In Essentials, Unity.

One of the great joys of evangelical Christian fellowship is the reality that we can disagree on non-essential doctrines and still maintain community.  The problem is that we also disagree on what is non-essential.  I have written on this previously, but as in most things, we need to have these issues brought to the fore, again and again.

Recently in several discussions various people have used the term with me: “It’s not a salvation issue.”  Actually that term is quite common in evangelical circles.  I wonder what they mean by that phrase.   At least in one instance they mean that this issue does not demean salvation by grace through faith.  I prefer the phrase that Dr. Albert Mohler has written on so well, e.g., “First-Level Theological Issues”.  By that he defines them as:

“First-level theological issues would include those doctrines most central and essential to the Christian faith. Included among these most crucial doctrines would be doctrines such as the Trinity, the full deity and humanity of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, and the authority of Scripture . . . These first-order doctrines represent the most fundamental truths of the Christian faith, and a denial of these doctrines represents nothing less than an eventual denial of Christianity itself.”

To use the term: “It’s not a salvation issue,” is to reduce the irreducible to an unacceptable level.  Secondly the term assumes that salvation by grace through faith stands alone.  It does not.  One would not be aware of salvation apart from the special revelation of God’s Word.  Salvation could not be accomplished other than through the Humanity and Deity of Christ.  Nor could it be accomplished apart from the Triune God.  Implied in all this is the incarnation, the Virgin Birth, sinless life, effectual atonement, physical resurrection and ascension of Jesus.  Nor is there salvation complete without the coming of the Kingdom and the restoration of all things new.

“First level theological issues” is a very helpful term.  We should consider it essential to our conversation.

In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity![1]

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[1] Often attributed to great theologians such as Augustine, it comes from an otherwise undistinguished German Lutheran theologian of the early seventeenth century, Rupertus Meldenius. The phrase occurs in a tract on Christian unity written (circa 1627) during the Thirty Years War (1618–1648), a bloody time in European history in which religious tensions played a significant role. (http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/essentials-unity-non-essentials-liberty-all-things/)

This One Thing I Do!

As I prepare for the Mother's Day biography on the life of Lilias Trotter, I am became more and more enthralled with the profundity of this woman of God.  She lived in a day devoid of television, radio, iPods, iPhones, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and so on.  Multitasking is a great management style but it's a horrible lifestyle.  For the Christian we need to be focused.

"Never has it been so easy to live in half a dozen harmless worlds at once -- art, music, social science, games, motoring, the following of some profession, and so on. And between them we run the risk of drifting about, the good hiding the best." It is easy to find out whether our lives are focused, and if so, where the focus lies. Where do our thoughts settle when consciousness comes back in the morning? Where do they swing back when the pressure is off during the day? Dare to have it out with God, and ask Him to show you whether or not all is focused on Christ and His Glory. Turn your soul's vision to Jesus, and look and look at Him, and a strange dimness will come over all that is apart from Him." [1] [Emphasis mine]

Is there a "one thing I do" (Psalm27:4; Philippians 3:13) kind of focus in my life?  In yours? 

"If only one had twenty lives! But I suppose that to have the power of God concentrated on the one that we have would be better still!"  - Lilias Trotter

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1.  The Heavenly Vision, - Lilias Trotter (1853-1928).  

They Shall Not Eat Who Will Not Work

Joshua 17:14–18 (NLT)

¹⁴ The descendants of Joseph came to Joshua and asked, “Why have you given us only one portion of land as our homeland when the Lord has blessed us with so many people?” ¹⁵ Joshua replied, “If there are so many of you, and if the hill country of Ephraim is not large enough for you, clear out land for yourselves in the forest where the Perizzites and Rephaites live.” 

¹⁶ The descendants of Joseph responded, “It’s true that the hill country is not large enough for us. But all the Canaanites in the lowlands have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shan and its surrounding settlements and those in the valley of Jezreel. They are too strong for us.” 

¹⁷ Then Joshua said to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph, “Since you are so large and strong, you will be given more than one portion. ¹⁸ The forests of the hill country will be yours as well. Clear as much of the land as you wish, and take possession of its farthest corners. And you will drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, too, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.”

Matthew Henry:  

"Men excuse themselves from labour by any pretence; and nothing serves the purpose better than having rich and powerful relations, able to provide for them; and they are apt to desire a partial and unfaithful disposal of what is intrusted to those they think able to give such help. 

But there is more real kindness in pointing out the advantages within reach, and in encouraging men to make the best of them, than in granting indulgences to sloth and extravagance. 

True religion gives no countenance to these evils. The rule is, They shall not eat who will not work; and many of our “cannots” are only the language of idleness, which magnifies every difficulty and danger."[1]

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1. Henry, M., & Scott, T. (1997). Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary (Jos 17:14). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems.

The Deathliness of Death

About 30 some years ago I attended a Merle Haggard concert in Winnipeg.  A little known, but rising star by the name of Reba McEntire open for this country music icon. Unfortunately due to excessive inebriation, Haggard could barely spit out a couple songs.   That doesn't matter, for Country Music connoisseurs, he was a great musician and entertainer.  Today, Country Music radio stations are filled with his songs in memory of his amazing career.


On April 6th of this year Merle Haggard died. Reading some Facebook tributes I read this statement: "This legend has passed . . .."   Now I'm not picking on the author of that update.  I hear this a lot lately. "So and so passed last night," etc.   What does that mean?  Objectively does that mean that they were facing an examination and rather than fail, they passed?  Or is there something missing from the sentence.  "So and so passed by the window!"  Of course I know what they mean.  He died.  But to say that "he passed" takes the edge off a very hard event.


To say that someone "passed" is ambiguous.  The sentence alone speaks of uncertainty.  It is an incomplete sentence.  Isn't that the point?  Many today don't understand death.  There are all kinds of theories about death.  So to be socially correct it's just easier to say, "He passed."   It takes the deathliness out of death.


But death is deadly. 


According to the Bible death occurs when the spirit vacates the body.  There is very little dignity in death.  I suspect that very few people get to simply fall asleep in death.  For most of us death will be a gradual, painful, expiration of life.  It is deathly.  Death is the result of sin.  We all die because we all have sinned. But death is not the end.  Every human being, at that moment of death, will instantaneously face the Creator of life.   For those that have placed their faith in the forgiving work of His Son, Jesus Christ, their after-death experience will be nothing short of glorious – unspeakable joy.   For those who have rejected the Savior of the world and the righteousness, joy and peace He offers there is unspeakable suffering.





For a person who is not a committed believer in the Lord Jesus Christ there is no such thing as rest-in-peace.  To calm the horror by suggesting that "they are in a better place" is a fantasy of unspeakable proportion.  I have little doubt that every unrepentant person who has died, would rather live with a lifetime of cancer rather than the torment of Hell.  But that reality can be completely reversed through genuine faith in Christ Jesus.



For someone who has realized their sinfulness and accepted the provision of salvation in Jesus, they can indeed say upon their impending death, "sing me back home, before I die."   I have no insight into the spiritual condition of Merle Haggard.  I do know this that he had ample opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel.  I hope he did. 


Haggard was created in the image of God.  His soul is more valuable than all the treasures of a billion universes.  He was gifted.  He was a great entertainer.  God created him that he might glorify God with his life and his talent.  I'm not sure if he "passed" yesterday.  I am sure he died.  I am sure he met God.  We all will.   


““For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NLT) 

A Theology of Threatenings - Part 4

To summarize the position that I think best represents the Scriptures: the redeemed of God are graciously so loved by our Savior that He confronts us with dire and fearsome warnings that we might be corrected in our waywardness; and that we might be motivated in our holiness.  These dark threatenings are thereby means of grace in our sanctification.  They are directed toward the saved, for they indeed are the only ones in which He is working “… both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:13, ESV).

Could it be, though, that even men and women who have believed the Gospel, might reach a point where by they cast it aside and reject its claims, thus ending up in eternal destruction?  There appears to be a people whom Peter writes, “For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.” (2 Peter 2:20–21, ESV)

My answer to the question is "No"!   But before I explain I want to add two caveats: One, that does not mean there are difficult texts to understand (as 2 Peter 2, suggests); and Two, that does not suggest that even the elect of God can commit heinous sins and seemingly defect for a season.  What it does mean is that those who are called of God, born of His Spirit, will not (indeed cannot) ultimately and finally lose their salvation. 

The most common misconception within the camp of those who would disagree with me has to do with the order and the nature of the New Birth.  This is not an exhaustive study of regeneration, but the clarity of Scripture is without debate.  Please note:

1. The antecedent to faith is the New Birth.  "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God . . .."^[1]  The verb γεγέννηται is "has been begotten" in the perfect passive indicative tense.  Anyone presently believing has been born of God.  Likewise we read even more plainly: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12–13, ESV). [Emphasis mine].  Jesus told Nicodemus that apart from the New Birth you could not even see the Kingdom of God (John 3:3f).

This means that God has said to the unbeliever, "Let light shine" (2 Corinthians 4:6) and the eyes of the heart were opened to the grandeur of the Gospel; and in a moment of time this person became a New Creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). 

2. The nature of the New Birth contradicts the notion of apostasy.  When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus He made it crystal clear that this idea of regeneration was something this Pharisee should know.  In Jeremiah 31:33-34 God promised a New Covenant with the restored people of God.  In Jeremiah 32 we read this aspect of the New Covenant promise:

“And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” (Jeremiah 32:38–40, ESV) [Emphasis mine]

The condition of the new heart given by the Spirit in the New Birth is one that is inherently inclined to loyalty and faithfulness to God.  The fallacy of thinking borders on absurd to even think that such a heart, born from above, created by the Spirit would defect from its origin.

So God in his graciousness grants to His people such dire and terrifying threatenings that they should be guided by them, heeding them as their new heart is inclined to do.  Rather than threaten eternal loss, these warnings guarantee eternal security.  The warnings of Scripture to the elect of God assure their safe arrival home rather than make it ambiguous.

Previous Posts

1.  A Theology of Threatenings - Part 1

2.  A Theology of Threatenings - Part 2

3.  A Theology of Threatenings - Part 3

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^[1] The New International Version. (2011). (1 Jn 5:1). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

A Theology of Threatenings - Part 3

Are the threatenings in Scripture hypothetical?  When God warns the believer with consequences of eternal damnation, is that simply a ploy?  Is it an empty caveat? For example we read, “If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:6, ESV). Or, “if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us” (2 Timothy 2:12, ESV).  Are these threatenings real?

My answer is ‘yes’!   God doesn’t make idle threats.  So then we ask, “What do we make of the security of the believer?”   Or a better question is, “What is the effect of these warnings on a believer?”  The answer is found within the body of truth that is communicated by the doctrine of total inability and the doctrine of regeneration.  Let’s review the doctrine of total inability.

Ephesians 2:1–3 (ESV)

”¹ And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”

This key passage describes the lifeless condition of those outside of Christ.  They are dead. They are inert.  Their response to the things of God is “no response.” “No one understands; no one seeks for God.” (Romans 3:11, ESV).

But what of regeneration?  

Paul goes on to write, “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—” (Ephesians 2:4–5, ESV). 

Simply stated, the condition of the unbeliever is deafness and unresponsiveness to God.  The condition of the believer is one of quickening, alertness and life.  This reminds us that only the believer can hear the warnings of God.  Now let me provide an imperfect but important illustration:

Let us presume that two children are playing a game near a busy highway.  As I observe their sport, to my chagrin, I see them running at breakneck speed toward the road with traffic hurling down the highway.  I scream at the top of my lungs, “Stop or you will get killed.” 

Now, is that a hypothetical warning?  Not in your life!  Let me advance the illustration further.  Let us assume that one of these children is mine.  They have my genes.  My DNA is in their body.  They are “begotten” from my “loins”.  They have known my voice from birth.  They have known my love, my instruction, my concerns.  Now I ask you this question, “In a perfect world, which child will hear my voice and respond?”  

My youngest daughter was born by Cesarean Section.  The nurse asked me if I wanted to bathe her and hold her.  Of course I said yes.  My wife was recovering in the operating room.  The nurse directed me to another room in the hospital.  As I approached the two big doors I heard the screaming of a baby.  Opening the doors another nurse said, “Is this your baby?”  I said, “Yes!”  Instantly, on cue, my youngest went completely silent.  The nurse said, “She sure is!”  My baby girl had heard my voice for 9 months.  It was a voice she was familiar with.  For some reason it was a voice she wanted respond to.

Jesus spoke of Himself in John 10:3–4 (ESV).  He said, “³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.” [Emphasis mine].  God’s redeemed people hear the promises of God relative to the gracious goodness of our Lord.  We live on those promises.  God’s people also hear His promises of warnings.  He calls them by name.  His sheep hear His voice and listen.  

Thus when Christ calls out, “Stop or you will get killed,” He means it.  It is not imaginary. Those who are yet dead in their trespass and sins do not hear that warning.  Those who are simply professing faith in Christ but do not possess His life, do not hear that warning.  But those who are born from above, hear and respond in faith.

So we are left with wondering: “Can a child of God hear the warnings of Christ and willfully reject them – to their own damnation?”  

Previous Posts

1.  A Theology of Threatenings - Part 1

2.  A Theology of Threatenings - Part 2

Why Prayer Meetings? Why Prayer Chains?

From Prayer Changes People's Wills - by John Piper [1]

"Some of you have wondered, Why do we have prayer meetings? Why gather in St. Paul tonight in a larger group? Why have prayer chains and prayer groups? If God is God, and it is his power that makes a difference in answering prayer, why does it matter how many people ask him? If I pick up Noël from the library because our son asks me to, she is just as picked up as if four sons asked me to.

One answer is that the more people that are praying for a thing, the more thanks and honor God will get when he acts. We see this in 2 Corinthians 1:10b–11: "And [God] will yet deliver us, 11 you also joining in helping us through your prayers, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed upon us through the prayers of many."

The assumption behind the answer to both of these questions is that the divine purpose of prayer is to magnify the greatness of God. Prayer exists for the glory of God. Jesus said in John 14:13, "And whatever you ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The aim of prayer is that the Father be glorified through Jesus.

So the more people there are praying for something, and thus depending on God for mercy and power, the more people will give him thanks and glorify him when the answer comes."  [Emphasis mine.]

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1. http://www.desiringgod.org/messages/prayer-changes-peoples-wills