Yearly Archives: 2011

Logic in the Pulpit

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Pastor John, do you believe there is a place for a preacher to make use of logic in the pulpit? I would like to know your thoughts.

Preaching to a congregation is obviously a very different scenario from teaching a class on logic in a University or Seminary setting. Yet I believe that we as ministers can teach the Scriptures using logical arguments without having to resort to using technical language which the vast majority of folk would not be able to understand.

I am sure that all of us as preachers have at times been guilty of speaking over the heads of our people. Yet one of the ways to remedy this is to simply be constantly aware of this tendency. Then we need to apply the discipline of working out how to say the exact same thing we would say to a group of intellectuals (using the same logic) to the people in the congregation, by using language and explanations which all can follow. This takes work – sometimes a great deal of work. Yet I do believe it is very much possible to bring logic into a sermon.

For instance, when I was preaching on the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16 to our congregation, I spoke of the need to think through what the verse actually said, rather than assume its meaning, which is something we all tend to do. The text reads:

“For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16 teaches that God’s love for the world is seen by the giving of His Son so that
all who A (believe in Him)
will not B (perish)
but will have C (eternal life).

There is no possibility of someone believing in Christ and then perishing, but all who believe will have eternal life. That’s what the text clearly teaches.

I then asked the congregation, what does this verse teach us concerning who it is who has the ability to believe?

There was silence for a few seconds while people thought about the answer; but I then answered my own question by saying, “actually the verse teaches us nothing at all about who WILL believe or who CAN believe. All the verse tells us is that those who DO believe will not perish, but will have eternal life.

John 3:16 does not address the question of who has the ability to believe. We might as well ask what the verse teaches us about the correct carpet color for church sanctuaries – why? Because that too is not in any way addressed by the text!

The question of who has the ability to believe is addressed by John elsewhere. For example, earlier in the chapter, Jesus taught that unless a man is born again he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5, 7) and in John 10:26, Jesus said, “you do not believe because you are not My sheep.””

Now in teaching this in the church service, I didn’t use technical language at all or use pie charts and venn diagrams. If I did, I think the vast majority of the people may well have switched off and felt everything was way over their heads (even if it was not). The problem would have been that nothing would have been communicated to the vast majority of people, which would have been a pointless exercise.

Another reason I share this is because I am sure that most in the congregation would not know that they had been presented with interpretation through applying the laws of logic. They simply heard the text interpreted in language they understood (hopefully). And that’s exactly my point. We don’t have to use technical language to communicate with people, and in fact, we should avoid it whenever possible. Perhaps this is what Paul was refering to in 1 Corinthians 1:17; 2:1, 4, 5 when he wrote, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void… And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom… my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

I believe the truths of the Bible can be attested to by the principles of logical reasoning (the Bible is not an illogical book), yet to serve a congregation, the minister needs to present the truth in ways which can be understood by the people – people who may or may not have received a higher form of education.

As one man said,”anyone can make the simple things complex, but it takes genius to make complex things simple.” Yet even if we present the truth precisely and with great simplicity, we need to always remember that it takes the work of the Holy Spirit to write the truth upon the heart.

As Dr. James White says, “many are blinded by their traditions, and those most blinded are those who don’t think they have any.” Our job as preachers is to present the truth as clearly as we can. It is, of course, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who will lead God’s people into all truth. We rest in His ability to do this rather than our own.

The Ministry of Preaching

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Preaching takes great courage… If you are called to preach, know this ahead of time, and as an ambassador of Christ, proclaim His word as one of the King’s heralds.

I have gained much from Bryan Chapell’s book, “Christ Centered Preaching.” There he points out, amongst many other things that in 2 Tim. 4:1, 2, the word “preach” is the word for “herald” or “announce” or “proclaim.” It is not a simple word for teaching or explaining. It is what a town crier did when he cried out: “Hear ye, Hear ye, Hear ye!!” It was a message that demanded attention.

As the King’s herald we are to proclaim, “The King has a proclamation of good news for all those who swear allegiance to his throne. Be it known to you that he will give eternal life to all who trust and love his Son.” That is exactly the kind of message we are called to preach.

Preaching is a public exultation. It is not disinterested or cool or neutral. It is passionate about what it says. Yet this heralding contains teaching. We can see this clearly as we look back to 2 Timothy 3:16, where we are told that the Scripture (which gives rise to preaching) is profitable for “teaching.” We can see it also as we look ahead to the rest of 2 Timothy 4:2, where it says, “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” So preaching is expository. True preaching is not the opinions of a mere man. It is the faithful exposition of God’s Word.

Luke 24:27 – And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

John 5:39, 40 – You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me, yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.

It is possible to have a high view of the Bible’s authority and miss the entire point of the Bible. Scripture is not telling us what we must do to complete ourselves or make ourselves acceptable to God. The Bible is not a Self Help Book. All the Scriptures are about one organic message – Christ Himself.

If people are simply told that something they DO will fix their problem – that’s not just SUB-Christian but ANTI-Christian. The Gospel is not “DO BETTER!” To proclaim the “Thou shalt nots” without the Source that enables their accomplishment, or His atoning work for us when we fail, is to HIJACK the biblical message.

1 Cor. 2:2 – For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. Christ is integral to every passage (understood in its proper biblical context). The message was NOT Jesus Christ and what a good guy He is, or that you and I should act like Him – but Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Galatians 5:11 – But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

If what we preach would be acceptable in any synagogue, or mosque, or political party club meeting, there is something radically wrong with it! Moralism is not bad in and of itself, but if moralism is all that is communicated, it is a denial of the Christian Gospel. Our mission in preaching is not to offend, but true biblical preaching will offend some.

C. H. Spurgeon once commented, “There have been many destroyed by poisons, given to lull them to sleep; many have been ruined by the cry of “peace, peace,” when there is no peace; hearing gentle things, when they ought to be hearing things that convict their hearts. Cleopatra’s asp was brought in a basket of flowers; and men’s ruin often lurks in fair and sweet speeches. But the Holy Spirit’s comfort is safe, and you may rest on it. Let him speak the word, and there is a reality about it; let him give the cup of consolation, and you may drink it to the bottom; for in its depths there is no residue, nothing to intoxicate or ruin; it is completely safe.” Elsewhere he said, “Little is that ministry worth that never chides you. If God never uses his minister as a ROD, depend upon it he will never use him as a pot of manna, for the rod of Aaron and the pot of manna always go together, and he who is God’s true servant will be both to your soul… If you always enjoy sermons, the minister is not a good steward. He is not acting wisely who deals out NOTHING BUT SWEETS… Christ’s sheep will not be offended by Christ’s voice.”

The true ambassador for Christ feels that he himself stands before God and has to deal with souls in God’s stead as God’s servant, and stands in a solemn place – a place in which unfaithfulness is inhumanity to man as well as treason to God.

Note Paul’s attitude to preaching in his words recorded in 1 Cor 1: 22-24 – For JEWS DEMAND SIGNS and GREEKS SEEK WISDOM, but we preach Christ crucified, a STUMBLING BLOCK to JEWS and FOLLY to GENTILES, but to those who are CALLED, both Jews and Greeks, CHRIST the POWER of GOD and the WISDOM of GOD. (emphasis mine)

Paul did not take a survey of the region where he was about to preach to ask what it was that they wanted to hear. He knew exactly what they wanted to hear. He knew full well that the Jews in the area wanted to see signs and the Greeks wanted to hear wisdom – yet He wrote, “but we preach CHRIST CRUCIFIED.” What he preached was not something that was naturally desirable to the hearer. Yet for those with spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear, Christ indeed IS the true sign and in fact ultimate wisdom. In Christ are hidden all the treasure of wisdom and knowledge. Yet it would take the miracle of heart regeneration for anyone to to see the beauty of Christ and embrace Paul’s message concerning the cross of Christ. He knew long before he ever opened his mouth that what he said would be highly offensive – either a stumbling block or foolishness – to everyone who would ever hear him – except for the group known as “the called.” Here is reformed theology with a vengeance. But let us not miss the important insight Paul’s words here communicate to us. It is clear from this passage that for Paul, it was God Himself who determined what was preached and not rebel sinners!

John Calvin once remarked, “It is a singular privilege that God deigns to consecrate to himself the mouths and tongues of men in order that his voice may resound in them… Christ acts by his ministers in such a manner that he wishes their mouth to be reckoned as his mouth, and their lips as his lips.”

Brothers, this Lord’s Day, may the Lord Jesus Christ be center stage in our hearts, our minds, and our sermons. Let us be bold in proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ as heralds who accurately proclaim the message of the King as ones who will one day answer to Him as to how faithfully we carried out that task.

Justification By Faith Alone (Quote)

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“The doctrine of justification by faith alone does not imply that you are justified before God because you managed to work up enough faith in and by yourself to believe in Christ, which is impossible in the first place. Rather, the doctrine contrasts faith against works, emphasizing that we are justified by God through faith apart from works. This faith is itself not a work — that is, not a work of man, but a work of God in man.

Faith is a gift of God purchased by Christ for all those whom God has chosen for salvation. It is a gift even though it has been purchased by our Mediator because it is God who sovereignly decreed to save us through this Mediator in the first place. It is God who has sovereignly chosen those whom he would save by his grace through Christ, so that all of salvation is a gift of God — it is a sovereign gift of God, unmerited by man, that at the same time fully satisfies divine justice, since it has been merited by Christ. Thus salvation is from the grace of God alone, through the work of Christ alone, and by means of faith alone (that is, in contrast to works).

Therefore, when discussing the doctrine of justification by faith, we must not portray faith as a condition for salvation that God requires from us, as if we could produce faith in and of ourselves prior to regeneration and apart from the Spirit’s power. So, although it is correct to speak of faith as our necessary response to the gospel, this “response” of faith is in fact one of the very things that Christ’s atonement purchased for his elect, and that God bestows upon his chosen ones by his Spirit. In other words, God is the one who produces this response of faith in his elect.

When Scripture says that salvation is by faith and not by works, it is not throwing out works just to make faith a condition that man must fulfill in order to obtain salvation from God, although this is precisely how the doctrine is frequently but mistakenly portrayed, either by explicit statements or by implication. Faith is not a good work or a condition for salvation that God requires from us before he would do anything to save us; instead, God has already decreed and performed all that is necessary to secure the salvation of his chosen ones, and faith in the gospel is precisely one of those things that he has secured for the elect by the work of Christ, and that he sovereignly produces in their minds when he commands them to believe and summons them to himself by the gospel. There is therefore no place for boasting. Salvation comes from God through Christ alone. We cannot even boast about our faith, since it is a sovereign gift of God, merited by Christ for the elect.” – Vincent Cheung

Before we move on…

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Before we move on from the hoopla concerning Rob Bell and his “Love Wins” book (and I would really love to do so), we need to make sure that we as Christians know how to defend the truth. Universalists are seeing Bell’s book as a victory for their cause and to see the book in the Christian community and in Christian bookstores means that it is something we will have to deal with for some time.

Sadly, deceived people, deceive people, and the deception of universalism is gaining in roads into the Church in our day – the inevitable result of man centered religion that stresses the love of God to an extreme. That’s usually what heresy is – truth taken to an extreme.

A little knowledge of Greek can be a dangerous thing and Rob Bell’s handling of the text of Scripture is deplorable, but left un-challenged, it can be used as a tool of deception. Heresy is not a victimless crime.

Greek scholar, Dr. James White has served us all by providing commentary answering the most poignant part of Rob Bell’s book here:

Romans 9

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On my theological journey from Arminianism to embracing the Reformed faith, what became increasingly convincing to me was not the logical arguments I heard (as good as they were); nor was it the fact that a great majority of the Church’s great Bible scholars through the centuries believed and propagated it (as impressive as that is). What convinced me was the clear teaching of Holy Scripture.

Having read many counter positions on passages such as John 6, Ephesians 1, and Romans 8 and 9, I was amazed at what people needed to do to try to avoid the clear teaching of the passages. They could not just stay in the same passage and work through the verses one by one, allowing the writer to flow from one thought to the next. Instead, they had to argue that the writers were at one point talking about one thing and then in the next verse or even in the middle of the same verse, were speaking about something completely different. It was hard to follow, but not because of what the text said, but, as I came to understand it, because of the elaborate methodology being implemented to avoid what the text was actually saying. They (“they” being those who opposed reformed theology) would say that in one phrase he is referring to “nations” while in another he is referring to specific individuals, and then in the very next verse it referred to something else. Even if this was the case, what are “nations” but a large group of individual people? The “problem” they had of a Sovereign God choosing people for salvation does not go away. God still does this if he chooses one nation and not another. If God chose one nation, he is choosing individual people who make up that nation, and is therefore by this act, also not choosing other people. As I say, the “problem” does not go away.

In contrast to this, when the Scripture writer is allowed to “speak for himself” as to what he means, by simply taking his words, in context, allowing the words to flow from one statement to the next in the passage as he addresses his overall theme, a consistent correct interpretation emerges. This became so very clear to me. I am reformed in soteriology (the study of salvation) because bottom line, this is what I believe Scripture teaches.

On these issues, I used to have my feet firmly planted in mid air. What I mean by that is that I just didn’t know where I stood on these things. Not only did I not know, I thought it was a display of humility to say so. Now, it would be humble if the Scripture was vague, elusive and impossible to understand on these things. Some things are clearer than others in holy Scripture. But when God has made His truth clear, it is actually the height of arrogance to say otherwise. Because there is a God and because He has revealed His existence to every man (as Romans 1 teaches) it is arrogance to be agnostic on the question of God’s existence. It would be like standing in God’s face and saying “You did not make this clear at all.” In the same way, I believe God has addressed the issue of His Sovereignty in the matter of salvation in passages such as Romans 9 and that His truth is clearly revealed here.

One of the men of God who helped me (under God) to see this, is a man who became my friend in this whole process, the man in this youtube video, Dr. James White. How thankful I am now to be able to see (although much mystery remains) something of the stunning and majestic glory of God in the Sovereignty of God in the salvation of sinners. Here (below) is Dr. James White speaking for approximately 55 minutes in Great Falls, Montana, on the Romans 9 passage. I recommend it highly.

The Boat Journey

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The story is told of a man in England whose lifetime ambition was to take a trip to the United States of America. One day, and overwhelmed by the generosity of his friend, the man realized his dream was soon to come true.

On boarding the ship, the man’s joy could be seen by all. Yet one thing differentiated him from the others on board. During meal times, the rest of the passengers went into the dinner lounge to enjoy sumptuous gourmet meals. Instead, this man went back to his cabin and opened the little bag he carried with him on board containing crackers and cheese, and day by day, he consumed the contents, alone.

Undeterred, the man, if it was possible, was only growing in excitement. He knew that in a short time, he would see America for the first time. In fact, he understood that there would be relatives waiting to meet him at New York harbor. The long sea crossing from England seemed a short one to him, because of the wonders he knew were awaiting him at the journey’s end.

The day finally came when the ship reached New York. The man could hardly contain himself. Here he was, fulfilling his dream.

When it came time to disembark, the Captain of the ship made it his duty to shake hands personally with each of the passengers. One by one, the people came and expressed their thanks to the captain for the good job he had done in bringing them safely to the harbor.

But when the man in our story came, the Captain looked at him and said, “I’m sorry, I don’t remember seeing you before. I don’t recall seeing you in the dinner lounge. Was something wrong? Was the service satisfactory?”

The man responded, “Well Captain, there’s no need to be concerned. I did see the dinner lounge and the wonderful food laid out. But sir, I am a poor man, and am only here because someone gave me a ticket. There was no way I could afford those luxurious meals, and I knew it. So what I did was pack some crackers and cheese with me in my suitcase, and each day, I went back to my cabin at meal times, and enjoyed the food I brought… and Captain, this is the best day of my life! Hey, I think I can even recognize some folk that are waiting for me on the harbor. Thank you so much Captain. I am extremely grateful for all you have done.”

The Captain looked very perturbed, and said, “Sir, its been our pleasure to have you on board, yet I am deeply saddened to hear your story. You tell me you didn’t come in for the meals because you could not afford them. Sir, I am so sorry. Did you not read the ticket? If you had read the back of your ticket, you would have known that all your meals were included.”

This story illustrates how many Christians live far below their privileges in Christ. There are many things that wait for us in heaven – things that will make all of life’s trials worth it all. The sufferings of this present life are not worthy to be compared to the joy that awaits us there in heaven. But Christianity is more than simply pie in the sky when we die. It is also steak on the plate while we wait!

We as Christians, saved by grace alone, through faith alone because of Christ alone, need to stop and read our tickets (so to speak). We have already been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

We may not have been born equal. Some have more privileges in life than others. However, we were all born again equal. Every Christian has received the exact same inheritance in Christ. Each of us are declared justified by faith (Romans 5:1); have received the complete righteousness of God as a gift (Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor. 5:21); are more than conquerors through Christ (Romans 8:37); and we stand complete in Him (Col. 3:10). Each of us have access by faith into this grace in which we stand (Romans 5:2); and this amazing privilege allows us to gain deep intimacy with the Lord Himself.

Are we taking advantage of this wonderful inheritance?

Are we seeing answered prayer (Mark 11:24)?

Are we praying with expectancy (John 14:13, 14)?

Are we accessing His peace, even in the midst of life’s storms (Phil. 4:6, 7), and casting all our care on to the Lord (1 Peter 5:7)?

The man who lived on crackers and cheese did not lose His inheritance because of his lack of knowledge of what a gift of grace had provided; but he did live far below his privileges. Let not that be true of us. Let us enjoy all that Christ has provided for us, His children here, by His amazing grace that comes through the cross of Christ. The joys of intimacy with Christ are ours now, and yet will be fully realised when we see Him face to face. Amen. Come Lord Jesus!

“And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified.” – Acts 20:32

The Most Helpful Thing I Ever Learned As A Christian

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I was in fact His – His for all eternity. As I read the Scriptures, the wonders of this great salvation become clear – God had saved me, I was His, and Christ did indeed love me and had given me eternal life. Heaven sent joy and peace flooded my soul.

But then, somewhere along the way this settled peace was disturbed. The wonders of His grace, wrought through Christ and His atoning work became obscured… not because I read some book countering Christianity and was swayed by the arguments, but because I came across Scriptures that at least at first glance, seemed to show that my salvation was a lot more flimsy and shaky than I first imagined. Perhaps you can identify with this.

Here’s what I mean: I read Scriptures such as “nothing can separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8: 39) but then read “the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matt 24:13)

I read, “…whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16) and then read “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” (1 Cor 15:1,2)

I thought, “which is it God? If someone believes, You say that they have eternal life, but here it says that someone can “believe in vain.” How could both statements be true?” Continue reading →

Miscellaneous Quotes (11)

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“One proof of the inspiration of the Bible is that it has withstood such poor preaching.” – A.T. Robertson

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” – Corrie ten Boom

Luther, to Erasmus, in Bondage of the Will: “For even I, by the grace of God, am not such a fool or so mad as to have been willing to maintain and defend this cause for so long, with so much zeal and constancy (which you call obstinacy) amid so many dangers to life, so much hatred, so many treacheries, in short, amid the fury of men and demons, simply for the sake of money (which I neither possess nor desire), or popularity (which I could not obtain if I wished, in a world so incensed against me), or physical safety (of which I cannot for a moment be certain)… When nothing else can be done, we prefer to be battered by temporal tumult, rejoicing in the grace of God, for the sake of the Word of God, which must be asserted with an invincible and incorruptible mind, rather than to be shattered by eternal tumult under the wrath of God, with intolerable torment.” – Luther’s Works

“Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.” – Albert Einstein

“The devil has more knowledge than any of us, and yet is no better for it.” – J.C. Ryle

Tim Keller pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church explains the difference between all world religions and Christianity: “At the end of The Abolition of Man, C. S. Lewis demonstrates how the major religions agree on certain moral absolutes. Christians find that in today’s culture wars, they often are on the same side with believing Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. The Christian preacher seems to be saying, “Be moral,” along with exponents of other philosophies.
But when we ask, “Why be moral?” the other systems say, “In order to find God,” while Christianity says, “Because God has found you.” The Christian gospel is that we are not saved by moral living, we are saved for it. We are saved by grace alone, but that grace will inevitably issue a moral life.”

“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. . . . It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this” (C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, chapter 10).

“The object of opening the mind, as of opening the mouth, is to shut it again on something solid.” – The Autobiography, vol. 16 of The Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1988), 212.

“Since God has a Son of his own, and such a Son, how wonderful God’s love in adopting us! We needed a Father, but he did not need sons.” – Thomas Watson

“God has this funny idea about church… He thinks it’s about HIM.” – Max Lucado

“No verse of Scripture yields its meaning to lazy people.” – A.W. Pink

“You can’t open your eyes in this universe without seeing a theater of divine revelation.” – R.C. Sproul

“One of the first ways you can tell that you are moving beyond temptation into a pattern of sin is if you find yourself in a time of prayerlessness. That isn’t just a “spiritual maturity issue”—it’s a gospel issue. You are recreated through the gospel with a nature that longs for communion with God. The Spirit within you cries out, “Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Prayer is exactly how you experience the sympathy of your high priest who has triumphed over your temptation. After all, you are not the only one praying when you pray. The Spirit himself prays through you, and as he does so, he works to align your will and desires with those of Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:26–27). If you are reluctant to pray, it just might be that you, like Adam and Israel before you, are hiding in the vegetation, ashamed to hear the rustling of the leaves that signals he is here.” – Russell Moore, Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, p. 171.

“Too many are willing to sit at God’s table, but not work in his field.” – Vance Havner

“Morality may damn as well as vice. A vessel may be sunk with gold as well as with dung.” – Thomas Watson

“You are required to believe, to preach, and to teach what the Bible says is true, not what you want the Bible to say is true.” – R.C. Sproul, Chosen by God, p. 12.

“Grace is not a reward for faith; faith is the inevitable result of grace.” Unknown

“Man fell by a desire to be independent of God, and now man wishes to be equally independent of God in returning to him.” – T.C. Hammond

Free Will

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An outline of the chapter on free will in Robert Peterson’s Election and Free Will: God’s Gracious Choice and Our Responsibility.

Free Will and the Bible’s Story

1.Human beings as created had true freedom and freedom of choice.
2.Human being as fallen lost true freedom and retained freedom of choice.
3.Human beings as redeemed have regained a measure of true freedom and retained freedom of choice.
4.Human beings as glorified will be perfected in true freedom and will retain freedom of choice.
True freedom = “the ability to love and serve God unhindered by sin” (p. 131).

Freedom of choice or spontaneity = “the ability of human beings to do as they wish” (p. 126)

Free Will and Reasons Why People Are Saved and Condemned

1. Reasons why people are saved

a. People are saved because they trust Christ as Lord and Savior.
b. People are saved because the Holy Spirit opens their hearts to the Gospel.
c. People are saved because Christ died and rose to save them.
d. People are saved because the Father chose them for salvation before creation.

2. Reasons why people are condemned

a. People are condemned because of their actual sin.
b. People are condemned because of Adam’s original sin.
c. People are condemned because God passed over them (reprobation).

Free Will and Its Relation to God’s Sovereignty

1. The Bible affirms both divine sovereignty and genuine human responsibility.

a. The Bible affirms divine sovereignty.
b. The Bible affirms genuine human responsibility.
c. The Bible affirms divine sovereignty and human responsibility together.

2. Parameters for sovereignty and responsibility.

a. Fatalism must be rejected as an error.
b. Absolute power to the contrary must be rejected as an error.

3. To emphasize either sovereignty or responsibility at the expense of the other is to fall into the error of rationalism.

a. Hyper-Calvinism is an error.
b. Arminianism is an error.

HT: Justin Taylor

Ignatius of Antioch in Context

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Back in the year 2004, I attended a seminary class taught by Dr. James White on the Early Church Fathers (also known as Patristics). It was fascinating to read the writings of precious men of God from the first few centuries who hold to the same faith as I do. Yet it has to be said, the Early Church Fathers were indeed a mixed bag.

Just as if you or I would go to a Christian bookstore today, we would find good books, scholarly books, and books that propagate shoddy scholarship and even false doctrine; so it was in the Early Church. Yet in studying their writings we learn a great deal about how the early Christians worshipped, what was important to them, what the issues were that were causing controversy and of course, what they believed about a whole host of issues.

I have a Roman Catholic friend named Steve. He told me some years back that he was considering quitting his full time job to seek training so that he might one day enter the Roman Catholic priesthood. As you might imagine, he and I have often had lively debate with each other, centering mostly on the subject of justification by faith alone, but on other issues too.

Just today Steve wrote to me challenging me to deal with the subject of Ignatius, an Early Church Father, who was discipled by the Apostle John. Because of his direct link to John, Ignatius is one of the most important Church Fathers.

The apologists of Rome often make the claim that Ignatius taught the Roman Catholic doctrine of the Eucharist (the term “eucharist” simply means “the giving of thanks”) and of transubstantiation (that when the priest consecrates the bread and wine, it becomes the literal blood, body and divinity of Jesus Christ). But is this true? Did Ignatius actually teach this? Or have Ignatius’ words been taken out of context?

Because the issue of Ignatius is an oft repeated claim of Rome, Dr. White put some of his class (dealing with Ignatius specifically) onto YouTube videos. Because of time restraints (each video lasts only a few minutes) there are five videos. They are well worth the effort to watch them. I recommend them very highly.

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