8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - To the Triune God Be All the Glory - Counsel of Chalcedon

1/3

My heart has ever been prone towander from my G o d - e v e r since mybinh Bapcized and sealed in the Nameof the Triune God as His propert ywhen only one month old, and raisedbymyreligiousyetunconvertedmother 'to attend ch rch daily during the firstseven years of my l ife - under myatheistic father's influence I myselfnevertheless broke With Christianity,radically and completely, when onlyeight years of age Thereafter, Idedicated all my ta.lents to thefurtherance of the false religion. ofatheism, and avidly stUdied rationalisticbooks on paleontology, archeology andanthropology : So that by the time Iwas a teenager I was a most convincedand articulate evolUtionist and openly

laughed at Christians, who triedto

tellme that all the world's problemsstanedwhen the "mythical" Eve munched anapple "once upon a time" some 6,000years agei.

During my early teens, I studiedastronomy. chemistry, languages,chess, poker, bridge and evenBuddhism-butnoneofthesesatisfiedmy restless soul for very long. Goingo n t o universitY, I majored in law,intending to enter politics via my legalpractice, and thus dedicate my lifetoward . ameliorating humanconditions . t help me to get ahead inpolitics, I bought a Bible, and startedreading it. Six weeks later, during auniversity summer vacation job, while 'trapped in a gold mine, God suddehlyand dramatically converted me toChrist. There and then, I promised,

these entities. Fbrin the Trinity, thereisa basic unity ofinterest in spite of hediverse Persons . No one Person is moreimportant than the Others, nor th nthe divine commttnity as a whole. Andneither is the divine community of theTrinitymore important th n the distinctpersonalities of each of the threePersons.

Furthermore, in the words of theWestminster Confession II: 1), Ibelieve

Him that if t pleased Him to spare my that this Triune God is the only Godlife,l would dedicate all my energies to that exists, and that the contemplationHis service. 'Delivering me, God then of His blessed attributes is the most

, sent me horne, where I had the great profitable activity n which man canjoy ofleading both my parents to Christ. indUlge. Therels butone only livingandThenHeledmetojOinaBible-believing true God, Who is infinite tt being andChurch denomination, and thereafter , perfection, a most pure spirit, inVisible,sent me to Theological Seminary. without body, parts, or paSSions,

immutable, immense, eternalSince then, He gave me the grace to incomprehensible; almighty, most wise,work for and acqUire many university most holy, most Jree, most absolute,degrees, including the Th.D. in workingall things according to thecounsdSystematic Theology and the Ph.D. in oJHis own immutableand most righteousChristian Philosophy and Communist will, Jor His own glory; most loving,Philosophy (to which latter, of course graCiOUS, merCiful, long-suJJering,I am squarely opposed). During and abundantlngoodnessandtruth,forgivingsince this time, I have spent equal time iniquity, transgression, and sin; theas a p ~ t o rof a congregation and as a rewarderoJthemthatdiligenti.yseekHim;

' professorofaco ,llege , andamcurrently and withal most just and terrible in Hisboth , ~ h i n gand preaching. judgements, hattng all sin, and Who will

. Today ,my chief thought about God byno means clear the gutity To me, thisis that He is one Lord in three Persons- sets up God alone as the onlyfor n my adult life He has fulfilled the worthwhileobjecLofhumanadoration.promises sealed unto me in His own And my own beart was ever restless,Triune Name when I was previously until it came to its permanent rest inbaptized {Matthew 28:19). To me this this glorious Being (Matthew 11:28).is em.inentlypractical. Likeeverybody Moreover, aU things in the universeelse; I am . oIten faced With making have any meaning lit all to me, onlydeci.>ions regarding priorities - what inasmUCh as they ate regarded as theis my most important dUty? Is it my creatures of the . Triune Lord whichduty: to the munidpal ity, to the state, they really are. Agaih, in the words ofor to the federal government? To my the Confession (II:2): God hath all life,congregation, to my presbytery, or to glory, goodness, blessedness, in and ojmy general assembly? To my Wife, my Himself; and is alone in and unto Himselfchildren, . or to myself? To my a l l s u 1 f i c t e n ~notitandingin needoJanydenomination, to niy fellow Christian creatures which He hath milde, norirrespective of denOmination, or to my deriving any glory Jrom them, but onlycountry? Here the doctrine of the manifesting His own glory Jrom in, by,Trinity helps me to give due unto, and upon thqn Heis the aloneconsideration to the interests of all Fountain of all bang, oJWhom, through

2 ~ THE COUNSEL o Cha cedon ~ JannarylFebruary 994

8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - To the Triune God Be All the Glory - Counsel of Chalcedon

2/3

I Whom, and to Whom are all things; andhath most sovereign dominion over them,to do y them, jar them, and upon them,whatsoeverHimselfpleaseth.ln His Sight,all Olings are open and manifest; Hisknowledge is injinite, injallible, andindependent upon the creature, s asnodlingis toHim contingentor uncertainThis means quite frankly, thateverything we see and everything wedo is ultimat ely absurd - exceptinsofar as we consciously believe that itis in the Triune God alone that all thesethings consist (Colossians : 17). Onlythis knowledge gives real purpose tomy life

To me , faith in the Triune God isvery important , and life would now beimpossible without it. For without

faith itis impossiblet

please Him;forhe that cometh to God must believethat He is, and that He is a rewardero them that diligently seeh Him"Hebrews 11:6). Only once after myconversion have I ever doubted mysaved status before God. That waswhen I became uncertain whether my"faith" in Christ was really true savingfaith. Mercifully, however, God soonshowed me that it is not by faith that Iam saved, but by grace (and only

"through" faith). Moreover, even thatinstrument offaith isnot ofmyseU, butit is a free gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).Accordingly, I no w have no faith in myexperience of my faith; I put all myt ust only in Christ Himselfirrespectiveof my experience of Him. I have nofaith in faith. I have only faith inChrist And by regular Bible study,prayer, and Church attendance, Godstrengthens my faith d. WCF XIV: 1).

In spite of my many personal sinsand weaknesses, and even though I dodistinguish between central andperipheral matters, I certainly holdvery strong convictions on all matters.This is because, realizing the fragilityand relative worthlessness of my ownviews, I am utterly convinced that God'sviews alone have any ultimate value.

Accordingly, I am now determined tothink God's revealed thoughts afterHim: it is only in the light of Hisinfallible Word, the 66 book Bible,that I see the light about everythingand anything. As the Confession againcorrectly states, a Christianbelieveth tobe true, whatsoever is revealed in theWord, for the authority oj God Himselfis) speahfngtherejn (XIV:2). ..,Thewhole

counsel oj God, concerning all thingsnecessary jar His own glo?y, man'ssalvation,jaith, and life, is eitherexpresslyset down in Scripture, or by good andnecessary consequence may be deducedfrom Scripture: untowhichnothing atanytime is to be added, whether by newrevelations oj the p i r i ~or traditions ojmen"O:6). For, as the larger Catechism(Q.5) declares, theScriptu resprincipallyteach, what man is to believe concerningGod, and what duty God requires ojman .

To me, then, Scripture is given notonly to make us wise unto salvation,but also to thoroughly furnish us untoall good works (II Timothy 3:15-17)- even unto the good works ofChristian education, Christian medicalpractice, Christian business activity,Christian farming Christianhousework, and Christian everythingelse (Genesis 1 :26-28; Psalm 8). Thisdoes not mean that the Bible is ahandbook for all the special sciences.It does m ean, however, that no specialsciences are to bestudiedorunderstoodcontrary to the clear teaching ofScripture. For although "there aresome circumstances" as the Confessiondeclares (1:6) "commo n to humanactions and societies, which are to beordered by the light of nature and

Christian prudence", nevertheless thisis always to be done "according to thegeneral rules of the Word, which arealways to be observed" . Evolutionism,which I previously championed, istherefore not jus t "for the birds". It isnot even for "creeping things ", for Godmade all His creatures "after their kind"(Genesis 1:1Hf, 2IfO.

Sometimes I am asked about mythou ghts on li fe after death. Here Ibelieve with th e Bible (psalm 51:5;Ephesians 2:3; John 3:3-5) that, as aresult of man's fall, all men are now bynature born in sin and conceived ininiquit y, and hence cannot even see(and still less enter into) the kingdom

of God unless they be born again.Until man is regenerated, he is nothingmore than a lost soul under therighteous judgment and wrath of avirtue-loving and sin-hating God(Ephesians 2:12; John 3:36), on theway to eternal separation from God ina place called hell where he is to sufferconstant agony in body and soul forever (Mark 9:42-49; Revelation 14:9-11) . Yet I also passionately believe thatGod so loved the world, that He gaveHis on ly begotten son so thatwhosoever believes in Him, should notpelish, but have everlasting life Gohn3: 16). Those who believe in Jesus asLord of heir lives, inherit eternal blissin three (triune ) stages. First, theyreceive Christ here and now andthereby enter into the kingdom ofheaven here on earth Gohn 5:24).Second, when they die, their souls goto heaven, where they enjoy conscious

blisswithJesusuntil Hissecond coming(Revelation 4 :1-10 . And third, withChrist's second coming back to thisearth to transform it, He brings heavenand its inhabitants with Him, so thatheaven then comes down to earth(Revelation 21:1-2). Then the savedwill get back their immortalized bodiesand then cefolth perfectly love Godand enj oy Him forever in both soul andbody I Corinthians 15:35-38; cf.Catechism Q. 1).

Meantime , I believe that Christiansare to live to God's glory in this worldhere and now To me, this means thatChristians must be "triunely" involvedin three united and related activities alltheir time. First they must subdue theearth and aU its fulness to the glory ofGod th e Father, precisely through

Jannary/February 1994 ~ TIlE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ 23

8/12/2019 1994 Issue 1 - To the Triune God Be All the Glory - Counsel of Chalcedon

3/3

serving the Lordin the ordinary practiceof their professional careers (Genesis9: l-6and Corinthians 10:31). Second,they must evangelize the earth andChrist ianize all its nations, ascommanded by God the Son, and getthem to obey aU things whatsoever He

has ever commanded from Genesisthrough Revelation (Matthew 28: 19and Mark 16: 15). Andthird, theymustpromote the coming of the kingdom inall its many facets with an their mightthrough the power of God the Spirit, asall history further unfolds toward itsdivinely predestinated consummation(Luke 11:2 and Revelation 14: 13).

While doingallthisbetwee n Christ'sfirst and second comings, believe that

Christians are to see thehand of God in

aU things, and to thank Him for Hisblessed providence even in theiradversities and their ordinary day-today drcumstances. As the HeidelbergCatechism (Q.l and Lord's Day 10)states; "my only comfortin life and deathis that I am not my own but belong withbodyand soul to my faithfulSaviourJesusChrist, Whosopreservesme thatwithoutthe will of my heavenly Father, not a haircan fall from my ~ a dyea, that all thingsmust be subservient to my salvation "This blessed providence is "the almightyand everywhere present power of God,whetebyas it were byHis handHeupholdsand governs heaven and earth and all hiscreatures, so that herbs and grass, rainand drought, fruitful and barren years,meatanddrink, health and sickness, richesaildpoverty, yea, and all things, come lOtby chance, but by His Fatherly hand".And the intensely practical result of

believing all this, is that I learn how to"be patient in adversity, thankful inprosperity, and that inall things whichmay hereafter befall us, we place ourfirm trust in our faithful God andFather, thcu nothing shall separateus from His love, since all creaturesare so in His hand, that without Hiswill they canna t so much as move '

This, then, is my God-given faith,dear reader May the Lord Himselfgrant by His great grace that it mayalso become yours too f.l

Calvln 5 Preaohlng,oOl1oluded from p ge 8

colloquial modem sense---to make themessage of Scripture a personal matter,not just a col lection of historical ideas,'so that we know that it is GOD who isspeaking to US.' Nevertheless, he iscenainly thinking of familiere in termsof language; for a little later he (Calvin)censures ambitious preachers who'babble in refmedlanguage,' (CO 53.19).To make the Scriptural messagefamiliereCalvin used a familiar, homely sryle of

preaching. The familiariry of speechis

made possible and also heightened byhis preaching extemporarily." (pg.139-40)

"He (Calvin) is so intent on makinghimself understood that now and thenhe will think it necessary to explain asimple word which is nevenhelessambiguous from similarity of soundwith a quite different word. -- Ingeneral the vocabulary is simple. Thetheological language might puzzle most

modem Protestant congregations in thiscountry, but that is because they arelargely ignorant of the Bible. Calvin'sterminology in this respect hardly movesoutside the Bible. -- Theological wordsfrom outside the Bible are 9nly themore common ones--- Trinity,sacrament, and the like. -- The samesimpHcity is seen in the sentencestructure." (pg. 141-42)

In Calvin's "familiar style" ofpreaching there is "the frequent use ofquestion and answer in imaginaryconversations with disputants. Thereare numerous rhetorical questions.(Sometimes) he will pile question uponquestion. -- Rather more common inthe sermons is objection and reply. -Dialogue, often racy, is also much inevidence. Calvin has a liking for directspeech. Instead of paraphrasing his

24 ~ THE COUNSEL of Chalcedon ~ JanuarylFebruary 1994

text (as he also does frequently) withsome formula as 'it is as if he weresaying .. he will often put it into directspeech: 'It is, then, just as if God said:Thou didst have not hope of leavingthis slavery . . But this also oftenappears in the form of imaginary attacksfrom opponents, which are usuallyprefixed with the angry interjection,'Ho?' --- Mr. Miles has shown howthese conversarions can be developedinto a fragment of drama, with Calvinhimself prOviding the asides for thesake of the congregation's understanding: (pg. 145)

"The ready use of proverbs andsimiles and homely expressions givesthe impression of a man of homespunspeech, at ease with the common man.

... all Calvin's images are simple andeasily understood. E Mulhauptcategorizes them as military, judicial,natural, animal, anisan and academic.... but the chief thing to notice aboutthem is their simplicity and familiariry.The same may be said of his use ofhomely, everyday expressions, the sortof thing that was the verbal currency ofordinary folk until radio and televisionenfeebled our language 0). (pg. 148)

"Ca lvin's style as extemporarypreacher is markedly different fromthat which we find in his Frenchwritings . .There he displays the virtuesthat make him one of the great Frenchmasters anda molder of modem French.But here, in the sermons, he deliberatelyadapts his style to the grasp of thecomlnon people in his congregation.To use a tenn that he frequently employsof biblical writers , he 'accommodates'himself to the ignorance of the people.

The most marked change is that theconciseness on which he so pridedhimself has to give place to diffusenessand repetition. -- There is still thesimpliciry and the clarity, the wit andthe force, the passion and the highseriousness." (pg. 149)

May Almighty God raise up an armyof preachers [ike john Calvin today f.l