Jerry Falwell, RIP May, 15, 2007

Jerry Falwell bore witness to some fundamental truths that run counter to the materialism of secular modernity and the relativism of secular post-modernity. He did this by virtue of who he was first as a Christian, and secondly as one called to preach the Gospel.

Whatever you may think of his theology, methodology, or politics, these things are true and remain as his legacy. The fundamental truth he bore witness to is that God is there, and He is not silent.

Falwell's witness that God is there ran counter to materialistic modern secularism. There is in that witness an implicit assertion that man's reason can only go so far, that there is truth existing beyond the comprehension of human reasoning.

Falwell's assertion that this God has also spoken objectively in time and space ran counter to the existential epistimology of secular post-modernity.

Jerry Falwell, as all true Christian Pastors and Preachers are, was at heart "counter-cultural". Yes, some of his politics, theology, and methodology may have clouded that witness at times, but stripped bare of those failings we all share with him as a redeemed, but not yet fully redeemed people, his minstry and life bore witness to those fundamental truths of our Christian faith.

"Well done good and faithful servant..." RIP

~ The Billy Goat ~

Notes on II Timothy 2:19b


1. The seal on the foundation

A verb form of this word is used to describe the sealing of the tomb of Jesus. Matthew 27:66

This same word is used in reference to the 7 seals in the book of Revelation.


2. The twofold inscription on this seal

A framework for understanding the two fold inscription.

God → (Mystery) ← Man


The first part of the inscription: God intimate knowing His people.

The OT background: Genesis 4: 1, 17, 25 (See also I Peter 3:7)
The word “know” describes the marriage union.

The NT References:

Matthew 7:22-23, John 10:14, 27, (See also Romans 8:29)


The second part of the inscription: The response or responsibility of God’s people.


They call on His name. Romans 10:13, Matthew 28:19

They depart from unrighteousness.

Depart – The aorist form of the verb used here is “apostato” i.e.: “apostate”. Hebrews 3:12

Unrighteousness - The alpha privative is prefixed to a word to negate it. “a-righteousness”.

How do we “apostate from a-righteousness”?

Titus 2:11 – Focus on God’s grace. “The grace of God has appeared…. teaching us that… we should live… righteously..”

I John 1:9 – Appropriate that grace in our lives. “..He is faithful… to cleanse us from all “a-rightousness”…”


These are my notes from a recent SS lesson I taught when filling in for the regular teacher. Our SS class is going through II Timothy.

~ The Billy Goat ~

Servant Leadership: An Excerpt from a Note to a Friend

"I have had occasion again to ponder the matter of servant leadership, and can only sadly conclude there is to little of it in this world...

We had occasion this past month to see servant leadership in action at WCBC. For some time the church has been looking at expanding and building some more much needed space..... We were asked to carefully consider giving a pledge to the project. Pledges were anonymous, you indicated what you thought you may be able to give, but no names anywhere on the cards turned in.

As it was, the amount pledged was inadequate for the building under consideration. There was no "exhortation" to "give more" and etc.. as is all to familiar in to many churches in this situation. Pastor very gently and quietly explained what the pledge results were, and the leadership took that voice of the congregation as God's way of telling the church they needed to reconsider the plan. The leadership clearly respected the voice of the congregation and did not try to lord if over us to keep the original plan going... We were asked to fill out another anonymous survey to give some indication of the factors affecting how much we had pledged. The leadership acknowledged Michigan's economy is headed for the tank, and other reasons for the low response were not a matter of "right" or "wrong"......

You probably have some idea what it is like after the church we came out of, to go to a church where the leadership has consistently demonstrated respect for the congregation, and how easy that makes it for the people to respect the leadership in return...."

Jesus reigns!

~ The Billy Goat ~

The Acid Test for Theology

“The acid test for any theology is this: Is the God presented one that can be loved, heart, soul, mind, and strength? If the thoughtful honest answer is; “Not really,” then we need to look elsewhere or deeper. It does not really matter how sophisticated intellectually or doctrinally our approach is. If it fails to set a lovable God—a radiant, happy, friendly, accessible, and totally competent being—before ordinary people, we have gone wrong. We should not keep going in the same direction, but turn around and take another road.”

Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy

Use of γηˆ in The New Testament


Another Greek word used in the New Testament that needs to be kept in mind when discussing the use of “aion” and “kosmos” is the word “ge”. The word “ge” is used approximately 252 times in the New Testament and is most often translated “earth”, but depending on context is also translated “ground” or “land”.

The following is a sampling of passages using the word “ge”:

Matthew 5:5 “…the meek shall inherit the “ge”…

Matthew 5:13 “...you are the salt of the “ge”…

Matthew 6:10, 19

“….Thy will be done on “ge” as it is in heaven...” “…Lay not up treasures on “ge”…”

Matthew 28:18 “All authority in heaven and on “ge” has been given to me.”

Matthew 13:8, Mark 4:8, and Luke 8:8 (Parable of the sower.)

The seed “…falls on the good “ge”…’ and in this context is correctly translated “ground”.

Acts 7 Stephan’s Speech – “ge” is used 8 times and in context is correctly translated “land”. For example”

“…the “ge” of the Chaldeans…” “…the “ge” of Egypt…” “…the “ge” of Midean…”

For Future Study: The Use of “Kosmos” and “Ge” in the book of Revelations

Of the approximately 252 times “ge” is used in the NT, about 77 of those times are in the book of Revelation. That is more then any other NT book, and accounts for over 30% of the use of “ge” in the NT.

Of the approximately 189 times “Kosmos” is used in the NT, only 3 of those are in the book of Revelation. That is less then 2% of the NT use of “kosmos”.

The extensive and almost exclusive use of the word “ge” in the book of Revelation is very important when considering the structure and meaning of that NT book, especially as “ge” carries an almost exclusive ontological meaning in contrast to the moral meanings associated with “kosmos” and “aion”.

References:

Young's Analytical Concordence
Greek/English Interliner NT (Nestle/Aland Text.)

For His glory,

The use of Greek Words Translated “world” in Selected NT Passages

This list of verses is from a SS handout our Pastor gave to us. I used my interliner Greek/English NT to identify the Greek words used.

Romans 1:20 - Kosmos is translated as “world”

Romans 12:2 – Aion - has the basic meaning of “age”. Here it is translated as “world”

I Corinthians 1:20-21; 3:19

“…debater of this “aion”...God made foolish the wisdom of this “kosmos”…the “kosmos” did not know God… 3:19 “…the wisdom of this “kosmos”..


Galatians 6:14 – “..the”kosmos” has been crucified to me, and I to the “kosmos”…

Colossians 2:20-23 – “…you died to the elementary principles of the “kosmos”…

I Timothy 6:7 – “…we brought nothing into the “kosmos”…”

James 4:4 – “…friendship with the “kosmos”…”

I John 2:15-17 – “Do not love the “kosmos”….”
(Kosmos translated “world” 4 times in this passage.)

I John 3:13 – “…the “kosmos” hates you…”

I John 4:4-5 – (Kosmos is used 4 times and translated “world”.)

I John 5:19 – “…the whole “kosmos” lies in the power of the evil one…”

Matthew 28:19-20 – “…I am with you always, to the end of the “aion”…”

(Another important passage for understanding “aion” is Galatians 1:4 “…the present evil “aion”…”)

In His grace,

~ The Billy Goat ~

What is "Total Depravity"?

“There have been those who have wished to deny the doctrine of total depravity on the grounds that it failed to recognize any good in man. The presence of all this evil does not deny the existence of a natural goodness in varying degrees. All that such goodness can do is to make it possible for men to live together with men. What the doctrine of total depravity means is that there is no good in man that can satisfy God, and that, therefore, all the help that man receives must originate in God and come to man by the grace of God. And it is the grace of God that brings salvation that has appeared to all men in Jesus Christ.”

(Donald Grey Barnhouse, Exposition of Romans, Vol. I, (1952), Romans 1:28-31)

Evangelical Perspectives: Toward a Biblical Balance
by Ronald B. Mayers (1987)

Evangelical Perspectives fills something of a unique role in evangelical theological literature. It is not primarily a summary theological survey, though Ronald Mayers, professor of philosophy and religion at Cornerstone University, (formerly Grand Rapids Baptist College), does survey a number of basic theological issues. Nor obviously is such a relatively short volume intended to be a systematic theology such as Hodge, Strong, or Chafer have written, though Mayers' discussion of theological issues is much deeper then a cursory summary overview.

Mayers sets forth his purpose in writing Evangelical Perspectives in the first chapter titled "Necessity of Doctrinal Balance".

"It is the contention of this book that established doctrine, or orthodoxy, has usually been, and should always be, determined by the balance that the Bible indicates in the various doctrinal issues that the church must explain and elucidate to her members. This has not always been the case in American evangelicalism and fundamentalism..."

In the following three chapters, Mayers illustrates the concept of Biblical doctrinal balance by review of three fundamental issues the early church had to wrestle with in coming to grips with basic Biblical orthodox Christian belief.

The first issue was the definition of reality. Mayers lays out how the early church proclaimed a God who is reality, and in His reality totally independent. On the other hand, creation was also proclaimed as a reality, but a reality that is separate from, but totally dependent on God. This is in contrast to pantheistic thought that makes God and creation equal in a way that creation is also God, and as well refutes gnosticism which denied the reality of creation. The Christian view of reality is not either/or, but that both God and creation comprise reality.

The second issue the early church wrestled with is God as the one and the many; the trinitarian being of God as the one and the three. God as one and many defies our rational logical mind set. The early church arrived at the position where both concepts were to be held to, tensions not withstanding.

The same may be said for the issues of the deity and humanity of Christ. Is Christ fully man, or is He fully God? Biblical balance demands we affirm that He is both fully God and fully man, and that we live with the tensions that balance brings.

Having set forth the Biblical balance and tensions that mark these basic orthodox doctrines of Christian faith, Mayers takes the lessons learned and seeks to apply them to a number of theological and doctrinal issues that the Evangelical church at large has in the past wrestled and in our day continues to wrestle with. A survey of the chapter headings gives a good snapshot of those issues:

General Revelation: Both Within and Without
Special Revelation: Both Event and Word
Inspiration: Both Holy Spirit and Human Authors
Testaments: Both Continuity and Discontinuity
Salvation: Both Provision and Response
Holy Spirit: Both Holiness and Eternal Security
Church: Both Proclamation and Charity
Last Things: Both Already and Not Yet

There is much that could be said about the issues under discussion in each of these chapters that would take up way to much space and time in this review. I found Mayers' discussion on these topics to be challenging and mind stretching. Be ready to have some of your theological bubbles popped, and some of your dogmatic assumptions challenged. There is enough in these chapters to annoy and irritate those on both sides of the issues discussed, but that is precisely where the real value of this book is to be found, and that is why I recommend this book to Pastors, theology students, and others with an interest in Evangelical theology.

For some time I have had a suspicion that much of traditional Evangelical and Reformed systematic theology was influenced by rationalistic Enlightenment methodology much more then we perhaps want to admit. As a result, in some areas of Evangelicalism the mystery and tension has been stripped from the faith, leaving a sterile dogmatic "orthodoxy" that far to often claims to have "all the answers". Evangelical Perspectives presents an approach to theology that allows us to be rational, but in a way that preserves Biblical tension and mystery; an approach that also calls for the exercise of the Christian virtue of humility.

Soli Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~

BIBLIA THEOLOGICA: Evangelical but Not a Cultural Evangelical

"Yes, I am an evangelical without shame, but I am not a "cultural evangelical." Cultural evangelicals are individuals whose evangelicalism is culturally oriented and linked, much like that of Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, on one end of the spectrum, or much like that of Jim Wallis and Randall Balmer, on the other end of the spectrum. Both Fundamentalism and Liberalism are culturally originated and linked worldviews. For both, their worldiews too uncritically merge Christian beliefs and cultural mores into a unitary whole that is more American than Christian... "

Good stuff here. What is at stake is the meaning of "Evangelical" and the question of what really is the Gospel in contrast to cultural accrurtments that get in the Gospel's way...

Sola Deo Gloria!

~ The Billy Goat ~

From the Pew: If Iron Sharpens Iron, Then Why Is The Reformed Drawer So Full of Dull, Rusty Knives?

A good question.... My own observation is that insistence on so called "doctrinal percison" is by nature a seperatist movement sowing the seeds of it's own fragmentation. The favorite thological argument is the ad hominimn one.

Shalom, ~ The Billy Goat ~