Contending For the Faith

Jude wrote to Christians when he desired to describe their common salvation, but as he did so necessity compelled him to change topics. He ended up writing ‘to them appealing that they contend earnestly for the faith’ (Jude 1:3). Though we do not know the specifics of what caused Jude to write with such urgency, we do know how he intended them to respond to his writing.

Jude wanted his audience to fight for truth.

Examining this short letter gives us great instruction about how to live in a day when, from all around us, people are assaulting true religion. One obvious fact from this letter is that whether or not we contend, the Christian faith is being contended against. Jude wrote that certain people had crept in unnoticed into the church (v. 4)! There people opposed the gospel of grace by their libertinism, rejection of authority, and their self-serving attitude (vv. 4, 8, 10-13). Therefore, they will be destroyed in the final judgment (vv. 5-7). Nevertheless, we are to contend against their false teaching now, as we ground ourselves firmly in the biblical gospel (vv. 20-21). We must stand firm in the truth in order to oppose these errors. This is how we contend.

Second, we must contend earnestly. The Greek verb has an intensive preposition as a prefix in order to communicate the fervent nature of our contention. This is no game. This is not the kind of fair-weather fight from which we may take off vacations and holidays. In this life, there is no retirement from this fight. Rather, we must train and agonize over these things. We are called to defend nothing less than the doctrine of salvation, the grace of God and the reality of the Lordship of Jesus Christ, which these false teachers deny (v. 4). This requires training and discipline as we search the Scriptures for ourselves and as we teach others. We must firmly stand against error!

Finally, we must contend earnestly for the historic Christian faith. Jude does not say that we just fight for the sake of religion generally, nor even for faith as a principle divorced from truth, but that we contend for “the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints” (v. 3). This is the expression of Christianity as it is given in the Holy Scriptures—it has only been handed down once for all. This means that we are not bound to the actions and teaching of the early church in the following centuries, however helpful that teaching may be. We ground ourselves on the historic Christian faith, recognizing that in the apostles and their close associates we have the authorized spokesmen of God.

When we fight for the gospel, then, let us contend zealously and with great diligence for the historic faith of the Bible. Our warfare will be pursued in earnest in this life—but that is not our end. We look forward to the great day when we will stand before our Lord, “blameless with great joy” (v. 24). May He grant us success in our defense of the gospel!

--Dean of Admissions

Seminary and Sleep

The Bible has a surprisingly large number of things to say about sleep. From narratives (remember Samson) to theological passages (1 Thes. 4:13-18) to matters of praxis (Prov. 19:23), sleep is an important part of Scripture. It is also a fundamental part of our humanity—almost every person sleeps for 6 to 8 hours every night.

But how should a seminarian think about sleep? Seminary often creates challenges in the schedule of many students because it must be balanced with other high priorities: ministry to one’s family, ministry in the church, and a vocation. Seminary classes rarely require an equal amount of effort each week—a paper due at the end of the semester may necessitate greater labor as the semester progresses.

Mercifully, we serve the God who never sleeps (Psalm 121:4). We are not called to imitate His transcendent needlessness, but rather to look to Him as the source of our strength. First, then, seminarians should rely upon the Lord as they sleep. David, as he penned Psalm 4, was keenly aware of the fact that God had set him apart for Himself, and would hear his prayer (v.3). Psalm 4 is about David’s trust in God in the midst of hardship, and how God’s faithfulness enabled him to rest easily at night (Ps. 4:8). Seminarians, like David, should rest well in faith, knowing that God has perfectly provided for the needs of His children. Worrying and losing sleep over projects or problems is not honoring to God, but dishonoring. Rely on the Lord, then, and sleep in peace!

Second, seminarians should always seek to obey and fulfill the will of God. We must recognize the fact that our hard labor is not able to change God’s will. In Psalm 127, Solomon writes that dominion is granted to God’s chosen servant (v.1), and that even our most fervent striving is not able to fight against His plan (v.2). In light of that, he says that God gives His children even sleep (or even in sleep) (v.2). Seminarians must labor in line with the will of God, having sought Him in prayer and in the Word. Submit to God’s plans for the church so that you may experience the blessing of sleep, while His enemies labor fruitlessly against Him.

Third, seminarians must not love sleep. In the book of Proverbs it is written that we must not love sleep or we will become poor (Prov. 20:13). In God’s Word it is equally true that we cannot accomplish anything against God’s will, even by sleepless labor, and that God will use our labor for the effecting of many things, whether great or mundane. Though we do not have sovereign power to change reality (Ps. 127:1-2), we nevertheless are tasked with enacting the will of the Lord in creation. If we love sleep then we have failed to understand the high calling that God has granted us. Sleep, though it is a blessing from God, is not to be loved apart from Him. Our need for sleep demonstrates our neediness, so we must sleep some—but at the same time we must guard against laziness! Ill effects come to those who set their affections on the things of the world.

Finally, seminarians must be willing to give up sleep as it is necessary. Paul demonstrates this truth as he told the Corinthians that he had been through ‘many sleepless nights,’ which was an emblem of his service to the church (2 Cor. 11:27). Though Paul recognized that he relied upon God for everything, he was also willing to sacrifice his own comfort for the sake of the gospel. The same thing might be required of you during your time in seminary—and certainly afterwards. Ministry does not always crop up during scheduled business hours, so we must be willing to make our bodies our slaves (1 Cor. 9:27), dying to ourselves to serve others. We should consider sleep to be optional sometimes so that we may serve the church or suffer for the gospel.

Sleep is a wonderful gift of God, but it must not be abused. We should rely upon the Lord and upon His revealed will, not loving the things of this world but rather giving of ourselves for the sake of Christ’s name. This is as true in seminary as it is in the rest of our Christian life. May God grant us a healthy perspective on sleep!

--Dean of Admissions

The Power of God

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel—that much is clear from his life. But what was it that drove Paul to such bold proclamation? In his letter to the Romans, he provides the answer to that question:

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek” (Rom. 1:16).

What was it about this gospel that propelled Paul forward in obedience to a very difficult calling?

First, the gospel is God’s power. The gospel came from God. He brought it about because of His great glory (Rom. 15:9) and because of His great love (Rom. 5:8). The gospel originated from God, was carried along by Him, was brought to completion by God the Son, and is being worked out in the church by God the Spirit. It is God’s power that was on display when sinners were elected, and it is His power alone that is seen in justification, sanctification, and glorification. Everything comes from God!

Second, the gospel is a display of God’s power. The might of the Almighty is clearly seen in the true gospel. His ability to do what is extremely difficult (1 Peter 4:18) is on display by saving sinners. Paul highlights this aspect of God’s power when he shows that both Jews and Greeks (Gentiles) can be saved by the gospel. The gospel is effective for all those who believe, whether a person is a genetic descendant of Abraham or not.

Finally, he said that it was the power of God for salvation. The salvation that he was speaking about was salvation from the wrath and just condemnation of God. God justly condemns sinners to final punishment—yet in the gospel, God has a means to pardon and accept ungodly sinners as if they had never sinned, and to do so without contradicting His own justice (Rom. 3:21-26). This is truly miraculous! Salvation of this nature is unimaginable apart from the work of God in Christ—no mere human could have brought about salvation of this kind for himself, much less for an entire company of people!

For these reasons, Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. He knew that in serving the Christian churches he was serving God Himself, and that by administering the gospel to lost and dying sinners, he was being used by God to powerfully save them from death! Praise the Lord for the gospel, and may He cause the beauty of His salvation to compel us to boldness. He is worthy of no less.

--Dean of Admissions

The Gospel in the Fabric of Life

God has provided His Word for us, and that Word is beautifully simple. The whole Bible has the ‘flavor’ of documents that were written by average people, though they were people through whom the Spirit worked extraordinarily. Obviously the content, structure, and language of the Bible are inspired and, therefore, infallible; from the broadest sweep of historical reporting to the smallest aspect of diction, everything is perfect as God intended it to be.

At the level of human authorship, though, God used people whom were relatively normal. This is reflected in the fact that the good news about God’s Messiah was often described with analogies and metaphors that were taken from everyday life.

Paul describes the union between a husband and wife as parallel to the relationship between Christ and His Bride, the church (Eph. 5:22-33). Marriage is such a common occurrence in life that, obviously, all of his readers would have seen it.

Likewise, Matthew and Luke can make use of a wedding feast to describe the time when Christ returns to reign and to put down all of His enemies (Matthew 25:1-13, Luke 12:35-36).

Likewise, Paul describes how we should act as children toward our Father (2 Cor. 6:18).

Likewise, preaching the Word is described with the analogy of sowing crops (Mark 4:1-20).

All told, the Scriptures come to us in terms that are easy to understand, even if the concepts behind those terms are difficult to grasp (2 Peter 3:16). God’s Word is beautifully written and constructed so that even though the most brilliant theologians can never plumb its depths, a child can still grasp its language. Today, be grateful that God used illustrations from the fabric of life so that we can understand His Word. He is good!

--Dean of Admissions

Bondage in Freedom

The New Testament is full of wonderful paradoxes. The King has come (Matt. 2:2) and His reign is not yet fully realized (Matt. 25:31). The Kingdom of God is at hand (Mark 1:15) and we should pray that it comes (Matt. 6:9-10). Jesus reveals God (John 1:17-18) and He hides Him (Mark 4:10-12).

One of the most familiar paradoxes is that of the freedom and slavery of Christians. In one sense, Christians are set free from sin (John 8:34-36) only to be enslaved to God (Rom. 6:22). Christians are both free and enslaved (Paul plays with this idea in 1 Cor. 7:22); both are true at the same time. How does this work out practically in our daily lives?

Christians have been set free from the ruling principle of sin in their lives—sin no longer has dominion over them (Rom. 6:4). They have been transferred out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of light (Acts 26:18, Col. 1:13). This does not mean that they no longer commit sins (cf. 1 John 1:8), but only that sin no longer dominates them entirely. Now they are able to obey God, which was impossible before (Rom. 8:7-8). The Spirit of God enables Christians to put sin to death (Rom. 8:13), to wait for the hope of righteousness (Gal. 5:5), and to bear godly fruit (Gal. 5:22-23).

The freedom is that they may now serve God, having been set free from captivity to Satan (2 Tim. 2:24-26). What is the bondage that exists in our lives?

Principally, we are bound by the weakness of those whom we serve. Paul says that in matters of conscience we should live in such a way that we do not offend the conscience of the weakest brother or sister in our current setting (cf. 1 Cor. 8:9-13). It is not that eating or abstaining from a certain food commends us to God (1 Cor. 8:8), but that if we cause a brother to stumble we sin against Christ. In this way, we are bound to avoid certain things at certain times (1 Cor. 10:27-29) or to avoid them as a principle (1 Cor. 8:13). These are sweet bonds that build up the church, but we are bound nonetheless.

Paul also wanted to ensure that our general freedoms as Christians are not used to advance our own sinful pleasure. In Galatians 5:13 he said, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Peter said the same thing: “Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God” (1 Peter 2:16). Now that we have been set free from the law of sin and of death (Rom. 8:2), we should not delight in sinning but rather in serving God and others. God calls us to sweet slavery to Himself, not because we are compelled to by some external law, but because we are His children and we delight to do His will (John 14:15; 1 Pet. 4:2; 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 2 Cor. 5:9, 5:14-15, 6:18-7:1).

--Dean of Admissions

Reformation Day, 2011

Post tenebris, lux indeed!

October 31^st, 1517 was the date that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany. That event is normally use to mark the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and, as such, the first step in a journey that would lead the church out of it’s Babylonian captivity from Roman darkness and superstition. October 31^st is often celebrated as Reformation Day, a day when churches look back to the Reformers to commemorate their lives and actions.

The question I want to consider today is this: is it right for us to celebrate the Reformation in this way? Consider the following facts:

1.) The human heart has a terrible tendency to idolatry and unlawful worship of persons (e.g. 1 Co. 1:12)

2.) Part of the Romish error was the worship of ‘saints,’ which the Reformers rightly believed was ungodly.

3.) The Reformers themselves took measures to make sure they were never worshiped after their deaths—John Calvin was buried in an unmarked location so that no one could ever take a pilgrimage to his grave.

In light of this, does not the celebration of Reformation Day strike against the Bible and the attitude of the Reformers themselves?

In short, my answer is, “No.” Certainly we must be very cautious in examining our motives when we celebrate the lives of these Christians, and we must guard against any ungodly exaltation of them, but the celebration of the day is not unlawful. Here are two reasons why.

First, we are not celebrating the men themselves. If anything, the Reformers themselves admitted that they were nothing, that they had no special wisdom or skills that made their labors effective. They uniformly attributed the Reformation to the work of God’s Spirit by the instrument of the His Word. When we celebrate the Reformation, what we are celebrating is the work of God in delivering His elect children from the dark chains of soul-killing heresy. This deliverance is really like the victories that God won for His people in the Old Testament. God’s people are His instruments, and any good that comes about through them ultimately reflects on the good character of God (Phil. 1:11). When we celebrate the Reformation, we are celebrating God, not men.

Second, the Scriptures calls us to remember our leaders. Hebrews 13:7 says, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the Word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” This does not mean worshiping our leaders, whether current or past, but rather imitating them as they imitated Christ (1 Cor. 11:1). We can rightly rejoice in what God has done in our leaders, showing honor to those whom God established in authority over us (cf. 1 Thes. 5:12-13). We do not look back at the Reformation as the ‘golden era’ by any stretch of the imagination, but we look forward to God reforming our lives everyday as well just as He did in the Reformers. We can be encouraged by their God-given strengths and learn from their failures, so long as we interpret our every action and motive by the Word of God.

By celebrating this day, we remember the work of God on behalf of His elect in generations past, and we long that God would do a similar work in our day, knowing that reformation begins first in ourselves. May He reform us, our churches, our cities, and our country!

Happy Reformation Day—Soli Deo Gloria!

--Dean of Admissions

Does the Bible have a High View of Man? Part 2

The question we posed last time was whether or not the Bible has a high view of man. I argued that the Bible does present a high view of man because we are mad in God’s image, because of the incarnation, and because of redemption. There are two other elements in the Bible’s presentation of humanity that reflect a high view of human beings.

Fourth, then, is the fact that the Bible has a high view of sin, therefore it has a high view of man. What does it mean that the Bible presents a high view of sin? The Bible does not present sin highly in the sense of presenting it favorably, but in the sense that sin is always described with the utmost sobriety. Sin is no laughing matter, nor is it to be taken lightly (cf. 1 Sam. 15:32-33). From the very beginning of Scripture to the very end, sin is responsible for the fall of mankind into every sort of debased wickedness—and man is responsible for his sin. Sin is serious enough an issue that God’s greatest creation—man and woman—were cast out of the very presence of God after they had once enjoyed His fellowship!

Even more, God judges sin to be worthy of death because it is rebellion against Him. Sin is so serious an issue in God’s eyes that God sent His own Son to bear the penalty for the redeemed so that they could be saved (see point 3 in the last post). Humans are responsible for sin. We often judge an artist by the greatest work that they accomplish and in the case of humankind, sin is like a twisted masterpiece of hatred and evil. If man is capable of such great evil, he is truly a magnificent creature indeed. Animals, though they demonstrate the effects of the fall, are not capable of such moral evil. Human beings, on the other hand, are responsible for the evil that they perpetrate. This is a high view of man.

Fifth and related to the point above, and maybe most surprisingly, heaven and hell are indicators of the Bible’s high view of humanity. The Bible teaches that all humans will spend an eternity in one of two places, either in heaven where they enjoy the perfect fellowship of God in worship, or in hell where they undergo eternal, conscious punishment. This is not a popular teaching in our day but it is biblical nonetheless. In any case, heaven and hell rely on a high view of man—otherwise both are unjust.

What I mean is that all humans are appointed to an eternal end, one of either infinite bliss or indescribable torment. These ends are the results of the decisions that we have made in this life—what we do is so important that it will determine our state forever. Eternity hinges on the decisions that we make in time. This is not to say that we can save ourselves by our own obedience to God (cf. Rom. 3:19-24). If humans had been left to themselves entirely, no one would ever enter heaven because no one would ever please God (cf. Rom. 8:6-8). Because of the lofty nature that God has given us, we would have been eternally condemned because that is the punishment that is consistent with the enormity of our sin. Man is capable of such great evil that it warrants infinite retribution (in temporal scope).

It is not those who affirm the biblical doctrine of hell, then, that have a low view of man. Rather, it is those who deny hell who in fact have a low view of man. The Bible treats humanity with monumental responsibility because of the extremely high nature with which God has endowed us. That is not something to be taken lightly!

--Dean of Admissions