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On August 19, 2022 By In Church, Theology

Does Romans 6 require submersion baptism?

In Romans 6:3-4, Paul says, “Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Does this passage require submersion as the proper mode of baptism? I was baptized by submersion and believe that submersions are legitimate baptisms, but my church practices baptisms from above (sprinkling or pouring). We believe this mode lines up best with biblical commands and imagery.

Submersionists appeal to Romans 6 as proof that baptisms must be done by submersion. The thinking goes like this: If baptism represents the death and burial of Jesus, then the recipient must go completely under water, similar to being buried underground. They think that the visual component of baptism must symbolize a visual burial. But there are problems with this argument.

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On August 18, 2022 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Shrewd

Remember when life was much simpler when you were a child? Looking back, you had very few decisions to make, and the decisions you made had mild consequences whether good or bad. Of course, when you were a child, all of your decisions, their consequences, and the work you had to do seemed huge. But looking back now as an adult you realize that life was much simpler because the responsibilities were fewer, lighter, and consequences weren’t as immediately severe.

As we grow into our teenage and young adult years, all of this changes. Life becomes more complex. Responsibilities become heavier, and the consequences of our decisions have much more serious ramifications for the rest of our lives. The complexities grow with us as we age and add more to our lives.

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On August 12, 2022 By In Church, Culture, Politics, Theology

Psalm 109: Justice

You are on trial for a crime you did not commit. Your accusers know that you are innocent. This is a setup because they don’t like you; you are on the wrong side of the political lines, shaking everything up. You must be handled. They are aimed at taking away your position, family, fortune, and if they can swing it, your life.They are not like the thugs on the street who will walk up to you and take your life. They are using the justice system that they have corrupted to make it all “legal” and “above board.”

Who is your defense? What should happen to these people? It is not only your fate that is on the line here. This is the fate of Justice itself and with it the survival of society into the future. If the distortion of justice is allowed to go on, the entire society will be turned upside down. To make things right, those that seek to distort justice must be the subjects of true justice.

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On August 8, 2022 By In Theology, Worship

Popcorn, Not Parachutes

Since systematic exposition of relevant biblical texts and regular sermons on eschatology and the Christian’s one hope has not seemed to do the trick, I have decided to try a more direct approach. The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture is not true. It is not taught in the Bible. It is, in fact, contrary to a number of things the Bible says clearly. It is a false hope, heterodox and unhelpful, even if not damnable. Some of you, no doubt, will disagree, and that is fine. We all will be mistaken about some things, and there are worse errors one might cling to than the pre-trib rapture. But it really is not serving you well. It has misplaced your hope in adversity, misled your priorities in the culture war, and caused you to miss the robust joy and cheerfulness you might have otherwise had in what God is doing at the present time. You think God packed you a parachute, but what you really need is a bag of popcorn.

No one in the history of the Church ever believed in a secret Rapture of the Church before John Nelson Darby suggested it in 1830. Dispensational scholars have tried to establish the doctrine’s pre-Darby provenance, but they read Church history anachronistically to do so. The Church’s hope has never been to escape from the present world. Such an idea is Gnostic, not orthodox. The Church’s hope was always to see the gospel of God’s glory fill the earth and to see Jesus return to raise the dead and judge the world. This is the one hope we have in Christ, not to avoid tribulation but to overcome it.

The pre-tribulation Rapture is a pious blasphemy, the belief God will withdraw his army from the battlefield before returning to recapture it. But this is not what the Bible teaches. The gates of Hades will not prevail against the Church (Matt. 16:18). That does not mean the Church will survive the Enemy’s onslaught; it means the gates of death and darkness will not withstand the Church’s campaign. Christ is not playing defense. The Church is always on offense. Even when she seems to be overrun by her enemies, time proves the sovereign Commander was acting strategically. We are not looking forward to getting out of here. We are to look around with excitement at what the Lord is doing.

An expectation of extraction rarely produces feats of gallantry. The soldier who believes his ride is on the way is more likely to keep his head down until help arrives. Christians are not waiting for angelic aviators in heavenly helicopters to airlift us out of here. Pentecost was the redemptive-historical equivalent of D-Day. Spirit-filled preachers landed on the shores of enemy-held territory and announced the King’s army had arrived. It was not a raid, but an invasion and the hosts of heaven will continue pushing forward until the coward in the bunker finally falls. This one will not escape his fate by putting a bullet in his head. He has a cell reserved in the lake of fire, and there will be no escape. There is no plan B, no retreat, no surrender. Soldiers die as they disembark the assault boats, and the enemy’s machine guns are well-placed and may seem impregnable. But the Lord did not send us here only to turn around. To adapt a pop culture reference, “We’re Christians; we’re supposed to be surrounded.”

Many believers are sure they will soon disappear, and all of the wicked will be left behind. This might seem comforting, but it is not what the Bible teaches. It misinterprets prophecy, misplaces hope, and misdirects priorities. We are not preparing to withdraw; we are commanded to press forward. We are not pulling out but digging in. Build houses, plant gardens, get married, have babies, go to Church, sing the psalms, and catechize your children. “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”

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On August 2, 2022 By In Culture, Theology

What is Preterism?

When Jesus comes into Jerusalem, he lays out a series of prophecies concerning the temple. He warns that not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. He further states that these prophecies will come upon this generation (Matt. 24:34). He speaks of a time when the great testament to the Jewish system will pass away in an apocalyptic fashion. The passages–Matthew 24, Mark 13 & Luke 21–offer a host of time clues that determine the context of Jesus’ prophecy.

In this short video, I offer a big-picture definition of Preterism. Preterism means that the prophecies of Jesus, particularly in the Olivet Discourse, had a distinct audience in mind; not a future audience, but those standing there hearing our Lord in his earthly ministry.

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On July 18, 2022 By In Podcast, Theology

Episode 101, R.C. Sproul and His Legacy

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:53 — 25.3MB)

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When I was in the heights of ignorance somewhere in my glorious teens, a radio show emerged on my station on a snowy evening in Altoona, PA. “Renewing Your Mind” with R.C. Sproul dramatically shaped my theological pursuits. I wasn’t fully on board with the fanatic Pittsburg Steelers fan by the name of Robert Charles Sproul, but I knew he was on to something.

My joy was made complete during my seminary days in RTS/Orlando where we had the opportunity to attend St. Andrew Chapel for a short season and sit under his preaching and also his classes on the Westminster Confession on Wednesday nights. I had the pleasure of interacting with R.C. on many occasions, but the memory of watching that titan preach from his Lutheraneque pulpit is something I will never forget. When I came across a new biography of Sproul, who died in 2017, I had to contact the author. And it’s my delight to have Nate Pickowicz discuss his book: R.C. Sproul – Defender of the Reformed Faith.

In this episode, we discussed:

*the educational background that gave roots to the genius of R.C. Sproul

* major theological issues that shaped R.C. theological ministry

…and many other topics.

You can purchase Nate’s book here: https://www.amazon.com/R-C-Sproul-Def…

You can follow Nate on twitter: https://twitter.com/NatePickowicz

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On July 15, 2022 By In Theology

Postmillennialism for Dummies

One of the joys of speaking loudly around here is that I get to see some fine china broken in real-time. That’s a metaphor for views being shattered and replaced by something else, for those of you just tuning in.

The thing broken is a variation of pessimistic eschatology and it is being replaced with some happy, hopeful, and hosannah postmillennialism. Mind you, I am not so much concerned about the loyalty to the systematic category, but to the heart of the matter. Because es-cha-to-lo-gy has consequences for casuistry. Say that three times.

It pleases me to see folks going through that radical transformation and sending me notes about it. Just this last week, two brothers texted me separated by 30 minutes sharing with me their newfound dogmatism for stout-beer postmillennialism. And the good news is that they didn’t come into it half-heartedly. They did the hard work of research, reading, and repeating. It is an amazing thing to plant seeds for a long time, only to see them bear fruit much later. God seems to work like that on many occasions. I believe we are reaching a stage of massive theological conversions, and I have alluded to some of these factors before, but the postmil conversion is a fruitful blossoming of many seeds planted long ago.

I have been harping on the postmil “C” chord for a really long time and I think postmil eschatology is beginning to see a resurgence. This may be the result of ecclesiastical behaviors these past two years. In fact, I will go so far as to say that the churches who have been pushing against shut-downs and sundry silliness have postmil bones. Now, lots of other non-postmil flocks have come alongside our efforts, or later decided to peek behind the curtain, but the reality is that the majority of pastors I know who decided to fight the tide named one of their kids or their dogs, B.B. Warfield.

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On June 30, 2022 By In Culture, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Gaslighting

Patrick Hamilton’s 1938 stage play Gas Light, which was adapted into British and American films in the 1940s, is the origin of the term “gaslighting” that is used so much today. The story concerns a manipulative, evil man who kills a woman to steal rubies. He couldn’t find the rubies at the time of the murder, so he left and concocted a plan to come back and find them. Assuming an alias, he marries a lady who has the money to purchase this house years later. He attempts to drive his wife mad by orchestrating events and then telling his wife that she imagined things. Each night he would sneak into the attic to hunt for the rubies and light the gas lamps. This would cause the gas lamps in his wife’s room to dim. She told him about the dimming of the lamps, and he would tell her that she was imagining it. She was going crazy because he was manipulating her by re-writing history and making her think she was delusional.

As the story progresses, you feel the tension and spite for this man growing inside you. He is evil. He has, what Solomon describes in Proverbs, a perverse tongue.

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On June 16, 2022 By In Culture, Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Integrity

Covenants and contracts have been a part of human history since its beginning. From God’s covenant with the creation and man in particular to two men agreeing with a handshake on the sale of property, words have created bonds between God and man and men with men. Those words are only as good as the character of those speaking them. If one or both parties lack integrity, then the relationship is vapor. Integrity in character revealed through speech is the mortar that binds us together.

As Solomon instructs his king-in-waiting son, one concern is the character of his speech. Because a king’s words are powerful, holding in them the power of death and life (Pr 18.21), the son must be careful in speech. At the root of all of his speech must be integrity. “Better is a poor person who walks in his integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool” (Pr 19.1) “Walking in integrity” is contrasted here with being “perverse in speech.” Just as God reveals who he is through his Word (Jn 1.1-2, 14, 18), so we also reveal our character through the way we speak. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks (Mt 12.34), and the heart is command central for our total being; the heart is where our deepest affections and allegiances lie, where we reason, and where we decide what to do. Our heart is revealed in our speech along with our actions. Our hearts must be integrous. When they are, the integrity will be evident in our speech.

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On June 9, 2022 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Wise Winsomeness

The heart of the wise makes his speech judicious and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

~Proverbs 16.23

Everyone is trying to sell you something, promising you a taste of the good life or, at the least, the avoidance of the worst life. Advertisers spare no expense to peddle their wares. In 2020 advertisers spent $225.8 billion, and that number is expected to rise to $322.11 billion by 2024. From soap to app subscriptions, people are trying to persuade you that what they’re selling will give you a taste of glory.

Merchandise is not the only thing being hawked. Politicians, constantly in campaign mode with a 24/7/365 news cycle, are trying to sell you on their vision for the future. Political ads use ominous music and black-and-white visuals to frame their opponents and their positions, and then switch to lighter music and color visuals to frame themselves. They lay out their plans for the economy, justice, climate change, the sexual issues du jour, and a plethora of emotional topics to have you buy into their agenda.

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