suspicious.” For him, this is a large part of why Peter is making this point. He is writing, as Calvin supposes, to a church still largely Jewish in composition. They have accepted the teachings of this new sect and now they face opposition. They need assuring that they have not abandoned the God of their fathers, but only corrected the path of their pursuit.
I think that premise is less certain than Calvin supposes. I suspect the churches in Asia Minor were far more likely to have been a mix of Jew and Gentile, and quite possibly predominantly Gentile in composition. Certainly, there was Jewish persecution of the Way, of which Paul had been a primary force. But, there was also plenteous opposition from the sundry pagan sects of the region.
All of that being said, the concern about novelty holds. It ought to hold for the Church today. “Novelty is always suspicious.” Yet, in the West, we have come to specialize in novelty. The Church is filled with novelties. We have the novelty of Starbucks franchises in the lobby. We have the novelty of worship as performance. We have the novelty of women in the pulpit, gays in the pulpit, idols of all manner sharing space with God. We have the novelty of a God who doesn’t care about sin after all. We have the novelty of purported Christian faith that denies the Truth of Scripture; that rejects ideas of heaven and hell and eternity of any sort. We have novelty in every size and shape, and it seems nobody much cares except that the novelty wears out and we must have something new.
We have a Church largely reduced to entertainment. Then, we wonder why it seems powerless to change the culture. It has so wholly absorbed the culture as to become no different from a concert, a movie, a social club. All of this, it seems, has transpired in the search for cultural relevance. But, God has long since warned, as Calvin reminds. “Novelty is always suspicious.” This, of course, requires careful balance with the near constant need for reformation. Is not reformation novelty? It was certainly seen as such at its inception. The Roman Catholic church would doubtless hold this is still the case. They’ve gone chasing after vain imaginations. May God draw them back.
But, notice! Calvin does not say novelty is always wrong. Change is not in itself evil. Tradition is not inherently correct. We must examine every assumption and confirm and reconfirm that what we call the Way is truly the Way. The faith of our fathers is insufficient cause for faith. It could as easily prove to be the same sort of ‘futile way of life’ that these folks Peter addresses inherited from their forefathers. Do we suppose ourselves immune?
Yet, novelty must be suspect. Change for the sake of change is pointless. Back in the day, when my old employer was implementing the latest trends in Continuous Improvement, we had the motto set before us: “Constant Change != Continuous Improvement.” Valid point. Valid point for the Church. Change does not automatically make better. Indeed, we could argue that change is far more likely to make things worse.
Here, too, I should consider my role as elder. Part of the purpose of the shepherd is to preserve, to guard against the sort of errant novelty that could otherwise quickly destroy a perfectly healthy church. But, it’s a two-edged duty. We are to be just as concerned with becoming so rigid in our traditions as to refuse correction.
Listen. I have been in churches where novelty was the driving force. If the sermon didn’t arrive at something new and fresh and never before heard of, then the pastor must not be led by the Spirit. If worship songs didn’t take on some more modern sound, something that beat you over the head with the message that, “We are not traditional”, then it was dead, spiritless worship. But, oh! Stage lighting and sub-woofers? Soloists and drums-only passages? Clearly God is moving. But, we can’t do it the same way next month. It’ll get stale and God’s people will become bored. Can’t have that. They might go off after somebody else with a better performance.
It’s contagious. You get into that atmosphere and nothing seems more logical. Go back to a traditional church? I couldn’t stay awake if I did. But, God’s call is not to novelty and invention. God’s call is quite the opposite. “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. There you shall find rest for your souls” (Jer 6:16). And, oh! The sad conclusion. “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Lest we suppose this a one-off, He effectively repeats the point later. “My people have forgotten Me. They burn incense to worthless gods and have stumbled from their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in byways not highways” (Jer 18:15).
Pardon the sudden bit of connection, but consider the time-worn phrase, “My way or the highway.” At some level we understand that this is not a philosophy to be adopted but to be shunned. And yet, we have all sorts of ministries practicing that very thing. You serve God my way, or take the highway. But, what does God say? “You’ve left the highway to wander this trail to nowhere. You have forgotten Me.” Word to the wise: The church that has forgotten God will not long remain a church. The church that has come to prefer novelty to sound doctrine has already slipped into that place Paul warned of, having become a people who “will not endure sound doctrine; but want to have their ears tickled” (2Ti 4:3), and they have “accumulated for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires.” Far be it from us! And, may we who are charged as watchmen on the walls be diligent to ensure that it remains far from us, that we remain true to the path God sets us, deviating neither to the left nor to the right. May we be properly fearless in the defense of sound doctrine, and properly loving in the care and admonition of those in our charge.
It makes me think of John’s letters, particularly the second and third. Here is a shepherd indeed! “Anyone who comes with a different teaching: Don’t even say hello, for that would lend them too much support in the eyes of the unwary” (2Jn 10-11). “If I come, I will call attention to his deeds, how he unjustly accuses us with his wicked words, and puts out of the church those who receive the brethren” (3Jn 10-11). We cannot afford to tolerate false teaching in the name of maintaining amity. We cannot afford, either, to be egotistical tyrants lording it over God’s church.
God help us to find the path through that! For, I see just such a challenge ahead. I have seen it looming too long already. Grant me Your wisdom and Your steel to take the necessary stand and to judge wisely as You judge. Let me see the case through Your eyes and pronounce only as I hear from You, lest Your flock be damaged by my neglectful ways.
[07/02/14] So, I turn finally to this point that Barnes has brought out from verse 20. The entire scope and sequence of redemption was planned and arranged before the world was created. The universe did not yet exist even in prototype. The angels had not been brought into being. We are still somewhere prior to “In the beginning.” There is God and there is aught else. And God – Father, Son and Spirit – sat in council with Himself (for there was no other to advise) and set out the plan of salvation start to finish. The Incarnation, Crucifixion and Ascension were all set down. Time, place, actors both material and ethereal; all were determined and laid out in detail. And still, no earth, no universe, no angels.
Already, we are at a loss. We get that the whole business of existence is God, but we don’t get it. We’re still inclined to operate on the assumption that it’s about us. We cannot quite get ourselves around the fact that while Christ died for our sins, He did not ultimately die for us. He died for God. He died, as it were, for Himself; for the glory of God. Looked at from the right angle, I think we can even go so far as to say we were not the cause for His suffering and death. It could almost be reversed, set forth as His suffering and death being the cause for our sinfulness. Almost. But, I cannot allow the point to stand.
Let’s move the next step. This is actually a point other commentators have already made, but it bears on the subject at hand. The atonement was not an afterthought. That is the clear implication of Peter’s statement. If it was all in place before the world came into being, and man with it, then it could not be an action undertaken because the initial work was defective. God’s creative work is not defective. His system wasn’t broken. He didn’t look upon the work of His hands and experience disappointment because He’d overlooked a flaw somewhere.
Pause. Rewind. God’s creative work is not defective. How could it be? This should be obvious to us, but the evidence we think we have from our senses convinces us otherwise. Let’s get back to Who God is. God is perfect in knowledge, perfect in wisdom, perfect in power. He has all the facts – has always had all the facts. In truth, He alone is the basis for all facts. He has all the wisdom to utilize those facts, to plan and lay out the best use of that data. His plans are perfect because His knowledge is perfect, and His capacity for assessing the implications of His knowledge is infinite. Add to this that His power is perfect. What He has planned, He is perfectly capable of bringing to pass. This is the whole point of His declaration that His word does not return to Him without accomplishing all His purpose. This is what renders His promises inviolable. This is the power of His covenant with us. God cannot fail. God cannot create with a defect. What we take to be defects in the design are not defects. They are the design. We, in our exceedingly finite capacity, have simply failed to fully appreciate the design.
Pause. Rewind. God’s creative work is not defective. Beloved, that includes you! Oh! But, all I can see are my flaws. Everything I see about myself is wrong. If I consider my spiritual health, I see only weakness and disease. If I consider my physical health, these chronic illnesses must surely indicate a defect in my construction. If I think even in simple terms of physiognomy, my looks can hardly be said to uphold the paragons of beauty. Surely, I am defective in every way.
On one level, yes. It is true. If we were not sick, as Jesus said, we would have no need of a Physician. If we were not such inherent sinners, we would have no need of a Savior. But, look again! Return to that first question of the Westminster Catechism. What is your purpose, o man? It is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. How, then, do you glorify God? By your part in this glorious, indescribable, unfathomable work of redemption. You glorify Him by knowing Him as your Redeemer, your Savior, your Father, your Brother, your everything. This was planned! You were planned.
Oh! There is no accident of birth! There is no mistake in your manufacture. You are exactly as God purposed you to be, and you are in exactly the circumstances He intended for you. There is no mistake. This does not – must not – slide into the fatalism of the pagan. To be sure, there is a certain inevitability to it all. God’s purpose stands and not even you can change His purpose in you. Even you cannot thwart His salvific work. Neither, to consider the darker side of the matter, can you in any way thwart His punitive work. If Father does not call, there is no hope of answering Him. But, where He has called? It is not just the possibility of Life He has given. It is the certainty.
You, friend, were planned. You were designed. You were designed, whatever you may think of the current state of your being, perfectly. You were fit and formed to your purpose with exacting attention to detail. You were made exactly what you should be. And the purpose for all this? To magnify the glory of God. You, in all your weakness, in all your failings, in all your joys and sorrows, are fulfilling your purpose in God’s purpose! Rejoice! Count it all joy! God is in control.
Now, perhaps we can proceed. See, we are only scratching the wonder of this marvelous truth so far. The solution for our problem was in place, scheduled and impossible to stop, before there was a start. This is, as Scripture says, God who knows the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10). It’s not even, if we look at that verse, that He knows. It’s that He declares. I am starting, and here’s how it all plays out. “I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” “I have planned it. I will surely do it” (Isa 46:11). So, then, at a point “when none but God could know whether he would stand or fall”, God set everything in motion to assure that man would indeed stand. He had already written the Book of Life, cover to cover. Every name was lodged there, and God doesn’t own an eraser. It was already settled, and not even the primordial material that would become the dust from which Adam would be formed existed. Not even the atoms that would form that ooze. And already, the end of the story was known, nailed down, and in some fashion (for God is outside of time) already played out.
The whole course of the history of the universe had already been run and that first moment of existence had not even come to pass. How do we wrap ourselves around this? I don’t know, but it is marvelous in our eyes. Now, let me reach forward to this incredible conclusion that Barnes brings forth. Creation itself has reference to the plan of redemption. OK. That’s nice, Jeff. But, so what? No, look! We’ve had the whole sequence of cause and effect wrong. The Fall in Creation did not cause the plan of Redemption. The plan of Redemption caused the Creation! The plan of Redemption was the point of Creation. As such, the Fall was as much as necessary part of Creation as night and day. It was not a defect. It was the very design. Without the Fall, Redemption could not play out.
Let me reflect Barnes’ thought on this. The plan of Redemption was itself so utterly glorious that it recommended creating the universe for the sole purpose of letting this plan unfold. Even knowing the race of man would assuredly fall (by design), the infinite beauty of this plan of Redemption, the eternal Goodness of the plan of Redemption was far and away worth the pain and sorrow of the Fall. The plan was far and away worth the unknowable (to us) agony of the death of Christ. Consider again the depths of that agony as evidenced in His cries. “Father, why have you abandoned Me?” The nails hurt, it’s true. But, it was that rending of an eternal fellowship, even for so brief a moment, that came near to destroying Him. Even knowing it would be for but a moment in the scale of eternity, it was too much to bear. The whole weight of God’s wrath lay upon Him, not just the ire of Rome or the jealousy of Israel. And even that was not the worst part. It was God turning away, unable to so much as look at Him while our sin lay upon His shoulders. But, He did it. The Plan could not fail. And all that He suffered was, by God’s estimation, far and away worth it to allow this glorious plan to unfold.
I’m not sure I’ve done full justice to how greatly this concept has impressed me. I’m not sure full justice could be done to so magnificent a Truth. But, it must surely humble me. I am not the reason. That whole business we come up with that Christ would have died even if it were only for you, for one soul? No. That rates me far too highly. Christ died for the glory of God. If I must put myself in the picture, far better I should understand that I died for Christ. That death into which I was born, which I still bear in part even as I make my way towards Life; that death was for Him, that He might be glorified. No, not might be. That He shall be glorified. My end is certain, for He has made it certain. But, my end is not the point. My end is a beneficial side effect of God’s eternal plan to glorify His own infinite goodness in this most incredible plan.
I think back to that message R. C. Sproul sent out last year, wherein he laid out the incredible chain of events leading us from Abraham to Christ. His point was to put to bed once for all this idea of coincidence. No. It’s not coincidence, it’s Providence. It’s the Plan. All is unfolding exactly as He did not merely foresee, but as He decreed. The Fall, the death camps of World War II, the sorry state of affairs in the present day, the cruelties of the Roman Empire: All of these are but part of the great, infinite good of Redemption. History is indeed His Story. It ever was and ever shall be, for it’s all about Him start to finish!
Let me close out by drawing this back to the title given this section of study. “Be Holy.” Seeing the vast perfection of God’s plan, what other response can one have? Who, seeing the lengths to which He has gone to achieve our righteous standing before Him, can think to do otherwise? What sort of ingrates would we be? And, it’s unthinkable, really, that He would do this for such an ingrate. No. Go back to verse 16. “You shall be holy, for I AM Holy.” Work out your salvation knowing that it is God working in you. It is a command, yes. But, it is a promise. Work at it, for I AM is working. You will succeed in the end because I AM is working. Consider this vast vista of the Plan of Redemption. If He is able to orchestrate all of that, such that the Big Bang, if indeed there was a Big Bang, unfolded with all the precision required to arrive at 1 AD, at 30 AD, at 7/2/2014 AD; He can surely manage the brief span of your life, to bring you to the fullness of your part in this plan of His. You shall be Holy because back there before the beginning, He said so. “It is finished.”
