J I Packer, the theologian who has probably written more introductions to Christian theological books than any other living mortal, addresses the solemn question, "What is Hell?" In terms of influence on contemprary evangelicalism and generations of Christians, Packer's influence is inestimable. His writing is brisk and packed to the hilt with edifying, readable truth ("Packer by name, packer by nature"). In a kind of miniature homage to Packer, I hope to lift an old article on one of his first (and still very influential) books "Fundamentalism and the Word of God" and post it sometime soon. In the meantime, enjoy this post. And if you can get your hands on anthing by Packer, give it a read.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Peter Says: Get Some Nuts (Because the End of All Things is Near) III
"The end of all things is near. Therfore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. Off ospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has reveived to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4.7-11)
Peter writes in verse 7: “The end of all things is near.” This brings us to our second and last point. The end of all things is near therefore we the church (as a pilgrim people) must live a distinctive and prophetic way of life.
Do you know that the church – by simply being – by simply meeting and gathering – is a prophetic voice in the world? It may not seem that way from time to time. But only the church can declare two truths that every person needs to hear. First of all, everyone needs to know that God has not abandoned the world. That is one truth every person must hear. The other truth the church declares is that God will judge the world. Two truths. Both of them stand or fall together. We cannot afford to proclaim one without the other. Both are absolutely vital and everyone must hear them.
They must hear the first truth so that they may know that there is a sovereign God of supreme love and power who created them and the world and everything in it. They must know that there is a God who is sacrificially committed to a dying world – so much so that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ. They must know that Jesus Christ is the one who suffered that they may be healed of their sin and spiritual blindness. They must hear about Jesus the Saviour-King.
But they must also hear that Jesus the Saviour-King is also the Righteous Lord. He cannot permit injustices like rape and murder and unjust violence and adultery and pride to go unpunished. For he is utterly holy and righteous and just. It cannot be that all the heinous evils of the world will go unpunished in the end. It cannot be that all the terribly wrongs of history will not be put right. There must be judgement. But the truth is everyone of us is implicated in the evil of the world; we are all sinners and therefore accountable to God. People must know that there is a judgement to come. No stain of sin, not a hint of evil, or of pain or of suffering can have a part in the New Creation God will bring into being through his Son.
How will the church communicate two such vital truths to a world so full of death, chaos and hopelessness? How is the prophetic voice of the church going to reach a dying culture? Peter spells it out. The end of all things is near therefore we must be:
- clear-minded and self-controlled (verse 7). In other words, have a clear-eyed grasp of the gospel. Know the truth. Be self-controlled so that you can pray. We cannot pray if we are filled with agitation or envy or anger. We cannot pray if we loose control in the chaotic pursuit of self-centred pleasure or if we become drunk and loose the run of ourselves
The end of all things is near therefore above all:
- love one another deeply (verse 8). Paul says in Romans (13.10) that love is the fulfilment of the law. All the commandments are summed up in this one: “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18). In John 13.35 Jesus says: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love is the most vital and distinct mark of the church. As Peter says, love covers over a multitude of sins. Our love for one another enables us to forgive one another and self-sacrificially serve one another. This love will express itself in very practical ways, not least of which is:
- offering hospitality to oneanother without groaning (verse 9). It doesn’t get much more practical then this, does it? Peter commands us to open our homes to one another, to share what we have with one another in a spirit of service and love. It is quite incredible; Peter begins by emphasising the imminent end of all things and then in the same breath he commands us to invite each-other over for a cup of tea. The reality of the eschaton intrudes into the most practical, seemingly mundane acts of service. By offering hospitality without groaning we anticipate the eternal Kingdom to come. By living in the manner Peter calls us to we live out the reality of the Kingdom to come in the flesh, in space-time now.
The end of all things is near therefore:
- each one should use whatever gift has been given to serve eachother. There is an overwhelming variety of gifts and temperaments here at Immanuel. Everyone of us is unique and gifted with a particular ability and perspective nobody else shares. It’s worth saying here too that the lists of spiritual gifts that we find in the pastoral epistles are not exhaustive but merely suggestive. It’s impossible to neatly classify the dizzying array of gifts we all possess between us. Having been created in the image of God we each possess different gifts and abilities; it may be intellectual passion, artistic creativity, administrative brilliance or musical genius. All these gifts with which we are endowed by creation are touched by the Holy Spirit when we are created anew in Christ.
We have been gifted so that we may serve one another. Our gifts are only discovered in service and never in introspection. In other words, it is only in the context of community and fellowship that we discover our gifts. We don’t discover them by sitting in solitude and studying our inner selves. As we gather in community others will recognise and encourage our the gifts they recognise in us. A major reason for gathering as church is to enable us to serve one another with the gifts we have. “Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (verse 10).
As Peter says (4.11) we can only serve eachother in the strength God provides. In our own power we quickly grow weary of serving one other and we become either burnt out or fed up. If we love and serve one another in God’s strength as Peter commands then the prophetic voice of the church will sound out in the midst of the city. The quality of our mutual love, the richness of our communal life and the truth we have to share will impact lives and rescue people out of the flood of dissipation into the fullness of life in Christ Jesus.
Only the church can point ahead to where the universe is going. The gospel alone provides the answers people hunger for. For what were we created? We were created and called “so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (verse 11b). Only the church can proclaim this message. Only we can proclaim it as we choose to live out our earthly every-day life not for evil human desires but for the will of God.
May God give us the wisdom, the passion and the desire to do just that. May we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ so that we may suffer in the world for the sake of pointing to him; the only Saviour-King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Signing Off For Now -
The Scribbling Apprentice
Peter writes in verse 7: “The end of all things is near.” This brings us to our second and last point. The end of all things is near therefore we the church (as a pilgrim people) must live a distinctive and prophetic way of life.
Do you know that the church – by simply being – by simply meeting and gathering – is a prophetic voice in the world? It may not seem that way from time to time. But only the church can declare two truths that every person needs to hear. First of all, everyone needs to know that God has not abandoned the world. That is one truth every person must hear. The other truth the church declares is that God will judge the world. Two truths. Both of them stand or fall together. We cannot afford to proclaim one without the other. Both are absolutely vital and everyone must hear them.
They must hear the first truth so that they may know that there is a sovereign God of supreme love and power who created them and the world and everything in it. They must know that there is a God who is sacrificially committed to a dying world – so much so that he gave his only Son Jesus Christ. They must know that Jesus Christ is the one who suffered that they may be healed of their sin and spiritual blindness. They must hear about Jesus the Saviour-King.
But they must also hear that Jesus the Saviour-King is also the Righteous Lord. He cannot permit injustices like rape and murder and unjust violence and adultery and pride to go unpunished. For he is utterly holy and righteous and just. It cannot be that all the heinous evils of the world will go unpunished in the end. It cannot be that all the terribly wrongs of history will not be put right. There must be judgement. But the truth is everyone of us is implicated in the evil of the world; we are all sinners and therefore accountable to God. People must know that there is a judgement to come. No stain of sin, not a hint of evil, or of pain or of suffering can have a part in the New Creation God will bring into being through his Son.
How will the church communicate two such vital truths to a world so full of death, chaos and hopelessness? How is the prophetic voice of the church going to reach a dying culture? Peter spells it out. The end of all things is near therefore we must be:
- clear-minded and self-controlled (verse 7). In other words, have a clear-eyed grasp of the gospel. Know the truth. Be self-controlled so that you can pray. We cannot pray if we are filled with agitation or envy or anger. We cannot pray if we loose control in the chaotic pursuit of self-centred pleasure or if we become drunk and loose the run of ourselves
The end of all things is near therefore above all:
- love one another deeply (verse 8). Paul says in Romans (13.10) that love is the fulfilment of the law. All the commandments are summed up in this one: “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18). In John 13.35 Jesus says: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Love is the most vital and distinct mark of the church. As Peter says, love covers over a multitude of sins. Our love for one another enables us to forgive one another and self-sacrificially serve one another. This love will express itself in very practical ways, not least of which is:
- offering hospitality to oneanother without groaning (verse 9). It doesn’t get much more practical then this, does it? Peter commands us to open our homes to one another, to share what we have with one another in a spirit of service and love. It is quite incredible; Peter begins by emphasising the imminent end of all things and then in the same breath he commands us to invite each-other over for a cup of tea. The reality of the eschaton intrudes into the most practical, seemingly mundane acts of service. By offering hospitality without groaning we anticipate the eternal Kingdom to come. By living in the manner Peter calls us to we live out the reality of the Kingdom to come in the flesh, in space-time now.
The end of all things is near therefore:
- each one should use whatever gift has been given to serve eachother. There is an overwhelming variety of gifts and temperaments here at Immanuel. Everyone of us is unique and gifted with a particular ability and perspective nobody else shares. It’s worth saying here too that the lists of spiritual gifts that we find in the pastoral epistles are not exhaustive but merely suggestive. It’s impossible to neatly classify the dizzying array of gifts we all possess between us. Having been created in the image of God we each possess different gifts and abilities; it may be intellectual passion, artistic creativity, administrative brilliance or musical genius. All these gifts with which we are endowed by creation are touched by the Holy Spirit when we are created anew in Christ.
We have been gifted so that we may serve one another. Our gifts are only discovered in service and never in introspection. In other words, it is only in the context of community and fellowship that we discover our gifts. We don’t discover them by sitting in solitude and studying our inner selves. As we gather in community others will recognise and encourage our the gifts they recognise in us. A major reason for gathering as church is to enable us to serve one another with the gifts we have. “Each one of us should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms” (verse 10).
As Peter says (4.11) we can only serve eachother in the strength God provides. In our own power we quickly grow weary of serving one other and we become either burnt out or fed up. If we love and serve one another in God’s strength as Peter commands then the prophetic voice of the church will sound out in the midst of the city. The quality of our mutual love, the richness of our communal life and the truth we have to share will impact lives and rescue people out of the flood of dissipation into the fullness of life in Christ Jesus.
Only the church can point ahead to where the universe is going. The gospel alone provides the answers people hunger for. For what were we created? We were created and called “so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (verse 11b). Only the church can proclaim this message. Only we can proclaim it as we choose to live out our earthly every-day life not for evil human desires but for the will of God.
May God give us the wisdom, the passion and the desire to do just that. May we arm ourselves with the attitude of Christ so that we may suffer in the world for the sake of pointing to him; the only Saviour-King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Signing Off For Now -
The Scribbling Apprentice
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Peter Says: Get Some Nuts II
1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit. (1 Peter 4.1-6)
So who is the fool? According to Mr T it’s the faker on the pitch crying out for a free-kick (so is the “speedwalka” and the “toe-dippa”.) But who is the fool here? Who is living a fruitless life that will come to nothing? Look again at verse 3 and following: “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatory. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
In the end, it’s worth facing the whateve ridicule and the discomfort our peers will heap on us because of the ultimate things. Death and judgement will come and only Christ can save people. Death will come and only Christ has conquered it. Therefore live it out, says Peter. Suffer for the sake of deep moral commitment to God brought about through the life-saving power of the gospel. In doing so, others without hope will see it. Then they too may be saved from the flood of dissipation that goes nowhere but the bleak despair of eternal hell.
Before we move on to the third post ("Get Some Nuts Because the End of All Things is Near") I think it’s worth saying this: I’m not telling you that enjoying pleasure is wrong and neither is Peter. The God of Christianity is not a pleasure-hating God. How could he be? He created the senses; sex is his idea. This voluptuous world with all its colours and textures are the work of his hands. How could God be a pleasure-hating God if he sent his Son to rescued us from a pleasure-less eternity? God cannot be a pleasure-hating God if he promises us the intense joy of heaven through Christ his Son. Peter is not telling us to deny ourselves that which is good and God-given. A pleasure-hating God would not create a world in which a Taco Taco Beef Burrito with extra Jalepenos could exist; there is too much correspondence between its tangy taste and my personal pleasure for that to be the case.
We are pleasure loving creatures. We delight in beauty and sensation. That is not a mistake. But the abuse of pleasure and the bondage and harm it leads to is wrong. Sin distorts everything that is good; sexual hunger becomes lust, love of pleasure becomes debauchery, love of good food becomes gluttony, the in-born human sense of the divine is warped into idolatory; sin reduces human life to nothing more than a flood of dissipation. It is spiritually fatal and ultimately seals us off from the living God. There cannot be a more heart-rending tragedy or a more fruitless loss than that of a human life spent on triviality and distorted pleasure. Peter wants to spare us from such a tragedy. As Christians we want to call people from such a wasted life of foolishness and ultimate loss.
It’s a shocking thing isn’t it? In an ultimate sense, a life without Christ is a wasted life. A life lived for sin and self-serving pleasure is utter folly. And it only ends in tragedy.
We must continue to live God-honouring lives that magnify Christ and contradict the flow of dissipation and spiritual darkness around us. People need to see that there is an alternative; that there is hope. They need to see that they are not doomed to the death-grip of drug addiction or drink-induced numbness. They need to to see that death, boredom and despair don’t have the last word. So don’t run a mile from what Peter calls the pagan flood of dissipation. Stay close. You’ve been stationed where you are to be a burning light in the smog of spiritual darkness and pain that engulfes so many lives.
If that is not reason enough to push through and press on, verse 5 has got to be: “But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
In the end the live Peter calls us to is the only life worth living. The alternative is unthinkable. It is folly. It is fruitless and tragic. Yes, to obey Jesus as Lord is costly and difficult. It is painful and uncomfortable to fight against sin and unbelief day-by-day. It is difficult to face the derision of other who think our belief is delusion and our way of life straight-jacketed morality. But, in the end, it is the only way that leads to life. And, in the end, it is the only path to blessing and fullness. It is the only way to live. The alternative is folly.
May God in his infinite love grant us the spiritual strength to go Get Some Nuts so that we might be gracious Jesus-people amidst a flood of dissipation. May we offer the spiritually lost the only thing that can satiate the awful thirst and the gnawing hunger: the gospel of Christ. Amen.
Signing Out -
The Scribbling Apprentice
So who is the fool? According to Mr T it’s the faker on the pitch crying out for a free-kick (so is the “speedwalka” and the “toe-dippa”.) But who is the fool here? Who is living a fruitless life that will come to nothing? Look again at verse 3 and following: “For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatory. They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
In the end, it’s worth facing the whateve ridicule and the discomfort our peers will heap on us because of the ultimate things. Death and judgement will come and only Christ can save people. Death will come and only Christ has conquered it. Therefore live it out, says Peter. Suffer for the sake of deep moral commitment to God brought about through the life-saving power of the gospel. In doing so, others without hope will see it. Then they too may be saved from the flood of dissipation that goes nowhere but the bleak despair of eternal hell.
Before we move on to the third post ("Get Some Nuts Because the End of All Things is Near") I think it’s worth saying this: I’m not telling you that enjoying pleasure is wrong and neither is Peter. The God of Christianity is not a pleasure-hating God. How could he be? He created the senses; sex is his idea. This voluptuous world with all its colours and textures are the work of his hands. How could God be a pleasure-hating God if he sent his Son to rescued us from a pleasure-less eternity? God cannot be a pleasure-hating God if he promises us the intense joy of heaven through Christ his Son. Peter is not telling us to deny ourselves that which is good and God-given. A pleasure-hating God would not create a world in which a Taco Taco Beef Burrito with extra Jalepenos could exist; there is too much correspondence between its tangy taste and my personal pleasure for that to be the case.
We are pleasure loving creatures. We delight in beauty and sensation. That is not a mistake. But the abuse of pleasure and the bondage and harm it leads to is wrong. Sin distorts everything that is good; sexual hunger becomes lust, love of pleasure becomes debauchery, love of good food becomes gluttony, the in-born human sense of the divine is warped into idolatory; sin reduces human life to nothing more than a flood of dissipation. It is spiritually fatal and ultimately seals us off from the living God. There cannot be a more heart-rending tragedy or a more fruitless loss than that of a human life spent on triviality and distorted pleasure. Peter wants to spare us from such a tragedy. As Christians we want to call people from such a wasted life of foolishness and ultimate loss.
It’s a shocking thing isn’t it? In an ultimate sense, a life without Christ is a wasted life. A life lived for sin and self-serving pleasure is utter folly. And it only ends in tragedy.
We must continue to live God-honouring lives that magnify Christ and contradict the flow of dissipation and spiritual darkness around us. People need to see that there is an alternative; that there is hope. They need to see that they are not doomed to the death-grip of drug addiction or drink-induced numbness. They need to to see that death, boredom and despair don’t have the last word. So don’t run a mile from what Peter calls the pagan flood of dissipation. Stay close. You’ve been stationed where you are to be a burning light in the smog of spiritual darkness and pain that engulfes so many lives.
If that is not reason enough to push through and press on, verse 5 has got to be: “But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.”
In the end the live Peter calls us to is the only life worth living. The alternative is unthinkable. It is folly. It is fruitless and tragic. Yes, to obey Jesus as Lord is costly and difficult. It is painful and uncomfortable to fight against sin and unbelief day-by-day. It is difficult to face the derision of other who think our belief is delusion and our way of life straight-jacketed morality. But, in the end, it is the only way that leads to life. And, in the end, it is the only path to blessing and fullness. It is the only way to live. The alternative is folly.
May God in his infinite love grant us the spiritual strength to go Get Some Nuts so that we might be gracious Jesus-people amidst a flood of dissipation. May we offer the spiritually lost the only thing that can satiate the awful thirst and the gnawing hunger: the gospel of Christ. Amen.
Signing Out -
The Scribbling Apprentice
Peter Says: Get Some Nuts I
"1Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin. 2As a result, he does not live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. 3For you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do—living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. 4They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you. 5But they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. 6For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to men in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit." (1 Peter 4.1-6)
To my mind, we need to bring an important question to our text: like Mr T, is Peter simply telling us to get some nuts? Is he simply telling us to get it together, to quit our jibber-jabber and get on with the hard graft of Christian living?
He tells us in verse 1: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” Peter’s command has an almost military-like quality. He uses Mr. T language: arm yourself with the attitude of Christ. He who has suffered in his body is done with sin. In other words, is Peter simply telling us to man up and follow Jesus? Is Peter trying to beat us into submission with his words? Is he coming to us like Mr T and telling us to toughen up?
Peter continues in verse 2. As a result of what Christ has done, we are not to live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. He goes on (verse 3): “You have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatory.”
Fool, you’ve spent enough time doing foolish things. You’ve had you’re fill of pleasure. Now flex your moral muscle sukka. Turn from that old way of life and suffer for the sake of what you profess. Get some nuts. It’s time to meet your friend Pain. Do it fool or there’ll be trouble with a capital Mr. T.
Is that what Peter is saying? I think that’s very important question to ask of our passage. I think in one sense it is close to what Peter is saying. I think that Peter is calling Christians to suffer for the sake of deep moral commitment to God – without a doubt. But this deep moral commitment has been brought about in us through the regenerating (life-giving, life-transforming, heart-changing) power of the gospel.
This is the very important thing to take note of; this is what makes Peter’s commands so different to Mr T’s aggressive and completely arbitrary commands. We are called to suffer for the sake of a deep moral commitment. But we are only called to such a life and we can only choose to live such a life because of the gospel. What God has done through Christ precedes Peter’s command that we live and suffer for Christ. What God has done through Christ – the gospel – precedes and enables us to respond to Peter’s commands (in verses 1 and 2) with a “Yes” and an “Amen”.
In fact, verse 1 of chapter 4 has a double meaning. The verse also applies to us; those who suffer for the sake of their faith in God, refusing to sin, do suffer in some sense. Those who choose to suffer only suffer because they are done with sin. As soon as any Christian begins to fight sin, suffering of one kind or another will ensue.
We’re going to flesh out the meaning of this verse as it applies to us in a moment. But first let’s zone in on what it says about the Person of Jesus. He is the one who has suffered and dealt with sin. The therefore of verse 1 sends us back into the packed verses of the chapter 3. There, in verse 18 and onwards Peter writes: “For Christ died once for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring to God.” This really is the heart of the gospel: Jesus the Righteous One died for you and I – undeserving, amoral wretches – so that we might live to God. By dying our death on the tree, Jesus dealt with the sin-issue at the heart of our being that separates us from the Holy, Creator God we were made to serve.
But Peter doesn’t stop there. Jesus is Saviour; yes. But, says Peter, Jesus Christ is also the Lord. Peter continues in chapter 3 verse 19 and following: Jesus was put to death in the body he but he was raised to life again. Essentially, chapter 3 verses 19 to 22 are like a victory parade: Jesus Christ the Son of God – the one who was put to death to rescue sinners – has been raised from death. He has ascended to the Father’s side and in so doing he has made a mockery of death; he has made a mockery of Satan; he has made a mockery of evil.
Peter says that (verse 21 and 22) Jesus “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” There is no square inch of the cosmos that has not been submitted to Christ’s all-consuming, total rule. There is no unseen, spiritual power that has not been submitted to him. He is over all things; he is above all things. He is the Lord.
"Therefore" says Peter in chapter 4 verse 1: Therefore because Christ is the one who has died for you; because he is the one who bore your sins in his body on the tree – because he has rescued you from futility, from meaninglessness and death, from sin and hell; because he has saved you, live for him. Now give him your life.
But that’s not all. Therefore, says Peter (chapter 4 verse 1), because Jesus Christ is the LORD – because there is no square inch of reality not presently under his reign and lordship – because angels and demons and powers and authorities and principalities and nations and worlds are subject to him – bow down before him and serve him with your life.
Jesus is at God’s right-hand. He is the Lord of life. He orchestrates your day-by-day living. He sustains your very being moment by moment. Therefore: live for him. Obey him and serve him. He is the LORD. He is the Supreme Lord; there is no authority higher than Jesus Christ. There is no other god that can contest his supreme and total authority. He is Lord and King. He is Lord and King and therefore (as we’ll see in a moment) it is utterly fruitless to ignore him and disobey him.
“Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in is body is done with sin” (chapter 4 verse 1). Arm yourselves with the same attitude as Christ who suffered for you: you have been saved by him that you may now live for him.
Unless we place Peter’s commands in the context of the gospel truth he unfolds in chapter 3 verses 18 to 22 we will only meet a Mr.T lookalike: a cranky moralising bully telling us to restrain ourselves and live better lives. We must see that Peter’s commands are rooted in the only thing that can and will enable us to follow through with what he asks of us.
The gospel is a rescue mission from beginning to end; a gratuitous, unexpected act of love, completely undeserved. Peter can only call us to conform to a new way of life because we have been saved from what we were becoming when we did not know God. He is calling us now to live a new way of life not for the sake of morality, or respectability. He is calling us to live it out because the alternative is utter folly. It is poor foolishness. Peter wants to walk away from a life that will only bring spiritual death. Like an apostolic Mr T, Peter warns us not to be a crazy fool by running headlong into the abyss of destruction when abundant life is offered us on a plate.
Signing Off -
The Scribbling Apprentice
To my mind, we need to bring an important question to our text: like Mr T, is Peter simply telling us to get some nuts? Is he simply telling us to get it together, to quit our jibber-jabber and get on with the hard graft of Christian living?
He tells us in verse 1: “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.” Peter’s command has an almost military-like quality. He uses Mr. T language: arm yourself with the attitude of Christ. He who has suffered in his body is done with sin. In other words, is Peter simply telling us to man up and follow Jesus? Is Peter trying to beat us into submission with his words? Is he coming to us like Mr T and telling us to toughen up?
Peter continues in verse 2. As a result of what Christ has done, we are not to live the rest of his earthly life for evil human desires, but rather for the will of God. He goes on (verse 3): “You have spent enough time in the past doing what the pagans choose to do – living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing and detestable idolatory.”
Fool, you’ve spent enough time doing foolish things. You’ve had you’re fill of pleasure. Now flex your moral muscle sukka. Turn from that old way of life and suffer for the sake of what you profess. Get some nuts. It’s time to meet your friend Pain. Do it fool or there’ll be trouble with a capital Mr. T.
Is that what Peter is saying? I think that’s very important question to ask of our passage. I think in one sense it is close to what Peter is saying. I think that Peter is calling Christians to suffer for the sake of deep moral commitment to God – without a doubt. But this deep moral commitment has been brought about in us through the regenerating (life-giving, life-transforming, heart-changing) power of the gospel.
This is the very important thing to take note of; this is what makes Peter’s commands so different to Mr T’s aggressive and completely arbitrary commands. We are called to suffer for the sake of a deep moral commitment. But we are only called to such a life and we can only choose to live such a life because of the gospel. What God has done through Christ precedes Peter’s command that we live and suffer for Christ. What God has done through Christ – the gospel – precedes and enables us to respond to Peter’s commands (in verses 1 and 2) with a “Yes” and an “Amen”.
In fact, verse 1 of chapter 4 has a double meaning. The verse also applies to us; those who suffer for the sake of their faith in God, refusing to sin, do suffer in some sense. Those who choose to suffer only suffer because they are done with sin. As soon as any Christian begins to fight sin, suffering of one kind or another will ensue.
We’re going to flesh out the meaning of this verse as it applies to us in a moment. But first let’s zone in on what it says about the Person of Jesus. He is the one who has suffered and dealt with sin. The therefore of verse 1 sends us back into the packed verses of the chapter 3. There, in verse 18 and onwards Peter writes: “For Christ died once for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous to bring to God.” This really is the heart of the gospel: Jesus the Righteous One died for you and I – undeserving, amoral wretches – so that we might live to God. By dying our death on the tree, Jesus dealt with the sin-issue at the heart of our being that separates us from the Holy, Creator God we were made to serve.
But Peter doesn’t stop there. Jesus is Saviour; yes. But, says Peter, Jesus Christ is also the Lord. Peter continues in chapter 3 verse 19 and following: Jesus was put to death in the body he but he was raised to life again. Essentially, chapter 3 verses 19 to 22 are like a victory parade: Jesus Christ the Son of God – the one who was put to death to rescue sinners – has been raised from death. He has ascended to the Father’s side and in so doing he has made a mockery of death; he has made a mockery of Satan; he has made a mockery of evil.
Peter says that (verse 21 and 22) Jesus “has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand – with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.” There is no square inch of the cosmos that has not been submitted to Christ’s all-consuming, total rule. There is no unseen, spiritual power that has not been submitted to him. He is over all things; he is above all things. He is the Lord.
"Therefore" says Peter in chapter 4 verse 1: Therefore because Christ is the one who has died for you; because he is the one who bore your sins in his body on the tree – because he has rescued you from futility, from meaninglessness and death, from sin and hell; because he has saved you, live for him. Now give him your life.
But that’s not all. Therefore, says Peter (chapter 4 verse 1), because Jesus Christ is the LORD – because there is no square inch of reality not presently under his reign and lordship – because angels and demons and powers and authorities and principalities and nations and worlds are subject to him – bow down before him and serve him with your life.
Jesus is at God’s right-hand. He is the Lord of life. He orchestrates your day-by-day living. He sustains your very being moment by moment. Therefore: live for him. Obey him and serve him. He is the LORD. He is the Supreme Lord; there is no authority higher than Jesus Christ. There is no other god that can contest his supreme and total authority. He is Lord and King. He is Lord and King and therefore (as we’ll see in a moment) it is utterly fruitless to ignore him and disobey him.
“Since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in is body is done with sin” (chapter 4 verse 1). Arm yourselves with the same attitude as Christ who suffered for you: you have been saved by him that you may now live for him.
Unless we place Peter’s commands in the context of the gospel truth he unfolds in chapter 3 verses 18 to 22 we will only meet a Mr.T lookalike: a cranky moralising bully telling us to restrain ourselves and live better lives. We must see that Peter’s commands are rooted in the only thing that can and will enable us to follow through with what he asks of us.
The gospel is a rescue mission from beginning to end; a gratuitous, unexpected act of love, completely undeserved. Peter can only call us to conform to a new way of life because we have been saved from what we were becoming when we did not know God. He is calling us now to live a new way of life not for the sake of morality, or respectability. He is calling us to live it out because the alternative is utter folly. It is poor foolishness. Peter wants to walk away from a life that will only bring spiritual death. Like an apostolic Mr T, Peter warns us not to be a crazy fool by running headlong into the abyss of destruction when abundant life is offered us on a plate.
Signing Off -
The Scribbling Apprentice
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Re-examining "Calvinism"
An illuminating segment culled from a book by Bernard Ramm examining the troubled interface between Calvinism and culture. A helpful correction to what he terms the "Calvin-stereotype". Worth quoting in full I think:
"Some of the things said about Calvin make one wonder if most people writing about Calvin have ever read him. It is hard even for scholars to break away from the Calvin-stereotype. Calvin’s theses are essentially those of Luther. Reason in sin makes man proud and defiant of God’s truth. Therefore, the supreme virtue of sinful man before God is humility. At this point Calvin begins a discussion of the fact that “man’s nature endowments [are] not wholly extinguished [by the fall of sin].” (Institutes Book 2, paragraph 12-17) He devotes six very impressive paragraphs to maintain that thesis. His style is so elegant and the language so clear that anything short of giving the full text itself leaves so much unsaid. I will, therefore, resort to a sampling of his thought.
Although the supernatural gifts of God to man in creation were lost through sin, the natural gifts were not, and enough reason remains in man so that man is to be distinguished from the beasts. Sin could not “completely wipe out” reason for “some sparks still gleam” in man. Nor did man’s will utterly perish. Then Calvin makes the following remarkable comment:
“For we see implanted in human nature some sort of desire to search out the truth to which man would not at all aspire if he had not already savoured it. Human understanding then possesses some power of perception, since it is by nature captivated by love of truth.” (Institutes Book 12, paragraph 2)
Next he states that man is a social creature and all men have within themselves “universal impressions of a certain civic faith dealing and order” and it is these seeds which give rise to specific laws for man knows “law and order” before he is ever taught it. The seeds of law have “been implanted in all men.” The conclusion that Calvin draws is that if all men have some sense of political order then “this is ample proof that in the arrangement of this life no man is without the light of reason.”
Next he discusses art and science and finds that the capacity for art and science are gifts of God for all men. They are not natural endowments as if independent from God, but they exist because of God. Calvin regards “the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of all truth.” Therefore if we despise art and science – fundamentalists take note! – “we condemn and reproach the Spirit himself,” for it logically follows that if the Spirit is the fountain of art and science, to despise art and science is to despise their author, the Spirit.
Calvin then puts in a commending word for ancient jurists, doctors, men of mathematical sciences, and pagan poets. Even though Scripture calls these men “natural men,” nevertheless they “were sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good.” This is not all in accord with the rantings one finds in so many books which claim Calvin thought human nature totally depraved and therefore totally corrupt and totally bereft of anything worthy of dignity and respect. This is the difference between Calvin of caricature and the Calvin of the Institutes.
In paragraph sixteen Calvin pushes further his thesis that “human competence in art and science also derives from the Spirit of God.” He makes the sharp observation that “if we neglect God’s gift freely offered in these arts, we ought to suffer just punishment for our sloth.” Finally he speaks of the general grace of God as the source of all reason, science, art and learning. He concludes that “we still see in this diversity some remaining traces of the image of God, which distinguish the entire human race from the other creatures.”
This concept of the general grace of God has been developed by later Reformed theologians into the systematic doctrine of common grace. It is called common because it is, in Calvin’s word, general, that is, it applies to all men, unregenerate and regenerate. It is called grace because man has no right to it. By sin man has forfeited all. Special revelation, special grace, is that which redeems man. Man shall survive and not devour himself out of existence by his hatreds, nor degenerate into the life of a brute by loss of reason, but shall have a culture and civilization with government, law, education, art, science, and economics. In this God has given all men grace.
Abraham Kuyper has been called the greatest Calvinist since Calvin, and he has pursued this vein of Calvin’s thought with force and consistency. For example, in his book on Calvinism he indicates that Calvinism is not just a doctrine of salvation but a total life system involving politics, science, and art. He writes:
“Thus understood Calvinism is rooted in a form of religion which was peculiarly its own, and from this specific religious consciousness there was developed first a peculiar theology, then a special church-order, and then a given form for political and social life, for the interpretation of the moral and world-order, for the relation between nature and grace, between Christianity and the world, between church and state, and finally for art and science.” (Lectures on Calvinism, pp. 10)
What Kuyper says of art is also important in showing that evangelical theology has a world-affirming dimension that so frequently gets dropped out in its exposition. Kuyper writes of art as follows:
“As image-bearer of God, man possesses the possibility to create something beautiful and to delight in it. This artistic ability is in man no separate function of the soul but an unbroken (continuous) utterance of the image of God…Understand that art is no fringe that is attached to a garment and no amusement that is added to life, but a most serious power in our present existence, and therefore its principal variations must maintain, in their artistic expression, a close relation with the principal variations of our entire life; and since, without exception, these principal variations of our entire human existence are dominated by our relation to God, would it not be both a degradation and an underestimation of art, if you were to imagine the functions, into which the art-trunk divides itself, to be independent of the deepest root which all human life has in God?” (Lectures on Calvinism, pp. 142)"
Certainly bucks the standard trend of interpretations that boils Calvin down to nothing more than a grim and puritanical ideologue.
Signing off -
The Scribbling Apprentice
"Some of the things said about Calvin make one wonder if most people writing about Calvin have ever read him. It is hard even for scholars to break away from the Calvin-stereotype. Calvin’s theses are essentially those of Luther. Reason in sin makes man proud and defiant of God’s truth. Therefore, the supreme virtue of sinful man before God is humility. At this point Calvin begins a discussion of the fact that “man’s nature endowments [are] not wholly extinguished [by the fall of sin].” (Institutes Book 2, paragraph 12-17) He devotes six very impressive paragraphs to maintain that thesis. His style is so elegant and the language so clear that anything short of giving the full text itself leaves so much unsaid. I will, therefore, resort to a sampling of his thought.
Although the supernatural gifts of God to man in creation were lost through sin, the natural gifts were not, and enough reason remains in man so that man is to be distinguished from the beasts. Sin could not “completely wipe out” reason for “some sparks still gleam” in man. Nor did man’s will utterly perish. Then Calvin makes the following remarkable comment:
“For we see implanted in human nature some sort of desire to search out the truth to which man would not at all aspire if he had not already savoured it. Human understanding then possesses some power of perception, since it is by nature captivated by love of truth.” (Institutes Book 12, paragraph 2)
Next he states that man is a social creature and all men have within themselves “universal impressions of a certain civic faith dealing and order” and it is these seeds which give rise to specific laws for man knows “law and order” before he is ever taught it. The seeds of law have “been implanted in all men.” The conclusion that Calvin draws is that if all men have some sense of political order then “this is ample proof that in the arrangement of this life no man is without the light of reason.”
Next he discusses art and science and finds that the capacity for art and science are gifts of God for all men. They are not natural endowments as if independent from God, but they exist because of God. Calvin regards “the Spirit of God as the sole fountain of all truth.” Therefore if we despise art and science – fundamentalists take note! – “we condemn and reproach the Spirit himself,” for it logically follows that if the Spirit is the fountain of art and science, to despise art and science is to despise their author, the Spirit.
Calvin then puts in a commending word for ancient jurists, doctors, men of mathematical sciences, and pagan poets. Even though Scripture calls these men “natural men,” nevertheless they “were sharp and penetrating in their investigation of inferior things. Let us, accordingly, learn by their example how many gifts the Lord left to human nature even after it was despoiled of its true good.” This is not all in accord with the rantings one finds in so many books which claim Calvin thought human nature totally depraved and therefore totally corrupt and totally bereft of anything worthy of dignity and respect. This is the difference between Calvin of caricature and the Calvin of the Institutes.
In paragraph sixteen Calvin pushes further his thesis that “human competence in art and science also derives from the Spirit of God.” He makes the sharp observation that “if we neglect God’s gift freely offered in these arts, we ought to suffer just punishment for our sloth.” Finally he speaks of the general grace of God as the source of all reason, science, art and learning. He concludes that “we still see in this diversity some remaining traces of the image of God, which distinguish the entire human race from the other creatures.”
This concept of the general grace of God has been developed by later Reformed theologians into the systematic doctrine of common grace. It is called common because it is, in Calvin’s word, general, that is, it applies to all men, unregenerate and regenerate. It is called grace because man has no right to it. By sin man has forfeited all. Special revelation, special grace, is that which redeems man. Man shall survive and not devour himself out of existence by his hatreds, nor degenerate into the life of a brute by loss of reason, but shall have a culture and civilization with government, law, education, art, science, and economics. In this God has given all men grace.
Abraham Kuyper has been called the greatest Calvinist since Calvin, and he has pursued this vein of Calvin’s thought with force and consistency. For example, in his book on Calvinism he indicates that Calvinism is not just a doctrine of salvation but a total life system involving politics, science, and art. He writes:
“Thus understood Calvinism is rooted in a form of religion which was peculiarly its own, and from this specific religious consciousness there was developed first a peculiar theology, then a special church-order, and then a given form for political and social life, for the interpretation of the moral and world-order, for the relation between nature and grace, between Christianity and the world, between church and state, and finally for art and science.” (Lectures on Calvinism, pp. 10)
What Kuyper says of art is also important in showing that evangelical theology has a world-affirming dimension that so frequently gets dropped out in its exposition. Kuyper writes of art as follows:
“As image-bearer of God, man possesses the possibility to create something beautiful and to delight in it. This artistic ability is in man no separate function of the soul but an unbroken (continuous) utterance of the image of God…Understand that art is no fringe that is attached to a garment and no amusement that is added to life, but a most serious power in our present existence, and therefore its principal variations must maintain, in their artistic expression, a close relation with the principal variations of our entire life; and since, without exception, these principal variations of our entire human existence are dominated by our relation to God, would it not be both a degradation and an underestimation of art, if you were to imagine the functions, into which the art-trunk divides itself, to be independent of the deepest root which all human life has in God?” (Lectures on Calvinism, pp. 142)"
Certainly bucks the standard trend of interpretations that boils Calvin down to nothing more than a grim and puritanical ideologue.
Signing off -
The Scribbling Apprentice
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