Why I am a Bad Calvinist - Part 1

Because there's no such thing as a good Calvinist . . . by definition, we're all totally depraved.

Christ died for sinners, and only His grace can make any good of any of us.

Real Theology and the Fall of Man

"Remember, real theology takes the real fall really seriously. If you have a defective understanding of the depravity of man then it is easier to believe that man can, by acts of his unaided obedience and will, both seek after God and do that which pleases Him. The Bible flatly and emphatically denies this."

-Tony Hayling (Source)

Believe what God says about man's sinfulness, and you'll find you desperately need a cross, and a gracious God who sends His Son to die upon it, and then raises Him from the dead. Orthodox theology begins to leave the building when we stop taking seriously what God says about our sin and His holiness.

Brian McLaren has recently written a book in which he describes the fall as "a coming-of age story” which gives us “the first stage of ascent as human beings progress from the life of hunter-gatherers to the life of agriculturalists and beyond.” Well, that's a different sort of twist than Moses (or God) ever had in mind, I'm sure. This would explain McLaren's complete abandonment of any belief in the Gospel of grace. There's no need for grace if the fall was a step "up." McLaren declares that the orthodox answers aren't satisfying or sufficient, and then he offers us this as a better alternative?

On a more encouraging note, you may find Bob Gonzales' new book, Where Sin Abounds, to be refreshing. Gonzales uses a series of exegetical cameos to trace the spread of sin in the book of Genesis. You can read a review of the book here.


Friends, let us take the real fall really seriously, and let us cling to the cross as we sense the effect of that fall on our own hearts and minds.


Romans 5:20-21 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John Piper: In Search of the Perfect TULIP

John Piper recently posted a near perfect summation of the famous "5 points of Calvinism." Every informed Calvinist knows these points are a little too limited and incomplete (perhaps this is why Piper has referred to himself as a "7 point Calvinist."), but they are nonetheless a helpful way to articulate some important facets of orthodox, Biblical theology. It's essential to view these concepts through an understanding of God's complete sovereignty and divine attributes, and I would also recommend a healthy appreciation for philosophical paradox, theological tension, and deep mystery. The thoughtful acceptance of divine mysteries, without the slightest hint of uncertainty concerning things that are clearly revealed, is part of the beauty of Calvin's theology - and Augustine's - and, ultimately, that of the Biblical writers (reflecting God's own declaration that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours).


Paradox is inherent in Piper's TULIP. It is especially evident in his synopses of limited atonement, irresistible grace, and perseverance. Piper's explanation of TULIP is well balanced because he has been refining it for many years as he has pursued good theology and devoted himself to a careful study of Scripture. I've heard other attempts at explaining TULIP that were so unbalanced you wanted to rent a tower crane and try to set them back up again.

Here is Piper's TULIP . . . no cranes needed:

We believe that these 5 truths are biblical and therefore true. We believe that they magnify God’s precious grace and give unspeakable joy to sinners who have despaired of saving themselves.

Total Depravity

Our sinful corruption is so deep and so strong as to make us slaves of sin and morally unable to overcome our own rebellion and blindness. This inability to save ourselves from ourselves is total. We are utterly dependent on God’s grace to overcome our rebellion, give us eyes to see, and effectively draw us to the Savior.

We were dead in our trespasses. (Ephesians 2:5)

The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7-8)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

Unconditional Election

God’s election is an unconditional act of free grace that was given through his Son Jesus before the world began. By this act, God chose, before the foundation of the world, those who would be delivered from bondage to sin and brought to repentance and saving faith in Jesus.

He chose us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4).

As many as were appointed to eternal life believed. (Acts 13:48)

"I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. (Romans 9:15-16)

God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. (1 Corinthians 1:27)

Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened. (Romans 11:7; cf. 9:11-12; John 6:37)

My servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me. (Isaiah 43:10)

Irresistible Grace

This means that the resistance that all human beings exert against God every day (Romans 3:10-12; Acts 7:51) is wonderfully overcome at the proper time by God’s saving grace for undeserving rebels whom he chooses freely to save.

Even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved. (Ephesians 2:5)

No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father. (John 6:65)

God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 2:25)

Limited Atonement

The atonement of Christ is sufficient for all humans and effective for those who trust him. The full, saving effectiveness of the atonement that Jesus accomplished is limited to those for whom that saving effect was prepared. The availability of the total sufficiency of the atonement is for all people. Whosoever will—whoever believes—will be covered by the blood of Christ. And there is a divine design in the death of Christ to accomplish the promises of the new covenant for the chosen bride of Christ. Thus Christ died for all, but not for all in the same way.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16; cf. Revelation 22:17).

This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:20)

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. (Ephesians 5:25)

I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:15)

I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. . . . And for their sake I consecrate myself [that is, prepare to die], that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:9, 19)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32)

Perseverance of the Saints

We believe that all who are justified will win the fight of faith. They will persevere in faith and never surrender to the enemy of their souls. This perseverance is the promise of the new covenant, obtained by the blood of Christ, and worked in us by God himself, yet not so as to diminish, but only to empower and encourage, our vigilance; so that we may say in the end, I have fought the good fight, but it was not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:30)

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (John 10:27-28)

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. (Philippians 3:12)

Resting in Christ and reaching for the goal,

Pastor John

---

© Desiring God

What a Good Pastor Does

I had an interesting conversation with my pastor recently. We met for lunch, and I had a very pressing matter to discuss. It concerned my struggle with another person, in which it seemed quite clear to me that the other person was in the wrong. After I related my horrific tale of how I have been abused and mistreated by this person, my pastor asked me a few simple questions. I walked away from those questions very troubled. I walked away unsettled. I walked away more humbled and confronted than I have been in a long time. I suddenly found myself begging God to show me the ways I have sinned in the matter. Without being presumptuous or overbearing, my pastor had asked me if I was willing to take the big fat log out of my own eye.

It seems that we often need to be gently confronted with the reality of our sinfulness in specific situations - something we are oddly blind to, no matter how much we practice spiritual disciplines and try to serve God. I'm fairly good at developing the theology of my general depravity. But when it comes to the truly humbling aspect of this truth applied directly to myself on a daily basis, I am woefully inadequate. I can't self-pastor. This is one of the reasons God has established the Church. It's one of the reasons He has commanded us to exhort, encourage, rebuke, restore and forgive one another. In essence, He tells us to "be Jesus" to one another. And that's what a good pastor does. I wouldn't trade it for a thousand purpose-driven sermons. I'm convinced that God is much more pleased with a servant who preaches the Gospel and authentically disciples others than He is with a CEO-pastor building a mega-"church" for the masses or leading a social movement. I know I'm helped more by the servant.

IMPOSSIBLE - You Must Be Born Again, Part 2

In part one, we saw that the Lord considers our salvation humanly impossible, owing to the fact that our depravity leaves us almost completely oblivious to the Kingdom of God. As we read on in John chapter 3, He takes it even further . . .

John 3:4-7 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. “Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

There is something slightly humorous in this question from Nicodemus, but it is beyond all doubt the voice of unenlightened unbelief that is asking. He is incredulous. Notice the response from Jesus: "You MUST be born again, but you cannot do it. It is the work of the Spirit." And now the issue at stake is not just seeing the kingdom - it's entering the kingdom. Nicodemus had answered one impossibility with another, proving the very point Jesus is making. A prominent religious leader of Israel could not even comprehend the idea of a spiritual rebirth. Hadn't Jesus said, "You cannot see . . ." ?

Jesus analogizes spiritual birth with physical birth. In physical birth, we begin surrounded by water. We are protected and encased within the watery womb of our mothers. We did not place ourselves there. We were placed. We did not cause ourselves to grow and develop. We did not even will our way out of the womb and into the world. In the same way, our spiritual birth follows a time of being immersed in the Spirit of God, protected by His presence, receiving spiritual life from Him. He regenerates us, and enables us to receive Christ in faith. We are born of the Spirit, born with new eyes. Suddenly, though still immature and helpless, we SEE the kingdom. And we are IN the kingdom!


But Nicodemus doesn't get it, so the Lord draws another illustration:

John 3:8-11 “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

In Greek, the word "wind" is exactly the same as the word "Spirit." The Greek term is PNEUMA - the word from which we derive "pneumatics" and "pneumonia." Notice that the wind "blows where it wishes." When Jesus says "we know and testify," He is probably referring to Himself and the Holy Spirit. With these words, Jesus places Himself in an entirely different category of understanding, revealing that He has personal and intimate knowledge of the Spirit's work, and that He speaks as an eyewitness of the Spirit's activities. He SEES things we do not see.


Jesus emphasizes the mysterious quality of the new birth. Not only are we unable to SEE God's Kingdom in our natural state, we DO NOT KNOW the details of how His Spirit moves to bring about the salvation of sinners. We may hear the wind, but we still cannot KNOW its course.

Jesus gives Nicodemus this impossible command, "You must be born again." The idea here is not that Nicodemus needs to cause his own spiritual birth. No, he simply needs to surrender to the Lord and ask for it. He needs to admit that he knows nothing, sees nothing, comes to God with nothing. He needs to stop trusting in himself and his ability to perceive, and believe what Jesus says to him. Jesus is not impressed by his amazement, or his intellect, or his religious credentials. He calls Nicodemus to faith - a faith that trusts God to do what is impossible for man to do himself.

Psalm 32:9 - The Results of Repentance

Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.

In verse 8, God promises to personally teach and train the repentant sinner. Now He gives us the details of this training, and the intended results of repentance, including a contrasting example of what our training does NOT involve. This path leads us to a change which affects our entire person - mind, will, and affections.

Before we examine this, let's remind ourselves of one clear fact drawn from verses 1, 2, and 5: the person in this training program is already forgiven. He does not embark on this path to obtain clemency - he follows the divine teaching because he has already received mercy and now trusts his Teacher to steer him right. He is a HASID - a person whose identity is grounded in divine mercy.

Repentance brings a lasting change of mind with new thinking.

God's teaching moves us from folly to wisdom. The horse and mule have no wisdom or understanding. They act according to their nature and instincts, not a reasoned course of intelligent reflection. The animal's life is a continual quest for survival and is aimed at preserving independence. But Christ calls His followers to death and surrender.

Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it."

Luke 14:33 "So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions."

For the Christian, life is paradoxically found only through dying with Christ, and freedom is attained only by surrendering to the sovereign God. And the only way to arrive at this enlightened view of things is by divinely imparted wisdom. Fallen human nature cannot comprehend the things of God, and will instead rise up in pride, independence, self-reliance and the perpetual pursuit of easy pleasure. Our sinful flesh despises the hard road of discipleship.

Animals can be tamed and domesticated so that they will outwardly conform to the demands of their masters, but they will never voluntarily surrender themselves. Amazing tricks can be achieved by channeling an animal's instincts, but this is not the result of any wisdom they have gained. It is nothing more than the same old animal thinking brought into a new set of circumstances which are carefully manipulated by the master. God's ways are higher than this. He does not "break" us like a horse is broken. He aims for inward transformation. He does not employ threat and manipulation to force us into behavioral change. Rather, He invests us with His Own Spirit and renews our minds through His Word to bring about an entirely new nature - one that loves Him and receives His teaching with delight.

Psalm 51:6 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.

God teaches our hearts so that we become willing to do His will.

Repentance brings us beyond mere external motivation through a transformed will.

There is hardly a more stubborn animal than a mule. These creatures are uncommonly recalcitrant. Yet with the use of a painful bit and bridle, even this beast will become obedient - at least on the outside. When repentance is external and fear-driven, our obedience is all on the surface. But when repentance reaches our hearts, we become obedient from within (Romans 6:17). Our will changes. The desire for sin decreases, the choice to sin becomes less appealing, and the love for sin gets broken. We grieve over our sin, not because it wreaks havoc on our happiness, but because it breaks God's heart. We cannot conceive of any happiness apart from Him. Sins like pride and envy become abhorrently abominable to us, even though they do not seem to affect our outward lives in dramatic ways. We plead with God to help us overcome these sins. We hate our sin because we look at the cross and see what it did to Jesus Christ. We loathe our sin because it works death in us, leaving us with a tormenting sense of separation from God. Only the Gospel can cure this.

At the same time, we begin to love God because we find Him to be pure and untainted and utterly innocent. We delight in His Word because it is completely holy. We are captivated by an incarnate Christ Who walked spotlessly through our fallen world. The temptations that have so easily capsized us didn't even draw his interest.

Has curiosity taken us into sin? He limited His knowledge and yet did not succumb to sin through curiosity. Has pleasure carried us to sinful excess? He experienced daily suffering and never turned to sinful pleasure for relief. Have bodily drives and hungers driven us into wickedness? He had all of them, too, yet He never made provision for the flesh. Have riches become a snare to us? He became entirely poor, and never once complained or worshipped the Mammon idol of money that makes the world "go 'round." Has loneliness opened a door for evil in our lives? After half a lifetime filled with rejection, the God-Man Jesus Christ hung on the cross by Himself and endured the ferocious and hellish alienation brought about through rejection by both God and man - without ever having a stray thought, word or deed. His is a perfect and intrinsic and inherent and irresistible holiness.

When we see the destructiveness of sin, and when we see the pure magnificence of Christ, our will changes. Not because we are threatened, but because we are captivated. We do not hate sin because it "hurts" us in this life (though it certainly does). We hate sin because sin is Christ's enemy, and we have become His friends. This changes our will, so that we are transformed from the inside out.

Repentance brings us near to God with new affections.

God points our attention to a specific characteristic of horses and mules: of their own accord, they will not come near you. A wild horse can only run wild. A wild mule will only resist. Fear drives these animals and causes them to keep their distance from us.

In the same way, all fallen human beings are averse to God. We naturally despise, hate and turn from Him. We naturally view ourselves as His mortal enemies. But for a repentant sinner there is one important difference: grace. By grace, we have the ability to draw near to God. By grace, the dividing wall of hostility is removed. By grace, He forgives us. By grace, He draws us. By grace, He accepts us. By grace, He makes us His own children. We are not His pets, or work animals, or slaves, or prisoners. We are beloved sons!

And when we realize just how loved and forgiven we are, we willingly submit to our Father and offer ourselves as His slaves. We WANT to be kept in the boundaries of His will. We LOVE to be His.

What sweet joys fill our hearts as we walk with Him. It is not under the restraints of bit and bridle that we walk, but in the light and easy yoke of Christ. In this yoke, He walks next to us all the way, lending the strength we lack and encouraging our weary hearts to keep on. There can be absolutely no freedom for man, except in being bound to Christ by the eternal bonds of love and mercy. In these blessed bonds, we are freed from the slavish drudgery of sin and secured forever by grace.

Psalm 32:2 - Honest to God

Psalm 32:2 - How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

In verse one, David referred to human sinfulness in two ways:

~Transgressions - Heb. PESHA - deliberate acts of crossing the line and breaking the commandment of God, acts of rebellion. These are "forgiven," i.e. lifted from us and carried away.

~sins - Heb. CHATA'AH - the more general word for sins, often described as "missing the mark." We commit sins because we are unable to attain to God's standard. These are "covered," i.e. hidden by God.

Now David adds a third concept to the description of our sinfulness:

~Iniquity - Heb. AVON - perversity, depravity. It comes from a word that means "to twist, to distort, to bend, to pervert." Iniquity describes the depraved sinful nature of fallen man. This goes beyond what we do and reaches to the very core of what we are. We are not as God originally created us. We have become a twisted version of it. We no longer bear the image of God, but we can bear that image. We are still human, but we are not good. In the New Testament the word "iniquity" is often translated as "lawlessness." It implies that there is no principle of restraint in us. In our natural state, we can only sin.

How does God deal with our innate evil when he forgives us? He simply "does not impute" it. This means He does not think of it, does not charge us with it, does not take it into account. It is the blessed "unremembrance" of God, wherein He deliberately removes the thought of our sin from His mind. He replaces thoughts of our depravity with thoughts of Christ's righteousness.

Think of it! In Christ, God does not think of us in terms of sin anymore. Instead, He thinks of us in terms of righteousness. This is Paul's point in Romans 4, where he quotes Psalm 32:1-2 ...

Romans 4:6-8 just as David also speaks of the blessing on the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "BLESSED ARE THOSE WHOSE LAWLESS DEEDS HAVE BEEN FORGIVEN, AND WHOSE SINS HAVE BEEN COVERED. "BLESSED IS THE MAN WHOSE SIN THE LORD WILL NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT."

So God no longer views us in terms of our depravity. Instead, He sees us as righteous. But the righteousness is not from us, it's all Christ's. It's revealed in the cross, proved in the resurrection, and it comes to us by grace alone, through faith alone.

David adds one final note to our blessedness, and this is the part that makes all the difference in our daily experience. He declares the person blessed "in whose spirit there is no deceit." The word translated "deceit" implies both negligence and deception. Because of our depraved nature, we typically don't take sin seriously. We ignore it, let it go, pretend it isn't there. We deceive ourselves and present a false image to others. Worst of all, we lie to God by failing to confess our sin to Him. After walking this hard and bitter road, David learned that this course is both dangerous and destructive - it's described in verses 3 and 4.

All the blessings of forgiveness and mercy are available to us, but without the faith that honestly confesses sin to God we cannot know them as present realities. David's earnest repentance calls us to rip the cover off of our hearts before God and make ourselves known to Him - exactly as we are. In the open confession of sin, you will discover a marvelous response from God. As you mourn over sin, God Himself will comfort you. As you declare your spiritual poverty, God Himself will enrich you. As you fall down broken before Him, He will heal and restore your soul. This is the blessedness known only to those who humbly remove all the deceit from their spirit by telling God the truth about themselves.

My Goodness, What a Paradox! Part 4

In parts 1, 2 and 3, we have looked at and partially explained the paradox presented by Biblical affirmations that certain people are good, in light Jesus' thrice-repeated statement that only God is good. We have shown that this is not an actual contradiction at all. We have learned that all human goodness is nothing more than the reflection of God's goodness as it is manifested in those who trust Him and are filled with His Spirit. Now let's look at a few verses from Philemon that tell of the effect of God's goodness in us. This should help to drive it all home. May God open His Word to our hearts, and our hearts to His Word.

GOODNESS ACTIVATES THE FELLOWSHIP OF FAITH

Philemon 1:4-6 “I thank my God always, making mention of you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints; and I pray that the fellowship of your faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing which is in you for Christ’s sake."

Greek scholar Kenneth S. Wuest translates verse 6 this way: “praying that the contribution of your faith, which faith you share in common with other believers, may [through the resultant love which you have for all the saints] become effective in the sphere of a full and perfect experiential knowledge of every good thing in us with a view to [the glory of] Christ. (The New Testament, An Expanded Translation)

This is a difficult Pauline sentence which does not translate easily into English. I am not completely sure how some parts of it are best taken. However, I will pass on what I have learned, and especially what is obvious in it: our fellowship with other believers becomes active and effective when we know the good things God has put in us for the glory of Christ.

The word translated “effective” is ENERGES in Greek. Here are a few definitions and translations of this word:
“active” (Brown-Driver-Briggs)
“at work, active” (NASB Dictionary)
“active, operative” (Strong)
“at work” (A.T. Robertson)
“active, powerful in action ... Eng. 'energy;' the word 'work' is derived from the same root” (Vine)
“energetic” (Rotherham)
“working” (Young's Literal Translation)
“operative, active, effective" (Barnes)

Commenting on ENERGES, Vincent points out the following: “This adjective, and the kindred ENERGEO to work, be effectual, ENERGEMA working, operation, and ENERGEIA energy, power in exercise, are used in the New Testament only of superhuman power, good or evil.” (Word Studies in the New Testament, by Marvin R. Vincent)

Notice what is being said: faith expresses itself by supernatural love when we have this matter of goodness in proper focus. If we don't realize that good is in us through Christ and for the sake of Christ, our faith will remain inactive, inoperative, ineffective, not working. Apart from God's goodness in us, we have nothing to offer. Thinking of our goodness apart from Christ guts our faith, hinders our ability to demonstrate God's love and paralyzes our fellowship with other believers. Paul is praying that it may not be so in the case of Philemon.

John Gill notes, “the meaning is, that every good thing that is in the saints, or among them, should be acknowledged to come to them in and through Christ Jesus, in whom all fullness of grace dwells, and from whom all is imparted; and that every good thing that is communicated, or done in faith, which is effectual to any good purpose, should be owned as done by the grace and strength of Christ, and be done to his saints, as if done to himself, and be directed to his glory....”

To sum it up ...
The source of the goodness in us: God alone
The effect of the goodness in us: our faith actively working in fellowship with God's people
The purpose of the goodness in us: to bring glory to Christ

A few verses later, Paul adds a bit more to our understanding of divine and human goodness . . .

GOODNESS AFFECTS OUR WILLS

Philemon 1:14 “but without your consent I did not want to do anything, so that your goodness would not be, in effect, by compulsion but of your own free will.”

Without getting into all the issues and questions that might come to mind when reading this verse, let's acknowledge what it implies: believers' wills are freed to do good. Church leaders need to understand this fact as Paul did, and resist the temptation to employ coercive or manipulative tactics.

The way Paul deals with Philemon is an example of good leadership that takes full account of the possibilities of sin and righteousness in a believer, as well as the extent to which the particular believer has grown in grace. Paul is keenly aware of the indwelling sin in all believers. He has had to deal with it in himself and in the churches throughout his ministry. But in this case he only mentions evidences of grace that he has observed in Philemon. He does not berate Philemon, but encourages him. He physically sends Onesimus back to Philemon to deliver the letter, giving Philemon complete freedom and control over what happens next. Will Philemon exercise his rights under law to punish and retain Onesimus? Or will he mercifully set him free and help him get back to Paul? For his part, the apostle has great confidence in the power of grace and of God's goodness at work in Philemon:

Philemon 1:21 "Having confidence in your obedience, I write to you, since I know that you will do even more than what I say."

Philemon is evidently a mature believer who has learned to practice grace and godliness. Through the miracle of grace, his will has become accustomed to obedience and generosity. There is great hope here for every one of us.

Every believer is filled with the goodness of God and therefore has both the desire and the capacity to do good. But to keep it balanced, let's remind ourselves that we have no good apart from God. We need to remember that we are still sinners who battle with the flesh and retain in our nature both the capacity and the tendency to do evil. Taking this balanced view will help us to approach fellow Christians with realistic expectations. As we acknowledge the remaining sinful nature, we won't be surprised when sin makes its presence known. And as we consider the abundance of good grace given to us by God, we will expect sin to be dealt with strongly and righteousness to be practiced increasingly. We will be looking for evidence of grace in fellow believers so that we can encourage them and give glory to God.

What follows is bonus material with very little comment from me . . .

THE GOODNESS IN US IS STARTED AND FINISHED BY GOD

Philippians 1:6 “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

ALL GOOD IS OF GOD

James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow."

At our best, we are full of variation and shifting shadow, terribly inconsistent and unreliable. But God is not. He is good, at all times and in every way, immutably and faithfully, eternally and efficaciously, sovereignly and deliberately. To Him alone be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is a good place to end this study. Thanks for taking the time to read it. As always, comments are welcomed and invited.

My Goodness, What a Paradox! Part 3

In parts 1 and 2, we have looked at and partially explained the paradox presented by Biblical affirmations that certain people are good, in light of Jesus' thrice-repeated statement that only God is good. We have explained this by relegating man's goodness to a secondary and dependent reflection of God's own goodness. God alone is the source and fountain of any and all goodness that exists.

But how does God's goodness get into us? How can we receive and reflect His goodness? How can we become partakers of it to the extent that we can be called "good"? And how can we practice Biblical balance on this issue? Let's look at the Scriptural examples of good people for some clues...

GOOD PERSON #1 - Joseph of Arimathea

Luke 23:50-52 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

GOOD PERSON #2 - Barnabas

Acts 11:22-24 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

In both cases, there were inward and outward evidences of faith. Joseph's inward evidence was that he was “waiting for the Kingdom of God.” The outward evidences were that he “had not consented to” the council's decision to kill Jesus, and he offered Jesus a decent burial in his own tomb. Barnabas was inwardly “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith,” and he outwardly evidenced joy, encouragement, recognition of grace, and evangelistic zeal. Both of these “good” men had clear testimonies of faith according to the Scriptures. They became good by grace through faith, and not by works or merit.

FAITH, HUNGER, FULLNESS

In part 2, we discussed man's dependence on God. Taking it a bit further, dependence can be divided into two related concepts. There is the objective fact of dependence, which is NEED. And there is the subjective response to dependence, which is FAITH. After all, what is faith but a voluntary dependence on God, and a willingness to receive what He gives us? Our need for God is a fact; faith is an acknowledgment and response to that fact, in light of the full sufficiency of God, Himself, in His character, acts and ways.

Sin is the opposite of faith. It is a refusal to gratefully receive the good that God gives, and it is a rejection of that good. Sin leaves us blind to God's goodness. It is an attempt to find good within ourselves apart from Him. “And whatever is not from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:23)

When God grants repentance, our hearts begin to see the futility and emptiness of sin. We begin to loathe sin and HUNGER for God's goodness. Hunger is a KNOWLEDGE OF EMPTINESS and a NEEDY DESIRE to be filled. As we desire God's goodness, seek His goodness, and receive His goodness by faith we become filled with His goodness. “He has filled the hungry with good things.” (Luke 1:53) ... “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, and the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.” (Psalm 107:9) ... “O taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm 34:8). Through faith, God's goodness fills us. Notice that the good man Barnabas was “full of the Holy Spirit and of faith.” From the very beginning, it has been God's intention to fill human beings with nothing less than Himself. He does not fill us because we are good, He fills us to make us good.

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT

Notice these two very similar verses:

Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

Luke 11:13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?

NOTE: Jesus makes a sweeping generalization about all of His listeners: "You are evil." The message is directed to His followers, among others, and yet He makes no distinction whatsoever. All are evil. By nature, we are depraved, and if we follow the sinless Son of God we will have to face ourselves. Some would see this as terrible news. But Christ so embodies the remedy for our sin that believers can receive these words with surprising joy and gratitude. These words are TRUTH, and they have the power to show us our need for Christ. They awaken us from our false sense of personal and inherent goodness and move us to seek good outside of our natural selves. All people are well served by Christ's enlightening phrase, "You are evil."

In these verses, “What is good” is parallel to “the Holy Spirit.” That is, the Spirit Who indwells and fills believers, for “we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (I Cor. 12:13)

We are characterized by that which fills us, as the book of Romans illustrates in three places:

Romans 15:13-14 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

This passage refers to believers, and says they are full of goodness (Greek AGATHOSUNE, the noun related to AGATHOS).

Romans 1:28-29 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness ...

This passage refers to fallen humanity, and says they are filled with all unrighteousness.

Romans 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh ...

This verse is found in the middle of Paul's testimony of struggle with sin. Paul is aware that indwelling sin is not good, and he says so, but notice that he immediately qualifies the statement by saying, “that is, in my flesh.” Sin dwells in his flesh, but Christ dwells in his spirit, so he is not utterly devoid of good. In one sense he is filled with sin, but in another sense he is filled with God! Is it any wonder there's a struggle going on inside him? And do we think we are any different?

Because we cannot be perfectly and purely filled with God in this present life, believers are never perfectly and purely good – at least not yet. Presently, there is always a mixture in us. We are saints who are sinners, redeemed people who are partly filled with God and partly filled with sin. However, by faith we partake of God's goodness and share His virtue. To the extent that we are filled with what is good, we are good.

KEEPING FOCUS

Seeing that God's goodness is primary, and ours is secondary, we must make a deliberate choice regarding emphasis. What Scripture emphasizes as primary, we should also emphasize as primary. It is not wrong to call a believer with a solid testimony a “good person”, but it is improper to emphasize human goodness more than divine goodness. It is also dangerous to ignore the balancing truth that believers are still sinners, and could only be full of evil apart from God's intervening grace.

We must heavily contrast God's goodness and man's depravity. When speaking of believers, we must consider their faith-based goodness in Christ and also the residue of depravity that remains in them. There is no Scriptural account where any believer calls himself a good person, but there are plenty of occasions where believers humbly refer to themselves as sinful or unworthy. This is especially true when they have encountered a revelation of God. So, in practice, the insistent rant of “Christian” psychologists who advise us to tell ourselves we are good people is directly contrary to Scripture, not because there is no goodness in us but because this is NEVER the focus of New Testament teaching.

Overall, there is much more Scriptural emphasis on believers “doing good” than “being good”. Some of today's liberal Christians have famously said we should focus less on being “right” and more on being “good”. This is a category mistake, similar to saying a work of art should be less painted and more picturesque. One depends on the other, and both are at the discretion of the artist. Not that we have to be right about every detail of doctrine, but we need to know and believe the essentials of the faith. Let's have no more of this nonsense about trying to be good. The real need is to magnify the goodness of God, and conform ourselves to it in thought and deed. Doctrine versus practice is a false dichotomy. God expects us to be fully devoted to BOTH, as Paul commanded in I Timothy 4:11-16, “Prescribe and teach these things ... show yourself an example of those who believe ... give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching ... do not neglect the spiritual gift within you ... take pains with these things, be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things...” Do you see the way Paul flips back and forth between doctrine and practice in this passage? Biblical practice flows out of Biblical doctrine, proves Biblical doctrine, demonstrates Biblical doctrine - but it never replaces doctrine. It never makes doctrine irrelevant. And practice that is not firmly grounded in doctrine creates a void that is likely to be filled by error. Faith is demonstrated by deeds, but it comes from hearing the Word.

When speaking of unbelievers, we should bear in mind that they are fallen, depraved, sinful, and devoid of goodness – but also that this depravity is not absolute or irreversible. It is only because sin separates the unrepentant from God's goodness that unbelievers are “not good”. It is only by being filled with God's goodness that believers are in any sense good. Keeping this balance will help us to view ourselves and others properly and Biblically. It reminds us that in some senses we are no different than unbelievers, and the real difference is a result of God's working, not our own merit.

In part 4, we'll examine a few more pertinent Scriptures on the topic of divine and human goodness. May God's Word and Spirit guide us.

My Goodness, What a Paradox! Part 2

We're looking at the paradox presented by some Biblical statements concerning the goodness of God and man. On one hand, we have statements from Jesus declaring that only God is good. On the other hand, we have Luke describing two different people as “good.” Let's look at four common responses to paradox as they relate to this issue:

FOUR RESPONSES

The Skeptical or Agnostic response: “There! That proves it! The Bible contains contradictions and cannot be trusted. Throw it away.”

The Imbalanced response: "Jesus said only God is good. His testimony is greater than Luke's, so we can ignore Luke's mistaken perceptions." One finds this type of imbalance in those who would pit the words of Christ against Paul, or the New Testament against the Old Testament. Such an approach assumes the Scriptures to be unreliable. Alternately, an imbalanced approach might say, "Of course people are good. We're all God's children and there's nothing wrong with any of us. Isn't that what the Bible says?"

The Rationalistic response: "There is a very simple explanation. A word can have more than one meaning. When referring to a human being, goodness means one thing. When referring to God, it means another. There's not the slightest bit of contradiction or paradox in this!"

The Faith/Paradox response: “There is an underlying principle here. The Holy Spirit allowed this apparent contradiction to get our attention and point us to something deeper. God wants us to meditate on this, search the Scriptures and discover His wisdom in the matter. Since God does not lie or contradict Himself, and since He is not reckless with His words, there must be an explanation that is reasonable but not overly simplistic. And one that will affect our hearts by revealing God's glory.”

NOTE: In this case, the rationalistic response does have some validity. There are instances where semantic variations in a word's meaning create a false contradiction. However, in this case I believe that explanation falls short. The danger is, in our pride of "knowing the answer" we often jump to conclusions and settle for an easy explanation. In this way, we sometimes miss things that can only be found by searching further in the Scriptures.

Let's start by affirming both sides of the paradox without equivocation. God alone is good. Some people are also good. This the undeniable testimony of Scripture. So how do we handle it?

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY GOODNESS

Ultimately, I believe this paradox points to our dependence on God, and to two categories of goodness: primary (or source) goodness, and secondary (or reflective) goodness. These categories describe separate manifestations of the same goodness. In other words, there is ONE goodness – God's - and sometimes it exists in people. Whatever goodness a person may have is actually God's goodness in him. Jonathan Edwards describes the way in which all of man's good - and by implication, man's goodness - depends on God:

“The several ways wherein the dependence of the one being may be upon another for its good, and wherein the redeemed of Jesus Christ depend on God for all their good, are these, viz. That they have all their good of him, and that they have all through him, and that they have all in him: That he is the cause and original whence all their good comes, therein it is of him; and that he is the medium by which it is obtained and conveyed, therein they have it through him; and that he is the good itself given and conveyed, therein it is in him.” (God Glorified In Man's Dependence, Jonathan Edwards – Representative Selections, edited by Clarence H. Faust and Thomas H. Johnson, New York: Hill and Wang, 1962)

Man's goodness is reflective, secondary, and dependent - not primary. Our goodness relates to God's goodness in the same way that moonlight relates to sunlight. To the extent that the moon receives and reflects the sun's light, it too is a light. But the moon bears no light on its own. Apart from the sun, it would be completely dark. At its best, the moon is fifty percent darkness. “God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night...” (Genesis 1:16)

In the same way, man's goodness is nothing more than a reflection of God's goodness. You and I, at our very best, are “lesser” lights. When sin gets between us and God, it effectively eclipses His light and leaves us devoid of good. That is depravity. But when we come into the light of God's goodness, we receive and reflect His goodness.

MAN'S ORIGINAL GOODNESS AND THE FALL

When God created the heavens and the earth, and all that they contain, he noted several times that what He created “was good.” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). At the end of the 6^th day, the day on which man was created, He said it was “very good.” This has been construed by some to mean that man has a special goodness not shared by the rest of creation. But let's look at Genesis 1:31 and see what it says: “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” This is not singling out mankind as the best of the best, for the “very good” encompasses all that God created. Nevertheless, man was a unique creation with a special status. Adam and Eve were certainly created “good” and were part of what was “very good”. But the reason for man's special status is found in Genesis 1:26, where God says, “Let us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” Man is good only to the extent that he bears the image of God.

“Image” is a reflective term. An image is merely a representation of something else. I have a picture of my wife, which I cherish, but I am not married to that picture. The picture is beautiful only because it conveys the image of a beautiful person. The paper on which it is printed is common stock – worth nothing at all compared to my wife. Likewise, we are not the source of God's image, only bearers of it. The fall removed that image from us, but in the lives of Christians it is being restored because Christ is in us and shines through us.

God is good with a goodness that is measureless and incomparable. He is infinitely, intrinsically, and inherently good. Believers begin to be good the moment they are united to Christ. We display His goodness as we show His characteristics through our attitudes, words and deeds. Our goodness is real, but it is never independent. God's goodness can exist apart from ours, but ours cannot exist without His. In this way, God alone is good, but believers are also good in Him.

In part 3, we'll delve deeper and look at some specific ways in which man reflects the goodness of God. Then in part 4, we'll wrap it up with a consideration of some key Scripture passages. Now that we've started exploring the paradox in detail, feel free to comment, agree/disagree, offer your own explanation, etc.

My Goodness, What a Paradox! Part 1

A perfect example of a Biblical paradox:

HERE'S ONE SIDE OF THE COIN

Luke 18:18-19 A ruler questioned Him, saying, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”

Matthew 19:17 And He said to him, "Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is {only} One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."

Mark 10:18 And Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.

NOTE: In these passages, Jesus is not denying His deity. Rather, He is challenging the questioner to clarify the matter in his own mind. Part of the reason this man did not follow Jesus' advice was because he didn't believe Jesus was the all-wise Son of God. For our discussion, the main point here is Jesus' statement that God alone is good.

AND HERE'S THE OTHER SIDE

Luke 23:50-52 And a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man (he had not consented to their plan and action), a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for the kingdom of God; this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Acts 11:22-24 The news about them reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch. Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God, he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with resolute heart to remain true to the Lord; for he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord.

One of the first questions that would be asked by any good Bible college or seminary student is this: “Are the Greek words the same?” Answer: YES, exactly the same. In each of the verses above, the word translated "good" is the Greek adjective AGATHOS.

As to the first assertion, that God alone is good, there can be no argument from those who embrace the Biblical doctrine of the total depravity of fallen humanity. But how are we to interpret the descriptions of particular human beings as good? Does this force us to alter the doctrine of total depravity? To lessen its severity or tone it down a bit? Does it imply that Christians – or at least some Christians - no longer have indwelling sin? Only Biblical balance can help us to avoid serious error in answering these questions.

There are those today who would preach much to us about our own goodness, and little about God's. I've heard enough sermons from Joel Osteen and read enough of his writings to have my self-esteem inflated for the rest of my life (that's two sermons, and about 40 pages, by the way). Osteen seems hell-bent on building my self-esteem, but I've heard him say next to nothing about God. Considering the fact that he reaches more people in a week than most pastors will speak to in a lifetime of sermons, I think he ought to at least consider using his platform to preach the Gospel of Christ's cross. Everything I have heard him say about God is directly related to my self-image. Isn't that backwards? Who depends on Whom? This is not a Joel Osteen bashing party, so I'll stop there. It's too easy to see the faults of others and ignore our own.

I've also heard preachers much closer to my own theological view who are so legalistic that they only leave their listeners hungry for salvation – never captivated with the joy and grace of a Christ Who so loved us that He died in our place. That is as much a problem as Osteen's message, but it will never draw the same crowds.

We're now facing two seemingly contradictory Scriptural ideas. In parts two, three and four, we'll take a further look at the paradox of divine and human goodness. Let me assure all of my readers that there is no real contradiction here, only a need to dig deeper and understand what God is saying to us in His Word. Feel free to comment, but I request that you refrain from offering explanations until you read the next post.

Grace and peace.

Sin, Grace, and the Total Gospel

Here are a few thoughts from the notable 17th century mathematician, inventor & philosopher Blaise Pascal:
There must be feelings of humility, not from nature, but from penitence, not to rest in them, but to go on to greatness. There must be feelings of greatness, not from merit, but from grace, and after having passed through humiliation. Pensees #524

The incarnation shows man the greatness of his misery by the greatness of the remedy which he required. Pensees #525

The knowledge of God without that of man’s misery causes pride. The knowledge of man’s misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery. Pensees #526

Man either hides his miseries, or, if he discloses them, glories in knowing them. Pensees #405

And here's one from his near contemporary, Fenelon:

The true method of profiting by the humiliation of our faults, is to behold them in all their deformity, without losing our hope in God, and without having any confidence in ourselves.
Francois de Fenelon, "Spiritual Progress"

In its simplest form, the Gospel can be reduced to these two broad concepts: the depravity of man (what Pascal calls "misery"), and the grace of God. These two parts must never be separated.

I have found that my faith struggle often lies in forgetfulness of one of these realities. For me, unbelief rarely manifests itself as an outright doubting of God's character, the truth of the Gospel, or the reliability of the Bible. It's much more insidious than that. It affirms one half of the Gospel without embracing the other, creating a dangerous state of imbalance.

We dare not speak of the grace of God until we have spoken of the utter sinfulness of man, for which grace is the remedy. And we must never speak of our sin without a sharply focused eye on grace. Sin without grace leaves us either despairingly enlightened about our condition and crying "woe is me," or it deep-freezes our smugly deceived hearts in their self-righteous complacency. The graceless way we view and treat others will reveal this. Grace without sin, on the other hand, leads us to a soft, fluffy version of Christianity which tells us we're basically okay and just need to try harder. Apart from a knowledge of what sin is and does, grace is never truly appreciated and clung to. The result is a "christianized" self-esteem teaching, the social gospel, and a merging of the church with the world.

Half a Gospel leaves man worse than he was without the Gospel. Imbalance in these matters can easily lead to frustration, ineffectiveness, complacency or heresy.

Recently, God seemed to say this to me: "You are more humbled by your own unfaithfulness than you are by MY FAITHFULNESS. You are more humbled by your depravity than you are by MY GLORY" Some of my virtues are half-baked. When I have only been living in the depravity side of the Gospel, my humility is truly felt, but it is too dependent on the knowledge of my weakness. It's a circular chain that only spirals downward. Real humility, like every other virtue, is grounded in a true apprehension of the complete Gospel - the Gospel of GRACE for SINNERS. True humility calls us to see not only what we are apart from God, but also Who He is in Himself.

Sometimes I am like a man who stands before the Grand Canyon, glances briefly at it, takes off his mirrored sunglasses to study his own reflection in them, and an hour later wistfully declares, "I'm so small and insignificant." This man misses the point altogether. And so do we, when we forget to keep the total Gospel balance of SIN and GRACE in perspective.

Grace is God's awe-inspiring display. It is divine activity which flies in the face of all our man-centered, legalistic ideas about justice and truth. Grace smashes our self-pity and makes us rightly ashamed of ourselves. It is designed to get - and keep - our attention throughout time and eternity. It is infused with a lasting glory, the glory of the infinite God. It seeps down into the lowlands of human depravity and raises those who cannot lift themselves. It carves through the bedrock of human sin, revealing what is there. But also removing great portions of that bedrock and redeeming the dry, accursed ground. For all eternity we and the angels will marvel at what God has done with sinful humanity by the working of His grace. We who have believed will forget ourselves and get lost in the abyss of this mercy. Angels will fall down adoring God, while demons and rebellious humanity agonize under a restless, grace-free existence.

Are you amazed by your inconsistency, your incessant bent toward sin, your ugly deceitful heart? You should be. But remember to lift your gaze to get stunned and captivated by God's response to your misery: a GREATER GRACE that mirrors your sinfulness in the opposite direction. Where sin abounds, grace does MUCH MORE abound. Mercy TRIUMPHS over judgment. And His lovingkindness PREVAILS over us.
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Grateful acknowledgement is made to Tony Hayling at Agonizomai for his assistance in defining the thoughts in this post, and for the Fenelon quote.