Perseverance in Hebrews

A friend on Facebook raised the question of whether Eternal Security/Perseverance of the Saints is something new to the New Covenant and therefore foreign to the Old. But this seems clearly to contradict the central point of the Book of Hebrews.

The large point of the Book of Hebrews is that the New Covenant is the fulfillment of the Old Covenant by Christ, and is therefore better. And for that reason, the warnings against apostasy are intensified, not lessened. Eternal security is always conditioned on eternal election manifested in true faith accompanied by faith-filled works. The whole point is that there is no difference between the two covenants in this. Those who persevere are saved, those who don’t, aren’t saved, and won’t be saved.

Wherever salvation exists, Perseverance must exist as well, the flip side of it being, as Dr. Sproul put it, God preserving us or persevering with and in us. One might argue that, based off of the failure of the Old Covenant, there was less persevering during the Old. This is a point of those holding to New Covenant Theology, and it is to a degree a fair point. The Old was insufficient in itself, not having the work of Christ, but merely foreshadowing. But in the ebbs and flows of Israel’s relationship with God, we see countless of those in whom salvation was real. This is the focus of Hebrews 12:1-13:1, after all. Abraham, as Paul says, was justified by faith, as were all those after him walking in his faith. Salvation is always at its core the same - to persevere is to be saved.

The Israel That Isn’t Israel

 Dispensationalism has always taught that Israel cannot be reassembled until the Church is raptured, because this is still the Dispensation of the Church, and God will not deal with Israel during this dispensation. God is working through the Church alone right now. None of the prophecies that supposedly still apply to Israel will be fulfilled during this age. And so all those verses that Dispies continue to meme out about Israel? They are irrelevant, according to their own system of interpretation. What everybody keeps calling “Israel” isn’t Biblical Israel, per Dispensationalism. This is a basic teaching of the system.

This “Israel” that’s been gathering since 1948? It isn’t Israel.

I find it strange that people who have sat under this teaching for decades still don’t understand this. But often I find even the pastors and teachers teaching it don’t understand it either.

Living in the New Jerusalem

 If we’re currently living in Babylon rather than Jerusalem, then it’s amazing how well the Gospel, Scripture, and the Church have spread throughout Babylon over the past two thousand years. I would have expected more failure.

It’s John MacArthur syndrome, a disconnect between soteriology and eschatology. It’s acting as if Total Depravity was the beginning and the end of the thing, and ignoring the other four points of Calvinism.

“All authority in heaven and on earth have been given to Me.” It’s not as if He was vague in that. Unbelief, faithlessness, pessimillennialism, anti-intellectualism, sloth, laciviousness, plain old erroneous theology - that’s what has brought us the failure we see. But this generation’s failure won’t stop God’s final conquest.

When Moses lowered his arms, the battle turned against Israel. But when he obeyed God and kept his arms raised, Israel saw victory. Stop lowering your arms. Stop expecting failure. This world belongs to Jesus. He bought it with His blood. Act like it.

9/11 and Our Continuing Apostasy

 Immediately after 9/11, the churches in America were flooded with people seeking answers. Special prayer services were held. But since then, the churches are more empty than ever. We’ve opened the doors to unrestrained immigration. Drugs pour across the border and usage is out of control. Human trafficking continues. We have Muslim communities, mosques, the Islamic call to prayer going out multiple times a day in places in the West, and Muslim politicians. And we have innumerable lives permanently changed or ended due to a twenty year war we lost after we simply walked away from it, leaving millions of dollars of equipment behind.

No matter how much we remember, we seem to have learned nothing. We have not repented and returned to the Lord.

Justified by Works

 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” - Matthew 12:33-37

The latter half of the passage is especially interesting, in that it ties justification, works, and the final judgment together. The word for “justification” here is the same as in Romans as well as James. The Dispensational teaching of there being two (or more) final judgments, one for all people and one just for the Church according to works, is contradicted by this passage. That good and evil works are in view is clear, as is the fact that there are only two groups to consider, those with an inherent righteousness and those without. There is no third, “Carnal Christian” class to take into account. This judgment according to works is also not one that merely involves those who are saved. Some of the people here will be declared righteous, and some will be condemned, those who are evil.

As echoed in James, the internal state of the person as well as their works are taken into account in God’s judgment of them. But, in conjunction with Paul in Romans (Rom. 2:5-16), the declaration to the righteous here is the final declaration of justification, the end result of God’s original declaration of justification in time to the individual by grace through that person’s faith (Romans 4). God begins by regenerating the man dead in sin and gifting him with faith. And in response to that faith, God declares the man just, based on the righteousness of Christ alone. In so doing, God declares His own promise and intention to make that man into what he is not - a truly righteous man, filling the role of ruling the world which God originally intended for Adam (Romans 4:13-25, 8:18-25). It is the man justified by faith in his life who will be justified at the judgment at the end of this world.

Cultural Ignorance is Bliss

 Was listening to a talk by Kevin Vanhoozer in which he mentioned the need for the Christian to try to be culturally literate. So, I started scrolling through the TV and came across American Idol.

Look, I’m getting old. At this point, and in light of the state of our culture, I think I’d rather remain culturally illiterate from here on out. Somebody let me know if an actual enactment of Red Dawn happens or something. I’ll need to stock up on canned goods so I can survive while rewatching episodes of Andy Griffith.

Transcending the Moment

Controversial personalities are usually temporary in their fame. Ten years from now it is unlikely anybody will be talking about Andrew Tate, and the “controversy” over a Jason Aldean song will be long past. Even within the realm of culture, aim for those things that are long lasting, those things that show permanence. If people are still listening to J.S. Bach after hundreds of years, then you should probably be listening to J.S. Bach from time to time. It is those things that change people for good generation after generation that are the most worth pursuing.

Matthew 28:18-20

 Mt. 28:18-20

A.) Ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς· 

B.) πορευθέντες οὖν μαθητεύσατε πάντα τὰ ἔθνη, 

C.) βαπτίζοντες αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸ ὄνομα τοῦ πατρὸς καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἁγίου πνεύματος, 

B’.) διδάσκοντες αὐτοὺς τηρεῖν πάντα ὅσα ἐνετειλάμην ὑμῖν· 

A’.)καὶ ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ μεθ’ ὑμῶν εἰμι πάσας τὰς ἡμέρας ἕως τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος.

A.) All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 

B.) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, 

C.) baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 

B’.) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; 

A’.) and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

You have a command (B-C-B’) standing in the middle of a statement, one that ends in a promise. Notice that baptism stands at the center of Jesus’ statement. Baptism is not just “in” the name of the Holy Trinity, but “into” the name. It is baptism into union with the Triune God, which is baptism into His Church. It is a transition from a former state of being into a new state of being, and into a new set of relationships.

Jesus issues a threefold command, reflective of the triune God to which all true believers are united and which stands at the center of the command and of the chiasm.

The evidence for the chiasm exists not only in Jesus’ threefold command, but in the fact that the two verbs often translated “disciple” (μαθητεύσατε) and “teach” (διδάσκοντες) have essentially the same semantic range. The two phrases mirror one another. In addition, Jesus’ promise to forever be with His disciples points back to His first statement and to His authority everywhere and over all that exists. His disciples need not fear anything, because there is no place they can go where He is not King and in complete control.

The disciples are to “go” (πορευθέντες), and where they are to go is in the preceding word, the “world” or “earth” (γῆς). They are to leave Israel, to leave the Jewish people, and go to “πάντα τὰ ἔθνη”. Often translated “all the nations”, it simply means “all who aren’t Jews”, or “all the Gentiles”. The word for “nations” or “Gentiles” here has no implications for any particular structure of government. It does not support a modern nationalistic conception of country or government in any way. The passage is clear in its teaching, however, of Theocracy. Jesus is king over all people, all places, and of all things. And it is the duty of all creatures to submit to him.

But to pull vs. 19 out of context, force a meaning on the translated  word “nations”, and begin to argue for, or even assume, a certain structure of government or country beyond this is bad scholarship. And given the modern usage of the word “nationalism”, the use of the word in relation to this passage is obfuscatory and unhelpful.

Mary, Mary

 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And when he did, lo, there didst from the crowd fly a single stone, and behold, the stone didst graze the woman caught in adultery upon her brow, sending her to the ground. And Jesus didst look, and behold, it was his mother Mary who didst hurl the stone. “Awww, mom!” he did exclaim as he arose. But he did not rebuke her, for lo, she was conceived without Original Sin.

  -- John 8, Revised Roman Catholic Version 

The Inevitable Failure of Nationalism

 The current push for nationalism belies a distrust in God’s ordained means of grace - the Word, prayer, and the sacraments. We grasp for power in the wake of our failure as a Church, only still failing to understand where our true strength comes from.

Nationalistic centralism failed in Europe, and it has failed here. A large national state will always be the Leviathan seeking to swallow up everything it can. It will always be a safe haven for those with a lust for power without real accountability.

Nationalism will forever be a a bane to local and traditional culture. And the idea that Christian Nationalists argue in the same breath for tradition is ironic. Once nationalism is created and let loose, in the end the only tradition you have left is a Statist one.

In nationalism, corporatism finds its greatest ally. The younger ones among us can’t remember a time when blatant advertising wasn’t emblazoned across every piece of clothing we wore. They don’t know a time when people didn’t define themselves by their devotion to a product or corporation. We buy products. But more than that, we have become the product. A centralized national government will always gladly sell us to the highest bidder. 

In nationalism, fascism is inevitable.

Nationalism will always tend toward atheism.

When Machen protested against a federal board of education, it was for good reason.

Heretic Hunting, Christian Nationalism, and Biblical Dominion

 Related to the ongoing “Christian Nationalism“ push and matters of Biblical Dominion:

“Those who work diligently at their God-ordained tasks will overcome those who grasp for power by force and deception. 

Notice, that throughout Scripture, implements of work are continually shown to destroy implements of war and intrigue.

Shamgar prevailed over an army of 600 Philistine warriors

with only an oxgoad (Judges 3:31).

Jael defeated the commander of the Canaanite army with a

tent peg (Judges 4:17-22).

Gideon led his tiny band of faithful men to victory against the

Midianite army with nothing more than empty pitchers, torches,

and trumpets (Judges 7:13-23).

Wicked Abimelech defeated every army he marched against,

but he was helpless against the millstone hurled upon his head by the woman of Thebez (Judges 9:50-54).

Samson destroyed 1,000 Philistines with nothing but the jawbone

of an ass (Judges 15:14-16).

The swordless, spearless, and spiritless brigade of Saul was

able to deliver Israel from the mighty Philistine army with only a

small, two-man diversion (1 Samuel 13:19-14:23).

And the young David overwhelmed the giant warrior Goliath

without armor, without a sword, and without shield or spear; he

had only his shepherd's staff and sling, along with five smooth

stones from a brook (1 Samuel 17:40-50).

Even Christ used ordinary tools, implements of work, when

He made a spectacle of the powers and the principalities: He nailed them to the cross (Colossians 2:13-15)!

Dominion comes through service. But it comes by work. Work is

the hand that plucks the golden fruit of God's very great and precious promises. Work will ultimately, inevitably overcome force and deception. The plowshare and the pruning hook will overcome the sword and the spear.“ -- George Grant, "In the Shadow of Plenty", pp. 50-51

I would add my own question: how many people promoting Christian Nationalism online or trying to correct the latest person deemed a heretic have visited a shut-in individual or a person in a nursing home in the past year? Internet debates give the illusion of glory; real loving sacrifice, that which follows the path of Christ all the way to the Cross, is often hidden from view, disdained by the World, and taken for granted by the Church.

Groovy Theology

 “Men go after novel and false doctrines because they do not really know the truth; for if the truth had gotten into them and filled them, they would not have room for these day-dreams” ~ C.H. Spurgeon. 

Not only does this apply to heresies and the doctrines of the cults, but it also applies to things like Dispensationalism and a lot of end times related nonsense. Remember the Gospel in the stars idea that even had D. James Kennedy enthralled? The Emergent Church? The Mayan Prophecy and 2012? The supposed hidden Bible codes? We get caught up things that use Scripture to promote falsehood because we do not understand and focus on what Scripture actually says, and we do not love and trust God.

A Dispensationalist Easter

Consistent Dispensationalism has historically taught that Jesus’s mission was to bring Israel back into faithfulness to Yahweh. But Israel, using her free will, rejected Him and crucified Him. Jesus now sits in heaven, not as a King on His throne, but defeated and rejected by His true people Israel. Israel will have one last chance during the Tribulation, though. The Church somehow was God’s plan b, His second choice.

So it’s always a bit odd when Dispies celebrate Easter.

Revelation 22:11 - Hebrew Parallelism

 Revelation 22:11 - Hebrew Parallelism

A: He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; 

      B: he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; 

A’: he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; 

      B’: he who is holy, let him be holy still.

The movement is from Fall to Redemption, Eden to the New Jerusalem, sin to salvation, the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, Israel and her failure to the Church and her success in Christ. It is furthered by the following verses:

12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

The Narcissist Leader, pt. 2

Some theologians - as well as some pastors and other leaders - have an air about them of sternness, rectitude, and distance.  To be in their presence may be an honor and would surely be edifying, but it would make a person nervous, leery of making a mistake or saying something wrong.  That would not be the case with Luther, who - however ferocious he could be in print - was jovial, self-deprecating, and fun to be around in person.

Some leaders are so taken with their sense of authority, their lofty status, and their pride that they lift themselves up over those they are leading, coming across as cold, superior, and unpleasant.  Emperor Charles V, who opposed Luther at Worms and Augsburg, was said to have a dour personality and a sour disposition.  Someone with great power, of course, can lead that way, intimidating his followers and using force and rewards to keep them in line.  But for people to follow voluntarily - of their own free will - and to develop personal bonds of loyalty, they almost always need to like the person they are following, to have affection for the person as well as the cause. -- Gene Edward Veith

The Narcissist Leader

 The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it. -- H.L. Mencken

Whether at the level of politics or one on one personal relationships, the person who thinks you absolutely need them to survive is the person you need to run from. Narcissism is deadly and evil.

J.C. Ryle, On Parenting In Love

 Train up your child with all tenderness, affection, and patience. I do not mean that you are to spoil him, but I do mean that you should let him see that you love him. Love should be the silver thread that runs through all your conduct. Kindness, gentleness, long-suffering, forbearance, patience, sympathy, a willingness to enter into childish troubles, a readiness to take part in childish joys, —these are the cords by which a child may be led most easily, —these are the clues you must follow if you would find the way to his heart. Few are to be found, even among grown-up people, who are not more easy to draw than to drive. There is that in all our minds which rises in arms against compulsion; we set up our backs and stiffen our necks at the very idea of a forced obedience. We are like young horses in the hand of a breaker: handle them kindly, and make much of them, and by and by you may guide them with thread; use them roughly and violently, and it will be many a month before you get the mastery of them at all. Now children’s minds are cast in much the same mould as our own. Sternness and severity of manner chill them and throw them back. It shuts up their hearts, and you will weary yourself to find the door. But let them only see that you have an affectionate feeling towards them, —that you are really desirous to make them happy, and do them good, —that if you punish them, it is intended for their profit, and that, like the pelican, you would give your heart’s blood to nourish their souls; let them see this, I say, and they will soon be all your own. But they must be wooed with kindness, if their attention is ever to be won. And surely reason itself might teach us this lesson. Children are weak and tender creatures, and, as such, they need patient and considerate treatment. We must handle them delicately, like frail machines, lest by rough fingering we do more harm than good. They are like young plants, and need gentle watering, —often, but little at a time. We must not expect all things at once. We must remember what children are, and teach them as they are able to bear. Their minds are like a lump of metal— not to be forged and made useful at once, but only by a succession of little blows. Their understandings are like narrow-necked vessels: we must pour in the wine of knowledge gradually, or much of it will be spilled and lost. “Line upon line, and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little,” must be our rule. The whetstone does its work slowly, but frequent rubbing will bring the scythe to a fine edge. Truly there is need of patience in training a child, but without it nothing can be done. Nothing will compensate for the absence of this tenderness and love. A minister may speak the truth as it is in Jesus, clearly, forcibly, unanswerably; but if he does not speak it in love, few souls will be won. Just so you must set before your children their duty, —command, threaten, punish, reason, —but if affection be wanting in your treatment, your labour will be all in vain. Love is one grand secret of successful training. Anger and harshness may frighten, but they will not persuade the child that you are right; and if he sees you often out of temper, you will soon cease to have his respect. A father who speaks to his son as Saul did to Jonathan, {1Sa 20:30} need not expect to retain his influence over that son’s mind. Try hard to keep up a hold on your child’s affections. It is a dangerous thing to make your children afraid of you. Anything is almost better than reserve and constraint between your child and yourself; and this will come in with fear. Fear puts an end to openness of manner; —fear leads to concealment; —fear sows the seed of much hypocrisy, and leads to many a lie. There is a mine of truth in the Apostle’s words to the Colossians: “Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged”. {Col 3:21} Let not the advice it contains be overlooked.

We Were Made For You

 Worship precedes service. This basic Biblical principle was one I was taught early on in life. But the priority of worship goes even further. Our worship of God, both corporate and individual, must precede: 

Culture

Relationships

Politics

The news

Theological precision

Your job

Entertainment

Online debate

And I could go on. Your communion with, and adoration of, the one true God has to come before everything else. And when it doesn’t, your life inevitably becomes disordered. Not only does your view of God become warped, so does your view of and treatment of your neighbor, Christian or otherwise.

This, in fact, is the testimony of Romans 1: “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (vs. 21).

Cur Deus Homo?

 Because Jesus was and even now is fully man, you can carry your problems to Him and He can and will understand and sympathize with you. And because He is fully God, He can take on your problems and do something about them.

Theology matters. A right Christology matters.