Holiness
Perfection, Part 3

The concept of Christian perfectionism is doomed to failure because it is experience driven. It is a man-centered philosophy. Perfectionism devolves into legalism where certain man determined conduct leads to a “higher state” of Christian living. It is as if we were saved by grace but sanctified by our own conduct that allows us to be holy. We, therefore, can determine our state of holiness. This focus on man in sanctification is symptomatic of a larger problem in the US church.

Worship as entertainment, programs or activities instead of Bible study, fellowship instead of discipleship, are all issues rooted in the “man centered” contemporary church. The desire to know, love, worship and serve the Triune God of Scripture has been hijacked. And, there is little concern of the great doctrines of Scripture [such as sanctification] because what we believe and live by has been converted into man initiated and man satisfying experiences. This translates into a shallow belief that does not weather the storms of life.

An especially virulent form of this man centeredness in sanctification is the “Lordship Controversy”. The problem is usually related in the phrase, “Jesus is my Savior and I am making him my Lord.” This seems to be the antithesis of perfection but it does fit the Berkof definition of “adjusting the law” to fit my circumstances referred to in “Holiness…Perfection, Part 1”. Known in some circles as “carnal Christianity”, this is upping the ante on Wesley’s definition of sin by making all sin optional. It is indicative of what can happen when the self is given a foothold in views of holiness.

The idea that man makes Jesus Lord is non-Biblical and ludicrous. Jesus is Lord because God the Father declares Him so (Ps. 2:6-9; Acts 2:36). But, one can understand how the Wesleyan dichotomy of sins and sinners could lead to a reconstituting of sanctification as anti-nomianism. Why should not keeping the moral law keep us from calling ourselves Christians? We are doing the best we can and we love Jesus. This “easy believism” is a logical extension of dumbing down the demands of God. The Lordship Controversy is the sad outcome of sanctification not by the Holy Spirit rooting out indwelling sin.

The moral law of God has not been revoked or amended. Jesus sid He did not come to abolish the law but fulfill it (Matt. 5:17). There is nothing short of the absolute conformity to the holy law of God that can be called perfection. There is no middle ground of not sinning consciously nor is there a place in sanctification for behavior contrary to the moral law. The Westminster Confession of Faith, 19.5, puts it this way:

The moral law doth ever bind all…and that not only in regard to the matter contained in it, but also in the authority of God, the Creator, Who gave it. Neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.

Believers are all sinners saved by Grace and will always be so. They are not perfect but they are not exonerated from being holy. Our salvation from sin is not based on our performance but on a work begun in us by Him which He will see to completion (Phil. 1:6).

Believers are justified by the merit earned by Christ in His perfect life, death and resurrection—a righteousness imputed to them. Sanctification is accomplished through the mystical union a believer has in Christ. And, it is the Holy Spirit Who brings about the union and applies to the believer all the benefits and blessings of salvation. The believer is not sinless or perfect in this life. The Holy Spirit continues the work of sanctification throughout the life of the believer conforming that person more and more to the image of Christ, his Savior and Lord, by putting to death the presence of sin. That is the pursuit of holiness.

Christian Thinking
Acts and Facts

To think Christianly is to think in terms of Revelation. For the secularist, God and theology are playthings of the mind. For Christians, God is real, and Christian theology describes His truth revealed to us. For the secular mind, religion is essentially a matter of theory: for the Christian mind, Christianity is a matter of acts and facts. The acts and facts that are the basis of our faith are recorded in the Bible. They have been interpreted and illuminated in the long history of the Church. The Christian mind is inescapably and unbrokenly conscious of the hard, factual quality of the Christian Faith…. For Christianity is so much more that an mere moral code, a recipe for virtue, a system of comfortable idealistic thought, it is also a religion of acts and facts

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), p. 110-11.

The Church
Expelled from Georgetown

You have probably heard by now that Georgetown University has expelled Affiliated Ministries…a consortium of evangelical groups…from holding any activity or having any presence on its campus. The letter is reproduced at Touchstone http://merecomments.typepad.com . It was signed by the Rev. Constance Wheeler as Protestand Chaplain, Team Leader.

This raises a number of questions:
1. What happened to the ecumenism of the Roman Catholic Church?
2. How did a female reverend come to have a position at a Jesuit college?
3. Were the Muslim and Jewish groups also barred from campus?
4. This was done after “dialogue” with the Lord! I did not know the Lord dialogued over such issues. I thought He has spoken through His Word. As one comment to the web site said, is there a transcript available?
5. Protestant ministries has decided to move in a new direction according to the letter. Would that be toward Rome?
6. The Saudi connection with Georgetown through big bucks has been well publicized. Maybe it takes contributions now to be heard by Hoyas.

It is all very interesting in an era when everyone is to have a voice in our diverse culture where all ideas are acceptable. I guess all the posturing between evangelicals and Catholics together was just that. There is a chasm of difference between Roman churches and evangelical Protestant churches. No group knows that better than committed Jesuits. Maybe Georgetown should be applauded for taking a stand on their theological differences with Affiliated Ministries?

Reading
M’Cheyne

I have been tagged in the cyberspace playground twice in the last month…once by my friend Huguenot John and just the other day by my friend Matt at Hot Orthodoxy. At my age, I am “over-the-hill” for playground games. And, as a contrarian I usually do not respond well to the populist concepts of gathering and passing on information. But, I do take this opportunity to respond with what I believe is the most important book I have read that is not inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There are many candidates. Pilgrim’s Progress which gives the most accurate portrait of the Christian life ever written. Redemption Accomplished and Applied, which is the most complete and Biblical account of the atonement around. Knowing God, which clarifies Who God is which is neither mere propositions to be understood nor a bare emotional experience. And, The Sovereignty of God, which is an antidote to the Enlightenment enthronement of man in the place of God.

But for me, Memoirs and Remains of R.M.M’Cheyne by Andrew Bonar is the most influential book. It is a biography of an outstanding Scottish divine who died before his 30th birthday! Yet what he accomplished in God’s Name in his short life is stunning. The book contains a biography, memorials spoken of him at his death, letters written to his parishioners, sermons, sermon outlines, Songs of Zion he wrote and his Bible Reading Calendar. This is a Christian treasure trove. When I am struggling I often return to his letters for comfort and I use them as comfort for others. I look for sermons of his when I have a question on a passage of Scripture. And, the Bible Reading Calendar is used by millions, from public figures I know to spiritual children of mine.

This book will challenge you. It will cause you to examine your life. Murray M’Cheyne gives us a glimpse of what God can do with a life that is separated unto Him. That can be me, that can be you, but it requires a commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Are you ready to be used by Him? This book will prepare you for that by being a wonderful example of that. So, I am not tagging anyone but challenging everyone who reads this, as you trek to the Celestial City because of the salvation accomplished by Christ and applied to you by the Holy Spirit and as you understand, experience, love and serve the sovereign Triune God of the universe, be used of and by Him so that as the Holy Spirit conforms you more and more to the image of Christ, folks will see in you what is seen in the life of Robert Murray M”Cheyne. You’re it!

Holiness
Perfection, Part 2

Those who believe in perfection appeal to the Johnnian corpus in addition to Paul’s assertions of being dead to sin. (1 John 3: 6, 8, 9; 3:15). But, these statements about “no sin in you” are more realistically statements about the two natures of the Christian. Otherwise, how do we understand the other verses in 1 John about forgiveness of sin? Berkof says “free from sin” means that one born again from above “does not go on sinning habitually.” Addressing 1 John 3:9 directly, Thomas Watson in The Mischief of Sin, p. 79, states:

He does not sin deliberately. He does not sin with delight. In his heart, he abhors sin; in his life, he forsakes it. Here is one born of God.

Additionally, 1 John is more than a “second blessing” adherent can swallow. For what can all mean except all Christians, those without a “second blessing” included. And, as to Wesley’s distinction of sin, conscious [ethical] and unconscious [legal], all sin must include all sin, both types. Wesley’s distinction is without merit according to the Apostle John.

But the ultimate Biblical destruction of perfectionism comes from the inspired pen of the Apostle Paul. He speaks of the struggle the Christian has with sin in three important places. In Romans 7, he discusses his own war with indwelling sin. In Gal. 5: 16-24, he relates to the Galatian Christians the struggle there is in being a believer, the conflict of the flesh and spirit natures. Finally, in Phil 3:10-14, he expounds on his life from a prison cell acknowledging that he has not yet reached perfection but is pressing on towards the goal. If the Great Apostle had not achieved perfection, who can?

The Apostle Paul addresses the serious problem of non-Biblical sanctification in Col. 2: 16-23. The Colossian Christians were engaging in behavior of some nature that was promising spiritual perfection in external, man centered practices. Paul instructs that there is no externality that deals with sin inherent in the flesh [2:23]. Paul has already explained how indwelling, troubling, disheartening sin is to be dwelt with in the life of the believer. Death to sin is from putting on the new man already given by regeneration [3:1-10]. It is foolish to look for sanctification outside God’s way whether it be a lifestyle [asceticism and severity]; man derived philosophy [appearance of wisdom]; or non-Gospel practices, programs or activities [man made religion].

Paul’s statement about lack of perfection in Phil. 3 underscores the problem with perfectionism as a non-Biblical concept. Paul wants to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings in this life. This life, for the Christian, is one of struggle with the flesh, Satan and the world. There is nothing Paul can do outside of himself to accomplish his sanctification in such an environment. It can only occur through the application of the life of Jesus Christ to a believer. It is an inside job.

Perfectionism not only underestimates sin, it fails to recognize the way the Holy Spirit works sanctification in the believer [See previous post “Holiness….What is Sanctification?” on 10 August 2006]. It is not some sort of personal Pentecost that equips a believer not to sin. Rather, the Holy Spirit radically breaks the love and power of sin when a believer is united to Christ by faith. The work of the Holy Spirit is ongoing until the whole man is sanctified, body, soul and spirit. It is a process that He will surely accomplish so that the believer is blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Thess. 5:23, 24). To believe in perfection in the here and now not only denigrates God’s work it seeks a way outside of God’s plan for the salvation of His.

A.A. Hodge posits a frank statement about any who believe in perfection here and now:
Perfectionism is in conflict with the universal experience and observation of God’s people. The personal profession of it is generally judged to be just ground for serious suspicion as to the claimant’s mental soundness or moral sincerity.
A.A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith, p. 200
Dr. Hodge’s assessment is not exactly politically correct and seems extremely insensitive. However, the error of perfectionism is at best, harmful to the Christian community, and at worst, heresy. Avoid the allure of perfection that leads to a false holiness. Instead, seek to put off the old and put on the new that is yours through being united to Christ by grace through faith.

Christian Thinking
Take that PoMo…it’s always true!

The Christian Faith is important because it is true. What it happens to achieve, in ourselves or in others, is another and, strictly speaking, secondary matter. For the Christian Faith will remain true whether we who profess it turn into heroic saints or into even more miserable sinners. We must insist that we worship God because He is God, not because we want something out of Him.

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), p. 110.

Holiness
Perfection, Part 1

Is holiness perfection? Perfection is a serious misunderstanding of sanctification in the Christian life. It comes in various strains but there is a commonality in all lines of perfectionism. Here is a usual definition:
It is possible for believers in this life to attain a state in which they comply with the requirements of the law under which they now live or to the law adjusted to their ability and needs. Berkof, Systematic Theology, p. 538.
The underpinning for perfectionism is based on Paul’s language of being “dead to sin” and “free from sin”. This, the reasoning goes, should enable the believer to love God with all his heart. Any honest Christian knows that perfection is not part of their life. Nevertheless, such teaching is present in the contemporary church.

One strain of Wesleyan thought is that the original obligation of the Christian is not an original moral obligation but a Gospel requirement of faith, obedience and love. John Wesley taught Christian perfection, not absolute perfection, distinguishing between sanctification [beginning at the point of justification] of which all experience and entire sanctification [the experience of being made perfect in love]. Lindstrom, Wesley and Sanctification, p. 127. It is here Wesley has an affinity with Pentecostalism where Easter is separate from Pentecost and there is a “second blessing” for each true believer.

By a second blessing, those who are “born again” Christians may have a second experience that leads to an upgraded quality of Christian living. Only after this second experience is genuine holiness of life achieved. Wesley’s “entire sanctification” takes the sin out of the born again believer and changes his disposition away from sin and toward love for good. The “higher life” teachers after Wesley changed the idea to a “spirit filling” second experience which permits God’s perfection with still imperfect motives.

In addition to two types of believers, Wesley also created two types of sin: voluntary [ethical] and involuntary [legal], arguing that sin can exist in its legal form with perfection. John Wesley, A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, pp. 42-3, 45-6. Wesley seems not to have appreciated the saying attributed to Anselm of Canterbury:
You have not yet considered how great the weight of sin is.
The failure to understand sin’s gravity may be what led Wesley to his views. His perfectionism is not perfectionism at all. He has actually lowered the standard of Christian conduct below that of which God has required. He has also externalized sin, saying it is only conscious sin for which the believer is responsible. This is an approach that can easily lead to legalism.

There is no warrant for perfection in the Bible. Biblical saints are constantly confessing sin (Ps 51:1-4; Dan’l 9:15-18; Is. 6:5; 64:6). Noah, Moses and David all fell short of the glory of God. Calls to holiness, as in 1 Pet. 1:15, 16, are for all, not just those receiving the “second blessing”. To maintain holiness is something less than God has ordained is not Scriptural. And, a second blessing as a universal requirement without which there is authentic holiness is nowhere taught in the Bible. Perfection will be attained when the Savior appears and we become like Him (Rom 8:29; 1 John 3:2). But, not until then.

Living in the World
What is newsworthy?

Today is August 22. Some experts of Islam say this equals the 27th day of Rajab. On that day in 1427 it is said that the Prophet Mohammed flew on the winged horse Buraq first to the farthest Mosque [usually identified as Jerusalem] then to heaven and back. Others say it is the day that commemorates the return of the Hidden Iman, the final victory of good over evil. Maybe it is both!

In any event, this date is of concern because of Iran and its new media star leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This may be a day he launches an attack on Israel or other western targets in commemoration of any or all of the above. This is the millennial madness of the media. It is what passes for news…Islamic history and prophecy which westerners do not understand, in or out of context.

But our news is worse than that. Witness the fuss over a ten year old murder and the unbalanced person who claims he did it…sort of. He was there when she died. What a carnival atmosphere…coverage in Thailand, cameras on the plane, detainment in LA, and thousands of reporters waiting in Boulder where the suspect has not even yet arrived! Western news as sensationalism at its best [worse!].

How many people have been murdered in the ensuing 10 years? While any cop would tell you how satisfying it is to clear any homicide, we are not at that point yet. The confessor is merely a suspect and certainly does not warrant the attention given to him. He may be guilty of the crime, but one cannot help but believe he was after the attention he has received.

This circus has knocked the London terror plot onto the back pages. It has preempted the Iraq war coverage. In Washington, DC, this summer there was a homicide every day for, I believe, 21 days. Do we know the names of the victims? Why not? The Ramsey case has always had a high profile because of the idea of the victim being a “glamorous child”. Now add the idea of a perverted potential killer and voilà, you have a newsworthy story, ten years after.

This is far more palatable than the possibility of blowing folks up in airplanes. That could be you. And, it is preferable to the partisan killing in Iraq and the genocide in Sudan. After all, we have nothing in common with those folks. Actually, the Ramsey case allows us all to be voyeurs of a civilly responsible type. Sure it is about sex and violence, but it is newsworthy and we should know every detail.

What is newsworthy in a sin soaked world? Anything that appeals to the corrupt nature of man. In all the ranting and raving over this case in the coming weeks, pay close attention, if you can stomach it. Mark down how often there is an appeal to the real culprit here…sinful man. Post here any such references. I think they will be non-existent. And, if you are a Christian, what is your responsibility in this matter? Sin is newsworthy only when it can be used to turn folks from it. Do not be a witness to the salacious details of the case but use this case as a witness to the grace of God.

Christian Thinking
Supernatural, objective, revealed, discovered, authoritative Truth

Briefly one may sum up the clash between the Christian mind and the secular mind thus. Secularism asserts the opinionated self as the only judge of truth. Christianity imposes the given divine revelation as the final touchstone of truth…The marks of truth as Christianly conceived, then, are that it is supernaturally grounded, not developed within nature; that it is objective and not subjective, that it is revelation and not a construction; that it is discovered by inquiry and not elected by a majority vote; that it is authoritative and not a matter of personal choice.

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), p. 107

Holiness
A non-negotiable requirement

When Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, on 31 October 1517, the first of them read:
When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, “Repent” [Matt. 4:17], he willed that the whole life of believers should be one of repentance.
Brother Martin was troubled by the lack of true repentance in the church, most dramatically evidenced by the “indulgences” sold. Luther saw that true repentance was more than sacramental confession, absolution and a penance required by a priest. Repentance is an attitude that marks a striving after holiness.

J.I. Packer puts it quite bluntly:
Show me, then, a professed Christian who does not see and insist on a life of ongoing repentance, and I will show you a stunted soul for whom God is not yet the Holy One in the full Biblical sense. For such a person, true Christian holiness is at present out of reach.
Quite an indictment, but well stated when you give it some thought.

God is the Creator of all things. He is holy and we are not. By the life, death, resurrection and ascension of His Son, His chosen ones obtain salvation from His wrath against sin and our sinful condition. So, you see, sin is the problem. And, when there is sin in the life of a believer it does two things. It impugns the sacrifice of Christ for you and places a barrier between you and God that He removed because of His great love for you. Our own casual approach to sin is an affront to God. Nothing less that total commitment, devotion and righteousness will do for our relation with Him. As a redeemed child of His, anything less is a moral failure…sin.

Along with a cavalier treatment of our own sin, thanklessness and seeking our own requires constant repentance. When we fail to be truly thankful for all we are and what we have in Him, we fail to place Him first. Lack of thankfulness toward Him is as deadly as behavior toward others that lacks grace, forgiveness and longsuffering. And, seeking our own, even in doing good, is an attempt to take His glory for ourselves. T.S. Eliot said the greatest treason is to do the right thing for the wrong reason. All we do say and think should be in love and gratitude to God for Who He is and what He has done, not for self-aggrandizement and the recognition of other men.

In order for us to be in communion with God we need to keep repenting of our sin. Makes sense, so why is it not done? For one, we live in the “Man’s basically good; I’m OK you’re OK” age with a high sense of our own innate worth and outward accomplishments. Second, we have church life that is fixated on “felt needs”, entertainment, programs and methods all aimed at the consumer. Since the focus is on “me”, heart felt repentance is not high on the list of those things taught or done in the contemporary church. Finally, the pluralism and multi-cultural acceptance of all ideas as equally valid has marginalized the practice of confessional Christianity as a proper expression of faith and belief. We live in the cafeteria era…pick and choose what you believe. Repentance…not on salad bar for selection by 21st century man.

But, repentance is not an option. God hates evil and loves good; He commands we do the same (Amos 5:15; Rom. 12:9). Yes, God is love, but He cannot tolerate sin, especially in His own. And, it is not a simple “I’m sorry” or mere regretful words that is repentance. It must come from a heartfelt acknowledgment that your sin is evil and it is an affront to the God Who laid down His life for you. Some sins are more grievous than others, but there is no little sin and it all separates us from the Holy One. Consciousness must be raised concerning His hatred of sin and that our minimal treatment of sin in our lives is, in itself, an offense to Him.

Bishop Stephen Neill has the right attitude:
To move forward on the road of holiness means to know Jesus better. To Him we always return. The better we know Him, the more plainly we shall see how little like Him we are…
And, when we come to appreciate Who He is, what He has done and what response is required as His child…we will repent and always be repenting so we can move forward on that road to holiness.

Christian Thinking
Humility…a Christ-like Virtue

There is no evil now which did not exist then, two thousand years ago. Nevertheless, our Lord came. He came into the midst of it. And he found the shortage of residential accommodations so acute that He had to be born in a stable like the child of refugees or squatters. But He came, and He grew here, talked and taught here. He didn’t come in style. He didn’t wear an old school tie. He didn’t flourish duplicated testimonials. He didn’t have a good Oxford accent or an assurance bred of Public school conditioning. He came from a working class home; He spoke a provincial dialect; and He had a body of followers some of whom might well have failed their eleven plus or their college entrance examination. He came here at the humblest level because, as God, that was where He wanted to be; where best He could work and serve and love. At the level of the factory-worker and the farm-worker, at the level of the underprivileged. He came. And He wasn’t a great success in the world. He didn’t have a brilliant career or climb the social ladder. He didn’t acquire more and more prestige, status, and possessions. He didn’t get on. He was more like you and me than like those expensively suited gentlemen in the glossy magazines who are surrounded by sleek cars, sleeker women and smart furniture. He came, by every act and word to show up the world’s evil, yet never to pretend it was not a world fit for Him, the divine, to be in, and on the bottom floor.

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), pp. 103-04.

Millennial Debate
…and the Gospel?!

It is truly amazing how millennial beliefs are formulated. For instance, using the 70th week of Daniel or the 1000 years in Revelation 20, folks build their whole theology of end times. All else in Scripture is subservient to these concepts. I would like to posit a new starting place…the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. After all our faith is in Him and the Scriptures are about Him. So, why not start with His Gospel?

As Christians we believe that the Gospel is the “good news”. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners from their sin and God’s wrath. Yet, while we proclaim this Gospel, we seem to harbor the idea that in spite of this “salvation” the world is doomed by the inevitable triumph of evil in history. We seem obligated to convert the Gospel of hope into one of despair.

But did not Jesus Himself say He has overcome the world (John 16:33)? And has not the Psalmist told us that the Son’s throne is forever (Ps. 45:6,7 and cited in Heb. 1:8)? Paul tells us God the Father has put all things in subjection under Jesus’ feet and when all has been brought under His reign, the Son will subject Himself to God the Father (1 Cor. 22-28). Jesus is at the right hand of the Father far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name now and forever with all things subject to Him (Eph. 1: 20-23). The message of Scripture is clear…Jesus Christ is King NOW!

Why a millennial view of pessimism? The Kingdom has come and Jesus does not have to return to inaugurate that Kingdom. At the coming of the angel to Mary, it was announced that His Kingdom would have no end (Luke 1:33). John the Baptist proclaimed the Kingdom of heaven was at hand (Matt. 3:2). Jesus, in sending out the 72, instructed them to heal the sick and say: “The Kingdom of God has come near you” (Luke 10: 9) and when they are not welcomed, move on nevertheless knowing “that the Kingdom of God has come near” (Matt. 10:11). The writer to the Hebrews says this Kingdom cannot be shaken (Heb. 12:28). And, in the book of Revelation, loud voices in heaven proclaim: “The Kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). The apostles understood the Kingdom had come as evidenced in Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost [quoting Ps. 110:1]: “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand until I make your enemies your footstool” (Acts 2: 34). God has made Christ both Lord and Christ…now.

So should we be triumphant? Is the Church in charge of the judgment? Has the secular been swallowed up in the sacred? Is success found in the here and now? Jesus instructs us not to lay up treasure in the here and now (Matt. 6: 19-24). The Apostle Peter says our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled and unfading, but it is in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4). Jesus also tells us there is an age to come in contrast with the now (Matt. 12:32; Mark 10:30). He also tells Christians to expect tribulation right in the passage where He says He has overcome the world (John 16:33). Paul also emphasized this expectation of tribulation as part of strengthening the souls of converts in his church planting (Acts 14: 22). Jesus also promised that the world will hate and persecute His followers as they did Him (John 15: 18-20). We see the present reality of tribulation and persecution in places like Sudan, China and Indonesia. Try telling them this is the Golden Age of the Church!

And what about our struggle with the flesh, the world and Satan? Paul tells us of the struggle with sin (Romans 7: 15-25). And, while in God’s children there is no condemnation, we are still in the business of following the imperatives…putting to death, putting away, and putting off the old and putting on the new…as God’s chosen ones (Col. 3: 5-15). Borrowing from Oscar Cullman’s example of D-Day deciding the outcome of WW II…the war has been won but there are many battles yet to be fought. With trials, tribulations and sin can we really believe that we have arrived? An over realized view of the Gospel results in the imperative without the indicative. It centers on the subjective and our methods, techniques, and programs leading to perfectionism, legalism and self-righteousness.

What to do? We must hold these matters in tension. Yes, Christ is King now, but we must work out our salvation with fear and trembling. We believe the Gospel indicative and that leads to the Gospel imperative. The grace that saves us will sanctify and glorify us. The Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe and the righteous live by faith (Rom. 1: 16, 17). There is oppression but not defeat. There is victory but not triumph. Jesus tells the parable of the weeds and explains it in Matt. 13: 24-43. Therein, He explains that the Kingdom has already come but it is not yet perfect. Yes, He is coming again and He tells us to “stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning” for you “must also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect” (Luke 12: 35, 40).

What are we to do in the face of all this? Live in and by grace evidencing the parousia ethic proclaimed by Peter:
Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, Who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1 Pet. 5:6-10).

Holiness
What is sanctification?

The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), Shorter Catechism, in Question and Answer No. 35 addresses the question of sanctification:

Q. 35. What is sanctification?
A. Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness.

Sanctification is the application of redemption to a believer by God’s grace. Regeneration is the beginning of God’s work in a believer and sanctification brings about the completion of the work started in regeneration. A.A. Hodge in his commentary on the WCF gives the “how” of sanctification as follows:
This work of sanctification involves the destruction of the old body of sin, as well as the development of the grace imparted in regeneration: it is first inward and spiritual, and then outward and practical.
A.A. Hodge, The Confession of Faith, (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 158), p. 197.

A contemporary Reformed theologian, Sinclair Ferguson says that sanctification is set within the context of justification and: is the growth of the seed of regeneration and the outworking of the union with Jesus Christ. It is through this union with Christ that the believer receives the spiritual blessings of salvation. The WCF 12.1 declares that in sanctification, the new man is “more and more quickened and strengthened in all saving graces, to the practice of true holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.”

This process has traditionally been viewed as part of the “golden chain” of steps or links (ordo salutis) to understand the application of salvation to a life. But this process of sanctification designated the ordo salutis has its drawbacks. We cannot know how the Holy Spirit cleanses us from sin so an attempt to logically explain the work of God is trying to explain the inexplicable. It becomes an attempt to understand rather than believe and trust God. Other criticisms of the ordo salutis is that it displaces Christ by failing to consider the historica salutis (the accomplishment of redemption by Him); displaces the richness of the work of the Holy Spirit; fails to emphasize the work by replacing it with the process; and tends to separate the blessings of Christ from Christ Himself.

These ordo salutis issues are magnified in this age of radical individualism. In contemporary culture, man is the center of all things. And, that type of thinking has seeped into the Christian community. Incrementalism in salvation allows man to find a way to participate in the process. Sanctification is just another 5, 7 or 12 step program man accomplishes himself. Who needs the Holy Spirit?

John Calvin’s commentary on 1 Cor. 1:5 [“In Him you have been enriched in every way—in all your speaking and all your knowledge”] points to the “in Christ” model of sanctification:
…for we are enriched in Christ because we are members of His body, and we have been engrafted into Him; and furthermore since we have been made one with Him, He shares with us all that He has received from the Father.
John Calvin, Commentary on 1 Corinthians, (Edinburgh: Andrews Press, 1960)
The believer is “enriched” in Christ”; “engrafted” into Christ; made “one” with Him and receives “all” that He has. Jesus is not only the source of blessing…He is the blessing of salvation. “The blessings of salvation become ours through the Spirit, exclusively, immediately, simultaneously and eschatologically in Christ.” Sinclair Ferguson, The Holy Spirit, (Downers Grove, ILL: IVP, 1996), p. 102.

The benefits of belonging to Christ are the believers now. The focus of sanctification is the Holy Spirit applying the finished work of Christ to the believer in His sovereign and mysterious way. Sanctification that is not a bit by bit building block approach has several benefits. The blessings of salvation are never separated from Christ. The historical accomplishment of redemption by Christ is maintained. No one is permitted to labor under the assumption that “something more” is needed to apply salvation to a life. Avoided is the “self-centered spirituality” [Jesus saves but I am keeping my salvation] prevalent today. Jesus Christ alone is the ground of not only our justification but also our sanctification. The believer’s holiness is a work of and by Him.

Millennial Debate
Post-millennialism

Post-millennialism is the most optimistic position as to the church’s influence on society. Jesus Christ reigns by His Word and Spirit until evil is defeated. One of the key Post-millennial contemporary thinkers is Kenneth Gentry. Some of his points of Post-millennialism are as follows:
1. The Messianic Kingdom was founded on earth during Christ’s earthly ministry.
2. The NT Church becomes transformed Israel, the Israel of God in Gal. 6:16.
3. The Kingdom will exercise a socio-economic transformation of culture by and through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
4. The Kingdom will gradually expand in time on earth by His royal kingship but without His presence.
5. The Kingdom is redemptive and spiritual, not political and physical.
6. The Great Commission will succeed resulting in Christianizing the nations.
[With 5 & 6 there is a distinction between pietistic post-millennialists and theonomic post-millennialists. The former do not believe transformation of culture will occur through the imposition of Biblical law; the latter do.]
See, Kenneth Gentry, Jr., He Shall Have Dominion: A Post-Millennial Eschatology, (Tyler, TX: Institute for Christian Economics, 1992).

For the Post-millennialist, Jesus Christ returns after the Gospel becomes the pre-dominant worldview. There will be prosperity, peace and righteousness. It will be a gradual process, but the Great Commission will triumph. The main mission of the church is to redeem the culture. Jesus, at His resurrection was given all authority in heaven and earth and nothing can hinder the growth of His spiritual Kingdom. When He returns (the Second Coming) all things will have been placed under His feet. His rule will be complete, and after (post) the millennial reign, “then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him Who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all [1 Cor. 15:28].”

Christian Thinking
Why am I surprised?

A peculiar quality of the Christian mind is that, knowing the weakness of human nature, it expects conflict in the moral sphere. It assumes that the powers of evil will exploit every possible occasion for drawing men into mental confusion of blurred concepts and twisted values There is about the Christian mind a peculiar hardness—a refusal to be surprised at evil and depravity; an inability to be overcome by shock; an expectation that evil will be at large where God is not. Hence its cultivated suspiciousness of that which currently passes muster, in any powerful worldly circle, as the right thing. Hence, in the moral sphere, its zealous attention to the thin ends of wedges. It knows how evil grows.

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), p. 102.

Millennial Debate
Amillennialism

Amillennialism is probably better rendered “realized millennium”. It signifies a belief that the church age is the age of the Kingdom of God, that is, the Kingdom of God has already begun. The church, to the extent that it manifests God’s Kingdom, will have a positive influence on the culture and human conditions. But, there will be apostasy, a period of great suffering…the Tribulation…and then Christ will return and consummate all things. It represents the tension of the “already/not yet”.

Amillennialism is the eschatological system of the majority of Reformed believers. The following is a definition put forth by one of them:
Amillennialists interpret the millennium mentioned in Revelation 20 as describing the present reign of the souls of deceased believers with Christ in heaven, They understand the binding of Satan mentioned in the first three verses of this chapter as being in effect during the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ…Amillennialists further hold that the Kingdom of God is now present in the world as the victorious Christ is ruling His people by His word and Spirit, though they also look forward to a future, glorious and perfect kingdom on the new earth in the life to come… the kingdom of evil will continue to exist alongside the Kingdom of God until the end of the world…the so-called “signs of the times” have been present in the world from the time of Christ’s first coming but they will come to a more intensified, final manifestation just before the Second Coming. The amillennialist, therefore, expects the bringing of the Gospel to all nations and the conversion of the fullness of Israel to be completed before Christ’s retur. He also looks for an intensified form of tribulation and apostasy as well as for the appearance of a personal antichrist before the Second Coming.
Anthony Hoekema, The Bible and the Future, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1979), p. 174.

The amillennialist believes this world will get worse and that the glory of Christ’s present reign (the “already’) and the glory of His return (the “not yet”) are enough for the Christian. Now is the time to evangelize and Christ is worth dying for. The believer lives by faith in a state of grace, serving God, worshiping Him in Spirit and Truth and relying on His promises and sovereignty. Neither triumphalist nor defeatist, the amillennialist is a pilgrim in but not of this world, walking by faith and living in the light, boasting only in the cross of Christ.

Millennial Debate
Pre-millennialism

Pre-millennialism comes in two packages. One is dispensational pre-millennialism, which is the majority view of Christians is the USA today. The other vie is historic pre-millennialism. Dispensational pre-millennialism is of recent vintage having first appearing in early 19th century England. It was propagated successfully and thoroughly by and through the Schofield Reference Bible first published in 1909. C.I. Schofield was the first leading proponent of dispensationalism followed by Lewis Sperry Chafer, Harry Ironside and most recently Norman Geisler, Charles Ryrie, and John Walvoord.

Charles Ryrie defines Dispensational Pre-Millennialism as follows:

Pre-millennialists believe that theirs is the historic faith of the Church. Holding to a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, they believe that the promises made to Abraham and David are unconditional and have had or will have a literal fulfillment. In no sense have these promises made to Israel been abrogated or fulfilled by the church, which is a distinct body in this age having promises and destiny different from Israel’s. At the close of this age, pre-millennialists believe that Christ will return for His Church, meeting her in the air (this is not the Second Coming of Christ), which event, called the rapture or translation, will usher in a seven-year period of tribulation on the earth. After this, the Lord will return to the earth (this will be the Second Coming of Christ) to establish His kingdom on earth fro a 1000 years, during which time the promises to Israel will be fulfilled.
Charles Caldwell Ryrie, The Basis of the Pre-Millennial Faith, (New York, New York: Loizeaux, 1953), p. 12.

Historic Pre-Millennialism distances itself from dispensationalism. An historic pre-millennialist sets forth his objection:

The idea of a pre-tribulation rapture of the Church was nor seen in the Scriptures by the early church fathers. They were futurists and pre-millennialists but not pretribulationalists…Pre-tribulationlism was an unknown teaching until the Plymouth Brethren among whom the doctrine originated…The vocabulary of the Blessed Hope knows nothing of the two aspects of Christ’s coming, one secret and one glorious…it [meaning dispensationalism] misrepresents the Blessed Hope by defining it in terms of an escape from suffering rather than a union with Christ and thus may be guilty of the positive danger of leaving the Church unprepared for the tribulation when the Antichrist appears.
George Eldon Ladd, The Blessed Hope, (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 1956), pp. 162-64.

The Dispensationalist expects a literal re-establishment of the Old Testament economy under the reign of Christ. For the dispensationalist, the age of the church is a parenthesis between the Old Testament and the Millennial Kingdom. Therefore, there are two distinctly different programs for the church and Israel. The church is not the “new Israel” and does not fulfill Old Testament prophecies so that in the Millennium, the temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices re-instated.

The historic pre-millennialist does not impose a dichotomy on Israel and the church. They believe the church will apostatize and pass through the Great Tribulation at the end of which Jesus Christ will return and set up a 1000 year earthly kingdom.
Historic pre-millennialists are less explicit about the extent of the Old Testament economy during the Millennium, but the central expectation is for the salvation of the Jews.

Pre-millennialism of either form is based on a 1000 year reign of Christ. That 1000 year reign, or millennium, is only specifically mentioned in Scripture in Revelation Chapter 20. And, while historic pre-millennialism is acclaimed as the view of the ancients, the dispensational variety is of recent vintage and is a new way of looking at the history of redemption whereby, in the words of Louis Berkhof, “Israel plays a leading role and the Church is but an interlude.” It is a system that creates multiple returns of Christ, dispensations and judgments. Dispensational pre-millennialism is the dominant view in the US church today.

Holiness
Where is begins

Holiness begins with salvation. No one is holy without being “in Christ” as Paul frequently uses the term. It is the union with Christ that energizes and animates us to be holy. As Packer puts it:
Natural life is super-naturalized as the Holy Spirit makes Christ present to us, and reproduces in us the God oriented desires, aims, attitudes and behavior patterns that were senk in Christ’s own perfect humanity when he was on earth.
If you are a Christian, think back to the way it was when you were dead in sin and trespasses. As the Apostle Paul puts it, we were all children of wrath living for Satan, the world and our flesh [Eph. 2:1-3].

Why were we all children of wrath? Sin…that anti-God attitude manifesting itself in pride, thanklessness and self-fulfillment. For some, it results in anti-social behavior and in the nice folks we know a failure to love their Creator God because of their self-love. It is a universal condition that can only be corrected by the sovereign work of God. It is a disease that is fatal and not subject to self-cure, in fact self is what feeds the disease. We are incapable of holiness.

The new life in Christ from salvation radically changes a person. We now have a new life and the old has passed away [Rom. 6:3-11; Eph 2: 4-10; Col 2: 11-14]. In theological jargon the new person has been justified, that is declared by God “just as if I had never sinned”; adopted, now calling God the Creator-Judge my Father; and cleansed, my sin has been removed so that there is no barrier to my relationship with God. Only now is one prepared for a life of holiness.

But, here a mistake is often made. Contrary to popular misconceptions, we have not arrived…we are not holy. The proper understanding of this makes our awe of the God Who justified, adopted and cleansed us greater. We are in the words of Martin Luther…simul justus et peccator…at the same time justified [declared sinless] but still sinning. Imagine that, we do not fully love and serve God, but He had sacrificed Himself for us because He loved us fully and completely! And, after He saves you He is fully engaged in the holiness business in your life.

This holiness business is known as sanctification…God making you more like His Son and your Savior. It is increasing conformity to Jesus and all His attributes displayed while He was on earth. We may face “tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger…or the sword” but it all works together for good for the Christian and none of it can separate us from God. [Rom. 8: 26-39] All that happens to a Christian is planned by the Heavenly Father to help the believer along the path of holiness.

It is a life long process, sometimes almost imperceptible, sometimes with breakthroughs that amaze the believer. We know the process, but we cannot know the particulars. They are in the sole domain of God. This is summarized in 1 John 3:2:
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him because we shall see Him as He is.
And, without being His children through His salvation, there can be no holiness.

Millennial Debate
The Last Question

Have you noticed what was the last question asked of our Lord just before His ascension? “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” [Acts 1:6 ESV]. Of course, He tells them in no uncertain terms that it is not their business to know when things God has ordained happen…their job is to be witnesses when they receive the power of the Holy Spirit.

But, from this last question, we see why it is not surprising that folks are interested in eschatological matters. Just as His first disciples, we cannot know when He will come again. Yet, what we believe about that certainly affects our actions as a Christian. Everywhere you find believers who are not much interested in affecting the culture in which they live and are looking forward to being raptured out of here before the Great Tribulation. And, that has a lot to do with how the American culture was ceded to the pagan influence that is prevalent today.

We also have another war in the Middle East. You can almost hear the books being written showing how this latest conflict will be bringing Armageddon closer to a reality in our time. [Call your office Hal Lindsey!] It seems like a good time to wade into the millennial debate. Not because we can discern what is going to happen. But, because what we believe about the Kingdom of God in terms of its realization will have a profound affect on our living and witness for the Gospel.

As a beginning, let’s review the standard, garden variety accepted millennial systems:

Pre-millennialism—There will be a future, literal, earthly millennial kingdom and it will begin when Christ returns.
Chronology: Church Age-->Second Coming-->Partial resurrection and Judgment
-->Millennium-->Apostasy-->Remaining Resurrection and Judgment-->Eternal State

A-millennialism—There will be no literal millennial kingdom.
Chronology: Church Age=Millennium-->Apostasy-->Second Coming-->General Resurrection and Judgment-->Eternal State

Post-millennialism—Christ will return after the millennial kingdom concludes.
Chronology: Church Age-->Millennium-->Second Coming-->General Resurrection and Judgment-->Eternal State

We will look more closely at these millennial systems, examine strong and weak points and offer some commentary that will both challenge and confront what are commonly held ideas. It should be interesting.

Holiness
Whatever happened to it?

Approximately a dozen years ago, 1200 miles from the Eastern Continental Divide, I was having lunch at a well know Christian para-church ministry. Across the table from me sat a devote Christian brother who belonged to a Nazarene church. I was expounding to him why I believed the Doctrines of Grace most completely embody and explain the Biblical faith professed by a believer. His comment: “Yes, but in Reformed circles where is the holiness?” Check!

It was neither the time nor place to engage in debate, but his point was well taken. “Once saved always saved” is a characterization of Calvinism. However, there is a whole lot of belief not followed by behavior that is, in reality, no belief at all. Holiness is a matter of the heart. Heart in the Biblical sense as the center or focus of your life; from whence springs all your thinking that leads to action. When we see one who is a “holy man/woman”, that person is holy at the core of his/her being.

Holiness is not the keeping of God’s law or man’s law to show how formal and better we are than others. Holiness is not living the live of an ascetic in austerity and separation from the world. Holiness is not doing all manner and sorts of religious activities to prove to you and the world that you are in the Kingdom of God. Holiness is first about being…Be holy because I am holy [1 Peter 1:16]. Holiness is about doing but always as the response of a thankful sinner for the grace that has saved him.

We are all familiar with the statistics that show Christians with divorce and abortion rates the same as non-Christians. Where is the holiness? It is in short supply today. My friend at lunch was correct, but the lack of holiness is evident not just in the Reformed, but in a large majority of the Christian community. J.I. Packer says holiness in a person is:

“…a matter of Spirit-led law keeping, a walk, or course of life, in the Spirit that displays the fruit of the Spirit (Christ-likeness of attitude and disposition.). It is matter of seeking to imitate Jesus’ way of behaving, through depending on Jesus for deliverance from carnal self-absorption and for discernment of spiritual needs and possibilities."

Why has holiness gone? In large part it has disappeared because instead of living in the Spirit, we live in the flesh; instead of imitating Jesus, we seek to imitate the world; instead of being delivered from self-absorption we are constantly looking for self-fulfillment. And, this by those who are professing Christians! One of the important issues we will look at during August is holiness and recovering it in the Christian life.

Christian Thinking
People are not always what they seem

...the discerning Christian knows that s cunning or intelligent man may lead a life of almost diabolical pride, in which he strives in every moment to minister to the desires and vanities of his own inflated self—and yet may pass of for a respectable, law abiding citizen. Indeed, he may rise to a position of eminence in the world by the persistence and subtle practice of he most calculated self service…The Christian mind knows that in any sorting out of the sheep and goats of the virtuous from the sinful, the forces of Heaven would slice through human society at an unexpected angle. The knife would cut firmly but certainly not horizontally. What we can say or think about how it would separate the self-seekers from the fundamentally God-directed souls, except that it would certainly not leave all the convicts and perverts and public nuisances on one side, and all the cabinet ministers and business executives and members of the Watch Committee on the other?

Harry Blamires, The Christian Mind, How Should a Christian Think? (Ann Arbor, Mi: Servant Books, 1963), pp. 90-91.