Archive July 2009

Peace and Quiet

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Timothy 2:1-2)

True faith is indestructible. It is purified but not consumed by the fire of persecution. Times of hardship force us to rethink our motives and priorities, to rededicate our lives to the Lord Jesus, and to redouble our efforts to live for him with courage, holiness, and compassion. It destroys complacency and generates resolve to abandon personal comfort and security for the sake of the gospel, so that the faith of Jesus Christ may be established in the hearts of men.

False converts cannot endure, because they lack true faith. They are exposed, and fall by the wayside. This relieves the church of the burden of non-Christian infiltrators by cleansing the membership of hypocrites, and this reduces internal conflicts and improves its example before the world. The Bible teaches that a small impurity, a little trouble area, can spread and infect the entire congregation. And Paul cites the Law's command to expel an evil person from the community. When the church fails to deal firmly with heretics and hypocrites, hardship can compel progress.

So much spiritual good has been produced by hardship that although our flesh cringes from it, some of us may wish for God to revive his people by it, even by sending extreme persecution instigated by political authorities. Those of us who do not wish for this may still wonder if that is what it takes to awake the church from its compromise, its impurity, its inaction, and its evident lack of commitment to the faith once for all set forth by the prophets and the apostles.

Even so, Paul shows us that a peaceful climate is more conducive to the propagation of the Christian faith, and that this should be what believers pray for and desire. True faith stands firm under pressure, but comfort and tranquility can also test a person's character. The flesh senses no danger, but will the spirit then go to sleep? Scripture warns us to remain always alert, lest temptation overtakes us unawares. That said, there are obvious advantages to peace and quiet. A stable environment permits Christians to establish churches and seminaries, to marry and to raise children, and to pursue long-term projects that serve the interest of Christ's kingdom. The freedom to study, to preach, and to worship is invaluable, and is the desire of all those who thirst for a deeper fellowship with God.

Government can make life easier or harder for Christians, and we are frequently disappointed by it. Its policies often restrict our freedom to preach and to worship, and its laws often fall short of upholding God's moral commands. But God is in control of the government. The Bible says that he directs the heart of a king like a stream of water. He controls even the thoughts and decisions of the highest human powers. And through the apostle he instructs us to pray for all those who are in authority, in order that they might know and obey God, or if God's will for them does not go this far, at least enact regulations that permit the safe and free practice of the Christian religion. This also reminds us to pray about the governments in other nations, so that they would not mistreat their people, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ.

The Good Fight

Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme. (1 Timothy 1:18-20)

There is a spiritual conflict that defines and pervades every area of human life. This conflict is between Christ and Satan, good and evil, truth and deception, and by extension from these, often between Christians and non-Christians. There is no choice and no neutral position in this conflict. Whether or not you like it, you are a part of it. There are only two sides to this conflict, and you either stand with one or the other. Your involvement in it is likely to be more evident if you are a minister of the gospel, so that your responsibility in connection to it might be greater, but no one is exempt from it.

You may say, "I do not want to be against anyone or anything. I stand for Christ and for the gospel." However, Christ is not nothing or an empty idea. He is a person, and he represents rationality and righteousness. A person can be hated and opposed, and therefore a person can have enemies. And rationality, truth, wisdom, and so on, are opposed to irrationality, deception, and foolishness. Righteousness is not the same as godlessness, but is opposed to it.

You may wish to insist that you are only for Christ, and that you are against no one and against nothing. But Christ himself is against all those who disagree with him, and all those who disbelieve in him and disobey him. And they are against him as well. Therefore, if you are for Christ, you are against the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is against you. Jesus told his disciples that the world would hate them because it hated him first. Non-Christians oppose him and hate him, and so they hate all those who follow him, who agree with him, believe in him, and preach about him. The world hates Christ, and if you are for Christ, then the world will hate you, and will fight against you. Instead of avoiding this conflict, God want us to fight everything that opposes his authority and his revelation.

This is a "good" fight. We stand on the side of God, of that which is holy, true, rational, and beautiful. The effort is worthwhile because, according to God's own standard, these things are worth fighting for. They should be defended and advanced on the earth. It is a legitimate use of spiritual force because God has commanded us to engage in battle as soldiers of Jesus Christ. It is a joyous fight because the rewards are great and ultimate victory is assured.

The fight is much more than a playground scuffle. Paul tells Timothy to "fight the good fight." The words used there could be translated "fight a good warfare" or "wage a good campaign." The apostle has in mind a prolonged conflict that requires strategy and stamina. Victory belongs to the wise and informed, to the prayerful and contemplative, to the courageous and sacrificial, and not to those who exhibit only brief outbursts of religious excitement.

There are two aspects to our fight. There is the fight to maintain and to advance a pure and full form of Christianity in the objective and public sense. It is a fight for "the faith" – that is, the Christian faith or the Christian religion. The emphasis falls on the doctrines that define our system of belief. If you lose doctrine, you lose the truth, and you lose your contact with God and with Christ. Thus if you lose doctrine, you lose everything. Then, there is the fight to persist and increase in our commitment to the Christian faith in the personal and individual sense. Each individual must perceive the objective truth of Christian doctrines, and then believe and follow these doctrines. Some have repressed the voice of conscience to renounce that which they recognize to be true, and thus shipwrecked the faith that they profess.

These two aspects of the fight are related. Objective doctrines can affect the subjective desires of an individual, and an individual's desires can determine whether he wishes to believe the right doctrines. Sound doctrines honor the wisdom, kindness, and majesty of God. They tend to be simple and direct, and they instruct men in truth and holiness. False doctrines, on the other hand, exalt man – they please his pride and approve his autonomy. They stimulate sin and speculation, and tends to turn religion into satisfaction without propitiation, and the amusement of the self rather than the worship of God. This is why Jesus said that if anyone chooses to perform God's will, he will perceive whether or not Christian doctrines came from God. Since one affects the other, which one comes first – the knowledge of the truth, or the commitment to the truth? It is God's action on the soul that comes first, and then both factors strengthen each other. May God work in our hearts by his Word and Spirit, so that we may want to do the truth, and know the truth to do!

Just about every biblical doctrine and practice is under attack today, and the enemies are often able to gain a foothold even in our churches because the ministers and members compromise with the world, and they sometimes even actively introduce errors into the congregations. This is no time to avoid conflict or to shun the inconvenience of personal involvement. Christ calls us to fight! If you have any sense of loyalty to the Lord, then you will fight, and you will win, if you will hold fast to sound doctrine and a clear conscience.

Strange Uses of Scripture

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine?that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. (1 Timothy 1:7-11)

The false doctrines that Paul refers to have to do with "myths and endless genealogies." It is possible that he has in mind a form of Jewish mysticism that is taken up with elaborate stories and pedigrees. Although these might be interwoven with what they find in the Old Testament, they do not come from the Old Testament, but are constructed by their imagination. Thus their teachings are not based on a straightforward interpretation of the Law, but a dangerous mixture of biblical references and a collection of private, twisted, and speculative claims.

It is unimportant whether this is the exact nature of the false doctrines, since we know enough from what Paul explicitly says in the letter. That is, the false teachers present themselves as teachers of the Law, but they do not use the Law properly. And this improper use of the Law has to do with or is evidenced by the "myths and endless genealogies" in their teachings. Paul's reply reinstates the correct intent and purpose of the Law – it defines iniquities and condemns transgressors. It exposes man's rebellion, and uncovers all that is contrary to sound doctrine and all that fails to conform to the gospel. In using the Law as a sourcebook of strange wisdom and to fuel their esoteric fancies, the false teachers enable people to feel and to seem religious without having to confront to true force of its teachings.

This approach to Scripture is attractive to sinners, because it allows them to display some admiration for God's revelation without having to acknowledge its message. Thus it has continued to this day in various forms. Examples are numerous. Some have made the Law's dietary regulations into weigh-loss programs. Their materials pay lip service to God's wisdom throughout, but they refer to the health benefits that they claim these regulations confer rather than the Law's concerns regarding spiritual cleanliness, sin and atonement, and its foreshadowing of a Savior. Instead of extracting the true value of the Law, they make a mockery of it.

Then, there are those who comb through the Bible in the attempt to discover obscure references to dinosaurs, giants, and aliens, or hidden codes embedded in the text containing predictions about recent and future tyrants, wars, assassinations, tsunamis, and economic collapses. As Paul said, they want to be teachers of the Bible, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm. Their strange teachings appeal to those who want to give the appearance of being Christians, but who in reality desire a religion that is vastly different from what the Bible teaches.

The proper approach to the Bible is to take it for what it presents itself to be. It is a written record from God, a revelation, about himself and about his dealings with humanity. It is about God's power and justice, about man's depravity and failure, and then about God's grace and Christ's sacrifice, about sound doctrine and worship, and about the appointed destinies of Christians and non-Christians. The Bible is not a book of strange and esoteric doctrines, written to fuel unhealthy speculations or to amuse men with fanciful tales. It is written to instruct and empower the people of God, and to stand as a witness against those who turn away from him.

True Son in the Faith

To Timothy my true son in the faith… (1 Timothy 1:2)

God told the first man, Adam, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it." Although it is often called the "Cultural Mandate," and it is indeed a mandate, it does not suggest the scope of the culture-making that some Christians attempt to infer from it. The command to populate the earth encourages human reproduction, and to make the enterprise more reliable, it might also imply the establishment of families and states. And the command to subdue the earth might provide justification for the development of all relevant techniques and technologies, and whatever it takes to exploit nature for our short-term and long-term benefits, and for God's glory and honor, which might include a preservation of nature itself. Many other less obvious implications that are in line with the spirit and the purpose of the mandate might also be permitted.

The mandate indeed requires mankind to "make culture" in this sense. But it seems too farfetched to make it justify everything from painting to capitalism, and from poetry to rock climbing. This is not to say that these things, and many others that people attempt to justify by the Cultural Mandate, are illegitimate (although some may very well be illegitimate, or at least a waste of time), but they cannot be justified on the basis of the Cultural Mandate. Sometimes people are enthusiastic about things that they wish to pursue if they had not become Christians, and after their conversion, they wish to find biblical justification to pursue these very things, as if they were even commanded to do so.

Reproduction is without doubt a part of the mandate. God commanded man to increase and fill the earth. Nevertheless, as with some of the other commands that have been intended to be carried out by entire communities, no individual is expected to fulfill it in all the possible ways. For example, the very fact that one cannot be male and female at the same time, or to reproduce by one's sole efforts and resources, demonstrate that it is impossible for any one person to fulfill even the most basic demands of the mandate. Humanity as a whole fulfills it.

In addition, there are different ways to contribute to the fulfillment of the mandate. Certainly, we should not say that a person who adopts and raises orphans, but who has no children of his own, fails to fulfill the Cultural Mandate. He indeed contributes to the increase of humanity. It is a mistake to think that every individual must have his own biological children in order to fulfill the Cultural Mandate. The Bible says that each man has his own gift from God, so that one might remain single, and another might marry. Each must contribute to the Cultural Mandate in his own way.

Christ adds another dimension, a spiritual dimension, to the fulfillment of the Cultural Mandate. After the Fall, God divided mankind into two lines – the line of Christ and the line of Satan – and promised that a Savior would be born who would crush the head of the serpent. All are born as sinners, but some are changed and translated to the line of Christ. It is essential to understand that the two lines of humanity are not distinguished by blood, but by God's sovereign choice of the individuals, that is, by his kindness toward these individuals and by the work of his Spirit in them. Many errors have originated due to a failure to consistently apply this principle. It remains one of the root causes for a perversion of the gospel.

God promised Abraham that his descendants would fill the earth, but he never intended this to mean his natural descendants, or his descendants according to the flesh. Rather, God referred to his descendants according to the spirit, or descendants that would come about by promise, even by acts of his resurrection power. This was indicated in Ishmael and Isaac. Both were the natural descendants of Abraham, but only Isaac was the child of promise, a son that God brought about by his power, and who Abraham symbolically received from the dead when he offered him to God on an altar, only to be halted by the Angel of the Lord at the last moment. So, the children that God promised would be descendants of Abraham, would be related to him, not by the common bond of blood, but by the common bond of faith. And they would increase, multiply, and fill the earth.

This teaching would continue to receive emphasis throughout the Bible. John the Baptist rebuked the Jews for thinking that they could appeal to Abraham as their natural ancestor. He said that God could make children of Abraham out of rocks. Jesus denied that the Jews were the descendants of Abraham, since the Jews were plotting to murder Jesus, something that Abraham would never have done. In fact, Abraham saw the day of Christ and rejoiced. This is clear indication that the promise concerning Abraham's descendants refers to those who inherit the faith of Abraham, and not the blood of Abraham. He revered Christ, and anyone who does not is no son of his. In another context, Jesus stated that anyone who does the will of the Father is his brother, sister, and mother. And in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes that those who are of faith are the children of Abraham, and heirs of the promise.

As Christians, our mandate is not just to make children, or even to make culture, but to "make disciples of all nations." We are not to fulfill only the Cultural Mandate, but also the Great Commission. And just as Abraham's true children are children of his faith, our true sons are those who follow our Christian doctrine and example, and not those who inherit our genetic materials. I would much more readily regard someone as a son who shares my beliefs and visions, and who could promote and continue my work, than I would someone who is my biological offspring but who has not inherited my spiritual characteristics, and who does not share my devotion to Christ.

Timothy was not Paul's biological offspring, but the apostle called him a "true son," that is, a son in the faith. Are you a true son in the faith? And are you making sons in the faith? Seeing that the flesh profits nothing, but it is the spirit that counts with God, let us commit ourselves to produce not a carnal and natural legacy, but a spiritual legacy for God's glory and honor.

The Christian's Self-Definition

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God… (1 Timothy 1:1)

It is common for people to define themselves by things that are important to them, that they are proud of, or that have shaped them. For this reason, it is not unusual for them to define themselves in terms of nationality, race, training and occupation, gender, marital status, and so on. They often find it natural and necessary, and even commendable, to characterize their whole lives by these categories. Those who have undergone notable or even traumatic experiences might also allow these things to shape their identity and outlook. So there are those who define themselves as cancer survivors, or holocaust survivors, or survivors of rape, abuse, and so on.

This is unacceptable to the Christian faith. Problems occur when people define themselves by these human categories, and then allow them to frame the way they perceive the world and relate to others. For example, a person who mainly defines himself by his race might even refuse to become a Christian. I have heard of a Chinese woman who refused to believe in Christ because the Son of God in his human nature was not Chinese. Truth was secondary to her, but race was paramount. Of course, even the Jews had an analogous problem. Although Jesus was a Jew in his human nature, they were reluctant to accept someone from Nazareth. Then, there was a Chinese pastor who tried to prove that the Chinese are in fact of Jewish blood. If this sounds ridiculous, then so is "Messianic" Christianity, and so is "Black" Christianity. We know that they are poor Christians the moment they identify themselves by these terms. The rebuke that Jesus gave Peter applies to them – they have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.

We must not sympathize with this way of thinking. Christ is to be so central in our self-definition that he should overpower and overshadow all human categories and concerns. We may be aware of these human factors, but they should become relatively insignificant in how we define ourselves. If Christ is Lord in your mind, and if he is all in all, how can your relation with him be defined by your race, your gender, or your education?

If anyone had reason to boast about the things of the flesh, Paul did. But he said that he regarded all his human credentials as rubbish, even as dung, so that he may gain Christ. He was not a Jew who happened to be a Christian, but he was a Christian who happened to be a Jew. He was not a scholar who also believed in Christ, but as a believer in Christ, he happened to be a scholar as well. His intellect did not lend credibility to the Christian faith, but it was his Christian identity that made his intellect credible. He did not define his Christian faith relative to some human factor, such as his pedigree, or education, or occupation; rather, he defined himself and everything about himself in relation to Christ and his place in Christ's kingdom. And he viewed everything in the world from that perspective. This is another way of saying that a Christ-centered self-definition and a truly Christian worldview go together.

Are you an American? Wonderful, but consider it rubbish so that you may gain Christ. If you are a Christian at all, you are a Christian who happens to be an American, and not the other way around. You are first a citizen of heaven. Are you black? That is fine, but forget about it. If you are a Christian, you are a new creation in Christ, a unique race of God's chosen ones. "Wait," you say, "should I not take pride in my race?" Of course not. Who told you this nonsense? The world taught you this, not the Bible. If you must be proud that you are black, and if you must make a point of stressing this, then do not complain when others express their pride that they are white instead of black like you. Then, of course, the result is division rather than unity in Christ. What is your occupation? Are you a psychologist? Good, but do not think that psychology can explain everything, and do not read the Bible with a psychologist's mindset. Rather, judge psychology with a Christian's mindset. Christ is to be the central reference point for all our thinking and behavior. Race, gender, and class make no difference, but only a new creation in Christ Jesus.

You may complain that it is impossible to approach anything, including the Christian faith, without bringing to it our own backgrounds and presuppositions. This is true. But if you are a Christian, then you are a new creation in Christ – you have a new background. And if you are a Christian, then the Bible commands you to renew your mind – get a new set of presuppositions. Reorient your thinking, and enthrone Christ in your mind as the reference point by which you define yourself and everything else. Then, you will find it impossible to approach anything apart from your Christian background and presuppositions. Only then can you be assured that you have a firm grasp on your identity as a Christian.