God’s sovereignty in salvation

22 Then Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that you are extremely religious in every respect. 23 For as I was passing through and observing the objects of your worship, I even found an altar on which was inscribed: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Therefore, what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. 24 The God who made the world and everything in it--He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands. 25 Neither is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives everyone life and breath and all things. 26 From one man He has made every nation of men to live all over the earth and has determined their appointed times and the boundaries of where they live, 27 so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us. 28 For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' 29 Being God's offspring, then, we shouldn't think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image fashioned by human art and imagination. 30 "Therefore, having overlooked the times of ignorance, God now commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by the Man He has appointed. He has provided proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead." (Acts 17:22-31 HCSB)

[The following is adapted from part of an outline of a lesson I delivered in the Sunday afternoon service at Kosmosdale Baptist Church.]

God’s sovereignty is established in creation as we read in Acts 17:24, The God who made the world and everything in it--He is Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in shrines made by hands.

God is presented as the Sovereign Creator at the beginning of Scripture in Genesis 1:1, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

God is presented as the Sovereign Creator again when creation is spoken of in light of Christ in John 1:3, All things were created through Him, and apart from Him not one thing was created that has been created.

God’s sovereignty is demonstrated in His sustaining power over His creation as we read in Acts 17:28, For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.'

God’s sovereign control of His creation is not a static phenomenon; God is not a clockmaker who builds and then leaves His invention to run according to the mechanics He has set in place. Nor is He an absentee parent who only visits on occasional holidays. Nor does He even act within our lives often. Rather He is constant- like the very breath we breathe and the beating of our hearts- the activity of nerves carrying information from our minds and the contracting and relaxing of our muscles- providing all power necessary for our every action- “For in Him we live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28). So when the Bible declares, “He is before all things and by Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17) we can be sure that without Him all things would fall apart into oblivion. And God is not like some computer program that simply allows a video game to run- neutral to the outcome of the game- He is not passive in His sustaining power. Rather the Bible declares that He is the “One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will”(Ephesians 1:11). And this is to our great benefit as He works all things “together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Bible teacher R.C. Sproul, in his classic work Chosen by God, magnifies God’s sovereignty in governing His creation:

God is sovereign over His entire creation. If something could come to pass apart from His sovereign permission, then that which would come to pass would frustrate His sovereignty. If God refused to permit something to happen and it happened anyway, then whatever happened would have more power and authority than God Himself. If there is any part of creation outside of God’s sovereignty, then God is simply not sovereign. If God is not sovereign, then God is not God.

If there is one single molecule in this universe running around loose, totally free of God’s sovereignty, then we have no guarantee that a single promise of God will ever be fulfilled. Perhaps that one maverick molecule will lay waste all the grand and glorious plan that God has made and promised us. If a grain of sand in the kidney of Oliver Cromwell changed the course of English history, so our maverick molecule could change the course of all redemptive history. Maybe that one molecule will be the thing that prevents Christ from returning. (26-27)

So, we have seen that God is sovereign over His creation in general. But there is a commonly held view that God has limited His sovereignty when it comes to human choices. This popular view is due more to human philosophy than to God’s revelation, for the Bible clearly declares God’s sovereignty over the human will.

God’s sovereignty in the will of believers is demonstrated in that God is presented as sovereign over our hearts’ desires in Ps. 37:4, and God is specifically presented as sovereign over our desire to do His will in Phil. 2:12-13.

God’s sovereignty in the will of the lost is demonstrated in Scripture as well in that God is presented as sovereign in judging the wicked by hardening their will against His Word in Rom. 9:17-18 and that God is presented as sovereign in the saving His elect from their lost condition by the intervention of His Word in Acts 9:1-6

Here it should be noted that God is consistently presented in Scripture as exercising His sovereignty by His Word. And we see, in particular, that “God’s people have always been created by God’s Word.” As Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and author of Nine Marks of a Healthy Church has written, “From creation in Genesis 1 to the call of Abram in Genesis 12, from the vision of the valley of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37, to the coming of [Jesus,] the living Word, God has always created His people by His Word.”

In my next post on this subject, I hope to further explore how God exercises His sovereignty by means of His Word.

Bible Reading Like An Apostle: Reading for the Purpose of Allegory

In my previous two posts in this series, I've briefly looked at how the apostles read the Bible for purposes of application and allusion. In this post, I hope to give a summary exploration of how the Apostle Paul read the Bible for allegory to explain spiritual concepts.

Allegory is basically a form of literature in which objects and persons represent ideas or qualities. In allegory the ideas or qualities are the focus rather than the objects and persons. In speaking of allegory, a word of caution must be given. At different times in church history, certain groups have utilized allegory as an interpretive framework for Scripture. So, for example, during the Patristic Era (c. A.D. 100-590), the group of theologians now known as the Alexandrian school would attempt to find underlying spiritual meanings in historical narratives; thus, the account of Jesus' changing the water to wine at the wedding in Cana would be taken to symbolize the need for those weak like water to be changed and become steadfast like wine, etc. [S.J. Wellum, 22100: Hermeneutics Handouts, 2006. 4] As an interpretive framework, allegory is unacceptable because it downplays the historicity of the the text, and either leads to a purely arbitrary system of interpretation where anyone can read anything into the text or else leads to the need for an elite group of interpreters to explain the deeper meaning of the Scriptural text [Wellum, 5].

Given this caution, we still must observe that there is at least one instance where the Apostle Paul read the Old Testament allegorically, namely Galatians 4:21-31:

21 Tell me, you who want to be under law, do you not listen to the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23 But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24 This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 27 For it is written, "REJOICE, BARREN WOMAN WHO DOES NOT BEAR; BREAK FORTH AND SHOUT, YOU WHO ARE NOT IN LABOR; FOR MORE NUMEROUS ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE DESOLATE THAN OF THE ONE WHO HAS A HUSBAND." 28 And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29 But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 But what does the Scripture say? "CAST OUT THE BONDWOMAN AND HER SON, FOR THE SON OF THE BONDWOMAN SHALL NOT BE AN HEIR WITH THE SON OF THE FREE WOMAN." 31 So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. (NASB)

The word in verse 24 that the NASB translates "allegorically" is allhgorew, the word from which the English "allegory" directly derives. In the section above, the Apostle uses a combination of allusion and allegory to illustrate the spiritual truth that he has been establishing throughout the epistle- that salvation and sanctification are perfected not by the works of the old testament Law, but by hearing with faith. Notice two things about the Apostle's use of allegory in this section:

1. He specifically indicates his use of allegory: This is not his typical style of biblical instruction, i.e. he is not giving us a framework by which to read our entire Bible, rather he is making a point through using a figure of speech, and he alerts readers to this fact.
2. The way that the Apostle uses allegory is specifically dependent upon the historical reality of the primary events. Though the Apostle makes allegorical connections ("Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia," etc.) this allegory would be meaningless if there was never a slave-woman named Hagar and powerless if there was never a child of promise named Isaac.

The Apostle uses allegory, not as an interpretive framework for all Scripture, and not obscuring the historical realities involved, but as an illustration of teaching he is giving, as also directly taught in other passages of Scripture. And this is how we should use allegory as well. Pastor John MacArthur has noted that when he gives illustrations of Bible truth, he will sometime use personal stories, but much more often he will first turn to Scripture to find examples from God's Word. In this he is following the example of Paul, the example we should follow as well.

A Christian Response to the Virginia Tech Massacre

The most thorough, Christ-honoring response to the horror that occurred at Virginia Tech has been provided thus far by the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary President R. Albert Mohler. Dr. Mohler has written an article, Facing the Reality of Evil, posted on the On Faith blog forum sponsored by Newsweek and the Washington Post. Dr. Mohler had also addressed this issue on his radio program the past two days, with shows titled, Tragedy in Blacksburg: Explaining Evil in a Morally Confused Age and Questions from Virginia Tech: Where Was God? I praise God for giving the Church men like Dr. Mohler, who are so ready to give a response for our hope, when so many of us are still in shock, aghast at the news we are hearing.

Bible Reading Like An Apostle: Reading for the Purpose of Allusion

In my previous post in this series, I briefly commented on the fact that the apostles read the Bible for the purpose of application. In this post, I hope to give a summary exploration of how the apostles used allusions to the biblical text to cast light on their current situation and how we should do the same.

Allusion “is an implied or indirect reference [through specific words or short phrases] to something or someone assumed to be in the common body of knowledge.” If you own a chain-reference Bible, you may have been surprised at the number of very specific words and phrases repeated throughout the Scriptures. You may also have noticed that when you look up the references down the center column, the subject matter for the overall passages surrounding some of the verses linked by particular words or phrases seem to have almost nothing to do with each other. This is because when using an allusion, an author is only trying to recall one specific aspect of a previous work to his readers’ minds. (So, for example, if you make an allusion to “David and Goliath” while speaking, you may not be indicating the overall spiritual teaching of the passage– that David defeated the giant based on faith in God and trust in His Word rather than is own strength, etc.– you may just mean that a little guy was able to, in some way, defeat a big guy.) When the human authors of the Bible used allusions, they did so for the same reason authors today use them. That is, they used allusions to communicate with their audience, drawing upon a “common body of knowledge” shared by both author and reader. For this reason, the Apostle Paul not only drew allusions from the Bible, but also from a pagan poets (Acts 17:28) and a pagan prophet (Tit. 1:12). Thus, we have warrant for referencing popular ideas known from the culture at large when we are trying to communicate truths from God’s Word. On the other hand, the vast majority of allusions contained in the New Testament, whether the human authors were writing to Jews or Greeks, are from the Scriptures– what we now know as the Old Testament. This is true when James, writing to a mostly Jewish audience alludes to Job in James 5:11 and to Elijah in James 5:17-18; this is also true when Paul, writing to a mostly Gentile audience, makes several allusions to the Exodus story in 1 Corinthians 10:6-11. Converts to Christianity were taught the Scriptures early and taught the Scriptures well, and so it could be assumed that allusions to the Scripture would facilitate communication of other spiritual truths.

We should follow this example by encouraging others in our congregations to read through their Bibles systematically, so that we all have, at least, a general awareness of what God has said, no matter how new we may be to the Faith. We should also follow the apostles' example of reading the Bible for allusion, supporting understanding of spiritual truths through references to other portions of Scripture.

Does substitutionary atonement make God "sound like a psychopath"?

The explanation I was given [for the Gospel] went something like this. God was very angry with us for our sins, and because he is a just God, our sin had to be punished. But instead of punishing us he sent his Son, Jesus, as a substitute to suffer and die in our place. The blood of Jesus paid the price of our sins, and because of him God stopped being angry with us. In other words, Jesus took the rap, and we got forgiven, provided we said we believed in him.

Well, I don't know about you, but even at the age of ten I thought this explanation was pretty repulsive as well as nonsensical. What sort of God was this, getting so angry with the world and the people he created, and then, to calm himself down, demanding the blood of his own Son? And anyway, why should God forgive us through punishing somebody else? It was worse than illogical, it was insane. It made God sound like a psychopath. If any human being behaved like this we'd say they were a monster. [Jeffrey John, “Lent Talks” (radio transcript, BBC: Radio 4, 4 April, 2007)]

In the above quote, Jeffery John, current dean of St. Albans, denies penal substitutionary atonement. Penal substitutionary atonement is basically the teaching that Jesus died in the place of sinners ("substitutionary"), bearing the wrath of God, which sinners had earned as a penalty for our rebellion against Him ("penal"), and thus Christ was a sacrifice effecting reconciliation of sinners with God ("atonement"). John asserts that this doctrine is “nonsensical,” “insane,” and that it “makes God sound like a psychopath.” In the midst of these descriptions of his opinion on the matter, he asks two rhetorical questions, and then concludes with the argument, “If any human being behaved like this we’d say they were a monster.” This last sentence is, however, nothing but a weak analogy. Though Man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27), and Man is, by the grace of God, able to “know the Lord” (Jer. 31:34), Man is not so much like God that he can judge God based on his own perceptions. This is clear from what God says, as recorded in Isaiah 55:9, “For as heaven is higher than earth, so My ways are higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (HCSB). That Man, the creature, is in no position to judge God, the Creator is abundantly demonstrated in the rebuke God offers to Job, recorded in Job chapters 38-41. The Apostle Paul also offers a rebuke to anyone wishing to judge God by human standards in Romans 9:20a, writing, “But who are you--anyone who talks back to God?” (HCSB) If a human being were to offer his innocent son as a sacrifice to save the life of a despicable criminal, it would, indeed, be “nonsensical,” etc., but this is because a human being is not entirely holy, seeing the heart rebellion of sinners against himself. A human being is not perfectly just. A human being is neither infinite, nor able to beget an infinite son that can pay an eternal sacrifice and rise from the grave. A human being is not one substance with his son so that the sacrifice offered to himself could also be a self-sacrifice. The list could go on and on– the analogy John offers is weak indeed. It is important to understand the weakness of John's argument, because such an argument may have a strong emotional appeal to people and provide a barrier to them hearing the true Gospel.

HT:: Way of the Master Radio

For more on this topic, hear Dr. Albert Mohler's April 5, 2007 broadcast.

New Attitude '07

I just registered Abby and myself for the New Attitude: Humble Orthodoxy Conference that will take place here in Louisville on Memorial Day Weekend (May 26-29).

We're very much looking forward to this conference, although we've heard very little about it (presumably because it seems to be primarily focused on churches affiliated with Sovereign Grace Ministries).

This conference looks to be almost like another Together for the Gospel conference, with speakers including Josh Harris, C.J. Mahaney, Mark Dever, John Piper, and Louisville's own Dr. Albert Mohler. A major difference is that participants are divided into community groups at registration, which groups will discuss how we can apply what we learn in the context of our local churches. When conference-time comes, I hope to blog some end-of-day thoughts after returning home from the sessions.

Check out the conference promo video here:


Also, due to the name of the conference, I can't resist linking the following video:

A link to pictures of John MacArthur and C.J. Mahaney playing basketball at Southern Seminary

While visiting the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Tuesday before last, John MacArthur and C.J. Mahaney visited the gym of the seminary and engaged a few students in a game of basketball. (You'll notice that President Mohler was strangely absent from this activity...) I was passing by the gym on my way home from class and noticed Mahaney inside, but by the time I returned with a camera, MacArthur and Mahaney had left. Another blogger, however, was more on-the-spot and got a few pictures of this memorable event for Southern Seminary history linked HERE. (This kind of thing makes one wonder what other interesting things may have happened at Southern that have been forgotten through the years. If the Seminary had MacArthur and Mahaney play basketball in the gym is it possible that James P. Boyce and Charles H. Spurgeon once played rugby at the original Greenville campus? Could Billy Graham and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have played football on the Josephus Bowl? The possibilities are endless.)

John Piper: "The Morning I Heard the Voice of God"

This must-read article from Pastor John Piper begins:

Let me tell you about a most wonderful experience I had early Monday morning, March 19, 2007, a little after six o’clock. God actually spoke to me. There is no doubt that it was God. I heard the words in my head just as clearly as when a memory of a conversation passes across your consciousness. The words were in English, but they had about them an absolutely self-authenticating ring of truth. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God still speaks today.

[Have I gone "charismatic?" Read the rest of Piper's article HERE to find out.]