POC Blog

The random technotheolosophical blogging of Reid S. Monaghan

Soft Patriachs, New Men

Brad Wilcox of the University of Virginia makes the astounding claim in his book Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands, that evangelical faith makes men good husbands and dads. From the inside flap:
According to W. Bradford Wilcox, the divergent family ideologies of evangelical and mainline churches do not translate into large differences in family behavior between evangelical and mainline Protestant men who are married with children. Mainline Protestant men, he contends, are "new men" who take a more egalitarian approach to the division of household labor than their conservative peers and a more involved approach to parenting than men with no religious affiliation. Evangelical Protestant men, meanwhile, are "soft patriarchs"--not as authoritarian as some would expect, and given to being more emotional and dedicated to their wives and children than both their mainline and secular counterparts. Thus, Wilcox argues that religion domesticates men in ways that make them more responsive to the aspirations and needs of their immediate families.
A few links: I just put this work in my Amazon.com shopping cart (oh shopping cart, what a troubling thing thou hast become) - I'll put in the queue for late summer... Out...
--------
In
Comment

Ten Most Harmful Books....

The conservative site Human Events Online has a list of what they are calling The Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries. I usually do not try to get involved in leftist/rightist political web sites, but this list is insightful. Ideas do matter, for human beings act upon ideas. Beliefs are action guides. Some beliefs are more central, more crucial than others in our view of the world. AW Tozer once rightly remarked that what we believe about God will influence us more than anything else. Look for a moment at the beliefs that are derived from our understanding of God:
  • Why is there a universe?
  • What is our place in it?
  • What is my place in it?
  • Is there any meaning to human history?
  • What happens at death?
  • How can I know anything at all?
  • How should I live? What is right, what is wrong?
As important as our beliefs about governments, economies, etc. our belief (or lack thereof) about God is more influential. The writings of Marx, Hitler, Dewey, Mao, are what they are because of their philosohpical assumptions - especially about the existence and nature of God. See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes. Eccl 7:29 Such is the testimony of history
--------
In
Comment

Book Review - Sex and the Supremacy of Christ

Over the next few weeks I will be reviewing the forthcoming book Sex and the Supremacy of Christ edited by Justin Taylor and John Piper. The book published by Crossway, will be released in mid-June and is based upon talks given at the 2004 Desiring God Conference of the same title. The book is sectioned off into Five Parts and I will review each in turn Many thanks to Justin Taylor over at Between Two Worlds for making a pre-release copy available to bloggers and online reviews. Due to the fact that I suddenly have about 950 other pages to read in the next few days (long story), the review will roll out over time. I will keep it on the top for the next few weeks.
--------
In
Comment

Sex and the Supremacy of Christ - Part II - Sin and Sex

To some in the secular world the terms "sin and sex" will perhaps conjur up images of puritanism (which are not accurate) and scarlet letters dangling from repressed people's necks. For those who have made sex the central deity of a hedonistic worldview, associating sin with sex is a sort of blasphemy. Yet in our world we are well aware of the pains of sexual sins; the fruit of our own cultures so called sexual liberation engulf us like a swarm of African killer bees. Molestation, abuse, predatory adults, heart break, multiplicity of sexually peverse materials, the objectification of each other all amidst a growing ever waning of intimacy in relationships are the ghosts that haunt our freedom. Part II of the book contains two considerable essays dealing with the issues of sin and sex in our day. The first by Dr. David Powlison entitled Making All things New: Restoring Pure Joy to the Sexually Broken. The second by Dr. Al Mohler, hits an issue of great controversary in our times, Homosexual Marriage as a Challenge to the Church: Biblical and Cultural Reflections. Powlison's chapter begins with putting sexuality into context - it is like a garden which brings delight and joy within its proper lattice or framework or it is a soiled darkness swirling with pain. Powlison's thesis is that most of us are somewhere between these two poles - somewhere in the middle moving towards either pole. The trajectory we all so desparately need is to be moving away from teh dark and toward the light (page 66). We all know this, but the power of our captivity to sex in our age is very strong - Powlison highlights this by quoting what is classic Augustine:
As I prayed to you for the gift of chastity I had even pleaded, ‘Grant me chastity and self-control, but please not yet.’ I was afraid that you might hear me immediately and heal me forthwith of the morbidlust which I was more anxious to satisfy than to snuff out. Augustine, The Confessions, trans. Maria Boulding (Hyde Park, N.Y.: New City, 1997), book 8, chapter 17, page 198.
How do we move from sexually broken to the enjoyment and freedom that Christ brings? Powlison, a biblical counselor, goes to great length in answering this question. The first section expounds the point that we must Bring to Light All that Darkens Sex (page 68). For Powlison this means all the unholy pleasures of our day (both explicit and implicit - motions of the affections towards objectifying sex aprt from love for God) must be brought before Christ in repentence, receiving grace and forgiveness rather than continuing to hide in fear and despair. Unholy pain, caused by sex must also be brought to the great comforter of souls, to find safety and refuge. A great quote on page 72:
In different ways, both violator and violated are stained with the filth of a fallen world. In different ways, Jesus Christ washes both. And there’s still other dirt on the shop floor, and other fresh mercies.
Guilt must be brought before the throne of grace. Another aspect of sex is a misplaced view that sexual sin is just a problem with men. Powlison does a great service in dispatching this commonly held idea. We all struggle with temptation, although men and women struggle differently - this section was very helpful indeed. Finally, this section closes with a reminder of the many problems within marriage can be struggles with sexual sin (both from the past and continued into the future). As a married man of nine years, I found his treatment here to be very helpful. Powlison, then moves to encouraging his read that our battle with sexual temptation is A Longer War. His exhortation is clear - the road of sanctification and repentance and trust of God and orientation of our passions is not conquered today and henceforth dispensed with. No, we live a live of trust, repentance, dependance, and by the grace of God transformation. Our war is also a Wider War one that cuts to our deepest longings, our expectations about God, our affections for him, our allegiances, our belief or lack thereof. The war is life wide - our love for Christ is what is at stake, and focusing in only on "resisting sexual sins" on certain nights of the week is a recipe for failure. The war should be expanded, the soul should be discipled and life brought under Christ's yoke. Powlison describes how he helped a man named Tom wage a wider war:
We spent far more time talking about self-pity and grumbling as “early warning sins,” about how the desire for a wife becomes a mastering lust, about how the selfrighteousness construct falls before the dynamics of grace. Temptations to sexual sin greatly diminished. The topography of the battlefield radically changed. The significance of Jesus Christ’s love went off the charts. The lights of more accurate and comprehensive self-knowledge came on. A man going in circles, muddling in the middle, started to leap and bound in the right direction. We experienced the delights of a season of gazelle growth. Ministering to someone who has struggled for twenty years with the exact same thing is disheartening, and frequently a recipe for futility. Ministering to someone who is starting to battle a half-dozen foes that were previously invisible is extremely heartening! Widening the war served to deepen and heighten the significance of the Savior, who met Tom on every battlefront. page 89,90
I will have to pick up the review later - one thing about this chapter is that the organization and structure runs on a bit. Section after section...but this war is for our affections, so that the god of eros has no lofty throne above the Almighty, so I will pick the review back up at a later date... Out --> Back to Main Review Page
--------
In
Comment

Sex and Supremacy of Christ - Introduction

Justin Taylor's introduction is an excellent entry way into the book. In other words, it does what a good introduction should do without revealing too much from the book. Taylor first sets the tone of the book by looking at the issue of "What The Bible Says about Sex." Going beyond looking for specific references to the word SEX, Taylor places sex within the broader Biblical context of "all things." In other words sex is something God has created and whenever the Bible exhorts believers about "all things" sex would find a home in that category. From this Taylor derives a list of truths about sex (God created it, it exists by the will of Christ, it is caused by God, subject to Christ, it is being renewed, it is good, it is lawful in the context of marriage, we do it to the glory of God-yes, really - for the rest of the list you will need to grab the book). Taylor's list which spans two pages gives a good idea that sex needs to be received as a gift, yet handled in the way God designed it. Taylor does a good job in the intro highlighting the shame and difficulty the church has at times talking about sex. He does a good job distinguishing between a proper shame about the things done in our world with sex and a dangerous, unwaranted, unhealthy hesistancy to apply the Word of God to this area of life. Before sketching briefly what each chapter of the book will cover, Taylor lays out what is a good summary for this book "Sex is a Pointer to, Not a Substitute for God" - in a sex saturated, sex worshipping culture this is a refreshing point of view. We are well aware that our culture is obsessed with sex, but the idolatry of a culture should not extinguish the God-ordained purposes for the great gift of sexuality. So boldy this book brings forward the truth that sex is a pointer to God himself. That sex is an earthly peek at something more heavenly may be a bit surprising to some. The question may come to many "Just what does Sex have to do with the Supremacy of Christ" - oh, friends this book is a refreshing answer to that question. Here you will not find a simple "don't do this, don't do that" that can at times over-run Christian discussions of sex. No, here you will see the divine design for sexuality, that it is designed to illustrate, yes, even to point to, something about God. Relational oneness and unity, adultery, fornication, marriage, sexual intercourse, birth - are all illustrations of God's relationship with his people. Yes, you will want to read on. In the final phase of the introduction, Taylor stands a good post and lets us know what is coming in each of the chapters yet without giving you too much info. A proper introduction peaks the hunger of the reader to dig into the coming chapers to find gems for the soul - Taylor does this with great success. I found myself wanting to flip to each of the chapters (and did a few times) as they were described, but I also knew that the intro was not giving me the cliff notes either. Overall the introduction sets the table well, peaks interest, and launches the book into the first chapters by John Piper which provide the major thesis. I look forward to cranking through the rest - this one looks like it will be an invaluable resource to parents, pastors, and lay people alike. If you ever wondered how to give young people a vision for their sexuality that is bigger, deeper, and truer than "just hold back those passions until you can let it go some day in marriage" this looks to be a book for you. --> Back to Main Review Page
--------
In
Comment

The Kingdom of Heaven

Note: There are helpful historical resources, linked at the end of this post. Also, if interested in the view of the Kingdom of Heaven as taught in the gospels, see the post "The Real Kingdom of Heaven"

Next week director Ridley Scott (of Gladiator fame) brings his medieval epic, The Kingdom of Heaven, to the Big Screen. The time period of the film, the medieval crusades, is a period of history of which much of the western world remains ignorant. Many in the west have been educated in the secular educational systems of the United States and Europe, where much of Christian history has been minimized, at times given a predominately negative slant. Therefore, an understanding of the people, times, and beliefs of the Crusades are caricatures at best for most of us. This film will bring great interest in the history of these times, so what is offered here is a brief context for what we will be viewing. As always, this film is a Hollywood story based upon history and will have its many shortcomings. Hollywood seldom has good things to say about Christianity, so I do not expect much to be done here. I'll comment more on the actual depiction once the film is in release. (Updated - World Magazine's Jamie Dean has done some research which shows some of the gross historical inaccuracies in the film. The usual contemporary re-visioning of history to be more in today's image than theirs...what is the world envisioned by the film? A world of tolerance, pluralism, and a distortion of the actual beliefs of the people involved) This was indeed a dark time in history, yet it bears heavily in our day with the current jihad declared against the West by certain Muslim radicals. Indeed, parts of the world have a long term memory of this protracted time of conflict. What follows is very brief, but I pray helpful, historical fly-over of the setting of this film and help you discern what you watch if you choose to see the film.

By the 7th century AD, the Christian gospel had spread throughout North Africa, the Middle East, parts of Asia, and all of Europe. Almost all that was once Rome, had been thoroughly Christianized. In 570 AD, Muhammad, who would become the prophet of Islam was born in Arabia. In 622 Muhammad flees the city of Mecca to Medina in what is known to Muslims as the Hijra. Eight years later, Muhammad’s armies conquered the city of Mecca establishing Islamic rule. Over the course of the next 300 years, the armies of Islam succesfully conquered the territories of Northern African, the Middle East, Asia Minor, Persia/Iraq as well as much of central Asia. Muslims had conquered the Iberian peninsula (including Spain), some parts of France (though they were successfully expelled due in part to the leadership of Charles Martel), parts of Italy, and much of the Mediterranean. Beginning in the late 7th century, the Eastern Byzantine Empire had withstood multiple Muslim onslaughts over the course of several hundred years. The major centers of Egyptian Christianity had fallen and Constantinople was consistently under siege. At the close of this period of Muslim expansion and conquest, the Christian world underwent a split. In 1054 the Latin West and the Greek East parted fellowship in what became known as the Great Schism . This was important in understanding a crucial dynamic leading up to the Crusades. East and West had split, though they were both Christian, and a call for aid would soon come from the East.

In 1095 the Eastern Byzantine Empire sent emissaries to the Western church to ask the Western Church and provinces to come to their aid. These events gave rise to Pope Urban II's calling of the First Crusade. The goals of the Crusade was to come to the aid of Eastern Christians under Muslim aggression, provide secure passage to pilgrams to Jerusalem, and recapture the church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The First Crusade led by Western princes was successful and the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem was established in 1100 under the rule of Baldwin I. The Crusader states in the Levent lasted for nearly nine decades until they fell to the Muslim leader and general Saladin in 1187. The movie “Kingdom of Heaven” is set during this time period during the last days of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Several other Crusades were launched over the next several centuries. Richard “the Lionheart” of England had some success in the Third Crusade reestablishing the city of Acre and regaining pilgrim access to Jerusalem. In 1291 the city of Acre once again fell to the Muslims bringing an end to Christian states in the Holy Land. The later crusades were filled with infighting amongst eastern and western Christians, harsh anti-semitism and Jewish persecution by lawless Crusaders, as well as crusades amongst Christians. Needless to say they were highly ineffective. After this period, The Ottoman Empire began its rise in the latter periods of the middle ages (1300-1600) becoming the dominant Muslim power in the world. The Ottoman Empire consistently advanced in the Balkans and on the eastern fronts of Christian lands. The Ottomans were held at bay by the Austrio-Hungarians as well as the Russian powers. The Ottoman Empire remained a nemesis to parts of Europe and was not thoroughly defeated until World War I when the modern Turkish state was established after the Allied victory. After World War II allied control led to the establishing of a Jewish state in Israel. This has inflamed the Islamic world to this day with many radicals unwilling to accept any Jewish presence in the Middle East. A Brief Time Line in Reference to "The Kingdom of Heaven"

  • 700-1000 – The Years of Muslim Conquest
  • 1054 – The Great Schism between Western and Easter Christians
  • 1095 Pope Urban II opens the Council of Clermont. Leaders from the Byzantine emperor Alexius I Comnenus come to ask assistance from the Western Christians.
  • 1096-1099 – The First Crusade and the establishment of the Latin States

Timeframe depicted in Kingdom of Heaven Movie

  • 1187 – The Battle of Hattin – massive defeat of the Christian forces which is featured in the film
  • 1187 – The Fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem

Timeframe depicted in Kingdom of Heaven Movie

  • 1291 – Fall of Acre – last Christian state in the Holy Land

Time Lines and References

Recommend Reading

Articles:

Books:

--------
In
Comment

On BS

Recently finished a great little book entitled "On Bullshit" by Harry G. Frankfurt. This little 67 pager does an excellent analysis and definition of BS in our day. I will most likely review the book in a coming entry but for now here are a couple of quotes (note, if the actual word BS is offensive, the following use it in the flow of the text - apologies, no offense intended)

For the bullshitter, however, all these bets are off: he is neither on the side of the true nor on the side of the false. His eye is not on the facts at all, as the eyes of the honest man and of the liar are, except insofar as they may be pertinent to his interest in getting away with what he says. He doe not care whether the things he says describe reality correctly. He just picks them out, or makes them up, to suit his purpose. Harry G. Frankfut, On Bullshit (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005) 56.

Someone who lies and someone who tells the truth are playing on opposite sides, so to speak, in the same game. Each responds to the facts as he understands them, although the response of the one is guided by the authority of the truth, while the response of the other defies that authority and refuses to meet its demands. The bullshitter ignores these demands altogether. He does not reject the authority of the truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are. Ibid, 60-61.

A friend today asked me to look into some comments made by Oprah Winfrey about the nature of religion (See video here). Due to my recent research into the nature of BS, I must categorize that Oprah is communicating the lies of another and then she is covering his lies with a bunch of bullshit. At least, that is my humble estimation of the estate of Oprah’s religiosity. The Biblical Witness is very open about these matters:
  • Jesus: "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8).
  • John: "He who has the Son, has the Life. He who does not have the Son, does not have the life" (1 John 5).
  • Peter: "There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)
  • Jesus: "He who believes has life; he who does not believe does not have life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36).
  • Paul: "If anyone delivers to you another Gospel, let him be anathema" (Galatians 1).

This list of passages from Greg Koukl - How to Do Postmodern Theology

Oprah, please do not demean the faith of 1/3 of the globe with your smattering of BS...

--------
In
Comment

Two Looks at McLaren's "Orthodoxy"

Two Reviews of Brian McClaren's Generous Orthodoxy (the title is acutally much longer than that - A Generous Orthodoxy: Why I Am a Missional, Evangelical, Post/Protestant, Liberal/Conservative, Mystical/Poetic, Biblical, Charismatic/Contemplative, Fundamentalist/Calvinist, Anabaptist/Anglican, Methodist, Catholic, Green, Incarnational, Depressed-Yet-Hopeful, Emergent, Unfinished Christian.)

Although the former (Mohler) is clearly not in favor of the message of the book and the latter sympathetic, even the nature of the concerns raised by Blomberg are deep in their affect on the gospel. Very, very interesting. No, very, very troubling. Oh how we need to heed the word once written to Theophilus:
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Still hung up on the truth...let us not give way to the winds of the age that blow in and out that rise up from within. Ad Fontes! To the sources! May our hearts and minds be chained to the Word of God - and it alone guide our needed reforms.
--------
In
Comment

The Long Finish of Packer's Knowing God

What Follows is the Longest POC Blog entry of all time - a sprint to the finish (and the end of a semester) of Knowing God -------------------------------------- Week 7 – Chapter 13 – The Grace of God So much misunderstanding, so much lack of understanding, so little penetration into the soul – the magnificent Grace of God. Deep realities lie beyond the English signifier “grace” – what must I understand to “get it” about this wonderful reality in the being of God. Packer helps us grasp that to truly understand grace, one must truly know deep in one’s soul the following truths:
  • The Moral Depravity and Ill-desert of Man
  • The retributive justice of a Holy God
  • The Spiritual impotence of man to save himself
  • The Sovereign freedom of God to save sinners

God’s sovereign mercy, on whom he shall have it, has freed me from so much guilt and shame for my sin. I know this – I experience this – sometimes. Sometimes I am such a fickle man, wondering from infinite grace into the pits of self serving and self satisfying aims in life – too often I forfeit the treasure of my soul – God himself, a relationship with my maker through the grace of God in Christ Jesus – to stop into lesser things. In these times I dry up, I ache, and must return to the fountain of grace. This process in my life – is not fun – I would much prefer to consistently shower in the realities of grace. But God allows my heart to go far, so that I might desire to be brought near again. My only hope is that he never let’s me go – this too, is of his grace, a great promise to which I cling.

I loved the Hymn Packer chooses to end with:

Oh How Grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be; Let that grace now, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee Prone to wander Lord I feel it; Prone to Leave the God I love Take my heart, oh, Take and Seal it, Seal it for thy courts above Yes, dear Lord, do seal it.

Week 7 – Chapter 14 – God the Judge In the coming chapters, the holiness of God, in light of sinful man is brought forth with frightening clarity – Yes, God will judge, and he will judge rightly – for this truth, man must tremble. God is clearly portrayed as the final judge of man, his character, his actions, and his life. Both in the Old and New Testaments it is clear that God, and God alone in Christ, is the judge of each man’s soul. Though jdugement does puzzle much of the contemporary mind of people – with tolerance and all judgement spurned, it has always seemed to me that the goodness of God requires justice, and justice consequently will require judgment – for if God is not the judge of wickedness it cannot be said of Him that he is good. Evil and rebellion shall not be an eternal state of affairs for the universe – the judge will come and vindicate his name, his glory, his people and bring all deeds into account. All too often I can live without conscious acknowledgement that as a believer I too will be judged for deeds done in the body – this I need to be reminded. Not for reward seeking alone, but in order to bring no offense to the Lord I claim to love. Too often believers in our world, and our churches, forget that God will judge sinners and he will deliver them by grace through the gospel – why do we remain silent, why do we not tell of sin, of righteousness and the judgment to come? Week 8 – Chapter 15 – The Wrath of God Wrath, anger – are such things worthy of God? Such are the questions, God is all loving, all forgiving, he would never be angry with helpless humanity that is so prone to go wrong. The teachings of the Scriptures reveal rightly that this thinking is in error. God will no by no means clear the guilty – sin will be punished, justice will be done. It was a great joy to see the work of Jonathan Edwards both utilized and vindicated in this chapter. So often Edward’s Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is exhibit A of times intolerant and less sophisticated than our own. Such is not the case – Edwards piety, Biblical understand, great intellect and spiritual sensibilities simply brought forth the horrifying reality of the wrath of a Holy God. Packer also does a great job explaining that Wrath is chosen by obstinate sinners who refuse to turn to God. It was great to see this is clearly articulated from reformed theologian. Finally Packer’s description of the imagery that the Scriptures use to describe the wrath of God:

  • Fire – agonizing awareness of the displeasure of God
  • Outer Darkness – for knowledge of great loss
  • Gnashing of Teeth – self condemnation and self-loathing

Packer closes the chapter with a great Biblical theology of Wrath in the book of Romans – this was worth the chapter as it puts wrath (bad news) in context with gospel (good news) for desperate sinners. Week 8 – Chapter 16 – Goodness and Severity of God Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. Romans 11:22 Goodness yes! We love the Goodness of God in Contemporary Culture – but severity and being “cut off” to this the modern mind recoils. Packer offers some probing analysis of why this is so for people today – I will list these with comment: People follow private religious hunches – “follow your heart” is so universal in the thinking of so many that we simply believe what we want to – no place for God’s severity in my gut – he accepts all people – this I believe according to ME. Modern people think of all religions as equally valid – so God cutting those off who persist in all manner of unbelief seems foreign to us.

  • People have ceased to recognize their own sinfulness – no sin in here – no sin in them either – Why would God be severe with us?
  • People are in the habit of disassociating the thought of God’s goodness with his severity – to many the two terms are unpleasant bedfellows – but in the Scriptures the two are inseparable in their unity.

Our world, making God out to be somewhat like a cosmic Santa Claus is left without reverence for God, without an understanding of evil (Packer’s point that the so called problem of evil was not regarded as a problem before), and with no understanding of God’s lordship over this world. When bad things happen, the Christian who believes in Santa is left perplexed – will he deny the power of God in the world? Or will he doubt his goodness? He has nothing left to do but “grin and bear it” – The words of Chesterton come to mind for me here: There is a vital objection to the advice merely to grin and bear it. The objection is that if you merely bear it, you do not grin GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: NY, Image books, 1959) 104. Originally published: New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1908. Such a view of God – either helpless or lacking in goodness – will always fall short – both in helping us understand our experience, and in the reality of the nature and character of God. Packer’s solution, yes the Biblical solution is to maintain the marriage of Goodness and Severity – that God is good and generous and merciful – yet will be severe with the unrepentant – Thank God for his patience with us, for his longsuffering with us – for without it we would perish. Packer closes with a suggestion of response:

  • Appreciate the goodness of God
  • Appreciate the patience of God
  • Appreciate the discipline of God – which brings the unbeliever to faith or helps the believer persevere.

I know I must be taught to say “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71) - Enrolled in the school of the now – hoping for the coming “not yet” Week 9 – Chapter 17 – The Jealous God Jealousy – a vice for humanity, yet a perfection in God? Such perplexity is the subject of this chapter – If God is said to be Jealous then how is Jealousy “Good.” This chapter is masterful in its explanation of the two types of human jealousy we know – one is wicked the other is good.

  • A Bad Jealousy – “I want what you’ve got and I hate you because I do not have it (Packer 170) – Such is the nature of a jealousy based in covetousness.
  • A Good Jealousy – Zeal to protect a love relationship or to avenge it when broken – as a zeal for marital fidelity and trust.

The latter – minus any imperfection – is what the Bible means when it teaches that God is a jealous God. According to this definition there is a love to protect and a zeal for something great!

  • The Love – God’s covenant Love for his people
  • The Zeal – Of God for his own glory – and this displayed in the covenant people he love

So God is Jealous that HIS people not scuttle and waste their affections on infidelity and idols. And his zeal for his own Glory will keep them as his own so that He might display the matchless nature of his worth for the highest happiness of his creatures. For this – God’s own Glory – he is jealous. Great section on what it means for people to be “zealous” for God – in the good, not pejorative sense. So often zeal is misled so being “zealous” is spun in negative light – but to be zealous for the good, the right, the true, yea even God himself – this is the zeal that I long to have consume my soul. Sometimes, Sometimes, but not always – I am still in need of help. Week 9 – Chapter 18 – The Heart of the Gospel

Knowing some of a Packer’s work from a lecture I heard in Amsterdam, I assumed at some point in this book, his treatise on Knowing God, would arrise the themes “Adoption through Propitiation” – and boy was i rewarded for such anticipation. Chapter 18 – The Heart of the Gospel has the strange and rarely used word propitiation at it center. And Packer is right. His excellent definition of the term is literally a summation of what the Holy Creator God has done for humanity: It denotes the covering, putting away or rubbing out of sin so that it no longer constitutes a barrier to friendly fellowship between man and god [expiation] and the pacifying of the wrath of God thereby [propitiation adds the latter definition to expiation] Packer 182. Packer describes propitiation as the work of God himself, made by the death of Jesus Christ as a substitution, which manifests and clarifies the righteousness of God, showing God to be just and the one who justifies the ungodly. St. Anslem’s work in the Proslogion echos this view of the propitiation and atonement. The death of Jesus accomplishes the many aspects of propitiation – reconciliation, redemption, sacrifice for sin, bearing of sin, all through the shedding of blood. These, Packer says, are all pictures and illustrations of propitiation. This understanding of propitiation puts the wonderful gospel in context. Propitiation thereby is:

  • The Driving Force and Purpose of Jesus’ Life
  • Gives clarity to the destiny of both believer and unbeliever – clearly rejecting Universalistic urges in the heart of man.
  • Clarifies “Peace of God” in the understanding of “Peace with God”
  • Illustrates the multi-dimensionality of God’s love – The free, eternal, unreserved, and sovereign love of Christ.
  • And Finally, it fully reveals the Glory of God in saving sinners through the crucifixion of the Son of Man.

Propitiation – the essence of the gospel! To this I shout with Packer Amen! And Glory be to God!!! Week 10 – Chapter 19 – Sons of God Propitiation, now the message of Adoption through Propitiation – this is the topic of Chapter 19. God is our Father, we have become his sons and daughters. I must say that such nearness, such familial terms, such closeness of persons – is hard to believe when thinking of a glorious, all powerful, creator God. Such is the good news!!! The very creator God, becomes our Father, and even my Father by adopting me through the work of his Son Jesus Christ (Propitiation). Packers discourse on the Fatherhood of God would have served me well this summer as I wrote a sermon with this title. I wish I had read this chapter in my preparation, but it is good to see that the Lord of Heaven lead me in His Word to many of the same texts and conclusion. It is good to see that even as an ant, one can travel the same paths as the big dogs of Theology. Fatherly Aspects of God’s relationship with Jesus – which extend also to us his adopted ones.

  • Authority in our lives
  • Affection for us in Love
  • Fellowship and closeness of relationship
  • Honor for the children

Packer literally defines all of the Chrisitan life through this concept of adoption. It is the highest privilege, the basis of our lives, the rule for our conduct (imitate the Father, glorify the Father, please the Father), it is the essence of Prayer (Our Father in heaven…), it is the key to living by faith and trust (our Father knows what we need). Adoption demonstrates to us God’s Love, gives us hope (as heirs of eternal life and the kingdom), aids in understanding the work of the Holy Spirit (the spirit of adoption by which we cry Abba Father – or Daddy!), and it motivates us toward holiness of life (action in accordance with our nature as a child of God.) Finally adoption gives us assurance as we know God our Father will not abandon his children. Packer’s elaboration on assurance was quite a blessing – his bifurcation of the concept into inferential assurance (a conclusion drawn from the fact that one knows the gospel, trusts Christ, brings forth works meet for repentance and manifests the instincts – I might say affections – of a regenerate man) and immediate assurance (The direct work of the Spirit in the regenerate heart) was extremely helpful. His final definition of assurance on page 227 is classic. The final questions of this chapter were once again probing and difficult – specifically the following: Have I learned to hate the things that displease my Father? Am I sensitive to the evil things to which he is sensitive? Do I make a point of avoiding them, lest I grieve Him? Once again, my unsettling answer that makes me again fall upon his grace is only – sometimes…

Week 10 – Chapter 20 – Thou our Guide How does God Give Guidance to his Children? I love the basic answer given here. After talking about the silliness of our over sensitized view of guidance, that every decision must have a person, subjective, and inner divine directive, Packer lays out a great view of guidance that is grounded in the Words of Scripture. How does God guide? He lays forth paths by his word – principles marked out, precepts to be kept in the midst of the complexities of life. God’s will and plan will guide us (one because he HAS a will and plan) even in the midst of our failures and “bad decisions” – even through “unanswered prayers” – for me now forever an unbiblical and useless phrase – Garth Brooks not with standing. This chapter, far from being a check list of discerning the will of God, does provide a great list of principles which I found extremely helpful. This list is a reflection of the six pitfalls Packer admonishes us to avoid:

  • Be willing to think – to reason. God’s guidance is not simply found in super-supernaturalistic impressions…but from considering truth in the midst of circumstances.
  • Be willing to think ahead
  • Be willing to take advice – from wise and godly counsel
  • Be willing to suspect yourself – be aware of ego and self-aggrandizement
  • Be willing to discount personal magnetism – don’t just follow outstanding personalities – Test everything
  • Be willing to wait – Oh how I need to be patient – yet I have only one short life – OH GOD HELP ME HERE !

A last point to be made is that God’s guidance of his children (adopted through propitiation) is an act of his Sovereign Will – this is of great comfort, for even though I do screw up – he does not. I am content that he plays his hand ahead of mine. Week 11 – Chapter 21 – These Inward Trials Oh the peril of misleading the brethern to think and believe the coming to faith in Christ is an end to all their worldly struggles, problems and heartaches. Acknowledging the role of trials in the life of the believer is of utmost importance – misleading them is a recipe for disaster in the life of the soul. Packer diagnoses the problem in the evangelical church through several fronts: Misapplied Doctrines – Neglecting the teaching of the “hard side” of the faith – daily discipline from God, attacks of the world the flesh and the devil, gloominess and darkness that can come upon the soul – the unsettledness of living in the not yet of a sinful and fallen world. The call to suffer as Christ suffered.

Wrong Remedies – continual re-consecration if life is hard, just do the formula to get life back to the cheery days of young salvation – to try and “fix it” rather than find joy in God during difficult days. Packer says that if we seek to return people to the days of their salvation infancy – we are doing them a cruel disservice as God is stretching them to grow them up.

Loosing Sight of Grace – God’s grace will work out in our lives towards hope and obedience – a Godward trajectory of grace in the midst of a world yet unrealized and dark. Wait on the Lord – Wait on Him as he works his processes in and through me – to his glory and a “real” not “contrived” joy. The great reminder once again – one that I need, and need, and need to know is that God can and does use my blunders, my messed up decisions to bring about good in my life. Thanks be to God! Week 11 – Chapter 22 – The Adequacy of God In the climax of the book, Packer leads us to the lofty mountain of the Word of God that most reformed theologians all point to, up in the lofty altitudes that only the desparate and devoted choose to climb – that of the book of Romans. And in this book is the peak of Everest, a summit of the Christian way in the 8th chapter of the book. A chapter that begins with “No Condemnation” and ends with “No Separation” – A justified sinner never again to be under the wrath of God – a creature united as an adopted child to his loving Father, never to be separated, orphaned ever again for all eternity. Such is the song we sing, we sing as the redeemed – and with Packer, who has served the church as a great guide for our souls into the Word of God we do sing, Psalm 16:

1Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge. 2I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." 3As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight. 4The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips. 5The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. 6The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. 7I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. 8I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. 9Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. 10For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.[6] 11You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

And yes I do sing this as an unabashed Christian Hedonist!

Out...

--------
In
Comment

Week 6 – Chapter 12 – God is Love

For the love of God floods our hearts – such is Packer’s paraphrase of Romans 5:5 – that the overarching love of God continually overwhelms and saturates the hearts of his children. Packer says this is the normal state of affairs of the Christian and revival is the work of God which restores this to the hearts of the church. [Brief tangent - Yesterday I was listening to a message on the Rise and Fall of the Evangelical Mind which had much to say about revival – mainly in discussion of the First and Second Great Awakenings, its methods etc. Let's say I think Jonathan Edwards' view of revival is more accurate than that of Charles Finney] God is Love – what are we to take this to mean? God is tolerant? God loves everything and all things? Packer begins the chapter to make certain the Love of God is understood as the love of God. The God who is the creator of the world, the judge in the flood, who called Abraham, who chastised his people by conquering captors…etc. The God who is love certainly can be and is a judge of the wicked. Packer makes this clear as he begins… Packer’s discussion of God being “Love” takes him first into parallel grammatical constructions in the apostle John’s writings…

God is Spirit God is noncorporeal (without a physical body), he is simple (no parts) and he is without passions which change on whim (qualified impassibility). I must confess that I love this kind of thing – clarity of definitions, about the most glorious of subjects. If God is without change, without body, with parts or division in himself, if he doesn’t float from emotional whim to whim than it is certain that his love is constant, his love is consistent with his other attributes, and his purpose in his love is not, as Packer says, fitful or fluctuating (Packer, 121) God is Light God’s is light – God is holy, altogether pure. This means that God’s love is a holy and fierce love. He does not love sin, and he seeks actively the holiness of those he loves. God is Love Just as God’s spirituality guarantees us certain things, and his light guarantees his actions are always holy – so too does “God is Love” guarantee that God, in all that he does, is loving. All things he is doing to and for his beloved are acts of love. Indeed, he does work all things together for the good of those who love him (Romans 8:28). Packer ends this chapter with a noble effort to give definition for the love of God. His effort, in my opinion succeeds mightily, with only a few questions left standing in my mind:

  1. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness – he exercise his goodness towards his creatures…
  2. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness towards sinners – grace and mercy to the unworthy – by his own Sovereign choice…
  3. God’s love is an exercise of his goodness towards individual sinners – yes, thank God, even us.
  4. God’s love for sinners involves him identifying himself with their welfare – here is where I had a question. Packer writes “He has in effect resolved that henceforth for all eternity his happiness shall be conditional upon ours” I think that I would choose other language to better express what Packer actually says in this section. God’s happiness is always pure and perfect, and he is not sad until our complete happiness is brought about. Perhaps his happiness is related to ours in that our happiness is guaranteed by him. So, God is not temporally unfulfilled until we are brought to complete and full beatification in Him…but his happiness is intricately and volitionally tied with our own. He is committed to it – it is part of his happiness – but not the sum or essence of it.
  5. God’s love for sinners was expressed by the gift of his Son to be their Savior – Oh, how wonderful the riches of the love of God – oh, how I forget so easily what this means.
  6. God’s love for sinners reaches its objective as it brings them to know and enjoy him in a covenantal relationship
Joy in him, joy in the intimate knowledge of God – this is God’s love to us – not that he makes much of us, but that he grants us the joy of knowing and making much of Him for his glory. Oh to know the infinite riches of grace, mercy and yes…the infinite love of our Father. I was simply broken and humbled by the reflective questions – the only answers I have as to why I am not more satisfied with Him is that I am an obstinate sinner, and as such, in need of his grace – every single day. Out…
--------
In
Comment

Finally back to my journal on "Knowing God" - Week 6 – Chapter 11 – Thy Word is Truth

God gives his Word to us to instruct us and to fellowship with us. God speaks to us to show us how to live and to show us who he is. To both inform us and invite us into fellowship, yes relationship with him. Such is the Word of God. The God who speaks, by his very word, are his acts accomplished. Much could be said of “speech acts” and how God accomplishes by the speaking of his Word, but that must wait for other discussions. Packer does elaborate briefly on the creative aspect of God’s speech – that by his Word – God literally brought the universe, the earth, and all that is within it, into being. Packer goes on to describe in this chapter the many diverse ways God speaks to human beings, the crown of his created order:

  • He gives them commands
  • He gives them his testimonies
  • He gives prohibitions
  • He proscribes law
  • He gives his very precious promises

Unique to the Word of our Lord, is that his word is an absolutely sure and true word. In his Word we find no falsehood. Oh how great it is to know that what God says is certain – that there is a sure footing for the troubled and world wobbled legs of man. God’s Words are the expression of a perfect mind, a perfect vantage point, and they describe the world, including my own soul, as it truly is. Packer ends this chapter with two very important insights. First, God’s commands are true (Psalm 119:151) and second, God’s promises are true. God’s commands We are made by God for certain purposes, and his commands proscribe to us how we function and function well. When we obey there are blessings for us – as we are functioning in the beauty of the way of God…when we wander and live by our own proclivities, we languish, lack peace, reap our own whirlwinds of sin and death. If only this thought would attend deep in my soul in every moment – but alas, like the old hymn:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it Prone to leave the God I love
What to do but continue with that same song, yet as a plea…
Here’s my heart Lord, Take and Seal it Seal it for thy courts above.
Packer closes with an appropriate mentioning of sexuality and a view that would involve “God’s Commands.” Nowadays some would maintain, in the name of humanism, that the “Puritan” morality of the Bible is inimical to the attainment of true human maturity, and that a little more license makes for richer living. Of this ideology we would only say that the proper name for it is not humanism but brutism. Sexual laxity does not make you more human, but less so; it brutalizes you and tears your soul to pieces. The same is true wherever any of God’s commandments are disregarded. We are only living true human lives so far as we are laboring to keep God’s commandments; no further.
JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 114.
God’s promises The chapter ends with a appropriately optimistic assessment of what God’s promises should mean in our lives. I will only quote a portion of Samuel Clark’s comments on promises – it sums up what I want to be true for my own life.
A fixed, constant attention to the promises, and a firm belief of them, would prevent solicitude and anxiety about the concerns of this life.
So, it would, so it would…

--------
In
Comment

WEEK 5 – CHAPTER 10 – GOD’S WISDOM AND OURS

Chapter 10 begins with a very brief treatment of God’s attributes separating them into the classic categories of communicable (attributes which Man shares with God in being created in his image) and non-communicable (that which apply only to God) Wisdom, as a shared attribute of God and Man, is treated in this chapter…what does it mean for man to receive Wisdom from God? Packer says clearly that it is not a God’s eye view of all things, all acts of providence so that we see clearly all pieces of every puzzle. Believers asking for this, and expecting this will indeed be disappointed (even depressed – see page 103) To describe what wisdom is, Packer employs a great analogy of driving a car. As we learn to drive, we then begin to get to the point, to see and do the right thing at the right situations. Such is the way we garner divine wisdom for life – we learn to do the right things at the right times. Not only this but we learn to SEE the world in its proper light – Packer calls this a proper realism (Packer 103, 104) – seeing the world for what it is. Living in unrealism (as Packer puts it) is cured by wisdom not simply orthodox doctrine. Wisdom is expressed greatly in the Biblical text of Ecclesiastes… What remains in the chapter is a short but excellent introduction to Ecclesiastes, what do we see in life if we take of the unrealistic “rose colored glasses”:
  • Life’s background is the seemingly meaningless cycles of nature
  • Death visits all – whether wise or foolish, man or animal, good or evil – all die
  • Evil is afoot on many corners of our world
  • One sees all this and despairs, even contemplates if all of life is a mere vanity.
Indeed, one is very frustrated trying to see every purpose under heaven to which we have not been given full knowledge. What then of wisdom? What is wise for the finite human being to do?
  • Fear God, Keep his commandments
  • To Do Good
  • To enjoy the Present
  • Realize certain pleasures are good gifts from God
  • Seek his grace to labor hard at whatever we do
  • Enjoy your work
  • Enjoy God in the process

Such is the wisdom of God that he gives to us – a wisdom that has us to cling to him, love him, seek knowledge in faith or as the medievals taught us – to have a faith that seeks understanding…St. Anselm was right in saying – in our pursuits of knowledge of understanding a certain posture must be assumed: God created man in his image, that he might be mindful of him, think of him, and love him. The believer does not seek to understand, that he may believe, but he believes that he may understand: for unless he believed he would not understand.

St Anselm – The Proslogion – Chapter 1

Out..

--------
In
Comment

Week 5 – Chapter 9 – God only Wise…

“Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclincation to choose, the best and hightest goal, together with the surest means to ataining it”
Quoted in JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 90.
So begins, chapter 9, Packer’s discussion of the wisdom of God. God’s wisdom is infinite in its bounds, he knows the right thing to do, for the highest ends he has, and he has the sure means of attaining it. God’s wisdom, combined with his omnipotence means, ultimately, what he wants done is done. These two attributes combined together form a fearsome beauty in which I find great trust. Packer alludes that wisdom without power is pathetic, and cannot accomplish anything. On the other hand, power without wisdom, is a recipe for brutality and is quite frightening. God’s wisdom is known only in conjunction with the ends which he pursues. If we do not know what God desires, if we do not know the goal he has in his mind, if we do not know why he created, then his wisdom will be cloaked forever from our eyes. Many think that the comfort and happiness of people is the only end or goal for a loving God. With such ideas, many people are disappointed at even the slightest inconvenience and certainly at even the lightest brushstroke of pain. Packer makes a great statement in relation to this: “God’s wisdom is not, and never was, a pledge to keep a fallen world happy, or to make ungodliness comfortable. Not even to Christians has he promised a trouble free life; rather the reverse. He has other ends in view for life in this world than simply to make it easy for everyone”
Packer 91,92
Obviously this continues to raise the question – what is the end toward which God created the world (This, mind you, was the topic of a book published by Jonathan Edwards, and republished in its entirely in 1998 within John Piper’s God’s Passion for His Glory – Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards) The end of God? His end is his own renown and glory to be magnified and enjoyed…that people might see and savor him and respond in love, honor, praise, and in turn be satisfied and find joy in Him. God created the world not out of need, but out of a desire to show and display all that he is to creatures he created. Is God a show-off – appropriately so. As he shows himself – reveals himself to us – we find the greatest longings we have are fulfilled in him. Infinite Love, Infinite Beauty, the fountain of all Truth, the deepest relationship we are created for – creature and creator together. The remaining parts of the chapter deal with God’s teaching of various OT patriarchs (Abraham, Jacob, Joseph) and how God taught them to value what is valuable throughout their lives. Perhaps a great definition for human wisdom was given in Packer’s thoughts on Abraham. I will close with his words: “What Abraham needed most was to learn the practice of living in God’s presence, seeing all life in relation to him, and looking to him, and him alone, as Commander, Defender, and Rewarder.”
Packer 93.
Such is a proper end for our lives as well…
--------
In
Comment

Week 4 – Chapter 8 – The Majesty of God

Majesty, worship his majesty; Unto Jesus be all glory, honor, and praise. Majesty, kingdom authority, Flow from his throne unto his own, his anthem raise. So exalt, lift up on high the name of Jesus. Magnify, come glorify Christ Jesus, the King. Majesty, worship his majesty, Jesus who died, now glorified, King of all kings. Words & Music: Jack W. Hay­ford, 1980
Lation – majestas – greater – God is majestic in his character, he is unparalleled in his lofty position of highest greatness. Packer tells us that the word majesty when applied to God is always a declaration of his greatness and an invitation to worship. (Packer – 82). So many of the people we meet today are in no way majestic. In fact it is very rare that you meet a woman or man today that inspires much of anything in you. But O’ to know one who is great, pure, wondrous, and inspiring – the heroes of men inspire such thoughts, but how miniscule in comparison to the majesty and greatness of God. Packer discusses the seeming lack of knowledge today of the greatness of God. Even though our doctrine may be correct, we may state to ourselves God is great, yet it seems like a child’s prayer at meal time rather than the apprehension of divine greatness. Today’s evangelical landscape is littered with small thinking about God – there are very few breath taking visions of God today. Packer echos this feeling as one reads many of our evangelical forbearers – Luther, Edwards, Whitfield. Our God is the same, but our modern vision of him seems stuck in neutral in comparison to the awe felt upon the soul of these great men as they meditated on the nature of God. Packer seems to indicate that by over emphasizing the personal nature of God, that modern believers have domesticated God into a small, close, and the same type of thing we are – he is personal, like I am personal (weak, inadequate, needy, dependent on human responses or not, waiting helplessly for people to give him a hand…a little pathetic). This is not the Biblical view of the personal nature of God. Personal in his nature, not an impersonal force or principle, but lofty and majestic in his person – yet he chooses to relate to his created order…including me. Packer goes on to give us to helpful points in forming our idea of God’s greatness:
  1. Remove from our thoughts of God limits that would make him small – Completely explode all limitations from our thinking about God…His wisdom, knowledge, presence, etc. are infinite and should not be thought as small
  2. Compare him with powers and forces which we regard as great – Nothing great in our world – our works, our nation states, our empires, our planet, great leaders, and the c-osmos itself (Carl Sagan had too small an object for his wonder and worship) are great in their greatness in comparison to God.

Packer closes the chapter with a comment on how finite, small, human beings ought to respond to the majestic creator. Remove from our minds wrong thoughts about God (that he is small and humanlike), remove from our thoughts wrong thoughts about ourselves (no room for pessimism about your state if you have been shown the grace and love of God), and finally in acknowledging God as God – the great one – we ought to wait in patient meditation on Him as he fills our hearts with adoration.

Out...

--------
In
1 Comment

WEEK 4 – CHAPTER 7 – GOD UNCHANGING

Picking up again with my Journaling on Knowing God… Chapter 7 is the first chapter of Part II of the book entitled Behold Your God! Packer begins the chapter 7 – which is on God’s unchanging or immutable nature with an interesting introduction. He digs into the existential angst felt by many a believer feels in connecting to the world of the Bible. The ancient world of the Scripture is very different than our own. It had its own languages, its own customs, many religions, and some forms of human existence that just seem bizarre to modern readers. Additionally, there are glorious and spectacular things at play in the world of the Bible – we feel our lives to be somehow disconnected from such divine movements in space and time. Brief Aside For now I will just withhold comment on how that world as well as our own were not filled with “every day miracles” – but the miracles throughout history have served a specific purpose in revealing God’s redemptive plan. Equally, the every day regularity has a voice displaying God’s nature and glory to us as well – the vastness of the heavens speak of the glory of God (Psalm 19), the regularity of seasons speaks of God’s providential provision for us (Acts 14) … so I would say whether miraculous or gloriously “normal” – this world is infused with meaning and the fingerprints of God. Packer’s solution to the time-epoch disconnect between or day and ancient days past is that we can be certain that the God who was at work in the Scriptures is the same God we walk with today. This truth is rooted in an attribute of the infinite one; the attribute of divine immutability. Biblical data for God’s immutability is in abundance in this chapter and Packer goes to great length to establish the unchanging essence of God His life does not change A.W Pink summed it up well in stating this attribute in the light of God’s perfection: “He cannot change for the better, for he is already perfect; and being perfect, he cannot change for the worse.”
Quoted in JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 77.
His character does not change

His truth does not change

God’s ways do not change

God continues to act in the ways he did in the time of the Scriptures – we can be sure he will continue to be who he is, act in the ways he acted; he never will act out of character. This by no means makes God predictably, for he is mysterious in his ways, but it does make him incredibly trustworthy as we works out his good and perfect will in our lives.

God’s purposes do not change
  • He does not change his mind (literally, have regret) – 1 Samuel 15:29
  • He does not lie nor promise without fulfillment – Numbers 23:19 Again a great quote from Pink: One of two things that cause a man to change his mind and reverse his plans: want of foresight to anticipate everything, or lack of foresight to execute them. But God is both omniscient and omnipotent there is never any need for him to revise his decrees
Quoted in JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 77.

God’s Son does not change

  • Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever – Hebrews 13:8

I thoroughly delight in the contemplation of God being an immutable being. How great it is to know, love and worship one who is not a fair weather person. A person who is one way when the fair winds blow east and the other when the gales blow westward.

Out...

--------
In
Comment

Week 3 – Chapter 6 – He Shall Testify

We worship one God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance. For the person of the Father is one; of the Son, another; of the Holy Spirit, another. But the divinity of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the majesty equal. Such as is the Father, such also is the Son, and such the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is infinite, the Son is infinite, the Holy Spirit is infinite. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal Beings, but one eternal Being. So also there are not three uncreated Beings, nor three infinite Beings, but one uncreated and one infinite Being.

From the Athanasian Creed — 5th century

The Christian faith is centered on the triune God. The trinity, trinitas, the divine three-in-one is not an old relic of ideas believed in days past, but the essential metaphysical reality of the creator God himself. One being, one essence, eternally existent in three persons – this is our God. I had often wondered why in our leading and discipling the teaching of the doctrine of the Trinity has not taken a more central role. In my former campus ministry, we would teach new believer follow-up without a strong a focus on the Trinity. God the Father? Yes. Jesus the Son? Yes. Even, the role of the Holy Spirit, yes we teach this to new Christians. But the godhead – the Trinity is left for later days with new believers. I was a bit uncomfortable with this as the very uniqueness of the God of the Bible (as opposed to many flavors of Theism which abound) was being overlooked at times. Packer does a great job in laying out a brief statement of the Trinity:

  • The Son is Subject to the Father, for the Son is sent by the Father in his (the Father’s name)
  • The Spirit is subject to the Father, for the Spirit is sent by the Father in the Son’s name
  • The Spirit is subject to the Son as well as to the Father, for the Spirit is sent by the Son as well as the Father

JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 67, 68.

The chapter closes with a discussion of the various roles and importance of the Holy Spirit. He is the source and inspiration of the New Testament – inspiring the biblical authors. He is the reason people are convicted of sin and converted to be followers of Christ. He is the source of power which accompanies the preaching of the gospel, which no human device or gimmick can mimic.

--------
In
Comment

Packer - Knowing God - Week 3 – Chapter 5 – God Incarnate

The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality…
So wrote Scottish nobleman James Stewart. Chapter 5 of Knowing God is a marveling at the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The very God, became a man in the person of Jesus Christ. The infinite invaded the finite, the holy mingled with the fallen world. Not as aloof deity so distant from the world he had made, but setting his own feet into space and time to accomplish the mission of the ages – the redemption of a people who would declare and display his glory and worth to the delight of their Creator. Packer begins by discussing the teaching of the Incarnation as a chief stumbling block before men and nations – many who have marveled at Jesus in history and today (Arians, Muslims, Unitarian Universalists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Chistadelphians) have fallen short from the New Testament revelation of Jesus Christ. The apostles who walked with Jesus, talked with Jesus, ate with Jesus saw otherwise – they did not hesitate to worship Jesus as God and to portray him as God incarnate. This doctrine, though lofty and inspiring great marvel, make the other teachings again Jesus seem quite easy to believe. If he be God, then his miracles, his knowledge of people’s thoughts, his resurrection from the dead – seem quite small works for the God who flung space, time, and matter into existence with a mere word. It seems that Christians can get cozy with this doctrine – that the Son of God!!! Was born a baby in Bethlehem – may this truth always cause a pause and wonder in the soul and not be just an accompaniment to other Christmas activities. No doubt can be maintained that the New Testament writers, particular that of John, intended to explain to us the nature of Jesus – that he indeed was the Word (the Logos) that was with God and was God – this Word became flesh – and through him all things were made that have been made. This Jesus was Fully God. The second half of the story, as Packer writes, is that Jesus was not only fully God, he was also fully man – one person, two natures or essences in union in the matchless person of Christ – indeed, the mystery of divine personality. Packer then explains that the Word became flesh in order to die a death for the atonement of sins…as he writes:

The crucial significance of the cradle at Bethlehem lies in its place in the sequence of steps down that led the Son of God to the cross of Calvary. JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 58.

Packer then delves into some discussion of kenosis theory (see link for explanation) – rejecting it for many problems, primarily it does violence to the New Testament teaching that Jesus exhibited the attributes of deity – and in no way laid them off in becoming man. I don’t have the time today to go into all the issues surrounding this discussion – but found it interesting. I do think that Packer’s solution in the Father by his will constrained the action and knowledge of the Son is on its face satisfactory – but, I already sense he has unsolved problems that remain. For instance, if by fiat the Father constrained the knowledge of the Son for a time on earth – then it seems we cannot avoid the conclusion that their was a time that in the Son – omniscience was not quite “omni” – The essential divine trinity maintained omniscience – but the person of the Son had less than full knowledge at a certain time. This perhaps can be focused in the person of the Son and not in the essence of God – but this starts to sound like some sort of kenotic theory. But perhaps this is where Packer lands on Page 59 – a voluntary laying aside of certain glory, restraining his power to take on a poor and lowly estate on our behalf. Interesting but I must move on Packer sees the Incarnation – the highest of beings, stooping low to serve, to redeem, to be made poor and die on our behalf as something which should cause us a believers to be humbled and serve likewise. I could not agree more with his assessment of many of us today on page 63:
Nor is it the spirit (of the incarnation) of those Christians—alas, they are many—whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bring up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian to get on by themselves. JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 63.
Packer says this is not the way of Jesus in the Incarnation but rather:
For the Christmas Spirit is the spirit of those who, like their master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor – spending and being spent – to enrich their fellow humans, giving time, trouble, care and concern , to do good to others – and not just their own friends – in whatever way their seems need. Ibid, 64.
I must echo an Amen and a Prayer – Lord rescue me from such ends as well.
--------
In
Comment

Week 2 – Chapter 4 – The Only True God

Chapter 4 in a nut shell is a strong prohibition against idolatry – the worship of that which is Not God. He draws his admonition from the 2nd Commandment and supports from Romans 1. He comes down strong to say that the use of pictures and images in worship, which are designed to represent God or Jesus Christ, is wrong. Packer approvingly quotes the eminent Old Princeton theologian Charles Hodge:
“idolatry consists not only in the worship of false gods, but also in the worship of the true God by images.”

He reasons the use of images does two very grievous things to our worship:

  • Images dishonor God, for the obscure his glory – nothing on earth can properly represent who God is – quoting Calvin – Packer says that doing such distorts and corrupts the Majesty of God in our minds.
  • Images mislead us, for they convey false ideas about God – images become our focus and we begin to worship that image or view of God instead of God as he reveals himself to be – this will prevent the worship of God in truth.

Next Packer begins to take to task not only created images but mental images as well. He says that humans have no right to vainly speculate who God is or is not. The object of his critique at this point is theology that is purely speculative – not based upon biblical revelation – which is tantamount to mere guesswork (Packer 48). One question that did arise for me towards the end of this section is what appears to be an affront on the doctrine of analogy. I am taking it that he is critiquing a view of analogy that says we just guess who God is from natural theology alone – not the doctrine of analogy that makes our language about God meaningful. In the 1993 edition there is a rejoinder which answers objections he has seen over the years as a result of this chapter. Namely:

  • Christian worship requires the aesthetic and the visual arts – to this Packer says YES! but not in imagining God or Christ.
  • The imagination must be sanctified and expressed – again Packer says YES! but says we should choose language as our tool for the imagination in the contemplation of God. I would add that this would allow us to treat the beauty of God in the abstract rather than the concrete/corporeal. Seeing God in the mind’s eye rather than with the physical eye.
  • Crucifixes, images, pictures of Jesus are helpful in devotion – Packer says as soon as the images are treated as representational rather than symbolic they will corrupt the devotion they inspire – he says, rather to be safe than sorry.

In some sense I agree with his warning – to avoid representing the immortal, invisible, triune God with a earthbound image – such is impossible and yes, blasphemous. But the question arises – what of the Jesus Film which is used by churches and agencies world wide to lead people to the Lord and plant churches? What of Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ? What of the film, The Gospel of John whose script is the text of Scripture (albeit the somewhat loose Good News Bible) – These questions are unanswered by this chapter for me. Bottom line - I don't know that I would go as far as Packer does - there are many creative artitst that should unleash their visual gifts for our Lord - I agree not to depict God or the Trinity, but the arts have a powerful strength in helping us feel what we know by the Word...that which is good, right and true.

Out...

--------
In
Comment

WEEK 2 – CHAPTER 3 – KNOWING GOD AND BEING KNOWN

Packer begins this chapter with a series of questions. What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we set for our lives? Ditto. Eternal Life? To know God. His point is clear the Summum bonum of life is to know the all satisfying God. Jeremiah tells us that if we are to boast in anything, we are to boast that we understand and know God (Jeremiah 9:23-24) Parenthetically evil is the reciprocal – to turn from God to other things for our life and satisfaction (Jeremiah 2:13) Knowing God is the most perpetually thrilling and satisfying thing in life. It is truly the one thing that will never grow tired, dull, and lifeless over time. Only God is big enough to inspire wonder, to give love, to give us truth, and ultimate security for this life and the next. A few quotes from GK Chesterton came to mind about the wonder of God and the joy of knowing him…and the drudgery of life without God…somewhat related: There is a vital objection to the advice merely to grin and bear it. The objection is that if you merely bear it, you do not grin. GK Chesterton, Orthodoxy (New York: NY, Image books, 1959) 104. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.

Ibid 58. But what does it mean to know God? Packer lists several possibilities:

  • An emotion
  • A bodily experience
  • Intellectual experience
  • See a Vision
  • Hear a Voice

All, I admit have crossed my mind at some point in my short life. Packer next begins by a discussion of how we know things – objects, animals, people, important people, and finally God. His line of thinking stems from this – to know a person they must reveal something to you about themselves, to know a high ranking person – they stoop low to reveal to someone of a lower standing. Such it is with God – he stoops love in his grace to love and reveal himself to us. Packer summarizes this short discourse with the following statement: We must say that knowing God involves, first, listening to God’s Word [in this he means Scripture] and receiving it as the Holy Spirit interprets it, in application to oneself; second, noting the God’s nature and character, as his Word and works reveal it; third, accepting his invitations and doing what he commands; fourth, recognizing and rejoicing in the love that he has show in thus approaching you and drawing you into this divine fellowship. JI Packer, Knowing God, Americanized Edition (Downers Grove: IL, Intervarsity Press, 1993) 37. The next part of this chapter goes to Knowing Jesus – the God-man, the Word (Logos) made flesh. This Jesus is our access to God – to knowing God as he reveals himself in the person of Christ. Though the first disciples walked with Jesus bodily, we too walk with him today in intimate and personal fellowship through the Spirit. Jesus comes to us as our savior, to free us from sin, guilt, death, and judgment. Knowing Jesus is knowing the mercy of God. I was refreshed to see Packer affirm the emotions in knowing God, as well as the intellect and the will. In our days, and in days past I suppose, we seem to ping pong back and forth between the emotional/existential and the intellectual/contemplative. Such balance is refreshing and indeed what I need for my soul. Both the call to THINK and to at times WEEP for JOY. Packer closes the chapter reminding us that we know God by his grace because he reveals himself to us. He knows us and this is why we can know Him. His choice – a cause for pause and humility.

Out.
--------
In
Comment

A book I have no business touching right now - but it is good :)

With several papers looming from a summer class, with a new class finally crested onto the calendar (started a new on last week), I have no business picking up an unrelated book. But, alas, my amazon.com trigger finger did again get heavy this week and a little (well, maybe I should say large at 600 pages) showed up on my stoop. After having enjoyed George Marsden's book The Soul of the American University over Christmas break, I was even more excited to get to his new biography Jonathan Edwards - A Life (Yale Univesity Press). The new printing of the 2003 book in paperback sealed the deal and Amazon was up to the task. I probably won't finish this book for quite some time (hopefull I will, finish it) but finding an hour in it today was no disappointment. With Edwards studies growing and the influence of his thought surging through many in the current scene, reading about this life is of interest to me. A quick outline of this man's life is available here - http://www.yale.edu/wje/html/life_of__edwards.html. Out...
--------
In
Comment