Merry Priestly Christmas

Much what we know about Christmas is based on carols and legends that have nothing to do with the biblical event we allegedly celebrate. Once we get past the decked halls, the frosty snowmen, and the eight tiny reindeer, we still labor under false ideas that color our understanding. For example, we don’t know (biblically) that there were three wise men; three gifts, yes; men, not for sure. The star the magi saw was not in the east; they were from the east where they saw the star in their western sky. It’s highly unlikely that there was snow on the ground on the night Christ was born. The Bible says the shepherds were in the fields watching their sheep; they weren’t stupid – they didn’t take their flocks out during winter. Regardless, the eventual dating of Christmas on December 25 for convenience sake has duped people into imagining a white Christmas on that fateful night in Bethlehem.

It's humorous to hear children ask why round John Virgin was away in the manger with Mother and Child, but if we are not careful, the eternal truth, the life-saving details of the Christmas story get lost in the mythology. Although it is not wrong to marvel that a King was born in a stable, Jesus was more than just a King. Truth be told, His role as an earthly King is one that is still in our future. He made this clear to His disciples just before His ascension. They asked if He was going to usher in the kingdom at that time. From His answer to them, we infer a “No. Not now.” His directions were to go to Jerusalem and wait for their marching orders.

When the Holy Spirit came ten days later on the Day of Pentecost, the disciples were given a clearer picture of who Jesus was and what He had come to do. They did see themselves as ambassadors of the coming Kingdom of Heaven, but they finally understood that its full realization on earth was something they had to work on and wait for. They may have been disappointed that Jesus had not come to conquer the Romans and free the Jews, but they learned instead that the incarnation of the Son of God involved a three-part program. First, Jesus was the prophet like Moses who was foretold. Looking back, we see this as His primary role while He was walking the roads of first-century Palestine. He  fulfilled the office of prophet by telling people what God wanted of them, and He gave some hints about how their future would play out.

There is another role assigned to the infant Savior that would precede His crowning as the ultimate King. He is a priest of the One True God. The Protestant Reformation may have left a bad taste in people’s mouths when it comes to priests. As Martin Luther rightly pointed out, the Roman Catholic priesthood was messed up. They had begun to do all the distasteful things the writers of the New Testament predicted. They stole the direct access to God from believers and replaced it with the system of works righteousness the Bible condemns. Grace had become a benefit granted by the church rather than the free gift of God through faith. From priest to bishop to cardinal to pope the traditions of men had supplanted the wisdom of God.

But if we disregard the role of Jesus Christ as our High Priest, we lose the wonder of His church-age role as our intercessor before the Heavenly Father. We may also miss the fact that we are all priests under His high priestly administration. Peter reminds us that believers are a royal priesthood. What that means is that we have an intercessory role to play. Just after Paul told the Corinthians that they were new creatures in Christ, he reminded them: “Therefore we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as if God were imploring you through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” Ambassadors serve a priestly role in that they represent the foreign ruler to the visited people, as Paul says, “And all these things are from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.”

We are living in a world populated by people who see God as a foreign king. No one serves Him without first being reconciled or repatriated if you will. The truth is that everyone born of Adam is an enemy of God. Keep in mind that God doesn’t send anyone to hell; everyone is born going to hell by virtue of their lineage: “Just as in Adam all die; so also in Christ all will be made alive.” It is our job as ambassadors and under-priests of Jesus to make that fact known. The good news is that we don’t have to offer sacrifices anymore; Christ is the sacrificial Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. Our priestly mission is to let people know that the sacrifice is available to all who will believe.

Joy to the world / The Lord has come / Let Earth receive her Prophet, Priest, and King. Until the fullness of that message is accepted and believed, a future life in a blissful kingdom is a pipe dream. Much of the world borrows false hope from the Hallmark presentation of the Infant Savior of Bethlehem. Unless a person accepts Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as a personal payment for their sin, the Prophet declares that the King will come as judge and the verdict will not be welcome. Go caroling with that message this Christmas if you dare. It is your priestly duty after all. Merry Christmas?

What Do You Know?

Epistemology, the study of knowing, has been debated for millennia. In ancient times, the debate was over how we can know things; more recently, there are some who question if we can really know anything. The folks in that camp run alongside those who don’t think there is any absolute truth – everything is relative, they suppose. This might be written off as a curious intellectual subject except for one thing: the enemy of our souls knows that if he can slander truth and get people to despise knowledge, he can keep people from turning to God.

Jesus Himself illustrated the dangers in this kind of thinking. The New Testament says that Jesus doesn’t just have truth or speak truth; He is Truth. Jesus is co-eternal and equally divine with God the Father; He was actively present in creation, and He became the one true sacrifice that redeemed God’s chosen people. Those three truths are the foundation of the belief system that brings salvation to a lost world.

Regarding knowledge, Jesus said that one thing was necessary to gain access to the life of the ages, life that would never be separated from God. He said, “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” He who is Truth said the path to life everlasting is through knowledge. This makes perfect sense because the entirety of Scripture is the revelation of God – God providing knowledge of Himself. The prophets, the psalmists, and all the New Testament writers insist that the way to God is through observing His creation and studying His recorded revelation – His Word – in other words, through knowledge.

Because humans were created in God’s image, it stands to reason that He would give them the means to know Him. He did: He gave us five senses to encounter the world we live in and make judgments and plans based on that information. He gave us a brain that can interpret the various stimuli that come to us through the senses. Our eyes receive light that becomes images we can identify; our ears sense the pressure waves in our surroundings and create meaning (most of the time.) Our nose, tongue and flesh have nerve receptacles that feed information to our brain which we use to interpret the world around us.

What I have just described are the physical conduits God gave us to operate in the world. While every living thing has these faculties to a degree, humans have something else that the rest of creation has only to a limited extent: a mind – specifically, a mind capable of knowing its Creator. The lower mammals, fish, birds, insects (and plants?) have imbedded knowledge we call instinct. Behavioral scientists have proven that we can add to an animal’s instinctual knowledge with careful training, but I don’t believe anyone has led an animal to a state of sentience, self-awareness comparable to humans’.

So, it is the human mind that receives input from the world around us and tries to make sense of it. The most reliable information comes from the ears and eyes as they take in the Word of God. At this point, I am going to introduce what I will call a sixth sense, not the sci-fi, paranormal idea, but a spiritual sense that is as real as the other five – perhaps more real than the others. When Jesus described true, heartfelt belief in Him, He referred to it as eating His flesh. Quite naturally, this disturbed many of His listeners, but he explained to His faithful disciples that He was making eating His flesh a metaphor for taking His words seriously; He said, “The Spirit is the one who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”

Throughout the New Testament we are encouraged to keep in tune with spiritual things. It is not always clear from the Greek whether the word “spirit” should be capitalized indicating the Holy Spirit, or whether it is meant to refer to the human spirit and the attendant spiritual reality around us. One of the clearest passages warning us to be on our toes spiritually is in Ephesians. Paul counsels us that our battle cannot be fought on an earthly plane; our enemies are spirit beings who stand opposed to God’s work in the world.

One might ask how these spiritual creatures can affect the physical world. While I believe they have the ability to act kinetically, even appearing sometimes as physical creatures, I believe they work primarily through intellectual or spiritual channels. In other words, they tamper with the information their targets need to function. Once again, I am talking about knowing. And in this case, if we don’t know our input is being altered in some way, we may act in ways that do not reflect what we should know if we are relying on our knowledge of God and His Word.

I believe the spirits who are aligned against God and His people use every channel available to humans to “kill, steal, and destroy.” They might hitch a ride on the eye channel and cause us to lust after something inappropriate. They might plug into the sound channel and cause us to hear something hateful where no such thing was intended. They might make the taste of something unhealthy seem irresistible. They might hop on a digital transmission and create an addiction to pornography. They might take over an entire social media platform and pump disinformation into whatever mind is not filtering its input with the Holy Spirit’s help.

It has been said that we have moved from the industrial age to the information age. The success of every modern endeavor is predicated on its access to the right information. Information – knowledge – is key. This is no surprise to anyone who knows the Bible; centuries ago, a wise man said, “Knowledge of the Holy One results in good judgment.” Good judgment, otherwise known as wisdom, is knowledge put into action. Believers have access to divine knowledge. We have the spiritual power to intercept it and act upon it. If you believe that, you have the knowledge to do what is necessary. Now that you know, what are you going to do?

Related Posts: Knowledge of Good and Evil; The God of Demonstrations; Rolling Thunder; Living in Zerubbabel’s Day; Digging Trenches

Doubtful Disputations

What do you do when you begin to doubt a well-considered opinion? Let’s assume that you have invested significant time and trouble to come to a conclusion that you are comfortable with. Let’s further assume that you are not alone in your position, but that there are many people who disagree with you. After years of arguing in defense of your view of the issue, you begin to doubt yourself. Honesty and integrity demand that you do something.

In my case, because I present myself as a teacher, it is important that I get things right before I state my opinion. I have written about this several times. (See Related Posts) The Bible warns against becoming a teacher because of the higher standard of judgment they will face. For this reason, I make it my sincere goal to base all my public opinions on the truth of Scripture. The problem is that some of my detractors say the same thing. Recently, a friend and former pastor with whom I shared significant agreement on most issues has begun to retreat from some of his previous positions.  Because he is well-educated and very well-versed in the Bible, he has caused me to reexamine some of my positions.

While I think my friend is moving away from biblical truth in some of his realignments, he has given me reasons to reevaluate others of my own firm convictions. The issue that troubles me most is the proper attitude toward illegal immigrants. In the 2024 Presidential election, this issue was number one in the minds of many voters. My stated opinion on the issue has caused some people to call it xenophobic. While I don't hate immigrants, caring for the less fortunate happens to rank near the top of biblical commands for believers. It would seem that there are few things more important to God than how His people treat the poor.

Most illegal immigrants are the poorest among us since they have left all their worldly possessions behind and come here with empty pockets. I have argued in the past that the church is unarguably called to meet the needs of these people. Both corporately and individually, Christians are under obligation to feed the hungry whenever they are capable. There are two things that complicate this issue in our present state of affairs. One is the legal status of the hungry people we face. Alongside the command to feed the hungry is the one to obey and honor those in authority over us. If we harbor and feed lawbreakers, are we honoring the will of our authorities?

Some may argue that it is acceptable to defy the government if they are asking us to violate Scriptural principles. They may say that turning our backs on these needy immigrants on account of their illegal status would violate the command to meet their needs. This brings another biblical principle to light: Paul recommended that the Thessalonians ignore the needs of some people who were refusing to work to feed themselves. He told them if they would not work, they should not eat. The majority of immigrants coming here were not starving at home; they come because they think they will find better circumstances here. If they are starving here, it is by their own choice.

The second complication to a biblical response to illegal immigrants is the impracticality of thinking that I am responsible to feed every hungry person I meet. If I did that, I would soon be among the hungry myself having given away all my sustenance. Unless I have been granted the widow’s bottomless food source, I can’t believe God would have me do that. Yet this is what some would have us do on a national level. As I wrote in “Man the Lifeboats,” unrestricted immigration will eventually the sink American ship, and then no one will be eating. We are also called by Scripture to be good stewards of what God has given us. If we crash our national economy by attempting to feed and house every needy person who comes here, we will have shown ourselves to be unwise stewards.

I believe there is biblical justification for maintaining national borders and thereby limiting immigration. The creation of cultural and the resulting national boundaries began at the tower of Babel. God instituted cultural differences for His own purposes. In the Apostle Paul’s address to the Athenian philosophers, he validated the concept of nation/states by saying that throughout history, God perpetuated their existence. That they would continue to exist is proven by the prophetic announcements that the gospel would be delivered to every nation, tribe, and tongue. While the body of Christ is trans-national, there is no indication in Scripture that the arrival of the gospel would dissolve national identities.

That being true, it is difficult to find biblical justification for the argument that the United States of America is wrong to establish borders and institute criteria for citizenship within those borders. It follows that citizens have rights and privileges that flow from the laws that govern them. Conversely, non-citizens who enter the country illegally have no reason to expect the same treatment. In fact, what they should expect is to be deported as lawbreakers. America is a rich country, but we are not rich enough to support every person who crosses the border and demands care.

I suggested in “A Christian Response to Immigration” that putting this on a personal level makes it easier to accept. If someone burst into my home and demanded that I feed and house him, my first inclination would not be to accede to his demands. Unless he was armed and threatening great bodily harm, I would escort him back out the door. The spirit of charity might lead me to recommend a nearby food bank or homeless shelter, but I don’t believe Christian charity demands that I allow people to steal from me whether they are hungry or not.

Someone might bring up Jesus’ admonition to give the shirt off our back to anyone who asks for our coat. Keep in mind, Jesus was fond of using hyperbole to make a point. (Pluck out your eye or chop off your hand if they cause you to sin.) I believe in this case Jesus’ words must be balanced by Paul’s teaching that charitable giving must be heartfelt and not done out of compulsion. I believe the end of the matter is this: as a nation we have a right and a duty to restrict entrance to the United States and to remove those who violate those restrictions. At the same time, we must pray for wisdom as our local church leaders determine how to address the issue, and individually, we must ask for the Spirit to prompt us when it is His will to give.  I can say that without doubt, but I know it won’t settle the dispute.

Related Posts: Examining Christian Charity; Pilgrim’s Progression; Conspiracy Theory Part II; Loving Biblically; The Importance of Being Right;

You Have the Power

I complimented Henry David Thoreau’s insight recently for observing that, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I discovered that a Christian thinker whom I admire said something similar regarding believers: “Most present-day Christians live sub-Christian lives. As a result, Christianity has been watered down until the solution is so weak that if it were poison it would not hurt anyone and if it were medicine, it would not cure anyone!” (A. W. Tozer)

I am afraid that most believers are either ignorant or agnostic about the power they potentially possess. I can understand, though not excuse ignorance; the sad statistics regarding regular Bible reading among self-described Christians are appalling. If you don’t read the Word regularly, you can’t be expected to know what it promises. The other group, the agnostics, are more disturbing. These folks would say they know power is available, but they are not interested in its attainment or usefulness. This explains Tozer’s opinion of present-day Christians.

The biblical support for the declaration of my title is found throughout Scripture. I will begin with two that came directly from Jesus. Just before leaving His disciples to further His work, Jesus told them that, “All power has been given to me.” If that were all He said, one might be excused to say, “I am not Jesus, so that power is not available to me.” That would be untrue. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus told His disciples that they would have the ability, the power to do even greater works than He had done. Again, one might try to dismiss this inference by suggesting it was meant only for the people sitting with Jesus in the upper room. That excuse is deflated by Jesus’ statement in the same context that He was praying not only for the one’s present, but also for all who would believe because of their testimony.

Perhaps one could dispute my interpretation of Jesus’ words. In defense of my premise, I take the clearest example of the promise of power from Jesus’ parting words recorded in Acts 1:8. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” The entire book of Acts is a written record of the use of the power Jesus promised by the Apostles and those who shared the Holy Spirit’s gift. Twice in that record, people tried to buy the power being displayed, but they were soundly rebuked for their misunderstanding. Despite their mistaken assumption, it proves that power was on display.

In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul explains that his message to them was delivered with the wisdom of God and demonstrations of His power. He wanted them to understand that the proof of his authenticity rested on spiritual power not on fancy rhetoric. Paul warned Timothy against people who would pose as Christians with “a form of godliness,” but a deny the power present in the true gospel message. I am convinced, as I think Tozer was, that if power is lacking in a Christian’s life, that Christian is without power to do anything.

The question then becomes how we are to use the power we have been promised. There are at least four ways that come immediately to mind. The first of these is to assist in our sanctification. Because of our fallen state, we are virtually helpless to “fit ourselves for Heaven,” as it is sometimes put. God calls His own to be holy (sanctified) as He is holy. Try as we might, we are still subject to the pressures of the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit in us that we are, “made alive” in our mortal bodies.

The second use of the power we are promised is the one demonstrated throughout the Book of Acts: evangelism. As I wrote in Lead a Horse to Water, the best human effort to present the gospel is doomed to failure if it is not bathed in prayer for the Holy Spirit’s intervention. No person, no matter how talented, can save another person; that is the work of the Spirit through His faithful servants. People who come to a measure of faith based on human reasoning are probably following a false Christ. Proper evangelism is a cooperative effort between the believer and the Spirit.

The third use for divine power is to combat evil. Paul reminds us that our battle in this age is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces. Trying to fight spiritual enemies with human effort is like bringing a knife to a gunfight. You lose. All the necessary armor Paul describes is spiritual in nature; our only offensive weapon is the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God. If we truly believe that the One in us is greater than the one against us, we can step up like David with confidence that the giants we face will be defeated – not by might nor by power but by the Spirit of the Lord.

The final use of our God-given power may seem selfish, but it is not. The fruit of the Spirit in our lives includes joy. Joy is not the same as happiness. (See Happiness and Joy) Happiness is the result of good things happening; it is an emotional state. Joy is a spiritual condition that is unrelated to circumstances. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to experience joy in every situation if we will accept it. If faith, hope, and love are the three greatest things as Paul suggests, then joy is the natural result. Remember that when Paul commended the three, he was writing in the context of spiritual things, and each item on his list is part of the fruit of the Spirit. This is why I believe that joy is not an emotion but a result of spiritual empowerment. Joy is a wonderful state to be in, and it is also a strong testimony to those around us to the power if God in our lives.

You may be wondering how to find access to the power God has promised. Tozer says, “Most Christians are not joyful persons because they are not holy persons, and they are not holy persons because they are not filled with the Holy Spirit.”  For true joy in our hearts, for effective armament for our struggle, for successful evangelism, and for our ultimate sanctification we need the power that comes only from the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit won’t empower unholy persons; that might result in some inglorious results. God won’t have that. We must be set apart for God’s purposes; that is the definition of holy. Ready; get set (apart); go (and be empowered).

How to Pray for America

When I wrote “I Pray for America,” the Biden administration had recently taken over. I had expressed my opinion previously in “America Held Captive” that religious freedom and fiscal responsibility were going to be under attack by the Biden administration. It didn’t take a prophetic gift to see that, and I think my fears have been proven justifiable. We are not better off now than we were when Biden/Harris took office either financially or with respect to Christian freedom. The question we now face is whether there will be improvement under Trump/Vance.

I don’t want what I say here to be thought of as purely political, unless you understand “political” the way I described it in “Christianity: Religion or Philosophy.” As I wrote then, politics is a branch of philosophy in that it is a practical expression our worldview. If we hold a Christian worldview, our political views must be influenced by a biblical understanding. There is another reason why discussing politics can be justified as a matter of heavenly concern: Paul commands prayer for our civil leaders. We pray most effectively when we pray specifically. To do that, we must be informed; hence, political discussion

I believe prayer for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance should be on two levels. The first level is the same as for any human being: prayer for their relationship with God. While I won’t hide the fact that I am pleased with the results of the 2024 election, I am not under the delusion that either of these men is my brand of Christian, or if they qualify for the label at all. I am not falling into the trap of dredging up Trump’s past failings. That avenue leads to the mistaken assumption that men are saved by their works. They are not. Salvation is through Christ alone by faith alone; worthy behavior comes as a result of belief. Unworthy behavior is the sad result of being human and does not disqualify one from salvation. If it did, none would be saved.

That said, believers should be praying for the sincere conversion and establishment of Donald Trump and J. D. Vance in a form of biblical Christianity. As I said above, I’m not sure either of these men qualify for that distinction. Both talk the talk, but I am not in favor of either of their versions of faith. Trump’s former spiritual advisor, Paula White, is a charismatic prosperity preacher who has demonstrated all the worst traits of that ilk. I’m not saying you cannot find Jesus listening to the health-and-wealth gospel; I just think it puts too much emphasis on material things. This will sound odd, but I think the shallow depth of Trump’s faith (if it exists) will keep him from the most unbiblical aspects White’s theology.

Vance, on the other hand, has a depth of faith that is both sincere and troubling. He was raised in a nominally Christian atmosphere, but he admits that it was not overly religious. He recently “converted” to Catholicism, saying that it most clearly represented his idea of what a Christian should be and do. His personal brand of Catholicism is not appreciated by orthodox Catholics, however. I think he can best be described as an intellectual Catholic, as shown by his adoption of St. Augustine as his patron saint. Vance sees Augustine’s City of God as a manifesto for proper government. Put this alongside his acceptance of the Catholic error of works salvation mediated by an earthly priesthood, and you have reason to doubt the biblical authenticity of the VP-elect’s faith.

The other thing about Vance that troubles me is that he married a practicing Hindu and credits her as a spiritual guide in his conversion to Catholicism. That may sound strange unless you understand the typical Hindu attitude toward religion in general. While Christianity is exclusive – salvation in no name but Jesus – Hinduism is inclusive believing there are many paths to spiritual enlightenment. It would seem that Vance embraces that view which leads me to doubt the validity of his profession of Christian faith. No one has biblical doctrine down perfectly (not even me), but to deny the exclusivity of biblical faith puts the entirety of that person’s faith in question.

That was a long explanation for my first reason to pray for our new leaders: they both need a clearer understanding of biblical Christian faith. The second reason to pray is what Paul said: that we might be allowed to live in peaceful godliness and dignity. Paul wrote this admonition when the leaders to which he referred were among the worst imaginable. Christians were being martyred all across the Roman Empire. It is obvious that the Apostle did not mean to reserve this type of prayer for believing leaders only. Far from it. He encourages prayer for civil leaders so that life on earth might be more pleasant. He also agrees with Peter, James, and John that suffering and trials will certainly come to Christians in spite of their prayers. As their lives prove, life is not always pleasant.

I want to close with one more thought: we should not imagine that we are electing pastors when we vote for our leaders. It is incumbent upon all Christians to live by biblical standards; it is wonderful if we can elect Christians to public office. However, it is not necessary that our leaders meet every biblical criterion for their personal behavior. The best we can hope for is that they will introduce policies that align with Judeo-Christian standards, and that they will defend the Constitutional right to free exercise of religion. Despite my misgivings about their personal faith, I believe Donald Trump and J.D. Vance will govern more in that direction than a Harris/Waltz administration would have. And I will continue my daily prayers as Paul recommended. Please consider doing the same.

Related Posts: I Pray for America; America Held Captive; Christianity: Religion or Philosophy; Christians Are Responsible to be Politially Engaged; Honor the King

The Fall as Death

I have become increasingly disturbed by the number of Christian authors and church leaders who express a muddled view of Biblical salvation. It is no wonder then, that the average person in the pew is confused as well. Semi-Pelagians will disagree with my Augustinian view of God’s sovereign role in the process. However, if we can agree to respectfully disagree on that issue, there remains a common need to be clear about the true plight of fallen humans and the real nature of sin.

Michael Wittmer’s book, Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough proposes to answer some of the controversial questions of our day. By way of explaining his approach to the issues the author says, “But the most basic question, the one which determines to a large extent how we answer the others, is whether people are good or bad.” I believe statements like this one of Wittmer’s are misleading.

There is a more basic question than Wittmer asks. Goodness and badness are relative terms needing a standard from which to evaluate behavior. Problems arise immediately when we attempt to determine how good is good, or how bad is bad. Yet even this argument is specious because the Bible teaches throughout that no one is good enough to merit salvation. Being good or bad is not basic, but secondary to the real issues at hand.

The question that really determines how we answer the others is whether people are alive or dead. The Fall recorded in Genesis is referred to as death: “in the day you eat… you will die.” (Genesis 2:17) The death intended here is not a cessation of existence, rather a separation from God. Paul says humans are dead in sin, but made alive in Christ. He also calls us strangers and aliens separated from the life of God. (Ephesians 2:12, 19; 4:18

Humans don’t cease to exist when they die; they change their state of being. Note that theologians speak of the fallen state. The rebellion of Adam brought about the severance of his communion with God; the new state of existence for humans became one of separation from the Creator. The death Adam suffered was passed on to all his offspring; as the Apostle Paul explains, we inherit death from Adam and life from Christ (1Corinthians 15:22)

Discussing sin as behavior or action misleads; sin is state of being. Sin is a near synonym for death; to be in sin is to be dead. Getting saved is not as much about changing behavior as changing affiliation. To ask if homosexuals can be truly Christian misses the point. If we are not saved by our actions we are not unsaved by them either. This is not to say that sin is acceptable, but rather it is irrelevant to this discussion. Can a regenerated person sin? Clearly, yes. Can a regenerated person continue habitually in what he/she knows to be sin? Probably not. Why not? Because the attitude of rebellion (no remorse/repentance) indicates lack of regeneration.

Wittmer continues his explanation: “Because we start life totally depraved, it is easy to see why we need the dramatic rescue of regeneration. And since Scripture says that the Holy Spirit uses truth to do this job, it logically follows that only those who know and rely upon the basic facts of the gospel can be saved.”

Again, Wittmer misleads. “Depraved” is a theologian’s word; it is not frequently used in Scripture to describe fallen humans. The word “depraved” comes directly from a Latin word meaning to make exceptionally crooked or bent.. The idea of being bent leaves open the option to correct by straightening. Yet the Bible presents no such option for our condition post-fall. Humans don’t need straightening, they need remaking.

The Scripture word for our condition is “dead.” A dead person can’t know anything; a dead person can’t be corrected or bent back to life. The only cure for death is regeneration, a word meaning rebirth, just as Jesus told Nicodemus in John chapter three. Jesus told the Pharisee he had to be born a second time, from above to see or enter Kingdom. Jesus did not instruct his midnight pupil to study more to learn how to come to faith. In another place, in fact, Jesus told the friends of Nicodemus that they studied the Scriptures in vain, for He was revealed there not to them, but only to those of faith. (John 5:39-47) He implied that belief precedes saving knowledge.

Humans are not regenerated because they know something; they know something because they get regenerated. “There is no one that seeks after God…” (Romans 3:11) Scripture does not say that the Holy Spirit uses truth to regenerate us as Wittmer suggests. Scripture says that we cannot know or see or understand the truth until the Spirit regenerates us. Paul told the Corinthians that the carnal or natural (Greek: psychical) man can not understand the things of the Spirit. (1 Corinthians 2:14) We do not come to belief because we learn something we didn’t previously know; we learn things about God because we come to believe that He is and that He has previously sought, bought, and re-wrought us.

Salvation, in the final analysis, is a unilateral act of God saving human beings from death, i.e. separation from His presence eternally. Humans are born into this world “dead” because we are children of Adam. David said, “In sin my mother conceived me…” (Psalm 51:5) The only way to escape the fate of Adam’s curse (death) is to be reborn as a child of the Second Adam, Christ Jesus. Neither knowledge nor actions play any role whatsoever in the process of human rebirth through the Holy Spirit of God. We can not choose our spiritual birth parents any more than we can choose our physical parents. One is either in Adam or in Christ; either position is dictated by the sovereign will of God. (Romans 9)

All our bickering about behavior must be at the level of church discipline if corporate, or about fellowship with God if personal. Debating about certain sins as if they are relevant to salvation is to surrender the field to a faulty presumption. Let us have a healthy debate, but let us debate from right premises. The so-called post-moderns Wittmer cites in his book are really post- Christians because they are post-Biblical. A true reading of Scripture reveals that humans are not hell bound because they sin; they sin because they are hell bound. They are hell bound because they are dead. Our only meaningful offering to these lost ones is to make them aware that their Creator has provided an alternative. They must make the ancient choice: remain dead, or choose life through Christ. By God’s grace, through the gift of faith, the elect are enabled to choose life.

Living like Jesus is not enough, as Wittmer’s title suggests. Living in Jesus is the necessary and sufficient cause to warrant confidence of salvation. This condition is brought about by the effective work of the Holy Spirit and creates a state of being: being in Christ, as the Scripture puts it. It is not initiated by nor sustained by anything any human can do; “not by works, lest any one should boast.” (Ephesians 2:9) The question is not about doing, but about being.

The Object of Repentance

I have written numerous times about the necessity of obedience as a part of true faith. (See related posts) I noticed something in Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders that reminded me of another aspect of saving faith: repentance. No one who reads the Bible with any sincerity will claim that naked faith is saving faith. James makes this point by saying that even demons believe God exists. That is not going to save them from eternal damnation. It’s not enough to believe; saving belief demands obedience, and the first step of obedience is repentance.

The nature of a believers repentance is critical, and it takes two forms. Paul told the Ephesians that he, “Did not shrink from…. testifying both to Jews and to Greeks with respect to repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.” (Italics mine.) The repentance he spoke of had a particular object in mind: God. Paul expanded on the nature of saving repentance in his speech to King Agrippa telling him, “I proclaimed that they should repent and turn to God, doing deeds worthy of repentance.” The worthy deeds to which Paul referred are the second aspect of saving repentance that mark true belief.

Let me begin by defining repentance as it is used in the New Testament. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia (μετάνοια), means a change of mind. We most often think of repentance as changing our mind about sin resulting in a turning away from sinful thoughts. What Paul makes clear is that not only are we turning from something, but we are turning toward something when biblical repentance takes place. A person without knowledge of or concern for God may turn from sinful behavior for any number of reasons. Anyone might turn away from stealing because it carries potential negative consequences for example. That is not biblical repentance; it does not involve a turn toward God.

Repentance toward God, as Paul puts it, is clearly a change in the direction of our thinking. The first form this takes is very broad in nature as it involves the direction of our lives and our eternal destiny. To repent toward God is to realize that our only hope for salvation is found in God’s gracious provision of His Son, Jesus Christ. Many people are of a mind that their good deeds will put them in favor with God when it comes time for judgment. There are many people who claim to be Christians who think this way. They are wrong. The repentance required of these people is a turn from a type of works salvation toward the grace-gift from God granted through faith alone. Works are a result of saving faith, not the cause of it.

The second form of repentance necessary to saving faith is almost a continuous act. Because our minds, even after regeneration, are constantly drawn toward sin by the world, the flesh, and the devil, true believers must make the effort to repent, to change the mind by renewing it daily. Paul’s instruction to avoid conformity with the world and to seek a renewed mind is another way to say repent toward God. It’s not enough to say I repented on such-and-such a day and got saved. If that initial repentance was genuine and effective, it will be followed by a continual desire to set our mind on things above – heavenly things – not on things of earth. The things of earth include anything that would draw our minds away from God’s glory and ultimately into sin.

Paul adds one more thing to his description of repentance toward God in his speech to King Agrippa: “Do deeds worthy of repentance.” Paul is not preaching works salvation. What he is saying is that worthy repentance, worthwhile repentance, effective repentance toward God involves good deeds done toward men. Jesus said that the entire law and the prophets (all Scripture) hang on two things: love for God and love for your neighbor. He shared the famous parable of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate that by neighbor He meant anyone in our sphere of influence who has a need, and love for that neighbor involves doing good deeds on his behalf.

Sadly, there are too many people who occupy a pew on Sunday who give little serious thought to this second aspect of repentance. The idea that everything exists for our entertainment is endemic to our society. Watching an athletic contest or a movie or a preacher is supposed to give us pleasure. Far too many churches have fallen prey to the idea that their services must be entertaining if they are to attract people. That approach models the things of earth rather than things above. A. W. Tozer laments that, “Cultivation of a spirit that can take nothing seriously is one of the great curses of society, and within the church it has worked to prevent much spiritual blessing that otherwise would have descended upon us.” ^[1]

Too many believers do not take repentance seriously. They have grown comfortable with earthly things, and they have forgotten that the new earth God is preparing for His own requires their attention now. If one does not turn from the pleasures of this world and turn toward God now, that one’s eternal home may not be as secure as it should be. The price of admission to that glorious New Earth was paid on the Cross of Calvary. To be admitted one day, we must get in line and stay in line. Now it’s your turn.

Related Posts: Necessary Obedience; Understanding Salvation; I Don’t Believe in God

---

^[1] A. W. Tozer and Gerald B. Smith, Evenings with Tozer: Daily Devotional Readings (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2015), 357.