Monthly Archives: November 2010

Election Quotes

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Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse often used an illustration to help people make sense of election. He asked them to imagine a cross like the one on which Jesus died, only so large that it had a door in it. Over the door were these words from Revelation: ‘Whosoever will may come.’ These words represent the free and universal offer of the gospel. By God’s grace, the message of salvation is for everyone. Every man, woman and child who will come to the cross is invited to believe in Jesus Christ and enter eternal life. One the other side of the door a happy surprise awaits the one who believes and enters. For from the inside, anyone glancing back can see these words from Ephesians written above the door: ‘Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.’ Election is best understood in hindsight, for it is only after coming to Christ that one can know whether one has been chosen in Christ. Those who make a decision for Christ find that God made a decision for them in eternity past. – Phil Ryken Continue reading →

The Keeping Power of God

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Jude: 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen. (ESV)

This small but powerful letter is Jude’s only contribution to the New Testament. He was the brother of James (head of the Jerusalem church), and half-brother of Jesus. His full name was Jude Thaddeus.

As He concludes his letter, Jude expresses his total confidence in God’s ability in keeping the believer in Christ secure in his salvation. It is certainly interesting to note that Jude both begins and ends his short letter with this same theme about God’s keeping power. In verse 1 he describes believers as “kept for Jesus Christ” and here in verse 24, he describes God as the One “who is able to keep you from stumbling…” In starting and finishing his short letter with this theme, it is clear he did not wish for this point to be missed. Continue reading →

Miscellaneous Quotes (2)

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“God does not make a temporary choice, or give and take; his gifts and calling are without repentance. He who is once admitted to God’s courts shall inhabit them for ever.” – C. H. Spurgeon

“The most violent expression of God’s wrath and justice is seen in the Cross. If ever a person had room to complain of injustice, it was Jesus. He was the only innocent man ever to be punished by God. If we stagger at the wrath of God, let us stagger at the Cross. Here is where our astonishment should be focused. If we have cause for moral outrage, let it be directed at Golgotha.… The Cross was at once the most horrible and the most beautiful example of God’s wrath. It was the most just and the most gracious act in history. God would have been more than unjust, He would have been diabolical to punish Jesus if Jesus had not first willingly taken on Himself the sins of the world. Once Christ had done that, once he volunteered to be the Lamb of God, laden with our sin, then He became the most grotesque and vile thing on this planet. With the concentrated load of sin He carried, He became utterly repugnant to the Father. God poured out His wrath on this obscene thing. God made Christ accursed for the sin He bore. Herein was God’s holy justice perfectly manifest. Yet it was done for us. He took what justice demanded from us.” – R.C. Sproul Continue reading →

Spiritual Dyslexia

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Dyslexia warps reality: the consequences of which can be catastrophic. It is something that causes great hardship to multitudes in our day. People with normal or even above normal intelligence suffer from dyslexia as the brain oftentimes reverses numbers,” as the first and last letters of the word are transposed. I am sure you will agree that there is a vast chasm of difference inherent in this misinterpretation. My heart truly goes out to those who go through life having to combat dyslexia.

Moving from the physical to the spiritual realm, I believe multitudes of Christians suffer from what I would call “spiritual dyslexia.” Theologians don’t use that term of course. They would be much more comfortable with a phrase such as “the noetic effects of sin,” which is the simple recognition that since the Fall of Adam, all of mankind’s faculties have been negatively affected, including his mind. In simple terms, we just don’t think as clearly and precisely as we would have done if there had been no Fall. Continue reading →

There’s Good News and Bad News

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The book of Romans is the most comprehensive statement of the Gospel in the pages of Scripture. It starts with these words, “Paul, a servant (or slave) of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” (Rom. 1:1) Each word is significant, but one that is normally overlooked is the little word “of” in the phrase “the gospel of God.” Here, the word does not mean “about” as in the gospel about God. The word “of” here speaks of possession. The gospel of God is the gospel belonging to God, or God’s gospel.

This little word “of” then has tremendous implications. It speaks of the fact that God is not only the author of the gospel, but that He owns exclusive rights to it. The gospel is His Gospel, and we as proclaimers of that gospel have no right to alter it, modify it, or shave off its rough edges in an effort to make it more palatable. Continue reading →

Election and Evangelism

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Question: What would be the point of evangelism if some people are “elect” and some are not and don’t have the free will to choose Christ? Doesn’t this make evangelism a farce?

Well may I first alter the question? In that I am convinced that Divine election is clearly taught in Scripture, I believe it would be better to ask, “Since Divine election is true, why are we told to evangelize?”

The first obvious answer to this is because God tells us to. The same Bible that teaches Divine Sovereign Election in Romans chapters 8 and 9, also gives us Romans 10, saying “how shall they hear without a preacher?” Romans 10 is in no way a contradiction to Romans 8 and 9.

The simple answer to this question is that God has ordained both the ends and the means. The ends are His elect coming to Himself in saving faith. The means is the proclamation of the Gospel. Continue reading →

Three Views on Man’s Condition

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1. PELAGIANISM – Salvation is all of man (human monergism)

BELIEF: MAN IS WELL

Named after the British monk Pelagius (354 – 418 A.D.)

Pelagius believed that Adam’s sin affected no one but himself. Those born since Adam have been born into the same condition Adam was in before the Fall, neutral towards sin. Human beings are able to live free from sin if they want to.

Pelagius read one of Augustine’s prayers which upset him greatly. Augustine had prayed “Lord, command what You will and grant what You command.” Pelagius thought that if God commanded something, for Him to remain just, man would need to have the ability to do what God commanded without grace. There would be no need for God to “grant” what He commanded. Augustine defended his view that although God commanded, He needs to grant grace to us so that we can be empowered to do what He commands.

Pelagianism is a humanistic, man centered teaching and while it is very positive, it limits the nature and scope of sin and flatly denies the necessity of God’s grace. Pelagius’ view was condemned as heresy by the Church, as it has no basis in Scripture. However, the view never really went away and is still very prevalent in our own day. As one man said, “we are born Pelagians at heart.” We think we can do anything God commands or achieve salvation without the need for grace. Continue reading →

Ordo Salutis (The Order of Salvation)

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I am sure at some point you have seen crash dummies in a car as it hits a wall, cameras record the event to note precisely how the collision impacted both the vehicle and the dummies inside. The videos are slowed down dramatically and observations are made which reveal a great deal. As any new car is introduced into the car market, car companies (as well as outside agency safety inspectors) conduct these kind of tests as standard procedure to ascertain the level of safety for passengers.

With this idea in view, I want us to take a fresh look at salvation from several angles. We will note that although many of the things happen in an instant, if we could slow the camera down (so to speak) we will see that one thing occurred before the other, just as the car had to hit the wall before the dent in the car could be observed. In referring to a sequence with regards to time we also speak of logical and causal order, for the simple reason that although (in time) two things seemed to occur instantly, logically speaking, one thing had to happen before the other – one thing was the cause of the other thing.

Someone might ask what is the point of such a study. I would reply that the conclusions we come to on these issues have a profound impact on how one views God, the gospel, and the Bible as a whole. Continue reading →

Concerning Alleged Contradictions in the Bible

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“The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him.” (Prov 18:17 NIV)

Some Resources:
A recent graphic produced by “Fast Company” seeks to chart what it sees as contradictions in the Bible. Matt Perman provides a good short response but the critics are not. All their allegations of error in the Bible are based on some error of their own. Their mistakes fall into the following main categories.

* Assuming that the unexplained is not explainable
* Presuming the Bible guilty until proven innocent
* Confusing our fallible interpretations with God’s infallible revelation
* Failing to understand the context of the passage
* Neglecting to interpret difficult passages in the light of clear ones
* Basing a teaching on an obscure passage
* Forgetting that the Bible is a human book with human characteristics
* Assuming that a partial report is a false report
* Demanding that NT citations of the OT always be exact quotations
* Assuming that divergent accounts are false ones
* Presuming that the Bible approves of all its records
* Forgetting that the Bible uses non-technical, everyday language
* Assuming that round numbers are false
* Neglecting to note that the bible uses different literary devices
* Forgetting that only the original text, not every copy of scripture, is without error
* Confusing general statements with universal ones
* Forgetting that latter revelation supersedes previous revelation Continue reading →