Faith (2)

(From devotionals at work)

"For without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." -Hebrews 11:6

Q: "How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? A: "...by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling." -Westminster Shorter Catechism

In the last devotional we looked at the process that leads us to faith: calling, regeneration, and repentance. In this one we will briefly look at faith itself. Remember that faith is the first virtue that the Apostle Peter lists in 2 Peter 1:5. Faith has three sequential parts:

The first is Knowledge. The means that faith rests in certain doctrinal propositions that we believe to be true. On one hand, this does not mean that the believer has to have an intricate knowledge of theology. But it does require an understanding of sin, of Christ's Person as God and man, as God's perfect sacrifice for sin, and His requirements of us as Lord of creation. Faith is not merely a good feeling around the campfire or a spooky belief in some kind of cosmic goodness. It is rooted in a historic reality with real facts. Simply put, faith begins with hearing the Word of God.

But knowledge alone is not saving faith. It must lead to, secondly, Approval. That means that the facts of the gospel move from the brain to the will, and a man says "I really believe that for myself." This is the point when faith becomes a commitment, not just a knowledge of doctrine. It is the realization that what I recognize as general doctrine applies to me specifically.

Knowledge and Approval, though, remain mental concepts that fall short of a committed reliance on a Person. Faith is not full until it becomes Trust. In fact, I sometimes think that is a better translation than "faith." It is one thing to think you can drive me home on a snowy highway; it is another thing to get in the car with you! We are all familiar with the phrase in John 3:16: "...that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life...." The word translated "in" actually means "into." It means more than believing that Jesus is the Son of God who saves; it means that I personally trust Him to cover all my sin, to order everything in my life according to His plan, to place me when and where He wills, to be the light that makes sense of what appears to me to be darkness, and to carry me through death and into the next life in spite of my own helplessness. That kind of faith is entirely and intensely personal.

One last word about faith: evangelicals tend to see faith as the beginning of the Christian life, to be followed by a "deeper life." Actually, the deeper life is nothing more than pressing further and further into faith, or more precisely, into trusting Jesus to complete all His work in us.

Faith (1)

(From devotionals at work)

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." -Hebrews 11:1

"Q: Why do you say that by faith alone you are right with God? A: It is not because of any value my faith has that God is pleased with me. Only Christ's satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness make me right with God. And I receive this righteousness and make it mine in no other way than by faith alone." -Heidelberg Catechism

In 2 Peter 1:5, the apostle begins his list of Christian virtues with "faith." Faith is foundational to Christianity, and yet is difficult to define. Any definition that is less than relational falls short. For instance, Christians sometimes say that "Christ is the answer," a term that implies that there is a question of some sort, and our minds need to be satisfied. Or we say, "Christ will meet your needs," implying that we lack something in our lives that He can supply. But the Bible does not speak of Christ as either answer or need meeter. It speaks of Him as Savior, a term that tells me right away that I am in deep trouble--that my worst enemy is not the devil, or cosmic evil, or the world around me, but myself. I do not need intellectual satisfaction or a lack made up primarily; I need to be rescued.

Faith, therefore, is much more akin to our English word "trust." It means that I rely both on the finished work of Christ to save me, and on His capacity to manage my life to change me. It is not rooted in an idea, or a set of moral values, but in a Person. Faith throws itself totally on the work and good intentions of another.

There is debate among Christians as to whether faith is something resident in us that responds to God, or is itself a gift of God. I hold the latter view because I don't believe we have anything within us to offer God before He works His own change in us. If that is true, conversion follows this sequence:

1) An outward calling. This is a summons from God that brings a response, usually through the preaching of the Word or some form of individual evangelism or, in some cases, personal reading. A good example of outward calling is Lydia. Acts 16:14 says, "The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul."

2) Regeneration. We know this term better as the "new birth." Regeneration is a secret work of the Holy Spirit in the heart that makes a dead man or woman alive. It allows the believer to repent and believe. Often believers are not aware of the time of regeneration; its existence is proven by subsequent awareness. Others remember the time of regeneration as a dramatic and obvious change. Either way, it is the point in the stages of conversion when a human soul crosses from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.

3) Repentance. There is confusion about this word today because it is often confused with its manifestations: sorrow, weeping, relief, etc. The word in Greek means simply, "to change your mind," in the sense of admitting that what God says about sin applies to us, and we quit making excuses. It is essentially negative. It is the result of seeing the horror of rebellion against God, and His judgment against it. Frankly, it is the weak point in a lot of evangelical preaching today. It is easier to preach Christ as our buddy, our healer, our therapist, or even as the poor weak Christ who needs to get into our hearts to get warm, instead of our only hope against the inevitable judgment of God.

4) Faith. Faith is the positive turning to Christ following repentance. Next time we will look at faith in more detail.

Quality Supplements

(From devotionals at work)

"...make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brother affection, and brotherly affection with love." -2 Peter 1: 5-7

In the previous devotionals, we've been looking at concepts that go under the heading "imputation," meaning the work that God has done for us in Christ outside our own inner spiritual experience. Peter begins his second letter with terms that come under that heading: "divine power," "knowledge," and "promises." But in the middle of verse 4, the Apostle states that the result of God's objective work on our behalf is that we "may become partakes of the divine nature." At this point Peter has moved from God's work "outside" us to his work "inside" us.

Peter lists eight virtues, or values, or character traits that grow out of the work of the Spirit in us, and which require our self-discipline and cooperation. They are ultimately proofs of our calling and election of God (see vs. 10). Without them we do not move into a deeper knowledge of Christ, and remain ineffective in His Kingdom (vs. 8). We'll be looking at these individually over the next few weeks.

It's important to analyze how we think about these virtues before we look at them, however. These are not monolithic blocks of Christian experience--we cannot break up our lives into a decade of faith, two years of steadfastness, and three months of brotherly love. We do not graduate from one and move into another without ever looking back. Instead of thinking in "blocks," I think a gardening analogy is better. These virtues are like plants that need to be watered and tended if they are to grow. Sometimes one will need more attention than another, depending on circumstances in our lives. At times our faith needs nurturing, or our steadfastness (patience) is wilting. It is best to check on them one at a time on a periodic basis.

Having said that, Peter does not put these virtues in an arbitrary order. One follows another in a logical sequence. The logic depends to some extent on how the main verb is translated. Some use "supplement" (ESV), others use "add" or "support," but however it is taken, Peter teaches a relationship among all of these, and no one can stand alone. Faith, for instance, has no power unless it produces virtue, and virtue will wilt if it does not grow out of the soil of faith. Likewise, virtue has no vision or sense of direction without knowledge, and knowledge without virtue falls into arrogance.

Next time: Faith. . .

Confident Assurance

(From devotionals at work)

"I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:13

"To the question: what must I do to be saved? the old gospel replies: believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. To the further question: what does it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? its reply is: it means knowing oneself to be a sinner, and Christ to have died for sinners; abandoning all self-righteousness and self-confidence, and casting oneself wholly upon him for pardon and peace...." -JI Packer

Life is full of uncertainty, and it often invades the Christian at the heart of his faith, causing him to ask if he really belongs to Christ. Let me point out some responses to such doubts. They are simple, but we need to repeat them to ourselves often.

First, God Himself says that He will not turn away those who come to Him (see the passage above). Isaiah 55:3 says, "Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant." God says in Joel 2:32 (also Romans 10:13), "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." These passages show that God desires to draw us to Himself more than we desire Him. And we can rest in that.

Second, we shouldn't get hung up on analyzing our faith. Faith is a means to and end, which God accomplished in Christ. Therefore our question should not be, "Do I have enough faith?'' but, "Do I believe the promises of God?" Faith only operates when it is beholding its object.

Thirdly, we shouldn't forget that we have an enemy. The name "Satan" in Hebrew means "the accuser." He will use every hint and suggestion to make us doubt we are loved by God, or maneuver us into thinking that our salvation depends on us. We can't stand up to him by boasting in our faith; our strength is in repeating to him what Christ has accomplished on the cross. Our best defense against Satan is to preach the gospel at him. (See Zechariah 3:2).

The point of this devotional and the ones that have preceded it is that the finished work of Christ for us is fixed, perfect, irrefutable, based on a plan the Trinity developed for our salvation before the world began. That plan is objective. That is, it exists and functions outside ourselves, and for that reason cannot be shaken even when we are. The imputed righteousness of Christ to His people is the rock on which we stand.

Next week we will shift gears and take a look at what God does IN us. If you have time, read 2 Peter 1: 1-15. We'll be spending some time there.

Paul's Great Exchange

(From devotionals where I work)

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." -Philippians 3: 7-8

An English judge found himself kneeling at Communion beside a man he had once sentenced for a crime. When asked if he recognized the man, he said, "Yes. That was a miracle of grace." He was asked again, "You mean that such a man should be kneeling beside you?" "Not at all," he said. The miracle is that I should be kneeling beside him. I was brought up in a good, religious, moral home, and served my community. It is much more difficult for someone like me to recognize his need for a Savior. I am the miracle of grace." -Jerry Bridges (paraphrased)

The apostle Paul before his conversion would have made a great church member. He was dedicated to God as an infant, had a long family religious heritage, went to the best school and studied under well known professors, was devoted to the faith, a zealous church worker, above reproach, and a model citizen.

Yet in this passage in Philippians, he called it all "loss." The word for loss was a word rarely used in the New Testament. It meant to throw something overboard--to jettison even a valuable cargo to save lives on a sinking ship. Paul regarded all his "religious" attainments as worth nothing, because he had found something more valuable.

That which he prized more than his own reputation was "knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." It is important to point out here that he is not speaking of a mere intellectual knowing, or a moral knowing, or grasping a set of doctrines. The knowing he exalts here is intimate, relational knowledge of a Person. And Paul's knowledge was not only the apprehension of who Christ was and what He had done for Him. Paul had been invaded by the Life of God that flows through Christ, the life that brought the world forth, and that was revealed to humanity when that Life became human Himself. The knowledge was not something he pursued; it was something that pursued him.

Paul exchanged his own self-righteousness for the righteousness and life of another, and never looked back. We need to do the same. Moral self-righteousness is more dangerous than gross and blatant sin. It is sneaky and gives us a sense of false confidence that strangles the work of the gospel in us. Paul firmly believed that he was saved on the basis of the finished work of Christ alone. He was so convinced of this that he even publicly rebuked Peter when he began to drift into legalism from fear of what his Jewish Christian friends would think of him for hanging out and eating with gentiles.

Our salvation is based on the infinite merit of Christ, not on our actions. Our tendency is to drift back into performance based acceptance (PBA), dragging back up from the bottom of the sea what we've thrown overboard. But shouldn't we do good works? Of course. But true good works are the result of the presence of Christ living in us, not actions that we perform on our own apart from him.

Reconciliation

(From a series of devotionals where I work)

"...we rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation." Romans 5:11

"When two parties are at enmity a reconciliation may be effected by a change in either or in both. When, therefore, it is said that we are reconciled to God, it only means that peace is restored between Him and us." -Charles Hodge

The term reconciliation, and our need for it in our relationship to God, implies that there is a break between God and man. In order to understand the term, we have to first examine some other terms. Romans 3:10 states that "None is righteous, no, not one." If that is the case, then reconciliation has something to do with our becoming righteous before God. Martin Luther struggled, like most of us would, with self-imposed disciplines to help him achieve what he felt was the righteous standard that would finally reconcile him to God. His constant failure led him to despair. But one day as he was studying the book of Romans, he realized that the term "righteousness of God," as Paul used it, meant a righteousness that comes from God as a gift, a righteousness imputed to us on the basis of the work of Christ. According to 2 Corinthians 5:21, God "reckoned" sin to Christ, and righteousness to us.

Another theological term related to reconciliation is "justification." Protestants believe that "to be declared just" is not a position to be gained through increased holiness, but a determination in the heart of God to see us as just before Him. It is based solely on the work of Christ, and not our own. It is not just a matter of God changing His mind about us; it is based on Christ's action on the cross as our substitute.

The point of these words is that all our salvation, acceptance by God, and future life in Him are based, not on our striving to become righteous, but on the finished work of Christ in His birth, life, death, resurrection, and present rule of the universe.

(***I want to put in a parenthesis here because I feel like I need to clarify where we're going in these weekly comments, especially since we're dealing with something as serious as the Christian's understanding of his salvation. Along those lines, it has helped me to remember the two "imp" words. One is "imputation." Imputation is something that happens outside me. It is something that God says or declares about me that is based on His own plan and actions and purposes. It is something I accept by faith, but nothing to which I contribute.

The other "imp" word is "impartation." Impartation is what happens inside me as I grow in God and move towards final salvation when I die. Words like "life," "light," "sanctification," "divinization," "Spirit," etc. are all impartation words. They have to do with the gradual change towards holiness that occurs in the believer, and includes anything that has to do with our warfare against "the world, the flesh, and the devil."

Large portions of the Church argue which of the imps is the most important, and if one or the other of them is even theologically sound. I personally believe they are both true, and should be kept in balance. To believe in imputation without impartation means that I confess the work of Christ, but experience no inner change--a biblical impossibility. Folks who hold this position are generally very intellectual, but since they have no inner life, define Christian growth by a list of rules. They are sometimes referred to as "brains on a stick." Folks who stress impartation over imputation live with a sense of failure and insecurity, since the proof of their salvation is in their own experience rather than in the declaration of God. Both must work together: that which is imputed is the foundation of our lives; that which is imparted is the temple built upon it.

So, to clarify where we are: these studies for the last few months have dealt with imputation. I am concerned about imputation because I find a tendency among evangelicals to walk the aisle and never get a firm grasp on exactly what they have done, or, more precisely, what Christ did for them. It never hurts to go back and strengthen the foundation. I will continue on this track for a few more weeks. Then we will shift gears and study the stages of internal Christian growth. ***)

Chesterton's Aquinas

I just finished Chesterton's biography of Thomas Aquinas. I did so because Chesterton's style is always entertaining, and because I have a desire to go places I've been warned not to go, like a 70 year old out of shape man who decides to wrestle alligators, just for the bragging rights. Aquinas can be appreciated and contextualized by a Protestant. But Chesterton himself is a different story. He doesn't mask his contempt for Protestantism in this work. "Alligator" is not a bad analogy.

Chesterton defends Aquinas as the father of Common Sense philosophy and theology, beginning as Aristotle did with "real things" as opposed to the abstract forms of Plato. Aquinas observed the changeableness of things, and the potentiality of things, but instead of lapsing into existentialism or nihilism like many 20th Century philosophers, chose to reason "up" instead of "down." Changeableness meant all things were moving towards the Unchangeable, and had their origins in it (Him). Potentiality meant Purpose. Purpose meant Personality. Changeableness, however, did not mean that any idea or object is fleeting or to be belittled. On the contrary, every object expressed the mind of God in its individuality and special place in the world.

Aquinas turned to Aristotle as an antidote to the dualism of Manichaeism. There was also contact in the 13th Century with Islam in the East. A Number of Moslem scholars were perverting Aristotle's philosophy into a type of pantheism, and (according to Chesterton), Aquinas was concerned to recover Aristotle for the Church and deliver him from Islamic distortion. This brings up the topic of Chesterton's perception of the place of Aquinas in the history of Christianity.

Aquinas' work was approved of by the authorities of the Catholic church in his lifetime. But not everyone in the Church at large agreed. Chesterton referred to his opponents as "Augustinians." I could not tell if he meant the Order, or a wider theological company. At any rate, they were the "conservatives" of their day, mildly deterministic in their views on the nature of salvation (following Augustine). Chesterton accuses them of being neo-Platonists. (Whether or not Augustine was a Platonist is beyond my knowledge. Chesterton associates Platonism with Logos Christology, which would draw the whole Eastern Church under the shadow of Plato.) At any rate, Aquinas became the victor in these debates, and his Summa is the heart of Roman Catholic theology down to the present.

But, back to Chesterton's view of history: When Aquinas won a permanent victory in Catholic thought, "Conservative" Augustinianism went underground, where it bubbled and crackled until it exploded in an Augustinian monastery in northern Germany @300 years later. Luther, Chesterton tells us, represented the counter-revolution against Aquinas' revolution of Common Sense, and carried its followers back into the murky waters of determinism and pessimism. In addition, Luther cheated. He used the force of his personality to back his theology, a thing Aquinas would never have done because he felt that asserting personality obscured the power of pure reason. (Why don't you tell us how you really feel, GK?)

Since then everything has pretty much gone downhill in Christendom, except for the fact that the Protestant descendents of the magisterial reformers have rejected the monergistic soteriology of their fathers, and returned to the synergism of Common Sense. I personally have considered this a weakness that grows out of inconsistency: An Evangelical is someone who holds to the 5 solos of the Reformation but rejects the 5 points, creating the odd stance of a man who boasts in his family name but refuses to be seen with his parents. But I digress.

No doubt this view of Church history was a bit of a shock. It reverses how every good Protestant interprets the events. But it is not the reversal of interpretation that troubles me. It is simply that it is one more interpretation to add to the multiplicity of views surrounding what I've come to call the "Story" (maybe that overlaps Aquinas' Ens?).

Perhaps Aquinas himself can help--all changeable things are moving through their potential to the Unchangeable. I wonder if in Paradise I will come to a grove of trees on a grassy knoll. Under it sit Athanasius, Aquinas, and Augustine (is it an accident that the three representatives of the divisions in Christendom start with "A"?), all giving their attention to an old lady, who is delightedly telling the story of how her prayers in a small Russian church moved the heart of God to drop winter on the Grande Armee. It is obvious that these prayers and this woman are as much at the center of the heart of God as the accomplishments of the three, and they are as enthralled with her story as with their own. Because God is at the center, all things are at the center. "For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things."