http://www.amazon.com/Contending-Our-Al … 158134676X
This is a book about three men from church history who stood up to the mainstream currents of error despite the suffering they knew they had to endure, in the name of truth for the Gospel’s sake. A must read in our time where pastors left and right seem to be abandoning solid doctrinal truth in the name of Christ. Quote from a book review off Amazon: “Contending for Our All is an especially important book for our present day. In the lives of Athanasius, John Owen, and J. Gresham Machen, Piper shows how the need to defend truth has always been paramount in genuine Biblical Christianity. None of these three men enjoyed controversy for its own sake. All three were charitable and gracious with those whom they disagreed (a lesson all sides should learn in our day!). In his section on Athanasius, Piper insightfully applies Athanasius’ battles to the issues of our day: ‘Athanasius would have grieved over sentences like “It is Christ who unites us; it is doctrine that divides.” And sentences like: “We should ask, Whom do you trust?” rather than, “What do you believe?” He would have grieved because he knew this is the very tactic used by the Arian bishops to cover the councils with fog so that the word Christ could mean anything. Those who talk like this–‘Christ unites, doctrine divides’-have simply replaced propositions about Christ with the word Christ. It carries no meaning until one says something about him. They think they have said something profound and fresh, when they call us away from the propositions of doctrine to the word Christ. In fact they have done something very old and worn and deadly..” (pp. 64)
Category: Theology Page 54 of 67
Okay I’m frustrated and about to rant … Why is it most in the dispensational camp seem to make it their life-long mission to make sure everyone has what they consider to be the right understanding of the end-times and won’t even give a decent bit of consideration to the other three major positions within the larger evangelical church on eschology? I mean a lot of “trying to understand the end-times” is speculation anyway, as to whether or not things will turn out exactly how it is proposed. Right? So why invest so much time in this as a church? A whole year or more even? Prior to the 1800’s, this was not even at the forefront of pastors and theologians minds. Christ, and faithfully proclaiming Him to a lost and dying world was the main task at hand. Sure they may have exposited a bit on the end-times, but a majority of historical writings from before that time talked very little about eschatology, simply because of the fact that much is speculation and not worth trying to figure out.
I suspect many church theologians from the past had greater tasks to tackle, like preaching correct, Biblical doctrine, and refuting errors that harm the Gospel and its cause. Am I wrong? Why is it so important to try and figure out what happens in the end-times? I’m still trying to figure this out. How much does this bear on the Gospel and the preaching thereof for the edification of the congregation within the dispensational camp? Is it fascinating? Sure. Is it the absolute necessity of the church to focus on eschatology so much that you neglect the greater things in scripture, namely justification, sanctification, substitutionary atonement wrought through the person and work of Christ? No. I mean whatever is going to happen will happen, right? Should it not be our job, first and foremost, to faithfully proclaim the Gospel, to grow people in the Gospel, to show them how the Gospel bears on every area of our lives so that we grow in the knowledge of the grace of Christ?
If our eschatology doesn’t ultimately point to the person and work of Christ in His glory, then our eschatology is fatally unbiblical. The point of Revelation wasn’t for God to merely get us excited about what’s going to go down. Sure that’s there. But if that’s the primary focus we’ve missed it. The point is to show us Christ in His majesty, in His glory and how this Jesus, who is the lamb-like lion and lion-like lamb, who suffered and died for sinners, will come and do wreckshop on the world. Revelation is a call to repentance and faith in this Christ who will do all these things to sinners who continue in their rebellion, and that He will be glorified in it. That’s the point. For now, isn’t preaching Christ crucified, risen for sinners in every message a much more important task for preachers to grow people spiritually than trying to figure out Bible Code (if there really is such a thing), or the end-times and how things are going to unfold, much of which is speculation anyway? And since when did the Scriptures speak that secular/non-ethnic Israel is the barometer for when everything is going to go down? I mean there are more ethnic Jews in the U.S. than there are in Israel … explain that one to me.
I hear dispensationalists say that, “You reformed people focus entirely too much on election and the mysteries of God.” My response to them, oh really? Not anymore than you dispensationalists mostly focus on eschatology in your preaching and writing. And in addition, we’re not trying to figure out the mysteries of God but merely pointing them out, in order that we may marvel at this awesome Jesus who has called us into His kingdom through the cross.
“The fundamental fault of the modern Church is that she is busily engaged in an absolutely impossible task–she is busily engaged in calling the righteous to repentance. Modern preachers are trying to bring men into the Church without requiring them to relinquish their pride; they are trying to help men avoid the conviction of sin. The preacher gets up into the pulpit, opens the Bible, and addresses the congregation somewhat as follows: “You people are very good,” he says; “you respond to every appeal that looks toward the welfare of the community. Now we have in the Bible–especially in the life of Jesus–something so good that we believe it is good enough even for you good people.” Such is modern preaching. It is heard every Sunday in thousands of pulpits. But it is entirely futile. Even our Lord did not call the righteous to repentance, and probably we shall be no more successful than He.”
– J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism, Chapter 3, God and Man, 1923
This is a great answer from John Hendryx to a question posed to him in an interview @ http://www.internetmonk.com/articles/J/ … dryx1.html
10. What is your opinion of the evangelical interest in politics and the identification of many Christians with the Republican party?
While I believe we should be engaged in our civic duty to vote and be engaged, it appears to me that many evangelicals have gone beyond the call of duty and have bought into dominion theology. Some of us seem to hold the false belief that if we just changed the laws and made the US political system based on the Bible then all would be well while not considering the changing of hearts. My response to this is that the problem is not just OUT THERE, it is with us. If we lived like we believed the gospel ourselves, then God would use us to change the culture. While I can agree that civil law can be used to restrain evil, we often bludgeon our secular opponents with it as if they could somehow be saved through obedience to it. I believe the first table of the law cannot be legislated. Persons must be persuaded into the Kingdom by human instruments casting seed with the Spirit germinating it, so to speak, but not by the sword or by coercive legal measures. Contrary to my evangelical and Theonomist brethren, I do not believe that the civil magistrate has the authority to judge heresy. A little known historical fact is that the Presbyterian Church wisely invoked semper reformanda and removed chapter 23(?) on the Civil Magistrate from the Westminster Confession in the early 1700s. A move for which I am thankful. Instead, we are to take up our cross and persuade as Jesus did, through meekness, suffering, joy, helping the poor and loving others above ourselves.
I have no problem with Christians personally identifying themselves with a party, but I will emphasize that politics is not the solution to our problems by any stretch of the imagination. There is entirely too much emphasis placed on it, as if God’s plan could somehow be thwarted. We should vote and do what we can to eradicate injustice, poverty and to actively find ways to be involved in mercy ministries. This might mean entering politics on a local level or just merely spending time with hurting people. But if the Republicans don’t get elected next term it isn’t the end of the world. Maybe a little discomfort will begin to burn off the dross in our churches. We must remember that God ordains whatsoever comes to pass. If God wills that we should live in Babylon, we must serve the it with excellence, influencing it by being good stewards of the calling God has given each one of us. Though some may be tempted when things get real bad, we should never take up arms to further our political agenda.
I have lived in a communist country for 10 years and, I can tell you with certainty, that the gospel is not chained because of a political system. On the contrary, communism has been a key factor in raising interest in Christianity in that country on a massive scale for the first time in their 5000-year history. It seems that Christians have become so addicted to comfort here that there is very little awareness of how people are living in the rest of the world. But we Americans are of very little account in the big scheme of things.
(Taken from Monergism.com on the Worldviews Section)
Fundamentalism and its Similarities with Reformed Theology
1: The inspiration and verbal inerrancy of Scripture
2: The Deity of Christ and the virgin Birth
3: The substitutionary atonement
4: Justification by faith
5: The physical resurrection
6: The bodily return of Christ at the end of the age.
7: Christ performed miracles
Fundamentalism and its Differences with Reformed Theology
1: The absence of historical perspective;
2: Ignores the Scriptures highly diverse literary genres
3: The lack of appreciation of scholarship; aversion toward any secondary theological training; anti-intellectual & often legalistic
4: The substitution of brief, skeletal, superficial creeds for the historic confessions.
5: The lack of concern with precise formulation of Christian doctrine; highly averse to theology
6: Pietistic, perfectionist tendencies (i.e., major upon “issues” such as protesting
Harry Potter movies; separating with Christians who are not KJV only);
7: One-sided other-worldliness – reclusive: church separate from the culture-the holy huddle (i.e., a lack of effort to impact their communities & transform culture); and a penchant for futuristic chiliasm (or: dispensational pre-millennialism).
8: Arminian tendency in theology (synergistic)
UPDATE 4.19.2012: Oddly enough, I’ve also noticed some of these tendencies within hyper-calvinist strains of fundamentalism. As opposed to being averse to theology, they take it up with gusto and are very concerned with precision. I guess you could call it the other end of the spectrum of fundamentalism.
“There is a sad irony in the seeming success of many Christian churches and schools. The irony is that the more you adjust obscure Biblical doctrines to make Christian reality more attractive to unbelievers, the less Christian reality there is when they arrive. Which means that what looks like success in the short run, may, in the long run, prove to be failure. If you alter or obscure the Biblical portrait of God in order to attract converts, you don’t get converts to God, you get converts to an illusion. This is not evangelism, but deception.
One of the results of this kind of ‘success’ is that sooner or later the world wakes up to the fact that these so-called Christian churches look so much like them and the way they think that there is no reason to go there. If you adjust your doctrine to fit the world in order to attract the world, sooner or later the world realizes that they already have what the church offers. That was the story of much of mainline Protestantism in Europe and America in the 20th century. Adjust your doctrine – or just minimize doctrine – to attract the world, and in the very process of attracting them, lose the radical truth that alone can set them free.
There are thousands of pastors and churches today that do not think that clear, Biblical, doctrinal views are vital in the life of the church or the believer. They believe it is possible to grow a healthy church while leaving the people with few and fuzzy thoughts about what God is like. But ignorance about God is never a mere vacuum. The cavity created by ignorance fills up with something else.
Edward Norman, in his book, Secularization: New Century Theology, goes right to the heart of the problem when he describes what that something else is:
‘Christianity is not being rejected in modern society – what is causing the decline of public support for The Church is the insistence of church leaders themselves in representing secular enthusiasm for humanity as core Christianity.’ (Ibid, p. 10)
At first the world is drawn to a religious form of ‘enthusiasm for humanity,’ but then it wears thin and they realize that they can find it more excitingly on TV.
Romans 9 is a great antidote against such diseases in the church. This chapter is not rooted in ‘enthusiasm for humanity,’ but in the staggering, shocking, deeply satisfying sovereignty of God. My prayer is that we will see God for who he really is with his jagged peaks and fathomless deeps, and that, by his grace, many will come – not to celebrate themselves, but to worship God.”
– John Piper, My Anguish: My Kinsmen Are Accursed
Though I am reformed and hold to the historical-redemptive method of interpreting the Scriptures (ie the unfolding drama from Genesis to Revelation of God’s revealing of redemption and His glory, brought to fruition in Christ), I have not adopted the amillennial view of the end times (though I have not studied in depth on it at this point either and have not ruled it out).
But I would also like to make clear too, that after studying and reading on the subject, I have come to reject the pre-trib rapture as well, seeing that there is no real solid scriptural basis for this position. I do believe in the Second Coming of Christ, obviously, as stated in the Scriptures. People holding to this position though (pre-trib rapture) use the pillar text Revelation 3:10 as “proving” their point. But this verse is stating nothing of the sort concerning the rapture. First of all, what’s the context? Jesus, through John, is speaking to the church in Philadelphia first of all. This sets the context for where this verse comes into play. It says, “10 Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” This verse, when put in its proper setting, is not at all conclusive to state that all the church will be raptured before the great tribulation. In fact to say that is the case is absolutely poor exegesis on behalf of many dispensational scholars. In order for this verse to mean that, you must come with a presupposition that the church will in fact be raptured before the tribulation, and then read that into the verse. Read it again in context. You’ll see that Christ is speaking to the church in Philadelphia, at a time when the young church was being severely persecuted, which we later find out would ramp up before Constantine would take power and establish Christianity as a kingdom-wide religion (which had its own upsides and downsides, another point though).
If you read even a little bit of early church history you will see how much the early church suffered. And Christ is speaking to this particular church in stating that because they have been faithful to Him, He will keep them from trying times coming upon the world (ie persecution of the church). You absolutely must read into this verse a presupposition that simply is not there to make it say what you want it to say. Just the fact that this position even puts forward this verse as a pillar text for their position gives me very little reason to believe that it is in fact the case. I’m not saying I know whether or not Christ comes back before or after the tribulation, I’m just stating merely that this verse cannot be used to prove a pre-trib rapture.
Also, within the idea of the pre-trib rapture is the idea that Christ will “secretly” return a second time, and then later return to judge the world (i.e. a third time). Scripture knows of no such thing. And you can check me on that. Over and over again, Scripture speaks of Christ returning only one more time, not two more times. It speaks of Christ returning once more to judge the living and the dead, and of the second coming. All the events relating to Christ’s return, judgment, etc, are all speaking of the same event, not two separate events. This seems to be very clear to me in the scriptures. But I’m not the final word obviously. Just from what I’ve read and seen at this point, I find no evidence of two separate returns. This obviously changes the view of the rapture for me.
In addition to this, the whole concept of the pre-trib rapture wasn’t even a thought in the church until the early 1800’s. There was a good 1800 years before this idea even came into the thinking of the church. That right there makes me take heed and review what the Scriptures actually say concerning the second coming of Christ. In my opinion overall, focusing primarily on eschatology is not as fruitful as knowing the rest of Scripture. Theologians and writers from church history make this clear by the amount upon which they focused on eschatology. Calvin didn’t even write commentary on Revelation. Matthew Henry wrote briefly on it. These men and others exposited primarily on the rest of Scripture that reveals the glory of God in the Gospel, not upon things that are speculative. It seems to me to be of much more importance to focus on the things that reveal the glory of Christ, in order that we may know Him more, be like Him more, and conform to Him in every way. That’s not to say that Revelation shouldn’t be read, I mena it is in fact Scripture, but I do believe there are things there which are simply mysterious and that we should get to know the things of God that have been revealed to us.
Also, I think a big misunderstanding of Revelation is that it is simply revealing the things of the end of the world. That is there obviously. But Revelations primary goal is to show Christ, reveal Christ, give us Christ, how Christ will reign, how mighty Christ is in all of His risen glory. This to me is the point of Revelation, revealing the glory of God in the face of Christ in order that we may love and know Him more.
If we perceive heaven as simply that which brings about the greatest satisfaction through perfected creation, we’ve missed the point. Christ Himself is what makes heaven great, not all the gifts. Yes, the gifts should be gloried and reveled in, but is this the final end of what Christ has purchased for us on the cross by His blood? no, rather the best gift of what we’ve been given in the cross is that we get God Himself for all eternity. The blessings that come along with heaven are only meant to serve and increase our desire and love for Christ forever. A quote from John Piper should be deeply pondered and considered, knowing that through faith alone in Christ alone, we have been justified by His blood:
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation— is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?”
– John Piper, Introduction, God is the Gospel
If you answer Yes to this question, you have totally missed the point of heaven as revealed in God’s Word. And for many of you, I would have to say that if you answered Yes to this question (though I can’t know), you may not not be truly converted, because to be converted is to have Christ as your ultimate treasure and you want to go to heaven because that is where Christ resides. If you could have heaven with all of its perfected majesties; but if Christ is why heaven is great, why would you want to go? There’s nothing there for your enjoyment if you do not have a love and desire for Jesus. Saving faith knows nothing of who God is apart from the merits and work of Christ in His life, death, and resurrection to bring us to Himself. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
All the gifts of the Gospel are to be treasured. Piper is not minimizing this in the least. He is pointing us to the greatest treasure and gift of the Gospel, Christ Himself. In America, where materialism runs rampant, especially, to its demise, within the church, this is a truth that must be proclaimed loud and clear, because I’m afraid many are being deceived into thinking of heaven and being saved as being made much of and being satisfied by things other than God, which amounts to idolatry. As believers, we have been predestined, called, justified, sanctified, glorified, propitiated, rescued from hell, adopted into His Kingdom, will obtain resurrected bodies on the last day, will be guests at the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and so many more gifts. These are just a few of the many gifts of the Gospel. But if we simply love what God has done for us so that we get these gifts (the gifts being the final and greatest satisfaction we aim for) without enjoying the ultimate gift, namely the great Giver Himself, how offensive must that be to His honor and glory? They are only amazing gifts precisely because they are employed in the service of pointing our hearts to the final good, and greatest gift of the Gospel: namely, God Himself, revealed in the face of Christ. There is no satisfaction greater than to have Christ Himself forever. “May those who love your salvation say evermore, ‘God is great!’” (Ps. 70:4). ‘Not mainly, “Salvation is great,” but “God is great!'” (Piper, Intro, God is the Gospel)
God is the Gospel, in my opinion, is one of Piper’s greatest, most important books and should be read by every believer. Not at all a hard book to read. It refocuses our hearts back on the supreme gift of God in the Gospel: the satisfaction of seeing and savoring the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, knowing and loving Him personally. This is in fact what Christ Himself said in His great High Priestly prayer to the Father before His crucifixion, concerning what eternal life actually is: “And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:3). And this knowing of God is not merely knowing facts about Him, but loving Him, being enthralled with His glory and beauty, forever captivated by His love and power and being, demonstrated in the work of the cross. Heaven is where we get to know the one true God and Jesus Christ who was sent so that we could know and love Him for all eternity. There is no greater gift than to have the Creator forever.
As I’ve been reading through and studying Hebrews (and other books in the New Testament) the past couple of months, something I’ve thought about for quite some time is how much the New Testament (as well as all of scripture) interprets the things that occurred in the Old Testament for us. Many believers go back and look at what occurred in the Old Testament and say that what happened simply applied to Israel and Israel alone, that Israel is a separate people from us believers in Christ. I do not hold this view and believe that all believers in the OT and NT are one people, redeemed through the one work of Christ on the cross. And though many of the things that occurred did apply in a temporal sense, the New Testament speaks of the things that happened as also applying to us, the Gentiles. Here’s what I mean. In 1 Peter 1:10-12 it says
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
In other words, the prophets who prophesied about the coming salvation through Christ were not serving themselves but us who believe in Christ for salvation. There is a singular prupose and unfolding plan of God in history to bring about redemption through faith alone in the work of Christ alone. This is remarkable. In addition to this, the book of Hebrews in particular has statements in it that point to this singular truth. Hebrews 11:24 says
24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
Listen to that, the author of Hebrews says “[Moses] considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt.” The unity of the revelation of redemption throughout Scripture is unmistakable. Believers in the Old Testament were justified not by their works, but by faith in the promise of God to bring about salvation “so that they might rise again to a better life” (Hebrews 11:35). In Hebrews 12 it continues on and says this:
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Because we have so many witnesses in the OT attesting to this faith in the promise of God to bring about salvation through the work of Christ (there’s the singular purpose I was talking about), let us run with endurance toward God and His glory, the ultimate gift and final end of the Gospel. This glory and blessing in the Gospel, that is, the reconciliation of fallen sinners to the living God, was shown and revealed to those in the OT (who did not obtain it at the time), but it has been realized in us who believe in the merits of Jesus Christ on our behalf. OT believers didn’t necessarily know how everything would come about, but this is the one thing they did know: “Salvation is of the Lord” (Jonah 2:9) and “Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long” (Psalm 25:5). We all have this one singular hope: the reconciliation of our dead, sinful lives through the work of God, realized in the person and work of Jesus Christ, in order that we all may have God for all eternity! What a hope!
A Defense of Calvinism – C.H. Spurgeon
A very important, foundational introduction as to why any of us are believers in Christ. This is Spurgeon’s classic writing of why he was a Calvinist and his defense of the doctrines of grace. All of the Bible’s revelations concerning redemption can be summed up in the one verse in Jonah 2:9 where Jonah states in the belly of the fish, “Salvation is of the Lord.” Calvinism simply expounds upon this one central truth: salvation is started from and finished by God and it is all for His glory. Salvation is about God, not man, though we get to be involved in and caught up to and satisfied by His glory forever! There is no greater gift! “He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Philippians 1:6) From the first inkling of faith in sinners’ hearts created there by God, to the final glorification of the saints when we who have believed shall receive redeemed bodies and be forever joyful in the Author and Perfecter of our faith, Salvation is of the Lord. If He is the Alpha and Omega over all things for all time, that is the Beginning and the End, how can we not say He is Alpha and Omega in our salvation? Salvation is of the Lord, made known in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the story of the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Excellent read, not long either.