Monday, March 29, 2010

The Love of God



"But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children's children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them." (Ps 103:17,18


Just a few questions.

Is grace conditional? (By definition it is unconditional.) Can the love that extends grace (John 3:16) be conditional? Is the Psalm telling us how we earn God's mercy, or is it describing the person to whom God has shown mercy? (A subtle distinction.) Does He love us because we love Him, or do we love Him because He first loved us? Why do some Calvinists who say they believe in Sovereign Grace treat a passage of Scripture as though they were Arminians by insisting for that God's love is conditional?

The Christan life is lived the same way we first came to Him, by faith and in response to a love totally undeserved and therefore of necessity unconditional with regard to anything we can do.

I don't see any way you can make God's love conditional without making the Christian life one of legalism and not of grace. It is the grace of God that teaches us how to live the Christan life (Titus 2).

Kyrie eleison!

~ The Billy Goat ~

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Of This and That



March Madness: So I didn't think Michigan State would get past the Sweet Sixteen, and as of today they are headed to the Final Four. I don't mind being proven wrong. Will the Spartans take it all? I'm a little pessimistic, but really would not mind being proven wrong again. I just realized it was 39 years ago come May when I graduated from MSU. How the years have flown by.

On Visiting Texas: Last week we were in Texas to see family. It was cold when we got into Austin, but warmed up enough to really enjoy it. The bluebonnets were on the verge of blooming, but it was the day we started home that they really blossomed. We did get some of those famous Round Rock donuts. The highlight of the trip was when my 95 year old mother-in law was with us on the back porch and out of the blue she starts praising Jesus and thanking Him. She forgets a lot of things, but she has not forgot her Lord Jesus.

Fahrenheit 451: Just finished reading the book. I saw the movie many years ago. The book is much better then the movie. What you also see in the book is that it is a "prophecy" of what will come from a "political correctness" mentality. That's not just my opinion. The author, Ray Bradbury, comes right out and says so in an interview in the back of the edition I read.

Friday, March 12, 2010

"No One Else"



I look for you in the middle of the night
Savior and guardian of my soul
From highest heaven You hear my call
And in my trouble You comfort and hold me
I long for You when I cannot hear Your voice
And my heart is dry as the dust
Oh Lord, be near me if I should fall
And show me how to believe and to trust
You alone

There is no one else beside you
In the darkest night
In the wilderness
There is no one else beside you
At Your feet I cry
In Your arms I rest

I hope in You and Your promise to return
With angels and dark clouds of thunder
When death and evil and sorrow flee away
And all creation will bow and proclaim
You alone

There is no one else beside You
You will fill the sky
When You come again
There is no one else beside You
Heaven's only light
Burning without end

Fernando Ortega


It was about ten years ago. I was driving down the road and in a fit of frustration turned the radio dial to one of the local Christian radio stations. This song was playing. It was a time when we were in the midst of dealing with some very serious matters at the church we were then attending. It was in the midst of all the questioning, seeking, frustration, and burden of that situation, this song came into my life.

As I listened, I was practically in tears. Whatever happened, there would always be hope; hope in God and His promises alone. In the end He alone was all that mattered; no one else and nothing else but Him alone... "No One Else.."

~ The Billy Goat ~

The Christian and Scripture



I just came across Bob Kelleman's blog at RPM Ministries. He is in the midst of a current series of posts dealing with Brian McLaren's A New Kind of Christianity. It is not my intent to do another McLaren post, but rather to post here some quotes from Dr. Kelleman's blog writings.

"Unfortunately, in some Evangelical circles, we’ve done great work in exegeting and studying Scripture, but we’ve done lesser work in understanding people and culture. So we end up answering questions no one is asking. We end up listening to God’s story but ignoring or only half listening to the human story of suffering, sin, struggle, and sanctification. We end up giving people Scripture but not our souls, truth apart from relationship, content apart from community."


"...It’s not enough to believe in the sufficiency of Scripture if we do not equally believe in the relevancy of Scripture. It’s not enough to believe in the authority of Scripture, if we do not equally believe in the profundity of Scripture."

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Seasons


The snow is melting away...

The birds are singing, but I have not seen a Robin yet...

The flowers on the sunny south side of the house are peeking up out of the ground...

This weekend we have to adjust our clocks to "spring ahead"...

I wore my spring fleece today...

Michigan State University, my alma mater, took a share of the Big Ten Men's Basketball title. The Big Ten tournament starts this week, then on to "March Madness", aka- "The Big Dance"...

Ten more days to my youngest grandson's third birthday; the same day Spring is officially here... Then comes Palm Sunday, Good Wednesday/Friday, and joyous Easter Sunday...

I like the warmer weather...

Peace,

~ The Billy Goat ~

Saturday, March 06, 2010

What did John Calvin actually say? (Part 2)


I had also published my previous post "John Calvin on John 3:16" to my Facebook page and got several responses that I believe are worthy of mentioning and commenting on here.

The response I want to start with is from a long time friend who's intellect and Biblical understanding I respect. He says,

"I wonder if you may have intended to write "all men without distinction" instead of "all men without exception."

I think that "all men without distinction," that is people without racial, social, sexual distinctions, underscores the kind of universality John 3:16 is after. It seems to me that this is necessary for rightly understanding 1 John 2:2 also."


This was my response:

How do you understand Calvin's words, "And he has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers..."?

I see two questions here. 1) Is the primary focus of John 3:16 the free offer of the Gospel, or the scope and purpose of the atonement? 2) The other question is how do we understand John's use of "whosoever" and "world".

I understand from the quotes cited, that Calvin's answer to the first question is "the free offer of the gospel". At that point finding the meaning of "whosoever" and "world" becomes a question of usage and context apart from trying to fit the passage into a predetermined view of the scope and purpose of the atonement. And yes, the context of the Jewish religious nationalism of Nicodemus is an important part of understanding that. The meaning you cited may be what Calvin intended in his use of universal language in his John 3:16 comments, and I agree he clearly has that meaning in view in his comments on I John 2:2.

What I am struck by is how Calvin views both John 3:16 and the II Peter 3:9 passage in terms of the free offer of the Gospel in distinction from, in Calvin's own words on II Peter 3:9, "the hidden purpose of God." If I may, I fault both Armenians and Calvinists for turning those passages into statements on the purpose and scope of the atonement in such a way that the free offer of the Gospel ends up taking a backseat...

And in answer to your question, in viewing those passages as primarily focused on the free offer of the gospel, I can live with either "all men without distinction" or "all men without exception" while acknowledging context does give favor to the first.


Another friend drew my attention to Calvin's comments on Matthew 20:28, 26:28, and Romans 5:18. It is this excerpt from Calvin's comments on Romans 5:18 I found most striking:

He does not say the righteousness — δικαιοσύνην, but the justification — δικαίωμα, of Christ, in order to remind us that he was not as an individual just for himself, but that the righteousness with which he was endued reached farther, in order that, by conferring this gift, he might enrich the faithful. He makes this favor common to all, because it is propounded to all, and not because it is in reality extended to all; for though Christ suffered for the sins of the whole world, and is offered through God’s benignity indiscriminately to all, yet all do not receive him. (Commentary on Romans 5:18)


My purpose in pointing out what John Calvin has written regarding these different passages of Scripture is to highlight what he actually said in distinction from what sometimes his friends as well as his foes assume he said. Agree with Calvin or not, let us at least be accurate and honest about what he really did say. Truth and love demands we do so.

Peace...

~ The Billy Goat ~

Friday, March 05, 2010

John Calvin on John 3:16

What did Calvin actually say?

16. For God so loved the world. Christ opens up the first cause, and, as it were, the source of our salvation, and he does so, that no doubt may remain; for our minds cannot find calm repose, until we arrive at the unmerited love of God. As the whole matter of our salvation must not be sought any where else than in Christ, so we must see whence Christ came to us, and why he was offered to be our Savior. Both points are distinctly stated to us: namely, that faith in Christ brings life to all, and that Christ brought life, because the Heavenly Father loves the human race, and wishes that they should not perish. And this order ought to be carefully observed; for such is the wicked ambition which belongs to our nature, that when the question relates to the origin of our salvation, we quickly form diabolical imaginations about our own merits. Accordingly, we imagine that God is reconciled to us, because he has reckoned us worthy that he should look upon us. But Scripture everywhere extols his pure and unmingled mercy, which sets aside all merits.

And the words of Christ mean nothing else, when he declares the cause to be in the love of God. For if we wish to ascend higher, the Spirit shuts the door by the mouth of Paul, when he informs us that this love was founded on the purpose of his will, (Ephesians 1:5.) And, indeed, it is very evident that Christ spoke in this manner, in order to draw away men from the contemplation of themselves to look at the mercy of God alone. Nor does he say that God was moved to deliver us, because he perceived in us something that was worthy of so excellent a blessing, but ascribes the glory of our deliverance entirely to his love. And this is still more clear from what follows; for he adds, that God gave his Son to men, that they may not perish. Hence it follows that, until Christ bestow his aid in rescuing the lost, all are destined to eternal destruction. This is also demonstrated by Paul from a consideration of the time; for he loved us while we were still enemies by sin, (Romans 5:8, 10.)

And, indeed, where sin reigns, we shall find nothing but the wrath of God, which draws death along with it. It is mercy, therefore, that reconciles us to God, that he may likewise restore us to life.

This mode of expression, however, may appear to be at variance with many passages of Scripture, which lay in Christ the first foundation of the love of God to us, and show that out of him we are hated by God. But we ought to remember — what I have already stated — that the secret love with which the Heavenly Father loved us in himself is higher than all other causes; but that the grace which he wishes to be made known to us, and by which we are excited to the hope of salvation, commences with the reconciliation which was procured through Christ. For since he necessarily hates sin, how shall we believe that we are loved by him, until atonement has been made for those sins on account of which he is justly offended at us? Thus, the love of Christ must intervene for the purpose of reconciling God to us, before we have any experience of his fatherly kindness. But as we are first informed that God, because he loved us, gave his Son to die for us, so it is immediately added, that it is Christ alone on whom, strictly speaking, faith ought to look.

He gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him may not perish. This, he says, is the proper look of faith, to be fixed on Christ, in whom it beholds the breast of God filled with love: this is a firm and enduring support, to rely on the death of Christ as the only pledge of that love. The word only-begotten is emphatic, (ἐμφατικὸν) to magnify the fervor of the love of God towards us. For as men are not easily convinced that God loves them, in order to remove all doubt, he has expressly stated that we are so very dear to God that, on our account, he did not even spare his only-begotten Son. Since, therefore, God has most abundantly testified his love towards us, whoever is not satisfied with this testimony, and still remains in doubt, offers a high insult to Christ, as if he had been an ordinary man given up at random to death. But we ought rather to consider that, in proportion to the estimation in which God holds his only-begotten Son, so much the more precious did our salvation appear to him, for the ransom of which he chose that his only-begotten Son should die. To this name Christ has a right, because he is by nature the only Son of God; and he communicates this honor to us by adoption, when we are engrafted into his body.

That whosoever believeth on him may not perish. It is a remarkable commendation of faith, that it frees us from everlasting destruction. For he intended expressly to state that, though we appear to have been born to death, undoubted deliverance is offered to us by the faith of Christ; and, therefore, that we ought not to fear death, which otherwise hangs over us. And he has employed the universal term whosoever, both to invite all indiscriminately to partake of life, and to cut off every excuse from unbelievers. Such is also the import of the term World, which he formerly used; for though nothing will be found in the world that is worthy of the favor of God, yet he shows himself to be reconciled to the whole world, when he invites all men without exception to the faith of Christ, which is nothing else than an entrance into life.

Let us remember, on the other hand, that while life is promised universally to all who believe in Christ, still faith is not common to all. For Christ is made known and held out to the view of all, but the elect alone are they whose eyes God opens, that they may seek him by faith. Here, too, is displayed a wonderful effect of faith; for by it we receive Christ such as he is given to us by the Father — that is, as having freed us from the condemnation of eternal death, and made us heirs of eternal life, because, by the sacrifice of his death, he has atoned for our sins, that nothing may prevent God from acknowledging us as his sons. Since, therefore, faith embraces Christ, with the efficacy of his death and the fruit of his resurrection, we need not wonder if by it we obtain likewise the life of Christ.

Still it is not yet very evident why and how faith bestows life upon us. Is it because Christ renews us by his Spirit, that the righteousness of God may live and be vigorous in us; or is it because, having been cleansed by his blood, we are accounted righteous before God by a free pardon? It is indeed certain, that these two things are always joined together; but as the certainty of salvation is the subject now in hand, we ought chiefly to hold by this reason, that we live, because God loves us freely by not imputing to us our sins. For this reason sacrifice is expressly mentioned, by which, together with sins, the curse and death are destroyed. I have already explained the object of these two clauses, which is, to inform us that in Christ we regain the possession of life, of which we are destitute in ourselves; for in this wretched condition of mankind, redemption, in the order of time, goes before salvation.


I included the whole of Calvin's comments on John 3:16 to provide context to the parts I underlined in the above quote. It's pretty clear in these words, that Calvin viewed John 3:16 as a declaration of the free and indiscriminate offer of the Gospel to all men, and that in contrast to understanding John 3:16 in terms of the scope of the atonement; limited vs. unlimited. In the context of the free offer of the Gospel, Calvin affirms that the term world (kosmos) is a reference to "all men without exception".

This same attention to context is found in Calvin's comments on I John 2:2. Calvin affirms the statement that in the atonement "Christ suffered sufficiently for the whole world but effectively only for the elect", but then says that though a true statement, that statement doesn't fit the I John 2:2 passage. Instead, according to Calvin, John is using the term "world" in the context of "all who would believe" and those who were "scattered through various regions of the earth."

"Here a question may be raised, how have the sins of the whole world been expiated?... They.. have said that Christ suffered sufficiently for the whole world, but efficiently only for the elect. This solution has commonly prevailed in the schools. Though then I allow that what has been said is true, yet I deny that it is suitable to this passage; for the design of John was no other than to make this benefit common to the whole Church. Then under the word all or whole, he does not include the reprobate, but designates those who should believe as well as those who were then scattered through various parts of the world..."


Again in his comments on II Peter 3:9, Calvin calls us to context:

"9. "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."...

...Not willing that any should perish. So wonderful is his love towards mankind, that he would have them all to be saved, and is of his own self prepared to bestow salvation on the lost. But the order is to be noticed, that God is ready to receive all to repentance, so that none may perish; for in these words the way and manner of obtaining salvation is pointed out. Every one of us, therefore, who is desirous of salvation, must learn to enter in by this way.

But it may be asked, If God wishes none to perish, why is it that so many do perish? To this my answer is, that no mention is here made of the hidden purpose of God, according to which the reprobate are doomed to their own ruin, but only of his will as made known to us in the gospel. For God there stretches forth his hand without a difference to all, but lays hold only of those, to lead them to himself, whom he has chosen before the foundation of the world. (A similar view was taken by Estius, Piscator, and Beza. — Ed.)"


Once again Calvin views a "universalist" passage in terms of the free offer of the Gospel, and does not try to twist and contort the passage into an affirmation of limited atonement. How often have we seen or heard or read Calvinist or Reformed brethern who try to contort or twist John 3:16 or II Peter 3:9 to make limited atonement the main purpose and teaching of those passages?

For myself, I prefer Calvin's exegesis over theirs.

Solo Deo gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~

References:

Above quotations copied from:
The above sources were compared to:

Calvin's New Testement Commentaries (Erdmans; 1961)

  • "The Gospel According to St. John: Part One 1 - 10"; translated by T.H.L. Parker
  • "The Gospel According to St. John: Part Two 11 - 21 & The First Epistle of John"; translated by T.H.L. Parker
  • "Hebrews and I and II Peter"; translated by W.B. Johnston

Tuesday, March 02, 2010

True Faith



Question 21. What is true faith?

Answer: True faith is not only a certain knowledge, whereby I hold for truth all that God has revealed to us in his word, but also an assured confidence, which the Holy Spirit works by the gospel in my heart; that not only to others, but to me also, remission of sin, everlasting righteousness and salvation, are freely given by God, merely of grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits.

(The Heidelberg Catechism )