Sunday, October 31, 2010

What does it mean that we were spiritually dead? Ephesians 2:1

"And you were dead in your trespasses and sin..." Ephesians 2:1

This is one of the most troubling and difficult to understand passages in the New Testament for many Christians. Clearly this verse refers to our spiritual condition before we were saved through trust in Christ. But this verse still seems very foreign to the experience of many believers. How do we reconcile this verse with our pre-conversion experiences.

First of all, this verse is not saying that we were as spiritually bad as one could possibly be. Not all of us were murderers, thieves, racists, child abusers, etc. In other words, from a purely human perspective, a lot of us B.C. (before Christ) were pretty good people. But what this verse is telling us is that from God's perspective, we were completely incapable of doing anything good. As Romans 3:12 explicitly says, there is no one, not even one, who is good in God's eyes. Therefore, being "spiritually dead" means that we cannot do anything that commends us to God or makes us more acceptable to Him. Being spiritually dead does not mean that we are incapable of human good. But there is nothing, nada, that can do that would cause God to feel better about us, let alone save us eternally. So, being spiritually dead means that we were totally unworthy of being saved by God (see Romans 5:10). That was our condition before we put our trust in Christ. It ain't pretty, but it is true. And a lot of Christians didn't realize how bad our situation was before Christ.

There is another important truth in regard to our being spiritually dead B.C. That is that we were completely unable to respond to God spiritually-speaking. This does not mean that before Christ we were unable to pray, read God's Word or think about God intelligently. But in spite of our capacity for some level spiritual activity before Christ we did not have the capacity to respond to God sufficiently or appropriately. A corpse has no ability to respond to the living. A dead person is completely unconscious in regard to this world. In a similar way, someone who is spiritually dead is completely unable to respond to the spiritual world. We may look back at our experience and see ourselves reaching out to God and pursuing Him before we were saved. But God's Word makes it abundantly clear that no one ever seeks after God, not even one (Romans 3:11). We may think that we were seeking God, but actually He was seeking us. Not only were we not really seeking Him, but we were spiritually unable to connect with Him in any way acceptable to Him. We were spiritually dead. So, how can someone who is spiritually dead respond to God? The truly Reformed answer is that God saves and regenerates us so that we can then respond in belief. But the scripture clearly explains again and again that we must believe in Jesus and then we will be saved (see Acts 16:31 for just one example). But how then can a spiritual corpse respond to God? That answer is found a few verses later in Ephesians 2:5. Stay tuned.

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

God and Time - II Peter 3:8

"...with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." II Peter 3:8

Some people read this and conclude that God has no sense of time. Nothing could be further from the truth. God has a better sense of time than anyone in the universe. God understands what a second, minute and hour is, let alone days, weeks and years. But He is totally unaffected by time. God sees the past, present and future all at once. He lives in the ever present. He is timeless, but understands succession of time.

So what is the point of II Peter 3:8 since God is not affected by time? He doesn't feel any pressure from it. One day feels the same to Him as a thousand years or vice versa. So He never feels any urgency to do anything sooner than He wants to. He never feels any pressure to hurry things up. He decides the timing of everything in this universe and then He makes it happen when he alone is ready (see Ephesians 1:11).

So He will send His Son to bring human history to its proper conclusion not a second earlier or later than is best for His plans and purposes. God plans to save a certain number of people and when those people have repented, He will send His Son again. Hopefully this understanding helps you and me to be patient and trust His timing in all things.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Is God really with me? Hebrews 13:5

Some Christians never seem to have any doubts about God's presence, help and leading. They just always believe that He is right there with them. But a lot of us struggle at times to sense God's presence. Hebrews 13:5 is written especially for us who sometimes wonder where God is.

"...for He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you, nor will I ever forsake you'."

The writer of Hebrews is quoting Moses when He addressed the people of Israel before they crossed into the promised land (see Deuteronomy 31:6). In that passage, Moses tells them that God will never unintentionally leave them or intentionally abandon them. Therefore, Moses says that they should be courageous as they enter the land and face their enemies.

The writer of Hebrews focuses more on financial and emotional issues. He tells the Hebrew Christians not to love money and to be content with what they have. Why? Because God is with them. What more do we need than His presence, leading and help? He promises that He will never unintentionally leave us or purposely abandon us! He will help meet our needs and take care of us.What a wonderful promise!

God is telling all of us that have a relationship with Him through Jesus Christ, "You can count on me! I am with you all the way." In every situation of life, God is there. "So that we can confidently say, The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?" Hebrews 13:6

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Consistent Calvinism - Romans 11:25-29

There are a lot of people today who call themselves "Calvinists" who believe that the Church has permanently replaced Israel as the people of God and has taken over all of God's promises to Israel. What I find interesting about all this, as someone who considers himself a Calvinist, is that I reject this theological perspective precisely because I am a Calvinist, that is a consistent Calvinist.

One of the most important aspects of Calvinism is the belief that God is absolutely sovereign in all matters over all time, and that none of His purposes can ever be thwarted. Anything that God sets out to accomplish He will bring to fruition exactly as He plans or His glory is greatly diminished. I firmly believe this.

Some of my friends who believe in limited atonement argue that whatever the biblical evidence that Christ died for everyone (see this post on II Corinthians 5:19), unlimited atonement has to be rejected because that would mean that to some extent Christ's death did not accomplish what it was intended to accomplish. They say that if Christ died for everyone, not just the elect, then God's purpose was not fully accomplished, because everyone is not being saved, and His glory is therefore diminished. I don't accept this application of the principle in question because the scriptures do not say that God's eternal purpose is to save everyone. Christ's death accomplished exactly what God intended it to accomplish, i.e., salvation for the elect and just condemnation for those who willingly reject Christ. 

But by this same principle, how can someone who calls themselves a Calvinist say that God called Israel, but they failed God, and therefore God gave up on them and permanently replaced them with the Church. That is not consistent Calvinism. No matter how one tries to present it, this means that the purpose of God also failed to some extent and His glory is also diminished. One cannot have it one way on limited atonement, and then have it a different way on the issue of Israel. Either God is sovereign and His purposes never fail, or in the case of Israel, they did fail. Not surprisingly, the Bible is very clear on this subject.

For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins." From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. Romans 11:25-29

Notice the last part of this passage, "...the gifts and calling of God are irrevocable". God's Word is saying explicitly that whatever "gifts", i.e. promises to Israel that God makes, have to be fulfilled. Whoever is the object of God's "calling" is going to end up at some point responding to that call. It is impossible for these to be revoked. God's character and integrity are at stake. Israel is in the a time period of "partial hardening" until God has accomplished His purpose with the Gentiles. But ultimately, all of God's purposes are going to be accomplished exactly as He planned. Therefore, as a Calvinist, I believe with the strongest conviction, "all Israel will be saved"!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Miracle Catch? Luke 5:1-11

I can't remember a time in my life when I did not love fishing. Probably because my grandfather was a great fisherman and I wanted to be like him. Who knows for sure, but I do know that since I was old enough to throw a line and hook into a mud puddle, I have loved fishing.

So in 1982 when I had the opportunity to fish in the Sea of Galilee, I did, even though I was told by the locals that at that time of the year the fish will not bite on a baited hook. I believed them, but I always think that even if other people aren't catching fish, I can. So I had to give it a try. But sure enough, the fish wouldn't even look at my offering. The only way to catch fish in the Sea of Galilee (actually it is a very large and deep lake) during times like this is by net. Any even then, the fish can only be caught at night. You see, the fish come up from the deep waters at night to feed near the surface. But the first rays of sunlight send them back down into the deep until it is dark again. This is the back ground for Luke 5:1-11.

This story is familiar to most people. Jesus had called the twelve disciples to follow Him. And they did, to a certain extent, but they had not yet committed to leave everything behind and follow Christ unreservedly. Jesus is teaching a multitude of people and He uses Simon Peter's boat to get some distance between Himself and the crowd. Afterward, He challenges Peter to go out to "the deep water and let down your nets for a catch". Simon Peter reluctantly agrees to go. He knows that Jesus is a wonderful teacher from God, but Peter knows fishing and the Sea of Galilee like few others. When he ventures out and lets down his nets, he catches so many fish that his nets begin to break. In fact, he catches so many fish that the haul fills two boats and the boats actually begin to sink. Peter falls down at Christ's feet and says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

Peter realizes in this moment that He was just a finite, sinful man, and that Jesus was the God of the universe who could cause fish to do things they just never do.There were a lot of miracles that Peter might have had doubts about. But Jesus knew exactly what to do to convince Peter that He was the Son of God and could do the supernatural. After this, "they left everything and followed Him."

As a fisherman, this story helped convince me that Jesus is the greatest fisherman ever, and that I could trust Him with my life and future. If he called me, like Peter, to be "catching men" He would help me to do it, and the harvest would be great. Not because of my abilities, but because He is Lord!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Can our names be erased from the Lamb's Book of Life? Revelation 3:5

Sometimes I hear people say that God writes our name in the Lamb's book of life when we trust Christ as our Savior, but if we sin too much or turn away from Christ, God erases our name. The verse usually referenced for this is Revelation 3:5. But is this what is being taught?

Christ is speaking to the "angel of the Church in Sardis" (3:1). After giving them a warning to "wake up" (v 2), He says that a "few" in Sardis are "worthy" to "walk with me in white" (v 4). He goes on to say...

"He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5)

In the context, Christ is clearly speaking about a heavenly situation. He promises that those who are "worthy" of Him will be clothed in white garments. A clear reference in believers being with Him in heaven (Revelation 7:9-14). He also says He will confess them before "the Father and His angels". Again, a reference to believers in heaven. So the "book of life" here is heavenly, not on earth. This is important to understand because it provides the background for interpreting what Christ is promising His "overcomers", i.e., believers.

In every ancient city, there was a book of life kept by the local officials. When a child was born his or her name was written in the book of life for that city. When he or she died, that person's name was erased or blotted out, because they were no longer alive.

In a similar way, God writes the names of all those who will trust in His Son in His book of life. He did this before the world ever began (see Revelation 13:8; 17:8). What Christ is promising is that those whose names are entered in His book will never be erased. Even though we die, we are still alive, because those who have Christ have eternal life (I John 5:12).

This is therefore not a veiled threat or even a suggestion that our names could be erased for some reason. Rather Christ is promising to we who are overcomers through trust in Him, that our names will not be erased from His book, that is, we will live forever with Him! What a great and wonderful promise!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Understanding the Rich Young Ruler - Mark 10:17-22

This is one of my all time favorite Bible stories. It is also one of the all time misunderstood passages in the New Testament. Let's take a close look at it.

As He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments, 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" And he said to Him, "Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up." Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him and said to him, "One thing you lack: go and sell all your possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." But at these words he was saddened, and he went away grieving, for he was one who owned much property. Mark 10:17-22

Now some people say that the reason Mark included this incident from the life of our Lord is to show that rich people can't be saved, only poor people. They see this as Jesus saying the poor are good and the rich are bad. But this is not exactly true. Jesus said, "Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God" (v 24). Humanly-speaking, entering the kingdom of God is difficult for everyone, including the poor. In fact, Christ indicates it is "impossible" for anyone to be "saved" apart from the work of God in their life (see verses 26-27). Having said that, it is particularly difficult for rich people to be saved because they are so proud and self-sufficient. In order to enter the kingdom of God we have to come to God humbly like a child (Mark 10:15). This is a major hurdle for the rich, and this is why Mark included this story in his gospel. He wants to demonstrate that no one is good enough on their own to get into God's kingdom.

When the young man runs up to Christ and asks how he can inherit eternal life, he was confident that he already qualified. Christ questions why he calls Him "Good Teacher". His purpose was to help the young man realize that only God is "good", and that He, that is Christ, is in fact God. But Jesus moves quickly to the most pressing issue. This rich young ruler thought he was good enough for God's kingdom. So Christ asks him about God commandments. The young man confidently answers that he has kept all of God's commandments. Jesus looks at him, not with anger or contempt, but "love", and tells him that he lacks but one thing, and instructs him to sell everything he has and give it to the poor. With this, the man goes away sad because he is completely unwilling to part with his riches.

Now some, even those who should know better, say that the point is that for anyone to be saved we have to deal with all the sin in our lives, in this case, greed. This is just wrong in so many ways, but at the very least, this cannot be true because then we would be saved by works, not just faith. Salvation is a free gift. We don't do anything to earn it or to deserve it. We simply receive it by faith like a child (See Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9 and Mark 10:15).

Still others say that the point is that we have to help the poor or be willing to give away all our money in order to be saved. This is wrong for the same reasons listed above.

What Jesus is doing here is demonstrating to this rich young ruler that he hasn't even kept the first commandment, i.e., "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3). Money was his god. He wasn't even close to being good enough to enter God's kingdom. If he had realized this and recognized who he was speaking to, he could have asked Jesus for help, but he simply went away very sad.

The bottom line is that this story is in God's Word to remind us that no one is good enough to be acceptable to God. Not even one (see Romans 3:12). All we can do is like a child come to Jesus and put our trust in Him. He is good enough to be acceptable to the Father, and in Him, so are we.

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

"Baptism Now Saves You"? I Peter 3:21

There are a number of passages in the New Testament that appear at first, or even second glance, to support the idea that water baptism is necessary for salvation. I Peter 3:21 is one of these.

"And corresponding to that, baptism now saves you, not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience through the resurrection of Jesus Christ" I Peter 3:21

I Peter 3:21 is a verse that, first of all, has to be interpreted in light of the clear teaching of Scripture that we are not saved by any works of our own (see Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-9). If water baptism is required for salvation, then we are not saved by faith alone, but by faith plus a meritorious work, i.e., water baptism. According to Scripture this cannot be.

But in addition to this over arching biblical truth, if we look closely at this verse we can see that even though Peter explicitly says "baptism now saves you", he qualifies and explains what he means.

Baptism does not cleanse us of moral defilement. It has no power to wash away sins or improve our spiritual standing with God. Peter clears up that possible understanding immediately. Rather it is "the answer of a good conscience toward God" (KJV). It is the believer's response to God, having been saved, to demonstrate that he or she believes that we are saved "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ". Baptism is not what we do to be saved. It is what we do because we are saved.

Lest there be any doubt about this, in the context, notice that the water did not save the people on Noah's ark. It was the ark that was the instrument of God's physical salvation of the eight people. "Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you." In a similar way, water baptism cannot and does not save anyone from God's condemnation. But like the picture of people being physically saved by trusting God and entering the ark, baptism is a picture of us being saved by being baptized into Christ's death, and then as Christ was raised, being raised up to a new life in Him (Romans 6:4).

Like all the other"baptism saves" passages, on close inspection, this one does not teach what it appears to teach. Only Jesus saves. Jesus plus nothing. Thank you, Lord!

Sunday, October 10, 2010

"Spirits in Prison"? I Peter 3:19-20

"In which also He (Christ) went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." I Peter 3:19-20

This is one of the most difficult passages in the New Testament to interpret. As one scholar put it, "there is probably no more agreement about it's exegesis now than here has even been."* There are several views of this passage, but only two that I believe fit the text well.

The first plausible view is that the "spirits in prison" are the disembodied spirits of people that Christ preached to through the person of Noah during the days of building the famous Ark. Precedent for this comes from the principle found in Ephesians 2:17. The point is that the preincarnate Christ reached out in grace to the disobedient people who persecuted Noah and rejected God's truth. But the only people saved were the eight people in the Ark that believed God.

The second view with real merit is that the "spirits in prison" are the fallen angels spoken of in Genesis chapter six. Advocates of this position point to Jude 6 and II Peter 2:4-5 as further evidence that this is who Peter is referring to here in this passage. The normal usage of the term "spirits" in the New Testament supports this view as it usually refers to supernatural beings. If this view of I Peter 3:19-20 is correct, then the point is that after His death and before His resurrection, Christ went to Hades and proclaimed His victory on the cross to these demonic beings.

I tend to lean towards the first view over the second, but this is not a hill to die on for me.

What is a hill to die on is that this passage does not teach a second chance for people who die without trusting Christ. The late Clark Pinnock, among others, used to point to this passage as strong evidence that unbelieving people will likely receive another chance to trust in Christ at some point on the other side of death. But first of all, there is nothing in the text to indicate that anyone was saved except the eight people on the ark who believed God. Beyond that, Hebrews 9:27 states very clearly that "...it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." This verse effectively rules out both reincarnation as well as the possibility of second chances. We are appointed by God to die once, not many times, and after death comes God's judgment. If we are trusting in Christ we will be eternally saved in similar fashion to the "few" that trusted God's warning of judgment, boarded the Ark, and "were brought safely through the water."

But some point to I Peter 3:21 and conclude that it is not Christ alone who saves, but "baptism now saves you"! More on that in a few days.


*France, R.T. "Exegesis in Practice: Two Samples" In New Testament Interpretation, Essays on Principles and Methods. Edited by I. Howard Marshall, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 19977.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Give Thanks in Everything! I Thessalonians 5:18

In everything give thanks. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
I Thessalonians 5:18

My guess is that most Christians do not obey this command, and they do not do so because of rebellion against God, but because they view it as a practical impossibility. Sort of like the verse right before it: "pray without ceasing" (I Thess. 5:17). As I explained in this previous post, the command to pray is for repeated prayer, not constant. The command to give thanks in everything is not as easy to resolve, but this is my take. I do not believe that God is saying that we must give thanks every moment of every day for literally everything that happens in our lives. Although some may argue with me based on Hebrews 13:15. Rather, I believe that God is saying whether the circumstances of our life are positive or negative, from our perspective, we are to give thanks to God.

Now there is I think another reason some Christians refuse to obey this command of God. They see this as a command to thank God for things that they see as incredibly hurtful and or even sinful, and they can't bring themselves to thank God for those things. This reminds me of a true story of a lady whose husband was suddenly and tragically killed in a car accident. She went for counsel to a very well-known evangelical leader who counseled her to thank God that her husband had been killed. His reasoning was that this is commanded by the verse we are looking at and that it was necessary for her emotional healing. To her credit, she complied. But I would disagree with this counsel on two basis'. First, the verse does not say "give thanks for everything", but "give thanks in everything". Now one may ask what difference this makes and if this difference is significant, and I would say "yes" to both. God is not asking us to thank Him, for instance, for being robbed. What He is asking us to do is thank Him in the midst of this injustice for what He will bring out of it for good. God is not directly responsible for us being robbed by another. This is a sinful act by a person responsible for their own actions. Could God have prevented it? Yes, but He allowed it for good, loving and wise reasons that we may need time and perspective to understand. In the meantime, He asks us to trust Him and His plans for us. But He is not so insensitive and callous of our feelings and human frailty to ask us to be thankful for the terrible and sinful things that happen to us. If we take this command in a wrong way, at some point, we may become angry and bitter with God for asking us to do something that He hasn't in reality asked us to do.

My youngest brother is in a life and death struggle with cancer right now. I have not and will not be thanking God that he has cancer. Because I do not believe that God gave it to him. This cancer is a result of the sinful, fallen and imperfect world that we live in. Having said that, God has allowed this to happen and I believe He loves my brother more than any of us, and has the best of plans for him. That is what I am thanking God for and what I will continue to thank God for. I believe with all my heart that God is going to glorify Himself in this terrible situation and do what is absolutely best for my beloved brother. For that I say, "Thank you Father, and thank you Jesus!"