Tendencies Characterizing Antinomianism

Legalism, simply defined, is the belief that a person gains a right standing with God through keeping the law (or some set of rules). Legalism is a false teaching, which is based on a failure to understand sinners' desperate state before a holy God (that we are depraved and morally unable to keep His law). Legalism denigrates God's grace and the work of Christ on behalf of sinners, who must not rely on their own works, but on what Jesus has done for us, in our place.

As Christians avoid legalism, there is another ditch we must avoid as well. That ditch is antinomianism. The word "antinomian" literally means "against law." David Como identifies seven tendencies characterizing antinomianism:

• "a propensity to argue that the Mosaic Law, including the Decalogue, was in some sense abolished, abrogated, or superseded for Christians" [emphasis added] 
• an "aggressive polemical posture" against the "mainstream godly divinity" that emphasized "sanctification,... zealous application of the means of grace, and continuing repentance for transgressions"
• "the propensity to use images and motifs common to puritanism to attack mainstream puritanism"
• "against the strenuous, active faith of mainstream puritanism,... the total passivity of the believer" in salvation and assurance
• "a...tendency to claim that believers...were transformed into exalted (and sometimes supernatural) beings"
• the inclination "to pronounce believers in some sense free from sin"
• "the...crucial characteristic of antinomian religiosity–the propensity to offer believers a sense of assurance and joy that was more total, more satisfying, and more final than anything to be found in mainstream puritanism"

[The above is cited in James Renihan, For the Vindication of the Truth, 86.]

Christians should guard against modern day antinomianism. We should sing with the psalmist, "Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day" (Psalm 119:97). We should hear the words of Christ: "If you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15).

The Provision: An Example of Sound Preaching (Not Just a Seminary Lecture)

Visiting New Georgia Baptist Church this past Lord's Day, I confess that-upon seeing that the sermon was from the opening verses of Luke 2-I was initially disappointed. My first thought was a complaint that most churches preach this same text every year. Then, when I looked at the points on the outline in the sermon (which were printed in the bulletin, and which are re-typed below), I thought, "How did anyone EVER get these points from this text?" HOWEVER, despite this unjust negativity on my part, Dr. Keith Stell preached this familiar passage in such a way that it both challenged me personally, and-I believe-provides an example of how sound preaching should differ from a seminary lecture.

The following is the outline of the sermon that Dr. Stell provided (in bold-face) with some of my notes from the sermon:

The Provision (Luke 2:1-20)

The Glorifying Response to the Christ, Jesus...

I. We Must Respond Personally (vv. 15-16)
A. The shepherds, like all of us, were not seeking a Savior.
B. The shepherd were considered to be very low in society.
C. The shepherds spoke words to one another, that were based on truth, with urgency.
D. The shepherds' words led to action.

II. We Must Tell Others Intentionally (v. 17)
A. "Virtual nobodies" were given the privilege of announcing the Messiah.
B. The shepherds, pointing to Christ, carried the message of salvation.

III. We Must Remain Amazed Intimately (v. 18): Are we, like those who heard the testimony from the shepherds, amazed at the good news?

IV. We Must Retain Hope Purposefully (v. 19): Do we, like Mary, repeatedly think of the truth we have heard and what God had done in our lives?

V. We Must Worship Unashamedly (v. 20)

TWO OBSERVATIONS REGARDING PREACHING, prompted by the above sermon:

1. Sound exegesis is the basis of sound preaching. The main point of the passage must be the main point of the sermon. Luke 2:1-20 is focused on the birth of "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord" (Luke 2:11). Dr. Stell's sermon was focused on this truth as well.

2. Whereas (at least some) seminary lectures may begin and end with sound exegesis, sound preaching must go beyond exegesis by urgently applying the text to the congregation. Through looking at what the text says concerning different responses to the message of Christ (with no overly imaginative flights of fancy), Dr. Stell challenged the congregation to consider specific ways that we should respond to the gospel.

a. I've heard at least one objection against preaching that emphasizes application. The objection runs thus:

'The people in the congregation have such diverse issues in their lives that if I try to preach specific application, some people will think that the text does not apply to their lives, while others will think that I am trying to personally single them out. Therefore, I should just explain the text and trust the Holy Spirit to make application.'

b. However, consider the biblical model of preaching, as seen in the form of the New Testament epistles. The same gospel is proclaimed in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians, yet it is clear that the audiences for these books need the gospel applied in different ways. The (largely) warm and encouraging epistle to the Philippians would have been out-of-place if written to the Corinthians, who stood in such need of correction. This should cause the preacher to consider: could your sermon be preached with no change whatsoever, at any time whatsoever, in any congregation whatsoever? Or are you-like the apostolic community who penned the New Testament-bringing a specific word from God that is focused on teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training (2 Tim 3:16) the particular congregation before which God has placed you?

c. Finally, consider the personal example set forth by the Apostle Paul. With a clear conscience, Paul could tell the Ephesians, "I did not cease day or night to admonish every one with tears" (Acts 20:31). Speaking of preaching the gospel, Paul wrote, "We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20 NASB). What is not evident from my meager notes on Dr. Stell's excellent sermon is that he issued a heartfelt call for the congregation to respond to the message of Christ, following the examples of how the shepherds responded to the Messiah.

DEAR BROTHERS: let us never allow our proper view of God's absolute sovereignty-let us never allow our necessary dependence upon the Holy Spirit-to prevent us from following the apostolic example, pleading with sinners to be reconciled to God. To fail in making a specific plea to the people God has placed before us is to misrepresent the serious nature of the coming judgment, in light of which the gospel is our only hope.

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

This classic, must-read article from 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.

[In endorsing this article, have I gone "charismatic?" Read the rest of Piper's article HERE to find out.]

The Perils of Pride -by C.J. Mahaney

[The following article originally appeared on the Crosswalk website.]

The Perils of Pride
C.J. Mahaney
Sovereign Grace Ministries

Winston Churchill, who perfected the art of the clever put-down, once described a political opponent as “a modest little man who has a good deal to be modest about.” The last part of his remark is an accurate description of me—though I can’t say I’m humble, I certainly have much to be humble about! My general ineptness is well known to all who have even a casual acquaintance with me, and that’s no exaggeration.

If you were to speak to any of my friends, they would confirm how I continually surprise them with fresh discoveries of my inadequacies. I even provide them a certain degree of entertainment, especially when it comes to the hands-on and the mechanical.

Needing Help

A while back, someone informed me that my car’s rear left tire—or was it the rear right?—was low on air. Now, in fact, I had no idea how to put air in a car tire. (Really.) So I turned to a friend—a close friend, I’ll have you know—and asked for his help.

In such a moment, the godly and servant-hearted response from a friend would be to cheerfully answer, “Yes, let me help you.” Instead, my good friend exclaimed, “I cannot believe it. I cannot believe it! You don’t know how to put air in your tire?”

On and on like this he went, until he faced me squarely and added, “You, my friend, are a moron.”

My friend was merely having fun at my expense, but the truth of the matter is that on a previous occasion I had actually tried, on my own, to put air in my car’s tire. As I knelt to place the air hose on the stem—or whatever that little dealy’s called where you attach the hose to the tire— the extremely loud noise that erupted was an intimidating PHHHHT! PHHHHHHT!

Then a loud ringing started: DING DING DING DING! I was suddenly consumed by an intense fear that my tire was only seconds from blowing up. It’s going to explode, I told myself, and you’re going to die. And at your funeral, all your friends —while wiping away tears in the midst of their mourning—will be shaking their heads and saying to themselves, “What an idiot!”

I’m convinced that the sum effect of my attempt that day was only to let out more air than I put in. And as I drove away from the station with a badly underinflated tire, I could almost hear the faint sound of the station attendant’s laughter following me home.

Against All Logic

Now you might assume that in a normal human being, such ineptness couldn’t possibly coexist with any significant measure of pride. Someone as unskilled as I am would, naturally, be humble, right? However, let me assure you beyond doubt that both incompetence and pride are very evident in my life. Let me illustrate with another story.

One day my daughter informed me that our car was making a strange noise, so I went out to investigate. She tried to prepare me, but in no way did I anticipate the violent shrieking that assaulted my ears upon starting the car. I immediately turned off the engine.

In such a moment, wisdom demands one course of action only: Get out of the car, walk back into the house, and call a trustworthy auto-repair service.

That would have been the appropriate and prudent response. Instead, I followed the arrogant male instinct, which requires at bare minimum that the male lift the hood and stare intently at the engine. After all, neighbors might be watching, and we want to at least give the appearance that we have some mechanical knowledge.

But given my personal history, what groundless self-assurance could possibly motivate me to lift the hood to examine my engine? The only thing I actually know how to do is check whether the container for window-washer fluid needs refilling! So I checked that—with great authority. (It was more than half full.)

Then I shut the hood (also with great authority) and, proud fool that I am, got back into the car and turned the ignition once more—as if my having merely stared at the engine was sufficient to repair it; as if the broken parts were now calling to one another, “He’s seen us! Get back together, quick!”

Yet as I turned the key again, the same violent shriek issued forth.

Only at this point did I finally go back in the house to do what I should have done earlier: I telephoned the repair shop to notify them of my car’s condition—fully ready to pass along to them my firm conviction that the problem was not the window-washer fluid container.

Doesn’t pride have a strange way of ignoring reason altogether? The sad fact is that none of us are immune to the logic-defying, blinding effects of pride. Though it shows up in different forms and to differing degrees, it infects us all. The real issue here is not if pride exists in your heart; it’s where pride exists and how pride is being expressed in your life. Scripture shows us that pride is strongly and dangerously rooted in all our lives, far more than most of us care to admit or even think about.

In his essay, “Pride, Humility, and God,” John Stott wrote the following: “At every stage of our Christian development and in every sphere of our Christian discipleship, pride is the greatest enemy and humility our greatest friend.”

In the previous column, we saw the promise of humility—the gracious support of God. But we must also be aware of the great perils of pride—not just occasionally or under certain circumstances, but at every stage and in every sphere. Throughout our time on this earth, and in every arena of our lives, you and I share a common greatest enemy: pride.

The First Sin

Pride has quite the history, one that precedes Adam and Eve.

Pride, it seems, was the very first sin. Isaiah 14 records the downfall of a king, but not a mere earthly ruler. This king is the embodiment of God-defying arrogance, but the language used here apparently references the rebellion and fall of Satan himself.

In Isaiah 14:13, the motivation behind Satan’s rebellion is exposed: “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high.’” Led by the prideful Lucifer, powerful angelic creatures possessing beauty and glory far beyond our comprehension arrogantly desired recognition and status equal to God Himself. In response, God swiftly and severely judged them.

Pride not only appears to be the earliest sin, but it is at the core of all sin. “Pride,” John Stott writes again, “is more than the first of the seven deadly sins; it is itself the essence of all sin.”

Indeed, from God’s perspective, pride seems to be the most serious sin. From my study, I’m convinced there’s nothing God hates more than this. God righteously hates all sin, of course, but biblical evidence abounds for the conclusion that there’s no sin more offensive to Him than pride.

When His Word reveals those things “that the LORD hates” and “that are an abomination to him,” it’s the proud man’s “haughty eyes” that head up the list (Proverbs 6:16–17).

When the personified wisdom of God speaks out, these clear words are emphasized: “I hate pride and arrogance” (Proverbs 8:13, NIV).

And consider the divine perspective on pride revealed in Proverbs 16:5: “Everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished.”

Stronger language for sin simply cannot be found in Scripture.

Contending with God

Why does God hate pride so passionately?

Here’s why: Pride is when sinful human beings aspire to the status and position of God and refuse to acknowledge their dependence upon Him.

Charles Bridges once noted how pride lifts up one’s heart against God and “contends for supremacy” with Him. That’s a keenly insightful and biblical definition of pride’s essence: contending for supremacy with God, and lifting up our hearts against Him.

For purposes of personal confession, I began adopting this definition of pride a few years ago after I came to realize that, to some degree, I’d grown unaffected by pride in my life. Though I was still confessing pride, I knew I wasn’t sufficiently convicted of it. So rather than just confessing to God that “I was proud in that situation” and appealing for His forgiveness, I learned to say instead, “Lord, in that moment, with that attitude and that action, I was contending for supremacy with You. That’s what it was all about. Forgive me.”

And rather than confessing to another person, “That statement was prideful on my part; will you please forgive me?” I began saying, “What I just did was contending for supremacy with God,” and only then asking for the person’s forgiveness. This practice increased a weight of conviction in my heart about the seriousness of this sin.

Pride takes innumerable forms but has only one end: self-glorification. That’s the motive and ultimate purpose of pride—to rob God of legitimate glory and to pursue self-glorification, contending for supremacy with Him. The proud person seeks to glorify himself and not God, thereby attempting in effect to deprive God of something only He is worthy to receive.

No wonder God opposes pride. No wonder He hates pride. Let that truth sink into your thinking.

God’s Active Opposition to Pride

Now let me ask you: What do you hate?

I’ll tell you what I hate. I’ve got two lists. One is a silly list that begins with foods that I sometimes think must be products of the Fall. I detest meat loaf. I loathe sauerkraut. And I hate cottage cheese. I even hate it when anyone eats cottage cheese in my presence; it ruins my appetite.

I also despise any and all professional sports teams from New York City—that’s simply part of my heritage, being born and raised in the Washington DC area.

But that’s just the beginning, a little sampling of my silly list of things I hate. I also have a serious list of things I hate. I’m sure you have one, too.

I hate abortion.

I hate child abuse.

I hate racism.

What do you hate?

You and I hate nothing to the degree that God hates pride. His hatred for pride is pure, and His hatred is holy.

In his Commentary on the Book of Psalms, John Calvin wrote, “God cannot bear with seeing his glory appropriated by the creature in even the smallest degree, so intolerable to him is the sacrilegious arrogance of those who, by praising themselves, obscure his glory as far as they can.”

And because God cannot bear with this arrogance, He reveals Himself in Scripture as actively opposed to pride.

Actively.

“God opposes the proud, ” says James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5. “Opposes” in this statement is an active, present-tense verb, showing us that God’s opposition to pride is an immediate and constant activity. The proud will not indefinitely escape discipline.

Pride’s Potency

We would do well to note pride’s peculiarly destructive power. In his Advice to Young Converts, Jonathan Edwards called pride “the worst viper that is in the heart” and “the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and sweet communion with Christ.” He ranked pride as the most difficult sin to root out, and “the most hidden, secret and deceitful of all lusts.”

Despite this thorough understanding of its ugliness, Edwards himself constantly battled his own pride (a fact which gives me hope, knowing I’m not alone in this struggle). “What a foolish, silly, miserable, blind, deceived poor worm am I, when pride works,” Edwards once wrote in his diary. In his sermons and in his vast writings he constantly warned against pride, especially spiritual pride, which he viewed as the greatest cause of the premature ending of the Great Awakening, the revival that had brought so much spiritual vitality to the church in Edwards’s day.

Pride also undermines unity and can ultimately divide a church. Show me a church where there’s division, where there’s quarreling, and I’ll show you a church where there’s pride.

Pride also brings down leaders. “Pride ruins pastors and churches more than any other thing,” Mike Renihan writes in his essay “A Pastor’s Pride and Joy” from Tabletalk. “It is more insidious in the church than radon in the home.” When you read about the next public figure to fall, remember Proverbs 16:18—“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” That person’s situation might appear circumstantially complicated, but at root it’s not complicated: Pride goes before a fall.

God’s Merciful Warnings

The warnings from Scripture about pride could not be more serious and sobering. But they’re an expression of God’s mercy, intended for our good.

Don’t you think God is merciful to warn us in this way? He reveals this sin to our hearts and identifies its potential consequences. He is merciful, and He intends to protect us. So throughout His Word, God exposes pride as our greatest enemy.

By unmasking pride—as well as introducing us to humility, our greatest friend—God lays out for us the path to true greatness, a path that we see most clearly in our Savior’s life and death. 

Excerpt from Humility by C.J. Mahaney. Used with permission.

Excerpt from David Powlison, "The Pastor As Counselor."

[HT:: Justin Taylor]

The uniqueness of your message is easy to see. But you already know this. I won’t rehearse the unsearchable riches of Christ, or the 10,000 pertinent implications.

But I do want to note the uniqueness of your message by contrast. Every counselor brings a “message”: an interpretation of problems, a theory that weighs causalities and context, a proposal for cure, a goal that defines thriving humanness. How does your message compare with their messages? Simply consider what our culture’s other counselors do not say.

•       They never mention the God who has a name: YHWH, Father, Jesus, Spirit, Almighty, Savior, Comforter.
•       They never mention that God searches every heart, that every human being will bow to give final account for each thought, word, deed, choice, emotion, belief, and attitude.
•       They never mention sinfulness and sin, that humankind obsessively and compulsively transgress against God.
•       They never mention that suffering is meaningful within God’s purposes of mercy and judgment.
•       They never mention Jesus Christ. He is a standing insult to self-esteem and self-confidence, to self-reliance, to self-salvation schemes, to self-righteousness, to believing in myself.
•       They never mention that God really does forgive sins.
•       They never mention that the Lord is our refuge, that it is possible to walk through the valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.
•       They never mention that biological factors and personal history experiences exist within the providence and purposes of the living God, that nature and nurture locate moral responsibility but do not trump responsible intentionality.
•       They never mention our propensity to return evil for evil, how hardships tempt us to grumbling, anxiety, despair, bitterness, inferiority, and escapism.
•       They never mention our propensity to return evil for good, how felicities tempt us to self-trust, ingratitude, self-confidence, entitlement, presumption, superiority, and greed.
•       They never mention that human beings are meant to become conscious worshipers, bowing down in deep sense of personal need, lifting up hands to receive the gifts of the body and blood of Christ, lifting voices in heartfelt song.
•       They never mention that human beings are meant to live missionally, using God-given gifts to further God’s kingdom and glory.
•       They never mention that the power to change does not lie within us.

In other words, they always counsel true to their core convictions.

As a pastor, you mention all these things, or you are no pastor. Even more, you are never content merely to mention or list such realities, as if a troubled person simply needed the bare bones of didactic instruction. Like a skilled musician, you develop a trained ear. In every detail of every person’s story, you learn to hear the music of these unmentioned realities. You help others hear what is actually playing. A relevant, honest pastoral conversation teaches another person how to listen, and then how to join the song. Need I say more? No one else is listening to what you hear. No one else is saying what you have to say. No one else is singing what you believe. No one else is giving to others what you have been given that you might freely give. Every person who “needs counseling” actually needs your unique message.

Twelve Quotes from Paul Tripp

[The following quotes from biblical counselor Paul Tripp come via Twitter/Facebook feeds from my friends Timmy Brister and Stephen Newell; I am not sure of the original source(s).]

re: the Bible

"The Bible is not an encyclopedia of topics. It's a story of God's grand redemptive story."


re: sin

"Since sin is driven by self, it will dehumanize people in your life. They will be reduced to being a vehicle or an obstacle."


"Sin causes us to shrink our lives to the size of our lives. It is anti-social in its most fundamental form."


"When you turn a blessing into a demand, nothing good ever happens."


"The kingdom of self functions on earthbound treasures and anxiety bound needs (Matt. 6)."


re: obedience


"Obedience is an act of thankful worship, not a fearful means of trying to gain favor with God."


"The thing you treasure will control your heart, and what controls your heart will control your words and behavior."


"True horizontal love is born in the soil of vertical gratitude"


"No one gives grace better than the one who knows he desperately needs it foremost."

re: words

"The words you say in your marriage always reveal more about you than the person you are living with."


"Your words and behavior are more caused by what's inside of you than what is outside of you."

God's Love: Unconditional and Contraconditional

In a post titled, "Is God's Love Unconditional?" John Piper points out two ways that God's love is properly called "unconditional:"

1.He loves us with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ”(Ephesians 1:4-5).

He does not base this election on foreseeing our faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

2.He loves us with regenerating love before we meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe.

“Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).

As Justin Taylor points out on his blog today, David Powlison has a booklet titled God's Love: Better Than Unconditional in which Powlison suggests four good reasons why there is so much talk in our society concerning God's unconditional love:

1. “Conditional love” is bad—unconditional is shorthand for the opposite of manipulation, demand, judgmentalism.
2. God’s love is patient—unconditional is shorthand for hanging on for the long haul, rather than bailing out when the going gets rough.
3. True love is God’s gift—unconditional is shorthand for unearned blessings, rather than legalism.
4. God receives you just as you are: sinful, suffering, confused—unconditional is shorthand for God’s invitation to rough, dirty, broken people.

Powlison goes on to argue that God's love is more than unconditional; it is actually contraconditional:

God does not accept me just as I am;

He loves me despite how I am;

He loves me just as Jesus is;

He loves me enough to devote my life to renewing me in the image of Jesus.

This love is much, much, much better than unconditional! Perhaps we could call it “contraconditional” love.

Contrary to the conditions for knowing God’s blessing, He has blessed me because His Son fulfilled the conditions.

Contrary to my due, He loves me.

And now I can begin to change, not to earn love but because of love.

. . . You need something better than unconditional love.

You need the crown of thorns.

You need the touch of life to the dead son of the widow of Nain.

You need the promise to the repentant thief.

You need to know, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”

You need forgiveness.

You need a Vinedresser, a Shepherd, a Father, a Savior.

You need to become like the one who loves you.

You need the better love of Jesus.

Let us praise God for his great love for us in Christ: a love that is unconditional and even contraconditional!

Q&A from "Seeing With New Eyes"

[This past July, Justin Taylor published the Q&A section from David Powlison's Seeing With New Eyes as a series of posts on his blog. This Q&A section from Powlison's book is, in itself, an invaluable resource for sanctification and couseling. The following is a compilation of Taylor's posts, giving the entire Q&A section in sequential order.]

1. What's wrong with people?

2. Why do people do specific ungodly things?

3. What's wrong with wanting good things?

4. Why do our desires deceive us?

5. Is "lusts of the flesh" terminology practical?

6. Does each person have one "root sin"?

7. How do I know if a desire is inordinate rather than natural?

8. Why talk about the "heart" when the Bible says it's unknowable?

9. Doesn't the term "lusts" just apply to bodily appetites?

10. Can desires be habitual?

11. What's the relationship between fear and desire?

12. Do people ever have conflicting motives?

13. "Lusts" and other ways of talking about sin.

14. Should we just confront people aboout their sinful cravings?

15. Can you change what you want?

Do You Want to Become a Better Counselor?

[Reprinted from Between Two Worlds.]

David Powlison’s counsel:

You will not go wrong if you plunge into Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.

Master it.

Be mastered by it.

Work Ephesians into your thinking, your living, your prayers, and your conversation.

The Bible is vast and deep, and human life is diverse and perplexing. But in a pinch you could do all counseling from Ephesians. It’s all there: the big picture that organizes a myriad of details.

—Seeing with New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture (P&R; 2003), p. 17.

[One benefit of working at Dorothy Sayers Classical School is that this year I will have the opportunity to memorize the first two chapters of Ephesians along with my students (who are being tested on their memory of these chapters).]

A hilarious skit with an important link:

In the above skit, Newhart spoofs the cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) methods of the likes of Dr. Phil or Dr. Laura.

An important article by David Powlison playing off the above video to contrast proper Biblical Counseling and CBT is found at Justin Taylor's blog HERE.

Seeing With New Eyes: David Powlison's Testimony

The following is a portion of the salvation testimony of biblical counselor David Powlison, author of the book Seeing With New Eyes. This testimony helps readers understand how Powlison can have such great hope for his counselees, whom others would sometimes regard as hopeless. His hope does not rest in the abilities of those he counsels, but in the God of grace, who freely and powerfully rescues hardened sinners. The remainder of this post is a direct quote from Powlison (page 11).

David Powlison's Testimony

I had been a most unlikely candidate for Christian faith. (I suppose that made me an ideal candidate!) I was taken with the typical passions of the '60s and '70s: existentialism, Hindu mysticism, psychodynamic psychologies, literature, aesthetic experiences, personal pleasures, radical politics, finding Truth in an inward-looking journey, calling the shots about the meaning of life, changing the world, hating hypocrisy. Of course, I hated Christianity. Becoming a believer was not at the bottom of the possible options list; it was at the top of the "No way!" list.

But God arrested me with the love of Christ. My epitaph was obvious: "The God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' has shone into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (1 Cor. 4:6). He turned on the Light of the world in a benighted heart.

Seeing With New Eyes: The Gaze of God- A Christian Worldview, Part 2

Introduction:
In Part 1 of this series, I began highlighting some passages from biblical counselor David Powlison's book, Seeing With New Eyes. This post will continue to present some thoughts from Powlison concerning a Christian Worldview. The remainder of this post is a direct quote from Powlison (page 10).

The Gaze of God- A Christian Worldview, Part 2

To think Christianly is "to think God's thoughts after him." Of course, our thinking is both finite and distorted. We never see it all; and we often misconstrue what we do see. We see in a glass darkly, skewed reflections in a battered bronze mirror- but we do see. God, who sees all things directly in full daylight, enlightens the eyes of our hearts. We see surfaces, catching glimpses of interiors; God sees to the inky or radiant depth of every heart, all the way down to the fundamental hate or fundamental love. Our glasses are sometimes rosy, sometimes jaundiced, sometimes bluesy, sometimes mirrored on the inside of the lens (so that all we can see are the turbulent contents of our own interiors). The madness in our hearts generates warped spectra. But God sees all things in bright, clear light- and this God is the straightener of crooked thoughts. He makes madmen sane.

Lest this sound overly cognitive, we also learn "to intend God's intentions after him." Christianity is both a way of seeing and a way of proceeding. Christ enters and engages the world he sees. He acts and reacts. The "mind of Christ" is no mental list of theoretical doctrines. His gaze brings with it ways of experiencing, patterns of appropriate reactions, and a game plan for engaging what he sees. So, we learn to pursue God's pursuits after him, to act God's acts, feel God's feelings, love God's loves, hate God's hates, desire God's desires. When the Word became flesh, Jesus lived all God's communicable attributes on the human scale. No, we will never be all-knowing, or all-powerful, or all-present. But yes, we will be wise and loving, true and joyous. We will weep with those who weep. We will lay down our lives for our friends, bear sufferings, love enemies, and say with all our heart, "Thank you."

Seeing With New Eyes: The Gaze of God- A Christian Worldview, Part 1

Introduction:
Today I'm beginning a new category of posts highlighting some passages from biblical counselor David Powlison's book, Seeing With New Eyes. I will present portions of this book dealing with a Christian worldview, with Powlison's testimony, and with the Apostle Paul's use of Scripture. The remainder of this post is a direct quote from Powlison (pages 9-10).

The Gaze of God- A Christian Worldview, Part 1

I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen, not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.[1]

“By it I see everything else.” This risen and rising sun– Light of the world, no less!– opens our eyes to see. We come to “see” a man we’ve never actually laid eyes on. In fact, we not only see him, but we love him, trust him, and delight in him (1 Peter 1:8). Along the way he teaches us to see everything else the world contains. We aren’t talking about retinal images processed in the brain. This seeing, this gaze, means to wake us from our fantasies, fictions, and nightmares to see things as they are in fact. God has the real take on things. And God teaches us his gaze.

We learn (slowly! in fits and starts!) to see how God sees. God, self, others, problems, circumstances, all now appear in the true mirror. Learning the gaze of God, we come to weigh life aright. We discern good and evil, fair and foul, lovely and degraded. Our Father enlightens the eyes of our hearts. We become able to pry apart true from false, instead of living in a murk of half-truths and flat lies.

All sorts of things start to look and to mean different when the lights come on: friendship, artistic abilities, Orion’s belt brilliant on a winter night, bone cancer, a frustrating job search, money in the bank, the waste of our wraths and sorrows, forgiveness sought and granted, old hurts and fresh affronts, kind hearts and opportunities not to be missed, anorexia-bulimia, quiet desperation and joy inexpressible full of glory, Day-Timer or Palm Pilot, the sounds of tonight’s dinner sizzling in the pan. The sins and sufferings of the human condition (the “stuff” of counseling) look different.

Consider this example. Both Caiaphas and Peter “saw” the same retinal images of Jesus. (To widen the metaphor, we might add that both “heard” the same tympanic vibrations when Jesus spoke.) But the priest saw a threat and heard a charlatan. The friend saw the maker, judge, and savior of the world, and he heard the words of eternal life. When you wake up to see the sun, and hear the waterfall, and smell the coffee, and touch the garment’s hem, and taste that the Lord is good, it must change how you see everything.

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[1] C.S. Lewis, “Is Theology Poetry?” They Asked for a Paper (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1962), 165.