“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5). Jesus was born “under the Law.” Through the centuries, various views on the nature of the Mosaic Law have been bandied about in the church. Some have understood the Law in contrast to the Abrahamic covenant as God instituting an impossible meritorious system of salvation. If someone could keep the Law perfectly, he would be counted righteous and, therefore, earn his salvation. But God, knowing that no one could do this, sent Jesus to earn salvation with works of supererogation so that there is now an infinite treasury of merit for all who believe.
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Letters To Young Men: OK, Boomer
Dear Young Man,
I haven’t written a letter like this in a while, but having watched online interactions over the past few years, it seemed prudent to take up this format again. Generational hostilities have heated up on social media, especially coming from millennials and Gen Z, and I want to address it. (If you are not part of the social media militia, you can still read this letter with profit, but it won’t apply to you as directly). The “OK, Boomer” attitude has become a standard meme. Older generations (including Gen X, of which I am a part) are railed against for the messes they have left for the younger generations while providing them few, if any, tools with which to clean them up. Many of the accusations are legitimate. Boomers, having been raised by Silents who had to scrape by during the depression and face the harsh realities of World War 2, wanted an easier life for their children. My grandpa, a Silent who was, for all intents and purposes, my father, told me that he wouldn’t teach me to weld (he was a master welder) because he wanted me to get a college education so I wouldn’t have to work as hard as he did. The Silents gave their children everything they could, making life as easy as possible. It turned into a culture of rebellion, “free love,” Second Wave Feminism, and a general self-centeredness whose greatest aspiration was to retire at a young age to free themselves of as much responsibility as possible.
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The Covenant Story: Abraham’s Altars
Not long after God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees/Babylonians, Abraham started a missionary journey. He set out to be what God called him to be: a blessing to the nations. He wasted no time. He journeyed down to the land of Shechem right in the midst of the cursed line of Ham, the Canaanites. Around a terebinth tree at Moreh, Yahweh appeared to him and promised him the land where he was dwelling. Abraham’s response was to build an altar, establishing worship in the land (Gen 12:4-7).
After this, Abraham moved to the land between Bethel and Ai and built another altar (Gen 12:8). Later, after splitting up with his nephew, Lot, Abraham was promised by Yahweh again that he would possess the land. Abraham responded to Yahweh’s promise by building another altar at Hebron, near the terebinth trees of Mamre (Gen 13:14-18). The building of these altars anticipated and prepared the way for the promise of God to come to its fullness. It may have seemed small and somewhat insignificant compared to the vastness of the promise that God made that Abraham would inherit the world (cf. Rom 4:13), but Abraham started where Yahweh put him. He did what he was supposed to do in the place God, in his providence, placed him.
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The Covenant Story: Creation Through Noah
In the beginning, God spoke. In his words, he revealed himself, expressing the glories of his person and his eternal Triune relationship in light, darkness, the firmament-heaven, seas, dry land, vegetation, sun, moon, stars, creatures of the land and sea, and, above all, man, who is created as the unique image of God. God’s words were his bond. They not only called into existence the world and everything in it from nothing, but his word bound him to the world. His word was his covenant.
Creation was not completed with one grand word spoken so that everything was created instantly. Rather, God progressively moved creation from immaturity–formless and void–to greater maturity over the span of six days. His creative actions set the stage for how the story of the world will unfold. Through God’s covenant words, the world will move from immaturity to maturity.
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Weighing Debts
Forgiveness and reconciliation can be a thorny issue. Many questions must be asked to determine the shape of forgiveness and reconciliation. Is sin truly involved, or is one of the people offended because of his own unrealistic expectations of the other person? That is, one person has his feelings hurt because he is overly demanding, and no one lives up to his expectations. If sin is involved, is the sin of such a nature that it can be forgiven so that the relationship can return to what it was? If one spouse speaks uncharacteristically harshly to the other, forgiveness can be granted and the sin practically forgotten. Or is the sin of such a nature that the relationship is unalterably changed even though forgiveness is granted? If a spouse is a serial adulterer/adulteress, leading to a divorce, the marriage may never go back to what it was. Is the sinning party repentant or unrepentant? What is the part restitution plays in reconciliation? What does the healing process look like after forgiveness is granted? Though we don’t need to make forgiveness more complicated than necessary, human relationships are not as simple as “do these three things and move on.” (I’ve written several articles on forgiveness at Kuyperian Commentary. You can find them here, and a series that begins here.)
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JUST DO IT!
“Just tell me what to do!” Pastors and counselors sometimes hear these words from people in difficult situations. Whether they have gotten themselves into the situations through unwise decisions or suffering from someone else’s sin against them, they want answers. They want to know how to alleviate the painful consequences. Unfortunately, many people are looking for a silver bullet in the form of a simple formula or for the pastor or counselor to tell them exactly what to do. Telling them occasionally that you will not give them a rule or a command and expect them to follow orders strictly frustrates them. You may even be labeled as “unloving.” Sometimes, the person may be given principles and guidance with options, but that person must wrestle through the issue and make his own decisions.
When people are in trouble, they tend to revert to authoritarianism. It is simple. Follow the rules. Obey commands. Treat the world as an impersonal machine that operates by formulaic cause-and-effect. Expect everything to be fixed without time and work. People like authoritarianism at times because it alleviates personal responsibility. If I check everything off the list and “it doesn’t work,” it is your fault.
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My Rights
“I have my rights.” In America, yes, you do. We are a nation founded on the principle that God has granted certain inalienable rights that cannot be taken away but, rather, must be protected by the government. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We enshrined specified rights within the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, known as “The Bill of Rights.” We should be thankful for our rights as American citizens and continue to do everything in our lawful power to keep the government from infringing on those rights.
Rights given by God are given for his purposes. That is, he gives us personal privileges and authority to carry out the mission he gave us in the beginning. We are given rights for the purpose of taking dominion, building the kingdom. When our rights are divorced from their purpose, instead of edifying free speech, we have destructive speech, such as pornography, that cloaks itself as free speech. Instead of the true religion of the Christian faith, we have a mélange of multiculturalism that views all religions as equal. Instead of the right to pursue happiness through personal responsibility, we have the right to steal from others by voting thieves into office who will transfer wealth from those who earned it to leeches. Rights divorced from the gospel of the kingdom are used for deleterious self-consumption that eventually destroys society by implosion.
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Called Out
What if your pastor DMed you about an interpersonal relationship problem that you were having and then said, “Oh yeah, when you are finished reading this, read this or have this read to the entire church”? First, you might be a little peeved that he was digging into your business. He needs to mind his own business. My relationships at home, work, and with my friends are none of his business. Second, if you are a typical American Christian, you’d probably find another church to rid yourself of this “spiritually abusive pastor.” Then, you would get on social media and talk about how you have suffered from the abuse of spiritual power, gain a following, and start an intersectional community of all those who have been DMed by their pastor about their relationships.
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Praying in the Spirit: Our Words in the Word
In the beginning, the Speaker spoke the Word. The Word went out from the Speaker, carried along by the Breath, and the world was created, formed, and filled. Speaker, Word, and Breath working in loving, powerful union with one another to create from nothing everything that is.
The height of this creative activity was the creation of man himself, the image of God. He is a creaturely word, a revelation of God within the creation. This form fashioned from the dust of the ground was himself filled with the Spirit-Breath of God. This Spirit empowered him to take the creation given to him and, by word and deed, follow in the image of God to create, arrange, form, and fill this creation so that it will one day reflect God’s own heavenly throne room. This is his dominion task.
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Praying In The Spirit: Praying In Faith
What the world needs now is a crazed Muslim leader in the Middle East who has nuclear capabilities to launch a nuclear weapon at the USA. The world needs Christians to suffer and die at the hands of atheistic Communists and rabid Muslims. America needs abortion to continue to be legal for decades to come. Aunt Lucy needs to be diagnosed with stage four cancer. Uncle Joe needs to be in an accident, so he loses a leg. Henrietta needs to lose her child to leukemia. We and the rest of creation need these horrible things.
Who would ever think such things? Who would ever pray for such things? No one that I know.
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