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On October 24, 2019 By In Theology

Reformation Myths, Part 2

In the first post, we dealt with two myths. First, the myth that the Reformers did not care about the outward unity of the Church, and second, the myth that the Reformers wanted each individual Christian to read the Bible on his own and interpret the Bible on his own.  In this final post, I will offer two additional myths. We cannot detail all the various myths surrounding Reformational theology, but we will be content with these four.

The third myth is that the Reformers invented the idea of predestination. The Reformers certainly taught the idea of predestination, but they certainly did not invent the idea of predestination. Augustine many centuries earlier in response to the heretic, Pelagius, had a very developed theology of predestination. Augustine wrote:

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On October 22, 2019 By In Theology

Reformation Myths, Part 1

Reformation Sunday is coming! Thanks to the vast availability of theological material on-line, the Reformed faith has become familiar furniture in the evangelical house. Still, Reformed theology can be very divisive.  A quick search through on-line debates will produce a plethora of healthy and detrimental interactions between Reformed and non-Reformed. Our calling as Christians is to strive towards like-mindedness (Jn. 17) with the non-Reformed, but this does not mean that we ought to strive towards like-mindlessness. The call to unity is a call for us to dialogue with other Trinitarians with an open Bible and a humble spirit. a. To begin this conversation we need to clear away misunderstandings; to clear away the myths concerning the Reformation. It is my humble opinion that the greatest expression of Trinitarian orthodoxy in the world today is found in the Reformed faith. Explaining precisely what this great tradition desired to do will help us ground ourselves in the Reformation’s conviction that the Scriptures are our highest authority in life.

Critics have developed many myths about the 16th century Reformation. Ironically, the critics would not have the privilege and liberty to express their criticisms if it had not been for the Reformation. They persist nevertheless. We will examine four of these myths in the next couple of posts.

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  1. Thanks to my friend, Rich Lusk, for elaborating on these  (back)

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On October 19, 2019 By In Books, Culture, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Science

This is the fourth part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

In this lecture, Kuyper shows how Calvinism has impacted the field of Science. He argues that it has done this in four key ways: fostered a love for science, restored its full domain, set it free from unnatural bonds, and solved what Kuyper calls, the unavoidable scientific conflict. 

Calvinism Fostered Science

First, Kuyper shows how Calvinism encouraged a true love of science. The love of science is bound up with a love of God’s character and and how He has lovingly predestined everything. Kuyper says it this way: “But if you now proceed to the decree of God, what else does God’s fore-ordination mean than the certainty that the existence and course of all things, i.e. of the entire cosmos, instead of being a plaything of caprice and chance, obeys law and order, and that there exists a firm will which carries out its designs both in nature and in history?” (p 114) The very ground of scientific investigation rests up the way God has orchestrated and ordained the world. In a random world, there would be no laws of nature for science to study. It is only in a world that is governed by the fatherly eye of God, can there be real science.

Kuyper says, “Thus you recognize that the cosmos, instead of being a heap of stones, loosely thrown together, on the contrary presents to our mind a monumental building erected in a severely consistent style” (p 114). We do not live in an evolving pond of goo but in a grand cathedral with stained glass windows and ornate flying buttresses. All of it is designed by the hand of a loving artist. 

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On October 14, 2019 By In Books, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Politics

This is the third part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

In this lecture, Kuyper shows how Calvinism has impacted politics over the last several centuries. Calvinism has had this impact not because of a particular soteriology, like justification by faith, but rather because Calvinism has given special focus to God’s sovereignty. This teaching impacts all areas of authority in the world: State, Society, and Church. Each of these authorities must submit to the highest authority: the sovereign God. In this lecture, Kuyper focuses on God’s Sovereignty over the State.  

The Nature of the State

Kuyper first begins by explaining the nature of the state, its origin and position in the world. He explains, “For, indeed without sin there would have been neither magistrate nor state-order; but political life, in its entirety, would have evolved itself, after a patriarchal fashion, from the life of the family” (p 80). He also describes the State as a crutch for a lame leg. In a perfect world, this crutch would not be needed, but in a fallen world, the State is a gift of God set up and established under His authority. 

Kuyper then draws out two key lessons. First, that we should gratefully receive the state from the hand of God and also recognize, “…that, by virtue of our natural impulse, we must ever watch against the danger which lurks, for our personal liberty, in the power of the State” (p 81). Kuyper saw correctly that the State is a necessary authority but it also must be restrained. 

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On October 13, 2019 By In Theology, Wisdom

Growing In Authority

When Jesus called his Twelve men in Luke 6, he named them apostles. They would be his official representatives, sent out with his authority. Their initial calling looked toward maturity. Eventually, they would be ready for Jesus to grant them more authority and send them out. But there must be time between their calling and when Jesus sends them out with his authority to deliver people from demons and disease in Luke 9. This is where Jesus was taking them, but before he could entrust them with this authority, they had to be with Jesus for a while to learn from him by word and example what it means to have and use authority in his kingdom. The disciples stay in the “school of Jesus” for a while. Then, when Jesus deems them ready, we see Jesus granting them the authority he always intended to give them.

While our calling might not seem so dramatic as theirs, our calling has the same fundamental trajectory: maturity that will be able to handle greater authority. At our baptism, Jesus calls us into a special relationship with himself. We belong to him and he to us. Like the disciples, we are called to be with him to learn from him. Also, like the disciples, we are vested with a certain amount of authority in our calling. When Jesus grants his authority to his disciples, he is “clothing” or “vesting” them in his own authority. When we are baptized, Paul says that we “put on Christ” (Gal 3.27). We are vested with Christ’s name, and with that name, a certain amount of authority. While our authority and responsibility grow throughout the years, every Christian has this basic authority. Each Christian bears the name of Christ and has the responsibility to use that authority as he did: to serve others.

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On October 11, 2019 By In Books, Politics, Theology, Worship

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism and Religion

This is the second part of a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

Religion is For God

In this second lecture, Kuyper argues that Calvinism has a religious energy that other theological camps do not. This energy is found in how Calvinism places God and God’s glory at the center of all religious life. This energy restores the true nature of religion and this restoration in turn sets out the full task of man before God.

What is this religious energy in Calvinism? It is that all of the Christian religion must be for God. Kuyper says, “The starting point of every motive in religion is God and not Man” (p 46). God should be our primary and ultimate goal. We must love and worship God for His own sake, not because we are trying to get a reward out of Him. Kuyper says this is our goal: “…to covet no other existence than for the sake of God, to long for nothing but the will of God, and to be wholly absorbed in the glory of the name of the Lord, such is the pith and kernel of all true religion” (p 46). The true demand of the Christian life is that we must spend all our energy following God’s will. 

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On October 10, 2019 By In Books, Politics, Theology

Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism: Calvinism a Life-System

This is the first in a six part article series on Abraham Kuyper’s Lectures on Calvinism. He gave these lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary over a series of days in October 1898. Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

In his first lecture, Abraham Kuyper sets out his reason for lecturing on Calvinism. He sees that Modernism is on the rise and so we need a solid theological foundation that can combat this rising threat. He says that Calvinism is this true foundation because it is a life-system. It covers every aspect of man’s condition: Man’s relation before God, his relation with his fellow-man, and his relation to creation. Kuyper also argues that Calvinism is not tied to any one country or people group and so Calvinism is a truly catholic force that brings good to the whole world. 

We Need a Life System

First, Kuyper sets out the need for a life-system. In 1898, Kuyper saw correctly the threat of Modernism coming and he understood the dangerous nature of it to Christianity. Kuyper observes, “Two life systems are wrestling with one another, in mortal combat” (p 11). There is no neutral ground between these two life systems. He says that this is the struggle in Europe and in America. He describes the two sides this way: “Modernism is bound to build a world of its own from the data of the natural man, and to construct man himself from the data of nature; while on the other hand, all those who reverently bend the knee to Christ and worship Him as the Son of the living God, and God himself, are bent upon saving the “Christian Heritage” (p 11). Kuyer rightly saw that the worldview of naturalism and supernaturalism could not stand together. One must win in the end. 

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On October 1, 2019 By In Art, Culture, Politics, Theology

International Abraham Kuyper Month

Happy International Abraham Kuyper Month!

October is the month to celebrate all things Kuyperian. If you are not familiar with Kuyper, let me suggest that you get familiar with this important man. As a place to start, here is a quick introduction to his life and work. If you are familiar with Kuyper, then this is a great month to go deeper and learn more from him. 

A brief biography

Abraham Kuyper was born on October 29, 1837 in the Netherlands. He grew up in the Dutch Reformed church and his father was a minister in that denomination. His father educated him when he was young and then Abraham went on to study philosophy, theology, and literature at the university level, graduating summa cum laude.

He became a minister in the Dutch Reformed church but he saw growing corruption there and led a reforming movement and encouraged the separation of the church from the power of the state.

He was elected to parliament in 1874 and began a successful career in politics. He was Prime Minister of Netherlands from 1901 to 1905.

In his work, Kuyper encouraged a strong antithesis between Christianity and other worldly philosophies, especially Modernism and Liberal theology. He also promoted Calvinism and helped develop a deeper understanding of sphere sovereignty for the church, state, and family.

In 1898, Abraham Kuyper was invited by B.B. Warfield to give a series of lectures at Princeton Theological seminary, called the Stone Lectures. In October of that year, Kuyper gave six lectures on Calvinism as a life-system.

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On September 29, 2019 By In Theology

Healing & Holy Garments

As Jesus was pressing through the crowd to get to Jairus’s house to heal his daughter who was at the point of death, a desperate, nameless lady who had a flow of blood for twelve years made her way through the crowd seeking to touch Jesus’ garment. She believed that if she could but touch his garment, she would be cleansed and made whole. She believed the message of the good news of the kingdom Jesus had been proclaiming throughout that region. She had heard about how he had been touching the unclean and they were becoming clean. This was very different from everything she knew about the whole system of clean and unclean up to this point in history. Up to this time, only uncleanness spread. Holiness did not. If she were to touch someone, that person would become unclean. That’s what the Law said in Leviticus 15. The other person’s cleanness would not be contracted by her. That’s just the way things were up to this point in history.

Obviously, something was changing. This wasn’t happening with Jesus. The unclean were contracting cleanness from Jesus. She believed God was spreading life through Jesus, so she took her chances and sought to touch his garment.

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On September 23, 2019 By In Family and Children, Theology

Baptism: Overwhelmed by the Waters

Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me. I am weary with my crying out; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God. (Ps. 69:1-3)

Prayer: Almighty God, who formed the earth out of water and through water by your word, who saved Noah and his family through water while destroying the wicked, who delivered your people Israel through the Sea while defeating Pharaoh and his armies, all of which are types of baptism into Christ Jesus, we pray that you will look mercifully upon Elaine, saving her with your people while destroying sin and death. May she, throughout her life, relying upon the grace you give to her this day, continue to mortify sin so that at the last day she may participate in the resurrection of the just and reign with Christ Jesus eternally. Amen

Since the earliest days of our existence after our fall into sin, water has been a threat to the creation in general and the people of God in particular. The world, as Peter clearly says, was created out of water and through water by the word of God (2Pt 3.5). Land emerged on the third day of creation from the formless mass of water hanging in space. When the wickedness of the world increased to the point that God chose to destroy it, God brought the primal waters back over the earth. The waters of the Red Sea threatened the children of Israel as the Egyptians pressed them from behind. The Psalmist, as we heard, describes being overwhelmed by enemies as being in deep waters and flood sweeping over him.

To be overwhelmed by water is to be destroyed; it is to be de-created, to go down into death. Every baptism, whether in the Old Covenant or now in the New, is not only to be threatened by water, but to welcome it and to be overcome by it. The waters of baptism destroy the old creation that is in Adam.

Today, Elaine Marsh is dying. The water will be poured over her head and destroy her. Death is what we deserve. Death is our destiny. To welcome this water would be sadistic and terrifying if it weren’t for the fact that she, like all of us, enter into the flood with Christ Jesus. We are buried with Christ in baptism into death. Those waters that overwhelm us and drag our old creation bodies down to destruction have first overwhelmed Christ Jesus himself. Because he has been overwhelmed by the waters and risen victorious, we welcome the waters of death so that dying with him we may also be raised with him to new life. Jesus has made the place of destruction and death the place of hope and joy, for today we rejoice in the baptism of Elaine, celebrating the destruction of the old world in Adam and being raised to the new creation in Christ.

Rob and Tara along with their other children have already passed through these waters. God has destroyed their entire family so that it might be raised to new life. This death and resurrection, this re-creation of your family, Rob and Tara, is a privilege that entails a calling. Your calling is to not let sin reign in your baptized mortal bodies and to train your children so that they will do the same. You are to yield your bodily members as instruments of righteousness to God and not to sin and to teach your children to do the same. The grace of God given to us in baptism enables us to walk in this new creation life.

Rob and Tara, continue to walk faithfully and train your children to do the same. Continue to put to death the sinful deeds of the body and yield your bodies to righteousness. Your baptism into Christ calls you to this.

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