Justin Taylor's Blog, page 347

Preaching the Whole Counsel of God

Wise words from the English pastor Charles Simeon (1759–1836):

Of this he is [= I am] sure, that there is not a decided Calvinist or Arminian in the world who equally approves of the whole of Scripture . . . who, if he had been in the company of St. Paul whilst he was writing his Epistles, would not have recommended him to alter one or other of his expressions.

But the author would not wish one of them altered; he finds as much satisfaction in one class of passages as another; and employs the one, he believes, as freely as the other. Where the inspired Writers speak in unqualified terms, he thinks himself at liberty to do the same; judging that they needed no instruction from him how to propagate the truth. He is content to sit as a learner at the feet of the holy Apostles and has no ambition to teach them how they ought to have spoken.

Cited in H.C.G. Moule, Charles Simeon (London: InterVarsity, 1948), 79.

HT: JP

An Interview on Hell, World Religions, Inclusivism, and the Gospel

This is a helpful three-part interview with Christopher Morgan, theology professor at California Baptist University. As Collin Hansen says, "His nuanced explanations will help you understand the historical, biblical, and theological context of our current disputes over what happens to those who persist in their sin and do not trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins."

Toward a Better Understanding of Hell
Relating to Other Religions
What About Those Who Haven't Heard?

I especially appreciated his quotes from Spurgeon at the end:

This genuine love for people is also reflected in Charles Haddon Spurgeon, as he urges unbelievers:

To be laughed at is no great hardship for me. I can delight in scoffs and jeers. . . .

But that you should turn from your own mercy, this is my sorrow.

Spit on me, but oh repent!

Laugh at me, but, oh, believe in my Master!

Make my body as the dirt in the streets, but do not damn your own souls.

He also passionately exhorts the church:

If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies.

And if they perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay.

If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one person go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Further, he instructs:

The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you.

If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest, too.

But if you are filled with an agony for them, if you cannot bear that they are lost, you will soon find that they are uneasy, too.

A Prayer in Times of Controversy

Even as we desire unity, there will be controversy within the church until Christ returns. Here is one wise way to pray when conflicts and divisions arise:

Gracious Father, have mercy on your children in disputes. We are sorry for any root of pride or fear of man or lack of insight that influences our stance in the controversy before us. We confess that we are not pure in ourselves. Even as we strive to persuade one another, we stand in need of a merciful Advocate. We are sinners. We are finite and fallible.

On both sides of the matter at hand, we take refuge together in the glorious gospel of justification by faith alone through grace. We magnify Jesus Christ, our Savior and King for all he has done to make us his own. We are a thankful people even in our conflict. We are broken and humble to think that we would be loved and forgiven and accepted by an infinitely holy God.

Forbid, O Lord, that our spirit in this struggle would be one of hostility or ill will toward anyone. Deliver us from every form of debate that departs from love or diminishes truth. Grant, Father, as Francis Schaeffer pleaded in his last days, that our disagreements would prove to be golden opportunities to show the world how to love—not by avoiding conflicts, but by how we act in them.

Show us, O God, the relationship between doctrine and devotion, between truth and tenderness, between biblical faithfulness and biblical unity, between standing on the truth and standing together. Let none of us be unteachable, or beyond correction. May the outcome of our dispute be clearer vision of your glory and grace and truth and wisdom and power and knowledge.

By your Spirit, grant that the result of all our arguments be deeper humility, more dependence on mercy, sweeter fellowship with Jesus, stronger love in our common life, more radical obedience to the commands of our King, more authentic worship, and a greater readiness and eagerness to lay down our lives to finish the Great Commission.

In all this, Father, our passion is that you would be glorified through Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Ethics of Gonzo Journalism

I agree with Michael Gerson's conclusion on the exploits of conservative activist James O'Keefe, whose most recent project involved NPR:

Abuses are employed as excuses for equal and opposite abuses. The result is more than a race to the murky journalistic bottom. It is the triumph of a thoroughly postmodern view of politics: Power means everything. Truth means little. Ethical standards are for the weak and compromised. Influence is gained, not by persuasion, but by deception and ruthlessness.

This escalation is really a descent.

Read the whole thing for more explanation and context.

Many evangelical Christians are conservative. But many conservatives have an end-justifies-the-means approach to truth, and Christians should not applaud this kind of behavior just because they like the results.

HT: @spulliam

C.S. Lewis: When Theological Liberalism Hits the Headlines

Thanks to Robbie Sagers for the following quote from C. S. Lewis:

Liberal Christianity can only supply an ineffectual echo to the massive chorus of agreed and admitted unbelief. Don't be deceived by the fact that this echo so often "hits the headlines." That is because attacks on Christian doctrine which would pass unnoticed if they were launched (as they are daily launched) by anyone else, become News when the attacker is a clergyman; just as a very commonplace protest against make-up would be News if it came from a film star.

By the way, did you ever meet, or hear of, anyone who was converted from scepticism to a "liberal" or "demythologised" Christianity? I think that when unbelievers come in at all, they come in a good deal further.

—C.S. Lewis, Letters to Malcom: Chiefly on Prayer (Mariner Books, 2002 edition), 119.

Pursuing Excellence vs. Pursuing Elite Status

Andy Crouch, from an interview with World Magazine:

Pursuing being elite is a terrible idea. I partly say this because I worked at Harvard for 10 years, and most people who pursue being elite end up being shaped solely by that: They become nothing but elite. I'd much rather have everyone, whatever their prospects for being elite or not, pursue excellence. Excellence is often accompanied by humility, whereas being elite often is not. People who have obtained mastery of certain fields, I've found, are surprisingly humble, because they've become aware of how difficult their work is.

Myth Busters: Calvinist Edition

I've been looking forward to, and have now begun reading, Ken Stewart's new book, Ten Myths About Calvinism: Recovering the Breadth of the Reformed Tradition (IVP, 2011). Professor Stewart is a careful historian whose work frequently informs and provokes.

Here are his ten myths:

Part 1: Four Myths Calvinists Should Not Be Circulating (But Are)

1 One Man (Calvin) and One City (Geneva) Are Determinative

2 Calvin's View of Predestination Must Be Ours

3 TULIP is the Yardstick of the Truly Reformed

4 Calvinists Take a Dim View of Revival and Awakening

Part 2: Six Myths Non-Calvinists Should Not Be Circulating (But Are)

5 Calvinism Is Largely Antimissionary

6 Calvinism Promotes Antinomianism

7 Calvinism Leads to Theocracy

8 Calvinism Undermines the Creative Arts

9 Calvinism Resists Gender Equality

10 Calvinism Has Fostered Racial Inequality

TGC has posted a couple of pieces by Stewart on two of the myths:

Calvinists Take a Dim View of Revival and Awakening
Calvinism Undermines the Creative Arts

Resisting Temptation and Responding to the Accuser

Russell Moore:

Gospel freedom is the most important aspect of resisting temptation.

Remember that Satan's power over you is first and foremost the power of accusation and threatened death.

In Christ, though, you have already been indicted, judged, executed, and resurrected.

You are "dead to sin" and "alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:11).

Regardless of whether you support or oppose the death penalty, you'd probably wince to hear about a state that executed a murderer and then had a public flogging of his corpse. Your discomfort there wouldn't be because you're soft on murder but because that act would be insanely beside the point. After all, an executed corpse can't be punished anymore. It's over.

Likewise, you've been to hell, in the cross of Christ.

You've been buried beneath the judgment of God, turned over to the Devil, and you are gone.

Now you stand in Christ, hidden in his identity, and thus free from any accusation.

Knowing that truth doesn't lead you to yield to temptation but instead to fly from it.

You're not hiding from God anymore.

—Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, p. 170.

Band of Bloggers 2011

Registration is now open for Band of Bloggers at TGC 2011.

For $25 you get:

gospel conversation and fellowship,
deep-dish pizza, and
good books.

Consider it part of the inauguration of the eschaton.

Reluctant to Pray?

Russell Moore:

One of the first ways you can tell that you are moving beyond temptation into a pattern of sin is if you find yourself in a time of prayerlessness.

That isn't just a "spiritual maturity issue"—it's a gospel issue.

You are recreated through the gospel with a nature that longs for communion with God. The Spirit within you cries out, "Abba! Father!" (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Prayer is exactly how you experience the sympathy of your high priest who has triumphed over your temptation. After all, you are not the only one praying when you pray. The Spirit himself prays through you, and as he does so, he works to align your will and desires with those of Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:26–27).

If you are reluctant to pray, it just might be that you, like Adam and Israel before you, are hiding in the vegetation, ashamed to hear the rustling of the leaves that signals he is here.

—Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ, p. 171.