Clarification

In a previous post I discussed the role of doubt in the life of a believer. I affirmed the positive function of doubt—that it can lead to a greater confidence in the faith, and even a greater ability to give account for the hope within. Doubt can play an integral role in faith development. However, I wish to offer three points of clarification:

1. The Role of the Community in Doubt: Jude 22 says, "And have mercy on those who doubt." Previously in the letter, Jude called the Body to persevere in the midst of scoffers of the faith and those who cause divisions. While Jude warns the Church against scoffers such as these, doubters are a different category. The community is to bear with doubters in love, even battling alongside them against doubt, saving them "by snatching them out of the fire."

2. The Distinction Between Scoffers and Doubters: Given that Jude warns against one catagory and prescribes mercy towards another, there is a difference between doubting and scoffing. Doubters have a disposition towards faith. Scoffers, on the other hand, are "devoid of the Spirit." Doubters are those who cry, "I believe, help my unbelief." Doubters have seen the beauty of Christ and will persevere. Scoffers have no such hope. Scoffers seek to cause division in the church.

3. Whether Doubt is a Sin: As Jude uses the term doubt here (and he gives a fairly detailed distinction between doubting and scoffing), doubt is not a sin. The community is told to bear with doubters. Nowhere in the New Testament is the church told to bear with sin. Although the church is to seek to help others overcome doubt, Jude portrays doubt as a condition believers will find themselves in from time to time. This is not to say that remaining in doubt is acceptable. Fight against it!

Reformers v. Emergers: A Lenten Reflection

Reformation theology is traditionally thought to be rooted in Romans, particularly chapters 9-11: God's sovereign choice in extending the focus of his steadfast love to the Gentiles. The emphasis is on God's sovereign act of redemption in Christ Jesus.

Emergent theology—or most liberal theology of the last couple decades—centers their theology in the Sermon on the Mount. For them, the Incarnation means a radical reorienting of morality, an egalitarian (used broadly) ethic, a new law. The emphasis is on Jesus' radical teaching.

Everyone has a hermeneutical lens through which they read Scripture. Often this lens is a part of Scripture that is seen as most significant. The reason I most closely align myself with the reformers is that they, as a whole, most closely focus their hermeneutic on what is the most significant event not only in Scripture but in all history: the Passion of the Incarnate. 

Jesus' teachings are hugely important, but if all God were out to do was correct some bad doctrine, he hardly needed to humble himself and become man to do so. There is something much more significant than a new teaching going on in the Incarnation: the reconciliation of God and man that could only occur by the particularity of Jesus Christ, true God of true God, becoming flesh and dying as a propitiation for our sins.

This is what the Reformers are getting at in centering their reading Scripture in Romans 9-11. It is essentially saying, "Thanks be to God that he has provided sacrifice for our sins, Jew and Gentile, and that the Good News is going out to all nations." Romans 9-11 is a theological (and practical!) outworking of the Passion narratives.

I am becoming increasingly convinced that God created the world so that he could demonstrate his steadfast love through the Incarnation and death of Jesus Christ. This is the centerpiece of all history; this is the purpose and the meaning of all things. Using on the Sermon on the Mount as a central hermeneutic of Scripture comes up short in at least two ways. First, The Sermon on the Mount does not appear in all the Gospel accounts. The Passion does. If the primary significance of Jesus' incarnation were his rabbinical teachings on the Law of Moses, wouldn't all of the Gospel writers have communicated this as clearly as Matthew and Luke do? Second, this teaching dangerously reduces Jesus to a moral teacher—a view that is incongruous with the whole of Scripture. One can focus on the reconciliatory work of Christ and still (necessarily!) see the significance of his teachings. Focusing first on his teachings obscures the reason the God became flesh.

This Lent, reflect first on what great love is yours in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself to the point of death–even death on a cross—in order to reconcile a sinner like you to God. Then, through the lens of such great love to you and empowered by the Holy Spirit that Jesus promised to those who believe in him, seek to live in love in accordance with the teachings of the one who demonstrated perfect love. One cannot embrace the first without embracing the second; the former necessarily leads to the latter. But one is utterly hopeless in truly living out Jesus' teachings unless the reality of the Cross has transformed him in the innermost. 

Belief, Doubt and Enduring Faith

"...I think there are always doubts that, if you come to grips with them—I think there’s doubts that you have, that you always have, that you ought to be more forthright and address them, for two reasons. One is, then you’re a better apologist. Because now people are coming shootin’ stuff at you in a way they wouldn’t when I was growing up. But the other is, it’s actually good for your faith to actually work it out."

-Tim Keller, Interview with First Things Magazine, February 2008

A few weeks ago I had an extended conversation as to whether doubting is a sin. It is a difficult question: If it is not trouble enough to be doubting one's faith, calling that doubt sinful can quickly become crippling.

The most obvious biblical example is of the apostle Thomas. Thomas certainly would have been in a world of trouble had Christ not vanquished his doubts by physically appearing. Thomas doubted the resurrection, thus missing the whole point of Jesus' earthly ministry. Had he not been confronted by the risen Christ, we would have no reason to have confidence in his ultimate salvation. As is, he is remembered as the first missionary to the east and a faithful follower of Christ.

Was Thomas' doubt sinful? When I fail to trust in God's promises in a difficult time, is that lack of faith sinful? The trouble is that if the doubt goes uncorrected, it leads to categorical unbelief and total corruption of faith.

The present reality is that the believer's faith is not yet perfected, and will not be in this life. We are in the torn situation of the father of the possessed child in Mark 9: "I believe; help my unbelief!" By God's grace, the believer is given a seed of faith. As this man and Thomas expressed, their doubts could only be assuaged and overpowered by Jesus.

Keller realizes and embraces the degree of doubt we will all have in this life, and claims it as a means by which God will increase the believer's faith. By facing our doubts, our faith becomes stronger against intellectual opposition and against the difficulty and sorrow of life in this world.

It is not unintentional that the Thomas narrative is placed at the end of the Gospel of John. Jesus' last words are, "Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." The purpose of the book is then given : "[This] is written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name."

The written testament of Jesus, as well as the examples of faith throughout Scripture- people such as those mentioned in Hebrews 11- are means by which we can fight against doubt and have reason for greater faith. The Bible is written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in his name.

A hymn for your reflection:

1. How sad our state by nature is!
Our sin, how deep it stains!
And Satan binds our captive minds
Fast in his slavish chains
But there's a voice of sov'reign grace,
Sounds from the sacred word:
"O, ye despairing sinners come,
And trust upon the Lord."

2. My soul obeys th' almighty call,
And runs to this relief
I would believe thy promise, Lord;
O help my unbelief!
To the dear fountain of thy blood,
Incarnate God, I fly;
Here let me wash my spotted soul,
From crimes of deepest dye.

3. Stretch out Thine arm, victorious King,
My reigning sins subdue;
Drive the old dragon from his seat,
With all his hellish crew.
A guilty, weak, and helpless worm,
On thy kind arms I fall;
Be thou my strength and righteousness,
My Jesus, and my all.

-Isaac Watts

Spiraling Toward the Irresistible

Personally knowing an artist can provide invaluable insight into the artwork he creates. Art is a response to an artist's surroundings, the effect of the causality of his life, and the artist's interpretation of reality. For this reason, even reading a biography of an artist can help someone distant from the artist in chronology, geography and culture enter into the artist's world and better understand any meaning the artist is attempting to put into his work.

Yet, in order to really know an artist, one must know their artwork. How can one claim to know someone without understanding their most passionate, perhaps personal expressions of self? To many artists, to understand their artwork is to understand the artist.

But if one cannot know the artist without knowing his art, nor the art without knowing the artist, how can there be any understanding between artist and consumer? Is there an impenetrable, closed circle of comprehension that only the artist can enter?

If there is any common understanding, there must be a point of entrance. And if a point of entrance can be achieved, then it is not a closed circle, but a hermenuetical spiral, wherein increasing knowledge of the artist and of the artwork aid the consumer in better understanding both. Once communication has begun, understanding is only limited by revelation.

In Book VII of Confessions, Augustine of Hippo tells the story of the moment of his conversion. He recalls being in a garden and hearing a small boy's voice saying in sing-song tone, "Take it up and read it . Take it up and read it." Curiously persuaded by the voice, he picked up his nearby Bible. Falling open to the Epistle to the Romans, the passage convicted Augustine of his immorality and started him on the path to becoming one of the most accomplished theologians ever to live. 

This was not Augustine's first exposure to Christian Scripture—he had dabbled in all sorts of religions previously, and his mother had taught him Scripture—but previous to this moment of conviction, true knowledge of God and Scripture had been a closed circle to him. Augustine's entry into covenantally knowing the Divine did not come of his own discerning, but rather, through an act of irresistible Divine self-revelation,  an otherwise closed circle became an inward spiral.

Jesus says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The poor in spirit are those who realize that they come to God possessing nothing—with no claim to grace or favor, no special understanding. It is from this point of human incapacity that God calls his children to himself, inviting them to the inward spiral, that they might live their lives in order to know Him better and more intimately. And, when all things are made right and the Blessed live forever, we will realize that in God's infinite beauty, there is always more to know, more to treasure, more reason to give to God all the glory.

Random Quote of the Week

"Said to represent sensuality and longing, artists have long used the pear as a provocative measure of our innate desires. One of the most appealing and desirable of the fruits, it is exotic and sexy, sweet with its juices and endless in its appeal."

Discuss.

The Grace of Understanding

Modern biblical interpretation is moving to increasingly accept the role of the reader in interpreting the biblical text. To those who prefer to place the authority and meaning of a text in authorial intent, this is a particularly troubling hermeneutic, as it opens up the door to a much greater degree of subjectivity than the typical historical-critical method.

However, the historical-critical method is not without its own faults, as it inevitably leads to exactly what it claims to be: criticism of history. At this point, we hear the voice of Gerhard von Rad, who argues that the Old Testament does not see itself as a history textbook, but rather, a history of Israel's religion, or, more helpfully, a story of God's faithfulness to his people Israel. This does not automatically eliminate historicity, but rather opens up a helpful way to view biblical narrative.

Given that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that it tells a narrative story, we can conclude that in the Bible, we are essentially given a history book from the perspective of God. Not only does it contain the meta-narrative of salvation history, but (particularly in the prophets) we are given divine interpretations of historic events. 

When confronted with difficult times of hurt or confusion, the Bible does not often have a one-to-one parallel that provides a pat answer. However, by seeing how God has responded to and interpreted events in the past, we can know God's character and discern the proper perspective for our own situations. 

There are no easy answers for the couple that has lost a child, or the mother facing cancer, or to those who lose loved ones to war, disease, disaster or age. But we do have a record of God's faithfulness, and thus, legitimate reason for hope. It is hope in God's word (Psalm 119:147)—and He has promised to make all things right.

Figures...

I buy a year's subscription to The Atlantic Monthly, in large part to be able to access all of their online articles. 2 weeks later, they do this. 

Figures. At least now I can link to articles there and people will be able to read it.