Monthly Archives: July 2014

Answers to Bible Critics

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Video series by Bob Burridge:

Some people are obsessed with finding fault with the Bible. In its completed form the Bible has been studied and criticized for about two thousand years. There is little new to be said. The usually cited alleged contradictions and imagined errors have been laid aside centuries ago, but enthusiastic fault-finders will dig them up thinking they’ve found something new. This series will examine some of these assumed problems.

1. Seeing the Invisible God – Most assumed contradictions in the Bible are due to the failure of a critic to follow the normal rules for interpreting literature. This study closely examines three basic principles overlooked or misstated by those who presume there must be a problem before they have found one.

2. Jonah’s Whale – There is no contradiction in the Bible when Matthew 12:40 says Jonah was swallowed by a “whale”, while in Jonah 1:17 it says he was swallowed by a “great fish”. When the facts are examined it becomes clear that the error is in the failure of the critics to look more carefully at the evidence.

3. Years of the Kings – The use of various calendars, co-regencies, and ancient idiomatic expressions often make the dates given in the Bible appear to be inconsistent. Closer examination clears up the problems, some of which are simple confirmable errors made in later copies of the original text.

4. The Value of Pi – In 1 Kings 7:23 the reported diameter and circumference of a container seems to ignore the value of Pi. However, when the rest of the description is considered, it fully conforms with the value of Pi. We just have to do the math.

5. Seventh or Tenth Day? – Did Nebuzaradan attack Jerusalem on the 7th day of the month? or on the 10th? Critics of the Bible think they have found a contradiction here, but a more careful look shows that they have not understood the situation well. This brief video compares 2 Kings 25:8-10 with Jeremiah 52:12-14.

6. Chronology of the Cross – Some have looked for a contradiction between Mark’s timing of the crucifixion of Jesus when it is compared with the accounts in the other Gospels. When properly understood there is no contradiction at all.

More lessons are being edited and will be linked here as each is completed.

How Calvinistic was Luther?

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Douglas A. Sweeney is professor of church history and the history of Christian thought and director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He I’ve frequently been asked whether Luther was a Calvinist. The answer, of course, is no. Calvinism didn’t emerge until the end of Luther’s life. Arminianism emerged long after Luther had passed away. So Luther himself never engaged the controversy that divided Reformed Protestantism after the Reformation.

It’s true: Calvin was called a Lutheran in the early years of his ministry. And there are notable similarities between the two. But as the Reformed movement grew, it grew apart from Lutheranism in some noteworthy ways. And as Lutheran thought developed during and after the Reformation, Lutherans leaned toward Arminians more than Calvinists on a few of the doctrinal issues that divided the latter groups.

So perhaps it’s worth a minute or two to walk through the ways in which Lutherans came down on the five “points” of Calvinism. We should all understand by now that there’s far more to Calvinism than five simple points, that the five points themselves were sharpened after Calvin’s death, and that some think that Calvin himself did not affirm them all. So Calvinist friends, hold your fire. The goal here is not to oversimplify your faith, but to scan the ways that leading early Lutherans addressed the matters fought about most fiercely at the Reformed Synod of Dordt (1618–1619), and in the subsequent debates between Calvinists and Arminians.

Four Branches

Before we attack this matter directly, let me take just a minute to remind us that, technically speaking, the debate between Calvinists and Arminians really divided but a minority of the early Protestant world.

Despite the tendency of some to assume that all evangelicals fall somewhere on the continuum between Calvinism and Arminianism, it is important to remember that there were four main branches of the Protestant Reformation—Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, and Church of England—and that Calvinists and Arminians were on the same branch (though their controversy would captivate the Church of England as well, and was foreshadowed by developments in the doctrine of the English Reformation).

These branches parted gradually over the course of the 16th century. It wasn’t until the mid-to-late 16th century, for example, that the lines between the Lutherans and the Reformed were drawn clearly. And it wasn’t until the late 16th and early 17th centuries that the lines were drawn starkly between the Calvinists and Arminians.

Arminianism emerged on the Reformed branch of Protestantism. Arminius and his followers considered themselves to be Reformed. They said they wanted to reform Reformed Protestant theology in response to what they deemed unhealthy Calvinist extremes.

Nevertheless, the Synod of Dordt changed the equation once and for all—and eventually affected people all over the Protestant world. So without any further ado, here’s where the Lutherans came down on the poorly named five points of Calvinism.

Lutherans and the Five Points of Calvinism

I’ll take this question point by point, offering evidence from reliable and accessible translations of classic Lutheran texts and confessions: the American edition of Luther’s Works, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan, Helmut T. Lehmann et al. (Concordia Publishing House and Fortress Press, 1957); the latest English edition of the Lutheran Book of Concord, ed. Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wengert (Fortress Press, 2000), which contains all the authoritative Lutheran confessions, such as the Augsburg Confession and the Formula of Concord; and Heinrich Schmid, The Doctrinal Theology of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, 3d ed., trans. Charles A. Hay and Henry E. Jacobs (Augsburg Publishing House, 1899), a compendium of Lutheran scholastic theology. These are exceptionally important Protestant theological sources, which should be read and used frequently by evangelical leaders.

Bear in mind that we are barely scratching the surface in this article. This is a skeletal presentation based on selected representatives of early Lutheran thought. Most Lutherans use the Lutheran confessions when interpreting Bible doctrines such as these. But there is diversity of opinion on the relative weight and authority of the other materials I quote below. Continue reading →

Gospel Centered?

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In an article entitled but the pathway of the Christian life.

“Gospel-centered preaching.” “Gospel-centered parenting.” “Gospel-centered discipleship.” The back of my business card says “gospel-centered publishing.” This descriptive mantra is tagged on to just about anything and everything in the Christian world these days.

What’s it all about?

Before articulating what it might mean to be Gospel-centered, we all better be on the same page as to what the Gospel actually is.

I don’t mean Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

What I mean by “Gospel” in this article is the outrageous news of what has been done for us by God in Jesus. The Gospel is the front page of the newspaper, not the back-page advice column; news of what has happened, not advice on how to live.

Specifically, the Gospel is the startling news that what God demands from us, He provides for us. How? In His own Son. The Gospel is the message that Jesus Christ delights to switch places with guilty rebels. The one Person who walked this earth who deserved heaven endured the wrath of hell so that those who deserve the wrath of hell can have heaven for free.
And the Gospel is not only personal, but cosmic. Christ’s death and resurrection doesn’t only provide forgiveness for me. It also means that in the middle of history, God has begun to undo death, ruin, decay and darkness. The universe itself is going to be washed clean and made new. Eden will be restored.
But to be part of this, we too must die. Grace requires death. We must die to our bookkeeping way of existence that builds our identity on anything other than Jesus. We must relinquish, give up on ourselves, throw in the towel. And out of this death — letting God love us in, not after getting over, our messiness — resurrection life quietly blossoms.

Gospel-Centered Worldview

What does it mean, then, to be “Gospel-centered”?

As far as I can tell the phrase is used in two basic ways. One is to view all of life in light of the Gospel. We’ll call this a Gospel-centered worldview. The other is to view Christian progress as dependent on the Gospel. We’ll call this Gospel-centered growth. The first looks out; the second looks in. Take Gospel-centered worldview first.

One way to get at this is to consider what is meant when we call someone “self-centered.” We don’t mean that all they think about directly is themselves. They also think about what to eat, what to wear, how to conclude an email, and a thousand other things each day. But Self informs all these other decisions. A self-centered person passes all they do and think through the filter of Self. Self trumps everything else and orders all other loves accordingly.

In a similar way, to be Gospel-centered does not mean that social action, marital and sexual matters, ethical issues, political agendas, our jobs, our diet, and all the rest of daily life are irrelevant. Rather, it means all of life is viewed in light of the Gospel. Everything passes through the filter of the Gospel. What Jesus has done and is doing to restore the universe trumps everything else and orders all other loves accordingly.

Gospel-Centered Growth

There’s another way that the phrase Gospel-centered is used, which is even more common. Here we narrow in to issues specifically related to Christian formation and discipleship, such as Bible-reading, book-writing, preaching and teaching. Generally what is meant when we speak of “Gospel-centered discipleship” or “Gospel-centered preaching” is that such activities are done in the light of two core realities: our ongoing struggle with sin and our ongoing need for grace.
The twisted fallenness of the human heart manifests itself in our constant self-atonement strategies. The natural, default mode of the human heart (including the Christian heart) is restless heart-wandering, looking for something to latch on to for significance, to know we matter, to feel OK about ourselves. This tendency is often profoundly subtle and extremely difficult to root out. We are sinners. We are sick.

However, the far-reaching grace of the Gospel calms our hearts and nestles us into the freedom of not needing to constantly measure up in any way since Jesus measured up on our behalf. In Christ, we matter. Clothed in His righteousness, we are OK. And this sweet calm is the soil in which true godliness flourishes.

Gospel-centeredness, then, funnels the Gospel out to unbelievers but also in to our own hearts. It is an acknowledgment that the Good News about God’s grace in Christ is the supreme resource — for believers just as much for unbelievers. In other words, the Gospel is a home, not a hotel. It is not only the gateway into the Christian life, but the pathway of the Christian life.
This is why Paul constantly reminds people — reminds Christian people — of the Gospel (e.g., Romans 1:16–17; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 15:3–4; Galatians 1:6). We move forward in discipleship not mainly through pep talks and stern warnings. We move forward when we hear afresh the strangeness of grace, relaxing our hearts and loosening our clenched hold on a litany of lesser things — financial security, the perfect spouse, career advancement, sexual pleasure, human approval, and so on.

An Example: Gospel-Centered Dating

Let’s take all this closer to home. Given all this, what might be meant by “Gospel-centered dating”?
This would simply mean an approach to dating that remembers the fierce works-righteousness orientation of the human heart and the way we tend to build our identity on anything other than Jesus.
Gospel-centered dating wouldn’t be dating that tries to share the Gospel with as many dates as possible. It would be dating that refuses to build a sense of worth on whom we’re dating, what they think of us, and the happiness they can provide if the relationship works out long-term. It would be letting Jesus be the One who saves us — not only from judgment before God in the future, but judgment before our dates in the present.

Dating can be truly enjoyed if we go into every evening out with a heart-sense of the Gospel. If we know we are accepted and approved in Jesus, acceptance and approval by the person sitting across the table loses its ominous significance. If we know God delights in us with invincible favor and love, dates that go poorly will disappoint us but not crush us. If we know that no matter what happens in a relationship we will always have Christ, and He is everything, then we are freed from having our mood dictated by dating success. And even if dates go well with someone early on, it’s only a matter of time before a boyfriend or girlfriend (or spouse) will disappoint us and let us down. There’s only One who never lets us down.

A Gospel-centered life, in other words, is the only life that can truly be enjoyed. Nothing can threaten our sense of worth and identity. Christ himself is our mighty and radiant friend.

Keep the Reality

There’s one more thing to be said. The label “Gospel-centered” is neither here nor there. There’s nothing sacred about it. But the heart of what is being recovered, both in terms of worldview and in terms of growth, is vital for calm and sanity amid the ups and downs of life in a fallen world.

Every generation must rediscover the Gospel for itself. “Gospel-centered” happens to be the label attached to this generation’s recovery of grace. When we tire of the label, get a new one. But keep the reality.

We will be broken, messy sinners until Jesus comes again and gives us final cleansing. Till then, true shalom and fruitfulness can only be found through waking up each day, shoving back the clamoring anxieties, and defibrillating our hearts with a love that comes only to those — but to all of those — who open themselves up to it.