National Geographic Can't Find the Gospel

Returning from my Thanksgiving visit home, I had a few hours to kill waiting for my lay-over flight to board. So after finding out this particular airport doesn't have wifi (seriously? It's 2011), I naturally ducked into the nearest magazine store, hoping I would find something better than Bieber's new hairstyle to read about. My wildest dreams were realized when I came across this article in National Geographic on the King James Bible. I immediately knew this article deserved a blog post thanks to its rather Western-sounding subtitle: "The Bible of James: First printed 400 years ago, it molded the English language, buttressed the “powers that be”—one of its famous phrases—and yet enshrined a gospel of individual freedom. No other book has given more to the English-speaking world."

Points for using the term "gospel," but all of these and then some are lost when the words "individual" and "freedom" are tacked onto it. We'll get to this later, but let's first talk about how the Bible itself is treated in this article. This writer is a perfect example of the natural humanist mistaking the Bible as a book. What I mean is that he does not recognize that this is the Word of God, meaning (a) it has one true meaning and (b) this meaning is authoritative and must be followed, as it is from God. In typical postmodern secular thought, this author blames the Bible for everything from slavery to old Scottish men trekking through the snow on the Sabbath; he labels this the "dark side" of the translation. Now, of course, evil men have used the Bible for evil purposes, but the key here is evil men, not the Bible itself. The Bible has intrinsic meaning as the Word of God and is therefore above all other roots of authority, including human tampering. Their is no "dark side" to the Bible, the "dark side" is ourselves.

Now, more importantly, let's talk about this gospel of "individual freedom." On one level, we maybe can affirm this. The gospel could be said to be individual, because individual souls are saved by it, and can bring freedom, as Christ is the only true rest and salvation from sin and death. But I can almost assure you this author has neither of these two things in mind when he says these things. This phrase is riddled with Western thought of the rights of the individual, and especially the right of a person to have nothing prohibited of them. The same thoughts have brought the social ills of homosexual marriage and adoption, pornography, abortion, drug legalization, the sexual revolution, the commonality of adultery and divorce, and the like. Of course, these have always been problems within humanity, but western "individual freedom" has not only put these things in vogue, but have made them a human right. This is not what the gospel is about; in fact, it is about the opposite.Our gospel places us completely under the Lordship of Christ. True, his yoke is easy and light, but it's still a yoke. Our gospel is not about individual freedom, but individual devotion and complete surrender. By the way, this western "individual freedom" is not freedom at all, but a pristine picture of the humans slavery to sin. This freedom is actually the ultimate bondage.

"But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness." Romans 6:17-18

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that come from the law, but that which come through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith" Philippians 3:8-9

Blogosphere 11/22/2011

What you should be reading today:

First of all, I just have to give a shout out to my football (soccer, that is) team the LA Galaxy, for being the 2011 MLS Cup champs! Most of you probably won't care, but here is some tactical analysis of the game.

If you were going to read one article from this post read this one. A great article on why we as evangelicals love C.S. Lewis and hate Rob Bell.

A good article on why historical theology is good for pastoral ministry. Great for me, as I am a historical theology major looking to go into pastoral ministry, Lord-willing.

Two good book reviews for you to read: one on Greg Allison's new book "Historical Theology", and another on Andreas J. Köstenberger's book "Excellence: the Character of God and the Pursuit of Scholarly Virtue".

Book giveaway of the aforementioned "Historical Theology" by Greggory Allison, SBTS professor.

A great sample prayer service from Kevin de Young. This is very helpful and I look forward to formatting my own prayer services in the future.

An insightful blog on preaching a text that you don't really understand.

Let me know what you think and what your favorite article was.

Letter to a New Christian

Dear New Christian,

I am exceedingly joyful to hear about your salvation! God’s glorious gospel is certainly worth rejoicing, and do not be hesitant to do so. If the defeat of Satan and your own evil, coupled with an inclusion into the eternal family of Christ, is not worth celebrating, surely nothing on this earth is. I am writing this letter to you not simply to call you to rejoice, but to allow you to do so more readily through a more full knowledge of your salvation. What Christ has done for us and the breadth of his gospel will take an eternity to learn, but may this letter give you a starting point to grow from.

First, know that Christ has regenerated you. In other words, you know have spiritual life! The Scriptures tell us that we were dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2.1), but through Christ’s grace we are now alive (Eph 2.5), raised to life just as he was. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking of when he tells the Pharisee Nicodemus that he must be born-again by the Spirit (John 3). We know possess life we did not know before. We are now a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor. 5.17).  This regeneration not only made you capable of holding to the saving faith you now possess (John 3.5; Col. 2.13), but allows us to turn from our sin and become obedient to Christ (1 John 2.29, 3.9). This regeneration is the starting point for our salvation (keeping in mind, of course, that we are eternally elected for God’s salvation).

The moment at which you placed your faith in Christ, and so rejected the things of this world, we have come to call conversion. This involves two things: repentance and faith. We know that faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the word of God (Rom. 10.17), and this has no doubt been your experience. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen (Heb. 11.1). As the apostle John says, to all who receive Christ, he gave the power to become children of God (John 1.12), or as the prophet Joel describes it “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Joel 2.32). You must have faith in Christ, that he has taken your sin upon him, has paid your penalty, and has risen again, showing his victory. Faith is completely embracing the true Christ, as proclaimed in the Scriptures. This faith is coupled with repentance, or a hate of sin, and subsequence forsaking of it. The apostle Paul talks about a godly grief that leads to salvation (2 Cor. 7:9-10); this is what we mean by repentance. The Christian is to understand, however, that this repentance is not perfect. The apostle John rightly says that the Christian who says he does not sin is a liar (1 John 1.8). What repentance requires is not perfection, but a hate of sin like the apostle Paul describes in Romans 7. So, conversion is a turning from sin into Faith in Christ.

A term often sadly overlooked to a new Christian is the term justification. Although you may not know this term, you already understand the concept. Justification deals with our standing before God. As you already know, we are sinners (Rom 3.23) and therefore rebel against God and separate from him. Legally, we are criminals against the eternal law of the creator of the Universe. Justification is a changing of this legal status. This is done by Christ taking our sin upon him as a sacrifice for our sin (Rom. 3.25). Yet he not only justifies us by taking away our sin, but he gives us his righteousness. This is called imputation. He became sin that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21). Martin Luther called this the Great Exchange: all of our sin, for all of Christ’s righteousness. This is all only of God’s great love and grace (Rom 3.23-24).

Realize that this salvation also gives you adoption into the family of God. We were not always so, for the Scriptures call us “children of wrath” (Eph 2.3) and “sons of disobedience” (Eph 2.2, 5.6), and even sons of Satan (John 8.42-44) before we were saved by the grace of God. But know, through faith, we are all Sons of God through faith (Gal. 3.23-26). Our prayers are given new power, as we pray to our Father in heaven (Rom. 8.14-17). Further, we are now heirs with Christ, that we may be glorified with him (Rom. 8.17). We will talk more of this later.

A natural outpouring of our regeneration and repentance is sanctification. Sanctification is the term we use to describe God’s progressive work of making us more and more like Christ in our lives. This starts quite certainly at our conversion, where we are washed by the regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3.5). In Romans 6 the apostle Paul sets out several important doctrines in regard to sanctification. As I previously stated, this does not suggest perfection, for while sin no longer holds dominion over us and we have been set free from sin, we still from time to time fall into sin. Yet, as Paul says, the true Christian slowly yields their bodies to the righteousness for sanctification (Rom. 6.19). Yet, while we battle in this life against sin, take comfort that one day we will be like the spirits of just men, and so made perfect (Heb. 12.23).

You must understand that, as a true believer in Christ, you will persevere to the end. The Lord is quite clear when he says that all of his sheep will be saved, and none shall be able to be snatched out of his hand (John 10.27-29). Realize, that all true Christians persevere and keep their faith to the end. If you hold to the truths of God’s gospel, there is no reason by which you should doubt your election. As Paul says, continue in your faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard (Col. 1.23). Continue in your sanctification, making your calling and election sure (1 Peter 1.3-11), and so being assured that you will never fall. No one who perseveres in the gospel will be rejected by Christ.

And for those who persevere to the end? We may joyfully await our glorification. As we said earlier, this is because of our adoption with Christ and our sharing as fellow heirs with him (Rom 8.17). We will receive glorified bodies, just as our Lord did when he rose from the dead (1 Cor. 15). Our lowly bodies will be transformed into glorious bodies, like his (Phil. 3.20-21). Greatly look forward to the day of our glorification!

Understand that much of these rewards come as a result of our union with Christ. We wre chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1.4), we are given Christ’s righteousness (Rom. 5.19), and we are raised with Christ (Col. 2.12). In fact, we must think of ourselves as being unable to do anything apart from being “in Christ.” This is healthy and good of you to do.

Now, may the knowledge of the grace of God and His gospel continue to grow within you, guided by the Spirit and God’s Church. Be sure to stay under the teaching of God’s Church, subject to its discipline, and continue in the fellowship of the believers. In Christ,

Andy Smith

Blogosphere 11/18/2011

Here are some great articles I've read recently, check them out:

A great blog on three characteristics from Titus that aren't seen in nearly enough churches today. Please read, this is brief, but well done.

Seven concise reasons the pastor/teacher is vital. Brilliant (in keeping with the British theme)

Very interesting look at Methuselah, and what it truly means that he was the oldest man to ever live.

Kevin de Young gives 7 helpful hints to pastors for having prayer meetings. Insightful and concise; a really good post.

This one is a little longer, but an excellent discussion of the arminian/calvinist question by Michael Horton. Here, specifically discussed, is God's decree of sin and whether this had a purpose or not.

An interesting article on what the idea of "religious freedom" owes to English Puritanism and Oliver Cronwell. I found this article interesting and I'm not sure I agree, as I'm quite sure English Puritanism was out not for "religious libery", by their liberty. They thought their religion was right, and didn't want catholicism or anglicanism to rule the day. You agree?

A phenomenal article on developing spiritual gifts in the church. Great Jonathan Leeman article.