Click Here: The Miracle and Mystery of Christmas
Friday, December 16, 2011
Karl Barth on the Miracle and Mystery of Christmas
Here's an excellent short essay by Karl Barth on the significance of the incarnation of our Lord which we celebrate at Christmas. This article is part of a longer book called Dogmatics in Outline which is a brief exposition of the Apostle's Creed. If you've never read Barth before, this is a great introduction since this essay is less than 10 pages long and captures his high Christology and tremendous capability as a theologian and historian. Love him or hate him - I will always have a soft spot for Barth!
Click Here: The Miracle and Mystery of Christmas
Click Here: The Miracle and Mystery of Christmas
Monday, December 5, 2011
St. Augustine's Confessions - Mystical Vision at Ostia (Book IX)
Book IX of the Confessions reveals a side of Augustine that makes many Reformed Protestants like myself feel somewhat uncomfortable. If anything, this book will help correct any misconceptions that we might have that Augustine is simply a carbon copy of John Calvin living at the turn of the fifth-century. We must not forget that Augustine was a Roman Catholic Bishop and theologian, and in many ways both Protestantism and Roman Catholicism are indebted to St. Augustine's theological legacy in different ways. Protestants tend to gravitate toward his soteriology which emphasized human depravity and our desperate need for divine grace. Roman Catholics, by contrast tend to gravitate toward Augustine's ecclesiology and piety. There are three aspects to this particular chapter that will raise some Protestant eyebrows (although certain brands of Charismatics might be pleasantly surprised). First, Augustine reveals his very definite impulse toward monasticism (he was in fact the founder of a monastic order). Second, he reveals his Neo-Platonic mysticism which remained an integral part of his experience as a Christian. Third, Augustine reveals his approval of the cult of the martyrs (veneration of relics) which became a major aspect of medieval Roman Catholic piety.
Following his conversion in Milan narrated in Book VIII, Augustine quit his job as a professor of Rhetoric and retired with a group of friends to a country estate in Cassiciacum, where they remained from July 386 AD to his baptism the following Easter. During this time, Augustine wrote a number of philosophical works which were based on dialogues he had with his friends. Here we see the beginning of Augustine's attraction to the monastic life which was only interrupted by his call to become a Presbyter (much to his own dismay!)
We glean some additional insight in this chapter into Augustine's personal life as he shares about Adeodatus, "my natural son begotten in sin." (IX.vi) Adeodatus, who was born to Augustine out of wedlock by his concubine of fifteen years, was apparently an extremely intelligent boy: "He was about fifteen years old, and his intelligence surpassed that of many serious and well-educated men...His intelligence left me awestruck." (IX.vi) The apple didn't fall far from the tree! Unfortunately Adeodatus did not survive adolescence, but died as a baptized believer. The narration about Adeodatus here is very interesting - Augustine speaks of him almost as though he were a peer rather than his son. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they were baptized together by Bishop Ambrose in Milan.
Shortly after his baptism, Augustine recounts a story in which Ambrose receives a divine vision telling him where two martyrs were buried. The bodies were located, and transported to Ambrose's basillica where a number of miracles occurred when people came in contact with the bier in which the bones were being stored. According to Augustine's testimony, a blind man was healed and several demon possesed people were exorcised. Augustine's strong belief in the power of relics becomes even more apparent in the last book of the City of God, where he tells a number of miracles which supposedly occurred in Hippo at the shrine of St. Stephen.
Much of the rest of this Book is taken up with events leading up to the death of Augustine's mother Monica which includes a powerful tribute in which Augustine praises his mother's virtue as the Christian wife of a non-believer who won both her pagan husband and her wayward son to Christ through persistent prayer and witness. Shortly before her death, Augustine and Monica shared a mystical experience at Ostia which is recounted in detail in this book using language that is distictly influenced by the Enneads of Plotinus: "Our minds were lifted up by an ardent affection towards eternal being itself. Step by step we climbed beyond all corporeal objects and the heaven itself, where sun, moon, and stars shed light on the earth. We ascended even further by internal reflection and dialogue and wonder at your works, and we entered into our own minds. We moved up beyond them so as to attain to the region of inexhaustible abundance where you feed Israel eternally with truth for food." (IX.x) What Augustine is describing here is direct, unmediated communication with God. Neo-Platonists held that such extatic union with ultimate Being could be attained by certain enlightened philosophers who were able to transcend the physical bodies and the constraints of the material world which was held to be evil. Augustine himself claimed to have had one such experience as a Neo-Platonist prior to his conversion to Chrsitianity, which he describes in Book VII. Prior to his conversion, Augustine held that his mystical experience with absolute Being left him morally unchanged in spite of its power. He compared this earlier mystical experience to Moses looking to the promised land from a distance without actually getting to enter in: "It is one thing from a wooded summit to catch a glimpse of the homeland of peace and not to find the way to it, but vainly to attempt the journey along an impracticable route surrounded by the ambushes and assaults of fugitive deserters with their chief." (VII.xxi) By contrast, the mystical experience he shared with his mother at Ostia was powerful enough to free Monica from the remaining constraints she had to the corporeal world. No longer was she concerned about where she would be buried or with whom. Soon after this experience, Monica died and Augustine mourned her death.
Following his conversion in Milan narrated in Book VIII, Augustine quit his job as a professor of Rhetoric and retired with a group of friends to a country estate in Cassiciacum, where they remained from July 386 AD to his baptism the following Easter. During this time, Augustine wrote a number of philosophical works which were based on dialogues he had with his friends. Here we see the beginning of Augustine's attraction to the monastic life which was only interrupted by his call to become a Presbyter (much to his own dismay!)
We glean some additional insight in this chapter into Augustine's personal life as he shares about Adeodatus, "my natural son begotten in sin." (IX.vi) Adeodatus, who was born to Augustine out of wedlock by his concubine of fifteen years, was apparently an extremely intelligent boy: "He was about fifteen years old, and his intelligence surpassed that of many serious and well-educated men...His intelligence left me awestruck." (IX.vi) The apple didn't fall far from the tree! Unfortunately Adeodatus did not survive adolescence, but died as a baptized believer. The narration about Adeodatus here is very interesting - Augustine speaks of him almost as though he were a peer rather than his son. Perhaps this is due to the fact that they were baptized together by Bishop Ambrose in Milan.
Shortly after his baptism, Augustine recounts a story in which Ambrose receives a divine vision telling him where two martyrs were buried. The bodies were located, and transported to Ambrose's basillica where a number of miracles occurred when people came in contact with the bier in which the bones were being stored. According to Augustine's testimony, a blind man was healed and several demon possesed people were exorcised. Augustine's strong belief in the power of relics becomes even more apparent in the last book of the City of God, where he tells a number of miracles which supposedly occurred in Hippo at the shrine of St. Stephen.
Much of the rest of this Book is taken up with events leading up to the death of Augustine's mother Monica which includes a powerful tribute in which Augustine praises his mother's virtue as the Christian wife of a non-believer who won both her pagan husband and her wayward son to Christ through persistent prayer and witness. Shortly before her death, Augustine and Monica shared a mystical experience at Ostia which is recounted in detail in this book using language that is distictly influenced by the Enneads of Plotinus: "Our minds were lifted up by an ardent affection towards eternal being itself. Step by step we climbed beyond all corporeal objects and the heaven itself, where sun, moon, and stars shed light on the earth. We ascended even further by internal reflection and dialogue and wonder at your works, and we entered into our own minds. We moved up beyond them so as to attain to the region of inexhaustible abundance where you feed Israel eternally with truth for food." (IX.x) What Augustine is describing here is direct, unmediated communication with God. Neo-Platonists held that such extatic union with ultimate Being could be attained by certain enlightened philosophers who were able to transcend the physical bodies and the constraints of the material world which was held to be evil. Augustine himself claimed to have had one such experience as a Neo-Platonist prior to his conversion to Chrsitianity, which he describes in Book VII. Prior to his conversion, Augustine held that his mystical experience with absolute Being left him morally unchanged in spite of its power. He compared this earlier mystical experience to Moses looking to the promised land from a distance without actually getting to enter in: "It is one thing from a wooded summit to catch a glimpse of the homeland of peace and not to find the way to it, but vainly to attempt the journey along an impracticable route surrounded by the ambushes and assaults of fugitive deserters with their chief." (VII.xxi) By contrast, the mystical experience he shared with his mother at Ostia was powerful enough to free Monica from the remaining constraints she had to the corporeal world. No longer was she concerned about where she would be buried or with whom. Soon after this experience, Monica died and Augustine mourned her death.
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Puritan Pastoral Theology 101 (Part 2)
Perhaps little has done more to hinder the credibility of Christianity in the West over the past few decades than the scandalous behavior of church leaders, pastors and priests who have betrayed the public trust and brought shame upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the massive Roman Catholic sex scandal and subsequent cover-up by church officials has captured most of the media attention in recent years, many examples of sexual sin and financial indescretion have come to light in Evangelical circles to our own shame. Public scandal and media attention, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. I remember reading an article in Leadership Journal several years ago that gave truly shocking statistics on how many active pastors are addicted to pornography or have crossed a sexual or emotional boundary of some kind in their ministry with one of their parishoners. Pastors are clearly not exempt from sexual sin and financial scandal, but the consequences of sin in the life of the pastor can be absolutely devestating on a number of levels.
It is to this very important subject, that Richard Baxter devotes his attention in the next section of the Reformed Pastor: "Take heed to yourselves, for you have a depraved nature, and sinful inclinations, as well as others. If innocent Adam had need of heed, and lost himself and us for want of it, how much more need have such as we! Sin dwelleth in us, when we have preached ever so much against it; and one degree prepareth the heart for another, and one sin inclineth the mind to more." (73) Baxter warns us that Satan takes particular pleasure in attacking the officers in God's army so that he might scatter the entire battalion: "Take heed to yourselves, because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations than other men...He beareth the greatest malice to those that are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As he hateth Christ more than any of us, because he is the General of the field, teh Captain of our salvation, and doth more than all the world besides against his kingdom; so doth he hate the leaders that are under him, more than the common soldiers: he knows what a rout he may make among them, if the leaders fall before their eyes...Take heed, therefore, brethren, for the enemy hath a special eye upon you." (74)
Sin that causes leaders to fall into disgraceful scandals is particuarly dangerous for pastors for a number of reasons which Baxter highlights. First, the pastor is a role model for the flock and is under close observation for better or for worse: "The eclipses of the sun by day are seldom without witnesses. As you take yourselves for the lights of the churches, you may expect that men's eyes will be upon you. If other men may sin without observation, so cannot you. And you should thankfully consider how great a mercy this is, that you have so many eyes to watch over you, and so many ready to tell you of your faults; and thus have greater helps than others, at least for restraining you from sin." (75-76)
Second, a pastor who knows God's Word does not sin in ignorance and thus heaps judgment upon his own head: "You are more likely than others to sin against knowledge becasue you have more than they; at least you sin against more light light, or means of knowledge." (76)
Third, hypocrisy in a pastor brings public disgrace on Christ in a greater measure than sin among the laity: "O what a heinous thing is it in us, to study how to disgrace sin to the utmost, and make it as odious in the eyes of our people as we can, and when we have done, to live in it, and secretly cherish that which we publically disgrace! What vile hypocrisy is it to make it our daily work to cry it down, and yet to keep to it; to call it publically all naught, and privately to make it our bed-fellow and companion; to bind heavy burdens on others and not to touch them ourselves with a finger!" (76-77)
Fourth, public disgrace among Christian pastors brings disgrace on all Christians generally and attacks the credibility of the Church's witness for Christ in the world: "Would it not wound you to the heart to hear the name and truth of God reproached for your sakes; to see men point to you, and say, 'There goes a covetous priest, a secret tippler, a scandalous man; these are they that preach for strictness, while they themselves can live as loose as others; they condemn us by their sermons, and condemn themselves by their lives; nothwithstanding all their talk, they are as bad as we.' O brethren, could your hearts endure to hear men cast the dung of your iniquities in the face of the holy God, and in the face of the gospel, and of all that desire to fear the Lord? Would it not bread your hearts to think tthat all the godly Christians about you should suffer reproach for your misdoings?" (79)
Baxter points out the wickedness and deception that lurks within the human heart - even in the heart of many pastors who preach every sunday but are not truly born again by the Spirit of God: "I know indeed, that a wicked man may be more willing of the reformation of others than of his own, and hence may show a kind of earnestness in dissuading them from their evil ways; becasue he can preach against sin at an easier rate than he can forsake it, and another man's reformation may consist with his own enjoyment of his lusts." (83)
These are very heavy words to read, but words that all of us in public, gospel ministry must take very seriously. To whom much is given much will be required!
It is to this very important subject, that Richard Baxter devotes his attention in the next section of the Reformed Pastor: "Take heed to yourselves, for you have a depraved nature, and sinful inclinations, as well as others. If innocent Adam had need of heed, and lost himself and us for want of it, how much more need have such as we! Sin dwelleth in us, when we have preached ever so much against it; and one degree prepareth the heart for another, and one sin inclineth the mind to more." (73) Baxter warns us that Satan takes particular pleasure in attacking the officers in God's army so that he might scatter the entire battalion: "Take heed to yourselves, because the tempter will more ply you with his temptations than other men...He beareth the greatest malice to those that are engaged to do him the greatest mischief. As he hateth Christ more than any of us, because he is the General of the field, teh Captain of our salvation, and doth more than all the world besides against his kingdom; so doth he hate the leaders that are under him, more than the common soldiers: he knows what a rout he may make among them, if the leaders fall before their eyes...Take heed, therefore, brethren, for the enemy hath a special eye upon you." (74)
Sin that causes leaders to fall into disgraceful scandals is particuarly dangerous for pastors for a number of reasons which Baxter highlights. First, the pastor is a role model for the flock and is under close observation for better or for worse: "The eclipses of the sun by day are seldom without witnesses. As you take yourselves for the lights of the churches, you may expect that men's eyes will be upon you. If other men may sin without observation, so cannot you. And you should thankfully consider how great a mercy this is, that you have so many eyes to watch over you, and so many ready to tell you of your faults; and thus have greater helps than others, at least for restraining you from sin." (75-76)
Second, a pastor who knows God's Word does not sin in ignorance and thus heaps judgment upon his own head: "You are more likely than others to sin against knowledge becasue you have more than they; at least you sin against more light light, or means of knowledge." (76)
Third, hypocrisy in a pastor brings public disgrace on Christ in a greater measure than sin among the laity: "O what a heinous thing is it in us, to study how to disgrace sin to the utmost, and make it as odious in the eyes of our people as we can, and when we have done, to live in it, and secretly cherish that which we publically disgrace! What vile hypocrisy is it to make it our daily work to cry it down, and yet to keep to it; to call it publically all naught, and privately to make it our bed-fellow and companion; to bind heavy burdens on others and not to touch them ourselves with a finger!" (76-77)
Fourth, public disgrace among Christian pastors brings disgrace on all Christians generally and attacks the credibility of the Church's witness for Christ in the world: "Would it not wound you to the heart to hear the name and truth of God reproached for your sakes; to see men point to you, and say, 'There goes a covetous priest, a secret tippler, a scandalous man; these are they that preach for strictness, while they themselves can live as loose as others; they condemn us by their sermons, and condemn themselves by their lives; nothwithstanding all their talk, they are as bad as we.' O brethren, could your hearts endure to hear men cast the dung of your iniquities in the face of the holy God, and in the face of the gospel, and of all that desire to fear the Lord? Would it not bread your hearts to think tthat all the godly Christians about you should suffer reproach for your misdoings?" (79)
Baxter points out the wickedness and deception that lurks within the human heart - even in the heart of many pastors who preach every sunday but are not truly born again by the Spirit of God: "I know indeed, that a wicked man may be more willing of the reformation of others than of his own, and hence may show a kind of earnestness in dissuading them from their evil ways; becasue he can preach against sin at an easier rate than he can forsake it, and another man's reformation may consist with his own enjoyment of his lusts." (83)
These are very heavy words to read, but words that all of us in public, gospel ministry must take very seriously. To whom much is given much will be required!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Will There Be Free Will in Heaven??
I just finished the last five pages of the City of God (Hurray!!!) and came across Augustine's answer to a philosophical question that has always puzzled and intrigued me. If there will be no sin in heaven, and no possibility of sinning and rebelling against God as Lucifer and the demons did, and as the first humans did in Eden, how could there possibly be free will in the New Jerusalem? Here's how Augustine navigates this issue:
"Also [in the City of God] they will then no longer be able to take delight in sin. This does not mean, however, that they will have no free will. On the contrary, it will be all the more free, because set free from delight in sinning to take a constant delight in not sinning. For when man was created righteous, the first freedom of will that he was given consisted in an ability not to sin [posse non peccare] but also in an ability to sin [posse peccare]. But this last freedom of will will be greater, in that it will consist in not being able to sin [non posse peccare]. This, however, will not be a natural possibility, but a gift from God. For it is one thing to be God, and another to be a partaker of God: God is by nature unable too sin; but he who partakes of God's nature receives the impossibility of sinning only as a gift from God. Moreover, in the divine gift of free will there was to be observed a gradation such that man should first receive a free will by which he was able not to sin, and finally a free will by which he was not able to sin: the former being given to man in a state of probation, and the latter to him in a state of reward. But because human nature sinned when it had the power to sin, it is redeemed by a more abundant gift of grace so that it may be led to that state of freedom in which it cannot sin." (XXII. 30)
Augustine's answer here about human freedom in the Eschaton solves another tricky issue related to Adam's Fall in the Garden. If God has foreordained the future such that Adam's decent into sin is an integral part of His eternal decree, how is God not the author of sin?? In a real sense this is the big, uncomfortable question that makes most Calvinists squirm when pressed to give an answer. Augustine's answer here is that Adam in the Garden had the ability not to sin [posse non peccare] which entails full freedom of the will, but for some reason unknown to us, God in his sovereignty chose to withhold his grace from Adam. (a passive, rather than an active response on God's part) According to Augustine's logic, the restored order in the Eschaton will be even better than the Garden of Eden, because at that time God will extend grace to all of the elect so that they will not be able to sin [non posse peccare]. Augustine therefore shifts the issue from any blasphemous notion we may have of a defect in the human will placed there by God, to the giving/ withholding of a divine "gift" of grace which guarantees that the will chooses what is Good. Since God is under no obligation to give grace to even a single person (grace by definition is 'unmerited favour'), withholding this gift from Adam even prior to the first sin does not implicate God in that first terrible act of rebellion. Adam used his own free will to rebel against God, and God, acting in accordance with His eternal decree, did not prevent Adam from sinning even though He could have done so. Quite an ingenious solution to a very difficult theological problem!
"Also [in the City of God] they will then no longer be able to take delight in sin. This does not mean, however, that they will have no free will. On the contrary, it will be all the more free, because set free from delight in sinning to take a constant delight in not sinning. For when man was created righteous, the first freedom of will that he was given consisted in an ability not to sin [posse non peccare] but also in an ability to sin [posse peccare]. But this last freedom of will will be greater, in that it will consist in not being able to sin [non posse peccare]. This, however, will not be a natural possibility, but a gift from God. For it is one thing to be God, and another to be a partaker of God: God is by nature unable too sin; but he who partakes of God's nature receives the impossibility of sinning only as a gift from God. Moreover, in the divine gift of free will there was to be observed a gradation such that man should first receive a free will by which he was able not to sin, and finally a free will by which he was not able to sin: the former being given to man in a state of probation, and the latter to him in a state of reward. But because human nature sinned when it had the power to sin, it is redeemed by a more abundant gift of grace so that it may be led to that state of freedom in which it cannot sin." (XXII. 30)
Augustine's answer here about human freedom in the Eschaton solves another tricky issue related to Adam's Fall in the Garden. If God has foreordained the future such that Adam's decent into sin is an integral part of His eternal decree, how is God not the author of sin?? In a real sense this is the big, uncomfortable question that makes most Calvinists squirm when pressed to give an answer. Augustine's answer here is that Adam in the Garden had the ability not to sin [posse non peccare] which entails full freedom of the will, but for some reason unknown to us, God in his sovereignty chose to withhold his grace from Adam. (a passive, rather than an active response on God's part) According to Augustine's logic, the restored order in the Eschaton will be even better than the Garden of Eden, because at that time God will extend grace to all of the elect so that they will not be able to sin [non posse peccare]. Augustine therefore shifts the issue from any blasphemous notion we may have of a defect in the human will placed there by God, to the giving/ withholding of a divine "gift" of grace which guarantees that the will chooses what is Good. Since God is under no obligation to give grace to even a single person (grace by definition is 'unmerited favour'), withholding this gift from Adam even prior to the first sin does not implicate God in that first terrible act of rebellion. Adam used his own free will to rebel against God, and God, acting in accordance with His eternal decree, did not prevent Adam from sinning even though He could have done so. Quite an ingenious solution to a very difficult theological problem!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Puritan Pastoral Theology 101 (Part I)
As I prepare to make a transition this April from Student Ministry in a parachurch setting to Pastoral Ministry in a local church setting, I picked up a copy of Richard Baxter's classic work on Pastoral Theology entitled The Reformed Pastor which I've had good intentions to read since I first got hooked on the English Puritans in Seminary.
Richard Baxter was one of the foremost Puritan pastors of the seventeenth-century who was a friend and associate of Thomas Manton - the subject of my MA research at McGill. Both Manton and Baxter belonged to the non-separatist Presbyterian party within the Church of England and were forcibly ejected from their pastorates as a result of the 1662 Act of Uniformity for their refusal to conform to the Book of Common Prayer shortly after the Stuart monarchy was restored under Charles II. As a pastor, Baxter was second to none and wrote The Reformed Pastor to train and equip young men preparing for the ministry. By 'Reformed', Baxter is not referring to the Calvinistic Doctrines of Grace, but to the need for pastors to be renewed or 'reformed' in their pastoral practice. As I work through this book in the coming weeks, I will share some of Baxter's pastoral wisdom. Citations are from the Banner of Truth paperback edition.The Pastor's Duty to Oversee His Own Spiritual Health
Before a pastor can properly tend God's flock, he must take care of his own spiritual wellbeing: "We have the same sins to mortify, and the same graces to be quickedned and strengthened, as our people have: we have greater works to do that they have, and greater difficulties to overcome, and therefore we have need to be warned and awakened, if not to be instructed, as well as they." (51)
The first duty of the reformed pastor, therefore, is to "see that the work of saving grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls." (53) Baxter warns that God does not save clergy because of their vocation or gifts and urges pastors not to be complacent in making their own calling and election sure before they climb into the pulpit to urge others to renounce sin and to embrace Jesus Christ as Lord: "God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher; but because he was a justified, sanctified man, and consequently faithful in his Master's work.... It is a fearful thing to be an unsanctified professor, but much more to be an unsanctified preacher. Doth it not make you tremble when you open the Bible, lest you shouls there read the sentence of your own condemnation? When you pen your sermons, little do you think that you are drawing up indictments against your own souls! When you are arguing against sin, that you are aggravating your own! When you proclaim to your hearers the unsearchable riches of Christ and his grace, that you are publishing your own iniquity in rejecting them, and your unhappiness in being destitute of them! What can you do in persuading men to Christ, in drawing them from the world, in urging them to a life of faith and holiness, but conscience, if it were awake, would tell you, that you speak all this to your own confusion? If you speak of hell, you speak of your own inhereitance: if you describe the joys of heaven, you describe your own misery, seeing you have no right to 'the inheritance of the saints in light.' What can you say, for the most part, but that it will be against your own souls? O miserable life! that a man should study and preach against himself, and spend his days in a course of self-condemning! A graceless, inexperienced preacher is one of the most unhappy creatures upon earth: and yet he is ordinarily very insensible of his unhappiness; for he hath so many counters that seem like the gold of saving grace, and so many splendid sotnes that resemble Christian jewels, that he is seldom troubled with the thoughs of his poverty." (54)
Not only must a pastor ensure that a saving work has been wrought in his own heart before proclaiming the gospel to others, he must also make sure that his faith remains fresh and vibrant, and that his heart remains warm with the gospel of grace: "Content not yourselves with being in a state of grace, but be also careful that your graces are kept in vigorous and lively exercise, and that you preach to yourselves teh sermons which you study, before you preach them to others...I confess I must speak it by lamentable experience, that I publishe to my flock the distempers of my own soul. When I let my heart grow cold, my preaching is cold; and when it is confused, my preaching is confused; and so I can oft observe also in the best of my hearers, that when I have grown cold in preaching, they have grown cold too." (61) The only way to keep the fire stoked, says Baxter, is for the pastor to make his prayer life the first priority in his ministry: "Above all, be much in secret prayer and mediation. Thence you must fetch the heavenly fire that must kindle your sacrifices: remember, you cannot decline and neglect your duty, to your own hurt alone; many will be losers by it as well as you. For your people's sakes, therefore, look to your hearts." (62)
The reformed pastor must always lead the flock by example: "Order your families well, if you would have them do so by theirs. Be not proud and lordly, if you would have them to be lowly. There are no virtues wherein your example will do more, at least to abate men's prejudice, than humility and meekness and self-denial." (65)
The godly pastor must excel in works of charity and benevolence and demonstrate frugality and generosity in the way he lives and stewards his financial resources: "Go to the poor, and see what they want, and show your compassion at once to their soul and body. Buy them a catechism, and other small books that are likely to do them good, and make them promise to read tehm with care and attention. Stretch your purse to teh utmost, and do all the good you can. Think not of being rich; seek not great things for yourselves or your posterity." (66)
Pastors must strive daily to root out or to 'mortify' (a good Puritan word!) sin and avoid ministering in a state of hypocrisy: "If sin be evil, why do you live in it? if it be not, why do you dissuade men from it? If it be dangerous, how dare you venture on it? if it be not, why do you tell men so? If God's threatenings be true, why do you not fear them? if they be false, why do you needlessly trouble men with them, and put them into such frights without a cause?" (68)
Finally, pastors must take steps to prepare themselves with the necessary skills for the work of the ministry which normally includes the pursuit of formal theological education as God provides the time, resources and opportunity. If formal theological education is not a viable option, the pastor should, like Charles Spurgeon, pursue his own course of independent study by immersing himself in theology and the study of the biblical languages. The Puritans placed an extemely high value on the education of their clergy as evidenced by the fact that most of the Ivy League schools in New England were founded by Congregationalist and Presbyterian Puritans for the training of the next generation of ministers (ie. Harvard, Yale, Princeton etc.). This Puritan concern for theological education persists in the Reformed tradition today as all Presbyterian pastors are required to complete an MDiv before they can complete the process of ordination. Here is what Baxter has to say about the importance of education: "O brethren! do you not shrink and tremble under the sense of all this work? Will a common measure of holy skill and ability, of prudence and other qualifications, serve for such such a task as this? I know necessity may cause the Church to tolerate the weak; but woe to us if we tolerate and indulge our own weakness! Do not reason and conscience tell you, that if you dare venture on so high a work as this, you should spare no pains to be qualified for the performance of it? It is not now and then an idle snatch or taste of studies that will serve to make an able and sound divine [puritan word for pastor/theologian] I know that laziness hath learned to allege the vanity of all our studies, and how entirely the Spirit must qualify us for, and assist us in our work; as if God commanded us the use of means, and then warranted us to neglet them...O, therefore, brethren, lose no time! Study, and pray and confer, and practise; for in these four ways your abilities must be increased." (71)
Sunday, November 27, 2011
St. Augustine's Confessions - Birthpangs of Conversion (Book VIII)
Aside from the theft of pears at the beginning of the Confessions, Book VIII is the most familiar to many people because it contains the famous narrative of Augustine's conversion in the Milan Garden. As we have seen, Augustine's spiritual journey is best understood in terms of a number of small conversions which lead up to this chapter which is the climax of the Confessions as a whole. In Book VII, he experienced a dramatic conversion of the mind through the books of the Platonists, and now in Book VIII he experiences a conversion of the heart and will through the epistles of Paul.
Augustine makes it clear throughout this book that his hesitancy to embrace Christ is no longer a problem related to his intellect but to the unregenerate will: "All doubt had been taken from me that there is indestructible substance from which comes all substance. My desire was not to be more certain of you but to be more stable in you." (VIII.i.1) He was in the same condition as the Rich Young Ruler in the gospels, "attracted to the way, the Saviour himself, but still reluctant to go along its narrow paths." (VIII.i.1) Augustine describes his own inner turmoil as his mind fights against his will in terms reminiscent of Paul's struggle between flesh and Spirit in Romans 7: "The new will, which was beginning to be within me a will to serve you freely and to enjoy you, God, the only source of pleasure, was not yet strong enough to conquer my older will which had the strength of old habit. So my two wills, one old, the other new, one carnal, the other spiritual, were in conflict with one another, and their discord robbed my soul of all concentration." (VIII.V.10)
Augustine's intense inner conflict leads him into a philosophical excursus on the nature of the will since he understood the problem of conversion to be first and foremost, a problem of the human will: "The one necessary condition, which meant not only going but at once arriving there, was to have the will to go - provided only that the will was strong and unqualified, not the turning and twisting first this way, then that, of a will half-wounded, struggling with one part rising up and the other part falling down." (VIII.vii.19) It is a "monstrous situation", he contends, that the human will can control the motions of the body, but is unable to command the mind: "What causes this monstrous fact? and why is it so? The mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed. The mind commands itself and meets resistance. The mind commands the hand to move, and it is so easy that one hardly distinguishes the order from its execution. Yet mind is mind, and hand is body. The mind orders he mind to will. The recipient of the order is itself, yet it does not perform it." (VII.ix.21) Augustine concludes that his own will was divided into two: "In my own case,, as I deliberated about serving my Lord God which I had long been disposed to do, the self which willed to serve was identical with the self which was unwilling. It was I. I was neither wholly willing nor wholly unwilling. So I was in conflict with myself and was dissociated from myself." (VIII.x.22)
The internal division of mind and will that Augustine had been experiencing since Platonist philosophers had enabled him to conceive of God in terms of spiritual substance, rather than as physical matter diffused throughout the universe came to a climax in a Garden in Milan with his friend Alypius by his side: "This debate in my heart was a struggle of myself against myself. Alypius stood quest still at my side, and waited in silence for the outcome of my unprecedented state of agitation." (VIII.xi.27) In a garden scene highly reminiscent of the Garden of Eden (probably intentionally so), Augustine threw himself down under a "certain figtree" and wept uncontrollably. In this intense state of emotion the final and climactic conversion occurred: "As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house changing as if it might be a boy or a girl (i do not know which), saying and repeating over and over again 'Pick up and read, pick up and read.'...I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find...So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting. There I had put down the book of the apostle [Paul] when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: 'Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts' (Rom 13:13-14). I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled." (VIII.xi.29)
There are several significant theological points that could be made from this book and probably shaped the way that Augustine chose to tell his conversion narrative:
1) Original sin has corrupted the human will and rendered it completely unable to choose Christ apart from God's grace. Before God extends His grace to the lost sinner, he is like a corpse - completely unable to do anything about his lost situation (cf. Eph 2:1-10). Conversion is a miracle of resurrection no less than the resurrection of Christ.
2) Intellectual arguments and proofs cannot save you. Conversion is much more than simply becoming convinced of certain facts or truths concerning the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Faith has an intellectual component, but a purely intellectual faith is not the kind of faith that saves. Faith involves the heart, mind and the will - it is not purely intellectual, nor is it purely experiential.
3) Faith is a gift of God's grace that must be received. Although we often like to think of faith as a human capacity and a mere function of the will, the situation is more complex than that. In our fallen condition, we cannnot simply choose to follow Christ until we are made regenerate by the Holy Spirit. Regeneration always precedes faith although the two are intimately connected. To place faith before regeneration, is to commit the error of Pelagius (one of Augustine's primary theological opponents in his latter years) and to deny the devastating consequences of original sin on the human will.
4) "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom 10:17) It is interesting how Augustine brings this truth to the forefront in his own conversion narrative. God often chooses to grant the gift of faith through careful meditation on His Word. In His sovereign plan He ordains both the ends and the means through which those ends are accomplished. Scripture and the preaching of the Word are the means which God has ordained to bring His elect to repentance and faith.
HHKEY2BHBSS9
Augustine makes it clear throughout this book that his hesitancy to embrace Christ is no longer a problem related to his intellect but to the unregenerate will: "All doubt had been taken from me that there is indestructible substance from which comes all substance. My desire was not to be more certain of you but to be more stable in you." (VIII.i.1) He was in the same condition as the Rich Young Ruler in the gospels, "attracted to the way, the Saviour himself, but still reluctant to go along its narrow paths." (VIII.i.1) Augustine describes his own inner turmoil as his mind fights against his will in terms reminiscent of Paul's struggle between flesh and Spirit in Romans 7: "The new will, which was beginning to be within me a will to serve you freely and to enjoy you, God, the only source of pleasure, was not yet strong enough to conquer my older will which had the strength of old habit. So my two wills, one old, the other new, one carnal, the other spiritual, were in conflict with one another, and their discord robbed my soul of all concentration." (VIII.V.10)
Augustine's intense inner conflict leads him into a philosophical excursus on the nature of the will since he understood the problem of conversion to be first and foremost, a problem of the human will: "The one necessary condition, which meant not only going but at once arriving there, was to have the will to go - provided only that the will was strong and unqualified, not the turning and twisting first this way, then that, of a will half-wounded, struggling with one part rising up and the other part falling down." (VIII.vii.19) It is a "monstrous situation", he contends, that the human will can control the motions of the body, but is unable to command the mind: "What causes this monstrous fact? and why is it so? The mind commands the body and is instantly obeyed. The mind commands itself and meets resistance. The mind commands the hand to move, and it is so easy that one hardly distinguishes the order from its execution. Yet mind is mind, and hand is body. The mind orders he mind to will. The recipient of the order is itself, yet it does not perform it." (VII.ix.21) Augustine concludes that his own will was divided into two: "In my own case,, as I deliberated about serving my Lord God which I had long been disposed to do, the self which willed to serve was identical with the self which was unwilling. It was I. I was neither wholly willing nor wholly unwilling. So I was in conflict with myself and was dissociated from myself." (VIII.x.22)
The internal division of mind and will that Augustine had been experiencing since Platonist philosophers had enabled him to conceive of God in terms of spiritual substance, rather than as physical matter diffused throughout the universe came to a climax in a Garden in Milan with his friend Alypius by his side: "This debate in my heart was a struggle of myself against myself. Alypius stood quest still at my side, and waited in silence for the outcome of my unprecedented state of agitation." (VIII.xi.27) In a garden scene highly reminiscent of the Garden of Eden (probably intentionally so), Augustine threw himself down under a "certain figtree" and wept uncontrollably. In this intense state of emotion the final and climactic conversion occurred: "As I was saying this and weeping in the bitter agony of my heart, suddenly I heard a voice from the nearby house changing as if it might be a boy or a girl (i do not know which), saying and repeating over and over again 'Pick up and read, pick up and read.'...I interpreted it solely as a divine command to me to open the book and read the first chapter I might find...So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting. There I had put down the book of the apostle [Paul] when I got up. I seized it, opened it and in silence read the first passage on which my eyes lit: 'Not in riots and drunken parties, not in eroticism and indecencies, not in strife and rivalry, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in its lusts' (Rom 13:13-14). I neither wished nor needed to read further. At once, with the last words of this sentence, it was as if a light of relief from all anxiety flooded into my heart. All the shadows of doubt were dispelled." (VIII.xi.29)
There are several significant theological points that could be made from this book and probably shaped the way that Augustine chose to tell his conversion narrative:
1) Original sin has corrupted the human will and rendered it completely unable to choose Christ apart from God's grace. Before God extends His grace to the lost sinner, he is like a corpse - completely unable to do anything about his lost situation (cf. Eph 2:1-10). Conversion is a miracle of resurrection no less than the resurrection of Christ.
2) Intellectual arguments and proofs cannot save you. Conversion is much more than simply becoming convinced of certain facts or truths concerning the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Faith has an intellectual component, but a purely intellectual faith is not the kind of faith that saves. Faith involves the heart, mind and the will - it is not purely intellectual, nor is it purely experiential.
3) Faith is a gift of God's grace that must be received. Although we often like to think of faith as a human capacity and a mere function of the will, the situation is more complex than that. In our fallen condition, we cannnot simply choose to follow Christ until we are made regenerate by the Holy Spirit. Regeneration always precedes faith although the two are intimately connected. To place faith before regeneration, is to commit the error of Pelagius (one of Augustine's primary theological opponents in his latter years) and to deny the devastating consequences of original sin on the human will.
4) "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom 10:17) It is interesting how Augustine brings this truth to the forefront in his own conversion narrative. God often chooses to grant the gift of faith through careful meditation on His Word. In His sovereign plan He ordains both the ends and the means through which those ends are accomplished. Scripture and the preaching of the Word are the means which God has ordained to bring His elect to repentance and faith.
HHKEY2BHBSS9
Friday, November 25, 2011
Saved by Faith but Judged According to Works??? (Matt 25:31-46)
Matthew 25:31-46 provides us with a vivid description of the final judgment and can be a perplexing passage for many of us who hold strongly to sola fide since it seems to imply (in contrast with Paul) that salvation is ultimately by works rather than by faith alone in Christ:
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (vv. 41-46)
Is there a contradiction in the Bible here? Does Paul teach sola gratia, while Jesus teaches works-righteousness? A number of solutions have been offered:
Solution 1: All Good People go to Heaven
This is the Liberal Protestant answer to this question which really isn't much of a solution at all. Those who deny the authority of God's Word, have no difficulty accepting that it contains irreconcilable contradictions because they do not believe that Scripture is Verbally Inspired (cf. 2 Tim 3:16). For many Liberals, the essence of Christianity can be boiled down to being a nice person, following the golden rule and trying to improve society through social reform - in a nutshell it is humanism dressed up in a clerical collar. If they retain a theology of eternal punishment then the criteria for judgment becomes how closely you followed the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. If they don't retain a theology of eternal punishment, it doesn't really matter in the end since hell is an invention of the early church that has been placed in the mouth of Jesus and therefore doesn't really exist.
The Liberal Protestant view interprets "the least of these brothers of mine" (v. 40) as a reference to all people generally.
Solution 2: There Are Multiple Eschatological Judgments
This solution is offered by Dispensationalists who claim that there is not one final judgment, but three. Matthew 25:31-46, they argue, is a judgment for the nations to determine which ones will enter into the thousand year Millennial Kingdom. This appears to solve the problem nicely, since Matthew 25 applies to believers living in another dispensation and does not apply to believers today who are saved by faith alone - (sigh of relief!) According to this view, "the least of these brothers of mine" is a reference to Jewish believers living during the time of the Great Tribulation. The criteria for entering the Millennium in this view, is how the Gentile nations treated the Jewish people during the Tribulation.
Dispensationalists hold that a second eschatological judgment is described in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and is a judgment for reward for Christians. This "Bema Seat Judgment", they say will occur in heaven during the Great Tribulation after the church has been raptured and before the final appearing of Christ (parousia) at the end of the Tribulation.
The third and final judgment is described in Rev 20:11-15 when non-believers will be resurrected and judged and the sheep (God's elect) will be separated from the goats (those who rejected Christ).
Although the Dispensational view seems to offer a plausible explanation to this passage which guards sola fide, it requires that you first accept the presuppositions of the theological system, which in my own view cannot be easily substantiated from Scripture itself. (A subject for another day)
Solution 3: One Final Judgment- Justified by Faith and Judged according to the Evidence
A third view, which I personally think is the best one makes matters very simple when it comes to eschatology. All passages in the New Testament and in the Old Testament prophetic books that refer to judgment are speaking of the same event, which is called the "Great White Throne Judgment" in Rev 20. There will be one eschatological judgment at the end of the age, at which time believers and non-believers will stand before Christ to give an account of their lives. This judgment will consist of an evaluation of both the object of one's faith (whether it was Jesus Christ alone or something else), and the righteous works that have been done during our pilgrimage on earth. The works performed by God's elect will, at this time, be graciously rewarded by the Lord as Paul teaches us in 1 Cor 5.
The answer to the dilemma concerning faith and works as they relate to the final judgment is resolved if one interprets these judgment passages in the light of the entirety of Scripture. The NT teaches two very important truths related to this issue which must both be equally affirmed. Emphasizing Proposition 1 to the exclusion of Proposition 2 leads to the heresy of Antinomianism. Emphasizing Proposition 2 to the exclusion of Proposition 1 leads to the opposite heresy of Legalism:
1) Salvation is a gift of God that cannot be earned. (Eph 2:8-9) We are justified by faith alone in Christ. (Rom 5:1).
2) True and saving faith perseveres to the end. (1 John 2:19) Genuine faith is always accompanied by good works, just as a good tree produces good fruit. (Eph 2:10, James 2:24; Matt 7:17-20) In other words, good works are an indispensible part of the Christian life.
So .... will we be judged on the basis of faith or of works?? The answer to this question is that the good works that the Spirit produces in our lives as believers is the ultimate evidence of saving faith. Works are not the ground of our salvation, but they are the evidence by which we can know whether or not we are truly saved. To put it another way - we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, but we will be judged on the basis of works which validate the genuineness of our faith in Christ. With this in mind, passages like Matthew 25 which stress the importance of good works should not distress us or cause us to drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul - they should cause us to examine ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). They should cause us to strive to make our calling and election sure. (2 Peter 1:10). They should serve as warnings that cause us to be ready for the return of our Lord and so that we will not be among the crowd of false professors on that final day (Matt 7:21-23), or that we would be ashamed at His appearing (1 John 2:28).
"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (vv. 41-46)
Is there a contradiction in the Bible here? Does Paul teach sola gratia, while Jesus teaches works-righteousness? A number of solutions have been offered:
Solution 1: All Good People go to Heaven
This is the Liberal Protestant answer to this question which really isn't much of a solution at all. Those who deny the authority of God's Word, have no difficulty accepting that it contains irreconcilable contradictions because they do not believe that Scripture is Verbally Inspired (cf. 2 Tim 3:16). For many Liberals, the essence of Christianity can be boiled down to being a nice person, following the golden rule and trying to improve society through social reform - in a nutshell it is humanism dressed up in a clerical collar. If they retain a theology of eternal punishment then the criteria for judgment becomes how closely you followed the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. If they don't retain a theology of eternal punishment, it doesn't really matter in the end since hell is an invention of the early church that has been placed in the mouth of Jesus and therefore doesn't really exist.
The Liberal Protestant view interprets "the least of these brothers of mine" (v. 40) as a reference to all people generally.
Solution 2: There Are Multiple Eschatological Judgments
This solution is offered by Dispensationalists who claim that there is not one final judgment, but three. Matthew 25:31-46, they argue, is a judgment for the nations to determine which ones will enter into the thousand year Millennial Kingdom. This appears to solve the problem nicely, since Matthew 25 applies to believers living in another dispensation and does not apply to believers today who are saved by faith alone - (sigh of relief!) According to this view, "the least of these brothers of mine" is a reference to Jewish believers living during the time of the Great Tribulation. The criteria for entering the Millennium in this view, is how the Gentile nations treated the Jewish people during the Tribulation.
Dispensationalists hold that a second eschatological judgment is described in 2 Corinthians 5:10 and is a judgment for reward for Christians. This "Bema Seat Judgment", they say will occur in heaven during the Great Tribulation after the church has been raptured and before the final appearing of Christ (parousia) at the end of the Tribulation.
The third and final judgment is described in Rev 20:11-15 when non-believers will be resurrected and judged and the sheep (God's elect) will be separated from the goats (those who rejected Christ).
Although the Dispensational view seems to offer a plausible explanation to this passage which guards sola fide, it requires that you first accept the presuppositions of the theological system, which in my own view cannot be easily substantiated from Scripture itself. (A subject for another day)
Solution 3: One Final Judgment- Justified by Faith and Judged according to the Evidence
A third view, which I personally think is the best one makes matters very simple when it comes to eschatology. All passages in the New Testament and in the Old Testament prophetic books that refer to judgment are speaking of the same event, which is called the "Great White Throne Judgment" in Rev 20. There will be one eschatological judgment at the end of the age, at which time believers and non-believers will stand before Christ to give an account of their lives. This judgment will consist of an evaluation of both the object of one's faith (whether it was Jesus Christ alone or something else), and the righteous works that have been done during our pilgrimage on earth. The works performed by God's elect will, at this time, be graciously rewarded by the Lord as Paul teaches us in 1 Cor 5.
The answer to the dilemma concerning faith and works as they relate to the final judgment is resolved if one interprets these judgment passages in the light of the entirety of Scripture. The NT teaches two very important truths related to this issue which must both be equally affirmed. Emphasizing Proposition 1 to the exclusion of Proposition 2 leads to the heresy of Antinomianism. Emphasizing Proposition 2 to the exclusion of Proposition 1 leads to the opposite heresy of Legalism:
1) Salvation is a gift of God that cannot be earned. (Eph 2:8-9) We are justified by faith alone in Christ. (Rom 5:1).
2) True and saving faith perseveres to the end. (1 John 2:19) Genuine faith is always accompanied by good works, just as a good tree produces good fruit. (Eph 2:10, James 2:24; Matt 7:17-20) In other words, good works are an indispensible part of the Christian life.
So .... will we be judged on the basis of faith or of works?? The answer to this question is that the good works that the Spirit produces in our lives as believers is the ultimate evidence of saving faith. Works are not the ground of our salvation, but they are the evidence by which we can know whether or not we are truly saved. To put it another way - we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone, but we will be judged on the basis of works which validate the genuineness of our faith in Christ. With this in mind, passages like Matthew 25 which stress the importance of good works should not distress us or cause us to drive a wedge between Jesus and Paul - they should cause us to examine ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith (2 Cor 13:5). They should cause us to strive to make our calling and election sure. (2 Peter 1:10). They should serve as warnings that cause us to be ready for the return of our Lord and so that we will not be among the crowd of false professors on that final day (Matt 7:21-23), or that we would be ashamed at His appearing (1 John 2:28).
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