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Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Wed, 18 Jul 2007 18:28:07 GMT

The Only Way to Heaven: Faith alone in Christ alone (Part 2)

The second installment of 'Faith Alone in Christ Alone' will have to do with the motivating factors in the Christian Life. After understanding the first section, HOW one is saved, this section will explain how to live because YOU ARE saved.

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When people ask what the Gospel is and someone says that it is faith alone in Christ alone and NO WORKS WHATSOEVER such as 'turning your life over to God', 'changing your life from your control to God's control', 'turning over a new leaf', etc.; they then ask the presumptuous question - 'Well, then can I just go and sin?'

So many people pose this question right after someone presents them the TRUE Gospel (faith alone in Christ alone) and believe that somehow this question is bullet proof and reinforces their position. Somehow they believe God's Word does not have a CLEAR and simple answer for that. Paul clearly states that people were slandering his preaching of the true Gospel (grace through faith in Christ) in his written text from Romans 3:5-8 where he says people were slandering his preaching by saying that he taught a gospel that proposed — "Let us do evil that good may result". Paul's answer to them was: 'Their condemnation is just.'

People understand the Gospel clearly - that it is a gift and nothing they can do can earn it - and you know what happens to them???

THEY ARE EMBARASSED.

Why? Because that sounds too good to be true. So, after someone has been a Christian for a while they believe they've 'done enough' to 'earn God's love', 'prove they're a real Christian because of their works', and 'everyone else needs to do the same'. So, not only are most Christians CONFUSED and UNCLEAR about the GOSPEL, they are embarassed about it as well! So usually a Gospel presentation goes something like this: 'If you want to become a Christian you must give up everything to follow Jesus. You must confess and repent of all your sin, truly, truly, truly trust Him that He'll save you, and then follow Him for the rest of your life.'

That usually is what I hear. Yet what Did Jesus say?

'He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and will not come into condemnation, but has already passed over from death into life' (Jn. 5:24).

What did Paul say?

'But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.' (Rm. 3:21-24)

It is not complicated, but it is truly difficult for many to accept that someone can have a gift AND DO NOTHING FOR IT. So, instead of embracing this truth and growing in grace, they are embarrassed of this truth, change the message of grace, make it a message of works, and them attempt to motivate people by FEAR.

So, how should a person who is saved be truly motivated? Why should I want to live for Christ, now that He has saved me - having the gift of salvation and an eternal relationship with God?

1) I want to live for Him because I love Him - I want to do this because He first loved me.

1 John 1:4:9-11 says: 'In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.'

So we should love God and one another BECAUSE HE first loved us.

Romans 5:8 says - 'For while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.'

2) God commands us to love one another and to be ambassadors for Him!

John 13:34-35 says - 'A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.'

We should love Him and others because He commands us too - this should be enough but there is more!

2 Cor. 5:20 says: 'Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.'

So, we are to be His ambassadors of the 'Ministry of Reconciliation' as God were literally pleading through us - 'Be reconciled to God!'

3) REWARDS!

People honestly dont understand the teaching of rewards AT ALL. God desires for us to be rewarded and to have a good showing before Him. What people also dont understand is that those who DO NOT have a good showing before Him will BE ASHAMED before Him and will not receive 'Well done, good and Faithful servant' because not everyone is a good and faithful servant.

Specific texts on rewards are -

a) 'Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.' (1 Cor. 9:24-27)

Understand the KEY words Paul discusses: Obtain a prize, an imperishable crown. Notice that those who are disqualified are disqulaified from the CROWN and the PRIZE. NOT the Eternal Life and NOT the gift of Salvation. Rewards and eternal crowns ARE EARNED! Salvation is not work, it is a simple gift received by faith alone through Christ alone (Rom. 4:4-5).

b) 'According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.' (1 Cor. 3:10-15)

So, works are tested through fire - and the works that remain and are pleasing to God, the worker (Christian) receives his reward. This is NOT a gift, it is earned.

4) Grace TEACHES us to obey!

This point is similiar to point one as love is interrelated to grace, but it is also different and separate as its own force as a strong motivation to serve Christ in our lives.

Paul discusses this main point in Titus 2:12 ---

'For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,' (Titus 2:11-13)

Not only does God's grace bring us eternal salvation, it also TEACHES us to obey Him and to live soberly in a dark and destructive world. Understand that this type of living does not justify us, but is our correct response to God's continuous grace as we grow and mature in Christ in this present, earthly life.

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The problem is that God truly desires that people turn from their sins, that we live in a victorious way and that we give greater glory to Him instead of living unrighteously so that it furthers His grace on our sin - though His grace will always abound over our sin as it is clear from Romans 5:19-21.

The problem arises when people MAKE THESE THINGS conditions for 'becoming right before God'. These are things God desires FOR THE CHRISTIAN to go on to maturity in Jesus Christ - NOT to become a Christian. Where is the motivation in that? The only motivation used in that is FEAR. Pastors and Christians everywhere dont know the scriptures and instead of studying the scriptures they yell louder and use fear tactics to try to 'motivate' people to live for God. They might believe in grace through faith - yet have never truly lived A LIFE OF GRACE, and because of that, they proclaim a FALSE Gospel that will never bring people to a saving faith in Christ, but only reform them into religious people who are still lost and have not yet believed in Jesus Christ alone through faith alone as the only means of salvation.

Grace always,

Ross Turner ~ 1 Cor. 9:24-27

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 22:18:06 GMT

The Only Way to Heaven: Faith alone in Christ alone (Part 1)

This short article is meant to help anyone who is wondering 'If I died today, would I be going to Heaven'. I pray that anyone who reads this article and is unsure (OR SURE from wrong reasons) will have assurance this very day that if they perished today, they would forever be with God in an eternal relationship.

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There are many wonderful people who call themselves 'Christians'. Many of my friends are 'Roman Catholic' but call themselves 'Christians'. Many of my friends are 'Mormons' but they call themselves 'Christians'. A LOT of my friends attend different protestant denominations: Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentacostal, Charismatic, Baptist, Anglican, Church of Christ, Brethen, Disciples of Christ, Bible Churches, etc.

Now anybody can understand that ALL of these groups cannot be essentially 'Christians', can they? No. When I talk about being a Christian I mean how one becomes a Christian, how Christ Himself describes one 'entering the Kingdom of God'. Practicing Christian ethics and morals does not save you from the penalty of sin, bring you the new birth, give you status as a child of God, or give you entrace to the Kingdom of God. Christ said that one cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless one is born again (Jn. 3:5). In the prologue of the Book of John, John speaks that those who are 'born of God are given the right to become children of God, to those who have received Him, specifically, by believing in His name.' (Jn. 1:12)

This 'believing in His name' means to believe in Christ's authority, and from that authority, what He promises by it. The promise Christ makes to all those who believe in Him is this: Eternal Life. Eternal Life is the life that only God Himself has the right to give. Jesus says in John 6:47 that 'He who believes in me has eternal life.'

So, those who believe in Jesus have just that: Eternal Life with God, a new birth which allows them to enter the Kingdom of God, and have now been given the right to be called a child of God.

Why does Christ alone have the authority to give these things? Because He, being God, came to earth and became a man, lived a perfect life unto God's Law, commands and character, and died a sacrificial death for the sin of the entire world (Jn. 1:29).

So, to become a child of God, to receive eternal life and to be born again thus entering the Kingdom of God is all based on whether one HAS or HAS NOT believed in Christ for the gift of eternal life. His promise is that those who believe in Him shall NOT come into condemnation, but have already passed out of death into life! How amazing is that? Christ did all the work, lived perfectly to God and did everything in which we, being sinful and fallen, could not.

So - there is only one way to Heaven. Grace through faith alone in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Do all these different groups agree on this one essential truth? Obviously the answer is a resounding - No.

1. The Roman Catholic says that one must believe but also practice the sacriments, be water baptized, confess sins continually to priests and continue in the faith until the end of one's life. Is this what Jesus said? --- No. So, one can practice religious things, live a 'pious' life, live totally reformed in lifestyle - yet NOT be saved from the penalty of sin. This is because no one will be saved based upon anything they have done, are doing, or will do.

Eph. 2:8-9 says 'for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift from God so that no one can boast.' So, the Roman Catholic message is not the message of the prophets (Gen. 15:6, Isa. 55:1-3), of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:14-18, 5:24, 6:47) and the apostles (Rom. 1:16-17, 3:21-27, 4:16, 5:1; Gal. 2:16; 1 Pet. 1:1-5; Titus 1:1-2, 1 Tim. 1:16, Jn. 20:31; Rev. 22:17), but contrary to it and 'another gospel' (though NOT 'good news') because it adds extra conditions (works) to the message of faith alone in Christ alone.

2. Mormon belief of salvation in Jesus Christ is very simliar to the beliefs of Roman Catholicism, and all other works-related beliefs, though they differ largely on many things in other areas of theology (such as being Polytheistic, while R. Catholics are monotheistic). The essential thing to understand in this discussion is that they not only believe Jesus Christ to be 'A' god, but that he is one of MANY gods after becoming a god. Thus Mormons are polytheistic, like Jehovah's witness and many other non-Christian cults. They believe in the age-old heresy known as 'Arianism' which essentially is the belief that Jesus was the first created being of god, but through his life of good works on earth, 'became' god's son and thus a god in his own right. Thus, the message of salvation from the penalty of sin in Mormonism is nothing like that of the prophets, the true, historical Jesus Christ, or the true apostles - that it is faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ alone which saves.

Once again, Eph. 2:8-9 says 'for by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift from God so that no one can boast.' So, the Roman Catholic message nor the Mormon/Jehovah's Witness message is that of the prophets (Gen. 15:6, Isa. 55:1-3), of the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:14-18, 5:24, 6:47) and the apostles (Rom. 1:16-17, 3:21-27, 4:16, 5:1; Gal. 2:16; 1 Pet. 1:1-5; Titus 1:1-2, 1 Tim. 1:16, Jn. 20:31; Rev. 22:17), but is essentially contrary to it because it adds extra conditions (works) to the message of faith alone in Christ alone.

3. So, even though we think Protestant denominations are somehow 'fine' from this heresy of polluting the gospel of grace through faith alone in Christ alone - we are NOT. I speak with many protestants weekly about Christian ethics, morality and biblical practice and study. COUNTLESS times these people's belief on the Gospel ('Good News') that saves us from the penalty of our sins is NOT GOOD NEWS. It is similiar to that of the Roman Catholic, to the Mormon/Jehovah's Witness, that we must do good works to 'get to Heaven'. Countless times I discuss with people that it is grace through faith alone in Christ's finished work. Yet I continue to see people confused and unclear about what the saving message's response is.

Just last week I was talking to man with a Pentacostal background who said 'If we get to Heaven, I don't think there will be different denominations ... (etc.)'
I said to myself 'If we get to Heaven???'

You see, Jesus didn't say, 'I came so that you might someday get to Heaven if you hold on long enough, do enough good works and stop drinking and living like Hell.' No.

Jesus the Christ said:

'He who hears my word and believes in Him who sent me has everlasting life and will not come into condemnation, but has crossed over from death into life.' (Jn. 5:24)
'He who believes in me has everlasting life.' (Jn. 6:47)
'He who believes in me will never die (spiritually).' (Jn. 11:25)

This is NOT the same message as my Protestant friend who said 'If we get to Heaven ... '
Why? Because he is not certain he's going! He is basing his eternal destiny on whether or not he lives morally and ethically 'biblical' enough to 'go to Heaven'.
How is this ANY DIFFERENT from the Roman Catholic? From the Mormon? From the normal person on the street who believes in a Heaven/Afterlife? It isnt! Because everyone who believes in a Heaven/afterlife believe you get there by doing enough good works to please God! Thats the false gospel of this world system which is run by the evil one - its simply NOT GOOD NEWS.

But the message of God is different - it is the promise of eternal life to all those who simply believe in Jesus Christ FOR IT. So, the moment you believe in Jesus Christ for this eternal relationship with God - you have it! You can have assurance that you have this and can never lose this because Christ, on His authority, says:

'the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.' (Jn. 6:37b)
'he who believes in me will never die (spiritually)' (Jn. 11:25)
'My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and My Father are one.”

So, God promises eternal life to all those who simply believe in His son, Jesus Christ for it. There is only one way to be certain of eternal life with God - knowing that you have believed in His son, Jesus Christ, for it.

The Apostle John states this truth very plainly in a comparison of the one who has eternal life and the one who does not ---

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.' (Jn. 3:18)

10 'He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. 11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.' (1 Jn. 5:10-13)

Know that the one who has believed HAS Eternal Life and shall not be condemned - shall never spiritually die, going to Heaven when they die.
Know also that the one who has not believed this truth - that Jesus Christ gives eternal life to all those who believe in Him for it - do not have life but are currently under the wrath of God and are presently condemned.

Being a Roman Catholic does not save you. Attending Protestant Church will not save you. Being a 'Good Christian' does not save you. 'Holding onto God' does not save you. Practicing abstinance, not drinking and living a moral life of Christian ethics and piety will never save you --- only those who have believed in Jesus Christ alone for salvation have been given Eternal Life, been made a child of God, been born again into a new life and forever have been reconciled and made right with God.

ONLY THEY will enter the Kingdom of God.

Grace always,

Ross ~ Jn. 5:24

Christian Hedonism: Biblical or Heretical?

Tue, 15 May 2007 16:12:54 GMT

Pursuing Pleasure and Pursuing the Wind--
Solomon’s Lesson on Hedonism

Written by: Craig W. Booth

If it can be said of any man that he knew how to be a hedonist, it can assuredly be said of King Solomon. King Solomon pursued every pleasure he could imagine and did not restrain himself from experiencing anything he could imagine. Sex, drunkenness, music, education, riches, power, conversing and fellowshipping with God as a prophet of the Most High, builder of the most lavish house of worship ever constructed in that time, organizer of a national three-week-long worship service--every pleasure a man can desire. Pleasures holy and pleasures evil; pleasures in God and pleasures not of God.

Hedonism was experienced, in fact pursued with abandon, in its truest and purest form by Solomon.

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2:10a)

Solomon, the Ultimate Hedonist, Judges His Philosophy

As the ultimate hedonist, King Solomon, prophet Solomon, Solomon the Wise, was the perfect test case for whether the philosophy of hedonism has any value in the life of a believer. Solomon pursued every pleasure--he did not just simply let pleasure happen to him. Solomon wanted to determine if human philosophers were right, that the pursuit of pleasure is the key to happiness. And Solomon did not restrict himself to pursuing pleasure in God (though he certainly did that as well) but he also chased after ordinary, wholesome, and even wicked pleasures, all in a comprehensive experiment to determine whether any aspect of pursuing pleasure had lasting value.

I said to myself, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" I explored with my mind how to stimulate my body with wine while my mind was guiding me wisely, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what good there is for the sons of men to do under heaven the few years of their lives. I enlarged my works: I built houses for myself, I planted vineyards for myself; I made gardens and parks for myself and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees; I made ponds of water for myself from which to irrigate a forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves and I had homeborn slaves. Also I possessed flocks and herds larger than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. Also, I collected for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I provided for myself male and female singers and the pleasures of men--many concubines. Then I became great and increased more than all who preceded me in Jerusalem. My wisdom also stood by me.

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun. "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "all is vanity!" In addition to being a wise man, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge; and he pondered, searched out and arranged many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find delightful words and to write words of truth correctly. The words of wise men are like goads, and masters of these collections are like well-driven nails; they are given by one Shepherd. But beyond this, my son, be warned: the writing of many books is endless, and excessive devotion to books is wearying to the body.

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. (Ecclesiastes 2:1-11,12:8-13)

It should be surprising to most all Christians that Solomon's conclusions regarding the value of the philosophy of hedonism are simply ignored, and very often even derided, today. Such an attitude of mockery and ignorance belies its own lack of wisdom, for ignoring Solomon’s conclusions is to ignore the Word of God, and understanding the Word is a beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). No one was wiser than Solomon, so says the Lord God (1 Kings 4:30), yet theologians arise today announcing they have more insight than Solomon in the matter of hedonism, even calling all men to become hedonists of one sort or another.

"So enjoy yourself." And behold, it too was futility. I said of laughter, "It is madness," and of pleasure, "What does it accomplish?" (Ecclesiastes 2:1b,2)

Solomon pursued the best of pleasures in God. He decreed and opened a nationwide three weeks of worship to God (2 Chronicles 7:9). He built a temple to God having been encouraged through the process by direct revelation from the Lord (1 Kings 6). He talked with God as one might talk with their friend, God asked questions, Solomon answered, and God responded (1 Kings 3). Solomon used his unsurpassed wisdom to teach the people knowledge of God (Ecclesiastes 12:9,10). He wrote these proverbs knowing he was writing God’s Word. Yet of all this pursuit of pleasure in God, Solomon wrote:

Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

These two phrases could not be more poignant when compared: "pursuing pleasure" is the same as "pursuing the wind". Pursuing pleasure as a motive or a goal is as silly a goal as chasing after the air that has already blown by. There is no lasting or eternal benefit, if attainment of pleasure is the goal.

Solomon, in addition to pursuing pleasure in God and in the worship of God, pursued pleasure in the ordinary work-a-day world. He built for himself: houses, vineyards, gardens, ponds, and parks. He amassed wealth and acquired servants and musicians. Of these relatively common pleasures, Solomon also concluded, "Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 2:11)

Sadly, Solomon also pursued the unlawful pleasures so adored by the wicked. He purchased sex slaves, called concubines, for himself and indulged in the adulterous sexual "pleasures of men" as heartily as he pursued his other pleasures. Expanding on his father’s legacy, Solomon violated God’s intents for marriage by accumulating multiple wives, all in the name of the pursuit of pleasure. He even experimented with drunkenness. Still, his conclusion was the same, "all [pursuit of pleasure] was vanity and striving after wind."

In fact, as a result of all his hedonism, what Solomon called his "labors" (labors of hedonism) of which there were holy pursuits of pleasure in God, wholesome pursuits of pleasure in work, and the unholy pursuits of pleasure in adultery and drunkenness, he found his heart was actually pleased with all he had accomplished. That was his human heart’s conclusion, it felt good and pleased.

But the spiritual conclusion was very different--it was all vanity, every pursuit of pleasure was empty of true value. In fact, Solomon realized that the ONLY reward for hedonism is the temporary good feelings it engendered. For the pursuit of pleasure, even pleasure in God if pleasure is the true target of the pursuit, is eternally worthless.

All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure, for my heart was pleased because of all my labor and this was my reward for all my labor. Thus I considered all my activities which my hands had done and the labor which I had exerted, and behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 2:10-11)

When the goal of worship is personal pleasure, the reward is a temporary good feeling in one’s heart, but the eternal value is already spent and is now void. When the goal of service to God is pleasure, one is rewarded with the temporary good feeling of pleasure, but the eternal value is gone. When one greedily pursues pleasure in possessions or illicit sex, the temporary payoff is good feelings of pleasure, but the eternal value is missing.

This same lesson Jesus taught us.

"When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." (Matthew 6:5)

These hypocrites got pleasure from being seen in worship in the synagogues. Since pleasure was their objective, they achieved their objective in full. Yes, they got pleasure, but they missed the better outcome of worship. There are better motives for worship than the accomplishment of self-pleasure. In any activity, if the chief outcome desired is pleasure, then Solomon instructs us that we are striving after wind and investing in vanity.

If hedonism had any value in worship or any useful essence in service to God, Solomon would not have called the pursuit of pleasure vanity, folly, and pursuing the wind.

Pursuit of Pleasure Is Vanity, But Is It Sin?
There is a further question that Solomon’s experiment raises. Is the pursuit of moral pleasures necessarily a sin? Surely it is vanity, but is it a sin?

God hands us pleasure freely. Pleasures from and in God are constantly compassing us. It would not be possible to wake up, shower, and eat breakfast without bumping into, stumbling over, passing by, and consuming elements of God's creation that He provided for us to gladly and thankfully experience.

We know from those experiences and from God's Word that pleasure, just as is pain, is from God and in God. It is part of God's creation and most definitely part of His plan. We cannot help but have it happen to us. And when we praise and delight in God, as some of the Psalms admonish us to do, we even find this form of worship to be pleasant. If a man is saved and lives on Earth, he will bump into pleasure though it be unsought and unbeckoned.

Having pleasure freely available as a gift from God which one has not sought out is one thing, but should we actually pursue it? Should we make it a goal to obtain pleasure, and not just some, but as much as we can squeeze into our folded and clinging arms? There is no direct command from God to do so, but on the other side of the coin is the consideration, "is it wrong or immoral to purposely chase after pleasure?"

Hedonism is the label that is applied to one who is known by their devotion to experiencing pleasure. A hedonist is characterized by a love affair with, and a single-minded pursuit of, pleasure.

King Solomon was the world's most famous hedonist. He was also the world's wisest man by decree of God (1 Kings 3:11,12). As wisest human and as a prophet of God, his pronouncement on his own hedonism was, "hedonism is folly and vanity." Solomon characterized the pursuit of pleasure as chasing after the wind, a meaningless child’s game of grasping at the air as if one could actually retain it in hand for useful outcomes. Solomon did not conclude that hedonism could be a useful tool in the worship of God, he simply declared that the pursuit of pleasure was itself vanity. As with all childish games, ultimately the pursuit of pleasure is temporal and yields no lasting value.

In this understanding C. S. Lewis concurs with Solomon. "[the pursuit of pleasure is] greed. Instead of saying, ‘This also is Thou,’ one may say the fatal word Encore." (Lewis, Letter 17, Letters to Malcolm) Lewis referred to pursuing pleasures as the practice of "adoration in infinitesimals," a practice which he would never permit to gain prominence over and above obedience, "Don’t imagine I am forgetting that the simplest act of mere obedience is worship of a far more important sort than what I’ve been describing (to obey is better than sacrifice)." (Lewis, Letter 17, Letters to Malcolm) Had Lewis not agreed with Solomon in his conclusions about the pursuit of pleasure being a valueless greed then it would have been Lewis whom we would have been required to distrust and whose teachings would have had to be discarded as imprecise reflections of Scripture. In any conflict between modern philosophy and the judgments of Scripture, Scripture must always be given dominance and the errant philosophy repudiated.

Solomon chased pleasures, both of the moral and immoral variety. Solomon's conclusion was that making pleasure an end, a goal, an object of desire, was vanity--an empty waste and a distraction to the real business of life. He concluded that the godly goals of life were to "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl.12:13b NIV)

Experiencing pleasure as a side benefit to genuinely biblical pursuits is part of the reward system God has created. Pursuing pleasure, as if it were itself a goal, according to Solomon, is unwise. Pursuing pleasure is nowhere commended by God's Word as a healthy focus or activity. It is called unwise, quite often, even a folly: "The mind of the wise is in the house of mourning, While the mind of fools is in the house of pleasure." (Ecclesiastes 7:4)

For example, we know that God is the one who originated pain. Pain, as a tool to keep us focused on God and as a mechanism to keep us from injuring our own bodies, is a good and valid aspect of being human. Yet, as good as pain is, it would be unwise to pursue it. Certainly the Bible calls us to be sorrowful and to gnash our teeth and agonize as if in pain over our sins, but it does not call us to pursue the pain as if it were the goal. No, repentance is the true goal and pain is but the tool that God uses. We do not invoke the pain on ourselves, it is the gift that God gives us to goad us to do better. So it is with pleasure, it is not the goal which we actively seek, rather it is the unbidden tool that God imposes on us to accomplish His will. No one seeks the tool, one seeks the finished product fashioned by the work of the tool.

Is it a sin to pursue pleasure just as one might choose to pursue holiness? It is hard to label such a thing as a sin when the Word does not do so directly, yet, we are obligated and compelled by God's Word to call it unwise, a folly, a vanity.

So that is just what we will do. The pursuit of moral pleasure as if it were an end in itself is unwise and is folly, a chase that has no lasting value, though it is not expressly forbidden by God's Word. Is it a sin? Probably not. But if Solomon, the greatest and wisest man the Earth knew until Jesus walked the planet, and if Solomon, the most studied hedonist in history, concluded that hedonism in all its forms was not a useful tool in the service of God, and recorded his rejection of that philosophy in the Scriptures, who are we to think we can redeem that which he cast aside and rejected as vain? The pursuit of pleasure, hedonism, is vanity and folly, it is the child’s game of chasing the wind and has the same eternal value.

Conclusion

King Solomon wrote:

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." (Eccl.12:13 NIV)

Through the tool of paraphrasing Solomon’s summary statements, we may be able to gain a deeper understanding of his insights regarding the pursuit of pleasure, hedonism.

Solomon: Now all has been heard…

Paraphrase: After all the persuasive arguments have been pitched, and when the best arguments for the philosophy of the pursuit of pleasure (be they pleasures in God, in religion, in nature, in labor, or in sin) have been proffered…

Solomon: here is the conclusion of the matter:

Paraphrase: here is the summary judgment having weighed hedonism on the scales of wisdom and having it measure up short as a philosophy for living a God-pleasing life:

Solomon: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.

Paraphrase: As your highest priority, love God with an attitude dominated by fear and respect, and so obey His commandments. For making this your philosophy of life is the entire duty of every man.

Solomon's wise words rebuff all pleas to make "the pursuit of pleasure" into a philosophy useful to the one who loves God. Solomon properly concludes that the only valid philosophy is: "to fear God" (an expression that combines love with extreme respect) and "obey His Word." Fear God and obey His Word. Why have so few made that expression of Scripture into a motto or a creed?

" ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure. So enjoy yourself.’ And behold, it too was futility. All that my eyes desired I did not refuse them. I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure. Behold all was vanity and striving after wind and there was no profit under the sun." -- King Solomon, the Wise

**************

I found this review extremely helpful in a time where so many people (especially young people like me)are attracted to a theology of 'Christian Hedonism'. Though this term may be a 'matter of principle' for many, the teachings of some have lead us into a most heretical 'prosperity theology' ; teachings of others have lead us to think that Christian Hedonism is the way to 'pursue God'. As Mr. Booth has so clearly stated, Solomon's answer to Christian Hedonism is found in the Word of God:

We are "to fear God" (an expression that combines love with extreme respect) and "obey His Word." Fear God and obey His Word. Why have so few made that expression of Scripture into a motto or a creed?

Exactly. Fear God, and obey His Word.

Grace always,

Ross ~ John 5:24

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Wed, 02 May 2007 18:46:26 GMT

In the wake of thousands of unclear Gospel messages today, I felt that I would write another message proclaiming a clear Gospel and its correct response. We can NEVER speak of these truths too much, why? Simple: Because there is only ONE Gospel and the correct response to it is simple faith. Paul makes it clear in Gal. 1:6-10 that to proclaim a false gospel causes us to be accursed and declares with certainty that there is only ONE Gospel that He (Paul) proclaimed:

6 'I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.'

**********

I feel it is of dire importance for all of us to make clear what exactly the Gospel message is. It is not 'Ask Jesus into your heart' it is not 'Surrender your life to Jesus' it is also not 'Make Jesus the Lord of your life'. Those are unclear messages AT BEST, and ANOTHER Gospel at worst. Now I'm most certain many people are actually saved through those messages. I use to say 'Ask Jesus into your life' when I was telling someone about the Gospel and what we must understand and believe to be eternally saved.

My error was not that I was completely off saying that, but I was not clear in what the Gospel message/response truly is SCRIPTURALLY.

Jesus, in the Gospel of John 98 times tells us to BELIEVE in Him for ETERNAL LIFE.

Paul, over fifty times in the Book of Romans alone talks about placing FAITH in Christ, many of those times for the purpose of a new RIGHT Standing with God (Rom. 3:21-5:1).

So, what exactly is a a much clearer Gospel message and response?

1) This is the Gospel (GOOD NEWS): Jesus died for all sin, including yours on the cross and three days later He rose again, defeating sin and death (1 Cor. 15:3-4) JUST like He said He would. This is the GOOD NEWS - the news that though we are separated from God because of our sin, Christ has paid for ALL sin on the Cross and risen again defeating sin and death.

2) Now, what is the proper response to this absolute truth for the unbeliever???

Faith ALONE in Christ ALONE (simple faith/belief in His already accomplished work).

So, when you've told a person about what Christ has ALREADY accomplished, how do they need to respond?

You tell them God now commands everyone everywhere to BELIEVE on His Son for Eternal Life which means many things. One being that they are now 'Made Alive' to God! Thats what the word 'Regeneration means - it means to be 'Born from Above'. Another truth is that they are now JUSTIFIED before God. This is a legal term which means 'Declared Righteous'.

So, when we believe in the already accomplished work of Jesus Christ, done through the Cross and His resurrection - which paid for all sin (John 1:29) - we are JUSTIFIED (by faith) and forever eternally secure in His promise, meaning He will NEVER let us go (Jn. 10:28-30, Rom. 8:33-39).

So, the Good News: Jesus Christ died on the cross (paying for all sin) and rose again (defeating sin/physical death) forever accomplishing this.

The Response of the Unbeliever: Simply believe/trust in Christ now to save you from that penalty of sin and you receive justification before God (right standing forever), eternal life (new life because of regeneration - meaning to be 'born-again') and the complete forgiveness of sins forever.

This is the truth from the Word of God. We need to be clearer in our Gospel message and what the proper response to it is. This is of dire importance for us who are saved. We must be clear about the Gospel and what its response is.

Those who understand this truth and believe it - they will forever have right-standing before God, be given a new Eternal/Heavenly life, and their sin has been forgiven once and for all.

I would like to end this small little comment with what Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer wrote about the importance of the CLEAR Gospel and its CORRECT response:

'The error of imposing Christ's Lordship upon the unsaved is disastrous even though they are not able intelligently to resent it or to remind the preacher of the fact that he, in calling upon them to dedicate their lives, is demanding of them what they have no ability to produce. A destructive heresy was formerly abroad under the name The Oxford Movement, which specializes in this blasting error; except that the promoters of the Movement omit altogether the idea of believing on Christ for salvation and promote exclusively the obligation of surrender to God. They substitute consecration for salvation, faithfulness for faith, and beauty of daily life for believing unto eternal life. As is easily seen, the plan of this Movement is to ignore the need of Christ's death as the ground of regeneration and forgiveness, and to promote the wretched heresy that it matters nothing what one believes respecting the Saviorhood of Christ if only the daily life is dedicated to God's service. A pseudo self-dedication to God is a rare bit of religion with which the unsaved may conjure. The tragedy is that out of such a delusion those who embrace it are likely never to be delivered by a true faith in Christ as Savior. No more complete example could be found today of "the blind leading the blind" than what this Movement presents.' ("The Terms of Salvation," Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 107 (Oct.-Dec. 1950): 389-416)

Continue to proclaim the clear and absolute truth of the Gospel.

Grace always,

Ross Turner ~ John 5:24

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Thu, 19 Apr 2007 17:15:07 GMT

Hey all,

I'm getting married in 36 days!!! Thank you everyone who has been praying for me through the recent years, the Lord is doing great things in my life even though I struggle so much with seeking Him, knowing Him and consistently growing in Him. Thank you all, so much.

I'm attending Dallas Theological Seminary here very shortly (moving sometime between June-July to Dallas, TX) - please be in prayer about my move, about my wife and I finding jobs and about our continued growth in Christ. Please, if you pray anything - simply pray for our growth and maturity in Christ.

Thank you all again for your continued faithfulness to Christ and your faith expressing itself in love through your prayers for my life!

Grace always,

Ross ~ Rom. 4:4-5

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Sat, 17 Mar 2007 12:31:34 GMT

A Voice from the Past:

ASSURANCE AND DOUBT^*

JOHN CALVIN^†

I. Section 16

The principal hinge on which faith turns is this—that we must not consider the promises of mercy, which the Lord offers, as true only to others, and not to ourselves; but rather make them our own, by embracing them in our hearts. Hence arises that confidence, which the same apostle in another place calls peace";¹ unless anyone would rather make peace the effect of confidence. It is a security, which makes the conscience calm and serene before the Divine tribunal, and without which it must necessarily be harassed and torn almost asunder with tumultuous trepidation, unless it happen to slumber for a moment in an oblivion of God and itself. And indeed it is but for a moment; for it does not long enjoy that wretched oblivion, but is most dreadfully wounded by the remembrance, which is perpetually recurring, of the Divine judgment. In short, no man is truly a believer unless he be firmly persuaded that God is a propitious and benevolent Father to him, and promise himself everything from his goodness; unless he depend on the promises of the Divine benevolence to him and feel an undoubted expectation of salvation; as the apostle shows in these words: "If we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."² Here he supposes that no man has a good hope in the Lord who does not glory with confidence in being an heir of the kingdom of heaven. He is no believer, I say, who does not rely on the security of his salvation and confidently triumph over the devil and death, as Paul teaches us in this remarkable peroration:

I am persuaded [says he] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.³

Thus the same apostle is of opinion that "the eyes of our understanding" are not truly "enlightened" unless we discover what is the hope of the eternal inheritance to which we are called.⁴ And he everywhere inculcates that we have no just apprehensions of the Divine goodness unless we derive from it a considerable degree of assurance.

II. Section 17

But someone will object that the experience of believers is very different from this; for that, in recognizing the grace of God towards them, they are not only disturbed with inquietude (which frequently befalls them), but sometimes also tremble with the most distressing terrors. The vehemence of temptations to agitate their minds is so great that it appears scarcely compatible with that assurance of faith of which we have been speaking. We must therefore solve this difficulty if we mean to support the doctrine we have advanced. When we inculcate that faith ought to be certain and secure, we conceive not of a certainty attended with no doubt, or of a security interrupted by no anxiety; but we rather affirm that believers have a perpetual conflict with their own diffidence, and are far from placing their consciences in a placid calm, never disturbed by any storms. Yet, on the other hand, we deny, however they may be afflicted, that they ever fall and depart from that certain confidence which they have conceived in the Divine mercy.

The Scripture proposes no example of faith more illustrious or memorable than David, especially if you consider the whole course of his life. Yet that his mind was not invariably serene, appears from his innumerable complaints, of which it will be sufficient to select a few. When he rebukes his soul for turbulent emotions, is he not angry with his unbelief? "Why [says he] art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God."⁵ And certainly, that consternation was an evident proof of diffidence, as though he supposed himself to be forsaken by God. In another place also, we find a more ample confession: "I said, in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes."⁶ In another place also, he debates with himself in anxious and miserable perplexity, and even raises a dispute concerning the nature of God: "Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Will the Lord cast off for ever?" What follows is still harsher: "And I said, I must fall; these are the changes of the right hand of the Most High."⁷ For, in a state of despair, he consigns himself to ruin; and not only confesses that he is agitated with doubts, but, as vanquished in the conflict, considers all as lost; because God has deserted him and turned to his destruction that hand which used to support him. Wherefore it is not without reason that he says, "Return unto thy rest, O my soul;"⁸ since he had experienced such fluctuations amidst the waves of trouble.

And yet, wonderful as it is, amidst these concussions, faith sustains the hearts of the pious, and truly resembles the palm-tree, rising with vigor undiminished by any burdens which may be laid upon it, but which can never retard its growth; as David, when he might appear to be overwhelmed, yet, chiding himself, ceased not to aspire towards God. Indeed, he who, contending with his own infirmity, strives in his anxieties to exercise faith, is already in a great measure victorious. Which we may infer from such passages as this: "Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart; wait, I say, on the Lord."⁹ He reproves himself for timidity, and repeating the same twice, confesses himself to be frequently subject to various agitations. In the meantime, he is not only displeased with himself for these faults, but ardently aspires towards the correction of them.

Now if we enter into a close and correct examination of his character and conduct, and compare him with Ahaz, we shall discover a considerable difference. Isaiah is sent to convey consolation to the anxiety of the impious and hypocritical king. He addresses him in these words: "Take heed, and be quiet; fear not," etc.¹⁰ But what effect had the message on him? As it had been before said, that "his heart was moved as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind,"¹¹ though he heard the promise, he ceased not to tremble. This therefore is the proper reward and punishment of infidelity—so to tremble with fear that he who opens not the gate to himself by faith, in the time of temptation departs from God. But, on the contrary, believers, whom the weight of temptations bends and almost oppresses, constantly emerge from their distresses, though not without trouble and difficulty. And because they are conscious of their own imbecility, they pray with the Psalmist, "Take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth."¹² By these words we are taught that they sometimes become dumb, as though their faith were destroyed; yet that they neither fail nor turn their backs, but persevere in their conflict, and arouse their inactivity by prayer, that they may not be stupefied by self-indulgence.

III. Section 18

To render this intelligible it is necessary to recur to that division of the flesh and the spirit which we noticed in another place and which most clearly discovers itself in this case. The pious heart therefore perceives a division in itself, being partly affected with delight, through a knowledge of the Divine goodness; partly distressed with sorrow, through a sense of its own calamity; partly relying on the promise of the gospel; partly trembling at the evidence of its own iniquity; partly exulting in the apprehension of life; partly alarmed by the fear of death. This variation happens through the imperfection of faith; since we are never so happy, during the present life, as to be cured of all diffidence and entirely filled and possessed by faith. Hence those conflicts in which the diffidence which adheres to the relics of the flesh rises up in opposition to the faith formed in the heart.

But if, in the mind of a believer, assurance be mixed with doubts, do we not always come to this point, that faith consists not in a certain and clear, but only in an obscure and perplexed knowledge of the Divine will respecting us? Not at all. For, if we are distracted by various thoughts, we are not therefore entirely divested of faith; neither, though harassed by the agitations of diffidence, are we therefore immerged in its abyss; nor, if we be shaken, are we therefore overthrown. For the invariable issue of this contest is that faith at length surmounts those difficulties, from which, while it is encompassed with them, it appears to be in danger.

IV. Section 19

Let us sum it up thus: As soon as the smallest particle of grace is infused into our minds, we begin to contemplate the Divine countenance as now placid, serene, and propitious to us: it is indeed a very distant prospect, but so clear, that we know we are not deceived. Afterwards, in proportion as we improve—for we ought to be continually improving by progressive advances—we arrive at a nearer, and therefore more certain view of Him, and by continual habit He becomes more familiar to us. Thus we see that a mind illuminated by the knowledge of God is at first involved in much ignorance, which is removed by slow degrees. Yet it is not prevented either by its ignorance of some things or by its obscure view of what it beholds from enjoying a clear knowledge of the Divine will respecting itself, which is the first and principal exercise of faith. For, as a man who is confined in a prison, into which the sun shines only obliquely and partially through a very small window, is deprived of a full view of that luminary, yet clearly perceives its splendor, and experiences its beneficial influence—thus we, who are bound with terrestrial and corporeal fetters, though surrounded on all sides with great obscurity, are nevertheless illuminated, sufficiently for all the purposes of real security, by the light of God shining ever so feebly to discover his mercy.

Footnotes:

* This extract is taken from the Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book III, Chapter II, Sections 16-19. John Allen's translation is from the original Latin and collated with Calvin's last edition in French. The punctuation and spelling have been only slightly modernized. Ed.

† John Calvin (1509-1564) is one of the foremost Reformers and biblical exegetes in the history of the Church. Raised and reared a Roman Catholic in his native France, Calvin received an excellent classical education and became a master of Latin style as well as of French.

After his conversion to the evangelical faith of the Reformation, he eventually settled in Switzerland and carried on a widespread preaching, writing, and training ministry centered in Geneva. Ed.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Sun, 11 Mar 2007 17:28:10 GMT

Journal of the Grace Evangelical Society, Spring1989 —Volume 2:1

A Voice from the Past:

SIMON MAGUS

JAMES INGLIS^*

Among other important parts of Scripture, that which teaches and illustrates the discipline which God maintains in His own house, and His jealous care over the purity of the Church, is often overlooked and misunderstood. Apart from the doctrine of Scripture, no inconsiderable portion of the history and narratives contained in the Old and New Testaments are practical lessons on these subjects, though their value is, in many instances, lost to us by the two-fold error of treating sin, when it is judged, as a proof that the person committing it was unregenerate; and regarding salvation by grace as excluding the exercise of discipline. We thus lose the warning which the faithful record is designed to enforce upon believers, and the instruction which it is designed to afford regarding the method of God's dealing with His children.
The Holy Spirit has, with perfect impartiality, recorded the sins and failures which marred the earthly lives of the most eminent saints; not to perpetuate the memory of sins which God has forgiven, but to show over how great evils grace triumphs; and to warn believers of the necessity of sleepless vigilance, and of abiding dependence on Him whose strength is made perfect in weakness. The Holy Spirit also honors the holiness of our Heavenly Father by showing us that His love is not blind to the faults of His children, nor lax in the government of His family; and thus, much that would otherwise be inexplicable in our own experience as well as in the history of our brethren is made plain.
Distinct from the discipline of His children, yet allied to it, is the jealous love which He manifested over the purity of His Church and the honor of His ordinances, while the Church stood in its divine order and unity. The mistakes to which we have alluded are therefore well illustrated by the prevailing impressions regarding the case of Simon: that his sin proved that he was not a believer; and that Peter, in rebuking the sin, was simply unmasking a hypocrite. This conclusion is unhesitatingly embraced, in the face of the divine testimony that Simon believed, by men who are daily dishonoring the name which they bear by their flagrant inconsistencies, and who still claim that they are not hypocrites, and who do not despair of their own salvation. Whatever difficulty there may be in determining the comparative enormity of sins committed by individuals in circumstances so various, it will at least be safe to avoid an undue leniency in judging ourselves.
Without anticipating any decision in the case before us, let us take the whole account of it, and endeavor to give its proper force to the inspired language, so that we may not substitute our own impressions for the testimony of the Spirit of God. An inquiry into the moral condition of Samaria when Philip arrived there, would no doubt magnify the grace which so signally triumphed amid darkness and delusion; but we must, for the present, leave it unnoticed except to say that the readiness with which the people of that city had acknowledged the high pretensions of Simon, the influence which he wielded among them, and the divine honor which they paid him, are important considerations in estimating the subsequent particulars of his case.
The general result of Philip's visit is thus stated: "And when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women." This general statement, it may be claimed, does not exclude the possibility of instances of false profession and hypocrisy. But if there were such instances, the next statement seems to exclude the thought that Simon might be reckoned among them; for language could not be more explicit: "Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done." This special mention of his conversion is apparently a testimony to the grace which abounded toward this great leader of iniquity, and to the power which brought an arrogant pretender to the place of a lowly disciple, waiting upon the teaching of the missionary of the cross. On the understanding that he did believe as is recorded, his wondering contemplation of the miracles and signs stands as a striking testimony to their true character, from one who had sounded the depths of imposture and sorcery. Those who regard Simon as a hypocrite must own that, on the supposition that he was a true believer, it would have been impossible to state it more plainly than in the language of the passage, which records not merely the fact of his public profession of the faith, followed by the natural evidence of his sincerity, but the express testimony, "Simon himself believed also." We shall see as we advance whether there is any thing in the narrative inconsistent with this statement in its plain import.
When the report of these signal triumphs of the Word of God reached the Apostles at Jerusalem, they sent Peter and John, partly, it may be, to inquire into the truth of the report, and then, in the event of finding that these things were so, to communicate spiritual gifts to the believers. The result of this apostolic visitation was much more than a human recognition of the reality of the work of grace in Samaria, it received the manifest sanction of God; for when the Apostles laid their hands on those who believed, "they received the Holy Ghost." Thus far there is no reason to suppose that Simon did not participate in the common seal and sanction of the faith. On the contrary, there is every reason to conclude that he was not excepted from the enjoyment of the gift, however it may have been manifested, especially since we find that, in his subsequent application to the Apostles, he did not ask for that which was common to believers, but for a superior privilege, to which it seems incredible that he should have aspired had he not received that which other believers had received.
For let us notice precisely what was the proposal which called forth the apostolic rebuke: "When he saw that through laying on of the hands of the apostles, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost." He had looked on with wonder when he saw Philip, in the power of the Holy Ghost, performing miracles, the true character of which was probably more strikingly apparent to him in contrast with the sorceries by which he had bewitched the people. But here was a farther wonder: that power which he had seen as an attestation of the messenger of God he now finds might be communicated to those who believed the message. The communication of the gift was through laying on of the hands of the Apostles: even Philip could exercise no such power as this. The distinction was one which naturally presented extraordinary incentives to the ambition of one who had occupied the position which he had recently abandoned. We do not excuse the unhallowed desire when we suggest how naturally it fell in with the current of his previous life. Not only was the ambition itself impious, but the means by which he sought to accomplish it were base and most insulting, both to the Apostles and to Him whom they served.
The proposal, altogether, betrayed an arrogance and a debasement which were the natural results of his life of imposture. There is no palliation of it. But before we conclude that it is utterly inconsistent with the plain testimony of the Spirit that he believed, we might inquire if the sin is without parallel among ourselves. Is there no such thing as self-seeking in the desire for spiritual gifts, or in the discharge of spiritual functions? No unholy ambition or rivalries in the Church of God? If there be, then it is difficult to see how the single act of a man emerging from such a life as that of Simon had been, and so little instructed in the truth of God as he then was, must be taken as outweighing the plain statement that he believed, while we recognize men as Christians who, after enjoying so much higher advantages, must confess before God that a whole life of service has been marred by the mingling of unworthy motives. There is, indeed, no longer a present apostle, whose office requires vindication against the arrogance of men, though we have men who seem to approach Simon's sin in their claims to apostolic succession. It may be that this accounts for the prompt judgment with which Simon's sin was visited; but it does not sustain the conclusion which men have been in haste to pronounce against the reality of his faith.
But instead of attempting to estimate the guilt of the proposal, let us listen to Peter's rebuke of it: "But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money." If this word "perish" is equivalent to the second death, then indeed all question is at end, however difficult it would still be to dispose of the statement that "Simon himself believed also." But then is it not evident that the "second death" is a doom which his money could not share with him? If his money and he were to perish together, the word cannot be stretched beyond a temporal calamity. The language is no stronger than that which is used in other passages of Scripture with reference to acknowledged believers. Nay, it is the very word that expresses the fatal consequences of leading the brethren of Christ to dishonor Him by eating things offered to idols. "Through thy knowledge shall the weak brother perish" (1 Cor 8:11). The meaning of this warning is explained by the parallel passage (Rom 14:21): "It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak." To illustrate the meaning of the Apostle's rebuke, we might farther quote passages in which temporal death and temporal loss are clearly shown to be the consequences of the sin of believers.
The gift of God, which Simon thought might be purchased with money, was, as he expressed it, "the power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost." It is of this the Apostle was speaking when he added, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter." The connection is evident, though it has been common to sever these words from that to which they relate, and to quote them as an appalling intimation that Simon had neither part nor lot in the common salvation. The very matter in question was the distinguishing apostolic prerogative of communicating the Holy Ghost by laying their hands on believers. And the desire to possess it, as well as the means by which Simon sought to obtain it, abundantly justify the conclusion, "Thy heart is not right in the sight of God."
But let us see whether the counsel which Peter gives to this greatly erring man is such as he would give to an unbeliever convinced of sin: "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." The first clause, it may be claimed, might be addressed either to a believer who had fallen into sin, or to an impenitent man; though we question whether the Word of God sanctions such an address to an impenitent man in which a single sinful act is thus held up to view. But without insisting on this, we may ask if there is, in the New Testament, anything that at all resembles this addressed to the impenitent, "Pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee"? Is this the Gospel to the perishing: "pray" and "perhaps"? Is there only a "perhaps" to be held out to the sinner as the alternative of everlasting condemnation? My soul! It was not thus that the message of the grace of God met thee at that hour of brooding despair, but with the unfettered certainty of the divine announcement, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." And we entreat our brethren to bethink themselves ere, by their hasty inferences in Simon's case, they lend the sanction of an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ to Satan's most cunning device against the peace of convicted sinners—"pray" and "perhaps"—instead of God's sure word, "Believe, and live."
But some one may allege that it is only confusion worse confounded to apply such language to a believer, as though there could be any uncertainty about the forgiveness of his sins. The weight of the objection would depend upon the scope of the word "forgive." So far as the guilt and condemnation of sin in the sight of God is concerned, the Word of God testifies that the believer is justified from all things; he cannot be brought into the position even of an accused person, "For who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?" Yet, as a child of God, he is subject to discipline; and his sins may often be visited with fatherly chastisements, such as temporal sufferings, bodily sickness, or death, as in the case of the Corinthians who perverted the Lord's Supper: "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep." Now in the case of such a judgment, believers are encouraged to pray for its remission: "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death." Here it is supposed that a brother may commit sin which God will judge by sickness or even by death, and the forgiveness of it in certain circumstances is promised as an answer of prayer. So James says, also, with reference to acknowledged believers, "The prayer of faith shall save the sick; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." The sickness may or may not be God's judgment against sin; if it is, the removal of the sickness is the forgiveness intended.
That these cases are parallel with the case of Simon is evident, not only from the connection of prayer with his deliverance from the threatened consequences of his sin, but also from the appeal which Simon makes to the Apostle: "Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me." This surely is not the language of a convicted sinner seeking salvation. But it is perfectly intelligible as the language of one who, saved by grace, sees with shame the sin into which he has fallen, and seeks, if it be consistent with the honor of Him whom he has insulted, to be delivered from the chastisement which he owns to be just. "None of these things which ye have spoken," he says, and what had they said? "Thy money perish with thee "—the solemn vindication of the authority and purity of the Apostles, and above all the judgment of God on the insulting thought that the gift of God might be purchased with money.
Even the uncertainty of the issue of prayer—"if perhaps"—is perfectly in accordance with what is elsewhere taught regarding prayer for the remission of judgment on the sin of a believer. For in the passage already quoted, from 1 John 5:16, the same thing is implied. The whole passage is: "If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it." The word rendered "pray" in the last clause is not the word rendered "ask" in the former part of the verse. There the word aitesei means "he shall ask or pray," but in the last clause the word erotesei signifies "he shall inquire into," with which the negative should be joined, so that the clause reads, "I say he shall not inquire into that." The question might arise, How may we know when a sin is unto death? This last clause is the Apostle's answer. As Dr. Bonar paraphrases the verse: "If any one see his brother in Christ sin a sin, and see him also laid upon a bed of sickness as a consequence of this, he shall pray for the sick brother; and if the sin be one of which the punishment is disease and not death, the sick man shall be raised up; for all sins that lead to sickness do not necessarily lead to death; and as to the difficulty, How shall we know when the sin is one which merely infers sickness, and when it is one which infers death? I say this, Ask no questions on this point, but pray and leave the case with God." Here is precisely where "if perhaps" comes in. Even among men, when the law has pronounced sentence on a criminal, his entreaties are not to set aside the sentence. But the objects of family discipline may often be best secured by listening to the cry of an erring child, or to the cry of the other children on his behalf. The principle underlying the administration of law is entirely different from the principle which underlies family discipline. What was the issue in the case of Simon we are not informed, but the silence of the record would rather favor the supposition that prayer was heard on his behalf.
Thus far it would seem that the Apostle addresses Simon and deals with him as one who believed. And there remains to be considered only the Apostle's judgment regarding the moral state of Simon, or his frame of mind. "For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity." Strong language indeed! but does it necessarily mean that he was still dead in trespasses and sins? Is it consistent with the fact that Simon believed also? There is no question that they were believers whom the Apostle charged to look diligently "lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled." It is the same word which is used in an exhortation to the saints at Ephesus: "Let all bitterness," etc., "be put away from you." The word commonly means harshness or austerity of temper; but taking it in the widest sense that can be given to it, these warnings and exhortations to believers plainly intimate that the root is there. Sin in the flesh—the flesh that lusteth against the Spirit-demands their ceaseless vigilance, that it may not reign in their mortal body. In Simon that root had sprung up in God-insulting sin, and the Apostle saw, probably, as he spoke to the offender, that the rebuke had only irritated him.
We would be careful not to weaken the force of the expression, "bond of iniquity," in contemplating the humiliation of a believer yielding to the tyrant from which he had been set free. It is not unmeaning language which the Apostle uses in his exhortation: "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof." Simon, alas! had obeyed it, even after grace had made him free. We do not palliate sin, and least of all the sins of believers. In man's estimate it might seem a light thing that Simon should aspire to the gift of an apostle, and approach an apostle with a bribe. But the Apostle saw in it a fresh outbreak of the fountain which had poured its poisoned stream over the life of the sorcerer; a return to the beggarly elements to which he had so long been enslaved. And now it was the very love which had met him in the depths of degradation and had raised him up to a place among the children, that made him a subject of discipline. A Father's displeasure must be manifested against the attempt to introduce the principles of the world into the relations of the Church: making the highest gifts the objects of unhallowed ambition and the subjects of corrupt traffic; yet, taking it in its connection and according to the use of the words in other passages, "I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity," describes not the state in which Simon committed the sin, but the mood in which he received the rebuke; for "bitterness" elsewhere evidently means irritation or displeasure, and the gall of bitterness would signify the heat of displeasure which brought the scowl upon his countenance, and showed that the influence under which he had sinned was not yet dissolved. If so, then may we not understand that these words brought the wanderer to himself, and that he expressed his humiliation and penitence when he entreated the Apostle to pray for him?
In view of the whole case, we ask an impartial verdict; nay rather—for we are not made judges here—we claim that you may not tamper with the statement of inspiration, "Simon himself believed also." Had the circumstances of the case required that you should get rid of that statement, it is not easy to see how you could have disposed of it except by a point-blank denial of its truth. Men have indeed quoted as parallel to it John 2:23, "Many believed in His name, when they saw the miracles which He did;" and John 6:14, "Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." In these cases "believed" means "believed;" but then what they believed about Him was not the truth. They believed in Him on grounds and in a character which He could not recognize. They supposed that they saw in Him powers which might serve the purposes of a carnal life, and minister to their comfort, ambition, indolence, or avarice. They said, "This is that prophet;" but what their idea of that prophet was, is manifest by their purpose "to take Him by force, to make Him a king." They believed in Him as the Messiah of their own carnal expectations.^* But it was very different with Simon. The word "also" in the statement links Simon's faith with that of the Samaritans; and they, we read, "believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ." And if you explain away that as other than saving faith, you make the Gospel itself of no effect and undermine the whole foundation of faith. Of what value are any of the promises to faith or any of the records of faith, if the testimony before us does not mean that Simon believed to the saving of his soul?
We scarcely fear that one to whom the Word of God is precious will ask, Why spend so much time in this inquiry? Of what consequence is it to us whether Simon was a believer whose sin was judged, or an unbeliever whose doom was sealed? It can never be a trifling thing to us whether a man, even living at so remote a period and in so distant a land, was saved or lost. But this is not the great point before us. The determination of this question affects the import of the whole narrative. If the facts prove that Simon was not a believer, then the record yields no great practical lessons to believers, and it would be difficult to see any important use to be served by preserving it in the volume of Scripture. But it is very different if we take the testimony of the Spirit to the fact that he "believed also" in its plain and unsophisticated import. Then we see not only into what a believer may be betrayed through the deceitfulness of sin, we see also with what holy severity God chastises sin in His children, and just because they are His children. This is an important point; and so far as we can understand the Scriptures, it was the very fact that Simon was a believer that brought upon him that judgment, "Thy money perish with thee." The heathen philosophers might deride, and the heathen mob might rage against all these things unscathed—it only furnishes new opportunities for the divine forbearance. The unbelieving Jews and Gentiles might unite, not only to insult the Apostles of Christ and load them with contumely, but to inflict upon them a death of ignominy and torture, like that from the midst of which their Master said, "Father, forgive them." But when a believer only comes to offer them money for a spiritual power, with what righteous severity is he at once met! And why this difference? Ah brethren! the presence of God, the temple of the living God, is a holy place. And do we know any thing of the holy fear that becomes it? From amidst the idle pomps, the carnal display, the luxurious equipments, the polished entertainments, the flippant levities of our so-called worshipping assemblies, we may do well to look back to the lowly gatherings in the name of Jesus, where even the unbelieving were constrained to own that God was in them of a truth, and where He came forth to vindicate and defend the purity of His dwelling-place in such ways that "great fear came upon all the church," and "of the rest durst no man join himself unto them."
Again, Why this difference? Is it that God treats the sins of the world with indifference, and, like some earthly fathers, is only exacting and stern within the limits of His own house? Perish the thought! Nay, brethren, but those who are now despising the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, will find that after their hardness and impenitent heart they are treasuring up unto themselves wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And then as to His own children—who will tell the measure of His love even in those chastisements which attest the holiness of Him with whom we have to do? It is not that He is lenient with the world and exacting in His own house; but "when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world."
We might profitably inquire why it is that the levity of these assemblies where fashion flaunts its vanities, intellect wins its laurels, and carnal art mimics the grand realities of the spiritual temple, is never arrested by the solemn judgment of an insulted God, and the assemblies scattered in terror from the sight of their impious entertainers, stricken dead in the very act. But for the present we only accept the fact that it is not so. They are as safe as the crowds who thronged heathen temples to regale their fancies with artistic ceremonials which charmed the wanton eye and ear. Yet, so far as the individual believer is concerned, it remains unalterably true that, "Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth." But alas! how often we miss the blessing He designs, and fail to recognize His hand! He chastens for our profit, that we might be partakers of His holiness. There are two words with which we would close a subject on which much remains unsaid. One is, "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, neither faint when thou art rebuked of Him;" and the other is, "If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged."
Footnotes:
* This article originally appeared just two years after the American Civil War in the periodical Waymarks in the Wilderness, 5 (1867): 35-50. The editor, James Inglis, was most likely the author. Our uncertainty is due to the nineteenth century custom of certain evangelical writers to remain anonymous in order to avoid undue praise or recognition.
* Ed. note: Another interpretation views these individuals as actual believers in Christ. See, for example, Zane C. Hodges, "Untrustworthy Believers-John 2:23-25" Bibliotheca Sacra 135 (1978): 139-52. A review of this article appears on pp. 89-90 of this issue of the Journal.
Grace always,
Ross ~ John 5:24

C.H. Spurgeon in Reply to 'Lordship Salvation'

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 16:11:17 GMT

This is one of the greatest replies I have read in response to 'Lordship Salvation' of which John Macarthur, John Piper, A.W. Pink, J.I. Packer, John R.W. Stott, and most other extreme, hyper-Calvinist theologians are proponents of. What's interesting is how Spurgeon, though a five-point Calvinist, never backs down from what He SEES in the simple reading of the scriptures! This is an excerpt from one of his sermons which is a response to those who pervert the Gospel by ADDING to it additional requirements that are unbiblical and mutilate the Free Grace Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is clearly - 'Faith Alone in Christ Alone for ETERNAL LIFE.'

Let us beware of adding requirements to the gospel of grace. Let us beware of adding LAW to the GOSPEL (see Galatians chapter 1). Let us not tell sinners how they must labor and strive and surrender and obey. Let us rather tell them of a crucified and risen Saviour and of their responsibility to believe in Him lest they perish in their sins. Read this excerpt, it is truly magnificent!

***

(The beginning is written by George Zeller, commenting on a perverted Gospel that is filled with law and works. It then moves on to Spurgeon's excerpt) ---

Perhaps no one has better answered this chapter by [A.W.] Pink [on Lordship/Commitment Salvation] than Charles Spurgeon who himself was a fervent Calvinist. However Spurgeon recognized the danger of mixing law with grace and adding things to God's simple command to believe on God's Son. I'm going to quote at length from one of Spurgeon's sermons entitled, "The Warrant of Faith." [This sermon is available from Pilgrim Publications, P.O. Box 66, Pasadena, TX 77501] This sermon is based on 1 John 3:23--"And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ." The following is a lengthy quote taken from this sermon by Spurgeon:

"O, when will all professors, and especially all professed ministers of Christ, learn the difference between the law and the gospel? Most of them make a mingle-mangle, and serve out deadly potions to the people, often containing but one ounce of gospel to a pound of law, whereas, but even a grain of law is enough to spoil the whole thing. It must be gospel, and gospel only.

"Thus FAITH is accepting God's great promises, contained in the Person of His Son. It is taking God at His Word, and trusting in Jesus Christ as being my salvation, although I am utterly unworthy of His regard. Sinner, if thou takest Christ to be thy Saviour this day, thou art justified; though thou be the biggest blasphemer and persecutor out of hell...if thou wilt honor God by believing Christ is able to forgive such a wretch as thou art, and wilt now trust in Jesus' precious blood, thou art saved from divine [eternal] wrath [corruption].

The WARRANT OF BELIEVING is the commandment of God. This is the commandment, that ye "believe on His Son Jesus Christ."

They (certain Calvinists) preached repentance and hatred of sin as the warrant of a sinner's trusting to Christ. According to them, a sinner might reason thus—"I possess such-and-such a degree of sensibility on account of sin, therefore I have a right to trust in Christ." Now, such reasoning is seasoned with fatal error. Whoever preaches in this fashion may preach much of the gospel, but the whole gospel of the free grace of God in its fullness he has yet to learn. In our own day certain preachers assure us that a man must be regenerated before we may bid him believe in Jesus Christ; some degree of a work of grace in the heart being, in their judgment, the only warrant to believe. This also is false. It takes away a gospel for sinners and offers us a gospel for saints. It is anything but a ministry of free grace.

If I am to preach the faith in Christ to a man who is regenerated, then the man, being regenerated, is saved already, and it is an unnecessary and ridiculous thing for me to preach Christ to him, and bid him to believe in order to be saved when he is saved already, being regenerate. Am I only to preach faith to those who have it? Absurd, indeed! Is not this waiting till the man is cured and then bringing him the medicine? This is preaching Christ to the righteous and not to sinners. "Nay," saith one, "but we mean that a man must have some good desires towards Christ before he has any warrant to believe in Jesus." Friend, do you not know that all good desires have some degree of holiness in them? But if a sinner hath any degree of true holiness in him it must be the work of the Spirit, for true holiness never exists in the carnal mind, therefore, that man is already renewed, and therefore saved. Are we to go running up and down the world, proclaiming life to the living, casting bread to those who are fed already, and holding up Christ on the pole of the gospel to those who are already healed? My brethren, where is our inducement to labour where our efforts are so little needed? If I am to preach Christ to those who have no goodness, who have nothing in them that qualifies them for mercy, then I feel I have a gospel so divine that I would proclaim it with my last breath, crying aloud, that "Jesus came into the world to save SINNERS!"

Secondly, to tell the sinner that he is to believe on Christ because of some warrant in himself, is LEGAL, I dare to say it—legal. Though this method is generally adopted by the higher school of Calvinists, they are herein unsound, uncalvinistic, and legal.

If I believe in Jesus because I have convictions and a spirit of prayer, then evidently the first and the most important fact is not Christ, but my possession of repentance, conviction, and prayer, so that really my hope hinges upon my having repented; and if this be not legal I do not know what is...If I lean on Christ because I feel this and that, then I am leaning on my feelings and not on Christ alone, and this is legal indeed. Nay, even if desires after Christ are to be my warrant for believing, if I am to believe in Jesus not because he bids me, but because I feel some desires after him, you will again with half an eye perceive that the most important source of my comfort must be my own desires. So that we shall be always looking within. "Do I really desire? If I do, then Christ can save me; if I do not, then he cannot." And so my desire overrides Christ and his grace. AWAY WITH SUCH LEGALITY FROM THE EARTH!

If you tell a poor sinner that there is a certain amount of humblings, and tremblings, and convictions, and heart-searchings to be felt, in order that he may be warranted to come to Christ, I demand of all legal-gospellers distinct information as to the manner and exact degree of preparation required. Brethren, you will find when these gentlemen are pushed into a corner, they will not agree, but will every one give a different standard, according to his own judgment. One will way the sinner must have months of law work; another, that he only needs good desires; and some will demand that he possess the graces of the Spirit--such as humility, godly sorrow, and love to holiness. You will get no clear answer from them.

And let me ask you, my brethren, whether such an incomprehensible gospel would do for a dying man? There he lies in the agonies of death. He tells me that he has no good thought or feeling, and asks what he must do to be saved. There is but a step between him and death—another five minutes and that man's soul may be in hell. What am I to tell him? Am I to be an hour explaining to him the preparation required before he may come to Christ? Brethren, I dare not. But I tell him, "Believe, brother, even though it be the eleventh hour; trust thy soul with Jesus, and thou shalt be saved."

How DANGEROUS is the sentiment I am opposing. My hearers, it may be so mischievous as to have misled some of you. I solemnly warn you, though you have been professors of the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for twenty years, if your reason for believing in Christ lies in this, that you have felt the terrors of the law; that you have been alarmed, and have been convicted; if your own experience be your warrant for believing in Christ, it is a false reason...

Sinners, let me address you with words of life: Jesus wants nothing of you, nothing whatsoever, nothing done, nothing felt; he gives both work and feeling. Ragged, penniless, just as ye are, lost, forsaken, desolate, with no good feelings, and no good hopes, still Jesus comes to you, and in these words of pity he addresses you, "Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

Our preaching, on the theory (erroneous theory) of qualifications, should not be, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved;" but "Qualify yourselves for faith, be sensible of your sin, be regenerated, get marks and evidences, and then believe."

They (the apostles) ought not to have commenced with preaching Christ; they should have preached up qualifications, emotions, and sensation, if these are the preparations for Jesus; but I find that Paul, whenever he stands up, has nothing to preach but "Christ, and him crucified."

Sinner, whoever thou mayest be, God now commands thee to believe in Jesus Christ. This is his commandment: he does not command thee to feel anything, or be anything, to prepare thyself for this. Now, art thou willing to incur the great guilt of making God a liar? Surely thou wilt shrink from that: then dare to believe. Thou canst not say, "I have no right:" you have a perfect right to do what God tells you to do. You cannot tell me you are not fit; there is no fitness wanted, the command is given and it is yours to obey, not to dispute. You cannot say it does not come to you—it is preached to every creature under heaven!" (end of excerpt)

A.W. Pink, in his chapter called "Saving Faith," is guilty of the very errors exposed by Spurgeon in the above quoted sermon [as well as other Lordship Salvation proponents like MacArthur, Piper, Stott, Packer, etc.]. Pink argues that saving faith is more than simple trust in the crucified One. Rather it involves a full surrender to Christ's Lordship, a hatred of sin, a hatred of self-pleasing, a full commitment, a fulfilling of Christ's demands for discipleship, etc. Such things are the results and fruits of saving faith, but to tell a sinner to do all these things is to add law to the gospel of grace, even as Spurgeon has so clearly pointed out.

***

Spurgeon saw the folly and perversion of this in his time - it most certainly has not gone away. We must KEEP THE FAITH by not allowing the Gospel to be perverted by men who add additional conditions for eternal salvation, in essence, perverting the FREE GIFT of the Gospel of Grace (Rom. 3:24). We must hold fast to this truth as Paul did (2 Tim. 4:1-8).

Grace always,

Ross ~ Rom. 4:4-5

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Thu, 08 Feb 2007 17:25:18 GMT

I will begin with a quote from Dr. Chafer and then move on in this posting by showing everyone a wonderful article I read on the Lucan understanding of 'arrangement' or 'preparation'.

**Dr. L.S. Chafer when discussing the the differences between the nature of 'Conversion' and 'Salvation':

'"Being only the human action of mind and will, conversion in the moral or spiritual sense is not equivalent to salvation, which in all its mighty transformations is ever and only a work of God for the individual who exercises faith in Christ. This second and more important aspect of the term conversion may indicate no more than reformation. It is the foremost counterfeit of true salvation. When doing the work of an evangelist, it is possible to secure conversions which are self-wrought, moral changes quite apart from genuine salvation with its forgiveness, new birth, and imputed righteousness. The student would do well to avoid the use of the word conversion when salvation is in view.” (Lewis Sperry Chafer, Systematic Theology [Dallas: Dallas Seminary Press, 1948], 7:93)'

**This article is taken from Robert N. Wilkin's most previous publication of the journal called 'Grace in Focus'.

The normal understanding of this passage is usually taken by Calvinists as some irresistable pulling by God making the depraved person (in the Calvinistic sense) believe in Christ - which is simply an outward evidence of previous regeneration. Dr. Wilkin does a wonderful job by giving us a much clearer translation of the Lucan understanding of the controversial passage: “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (NKJV).

****The Article****

A New View on Acts 13:48 - "As Many as Were Prepared for Eternal Life Believed"

Part 1 - My Old View

Nearly three years ago I wrote a Grace in Focus newsletter article (May-June 2004) on Acts 13:48 and the controversial phrase, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (NKJV). Calvinists typically use this verse to prove unconditional election. In that article I questioned whether the verse was about election. I suggested it might mean, “As many as devoted themselves to eternal life believed.”

Recently I received an email that pointed out that the verb in question, when used in the passive voice as it is in Acts 13:48, doesn’t carry the sense of being devoted. As I read the email and looked up the lexical evidence, I realized I was wrong.

After interaction with a friend, and further lexical and exegetical study, I believe I’ve arrived at a view that better fits the evidence.

Part 2 - Some Were and Some Were Not Prepared for Eternal Life

There is a clear connection between the reference to eternal life in v 48 and its mention two verses earlier. Paul and Barnabas were in Pisidian Antioch speaking in the synagogue to both Jews and Gentiles. Boldly Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews who were jealousy opposing them, "Since you reject [the word of God], and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles" (v 46). Then they cite two statements from Isaiah, "I have set you [or You] as a light to the Gentiles, that you [or You] should be for salvation to the ends of the earth." Luke then said, "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed [esan tetagmenoi] to/for eternal life believed (v 48)."

We should not overly press the idea in v 46 of people who were guilty of judging themselves unworthy of eternal life. Paul's point is that the Jews who rejected the saving message about Jesus were in effect also rejecting eternal life. While they didn't realize it, they were indicting themselves by their rejection of the apostolic word. The words of Jesus in John 3:18 come to mind where He teaches that those who do not believe in Him stand condemned already.

Two groups had two different relationships with eternal life. The first group did not receive it and judged themselves unworthy of it. They were not prepared when they first heard the saving message. The second group did receive it and these were ones whom God in some sense had prepared to believe in Christ.

Part 3 - The Verb Tasso Refers to Placing or Positioning Someone or Something

The word appointed in most translations of Acts 13:48 is a translation of the Greek verb tasso". The leading dictionary of NT Greek gives as the first meaning of this word "to bring about an order of things by arranging, arrange, put in place" (BDAG, p. 991b). The lexicon suggests that a number of NT usages, including the passage under discussion, fit under this nuance: Matt 8:9; Luke 7:8; Acts 13:48; Rom 13:1; 1 Cor 16:15.

BDAG suggests this specific understanding of Acts 13:48, "belong to, be classed among those possessing [eternal life]" (p. 991c). While I don't agree with that conclusion, it is instructive that the lexicon does not adopt the appointed to eternal life understanding.

The second major meaning of the word is "to give instructions as to what must be done, order, fix, determine, appoint" (p. 991cd). The lexicon suggests these verses carry those nuances: Matt 28:16; Acts 15:2; 18:2; 22:10; 28:23.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology article on tasso" (vol 1, p. 476) reminds us of the military uses of this word: "its first meaning is military: to draw up troops (or ships) in battle array, and so to post or station them."

Part 4 - Luke's Four Other Uses of Tasso All Have The Idea of Arrangement or Placement

But what did Luke have in mind for us to understand? One help is to look at other uses of tasso" in his two-volume work. He uses this word more than any other NT writer. There are four other uses in Luke-Acts: Luke 7:8; Acts 15:2; 22:10; 28:23.

Luke 7:8. A centurion, a man over 100 soldiers, said to Jesus, "I also am a man placed under authority." Of the four other Lucan uses, this one literally has the sense of military placement. This centurion was placed in his position by those above him.

Acts 15:2. "They determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem." The translation here is difficult. A more literal translation would be they arranged for [or positioned] Paul and Barnabas and certain others from among them to go up to Jerusalem. Once again, the idea of the arranging of people is evident here.

Acts 22:10. "Arise and go to Damascus, and there you will be told all things which are appointed [or that have been arranged] for you to do." Jesus here told Paul that in Damascus he would learn what his new life's work would be. The idea of arrangement or placement is again in view. On this occasion it is not a person, but things he will do in the future, that have been arranged. Certain tasks had been arranged for Paul to do by Jesus.

Acts 28:23. "So when they had appointed him a day [or Having arranged a day with him], many came to him." These leaders of the Jews wished to hear what Paul had to say about Jesus and His followers (vv 17-22). They arranged or agreed upon a day to hear him. This arrangement is of days and not people. Appointed seems to be a bad translation choice here.

Part 5 - The Idea of Arrangement or Placement Is Also Evident in Acts 13:48

The idea of arrangement and positioning fits well in Acts 13:48 too. An overly literal translation would be something like, "As many as had been arranged [or positioned] for eternal life believed." We might paraphrase this as follow: "As many as had been prepared for eternal life believed." When one makes arrangements for something, he prepares for it. Troops arranged in battle array are prepared to fight.

There is plenty of evidence in the rest of the NT of people being prepared for eternal life. In Acts 16:14 we learn that God "opened Lydia's heart that she might heed the things spoken by Paul and Silas." Paul said in 2 Cor 4:6 that "it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

In this way of viewing Acts 13:48, Luke is saying that the Gentiles who believed were people whom the Spirit had prepared for eternal life by opening their hearts. By contrast, the Jews of v 46 were ones who had not been prepared, whose hearts had not been opened, and hence who did not believe and did not receive life eternal.

This passage does not address the question as to whether we can do anything to get God to prepare us for eternal life. However, earlier in Acts we read of Cornelius, a God-fearing Gentile who was prepared by God because he had responded to the light he received in the synagogue (see Acts 10:4-9, 35). Later, in Acts 17:27, Luke cites Paul when he said that God has granted that all might grope for God and find Him.

Thus, this passage is not about election at all. None of the terms for election or choosing are used here. Rather, the issue is arrangement or preparation. This view makes sense in light of the contrast between vv 46 and 48, in light of the meaning of tasso", and in light of Luke's five uses of tasso".

**End of Article**

Another great understanding of this passage is seen in C. Gordon Olsen's book "Getting the Gospel Right: A Balanced View of Arminianism and Calvinism" where he interprets this Lucan passage similiar to what Dr. Wilkin has - not that it's dealing with unconditional individual election but upon arrangement or preparation.

Grace always,

Ross ~ Rom. 4:4-5