The Reason for the Flood (Genesis 6:1-8)
Man hated God and struck out against God’s image through murder. God was angry with man, because man only ever wanted to sin. Man is so sinful that there is nothing we can do to gain God’s favor. We were unable to save ourselves from our state of sin and misery into which the race of man fell when Adam sinned and God cursed the earth. This state of sin and misery had only been getting worse and worse until the point that God announced his great disfavor for them and his great anger with them.
God reveals his plan to wipe out the race because he is so angry with them. If God was a man, he’d regret having made them. But God is infinitely wise and is working according to his eternal plan. God is doing things this way because he is revealing to us what it will be like at the end of the world. The events in God’s world history happen to teach us something about what it will be like when Christ returns to judge the world once and for all (see 2 Peter 3:3-7).
The Fall and Curse
Here’s your chance to critique my Sunday School notes! Did I miss the mark? Share your comments, questions, critiques. . .
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths
· on shame, see Heb. 4:13; Rev. 3:18
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (Opportunity for Adam to Confess)
10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,cursed are you above all livestockand above all beasts of the field;on your belly you shall go,and dust you shall eatall the days of your life.15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring; (Heb. 2:14; Revelation 12:13-17; 20:1-3, 10)he shall bruise your head,and you shall bruise his heel.”
· The first time the gospel is preached in the Bible!
· New Testament Perspective: 1 John 3:4-10—Jesus has destroyed the Devil’s works; believers are born of God, gaining ability to learn to obey God.
MISERY ENTERS THE EXPERIENCE OF MAN
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;in pain you shall bring forth children.Your desire shall be for your husband,and he shall rule over you.”
· New Testament Perspective: 1 Timothy 2:8-15—Minor on outward beauty; major on inner beauty through good works; women shouldn’t pastor, taking authority over man; “childbearing”? Ephesian false teachers dissed marriage; “c/b-ing” represents whole of married life by its product, Paul encouraging women to accept their proper role and through believing the gospel, gratefully loving their family, church and neighbor, devoting themselves to God & avoiding sin and generally controlling yourself, you’ll be saved.
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
(didn’t lovingly lead, but followed the misguided leadership of his wife)and have eaten of the treeof which I commanded you,‘You shall not eat of it,’cursed is the ground because of you;in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;and you shall eat the plants of the field.19 By the sweat of your faceyou shall eat bread,till you return to the ground,for out of it you were taken;for you are dust,and to dust you shall return.”
· I.E., God says, “You won’t die yet, but will live with misery to humble you, reminding you to guard against sin
· New Testament Perspective: Romans 5:12-21
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
· Leviticus 17:11—Death required to cover sin; Salvation through Christ’s death is like being clothed in the righteousness of Christ.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
· In Adam & Eve’s expulsion, God shows mercy by keeping them from the tree of life which would have bound them to an immortal existence of sin & misery. In God’s wrath, he remembers mercy.
Spirit Empowered Preaching
Recipe for a Sacrament: Just Add Bread, Wine and A Cross
The “flesh and blood” references in Christ’s words to the people in John chapter 6 are controversial in that many take the liberty of applying the principles in this passage to their theology of the Lord’s Supper. How might this be true? I took a look at the verses in question and attempted to distill the principles that may have some bearing on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and how it may or may not be a “means of grace.” The following thought process may be a bit tedious reading, but I think you’ll see how I find that there is indeed room to legitimately connect the theology referenced in the passage to the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. And I believe it is part of what helps us conclude that the Lord’s Supper is a means of grace which confirms the promise of God in the gospel to believers while rendering condemnation to unbelievers who partake.
One thing I noticed about this passage is that, while it affirms that those who believe in Christ do feed on his flesh which he gives for the life of the world, no mention is made of how he is to give his flesh for the life of the world. That would be in his death on the cross. Furthermore, there is no explicit reference to engaging in a ritual in which believers actually eat literal bread and drink literal wine. But, of course, Jesus has yet to institute the Lord’s Supper, so why go into that kind of detail here? He discusses the theology of how grace is conveyed to sinners through the means of his body and blood (broken and shed for sinners on the cross), to which he will later add the further means of grace — the preaching of this good news of justification in his death and resurrection, which invisible saving grace is signified by the outward elements of bread and wine which seal the benefits of Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection in glory. I hope this helps you see the chain of means which convey God’s grace to believing sinners.
John 6:27-35 “Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. . .”
John 6:47-51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
John 6:52-58 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on my flesh, he also will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
Propositions extracted from the above passages:
Don’t only seek physical sustenance from Christ for this temporary life alone. Seek spiritual sustenance which will provide eternal life. (vs. 25-27)
Eternal life comes to those who believe in him whom God has sent (v. 29).
The Old Testament type of God’s giving Israel bread from heaven to eat is fulfilled by the antitype of the Lord Jesus Christ who came down from heaven and gives life to the world (vs. 30-34).
The Lord Jesus Christ is the bread of life (v. 35a).
Whoever comes to Christ in faith will never hunger or thirst (v. 35b).
Whoever believes has eternal life (v. 47).
The true bread comes from heaven so that one may eat of it and not die, but live forever (vs. 48-50).
The bread that the Lord Jesus Christ will give for the life of the world is his flesh (v. 51c).
Whoever does not eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man has no life in him (v. 53).
Whoever eats Christ’s flesh and drinks Christ’s blood will have eternal life and is given hope of resurrection to life at Christ’s return (v. 54).
Christ’s flesh is true food, and Christ’s blood is true drink (v. 55).
Whoever eats Christ’s flesh and drinks his blood abides in Christ, and Christ abides in him (v. 56).
God the Father is the source of Christ’s physical life; whoever feeds on Christ’s flesh will live because of Christ’s life (v. 57).
This boils down to the fact that Christ’s body was broken and his blood was shed and he gave his life and took it again in his resurrection so that dead sinners may receive the free gift of eternal life through faith and the hope of resurrection on the day of Christ’s return. What relevance does this have to the Lord’s Supper? Keith Mathison cites Calvin’s explanation on p. 221 of Given For You: Reclaiming Calvin’s Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper. Mathison writes: “Calvin argues that John 6 is not ‘about’ the Lord’s Supper, but he adds, ‘I acknowledge that there is nothing said here that is not figuratively represented, and actually bestowed on believers, in the Lord’s Supper; and Christ even intended that the holy Supper should be, as it were, a seal and confirmation of this sermon.” (Calvin’s Commentary on John 6:54).
God is the ultimate source of life.
God gave life to the flesh and blood of his Son.
God sent his Son to give his flesh and blood for the life of dead sinners.
God’s Son gave his flesh and blood for the life of dead sinners in his crucifixion.
Whoever believes in God’s Son receives eternal life through means of Christ’s broken body and shed blood in his death. This is what Christ means by eating his flesh and drinking his blood.
Christ announced the New Covenant in the broken bread which is his body broken for sinners, and fruit of the vine poured out which is his blood shed for sinners, commanding that this meal be administered in remembrance of the death of the testator (Hebrews 9:16) that those who partake of the broken bread and poured out wine in faith may participate in his sacrifice for their sin (1 Cor. 10:16), and experience fellowship with all those who have life in him (1 Corinthians 10:17).
Christ sent the apostles to preach the good news that Christ died for sin and rose the third day that whoever believes may receive eternal life. Those who believed their message devoted themselves to participating in Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42).
Therefore . . .
- the body and blood of Christ on the cross is God’s means of grace (the free gift of eternal life received by faith—Romans 3:24-25; 6:23);
- The preaching of the gospel of the death and resurrection of Christ is a means of grace;
- Remembrance of Christ’s broken body and shed blood for our sins by eating bread and wine in conjunction with fellowship, preaching and prayer is a means of grace.
Let Us Break Bread Together
For the past several days, I’ve been engaged in a discussion about the frequency of the Lord’s Supper over at Post Tenebras Lux (Why Weekly Communion Part 1, Part 2, Part 3). If you’d like to interact with our conversation, you are cordially invited. The homework I’ve been doing in preparation for my comments over there has been very enlightening. I’ve learned that the “proof texts” which I continually use to support the notion that Christian churches should always celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday following the sermon do not miss the mark when considered in the light of postapostolic practice and the Reformation’s purification of the corruptions which crept in during the medieval era of the church.
“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42).
“On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread . . . ” (Acts 20:7).
It seems to be difficult for many to see that the church is to engage each time they gather in all of the items listed in the first verses cited above, and have a hard time accepting that one statement like the one in the second verse above actually reflects the weekly practice, rather than merely recording a one-time event with little to no prescriptive significance for the life of the church today. But the more I read from Calvin and others about how the church has historically interpreted verses like these and a few others from 1 Corinthians 10 and 11, the more convinced I am that we do an injustice to our worship of the Lord by our setting the Supper aside so often to focus on other things, fearing some Roman Catholic spirit of ritualism to overcome us, dared we to partake too frequently.
Consider the following passages from Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion (Battles translation, pages 1422, 1424):
44. The Lord’s Supper should be celebrated frequently
What we have so far said of the Sacrament abundantly shows that it was not ordained to be received only once a year –and that, too, perfunctorily, as now is the usual custom. Rather, it was ordained to be frequently used among all Christians in order that they might frequently return in memory to Christ’s Passion, by such remembrance to sustain and strengthen their faith, and urge themselves to sing thanksgiving to God and to proclaim his goodness; finally, by it to nourish mutual love, and among themselves give witness to this love, and discern its bond in the unity of Christ’s body. For as often as we partake of the symbol of the Lord’s body, as a token given and received, we reciprocally bind ourselves to all the duties of love in order that none of us may permit anything that can harm our brother, or overlook anything that can help him, where necessity demands and ability suffices.
Luke relates in The Acts that this was the practice of the apostolic church, when he says that believers ” . . . continued in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers” (Acts 2:42). Thus it became the unvarying rule that no meeting of the church should take place without the Word, prayers, partaking of the Supper, and almsgiving. That this was the established order among the Corinthians also, we can safely infer from Paul (cf. 1 Cor. 11:20). And it remained in use for many centuries after.
46. Communicating only once a year condemned
Plainly this custom which enjoins us to take communion once a year is a veritable invention of the devil, whoever was instrumental in introducing it. They say that Zephyrinus was the author of this decree, although it is not believable that it was in the form in which we now have it. For perhaps by his ordinance he did not provide too badly for the church, as times were then. For there is not the least doubt that the Sacred Supper was in that era set before the believers every time they met together; and there is no doubt that a majority of them took communion; but since all scarcely ever happened to take communion at once, and since it was necessary for those who were mingled with profane and idolatrous men to attest their faith by some outward sign–the holy man, for the sake of order and polity, appointed that day on which all Christian people should, by partaking of the Lord’s Supper, make a confession of faith. Posterity wickedly distorted Zephyrinus’ otherwise good ordinance, when a definite law was made to have communion once a year. (Fourth Lateran Council, canon 21). By this it has come about that almost all, when they have taken communion once, as though they have beautifully done their duty for the rest of the year, go about unconcerned. It should have been done far differently: the Lord’s Table should have been spread at least once a week for the assembly of Christians, and the promises declared in it should feed us spiritually. None is indeed to be forcibly compelled, but all are to be urged and aroused; also the inertia of indolent people is to be rebuked. All, like hungry men, should flock to such a bounteous repast. Not unjustly, then, did I complain at the outset that this custom was thrust in by the devil’s artifice, which, in prescribing one day a year, renders men slothful all the rest of the year. Indeed, we see that already in Chrysostom’s day this degrading abuse had crept in; but we can see at the same time how much it displeased him. For in the passage which I just quoted he sadly complains of great inequality in this matter; at some times of the year they often did not come even when they were clean, but came at Easter, even when they were unclean. Then he exclaims: “O custom, O presumption! In vain, therefore, is a daily offering made; in vain we stand before the altar; there is no one who will partake along with us.” So far is Chrysostom from having approved this by lending it his authority!
It appears to me that the work of Reformation is not done. Begin a conversation with your pastor about this topic, and encourage him to examine the Scriptures in the light of the history of the issue of the frequency of the Supper and see what the Lord may work in the life of your church!
The Old Testament Reveals Jesus
God is moving the history of his fallen creation toward redemption. This means, what God created good became bad, and God is working to make it good again. God’s fallen creation cannot make itself good again. It cannot redeem itself. God himself must do it.
The first two phases of the history of the world took place before anyone was ever born. Adam and Eve were the only two people God created as fully grown people; the rest of us were born as babies and grow to fully grown people. Adam and Eve were created good, but fell into sin; the rest of us are born in sin, in Adam.
After the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God promised to send a Redeemer to save a chosen people from the consequences of sin (Genesis 3:15). All of this takes place in the first three chapters of the Bible. The rest of the Bible is the history of how God works in the world to save a chosen from the consequences of sin. God will choose one person and promise to give him one chosen nation from which will come One Chosen Person to redeem a chosen people out of every nation in the world. The “One Chosen Person” at the center of this plan of redemption is the Lord Jesus Christ. The story of the Old Testament is the story of how God, step by step, revealed, or uncovered, Jesus the Redeemer, first to the chosen nation of Israel and through Israel to all the nations of the world.
There are two verses from the New Testament in which Jesus shows us that the Old Testament is the history of the redemption of sinners. These verses are John 5:39 and Luke 24:27.
John 5:39 — “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” The religious leaders thought, and many people today, think that just learning the words and facts from the Bible is what makes us good. Jesus said they are no more than the spoon that we use to feed ourselves the “food of eternal life.” The Bible reveals Jesus to us, and he is the one who saves us.
Luke 24:27 — “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Jesus taught through the entire Old Testament and showed how it reveals the truth about his person and work to redeem sinners.The Old Testament reveals three things about the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer.
The Old Testament reveals
1) the perfection of Jesus,
2) preparation for Jesus, and
3) prophecy about Jesus.
The Old Testament consists of four sections which reveal all three of these things about Jesus in many different ways. These sections are . . .
Law
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy are actually a combination of history and law. The history is told to explain the laws. But the point of these first five books of the Bible is God’s covenant with the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob), his deliverance of their descendants from Egypt, and their obligation to keep the laws of God given to them at the mountain called Sinai.
God’s purpose in bringing Israel out of Egypt is that they would worship him, and become a holy nation for him. Through them, his blessing would reach all the nations of the world. According to the New Testament, this gracious promise announced to Abraham is the same gospel preached by Jesus Christ and realized through his death and resurrection.
So you see, the Law books reveals the perfection of Jesus in the Law, and prophesies and prepares the way for the coming of Jesus in the historical accounts of the first five books of the Bible.
Historical Books
Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1&2 Samuel, 1&2 Kings, 1&2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther record the history of Israel from the conquest of the Promised Land under Joshua, through many ups and downs being ruled first by judges, then by kings. Judges show the perfection of Jesus in a military way, by reflecting his great power to deliver sinners from the consequences of sin; the kings prophesy and prepare the way for the coming of Jesus by reflecting his Lordship over his chosen people and also by identifying the family line from which Jesus will one day come into the world.
The overall theme of the entire history of Israel is how God blesses the obedient, curses the sinful, and saves those who confess and turn from their sin, trusting the forgiving God they have offended. This is also shown in how God sent the disobedient nation of Israel into captivity to the Assyrians and Babylonians and then returned the repentant nation to their homeland many years later. When they failed to reestablish the kingdom of the family of king David, they read these books, looking forward to the day when the great Son of David would come to rule over them and save them once and for all!
Wisdom Literature
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon specialize in revealing the perfect wisdom of Jesus. The New Testament says that in the Lord Jesus Christ are hidden all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossian 2:2-3). In these books, much of the wisdom and knowledge of Jesus is revealed through this unique collection of books. There are also many prophecies contained in these writings which foretell the coming of Jesus, our Redeemer.
The Major and Minor Prophets
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habbakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were among the many prophets that the LORD sent to disobedient Israel to call them to repent, lest they suffer the consequences of their sin. But the prophets didn’t stop with messages of judgment against the sins of the people, but looked forward to the day when at long last the Son of David would arrive to take his throne over his chosen nation and redeem Israel from her enemies once and for all. Little did they know exactly how Jesus would come and do that through his sinless life, sacrificial crucifixion, glorious resurrection and ascension to the right hand of his Father in heaven, from which he now rules over a spiritual kingdom calling the true Israel from every nation of the world until he returns to judge the world, banish sin, Satan and his followers and dwell among his redeemed, worshiping people forever!
"And God saw that the light was good."
The Three "R’s"
In case you need a reminder of the source of your life and strength to serve God.
Rest in the Gospel of redemption in Christ . . .
Renew your Gratitude for redemption in Christ . . .
Rely on Grace for power to love and obey as one redeemed in Christ . . .
The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
Speaking of the Solas, there are a few bloggers out there wondering, “Who devised the ‘Five Solas of the Reformation’ in the first place?” I’ll direct you to one post, and you can follow the trail of links if you are so inclined.
Furthermore, since I’ve finally put in writing how the historic evangelical distinctive of Sola Scriptura has devolved in the life of many evangelicals, I would now like to not merely “curse the darkness” (if you will–Baptist readers, try not to take this reference too personally or literally) but “light a light.” I affirm the following declaration and believe the essence of its theses is vital to a genuine reformation of contemporary evangelical traditions of every variety.
John D. Chitty
April 20, 1996
Evangelical churches today are increasingly dominated by the spirit of this age rather than by the Spirit of Christ. As evangelicals, we call ourselves to repent of this sin and to recover the historic Christian faith.
In the course of history words change. In our day this has happened to the word “evangelical.” In the past it served as a bond of unity between Christians from a wide diversity of church traditions. Historic evangelicalism was confessional. It embraced the essential truths of Christianity as those were defined by the great ecumenical councils of the church. In addition, evangelicals also shared a common heritage in the “solas” of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.
Today the light of the Reformation has been significantly dimmed. The consequence is that the word “evangelical” has become so inclusive as to have lost its meaning. We face the peril of losing the unity it has taken centuries to achieve. Because of this crisis and because of our love of Christ, his gospel and his church, we endeavor to assert anew our commitment to the central truths of the Reformation and of historic evangelicalism. These truths we affirm not because of their role in our traditions, but because we believe that they are central to the Bible.
Sola Scriptura: The Erosion of Authority
Scripture alone is the inerrant rule of the church’s life, but the evangelical church today has separated Scripture from its authoritative function. In practice, the church is guided, far too often, by the culture. Therapeutic technique, marketing strategies, and the beat of the entertainment world often have far more to say about what the church wants, how it functions and what it offers, than does the Word of God. Pastors have neglected their rightful oversight of worship, including the doctrinal content of the music. As biblical authority has been abandoned in practice, as its truths have faded from Christian consciousness, and as its doctrines have lost their saliency, the church has been increasingly emptied of its integrity, moral authority and direction.
Rather than adapting Christian faith to satisfy the felt needs of consumers, we must proclaim the law as the only measure of true righteousness and the gospel as the only announcement of saving truth. Biblical truth is indispensable to the church’s understanding, nurture and discipline.
Scripture must take us beyond our perceived needs to our real needs and liberate us from seeing ourselves through the seductive images, cliches, promises and priorities of mass culture. It is only in the light of God’s truth that we understand ourselves aright and see God’s provision for our need. The Bible, therefore, must be taught and preached in the church. Sermons must be expositions of the Bible and its teachings, not expressions of the preacher’s opinions or the ideas of the age. We must settle for nothing less than what God has given.
The work of the Holy Spirit in personal experience cannot be disengaged from Scripture. The Spirit does not speak in ways that are independent of Scripture. Apart from Scripture we would never have known of God’s grace in Christ. The biblical Word, rather than spiritual experience, is the test of truth.
Thesis One: Sola Scriptura
We reaffirm the inerrant Scripture to be the sole source of written divine revelation,which alone can bind the conscience. The Bible alone teaches all that is necessary for our salvation from sin and is the standard by which all Christian behavior must be measured.
We deny that any creed, council or individual may bind a Christian’s conscience, that the Holy Spirit speaks independently of or contrary to what is set forth in the Bible, or that personal spiritual experience can ever be a vehicle of revelation.
Solus Christus: The Erosion of Christ-Centered Faith
As evangelical faith becomes secularized, its interests have been blurred with those of the culture. The result is a loss of absolute values, permissive individualism, and a substitution of wholeness for holiness, recovery for repentance, intuition for truth, feeling for belief, chance for providence, and immediate gratification for enduring hope. Christ and his cross have moved from the center of our vision.
Thesis Two: Solus Christus
We reaffirm that our salvation is accomplished by the mediatorial work of the historical Christ alone. His sinless life and substitutionary atonement alone are sufficient for our justification and reconciliation to the Father.
We deny that the gospel is preached if Christ’s substitutionary work is not declared and faith in Christ and his work is not solicited.
Sola Gratia: The Erosion of The Gospel
Unwarranted confidence in human ability is a product of fallen human nature. This false confidence now fills the evangelical world; from the self-esteem gospel, to the health and wealth gospel, from those who have transformed the gospel into a product to be sold and sinners into consumers who want to buy, to others who treat Christian faith as being true simply because it works. This silences the doctrine of justification regardless of the official commitments of our churches.
God’s grace in Christ is not merely necessary but is the sole efficient cause of salvation. We confess that human beings are born spiritually dead and are incapable even of cooperating with regenerating grace.
Thesis Three: Sola Gratia
We reaffirm that in salvation we are rescued from God’s wrath by his grace alone. It is the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that brings us to Christ by releasing us from our bondage to sin and raising us from spiritual death to spiritual life.
We deny that salvation is in any sense a human work. Human methods, techniques or strategies by themselves cannot accomplish this transformation. Faith is not produced by our unregenerated human nature.
Sola Fide: The Erosion of The Chief Article
Justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. This is the article by which the church stands or falls. Today this article is often ignored, distorted or sometimes even denied by leaders, scholars and pastors who claim to be evangelical. Although fallen human nature has always recoiled from recognizing its need for Christ’s imputed righteousness, modernity greatly fuels the fires of this discontent with the biblical Gospel. We have allowed this discontent to dictate the nature of our ministry and what it is we are preaching.
Many in the church growth movement believe that sociological understanding of those in the pew is as important to the success of the gospel as is the biblical truth which is proclaimed. As a result, theological convictions are frequently divorced from the work of the ministry. The marketing orientation in many churches takes this even further, erasing the distinction between the biblical Word and the world, robbing Christ’s cross of its offense, and reducing Christian faith to the principles and methods which bring success to secular corporations.
While the theology of the cross may be believed, these movements are actually emptying it of its meaning. There is no gospel except that of Christ’s substitution in our place whereby God imputed to him our sin and imputed to us his righteousness. Because he bore our judgment, we now walk in his grace as those who are forever pardoned, accepted and adopted as God’s children. There is no basis for our acceptance before God except in Christ’s saving work, not in our patriotism, churchly devotion or moral decency. The gospel declares what God has done for us in Christ. It is not about what we can do to reach him.
Thesis Four: Sola Fide
We reaffirm that justification is by grace alone through faith alone because of Christ alone. In justification Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us as the only possible satisfaction of God’s perfect justice.
We deny that justification rests on any merit to be found in us, or upon the grounds of an infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, or that an institution claiming to be a church that denies or condemns sola fide can be recognized as a legitimate church.
Soli Deo Gloria: The Erosion of God-Centered Worship
Wherever in the church biblical authority has been lost, Christ has been displaced, the gospel has been distorted, or faith has been perverted, it has always been for one reason: our interests have displaced God’s and we are doing his work in our way. The loss of God’s centrality in the life of today’s church is common and lamentable. It is this loss that allows us to transform worship into entertainment, gospel preaching into marketing, believing into technique, being good into feeling good about ourselves, and faithfulness into being successful. As a result, God, Christ and the Bible have come to mean too little to us and rest too inconsequentially upon us.
God does not exist to satisfy human ambitions, cravings, the appetite for consumption, or our own private spiritual interests. We must focus on God in our worship, rather than the satisfaction of our personal needs. God is sovereign in worship; we are not. Our concern must be for God’s kingdom, not our own empires, popularity or success.
Thesis Five: Soli Deo Gloria
We reaffirm that because salvation is of God and has been accomplished by God, it is for God’s glory and that we must glorify him always. We must live our entire lives before the face of God, under the authority of God and for his glory alone.
We deny that we can properly glorify God if our worship is confused with entertainment, if we neglect either Law or Gospel in our preaching, or if self-improvement, self-esteem or self-fulfillment are allowed to become alternatives to the gospel.
A Call To Repentance & Reformation
The faithfulness of the evangelical church in the past contrasts sharply with its unfaithfulness in the present. Earlier in this century, evangelical churches sustained a remarkable missionary endeavor, and built many religious institutions to serve the cause of biblical truth and Christ’s kingdom. That was a time when Christian behavior and expectations were markedly different from those in the culture. Today they often are not. The evangelical world today is losing its biblical fidelity, moral compass and missionary zeal.
We repent of our worldliness. We have been influenced by the “gospels” of our secular culture, which are no gospels. We have weakened the church by our own lack of serious repentance, our blindness to the sins in ourselves which we see so clearly in others, and our inexcusable failure to adequately tell others about God’s saving work in Jesus Christ.
We also earnestly call back erring professing evangelicals who have deviated from God’s Word in the matters discussed in this Declaration. This includes those who declare that there is hope of eternal life apart from explicit faith in Jesus Christ, who claim that those who reject Christ in this life will be annihilated rather than endure the just judgment of God through eternal suffering, or who claim that evangelicals and Roman Catholics are one in Jesus Christ even where the biblical doctrine of justification is not believed.
The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals asks all Christians to give consideration to implementing this Declaration in the church’s worship, ministry, policies, life and evangelism.
For Christ’s sake.
Amen.
Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals Executive Council (1996)
Dr. John Armstrong
The Rev. Alistair Begg
Dr. James M. Boice
Dr. W. Robert Godfrey
Dr. John D. Hannah
Dr. Michael S. Horton
Mrs. Rosemary Jensen
Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
Dr. Robert M. Norris
Dr. R.C. Sproul
Dr. Gene Edward Veith
Dr. David Wells
Dr. Luder Whitlock
Dr. J.A.O. Preus, III
FOR FURTHER READING, SEE ALSO:
Highlights From The Cambridge Summit Meeting
An Introduction to The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, by James M. Boice
This declaration may be reproduced without permission. Please credit the source by citing the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
Theological and Doxological Meditation #28
Christmas Countdown
A Plea for Inconsistency
I had a conversation with a friend of mine a few weeks ago. He’s a Southern Baptist who, as so many of them do today, holds to four of Arminius’ five points. Fortunately, his thinking is inconsistent enough to affirm “eternal security.” But he told me a relative of his was sharing some scripture with him that was beginning to persuade him to believe that a believer just might lose his salvation (“Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!!”) if he refuses to confess his sin. While he already believes that man is fallen, but not so fallen that he can’t do any good accompanying salvation, God’s election of him is conditioned on his decision to receive Christ, Jesus died to make everyone in the world “saveable,” and that, just because the Holy Spirit may be the divine source of faith, and may have awakened you to your need for Christ, that doesn’t mean you have to receive him, my poor friend was in danger of becoming a consistent, five-point Arminian. Now, we just can’t have that!
The saving grace of the overwhelming majority of Southern Baptists is that they haven’t fallen so far from their Calvinist heritage that they’ve enmasse denied the truth that once God has regenerated you, you can “fall from grace” and lose your salvation. They are saved from five-point Arminianism by their logical inconsistency. Of course, it is consistent with a self-centered worldview. Many believers may be offended by the total depravity of the sinner, the sovereignty of God in his unconditional election, the particular redemption of Christ, and the effectual call of the Holy Spirit, because that’s not fair to whomever God was pleased to leave to receive justice, but they’re certainly not offended when the grace over which they’re ultimately sovereign is promised to keep them for eternity! Oh, the blessed consistency of the self-centered four-point Arminian. His focus on his sovereignty and his benefit may be consistent, but his soteriology is definitely (no pun intended) inconsistent.
I attempted to share with my friend some truths from the book of Romans that affirm the Southern Baptist doctrine of “eternal security,” and argued that it goes along with another truth of which he may not have been familiar; namely, the four and a half points of Calvinism to which he currently objects!
I jotted down a short outline of the book of Romans, a survey of the doctrines of grace in each section of the book, and a “moral” or application which underscores his security in the light of the justification which was unconditionally and effectively applied to him. Thought I’d share them with you for your edification and, if need be, scrutiny. Please share with me your thoughts. What did I miss? Did I cover the bases thoroughly enough? Did I strike out? You be the judge.
One of the best ways to get election and eternal security straightened out, and God’s absolute sovereignty over both, is to study the book of Romans. The book of Romans is primarily concerned with the doctrine of justification by faith. If you notice the general outline of Romans, that condemnation and justification are two objective opposites, all the rest falls into place.
Romans 1-3 Condemnation in Adam
Romans 4-8 Justification in Christ
Romans 9-11 Justification and the Jews
Romans 12-16 Living in the Light of Justification in Christ
1-3 Condmenation is our natural state from conception, imputed to us because of our covenantal relationship with God in Adam;
4-8 Christ came as the last Adam to keep the Law, which Adam failed to keep, and to thereby earn eternal life as a man, that his righteousness may be imputed to all whom God has foreknown (defined as, “The Father’s savingly loving the elect before creation”), predestined (defined as, “The Father’s appointing the elect to obtain salvation”), called (defined as the Holy Spirit’s effectively applying the benefits of Christ’s redemption to the elect), justified (defined as “the Father’s declaring believers righteous in Christ”), and glorified (defined as, “The believers’ ultimate conformity to the image of Christ, morally and physically”). Paul applies our justification not only to our initial repentance toward God and faith toward Christ, but to the elect’s whole life of repentance and faith.
9-11 Paul raises and answers the question of God’s faithfulness to the Abrahamic covenant, considering the fact that Gentiles now predominate in “the Israel of God.” Paul’s answer is that God’s Israel are not those who are genealogical children of Abraham, but all who share Abraham’s faith by the sovereign, electing mercy of God, whether Jew or Gentile;
12-16 After eleven chapters of solid theology on the objective doctrine of justification by faith and lays the foundation for the believer’s subjective experience of progressive sanctification, Paul now gets “practical.” In view of the mercies of God (in other words, in view of the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ), Paul beseeches his readers to present themselves as living sacrifices, to exercise the gifts God has given each for the good of the many, gives a list of marks of the true Christian, appeals to us to submit to authority, to fulfill the Law through love, to refrain from judging brothers in Christ, to avoid offending brothers in Christ, or influencing them to violate their conscience and sin against God, to do all as eternally justified believers in the light of Christ’s example, looking forward to the mutual hope shared by believing Jews and Gentiles.
“Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages, but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedienc of faith–to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen” (Romans 16:25-27)
Moral
Allow the objective fact of justification to reassure you in the face of the fact of your subjective failure to be perfectly obedient now. Even though you fail, because of your justification, you walk according to the Spirit, have your mind set on the things of the Spirit, are under grace and free from the condemnation of the Law. And that’s the truth (raspberry)!
postscript: for a great sermon by John Piper on the doxology which closes the book of Romans, and how God strengthens believers, not by anything apart from the gospel, but by the gospel itself (and, like Luther, may I add, the gospel alone–solus benedictus? Somebody help me out with my Latin for “The Gospel Alone”!) click here. There you go, Bob, this post makes me first loser!
What Do You Listen For?
“In all our preaching, we must never lose sight of the hill called Calvary, where the Son of Man was killed in our place. Regardless of the text or topic at hand, there must be some view of Calvary in every sermon. Your congregation should experience the amazing and comforting sight of the crucified Savior each and every time you preach. They sould anticipate the sight of Calvary in every sermon, and rejoice when it comes into view. And all the more, when the cross is not immediately obvious in the text. ‘Where is the hill?’ they should be asking. ‘Where is that blessed hill on which our precious Savior died?’ We should exalt Christ’s finished work in our sermons so as to comfort the converted and convict the unbeliever.
“Spurgeon’s example should inspire us: ‘I received some years ago orders from my Master to stand at the foot of the cross until he comes. He has not come yet, but I mean to stand there until he does’ (C. H. Spurgeon, “The Old, Old Story,” The Spurgeon Archive, http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0446.htm (accessed July 2006)). Let us stand with the Prince of Preachers, gentlemen. As we preach the whole counsel of God, let us keep the cross central–by doing so, we will indeed be watching our doctrine.”
Corinthian Creed
At last, my new song (hymn?) arranged for a group and performed in the worship service at church! All I could provide were the words and the basic melody, but I selected talented musicians at church who could arrange their own piano part, and who could harmonize by ear. Unfortunately, the recording doesn’t begin until we have already moved into the second verse. But that’s okay, you get to hear all the talented people who helped me, to whom I’m very grateful.
There is a saying among theologians (or at least R. C. Sproul refers to it frequently) that the orthodox owe a debt of gratitude to heretics. All of the creeds from the earliest centuries of church history involve an element of correcting the heresy that was most destructive to the faith in that generation. If you think back, even the Bible itself is largely written to correct the errors which afflicted God’s people. Nothing forces us to sharpen our focus and improve our understanding the way “competition” does.
I likewise owe a debt of gratitude to heresy in the writing of my hymn, “Corinthian Creed.” But the correction of heresy inspired my song in a different way. I was reading one of the books defending Christianity against the revisionist Da Vinci Code and noticed in a footnote that the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 was originally a creed which developed less than a decade after Christ’s crucifixion, resurrection and ascension! That really blew my mind! Growing up an anti-creedal Baptist, you tend to think creeds and Bibles are like apples and oranges. Here’s a creed in the Bible! The apostle Paul was catechized with the help of a creed! And look how well he turned out!
My way of memorizing verses frequently involves putting it to a tune. I do it quite a bit. So I did it to the “creed” in 1 Corinthians 15. This comprises the first verse of my song. Then after a short time I devised the chorus, and desired to write a couple of other verses to make it a genuine song. So it stayed in this form as I thought and prayed. Finally, it dawned on me to simply summarize the entire chapter–Paul’s great teaching on the fact of, and necessity of the resurrection of Christ and the fact of our resurrection in him. First Corinthians 15 is at once an apologetic defense (is that redundant?) of Christ’s resurrection, a thorough proclamation of the gospel, and a sermon exhorting believers to persevere in the faith in the hope of their resurrection in Christ at the last day! What better material could there be for a “modern hymn?”
In my next post, I will audioblog our performance of the song; below are the lyrics. Do any of my readers know anyone who can help me out with a four-part harmony for a choir?
The Misadventures of Captain Headknowledge 
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