Current Doctrinal Issues: EFCA Ordination (Part 11 of 11)
Marriage, divorce, and remarriage; abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia; role distinctions in the church of men and women; and several more.
In the fall, I began my longest blog series ever, a series sharing my ordination paper for the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). If you’d like to read about what the process of ordination looks like in the EFCA, check out the first post in the series (here).
The ordination paper engages with our denomination’s 10-point statement of faith. I know these posts are dense. Please hang with me; this week’s post is the final in the series. It’s a miscellany on current doctrinal issues and issues related to lifestyle.
If you’ve found these posts helpful, please pick up the entire paper, which is now available on Amazon in both paperback and ebook formats under the title Once for all Delivered: A Reformed, Amillennial Ordination Paper for the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way,
Benjamin
PS: I posted a few pictures to Instagram from my ordination service last Sunday night.
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition, Jesus, The Work of Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Church, Christian Living, The Return of Christ, Response and Eternal Destiny}
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Current Doctrinal Issues
Marriage, Divorce, and Remarriage
God desires that Christians marry only other Christians. This follows from the prudent extension of 2 Corinthians 6:14–18 to marriage (cf. 1 Cor 7:39 “only in the Lord” and 1 Cor. 9:5 “a believing wife”) and the OT passages about marrying those from other nations, which weren’t so much about differing ethnicities or nationalities but religions (Dt 7:3–4; 1 Kg 11:1–8). It’s a great evil to delegitimize interracial marriages, as some have done in the past and some continue to do in our own day. But based on these passages, I would not officiate the marriage of one person who professes faith and one who does not. Prudence also suggests that Christians enter the covenant of marriage only with Christians of similar conviction and maturity. The issues surrounding marriage of a previously divorced person are more complicated. The Bible presents two grounds for a divorce that could open up the possibility of a remarriage, namely, infidelity (Mt 5:32; 19:8–9) and desertion (1 Cor 7:10–11). The ideal is always repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation, but these are not always possible. Thus pastors must take into consideration situational specificity while at the same time giving serious weight to what Scripture teaches, especially God’s hatred of divorce and the way the permanence of marriage portrays the permanence of God’s love (Mal 2:16; Eph 5:21).
Because questions often arise about the definition of sexual immorality and desertion, allow me to discuss each briefly. I take Jesus’s use of the word porneia (sexual immorality) in the exception clause in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9 to be a sort of “junk drawer” term incorporating many variations of sexual sin, especially when the specific word for adultery, moichatai, is used in close proximity (5:27 and 19:9). This is not to say I’d encourage a woman to divorce her husband because last year he infrequently and repentantly looked at pornography. In fact, I’d never lead with the encouragement to get divorced. But I am saying a spouse in habitual, intense, and unrepentant porneia might qualify. Through study of God’s word and devoted prayer, I could very well imagine the pastor-elders of our church coming to the conclusion that a man who spent a decade at strip clubs and consuming internet pornography, even if he had not consummated an affair in sexual intercourse, could be divorced under the exception clause. Related to this, the desertion clause in 1 Corinthians 7 doesn’t only mean a spouse has moved to Vegas without a forwarding address. There are probably multiple ways to desert your spouse. But saying, “He won’t go shopping with me” or “She won’t watch football with me,” certainly do not constitute desertion. However, I consider habitual, unrepentant violence inflicted on one’s spouse to be a form of desertion. We must hold strictly to God’s commands, feeling the weight of Scripture far more than cultural trends. And it’s wise for pastor-elders to have a clear understanding of how we define sexual immorality and desertion before cases of each arise. As a final comment, my discussion in this paragraph should not be understood as an attempt to create new categories for divorce but to give definition and application to what the two categories encompass.
Abortion, Infanticide, and Euthanasia
God values life (Gen 9:6) and takes no pleasure in death (Ez 18:32). Thus, so should his people. Because abortion and euthanasia are sins, our views of them transcend political party lines and our solutions for them will not merely be political ones. No individual Christian or local church can participate in every meaningful cause, but I do long and pray for more who labor to advance this biblical worldview so that it gives birth to life-affirming deeds.
Role Distinctions in the Church of Men and Women
God can, and does, give both men and women extraordinary gifts for ministry, but God has left the office of pastor-elder-overseer to men. Biblical support for this is seen in the following:
the responsibilities given by God to Adam before and after the fall (Gen 2–3; Rm 5:12ff);
the pattern of OT and NT spiritual leadership being placed mainly among men;
the parallels between male leadership in the church and the headship of men in the home as taught in places like Ephesians 5, Colossians 3, and Titus 2;
no explicit mention of women pastor-elders in the NT;
and, finally, specific passages like 1 Timothy 2:8–3:7 and Titus 1:5–9 which require male pastor-elders, something Paul even sees rooted in creation in the 1 Timothy passage.
At the same time, however, women can and should be encouraged to participate in significant Christian ministry.
Homosexual Belief and Conduct
Today, the church has a tremendous challenge but also opportunity when speaking about what the Bible teaches about sexuality. The challenge is to speak with humility and compassion and at the same time fidelity to the Word. Homosexual practice is against God’s good design. It is a sin (Lev 18:22, 20:13; Rm 1:24–27; 1 Cor 6:9–11; 1 Tim 1:8–11), and must be called such (Is 5:20). However, alongside this truth, the church must do a better job of explaining the positive sexual design that God has established for society to flourish and winsomely invite people to participate in it.
Theology of Worship
All of life ought to be lived as worship (1 Cor 10:31), that is, living in obedient, glad esteem of the worthiness of God. It is appropriate that Christians gather regularly in local churches to both display and deepen their worship.
Speaking of the corporate gathering for worship, we endeavor to sings songs, preach sermons, and pray prayers that exalt what is true about God, faithful to Scripture, and celebrates the riches that are ours in the gospel. We seek to do all of this in an orderly way to build up the body with words intelligible to our people. The responsibility of leading corporate worship is so weighty to us that a few of us make time each Tuesday to debrief the previous week’s sermon and worship service, always striving to improve our ability to rightly handle the word of truth, asking for forgiveness where we’ve failed to speak as well as we ought, and praying that our church would more and more fall in love with God and his word.
Issues Related to Lifestyle
Spiritual Disciplines
God is pleased to supply his grace day by day and moment by moment to his people through spiritual disciplines. Therefore I actively pursue practices like evangelism, fellowship, prayer, service, and listening to the preached Word. I have my devotions in the morning before my family wakes up, attempting to read through the Bible cover to cover each year. As for prayer, I typically spend some time in prayer during my devotions. In conjunction with prayer, fasting—in both short and long durations—has been important to me.
Stewardship, Personal Finances, and Debt
God owns everything, yet he has entrusted humans with the care of creation (Ps 8; Heb 2); therefore, we should strive to be good stewards. The only debt my wife and I have is the mortgage on our house. We also intend to continue contributing to retirement funds. The Lord has been very gracious to us in these regards, and we feel blessed to extend God’s money generously to our local church, as well as to other ministries and missionaries.
Sexual Purity
The Bible tells us, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16). There are certain temptations that tend to tempt men more acutely, and pastors and Christian leaders are not immune. As such, I will continue to seek God’s help in regard to all areas related to personal holiness and trust Christ to give me continued victory and progress as I lean into the means he has appointed for such victory and progress. This is the heart behind the book I authored to help men struggle against porn, not with it.
Marriage and Family Priorities
God made it the duty of men to provide, protect, lead, and serve our families (Eph 5:22ff). It is not a role of entitlement but of sacrificial leadership. Thus, practically, Christ-like spiritual leadership in my home involves me being the one to initiate conflict resolution (as opposed to being passive), doing the dirty house-work jobs, providing financially, and, as needed, being the first to take responsibility and repent. God calls all men to embody these impulses, though the outworking will vary depending upon one’s circumstances. May God supply the grace to do it with increasing success and joy. With respect to pastoring, my family is a priority above the church. This has many practical implications such as coming home around 4:30 every day, even if I go back out for an evening meeting, as well as cutting the occasional sermon illustration that might bless the church but not my children or wife.
Social Drinking of Alcohol
Alcohol was seen as a blessing by the Jewish people and a sign of covenant celebration of God’s goodness and provision (Dt 14:26; Ps 104:15; Prov 3:7–10; Jn 2:1–12; Lk 22:20), but the use of alcohol in excess is strongly warned against throughout the Bible in both propositional statements and through sinful examples (Noah’s drunkenness in Gen 9 and Lot’s in Gen 19; Prov 20:1; Is 5:11; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:28; and many others).
In light of all these passages, I occasionally drink alcohol but always in moderation.
Accountability in Life and Ministry
There are several structures in place for personal and ministry accountability, including an engaged pastor-elder board and bi-weekly meetings with my best friend who asks hard questions.
* Photo by Désirée Fawn on Unsplash
The Doctrine of Response and Eternal Destiny: EFCA Ordination (Part 10 of 11)
What truths characterize our eternal destiny? And why do they matter?
In the fall, I began my longest blog series ever, a series sharing my ordination paper for the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). If you’d like to read about what the process of ordination looks like in the EFCA, check out the first post in the series (here).
The ordination paper engages with our denomination’s 10-point statement of faith. I know these posts are dense. Please hang with me through just two more. This week’s post covers “Article 10: Response and Eternal Destiny.”
If you’ve found these posts helpful, please pick up the entire paper, which is now available on Amazon in both paperback and ebook formats under the title Once for all Delivered: A Reformed, Amillennial Ordination Paper for the Evangelical Free Church of America.
Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition, Jesus, The Work of Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Church, Christian Living, The Return of Christ}
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Response and Eternal Destiny
10. We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.
This next sentence is a mouthful, so take a deep breath. The gospel is the good news that Jesus, the long-awaited Messiah and heir of the Davidic monarchy, has come (Rm 1:1–5; 2 Tim 2:8), died, resurrected, ascended to his exalted throne, sits in heaven from whence he will come again to judge the living and the dead (Ps 110:2; Mk 12:36; 14:62; Acts 2:33–34; Eph 1:20; Heb 1:3, 13; 1 Tim 4:1), and by virtue of his atoning death and victorious resurrection, he graciously extends forgiveness, mercy, and righteousness to any and all persons who would come to God the Father through him in repentance and faith (Is 55:6–7; Lk 24:47; Acts 2:37–38; Rm 2:4; 3:22; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 Tim 1:16). To “receive Jesus as Lord,” as this article mentions (cf. Jn 1:12), means turning from our sins and trusting in Christ as Savior.
The gospel is both inclusive and exclusive at the same time. The gospel invites all people, no matter how wicked or vile, to experience grace (1 Tim 1:15). Whosoever wills may drink from the fountain. But God only appropriates the saving benefits of the gospel to those who place faith in Christ (Acts 4:12; 2 Thes 1:8). Ultimately many will persist in unbelief and so reject the saving benefits of the gospel. For them, an eternity of punishment in conscious torment awaits; this ought to grieve and motivate believers to manifold action. It is a sobering reality, repeatedly declared throughout the Bible and especially by the Lord Jesus himself, that hell is a place of unending torment in the full presence of God’s wrath and away from his grace, love, and mercy (Mt 25:46; Lk 16:26; 2 Thes 1:8–9; Rev 14:11; 21:8; 22:14, 15).
The Bible does not often speak of the time between an individual’s death and the final resurrection and judgment, or the intermediate state as theologians have often referred to it. However, the Bible is clear that believers will be in God’s presence. After death, the souls of believers go at once into the presence of Christ (Lk 23:43) and await their reunification with their glorified bodies in the resurrection (2 Cor 5:6–9). Similarly, upon death the souls of unbelievers go at once into hell, awaiting the final resurrection where they too will be reunited with their bodies (Jn 5:28–29).
The Bible indicates differing levels of reward and punishment based on how a person lived with the knowledge of God that they had (Lk 12:42–48; 1 Cor 3:12–15; Jam 3:1). As has been discussed previously, the connection between receiving salvific grace through faith and the producing of good works is so strong that the Bible often describes the final judgment based upon works, as it does in the account of the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20:11–15 (cf. 2 Cor 5:10). In this passage, those who did not have their name in the book of life are judged for not having good works, while those who have their name in the book do have good works and are not thrown into the lake of fire. Related to hell and the lost, it is important to say two things that have not been stressed yet. First, unbelievers do not go to hell because they didn’t know about Jesus; people go to hell because humans are condemned sinners, and hell is what sinners deserve (Rm 6:23; Gal 3:10). Second, as for those who have never heard of the gospel, we should go and tell them before they die so they may hear the gospel and might be saved. Now, it’s common to hear stories of how God is pleased to reach unbelievers through visions, especially among highly unreached people groups, such as those within the 10/40 window, but these visions are only salvific if and when they connect a person to the content of the gospel, which must then be believed. In other words, there might be more people being reached than we are aware of, but clearly the ordinary plan of God is to send human missionaries (Rm 10:14–17).
Several passages in the Bible either imply or state explicitly that there will be a great renewal of the earth in its physical condition to make a suitable place for resurrected, glorified believers to worship God forever (Is 65:17; 66:22; Jn 14:2, 3; Rm 8:19–21; Heb 12:26–27; 2 Pet 3:13; Rev 21:1; 22:1–3). Since God is infinite, and glorified people will always remain finite, the new heavens and the new earth will be a place of unending and ever-increasing joy and happiness as God displays forever “the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7). While we formerly identified with the man of dust, in the gospel we now identify with the man from heaven and all the glory therein (1 Cor 15:47–49).
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev 22:20).
Discussion Questions
God Commands All to Believe the Gospel, Repenting and Receiving the Lord Jesus Christ
1. What is the gospel? Is the gospel a universal message?
2. What does it mean to “believe the gospel,” viz. what is the importance of belief?
3. Define “repentance.” What is the role of repentance in conversion?
4. What does it mean to “receive the Lord Jesus Christ”?
5. What is the importance of the universal command to believe, the exclusivity of believing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal consequences grounded in one’s response to Jesus?
Bodily Resurrection of the Dead and Judgment of All
6. What is the importance of the “bodily” resurrection of the dead (note Jesus’s bodily resurrection and bodily return), and what does this teach us about humanity?
7. What is your understanding of the Judgment Seat of Christ and the Great White Throne Judgment of Revelation 20?
8. Will believers face future judgment? Explain the meaning of 2 Corinthians 5:10, cf. 1 Corinthians 3:12–15.
Unbeliever Condemned to Eternal Conscious Punishment
9. What is the destiny of unbelievers? What is the destiny of the unevangelized? What does it mean that unbelievers are condemned?
10. What is the nature of Hell, and does “eternal conscious punishment” mean?
Believer to Eternal Blessedness and Joy with the Lord
11. What happens to a believer who dies before the return of Christ?
12. How do you describe “heaven” and “life after death”?
New Heaven and New Earth
13. What is the relationship of the “new heaven and new earth” to the millennial Kingdom of Christ?
To the Praise of His Glorious Grace (Doxology)
14. Why is it fitting to conclude a doctrinal Statement of Faith with a worshipful (doxological) note?
* Photo by Sasha • Stories on Unsplash
The Doctrine of Christian Living: EFCA Ordination (Part 8 of 11)
What truths should characterize the Christian life? And why does this matter?
For the last few months, I’ve been writing about my ordination process in the Evangelical Free Church of America. If you’d like to read about what the process looks like, check out the first post in the series (here). Throughout the autumn, I’ll occasionally share the remaining sections of my ordination paper, which engages with our denomination’s 10-point statement of faith. This week’s post is from the section on the Christian living. I know these posts are dense. Please hang with me through a few more.
Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition, Jesus, The Work of Christ, The Holy Spirit, The Church}
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Christian Living
8. We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
Speaking in systematic theological terms, sanctification is the process of becoming more and more holy (Jn 17:17; Rm 6:11ff; Eph 2:10; 1 Thes 4:3; Heb 12:1). The Bible closely links “God’s justifying grace” and “His sanctifying power” in this way: God’s action of justification invariably leads to and produces sanctification, a cooperative endeavor by both God and the person. When God justifies a person, the process of change must begin (Jam 2:17–26). This change is not without setbacks, but one day, God will complete what he began (Phil 1:6). Hallelujah. The process of change varies in people: sometimes it seems nearly instantaneous in one specific area of life, and other times change plods along slowly, incrementally—two steps forward, one step back. The Lord surely has his reasons for the relative slowness and rapidity of sanctification, perhaps just fast enough so we trust he’s still working but not so quick that we get cocky. With all of his riches, Jacob’s limp wasn’t a bad thing for him; it assuaged his swagger.
When we say, “live out our faith,” we mean the deepening of a Christian’s trust in the promises of God that leads to increasing, joyful obedience. We can call this “works,” which is what Paul calls it in Ephesians 2:10. Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves never stays stagnant. In fact, Scripture is clear that final salvation requires good works—works produced by grace through faith but works nonetheless (Jn 5:28–29; Rm 8:12–14; Gal 5:21–24; 6:8–10; Heb 10:36; Jam 1:26; 1 Jn 1:7; and many, many others). To just highlight one aspect of our obedience, Christians should do good to everyone but especially those of the household of faith (Gal 6:10), which is not unlike the requirements for eldership which specify that if a person cannot care for his own household, something is wrong.
While all true believers are eternally secure, the feeling of assurance is not static. A believer’s assurance to whether he or she is a genuine believer fluctuates for a host of reasons, and progress in sanctification is one of them. When a believer lives out her faith in humble, joyful obedience, she should be encouraged that she is indeed a believer and that all the promises in the gospel are hers. A Christian in overt disobedience—what the OT sometimes calls high-handed or defiant sins (Num 15:30)—might feel very assured of his own salvation, but we might better label his assurance as false assurance. John addresses the topic of assurance extensively in 1 John 3, in which there seem to be two related components: an ethical part of assurance related to a believer’s obedience and a mystical, spiritual part that comes through the voice of the Spirit (esp. v. 24).
Jesus spoke of the greatest commandment as loving God and the second as loving our neighbor (Mt 22:37–39). We see this pattern reflected in the Decalogue (Ex 20; Dt 5). To love anything more than God, even good things such as one’s family and ministry, involves elevating a good thing to the place of God, which is idolatry. Yet when we love God rightly and preeminently, we will also love the things he loves. And because God’s own passions are committed to the poor and oppressed (Dt 10:18; Ps 140:12; Lk 4:18), the people of God ought to be characterized by these same passions—passions that translate to merciful gospel witness in both word and deed (Dt 15:11; Prov 31:8–9; Amos; Micah 6:8; Mt 23:23). In this way, each local church ought to be an oasis of compassion and an incubator of people zealous for justice as we extend the gospel and make disciples among all people, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded (Mt 28:19–20). I spend a significant amount of time discipling men who, Lord willing, will spend their lives discipling others into deeper understanding of what it means to follow God in the home, church, and world—that is, walking with God both when everyone is watching and when no one is watching.
We should not neglect the implications of the gospel’s cosmic aim to restore all things, which includes social order, but neither should we conflate the proclamation of the gospel to simply doing good things. People changed by the gospel will do things like volunteer in a crisis pregnancy center and oppose local laws that might hurt the poor and minorities. Yet the gospel is not volunteering or lobbying, though it produces good works as a tree grows fruit.
Because God calls us to reach all people (1 Thes 3:12), ministry in general and churches in particular will always be messy. Sermons will be too long for some and too short for others. Worship music will be too expressive for some and too stuffy for others. Some will wrongly become dogmatic about secondary matters and squelch fragile unity and opportunities to build bridges. And that’s all just within the church. With all these varying maturities, backgrounds, temperaments, races, ethnicities, and economic statuses, Christians reaching non-Christians will certainly also be messy. It was in the book of Acts. But diverse people rallying around the cross of Christ glorifies God in ways monolithic uniformity does not. For if God has seen fit to unite the two oft-opposed groups of Jew and Gentiles together in one body through the cross, then we should certainly seek the same sort of unity.
When speaking of various types of diversity, it is also helpful to point out what we don’t mean. Sometimes when Christians speak of faith, we mean the faith as in an established body of doctrine (cf. 2 Thes 3:2 in the Greek, hē pistis). Jude wrote about “common salvation” and contending “for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (v. 3). These phrases become meaningless if Christianity were infinitely malleable. Yes, the Christian faith has aspects of mystery, but the Christian faith cannot be all mystery lest there be nothing to call the Christian faith once-for-all-delivered.
In evangelism, discipleship, and the advancement of God’s kingdom, there will always be opposition. Of this we are warned (Mt 10:16ff; 2 Tim 3:12; 1 Pet 5:8). Our ability to discern the exact makeup of the opposition—whether the world, flesh, or devil (1 Jn 2:15–18)—is often difficult. The categories mingle. Yet God has appointed means, or we might say weaponry, for service in the battle. These means are many and varied, but we can correctly subsume them under three larger categories: God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and prayer in Christ’s name, by which I mean prayer consistent with the will of Christ and prayed in his authority through our union with Christ (2 Cor 10:3–5; Eph 6:11; 2 Tim 4:7).
Discussion Questions (created by the EFCA)
Relationship Between Justifying Grace and Sanctifying Power and Purpose
1. How do you understand the doctrine of sanctification? How is it related to justification?
2. What is the purpose and function of “works” in the life of the believer?
3. What is the relationship between a believer’s sanctification and assurance?
Great Commandment
4. Why is love for God preeminent and why is this at the heart of understanding the Ten Commandments and is considered the first and greatest commandment of the whole of the Christian life? How does this relate to other gods and idolatry?
5. How does our preeminent love for God (and God’s prior love of us) serve as the basis for our love for others? Is there an importance to this order?
Living Out Our Faith
6. Why is it important to distinguish between “the faith” understood as a body of truth and “faith” understood as the way in which one lives, viz. having been justified by faith, we live by faith?
7. Living out our faith begins with “the household of faith,” which is evidenced in “care for one another.” Why is this important?
8. What is the biblical teaching of “the poor” and “the oppressed?”
9. How do you understand the local church’s responsibility and role in the world, particularly ministering with compassion and justice?
Combating Spiritual Forces of Evil
10. What is spiritual warfare? How should we combat the spiritual forces of evil?
Christ’s Commission to Make Disciples
11. What is the importance of the command to “make disciples” and what are the God-ordained means of doing that?
12. The scope of this ministry is “all people.” Support this biblically and explain the importance and practical outworking of this in the local church.
13. Why is it important to distinguish between the gospel and the entailments of the gospel? How does the gospel relate to deeds of mercy and compassion? What are the implications of equating them (e.g. the social gospel), and what are the implications of creating an absolute disjunction between them?
14. We are always to bear witness to the gospel in both proclamation (“in word”) and in life (“in deed”)? Give examples of how we can witness to the gospel “in…deed.”
* Photo by Karsten Würth on Unsplash
The Doctrine of The Church: EFCA Ordination (Part 7 of 11)
What is the Church? And why does it matter?
For the last few months, I’ve been writing about my ordination process in the Evangelical Free Church of America. If you’d like to read about what the process looks like, check out the first post in the series (here). Throughout the autumn, I’ll occasionally share the remaining sections of my ordination paper, which engages with our denomination’s 10-point statement of faith. This week’s post is from the section on the church, which also required me to interact with the preamble to our statement of faith.
Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition, Jesus, The Work of Christ, The Holy Spirit}
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The Church
7. We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
In the context of the Bible, justification is the legal declaration from God that he has declared a person “not guilty” and imputed Christ’s righteousness to the repentant (Rm 3:21–30; 2 Cor 5:21). We call this exchange double imputation, the believer’s sin reckoned to Christ and Christ’s righteousness reckoned to us. All this good news comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. To say justification comes by grace is to say that the loving favor received from God is an undeserved gift (Eph 2:8; Titus 3:7). To say it comes through faith means that a person must look away from his own works and instead cling to and depend upon the provision of Christ (Phil 3:9). We add the word alone to grace to clarify that in justification we add nothing to grace or it wouldn’t be grace; alone to faith because nothing more than faith is required; and alone to Christ because no salvation is found except in Christ. The reason we do not always have to say that we need faith and repentance, though the Bible sometimes but not always says repent and believe (Mk 1:15), is because of the proper understanding of what faith includes. Faith in Christ involves turning from treasuring X, Y, and Z to treasuring Christ, which must include repentance, the renouncing of our old ways to walk in obedience.
The true church is the sum total of all those justified by Jesus—throughout all time and place. We see this understanding of the church in Ephesians 5:25b where Paul describes the church as all those for whom Christ gave himself up. Jesus loves the church as a groom loves his bride. Jesus Christ is the head of every local church because he is the head of the true, or universal, church (Eph 1:22–23; 4:15–16; 5:23; Col 1:18; 2:19; Rev 1–3). As head, Jesus lovingly rules, commands, and nurtures his church, which is his body, and in turn, his church should respect and submit to his gracious rule.
A part of the church’s role in respecting and submitting to God’s gracious rule involves the practice of the two ordinances that Jesus instituted to be carried out under the auspices of local churches, namely, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. I have experience in both paedo- and credo-views of baptism, and I see many strengths in each (as well as perhaps some weaknesses), but I do practice believer’s baptism. Once a person has experienced the saving power of the gospel, we properly display what has happened on the inside with a sign on the outside (Rm 6:1–11). In this way, baptism parallels wearing a wedding ring. It signifies to the world that the person is in an exclusive relationship with another. The ring—and baptism—do not put a person in the special relationship; they symbolize it. At our church, we do not require baptism for membership, though we certainly encourage it and typically discuss baptism with those applying for membership.
Concerning the Lord’s Supper, various views exist. The Roman Catholic Church errs in her sacramentalism, the understanding that sacraments such as the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist) confer salvific grace to participants regardless of their heart posture. Although far less dangerous, I think the strict memorialist view goes too far in the other direction, as though all we are doing is remembering. Christians never just remember anything (cf. “remembering the poor” in Gal 2:10 means far more than recalling to one’s mind that some people are, in fact, poor). When Christians remember the death of Christ by participating in the Lord’s Supper, God supplies his church with nourishing grace and unites believers. In 1 Corinthians 11:17–34, all the negative observations about the church’s malpractice of the Lord’s Supper imply spiritual blessing when practiced rightly as together we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (1 Cor 11:26; cf. 10:16). It’s common to hear people say that the provocative “eat my flesh, drink my blood” saying of Jesus in John 6 points us to the Lord’s Supper. But it’s the Lord’s Supper that points us to John 6! The bread we break and cup we drink is participating in Christ (1 Cor 10:16–17). In the Lord’s Supper we taste and see that his body and blood are true spiritual food and drink.
There seems to be a biblical, gospel-logic order to these ordinances, namely, that gospel awakening should be shortly followed by baptism (Mt 28:19; Acts 8:35–39), which should be followed by regular participation in the Lord’s Supper in a particular local church, all overseen by qualified shepherds. The last part of that sentence (in a church under the care of qualified pastor-elders-overseers) and the association in the Bible of the ordinances with whole-church unity (1 Cor 11:26) has implications on when and where the ordinances should be celebrated. A youth director should not baptize children while away at a camp, and four Christian guys on a hike or a small group Bible study should not hold a communion service; even when the small group leader is a pastor-elder, his small group is not the local church but only part of a local church. (The inability of a shut-in to come to the regular gathering of the church isn’t the same thing.) To be candid, our own local church could do a better job teaching about the ordinances. We noticed this last year when we changed the default method of handing out the communion elements. Rather than passing trays through pews, we began inviting Christians to come forward to receive, which showed us that a few unbaptized, young children were partaking as well as others we suspect have unclear professions of faith. Clearly, we have work to do.
Preamble
The Evangelical Free Church of America is an association of autonomous churches united around these theological convictions:
EFCA local churches are autonomous because no official, governing body higher than the local church (e.g., a bishop in Episcopalian government or General Assembly in Presbyterian government) decides matters of dispute, exercises church discipline, and calls pastors. Rather, each local church handles such things (Mt 18:15–17; 2 Cor 2:6). We recently updated our own local church constitution and bylaws, which were adopted long before I arrived. In one place, the document had said we were a “completely autonomous” church (emphasis added), to which I occasionally remarked in elders’ meetings “there is no such thing.” While each local church is in a sense autonomous, churches are interdependent, meaning we function best when we affiliate with other like-minded churches for the many benefits to each other and for the greater witness to Christ locally, regionally, nationally, and globally. Additionally, we too quickly forget that every church exists upon the faithful brothers and sisters who have come before us, even those who planted each of our current churches. Every church is a church plant.
There are different structures of congregational government, but each variation holds that the final authority, under Jesus Christ, belongs to the local church membership (Mt 18:18–20; 1 Cor 5:4–5). Membership in a local church is for believers, which is why the pastor-elders of our church listen to the testimony of every person applying for membership. Those reading this paper who regularly listen to membership interviews likely know both the joys of listening to the redeemed of the Lord say so (Ps 107:2) but also the angst that comes when an applicant’s testimony and gospel clarity are fuzzy.
In addition to being in the Bible, congregationalism has particular importance in the EFCA because of its European roots that reach back to the time shortly after the Reformation. The EFCA, although not officially organized and named as such until the 1950s, has strong ties to believers in Europe who sought the freedom to worship God without the constraints of state churches. Today the term free carries a different nuance in the EFCA, but the spirit of freedom continues in the way a local congregation rules its own body and decides on theological matters deemed to be of second- and third-order importance (Acts 6:1–6; 2 Cor 2:6). In our church this means membership must vote on matters such as amending the constitution and bylaws, calling and affirming pastor-elders, affirming deacons and deaconesses, approving the budget, and buying and selling property. A healthy church can thrive when each office—the office of pastor-elder, the office of deacon/deaconess, and the office of member—knows its role and humbly serves within it.
Discussion Questions (created by the EFCA)
Justification
1. How do you understand “justification” (cf. Romans 3:21-26)?
God’s Grace Through Faith Alone in Christ Alone
2. Define “grace” and “faith” and explain how grace and faith in Christ are related to justification.
3. What is the significance of the emphasis on “alone?”
Body of Christ, Jesus Christ as Head of Church
4. How are the scriptural metaphors of “the body of Christ,” “the bride of Christ,” and “the Head of the Church” to be understood?
True Church and Local Church
5. What is the relationship between the “true church” and the “local church?”
Local Church
6. What does it mean to be a “believers’ church?” Why is membership important for a local church? What responsibilities do members have in a local church?
7. Address the various types of church government. What is the biblical defense of congregationalism?
8. Within congregationalism, how should the Pastor(s), Church Board (Elders and Deacons), and Congregation function together for effective church ministry?
9. What is your understanding of the statement that the “EFCA shall be an association and fellowship of autonomous but interdependent congregations of like faith and congregational government?” What does “autonomous but interdependent” mean? Why is denominational affiliation important for you and the congregation?
Ordinances
10. What is the meaning and purpose of baptism? What are the various modes of baptism?
11. What is the meaning and purpose of the Lord’s Supper? What are the various ways this is understood?
12. How do baptism and the Lord’s Supper relate to one another, i.e. is there a biblical order? How do they “confirm and nourish the believer?”
* Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash
The Doctrine of The Work of Christ: EFCA Ordination (Part 5 of 11)
What did Jesus accomplish? And why does it matter?
This morning I passed my ordination exam in the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). I’ve been writing about it on the blog for the last month or so. If you’d like to read about what the process looks like, you can read the first post (here). The 4-hour oral exam occurred this morning. What a day! Almost two dozen members from my church made the 90-minute drive (one way!) to attend. Also in attendance were my wife, oldest daughter, and my parents.
Throughout the autumn, I’ll occasionally share the remaining sections of my ordination paper, which engages with our denominations 10-point statement of faith.
Thank you for the prayers and encouragement along the way,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition, Jesus}
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The Work of Christ
5. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
Jesus died as our representative and substitute, which means his death was a penal substitutionary atonement: Jesus took upon himself the punishment our sins deserved (Is 53:5–6; Mk 10:45; Gal 3:13; 1 Pet 2:24). His death was sufficient for all but effectually only for his elect (Mt 1:21; Jn 10:15; 15:13; Acts 20:28). What an undeserved joy we have as Christians knowing that in dying for his bride, Jesus did something special for us that he does not do for all (cf. Eph 5:25). Moreover, Jesus does not simply atone for our sins but also purchases the power that makes our salvation not merely a possibility people can experience but the reality believers will experience (Acts 20:28; Rm 8:31–34; Gal 1:4; Eph 1:11–14; Titus 2:14); his atonement is limited in scope but not in power. Related to the power of Christ’s atonement is God’s irresistible grace. To affirm God’s grace as irresistible does not mean God’s grace can’t be resisted. The Pharisees did precisely this in Luke 7:30. We do the same each time we sin. But what I cherish in irresistible grace is God’s ability, when he so chooses, to subdue all of our resistance to his love and deadness to true joy.
Since we’re talking about salvation, I should clarify what I mean. Salvation has broad meaning in the Bible, such as salvation from enemies in war or salvation from a life-threatening illness. But with respect to the atonement, salvation carries the idea of being delivered from God’s wrath (1 Thes 1:10) by God crushing his own Son in our place (Is 53:10) to bring his people near and reconcile them to himself (Eph 2:13; 1 Pet 3:18; 2 Cor 5:19). Our salvation is from God, by God, to God. God gives us eternal, abundant life with him when we only deserved eternal death and separation from him.
When discussing salvation from God’s wrath, it is helpful to define both expiation and propitiation which differentiate along these lines: expiation is an action that cleanses from sin and takes away guilt, while propitiation focuses on the appeasement of God’s wrath. Several key passages inform the discussion of expiation and propitiation (e.g., Lev 17:11 and other OT sacrificial passages; Rm 3:25; Heb 9:5; 1 Jn 2:2; 4:10). While both concepts are biblical, it is worth pointing out that a sinner’s guilt cannot be removed without the appeasement of God’s wrath and the shedding of blood by taking a life (cf. Lev 17:11 and Heb 9:22). Because penal substitutionary atonement and the discussion of the appeasement of wrath can provoke wrong views of God, as though he were cold and calculating, I should mention that the act of atonement itself does not make God love us; God has loved his people from before the creation of the world (Eph 1:4–5). Atonement graciously flows out of his love, not the other way around.
The exclusivity and necessity of Jesus’s death need to be asserted not only because the Bible teaches this but also because of increasing cultural pressure to regulate religious claims to mere situational truthfulness—if that’s true for you, great; but it’s not true for me. Only one way leads to God in reconciliation, namely, faith in the finished work of Jesus’s atoning death and victorious resurrection (Acts 4:12; 2 Thes 1:8). His resurrection is victorious because in rising from the dead, Christ achieved victory over sin, death, and evil (1 Cor 15:54–57; Col 2:15). Christ’s resurrection affirms his claims (e.g., Jn 3:18–22; 10:19), attests to the Father’s approval (Acts 13:30; Heb 1:8–9), and assures our own resurrection (Rm 4:5–6).
Discussion Questions
Representative and Substitute
1. What is it about Jesus’ person and work that accomplishes our salvation?
2. What does it mean that Jesus is “our representative and substitute?”
Shed Blood on the Cross
3. Why was Jesus’ shed blood necessary for our salvation?
4. Why is the centrality of the cross essential?
Perfect, All-Sufficient Sacrifice for Sin
5. What is the significance of Christ’s sacrificial death being “perfect” and “all-sufficient?” What is the value and necessity of His death?
6. How does the fact that this is the only way in which our sin is addressed compare with those embracing a wider hope of salvation beyond Christ and His work?
Atonement, Propitiation, Expiation, Redemption, Reconciliation
7. What is atonement? Define propitiation and expiation, and explain the difference.
8. Define redemption (cf. article 1). What does it mean to be reconciled to God and what is its significance?
9. What is your understanding of 2 Corinthians 5:21? Explain your view of “imputation.”
Victorious Resurrection
10. Why is Jesus’ resurrection considered as an element of our salvation?
11. What is the significance that Jesus’ resurrection is “victorious?” Who and what did Jesus overcome?
Only Ground of Salvation
12. What does it mean that Jesus’ work is the “only ground for salvation?”
13. What does “salvation” mean biblically? Explain your understanding of it.
* Photo by Emre Gencer on Unsplash
The Doctrine of Jesus Christ: EFCA Ordination (Part 4 of 11)
Who is Jesus Christ? And why does it matter?
I’ve been preparing for my ordination exam in the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). Speaking in broad strokes, the process of ordination in the EFCA involves 3 steps:
Step 1: Write a 20-page paper that engages with the EFCA Statement of Faith, and then defend your theology in a 2-hour oral examination conducted by the credentialing council, which is composed of a dozen or so ordained local pastors.
Step 2: Complete at least 3 years of healthy pastoral ministry in a local EFCA church.
Step 3: Do “Step 1” again—except this round, everything is doubled: it’s now a 40-page paper (not 20) and a 4-hour oral exam (not 2).
This fall, I’ve reached the final step. At 9:00 AM on October 8, 2019, I will undergo the oral examination.
For the next few months, I’ll be sharing some of my ordination paper on the blog. Please know this writing is denser than anything I typically share on my blog, so don’t be discouraged if you find some of it jargon-filled. Each section has 1,000-1,800 words of condensed theology to meet the required space guidelines. And after each section, I’m including a list of discussion questions provided by the EFCA that ordination candidates are encouraged to address in their papers.
I welcome your prayers and feedback during this process; both will sharpen my thinking before the exam and make me a better pastor.
Thank you,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible, The Human Condition}
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Jesus Christ
4. We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel’s promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.
As with the doctrine of the Trinity, Christians can struggle to understand Jesus’s full divinity and humanity, yet faithful exposition of the Bible leads decidedly toward the hypostatic union. In his incarnation, the second person of the Trinity, the Son of God, became flesh: he was born, increased in wisdom and stature (Lk 2:52), ate (Mt 9:10–11), slept (Mk 4:38), got tired (Jn 4:6), felt sadness and wept (Jn 11:35), and experienced great pain and died (Mk 15:37). But Jesus also remained fully God: he was sinless; “before Abraham” (Jn 8:58); performed miracles, including raising the dead; was understood by the religious leaders to make claims of divinity (Jn 10:31–33); didn’t rebuke Thomas when he called Jesus his Lord and his God (Jn 20:28); and in addition to all this, applied the lofty claims of Daniel 7:13–14 and Psalm 110:1 to himself (Mt 26:64). Christ’s dual nature allowed him to be our Savior: in his humanity he identifies with us, and in his divinity he is a worthy sacrifice in a way no human could be. A number of heresies regarding the nature of Christ arose in the early church that denied in some way Christ’s two natures in one person. Some such heresies were Nestorianism (two natures but not a unified person), Eutychianism (not the union of two natures but the blending of two), Apollinarianism (like a man but not quite a man), and Docetism (seeming to be a man but not). Scripture precludes these views of Christ and various church councils rejected them as unbiblical.
Some have taken the RSV’s rendering of “emptied himself” in Philippians 2:6–7 to mean that Jesus somehow became less than God in the incarnation. However, the emptying did not entail the relinquishing of Christ’s divinity but rather the temporary setting aside of his glory to take on the form of a servant. The glory Jesus set aside, by the way, has now been returned to him by the Father (Jn 17:5); there is nothing, including the timing of his return, that the risen and ascended Christ does not know as he sits on the throne of the universe.
The incarnation began with the virgin conception (Is 7:14; Mt 1:20) and proved critical in God’s uniting the humanity and deity of Jesus. Yes, Jesus was conceived, something common to humans, but his conception was a supernatural conception, a beautiful and divine interruption into the only pattern humanity has ever known: sinners begetting other sinners. In a mysterious way, the virgin birth kept Jesus from inheriting the sin nature inherited by every other human since Adam (Gen 3; Rm 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21–22). Our salvation required a sinless Savior because only a pure, spotless Lamb could die in our place as a worthy sacrifice (Jn 1:29; 1 Pet 3:18). A sinner dying for other sinners saves no one.
To address Christ’s sinlessness from another vantage point, we can speak of Christ’s perfect obedience, which theologians sometimes view in two complementary parts, these being his active and passive obedience. We call Christ’s obedience to every aspect of the law and will of God his active obedience. The passive obedience of Christ refers to every aspect of his sin-bearing obedience, which of course culminates in the cross but was also experienced as Christ, though the perfect God-man, experienced all that comes with living in a broken world. In his earthly ministry, Jesus experienced temptations, which were doubtless many and varied (cf. the wilderness temptations in Mt 4:1–11 or the way Satan spoke through Peter to tempt Jesus to forgo the mission of the cross in Mt 16:23). The book of Hebrews even speaks of Jesus being tempted “in every respect,” which doesn’t mean he experienced every single possible temptation but that he did experience enough of the cross-section of life that he can identify and even sympathize with us (4:15). In his humanity, these temptations were real despite that he has no sin nature. Thankfully, in his divinity, Jesus was not able to sin, which we call his impeccability.
Calling Jesus the promised Messiah of Israel means the person and work of Jesus is part of, and indeed the continuation of, a story long ago begun (Gen 3:16; 2 Sam 7:11ff; Mt 1:1ff; Gal 4:4). Many in Jesus’s day expected the Messiah, but most did not expect a Messiah who would be humiliated before his exultation, yet this was God’s foreordained plan. Prior to the crucifixion, Jesus predicted his death often in both subtle ways (e.g., the parable of tenants killing the landowner’s son in Mt 21:33–46) and overt ways (cf. the passion predictions in Mk 8:3; 9:30–32; 10:32–34). But Jesus also taught that he had authority to lay his life down and the power to take it up again (Jn 10:17–18). When this power was exercised in a bodily resurrection (not a merely spiritual or metaphorical resurrection), Jesus demonstrated that he was the Promised One who would lead his people and usher in the time in which light would shine to the nations beginning the great ingathering of Gentiles (Is 49:12; 60:3; Lk 2:32; Acts 26:23; Rm 15:8–9). In our present era Jesus sits at the right hand of God as the exalted Davidic heir (2 Sam 7:14ff; 2 Tim 2:8) until his enemies are made a footstool (Ps 110:1; Mt 26:64; Acts 2:35; Eph 1:20) while he exercises the authority given to him (Mt 28:18) to advance his kingdom until his pending return (Mt 24:30–31). The session of Christ as our king (Acts 1:9; Rev 20:1–6) and his ongoing ministry as our Great High Priest (Heb 8; 10:19–22) and Advocate (1 Jn 2:1–2) give me hope as I labor to be conformed to the image of Christ amidst the brokenness of our world.
Discussion Questions
God Incarnate, Fully God and Fully Man, One Person in Two Natures
1. What is the significance of the incarnation? Why was it necessary for our salvation?
2. Explain your understanding of the Hypostatic Union of Jesus Christ. How do you understand Phil 2:7?
3. What were some of the Christological heresies as the early church attempted to understand and explain the hypostatic union?
Israel’s Promised Messiah (Relation to Prophecy)
4. Why is it important that Jesus be known as “Israel’s promised Messiah?” What is its importance for our understanding of Jesus? What about our understanding of the Bible?
Virgin Birth
5. What is the virgin birth, why is it essential, and what is its significance for our understanding of christology and soteriology?
Sinless Life, Crucifixion
6. What is the significance of Jesus’ perfect obedience (both active and passive) for our salvation?
7. Could Jesus have sinned? How do you understand the temptations?
8. Why did Jesus die?
Bodily Resurrection, Ascension and Session
9. What is the importance of Jesus’ resurrection?
10. How do you understand the nature of Jesus’ resurrection body?
11. What is the significance of the ascension and session of Jesus Christ?
High Priest and Advocate
12. What is the significance of Jesus’ ministry as High Priest and Advocate and how does this affect your life and ministry?
* Photo by Jamie Morris on Unsplash
The Doctrine of The Human Condition: EFCA Ordination (Part 3 of 11)
What does the it mean to be human? And why does it matter?
I’ve been preparing for my ordination exam in the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). Speaking in broad strokes, the process of ordination in the EFCA involves 3 steps:
Step 1: Write a 20-page paper that engages with the EFCA Statement of Faith, and then defend your theology in a 2-hour oral examination conducted by the credentialing council, which is composed of a dozen or so ordained local pastors.
Step 2: Complete at least 3 years of healthy pastoral ministry in a local EFCA church.
Step 3: Do “Step 1” again—except this round, everything is doubled: it’s now a 40-page paper (not 20) and a 4-hour oral exam (not 2).
This fall, I’ve reached the final step. At 9:00 AM on October 8, 2019, I will undergo the oral examination.
For the next few months, I’ll be sharing some of my ordination paper on the blog. Please know this writing is denser than anything I typically share on my blog, so don’t be discouraged if you find some of it jargon-filled. Each section has 1,000-1,800 words of condensed theology to meet the required space guidelines. And after each section, I’m including a list of discussion questions provided by the EFCA that ordination candidates are encouraged to address in their papers.
I welcome your prayers and feedback during this process; both will sharpen my thinking before the exam and make me a better pastor.
Thank you,
Benjamin
{Previous posts in this series: God, The Bible}
* * *
The Human Condition
3. We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
Genesis 1:26–27 states that God created Adam and Eve in his image and likeness (cf. Gen 5:1; 9:6; Jam 3:9). Throughout the centuries theologians have attempted to clarify precisely what attribute, or perhaps several attributes, humans are bestowed with that most corresponds to the image of our Creator, thus making us distinct from animals. However, it is difficult and perhaps unwise to be too specific about what the imago dei means. But from the way image is used in passages like Exodus 20:4, 1 Samuel 6:5, 11, and Ezekiel 23:14 and likeness is used in 2 Kings 16:10, 2 Chronicles 4:3, 4, Psalm 58:4, and Mark 12:16–17, I conclude there are many ways we are like God and many ways we represent him. Some examples of this include the way humans have moral, spiritual, mental, artistic, intelligent, and relational capacities. Resisting the impulse to define the image of God singularly on any one trait protects us from the error of too narrowly limiting what it means to be human. So, for example, if we intricately link the image of God with human intelligence, we could get to the place where a person with severely diminished mental capacities ceases being human, or at a minimum becomes in some way sub-human, which of course is wrong.
Additionally, to be human is to be in union with the first human, Adam—a historical person, created by God as our representative at the headwaters of humanity. However, when tempted by Satan, Adam and Eve disobeyed God. As our federal head, Adam’s sin plunged himself and all subsequent generations into a state of rebellion against God (Gen 2–3; Rm 5:12–21; 1 Cor 15:21, 22). Our rebellious state is both inherited and also a result of individual choices (Ps 51:5; Is 6:5; Rm 5:12; Eph 2:1–2). We are not sinners simply because we sin; rather, we sin because we are sinners. Our inherited sin nature means people are born alienated from God and under his wrath (Rm 1:18; 2:5; 3:9–19; 3:23; 5:10; Eph 2:3). The wrath of God is his intense hatred of sin and just punishment of sin (Rm 1:18ff; Rev 19:15). While our rebellious bent severely tarnishes the image of God in us, the fall does not entirely eradicate the image of God but remains in believers and unbelievers alike (Gen 5:1; 9:6; Ps 8; Jam 3:9). This means every person—no matter how depraved or having physical and mental challenges—has dignity, value, and worth. The doctrine of the imago dei has many implications, but to name just a few of them we could say that Christians should advocate for life from its first beginning to its natural end and for the just treatment of all, including immigrants, refugees, criminals, and prisoners of war.
In the Bible, Satan is described in various ways: sometimes as a whispering serpent and other times as a roaring lion, sometimes as a thief and other times as a masquerading angel of light. But whether stalking or slinking, he is a deceptive and dangerous enemy (Gen 3; 1 Pet 5:8; Jn 10:10; 2 Cor 11:14). Everything God created in Genesis 1 was good, but somewhere before Satan’s mysterious entrance into the biblical story in Genesis 3, there must have been an angelic rebellion of sorts, presumably led by Satan. Indeed, an evil angelic rebellion seems alluded to in passages like 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 1:6. (It’s possible but not my conviction that Satan and his fall are also alluded to in the exalted descriptions of the King of Babylon in Isaiah 14:12–15 and the King of Tyre in Ezekiel 26–28.) Whatever his origins, the Bible describes Satan’s activity in many places, including Genesis 3, Job 1–2, and the wilderness temptations of Christ in the Gospels (Mt 4; Mk 1; Lk 4). Satan’s evil reign often casts a dark shadow over human sin and suffering even when he is not named explicitly (cf. 1 Jn 5:19). We see this mysterious interplay in passages like Ephesians 2, where Paul describes Satan as “the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience” and passages like Luke 22:31, where Jesus alludes to a behind-the-scenes demand of Satan that we would have known nothing about if we had not been explicitly told about the demand. Affirming that Satan has a role in human sin does not excuse our culpability, but it does enlarge our understanding of why the world is so broken, even stirring our empathy for those ensnared and captured by the devil (2 Tim 2:26). One day, his reign will end (Rev 20:9–10). Indeed, Satan’s inferiority to God is such that upon the return of Christ, Jesus will kill Satan’s lawless one simply with the breath of his mouth (2 Thes 2:8–9; cf. Is 11:4). With the ease you and I blow dust from our laptops, Jesus will defeat the deceiver of the whole world and the accuser of the brethren. Though “The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him; his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure.”
The great hope of the gospel is that through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ we can be rescued, reconciled, and renewed. These three sweeping terms highlight themes of the redemptive story: rescued means sin and Satan once held us captive (Jn 8:34; Rm 6:20; Col 2:15; 2 Tim 2:26); reconciled means God mends our relationship with him (2 Cor 5:18–21); and renewed means that, although we were dead in our sins and totally depraved—that is, sin tarnishes even our best deeds and prevents us from doing spiritual good before a holy God (Rm 6:23; 14:23; Eph 2:1)—God restores us, both progressively in this life and completely in the next (Rm 8:18ff; 2 Cor 5:17; Phil 3:21; 1 Jn 3:2).
Discussion Questions
Adam and Eve, Image of God
1. What does it mean that Adam and Eve were created in the image of God? What are the implications of this doctrine for us today?
Fall
2. How do you understand the fall of humanity and its effects?
3. What does the fall teach us about the nature of sin?
Satan
4. Who is Satan, and what role does he play in the fall of Adam and Eve? What is he working to accomplish today?
Union with Adam, Sinners by Nature and by Choice
5. How do you understand “union with Adam?” What does it mean that we “are sinners by nature and by choice”? Briefly explain these concepts from Romans 5:12-21.
Alienation from God
6. What does it mean that we are alienated from God?
God’s Wrath
7. What does the wrath of God mean and what is its significance?
Rescued, Reconciled and Renewed
8. From what are we rescued? To whom are we reconciled? How are we renewed?
9. Why is it important to state exclusively that this work is accomplished only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ?
* Photo by Hieu Vu Minh on Unsplash
Words and Deeds, and a Few Comments on Balance
What would it be like to watch a movie that didn’t have a musical soundtrack? It wouldn’t be as powerful, that’s for sure. Consequently, it’s the same with ‘the words we say’ and ‘the lives we live’—they go better together.
Currently I am studying for my ordination exams in the Evangelical Free Church of America (EFCA). It’s a three-year process that has three major steps in it: one at the start, one at the end, and one in-between. The steps at the beginning and the end of the process are similar; each requires a long, doctrinal paper and an oral examination over that same paper. The difference between the two is that the first step requires a 20-page paper and a three-hour oral examination, while the last step is double that—40 pages of writing and a six-hour oral exam.
What’s the middle step? Three years of faithful, gospel ministry in the context of a local EFCA church.
On May 21 of this year, I participated in the first step and passed. (If interested, you can read my paper here.)
While preparing for this step, I read Evangelical Convictions, which is an exposition of our denomination’s statement of faith. One place I found the book particularly helpful was in the discussion of the relationship between gospel deeds and gospel proclamation. When you hear “gospel deeds,” think of Christ-like acts of service in the church and the world. And when you hear “gospel proclamation,” think communicating the content of the gospel with words. To explain the relationship between the two, the authors of Evangelical Convictions use a musical analogy. They write:
Words often attributed to Francis of Assisi are frequently quoted in [regard to sharing the gospel]: “Preach the gospel all the time; if necessary use words.”
This is misstated, for our words are necessary, just as God’s words are necessary for us to understand his message. But it is true, nonetheless, that how we live provides the context for the content of the message we proclaim. It provides the music that accompanies the lyrics of the gospel—the music which helps to display the beauty of those lyrics to the world.
Thus, proclaiming the gospel in words and living the gospel through loving service to others ought to go hand in hand. Actions without words are insufficient, but words without action lack credibility. We declare God’s love to the world with more power when we also demonstrate that love in how we live. (Evangelical Convictions, 208)
This analogy—words and deeds likened to lyrics and music—is helpful. Gospel deeds by themselves are like instrumental music: good and beautiful, yet open to ambiguity and misinterpretation. And gospel words by themselves are like lyrics without a melody: good and true, yet all the more powerful when set to music.
A Few Comments on Balance
Perhaps you have heard serious debates about the tension between these two and which is more important: practice or proclamation? Should I shovel the snow in my neighbor’s driveway or should I invite them to a Bible Study? Should I volunteer at soup kitchens or hand out gospel tracts? Which is it, deeds or words?
Often in the debate, the word “primarily” is inserted to soften absoluteness—should Christians primarily be involved in gospel deeds or primarily in verbal gospel proclamation. This helps a little, but I agree with the authors of Evangelical Convictions; there is no ultimate tension between the two—words and deeds should go together like lyrics and music.
But just because they “go together,” I do not think our ultimate goal should be to “balance” them. I say this—that balance is not the goal—for three reasons.
First, how could we possibly know if we have just the right amount of each, the perfect balance of words and deeds? Sure, it’s possible to see gross imbalances, especially in others, but what “scale” shall we use to know when things are slightly off?
Second, balance—however it is measured—is something that must be measured over a period of time. For example, in a given moment, I might be engaged in a gospel practice, and in another moment verbal gospel proclamation. The only way to know that my life is “balancing” these two, practice and proclamation, is if you look at the period of time that includes both.
To use a different analogy, if I say, “I haven’t eaten anything in 10 hours!” you might think, “Whoa, that’s unhealthy and out of balance.” However, it might be very normal if when I said this it was 7am and I’d just had a good night’s sleep. We all have natural rhythms of eating and not eating, and in order to see if a person has a balanced diet you need to examine the right period of time. This is what I mean about words and deeds; you have to observe the right period of time. In different seasons, a person (or even a church or parachurch ministry), might rightly be focused more on one than the other.
Third, to complicate this even more, Christians exist in a body, a body made up of different members with different functions just like the human body (Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Therefore, by God’s great design, some of us will be more inclined to word proclamation and some more to deed proclamation. We can see this clearly displayed in 1 Peter. At one point, Peter writes that all Christians are to “proclaim the excellencies” of God (2:9). Yet later in the epistle, Peter notes that some Christians will do this through speaking and others through service. “Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies” (4:11).
For these reasons, to make balance the highest goal is not only impossible to evaluate, but the wrong goal altogether. Thus, I’m not so worried about how I balance the two in my own life, as much as I am concerned about obedience for this is Paul’s emphasis in Ephesians.
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Notice the phrase: “when each part is working properly.” The goal is not to make sure we are always in perfect balance, but perfect obedience so that together—the whole body—can sing gospel lyrics to the tune of gospel deeds. That’s the concert I want to be a part of.
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