Music for the Soul.

Col 3:16 NET - Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.

I recently returned from accompanying a choir on a trip that sought to minister through music. I was struck by the words to one of the songs that sought to strip away the ideas of a merit system or rewards and just focus on God alone in His Beauty as He reigns and embraces us through His Son in the greatest scene of seeming weakness upon a cross.

The trip reminded me of my love of hymns and the way they speak to us in ways that simple prose or speech sometimes can't. My favorite modern arrangements of hymns has been through the work of "Indelible Grace." The minister, Kevin Twit, that puts those projects together wrote a post I think is worth mentioning here. Col 3:16 mentions the word of Christ dwelling in our hearts and Paul encourages song as a means of putting it there.

The post begins:

"So it is Saturday August 1st and I am sitting with my wife in a hospital room at Vanderbilt..."

Link here

The hymn words worth dwelling on?

In the weary hours of sickness, in the times of grief and pain,
When we feel our mortal weakness, when all human help is vain,
In the solemn hour of dying, in the awful judgment day,
May our souls, on thee relying, find thee still our Rock and Stay;

Reformed Spirituality

I've covered the introduction to Reformed Spirituality, but have yet to get to the meat of the actual Spiritual approach. I will be doing so in the next month or so, contingent on my schedule. So far, the subject and problem of Spirituality have been discussed as well as the answer given in Scripture. Still to be covered is the means through which one encounters God. But as a review, here is how the series has proceeded so far:

The class: Reformed Spirituality

1. Introduction: What is Reformed Spirituality?

2. Theology of the Heart: Man and Sin
(Reflection on Job 14 and a Fallen world)

3. Our Mystical Salvation: Union with Christ
Part 1: Answering the Problem of Sin
Part 2: Salvation in Christ
(Reflection: Justification, Sanctification and Adoption)

4. Overcoming Sin


Coming up:

5. The Community of Faith

Reformed Spirituality: Our Mystical Salvation (part 2 - what is union with Christ?)

I’ve made some broad statements about union and Paul’s emphasis of it and the centrality of it in Paul’s addressing of the problem of sin. But what is the nature of this union? How do we talk about union with Christ?

NATURE OF THE UNION

There are many pictures given of this union and what it is like. Paul employs two images in Ephesians 5. Paul calls Christians “Members of one body,” (Ephesians 4, 5:30) namely Christ’s body. Paul also interweaves that analogy with one of marriage, speaking of how the Church is Christ’s Bride and quotes Genesis about how “the two became one” picturing how Christ is united to His church. John uses organic imagery such as a vine and branches in John 15. Life flows from the vine to the branches, picturing the vital connection of believers to Christ.

The most mysterious imagery used, however, must be said to be John’s imagery in John 17. There, John records the words of Christ:

John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Here, John links the union of Father and Son and union with Christians. Union with Christ is seen to also be union with the Father. But also, the closeness of the Father to the Son is used as a goal for the completeness and nearness of union desired with believers.

The mysterious part of John’s image is the realization that such a reflection without qualification can lead to an idea that is counted heretical. We cannot understand Jesus to mean that believers are united in essence with the Father as Jesus is, becoming God as Christ is. However, Eastern Orthodoxy has spoken about the concept of “deification” as the final element of salvation. Reformed Christians have as their final element “glorification” meaning much of what Eastern Orthodox mean by “deification,” namely not that we become by nature God, but that we come all that Christ was in his human nature in his glorified state. Such a state, we must understand, means a nearness and abilities of perception, enjoyment of God and even becoming “partakers of the divine nature” as Peter says. The Greek word “partaking” there means partnering, companion, or communing fellow. Not becoming God, but communing on the most intimate level with God, in like manner as God the Father and God the Son commune with each other. A request at this point for more precision in definition will leave us wanting. Peter’s words are perhaps the highest thoughts and manner of putting such a reality as we are able to grasp this side of the experience.

Thus we see, the task of grasping union’s nature may be slippery due to 2 factors:

1. Union is spiritual. Paul tells us that in union, we are “made to drink of one spirit” (1 Cor 12:13). Then, in Ephesians 1 Paul tells us we are united to Christ, by being sealed by the Spirit. The Spirit is the means of union. The Holy Spirit ties one to Christ and applies the benefits of that union, thereby binding all partakers together in one body. Such a truth leads us to declare:

2. Union is Mystical, or a mystery. As Paul explores this idea of being bound together into Christ’s body he writes:

Eph 5:30 because we are members of his body.
Eph 5:31 "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh."
Eph 5:32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.

This doctrine is mystical. It is even called that by John Calvin: “The Mystical Union.” It is frustrating preparing a lesson for, because you ask certain questions of it and you get back Paul’s answer: “This mystery is profound.” We are rationally minded, especially as Reformed believers, but here is a mystery beyond our reason. The exact nature of this union is beyond our comprehension, so all we are left with is the awe of it. Our questions on the exact nature then are passed by to ask what are the benefits of union.

HOW BLESSINGS ARE BESTOWED

When looking to the work of Christ in regards to salvation, our main concern tends to be Christ’s death. Christ died for sins, and we may call this Passive Obedience, or suffering the penalty of sin. This is what Paul was speaking of in Romans 5:10 when we learn that we are “reconciled to God by the death of his Son.” In Christ’s death, we share in this reconciliation. Yet, this is not all that Christ did. Christ declares:

Matt 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”

Christ also gains the rewards of the law merited by his obedience. We call this Active Obedience. All that might be gained by obedience to the Law is gained for believers through Christ.

In explaining how this relationship works, Reformation Christians have either refered to this as a Law and Gospel Hermeneutic (Lutherans) or in terms of a Covenant of works and a Covenant of grace. The Law or the covenant of works is given to Adam and humanity, that “if you do this, you will live.” Adam violates the covenant and the rest of humanity, marred by sin, are unwilling and unable to fulfill the covenant of works. In Paul’s language, it takes a second Adam, a new man to fulfill the Law. That man is Christ. By virtue of Christ’s obedience to the covenant of works, a covenant of Grace is given. We first see this in Gensis 3:15, a promise of a seed that will defeat sin and restore humanity to fellowship with God. On this basis is the covenant of grace given, one based on Christ’s fulfillment of the covenant of works. The rewards of Christ's fulfilling the law by works are given merely to be received by faith. Whereas the covenant of works was “obey and you will live,” (Genesis 2:16-17) the covenant of grace is “believe and you will be justified.” (Genesis 15:6)

THE BENEFITS GAINED BY CHRIST

Looking at Questions 30-36 in the Smaller Catechism, we now may see something we hadn’t noticed before:

Question 30. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased Christ?

Answer. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

What then is applied in uniting us to Christ’s work?:

Question 32. What benefits do they that are effectually called partake of in this life?

Answer. They that are effectually called do in this life partake of justification, adoption, sanctification, and the several benefits which, in this life, do either accompany or flow from them.

Though we will name more, the important three named are justification, adoption and sanctification.

Reformed Christians tend to express the benefits of salvation in the Order of Salvation (the Ordo Solutis). Unnamed in the ordo solutes is union. This is because union is not a step in the process, but the foundation from which all other benefits flow. Looking at a few of the elements we can see our regeneration being Christ’s regeneration:

regeneration, (resurrection applied to soul)

(1Co 15:21-22 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.)

We also see our justification by grace through faith being on the basis of Christ’s justification by merit through works:

Rom 4:25 - [Christ] was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification.

Christ's resurrection, then, can be seen as his justification, the basis of our justification bestowed to us.

Php 2:8-9 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Php 2:9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

Our sanctification is on the basis of Christ’s sanctified work:

1Co 1:2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Our adoption is because we are united to the Son:

Eph 1:5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will

And our glorification awaits as Christ’s has been gained:

Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Such an understanding of salvation based on Christ’s passive and active obedience gives us a larger, broader picture of the accomplishment of Christ. We are not merely saved “by His death” as great and wonderful news as atonement and reconciliation is to our war-beaten souls. We are also “saved by His life.” We are saved on the basis of Christ’s fulfillment of the law in our place, applied to us by the Holy Spirit in union with us, as Christ’s life is communicated to those in covenant with God.

J. Gresham Machen, a founder of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and Westminster Theological Seminary, was near death in the Midwest. In his last communication to John Murray, Machen communicated what doctrine gave him comfort at such a time:

“I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it."

Reformed Spirituality: Our Mystical Salvation (part 1)

[more class notes on Reformed Spirituality]

We may know, from growing up in Church what the Christian answer to the question of sin is: Christ’s work. However, we want to explore how “the Christ event,” how in Christ the problem of sin is addressed to restore man’s communion with God in its most practical doctrine, which will then take us into how we apply that doctrine to our lives in battling sin, live together, and seek God.

How does one answer the question of the problem of sin? The Reformed tradition has often seen the answer of Christ to sin paralleling the argument flow of Romans:

I. Chapter 1:1-17 - Introduction of topic

II. Chapter 1:18-2:29– The way of righteousness displayed:

Paul introduces his discussion of Salvation by talking about the Law. Paul says the Gentiles have the law manifest to them in nature and Jews by special revelation. It might seem to some a strange way to start, especially if we do not believe salvation comes by the law. Especially when Paul states in Romans 2:6:

Romans 2:6 – "He will render each according to his works"

Paul seems to be saying, bluntly, that eternal life can be merited by works. Indeed, this is not merely what Paul seems to say, but what he does say here: salvation is by works.

III. Chapter 3 – No one fulfills the requirement of righteousness, all are condemned (Romans 3:10-12, 3:23)

Paul details how no one lives up to the standard of the law. All are violators. To all that God offers life to be merited by works, none do so and are righteous, none fulfill the demands of the law. But now this next part of Romans may be hard to read in the way I will suggest, since Reformed Christians love the doctrine of justification. But I am here positing, dare I say it, that justification is not the main motif and lens by which Paul views salvation. Saying such a thing will keep me from being any kind of teacher or member in good standing in a Lutheran Church, but I hope to demonstrate to you, that the alternative is right at home in the Reformed tradition and confession and most importantly in the text of the New Testament.

Let us look at Chapter 4 as pointing further into the argument and not the final point of Paul.

In his argument, what might Jews protest against? “But Abraham is our father! (John 5)” “Abraham is our example of how to be righteous!”

IV. Chapter 4 – Abraham was justified by faith

Paul first states that not even Abraham was saved by the law, as some Jews may have been claiming, but by faith:

Rom 4:1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh?
Rom 4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
Rom 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted (imputed – KJV) to him as righteousness."

Paul’s response then?: Not even Abraham was righteous based on works, not even Abraham has done Romans 2:6. Righteousness was imputed to Abraham, not bestowed due to works.

Chapter 4 is not the pinnacle of Paul’s argument, but begs the question: how can Abraham be justified by faith when the requirement was works? Where does this imputation come from and on what basis?

V. Chapter 5 – How (and why) one is justified with God through Faith

Rom 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Rom 5:11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

2 observations: Both death and life is talked about here.

1- Paul speaks of death bringing reconciliation. Christ gives relational redemption. As 5:9 said before it:

“we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

No longer is the person in the relationship of defendant before a Judge, but is now reconciled to God. Justified is understood as a forensic, legal term. Yet, to say this is to risk the objection of “legal fiction.” Do we partake of salvation merely by believing we are alright? Does the act of faith somehow make God overlook our sin?

2- Paul speaks of salvation by life. What does it mean “shall we be saved by his life.”? Tuck that question away for a few minutes.

First, how does one man’s sin and one man’s obedience affect me? (as Romans 5:12 and Romans 5:15-21 says)? Why talk here about Adam and Christ?

• Federal Headship

Paul is here talking using the concept of “Federal Headship.” This term refers to the representation of one or a group by another in covenant.

For example, look at Hebrews 7:7-10.

Heb 7:7-10 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

The author of Hebrews is making the case that Melchizedek is greater than Levi. That Levi and Melchizedek never met is not a problem, because Levi was in Abraham. Abraham was the federal head of Levi, representing him and acting for him. Now we might see how Paul is using this concept in Romans 5 (as well as stated in 1 Corinthians 15). We see, for Paul, there are two headships:

– 1. In Adam (Rom 5:12, 1 Cor 15:22)
• 1Cor 15:22a - "For as in Adam all die,"

Through Adam all (who are in him) die and sin. Somehow, we participated in the sin of Adam. How? There are theories, but not certainties, Paul does not explain.

– 2. In Christ (Rom 5:15-21, 1 Cor 15:22)
• 1Cor 15:22b - "so also in Christ shall all be made alive."

Through Christ, all (who are in him) live, are redeemed. The works of Christ are then attributed, accounted to those with Christ’s federal headship.

In understanding how Paul is using the idea of headship, we know can see the main motif and answer to the problem of sin in Romans:

VI. Chapter 6 - Paul’s answer to the problem of sin is UNION WITH CHRIST.

In 5:12 we see our union with Adam. This is then contrasted in 5:15-17 with Union with Christ. When we get to Chapter 6, we see union declared and the implications of that union. In Romans 6, Baptism is Paul’s analogy of choice here. We will talk more about this later, but for now:

Rom 6:4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom 6:5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

The problem of sin was a problem of a DEAD MAN. The solution to DEATH is RESURRECTION. So Paul tells us we obtain the benefits of resurrection by UNION WITH CHRIST. We see now why Paul talked of both life and death in Romans 5. The means of our death to sin before God is Christ’s death, that we are vitally and really connected to Christ and die with Him. The means of our resurrected, regenerated life is our being saved by Christ’s life in a vital and real union with Christ that allows us to share in his (ζωῇ) life. The life we have in Christ is Christ’s life.

Everything we have as a spiritual blessing in salvation, then, we can see that Christ first had to merit for us, in perfect obedience. Christ has done Romans 2:6, not to mention Gen 2:16-17, Christ has done what Adam did not, and Christ has done Exodus 24:3 and Lev 18:5, Christ has done what Israel has not. Then:

In UNION we are given the benefits that Christ earned.

Sometimes benefits are spoken with the specific word “union” or “united” but we also see the Greek phrase “en Christo.” Once you start looking for it, you find this phrase all over. The New Testament depicts Union as the basis of every aspect of salvation. Union with Christ is the basis of the blessings of redemption:


• Ephesians 1:3-14
– 1:3 - blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places

• Ephesians 2:4-5
– …even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved–

• 2 Corinthians 5:21
– For he has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

Just look at Ephesians 1:

Ephesians 1
3- Every Spiritual Blessing in Christ
4 – God chose us in Christ
5 – adoption through Christ
6 – Blessed us in the Beloved.
7 – in Him we have redemption
11 – in Him we have an inheritance

Not every time the phrase “in him” or “in Christ” is used does it mean Union. But most of the time, for many of the other occurrences are “faith in Christ.” Start looking for that phrase instead of skipping over it and it will blow you away how central it is to the teachings about salvation in the Bible.


[next, the nature of the union and the nature of the merits of Christ given to us]

Reformed Spirituality: Man and Sin

(These are talking notes. I tend to elaborate more extemporaneously. However, I thought I would post them for those interested in the flow of the material in the Reformed Spirituality class)

To speak of Spirituality, we must speak of man, and of God. As we saw, Calvin said he didn’t know exactly where to begin:

“Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other.” - John Calvin. Institutes, Chapter 1.

We start with man, because there is a problem in on our side in Spirituality. For some reason, we are not able to encounter God rightly. He is hid from our perception, and what we do pick up about God from the natural world leaves us fighting over the nature of Who God is.

So, the problem that must be dealt with before proceeding further in Spirituality is the problem of the condition of man. The Christian Scriptures teach that this alienation from God, this separation from God is the result of sin. One might have come to mind the familiar verses from Sunday School:

Rom 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Eph 2:12 - remember that you were at that time separated from Christ… having no hope and without God in the world.

The condition of man, as we are taught in Scripture is in separation from God. The effects of sin, however, are not always taught in their two aspects, which we will look at here:

1) Relational Effects of Sin

Most Evangelicals will understand and teach this aspect of the effect of sin. If God is pure and holy, holiness cannot touch what is unholy. Sin represents a great offense to a Righteous God and must be addressed in order to restore a relationship.

2) Personal (Bodily and Spiritual) Effects of Sin

We have been taught about the offense of sin and how it separates us relationally from God. However, we may not have fully contemplated how sin effects man’s ability to relate to God.

First, let’s look at what makes up a human being:

There are 2 parts of a human: Body and Soul. Of the two, the soul is the part of a human that perceives and processes reality. Thereby, asking how a human might know God is asking the question: what faculties does a human soul possess?

The Parts of a human soul may be identified in Scripture and observation as corresponding to these three parts:

Mind
• Understanding, Faculty of Knowing

Heart
• Affections, Faculty of emotion, affections

Will
• Volition, faculty of choosing

The parts of the soul are inter-related to a degree to which it may be hard to say what influences what. This illustration might be helpful:

It is important to understand the faculties of humanity in order to understand the effect sin has on them. First we are told that sin effects the Body. Physical death and sickness are a result of sin. (Romans 5:12, Genesis 3)

Many may not go on to ask what effect is made on the soul. Scripture speaks to each faculty in this question:


• Mind (1 Cor 2:14, Titus 1:15)

1Cor 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Man as he is found now in his nature is “not able to understand.” As Paul explains in Titus 1:15, people left in a natural state have: “both their minds and their consciences are defiled.”

This is sometimes called the Noetic effects of Sin: The effect of sin to cloud the understanding.

• Heart (Jer 17:9)

Jer 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Jeremiah laments that what men value is “deceitful” leading men away from what they should value, to that which they should not. The Heart too is effected by sin

• Will (Jer 13:23)

Jer 13:23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

Functionally, we see Jeremiah compare the ability of to do good (from the act of the will) just as in line with man’s nature as changing one’s skin color or a leopard, by shear will power changing his spot arrangement. The nature of man is in such a place as to be unable to go what is right by its own power.

We might look at Romans 3:10-12 to see all of these in use:

Rom 3:10-12 - as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;

(Here we see the understanding of man effected.)

no one seeks for God.

(The heart of man has no inclination to seek after God)

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."

(The Will of no one does what is good)

Mind, Heart, Will. These are the parts of the soul by which man perceives and reacts to the world and reacts to God. These three parts all are fallen and sinful. “Dead” as Paul describes it. (Ephesians 2:1)

So, before we can properly talk about “Spirituality” as encountering, or communing with God or having fellowship with God, the problem of sin must be answered and solved, and by one not sharing man’s sinful nature.

Reformed Spirituality: Defining Spirituality

In exploring the topic of Spirituality, our first question is: “What is Spirituality?” In consulting many non-religious sources, most gave a definition of

1) There is no definition

Or

2) An Experience with the Divine

The first definition is of course nonsense. The second however is telling. Spirituality is an existential concept in popular thought. Our concern, however, is Christian Spirituality. Therefore, our concern is not merely with a “Divine” essence in general, but the Christian God in particular. Consulting various Christian definitions given by people such as Alister McGrath and Richard Foster, a broadly Christian definition tends to include at least 3 aspects:

1) Involves Spirit, (since it is called spirituality)
2) experience of God
3) is about the Christian Life over time.

If we want to find something less generic and more Reformed, we will find these elements to be insufficient. In constructing our definition, we need to look at more than Christian Spiritual Gurus and to the principles of Reformed Christianity.

Reformed Christians generally accepted and took up the name “Reformed” not merely as a reforming of Catholicism, but from their principle that the human person must be “Reformed by the Word.” By this, we understand that Spirituality must be based on the Word made flesh (Christ) and the Word written (Scripture). Since we know Christ by means of the Scripture, a Reformed approach to Spirituality must be Scriptural. Because our approach must be Scriptural, our definition is as follows:

Spirituality is the Christian Life centering on Christ by the power of the Spirit as Christ reveals God to us as taught by and through Scripture.

The focal idea here is that the principle object of our contemplation, affection and instruction is Christ. Our shorthand definition then can be:

• “Encountering God in Christ.”

This may bring up certain objections and questions. First, if our approach must be scriptural, why do you draw the conclusion that it must be centered on Christ? Wouldn’t it be centered on Scripture? Scripture indeed is our true guide in the faith. But it is our guide to somewhere else. Jesus tells the Pharisees in John 5:37-40

“the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life."

The role of Scripture is to testify and lead one to Christ. Our center then is not on Scripture, but through Scripture to Christ.

Secondly, if we are talking about Spirituality, why is the Spirit not the focus of our contemplation, guidance and instruction? In John 15:26, Christ teaches his disciples what the role of the Spirit is:

"But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”

The role of the Spirit, like Scripture and working with Scripture is to lead the believer to Christ. The Spirit works through the Scripture to bring the believer to Christ for substance. A Reformed, or we might merely say Scriptural, view of Spirituality then is a pursuit of how we understand the principle need, source and means of Spirituality. In all, Spirituality is about “Encountering God in Christ.”

Lenten Prayer

Collect for the Fourth Sunday in Lent:

Grant, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we, who for our evil deeds do worthily deserve to be punished, by the comfort of thy grace may mercifully be relieved; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen

-Book of Common Prayer 1928

Rediscovering our heritage

An interesting article on neotraditionalism in US News and World Report. Also cites a DTS prof:

Daniel Wallace, a professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminary, which trains pastors for interdenominational or nondenominational churches, says there is a growing appetite for something more than "worship that is a glorified Bible class in some ways."

You are not special. You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else

When a slide came up telling us all we were unique, the person next to me quoted the line above. I immediately knew I had heard it before. I asked where that line was from. He sheepishly replied "uh, Fight Club" not really wanting to announce too loud at seminary his viewing of an R-rated movie. But then it made sense. Fight Club is the movie of my generation. Generationally, the baby-boomers have grown up with dreams and high hopes of sucess if you just work hard. I rarely meet a member of the baby-boom generation that liked or followed what Fight Club was about, but rarely meet someone of my generation that did not connect with the theme:

"an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy [crap] we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off. "

This is not a recommendation for the book or movie, (so don't blame me if you watch it and are offended by multiple scenes) though it does give a picture of what the great rebellion of my generation looks like. When this angst is seen, the music and general apathy to career makes sense. The idol of the previous generation has become accepted: money=good. My generation is still in the Iconoclast stage, smashing idols without settling on which idol will replace it. Another line gives hope that this generation may be realizing its problem: "First you have to give up, first you have to *know*... not fear... *know*... that someday you're gonna die. "

Doubt: The companion of faith

“I believe, help my unbelief.” - Mark 9:24


Many believers are told their doubt is not normal as a Christian. Doubt perhaps shows they really are not a Christian. To all those of little faith a Southern Baptist minister is quoted, at another site, as saying at the end of his sermon:

“If you’re not 100% sure that you are saved…if you are 99% sure, but have even 1% of doubt, then I want you to come forward this morning and repent. You need to rededicate your life to Christ.”


Sola fide run amok! Is faith binary: either a 0 or 1, either on or off? I thought to balance this quote with a little quotation on doubt I found illuminating in one of my classes. I will wait until the end to tell you who said it:

We ought not to seek any more intimate proof of this than that unbelief is, in all men, always mixed with faith. [cf. Luke 24:11-12] …While we teach that faith ought to be certain and assured, we cannot imagine any certainty that is not tinged with doubt, or any assurance that is not assailed by some anxiety. On the other hand, we say that believers are in perpetual conflict with their own unbelief. …In the course of the present life it never goes so well with us that we are wholly cured of the disease of unbelief and entirely filled and possessed by faith. Hence arise those conflicts; when unbelief, which reposes in the remains of the flesh, rises up to attack the faith that has been inwardly conceived. But if in the believing mind certainty is mixed with doubt, do we always come back to this: that faith does not rest in a certain and clear knowledge, but only in an obscure and confused knowledge of the divine will toward us? Not at all! For even if we are distracted by various thoughts, we are not on that account completely divorced from faith. Nor if we are troubled on all sides by the agitation of unbelief, are we for that reason immersed in its abyss. If we are struck, we are not for that reason cast down from our position. For the end of the conflict is always this; that faith ultimately triumphs over those difficulties which besiege and seem to imperil it. (John Calvin, The Institutes 3.2.4,17,18)


Doubt is an evidence that there is a faith to doubt. While we chase assurance, we are all reminded to pray the prayer of Mark 9:24, “I believe, help my unbelief” for '100% total assurance' is a façade we might fake because we think we are supposed to, or a delusion we might imagine, but it is a fish we will never catch and demon we will never cast out this side of glory, when faith becomes sight. Though doubt is common, we still pray "help my unbelief."

Celebrating Dependence: Calvin and Communion

From a Baptist background, the ministers always explained the "only" or “merely” aspect of the Lord’s Supper. “This is MERELY a symbol of the forgiveness of sins.” It was only described in the negative: Not Catholic. One begins to wonder if this tradition is so minor, so mere, why do we do it at all?

This “mere” idea comes from Zwingli and dominates the sacramental theology of Baptists and Presbyterians, Reformed and otherwise. Yet, Calvin’s mind in Soteriology is acknowledged as far superior. Why not entertain some of his thoughts on the Lord’s Supper?

Turns out Calvin’s Institutes find little “mere” or “minor” in the symbol of Christ‘s blood and body. Some selections:

“As bread nourishes, sustains, and protects our bodily life, so the body of Christ is the only food to invigorate and keep alive the soul. When we behold wine set forth as a symbol of blood, we must think that such use as wine serves to the body, the same spiritually bestowed by the blood of Christ.”

Calvin invites contemplation on the “similitude” of bread and wine to the “giving daily” of the benefits of Christ. I find Psalm 104:15 lists both and their function:

Bread:
“Bread to strengthen man's heart” (ESV)
I may surmise that Christ continually is to be our strength.

Wine:
“wine maketh glad the heart of man, making the face brighter than oil” (JPS)
Christ is to be the gladness of our heart, making our face beam more than oil.

While Christ’s sacrifice for sin was once for all, the Lord’s Supper reminds us of the continual nature in which Christ is the source of our strength and our joy. Our sustaining Providence and the source of our delight. Thus, while we may see baptism as our death and new life with Christ, done once, the Lord’s Supper is the continual coming to Christ for strength and joy. Calvin does not leave the symbolism to the past grace of Christ, but the present and future. We are continually given the benefits of Christ’s “wonderous exchange.” What does Calvin mean by this phrase? He tells us:

“the wonderous exchange…having become with us the Son of Man, He made us with Himself sons of God. By His own descent to the earth, He prepared our ascent to heaven. Having received our mortality, He has bestowed on us His immortality. Having under-taken our weakness, He has made us strong in His strength. Having submitted to our poverty, He has transferred to us His riches. Having taken upon Himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, He has clothed us with His righteousness.”

In the Lord’s Supper, perhaps we ask the wrong question of “Does the bread and wine become Christ?” Perhaps we should ask “Does Christ become our bread and wine?” Our strength and delight.

I just viewed a superb movie called "Into Great Silence." The film maker spent 6 months filming the lives of the monks of Grande Chartreuse in the French Alps. The film first makes you restless with the silence of the monastery. Then, you find the rest of the world to be too noisy, and the aesthetic life of the monks engulf you. Everything is done slowly. Everything gains new beauty. You begin to realize; God is not experienced most in the greatest of things, but as 1 Kings 19:11-13 says:

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.