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On March 2, 2022 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

Proud Eyes

Solomon instructs his princely son in Proverbs so that he might complete the mission of dominion given to man; namely, to form and fill the world that God gave to the stewardship of man (see Gen 1.28; Ps 115.16). This will take wisdom, the ability to see how everything should relate, and the skill to put everything in right relationship. This wisdom begins and matures in the fear of Yahweh, loving Yahweh and his discipline and zealously guarding his instruction. As the son submits to Yahweh, the mission will progress; the world will grow and come together to reach its intended purpose. If the son rebels, rejecting the wisdom of the Father, he will reap chaos and destruction, not only for himself but for the world. Adam’s story is a clear picture of this.

The seven-fold structure of the abominations in Proverbs 6.16-19 fit this theme of world-building, echoing the structure of the original week of history. However, Solomon is instructing by the contrary. If you want to know how to de-create the world, then these seven abominations will tell you. These are the sins the son must avoid.

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On February 24, 2022 By In Discipleship, Theology, Wisdom

A Healthy Appetite

In the beginning, God made us hungry. Some of the first words spoken to man were the joyful declaration of the gift of food from a loving Father: “Behold! I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food” (Ge 1.29). Our need for food is not a flaw in our design but a glorious feature. Food and our appetite for it are ever-present witnesses of our creatureliness and dependence upon our Creator. Through food, God doesn’t merely sustain our lives but gives us abundant life. Food is given for us to enjoy; not merely the myriads of tastes and textures, but because through food we have communion with God himself.

The ordination of food as communion began at the Tree of life, continued through the worship feasts of Israel (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles, New Moon, Sabbath), and is experienced now at the Lord’s Supper. History comes to an end in a feast with God. Food and drink, being a part of creation, are good. Anyone who teaches you that any food or any drink is off-limits for proper use is teaching you a demonic doctrine. Everything created by God is good and nothing to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving (1Tm 4.1-5).

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On February 17, 2022 By In Counseling/Piety, Discipleship, Men, Wisdom

Resisting Harlot Folly

Fighting sexual temptation has never been easy. There have been times in which societies such as ours helped by having and enforcing laws discouraging sexual deviancy. There were also general cultural mores that disparaged sexual immorality so great social shame was the lot of the sexually deviant. Temptations didn’t disappear, but cultural pressure at least encouraged restraint.

Studying history, you will see that these societies were few and far between. Our present Western culture is probably more in line with the way many cultures have treated sexual relations; that is, there are few cultural guards that help us with temptation. The lack of cultural sexual restraint that has ingrained itself over the past century or two combined with present-day technology has only increased temptations. I don’t think that we can say, “It is more difficult for us than it ever has been,” but the force of the battle is growing. None of this, of course, is an excuse for sexual sin. In fact, it is a call to arm ourselves all the more with the appropriate discipline to fight an enemy that is growing in strength. We must match our enemies’ strength with greater strength.

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On February 10, 2022 By In Theology, Wisdom

Episode 98, The Legacy and Stories of Rev. Dr. Gregg Strawbridge

Welcome to Kuyperian Commentary, this is episode 98. I am host Uri Brito.

The Rev. Dr. Gregg Strawbridge died a couple of weeks ago. Those of us who knew him well have mourned profusely these last 14 days. We have lost a friend, a mentor, and a titan of the Christian faith. His presence in the CREC was palpable every time we met. He was kind, gracious, studious, a Presbyterian of high caliber, a churchman with unspeakable talent, a pastor with theological and pastoral inclinations which made him a remarkable gem in every way.

When we were in Lancaster, PA last week, we had the opportunity to gather, remember, grieve and laugh over Gregg’s stories. A gracious host provided the second floor filled with several fine beer taps and we told stories and rejoiced in the life of our brother.

I thought I would bring some of the men who were trained directly by Gregg Strawbridge to join me for this episode and do a bit of the story-telling bit from a perspective of folks who spent enormous time with him and who now shepherd their own flocks as a result of the Gregg Strawbridge School of Theology.

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On February 10, 2022 By In Men, Wisdom

The Tactics of Harlot Folly

One obvious truth about Harlot Folly in Proverbs is that she is a woman. She is an “evil woman” (Pr 6.24). She is the inverse of Lady Wisdom, who is also a woman. Harlot Folly is not “all women,” but she is a woman. Whatever secondary applications we make or whatever metaphors we explore (and there are many), Solomon is writing to his son, a man, about a certain type of woman to avoid.

I belabor this point because there are cultural mindsets that have become practically unquestioned assumptions that being a woman per se is original righteousness. As Feminism has grown and helped spawn intersectionality, anything a woman does, even if appearing to be wrong, is not her fault. She did not sin. She is always innocent. She is an all-powerful yet impotent moral agent whose actions are controlled by entrenched patriarchalism. She is not responsible. She is not to blame. #MeToo.

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On February 3, 2022 By In Culture, Discipleship, Family and Children, Men, Wisdom

Sexual Mission

Sexual restraint in our Western culture is not a virtue. To deny your urges for sexual expression is, at the least, a passé morality of a puritanical by-gone era or, at most, abusive. Sexual expression is practically a sacred right, codified by law-making bodies and upheld by the courts under the constitutional privilege of “right to privacy.” Even so-called conservatives become libertarian when it comes to questions of sexual morality. What people do in the privacy of their own bedrooms or how they want to identify themselves sexually should be up to them, and no one should be able to say anything negative about them or deny them any privileges that those who live out “traditional sexual morality” enjoy. This lack of personal and authoritative discipline seems fine until you are dealing with sexually transmitted infections, rampant illegitimacy, homosexuals demanding to be “married,” and Johnny proclaiming himself a female so that he can shower with the girls whom he recently beat in some athletic competition.

Our sexual lives are not private. They are a part and parcel to the world-building, dominion project that God gave us as his image from the beginning. For this reason, they are public; not in the sense of being open to voyeurs, but rather in the sense of having public ramifications. Our sexual lives are created to serve our mission as humanity. When unrestrained by that context, sexual expression becomes bondage to sin leading to death. For this reason, God has called us to discipline our sexual appetites.

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On January 27, 2022 By In Discipleship, Wisdom

Self-Discipline: No Pain. No Gain.

We are living in an ever-increasing fragile world. Many in our society are not tough-minded or self-disciplined anymore. They are slaves to the comforts of their own minds and desires. The origins of this problem are many. Parents have coddled children, not allowing them to face any sort of discomfort, always rescuing them immediately when they express pain, giving into their every desire, and certainly not painfully challenging their children in any way. They let them fall to pieces and are “understanding,” and, consequently, they never learn any sort of mental toughness. If someone disagrees with them, challenges their view of the world, they become “Karens,” yelling and screaming and seeking to eliminate the one who is making them uncomfortable, making the entire world a safe space. Institutions have kowtowed to these adult-sized infants and institutionalized this mental bubble-wrap. These undisciplined minds can’t face the challenges of the real world. Because of this, they will eventually be crushed, whether through the weight of reality that they can’t control, or they will implode because they are ticking timebombs of fear, anger, and discontentment. Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt have documented and evaluated these phenomena in their book The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up A Generation For Failure.

God has called us, in one sense, to be anti-fragile, which means that he wants us to grow up and be able to handle the challenges he puts before us. If we are to accomplish the mission of dominion, he has given us, there must be some degree of anti-fragility that comes through self-discipline.

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On January 26, 2022 By In Culture, Wisdom

The Guru of Common Sense and the Christian Call

The Peterson/Rogan interview is blowing up the interwebs. Four hours of conversation ranging from climate change and the significance of the Bible in shaping language and culture. I made mention to someone that Peterson channeled the great Francis Schaeffer when he spoke of the Bible as truer than true. The late apologist wanted to speak of truth as something more foundational; something more rooted. He coined the phrase “true truth” to convey this sense of certainty in the God of Scriptures. Of course, to be clear, Peterson is not yet a member of First Baptist of Pascagoula. If anything, he’s embraced a sensical priestly role in our secularized society.

The interview is fascinating on a number of levels, but more importantly, in my mind, is the closeness to sanity I see abounding in sundry platforms, especially on the world’s largest, namely Joe Rogan. Now, I am aware of the traps that certain purists warn us about and I despise the kind of generalism associated with the media. Observations about “God” generally don’t mean much, and I try to develop allergic reactions to such instinctive. Nevertheless, as one who observes and follows social trends, there is certainly a shift in orientation taking place in our society.

Bill Maher’s atheism affords him a little dose of common grace here and there, but if you told me that Bill Maher was going to be a voice of reason in 2022 on matters pertaining to COVID, I would have said you are as high as Bill Maher on a typical Saturday. But alas, sanity is prevailing. There is less stupidity going around.

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On January 20, 2022 By In Family and Children, Wisdom

Parental Discipline

The way of wisdom in Proverbs is the way of discipline. Solomon’s concern for discipline is heard from his opening words. We don’t pick up on it too readily because translations render the Hebrew word musar as “instruction” in some places and “discipline” in others. “Instruction” is not a bad translation, but we tend to reduce instruction to the verbal communication of truths from one brain to another. The Hebrew word, however, more literally speaks of a “chastening lesson,” which, I believe, is better rendered as “discipline” (though even that translation has connotations in English that may be misunderstood). Solomon desires that his son know wisdom and discipline (1.2), to receive the discipline of wisdom (1.3), to hear the discipline of his father (1.8). Fools despise wisdom and discipline (1.7).

The discipline of wisdom is the training of mind and body to produce a specific character that will cause you to fulfill your God-given purpose and enjoy God’s promised rewards. There are numerous sources for discipline, people and situations that are aimed at shaping our character. A primary source for discipline in Proverbs is parents. Parents are exhorted by Solomon not to neglect the discipline of children (19.18; 23.13-14). This training involves positive examples of discipline in the lives of the parents themselves, making the truth of God beautiful in their own lives. Parents must train also with positive, purposeful habits that give direction to their children as well as instructing them through teaching. Because the hearts of our children are bound up with foolishness (22.15), discipline also involves correction.

One parental tool that is prominent in Proverbs for this corrective training is the rod. It is not an exclusive tool. The rod and reproof–verbal rebuke and instruction–give wisdom (29.15). However, the rod is a tool, an obviously necessary tool, in the training of children.

Images come into our head when we read or hear “the rod.” Maybe the switch that you had to cut from the tree for your daddy to spank you comes to mind. You might think of a wooden spoon, paddle, belt, or some other instrument of pain that was applied to your seat of learning. If you’ve ever been spanked well, it is understandable that the instrument and its effects are all that come to mind.

Those images are not absent from the biblical use of “the rod,” but they are incomplete. The rod is the instrument of a shepherd and, therefore, a king (see Ps 23.4). In fact, it can be translated “scepter” (see Pss 2.9; 45.6; 89.32). While it can be used to destroy (see Ps 2.9), that is all a part of a larger purpose: to put the world in proper order.

Parents are rod-bearers, shepherd-kings of our children. We are shepherd-kings with God-given authority and a God-given instrument to be wielded to set put our children’s worlds in order; to train them so that they relate properly to God, others, and the non-human creation. The rod is not used arbitrarily or for selfish purposes. It is not an instrument of frustration that divides you from your children. The rod is used to set relationships right, which means that it must be applied in such a way in parent-child relationships that reconciliation and peace are the aims. Your child is not your enemy and should not be treated as such. You are not out to destroy him with the rod. Yes, the rod is an instrument of pain, and corrective discipline, just like all discipline, is painful (see Heb 12.4-11). But the pain is aimed at positively shaping your child’s character so that he avoids what is destructive and embraces what is life-giving.

Avoiding physical pain in corrective discipline is popular in some circles. If any pain is involved at all, these parents believe that psychological pain is sufficient. Scolding, isolation, removal of privileges, and things as such are seen as adequate applications of the “rod principle.” While these methods can be useful at times, we shouldn’t discount what the Bible says about physical pain in correction. Our children are not disembodied psyches. Training the mind through the body and the body through the mind are both needed. Enduring physical pain helps train the mind as much as enduring psychological pain trains the body. The two are interrelated. Neither should be neglected.

The aim of all our discipline is to shape the character of our children so that they embrace the way of wisdom with all their hearts. Parents, God has given you the authority and tools to do this. Wield them wisely.

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On December 30, 2021 By In Church, Theology, Wisdom

The Church: The Manifold Wisdom of God

The created order was in disarray. This disorder was deeper and more serious than the unformed and unfilled state of the original creation. While the darkness and the deeps required a great amount of wisdom and power to overcome, they were not hostile. Sin changed all that. Sin introduced a death-sting that fought to keep things separated that God intended to be unified. The sleep of Adam from which he awoke to the glory of Eve became a sleep from which he would not awake. He would lie there ripped in half without resurrection glory. He would return to the dust from which he was made.

Sin’s death was not limited to our individual bodies. This death was the enemy of life as God intended. Anything that separated what God purposed to be joined together was death that needed to be overcome. From the beginning, God purposed that all humanity be caught up in his eternal fellowship as Father, Son, and Spirit as one worldwide family. Proverbs 8.30-31 poetically allude to this as Yahweh and Wisdom mutually delight in one another and in the sons of men. This delightful union and communion are what Paul speaks of to the Ephesians when he says that God’s eternal plan revealed in Christ Jesus was to unite all things in Christ (Eph 1.9-10). Without the presence of sin, this would have been a friendly process of maturity (a truth I explained in the article Incarnation Anyway). Sin latched on to this process, fighting it tooth-and-nail, refusing to allow death to move into the resurrection of unity between God and man and man with man.

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