Why I'm Not Taking the Time or Spending the Energy to Debate the Trinity

Most commenters on this blog stay on topic. I appreciate that. One of the unwritten rules of blog interaction is that the topic of the post should also be the topic of the comments.

A few times recently at least one commenter has repeatedly called into question the doctrine of the Trinity. This would be fine if I had, in fact, been blogging about the Trinity. However, I was not (and thus I did not post all of the anti-Trinity comments). It has been a long time since the Trinity was the primary focus of any blog post of mine.

While I love the Trinity, I have no intention of taking the time or spending the energy on debating this doctrine. Why not? There are several reasons. First and primarily, I believe the doctrine is very clear according to scripture. One great example occurs at Jesus' baptism. I could go on and on. It is so clear that debating it is pointless.

Furthermore, within the church as a whole this is a largely settled debate. The church has agreed on the truth of the Trinity for hundreds upon hundreds of years. This is different, for example, from the debate about ecclesiology. Numerous dissenters have always existed against institutional Christianity since very early on (see here for more on that). Not so for the Trinity. I'm not suggesting that all Christians have always been convinced of the truth of the Trinity, but rather that no significant number has failed to adhere to it.

I'm also not going to debate the Trinity because plenty of other paces exist to do so. If you desire to bring up the topic, please do so there. Beyond that, I simply see no benefit in the debate. I don't know what can be gained by discussing in detail something that is, at least in my mind, so clear scripturally. I'd rather talk about, and wrangle over, something that needs to be discussed: the state of the church.

So there it is. If you want to debate the Trinity please do so in other forums. This is not the place. Thank you.

Theology Matters

Yep

Thanks Tim.

Adopted, Redeemed, and Sealed!

My favorite section of Ephesians is 1:3-14. In these twelve verses, which are actually one sentence in Greek, Paul describes for us a vast array of spiritual blessings that God has bestowed upon us. It is truly amazing.

The three blessings that jump off the page at me are adoption, redemption, and sealing. Because of God's grace and that alone, we are made His children, we are bought back from our sin debt, and we are secured for eternity. This is accomplished through the perfect working together of the Trinity. God the Father adopts, God the Son redeems, and God the Holy Spirit seals.

God's grace is stunning. Let's never cease being awestruck by the gift of salvation.

Ephesians Times Ten

Over the past month I've read through the epistle of Ephesians ten times in ten different bible translations. I did this for two reasons. First, I just love Ephesians. It is a treasure trove of glorious truths about both God and His church. Second, I wanted to see the different nuances of the various translations.

The translations I selected were (in alphabetical order) the ESV, HCSB, ISV, KJV, NASB, NET, NIV, NKJV, NLT, and YLT. I would have read the epistle in languages other than English, but sadly I am monolingual (at least I'm not monosyllabic).

I attempted to keep an open mind about all the translations. Each has its positives. That said, I do prefer some much more than others. The ESV and NKJV are my favorites. I also like the HCSB, ISV, KJV, NASB, NET, and YLT. I tolerate the NIV. The NLT is too simplistic (these, of course, are all my personal opinions; feel free to disagree).

I gained from all ten readings of the letter. Each time God showed me something different. I thank the Lord that we English speakers are blessed to have so many good translations available to us. I highly encourage you to select a book of the bible and read it through in various translations. If you are a relatively slow reader like me then I suggest a shorter book like Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, James, I Peter, or I John. After that you may decide to bite off something longer such as a Gospel account or Romans. Also, don't forget the Old Testament.

Enjoy!

Too Good to Not Share

The Christian satire site The Babylon Bee has posted numerous funny articles over the past several months. One reason many of the pieces are excellent is that they come so close to reality. One of the best I've seen so far appeared a couple of days ago. It's entitled Local Progressive Church Hosts Informative Q and Q Session. Enjoy!

"Women’s Sanitary Bins and Bathroom Theology"

Peter Jones has penned an excellent piece that is well worth your time. In Women’s Sanitary Bins and Bathroom Theology he tackles head on the insanity that is the current gender-identity mess in this country. Jones discusses the links between world religions, truth, and feelings. I appreciate that he calls a proverbial spade a spade. We are, quite frankly, at a point of madness in this culture. I highly encourage you to read it.

Another Great Quote by C.S. Lewis

Without the Bible You Can Know about God, But Not About His Plan of Redemption

I grow increasingly tired of some Christians acting as if the bible isn't all that important. I've read some followers of Christ saying that all you need is the Holy Spirit and the world around us to know all you need to know about God. They speak as if the bible is nice to have, but not critical to living as God would have us live.

This is hogwash wrapped up in poppycock.

Of course the bible is important. After all, we would not have any idea who Jesus Christ is if we didn't have scripture. How many people, for example, do you know who heard about Jesus directly from the Holy Spirit? How many learned about him from nature? How many learned about him from the world?

On the other hand, how many learned about Jesus Christ either on their own through the bible or from someone else teaching them from the bible? My guess is a conservative 100%. In God's wisdom, we are able to deduce something of his existence and goodness through nature. However, it is through his written word that we learn critical specifics about exactly who he is, what he has accomplished, and what he expects of us. Psalm 19 spells out for us the difference between God's general revelation (19:1-6) and special revelation (19:7-11):

1 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

The Holy Spirit is faithful to illuminate our minds to assist us in understanding scripture correctly. The Spirit also regenerates our hearts to enable us to repent and believe. Additionally, the Spirit leads us day-by-day to live according to God the Father's desires. However, the Holy Spirit is generally not in the business of explaining to people God's plan of redemption apart from the bible.

The fact is that without the bible the vast majority of us (probably somewhere between 99 and 100% of us) would have no clue about Jesus Christ. And if we didn't know the Lord, we would have no opportunity for salvation. It is truly that simple.

Therefore, whether some Christians like it or not, the bible is absolutely essential to the Christian life.

The Primary Reason Simple Church is Simply Better

The simple church model for church life is not just another model. It is the best model. It is superior to any and all of the man-created, tradition-laced models of church life that dominate the Christian landscape. Simple church, in its various forms, bypasses the shackles that the institution places upon the body of Christ. It frees the church to be what Christ intends for it to be.

Many reasons exist for why simple church is better. However, one particular reason stands out as most important. The primary reason why simple church is simply better is that it recognizes Jesus Christ as its one and only Head.

Objectively and positionally speaking, Jesus Christ is the Head of his church no matter what anyone else does or says. For example, Ephesians 1:22 tells us, "And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church." Later in that same epistle Paul writes, "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ" (4:15). Likewise, we read in Colossians 1:18, "And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent."

One of the core aspects of simple church life is that the entire body is active. Everyone uses his or her gifts to serve the church family. No one person is elevated in any manner over others. All are equal in the eyes of God and live this out through sacrificial service (at least this is the way things ought to be). The priesthood of all believers is embraced, all teach one another, and no one is treated as any sort of elevated intermediary between God and man.

Therefore, within simple church life Jesus Christ is not only the objective Head of the church, but he is treated this way on a daily, moment-by-moment manner.

It's not so simple within institutional Christianity. While Christ is often given lip service as Head of the church, pastors confuse the fact. Just go to any worship service (denomination doesn't really matter). Who stands up front on an elevated platform? Who does most of the talking? Who leads? Who has a special title? Who does most of the teaching? Additionally, what are most of the people doing?

You know the answers to the above questions. A small number of folks do almost everything. The church views them as the religious experts. These are almost always the pastors. Everybody else generally sits quietly in rows, singing when told to and speaking to one another for a minute or so if given permission. However, generally what is going on is that the majority of the church sits and watches a performance put on by a small group that is paid to do so. This happens week after week after week.

Within the above institutional framework the pastors act as the daily, functional heads of the church. Jesus Christ fades into the background as the pastors lead the way. Christ is clouded, almost as if a sort of curtain is pulled closed in front of him. Ironically, many pastors have decent intentions. They may even speak about Jesus quite a bit during their sermons. However, their sermonizing often places them in the way of Jesus.

In light of all this, the institutional model must be rejected is favor of a simple one. Is simple church life perfect? Of course not. After all, the church is composed of people. Despite this, the model itself promotes and recognizes Jesus Christ as the one and only Head that he is. Because of this, simple church is simply better.

When a Cartoon Has Good Theology...

An Excellent Statement on Christology

I'm not generally a big fan of statements of faith. Although they assist with clarity of belief, far too often they are used to separate Christian brothers and sisters instead of uniting them. However, statements can be helpful if they force us to think about not only what we believe but also why we believe it.

Blogger Tim Challies recently pointed out an excellent statement on Christology by Ligonier Ministries. I encourage you to read it.

Series Summary: Church, Bible, And Interpretation - It's Not So Simple

Understanding the bible correctly is neither particularly easy nor difficult. Rather, the task falls somewhere in between.

The body of Christ as a whole is not particularly good at biblical interpretation. This stems in large part from the church's shameful lack of scriptural knowledge in general. Coupled with this is Christians' tendency to use all sorts of odd and random methods for understanding the bible. If the church would be consistent in using proper methods of interpretation it would be able to avoid many of the problems it faces today.

My purpose in writing the series Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple is to help fellow believers understand scripture better. I hope it has been of benefit.

Click below to read any of the posts in the series:

The Bible is a Book That is Meant to be Understood
The Biblical Writers Meant What They Said
The Biblical Text Has Meaning; We Do Not Bring Our Own Meaning To It
Biblical Meaning Stems from the Book, Not the Verse
The Bible is Full of Eyewitness Accounts
The Bible Does Not Read Like a Myth or Fairy Tale
Genre Must Not Be Ignored
Descriptive Differs From Prescriptive
The Bible Was Written in Hebrew and Greek, But We Can Generally Trust Our Good English Translations
The Gospel is the Key and Jesus Christ is the Center

The Gospel is the Key and Jesus Christ is the Center

This is the final post in the series Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple.

The bible is not an end in and of itself. We obviously do not worship the bible. However, the bible is the way we know who Jesus Christ is, what he has accomplished, and what he expects of us. Without the bible we'd have no way of knowing God personally.

Psalm 19, among other things, beautifully points out the difference between general revelation and special revelation. Apart from the scriptures we might be able to discern that God is Creator and that he is good. However, we would have no clue about the gospel.

As we seek to interpret scripture correctly we must remember that the gospel is key. It is a golden thread running from the beginning to the end of the bible. It is what binds it all together. At the center of the gospel is Jesus Christ himself. All interpretation must flow through him and keep him in mind. To fail to do so puts us in danger of coming to conclusions divorced from the primary message of the bible.

As we read the bible let's constantly ask ourselves the following question, "What does this have to do with Christ and his gospel?" This question acts as a plumb line against which to compare our conclusions. The question also functions like a magnet, drawing us back to him who really matters.

Because we are human, and thus fallen even if redeemed, we will occasionally come to incorrect conclusions about what the bible means. However, when we keep the gospel in general and Jesus Christ in particular at the forefront of our minds we have an excellent chance of arriving at the meaning God intends.

The Old Testament Told in Only 5 Minutes

An Excellent Post on the Book of Acts and the Descriptive/Prescriptive Issue

Keeping with the theme of description and prescription, I'm linking to an excellent post that Guy Muse wrote a few years ago entitled simply Acts--description or prescription?

I highly encourage you to read it. Guy deals with the issue charitably, asking some good questions.

Below I've included the comment I left on Guy's piece:

Guy,

I've read your blog for a while but this is my first comment.

My belief is that the book of Acts is prescriptive for church life of all time. My reason for believing this is that the disciples were present at that time. They either gave approval to church practices or told the people to change what they were doing. They also wrote directly to churches.

If we follow the apostolic approved practices of church life, then we can know with certainty that how we are functioning is acceptable to God.

If we depart from the church model we see in Acts, then we have no certainty that what we are doing is God-honoring. If we leave Acts behind, we wander into the danger of postmodernistic, "almost anything-goes" territory.

If we follow what we read in Acts, church life becomes much simpler. Also, instead of spending money on buildings, programs, and pastoral salaries, we can give it to both the poor and needy and international missions work.

Descriptive Differs From Prescriptive

Another challenging aspect of Biblical interpretation is determining what to do with narrative accounts. Do they simply describe what occurred at a certain place in space and time? Or, are the events and outcomes we read about normative for us today? (This post is part eight of my ten-part blog series Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple).

I've studied this issue quite a bit over the past five years or so. It is not simple, nor are there any satisfyingly quick answers. I believe it is safe to say that some narrative passages are only descriptive while others are prescriptive. How are we to adequately handle this?

We must keep several things in mind:

First, narrative passages from the Old Testament are far less likely to be normative for us today than passages from the New Testament. This is because much of the O.T. describes old covenant Israel. In the pages of the N.T. we read of the new covenant community - the church. This is why the book of Acts is often central to any discussions of the descriptive/prescriptive issue.

Second, let's aways, always, always keep narrative passages in their broader context when interpreting. Single passages fit into an overall structure of a book. We have to keep the entire book in mind when determining meaning from any particular passage.

Third, as always we ought to use clearer verses to interpret those that appear less clear to us. For example, King David had multiple wives. Is this a model we should follow? Certainly not. Plenty of other passages make it clear that one man should be made one flesh with one woman (Genesis 2:24 is key to our understanding).

Finally, we must not make the mistake of picking and choosing from narrative when considering what passages are telling us how to live today. It is extremely tempting to call certain narrative passages prescriptive simply because they support activities that we already enjoy in church life. The flip side of this is saying that other narratives are only descriptive because they give us a model that flies in the face of what we like. I wrote an entire blog post on this specific temptation that you can read here.

As we ponder whether or not we should apply certain narrative passages to our lives, let's recall a couple of other things. First, the apostles were part of the early church. It is safe to say that they would not have given approval to church practices that were aberrant. Instead, they would have led the early believers to live church life correctly. Therefore, when we consider narrative sections of the book of Acts we should, I believe, fault on the side of treating them in a prescriptive manner. Click here to read more on this subject.

Second, it is a sad reality that most traditional church pastors reject N.T. passages as being prescriptive, including much of the book of Acts. This is because these pastors cannot treat Acts as prescriptive and at the same time go about their business as usual. Click here to read a post I wrote entitled Professional Pastors Tell the Church That the Biblical Model for Church Life is Unimportant. We must be skeptical whenever salaried pastors begin calling into question the book of Acts as normative for church life.

To sum up, the descriptive/prescriptive issue as it relates to Biblical narrative is not an easy one. We all tend to like simple, straightforward answers. However, we don't get that luxury here. When it comes to narrative, we need to examine each passage thoroughly prior to making any significant decisions. Finally, I highly encourage you to come to your conclusions about the descriptive/prescriptive issue within the context of the church community. The group is usually wiser than the individual.

Genre Must Not Be Ignored

The Bible is a book. This means it is literature. It is also true, but it is literature nonetheless. Because of this we must take genre into account when interpreting. We ignore it at our peril.

(This is part seven of the ten-part series Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple.)

The Bible contains various forms of genre: narrative, epistle, song, poetry, prayer, prophecy, law, biography, legal document, parable, apocalyptic, etc. This is one aspect of the Bible that makes it unique. It also makes it a bit challenging to interpret. This does not mean that the scriptures are difficult to understand, but rather that we must remember a few things when reading. One of those is the specific genre. If we do not do this, either accidentally or purposefully, we run the risk of arriving at some faulty conclusions about what the Biblical writers intended.

I do not intend in this post to explain how to interpret different forms of Biblical literature. Entire books have been written on this subject. Rather, this is simply a call to in fact keep genre in mind. When we do this it makes scripture much easier to comprehend. For example, when we read the 10 Commandments we may wonder how we can possibly keep the O.T. Sabbath. If, however, we recall that Exodus 20 is part of the O.T. law, and as such doesn't apply to us, then we can understand it perfectly.

Or what about proverbs that don't seem to come true? For example Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." Plenty of parents have raised their children correctly only to see them stray into a life of worldliness. Should this shipwreck their faith in the truth of scripture? By no means. This is because proverbs by definition are sayings that generally describe our existence. Every single proverb does not hold true in every instance. That's what proverbs are. The type of literature is key.

If we are looking for the type of literature that has the most one-to-one application to our lives we ought to focus on the N.T. epistles. Those letters were written to the church. Because of this they are the simplest to understand and apply directly to our lives.

Additionally, remember that crystal clear texts should be used to interpret less clear texts. To do the opposite is to fail. Finally, always keep context in mind. One aspect of this is the type of literature you are reading. Genre is everything.



(To read more about specifically interpreting the Old Testament correctly, click here.)

What You Are Owed...

The Bible Does Not Read Like a Myth or Fairy Tale

This is post number six in my ten-part series entitled Church, Bible, and Interpretation - It's Not So Simple.

The scriptures are a great gift from God to us, His church. We have the wonderful and sometimes daunting task of interpreting the Bible the way God wants it interpreted. The writers of scripture meant certain things. We need to understand what they intended. It's my goal in this series to help however I can.

One consistent claim that haters of the scriptures make is that it reads like a myth or fairy tale. I sometimes wonder if those who make this claim have ever bothered to actually read the Bible. Their claim fails on many fronts. I bring up this issue because we, as readers, must understand that the Bible not only is not a fairy tale, but it doesn't read like one either. Rather, the scriptures read much more like actual happenings in space and time. That's because what we are reading did occur in space and time (eyewitness accounts).

To claim that the Bible is a myth or fairy tale requires that the one making the claim rule out the supernatural completely. In light of the relative insignificance of human beings in the scope of the universe, this is a staggeringly arrogant claim. Who is man to say that God does not exist? Man cannot possibly know enough to even make this claim.

When we read the Bible we run into the most important person who ever lived - Jesus Christ. He does not seem like a crazy person or fraud. He also doesn't act like a wizard or magician. Rather, he appears to be a normal person who happens to be very nice, care for people, and make some astounding claims. Jesus has an aura of reality and believability. A fair reading of scripture forces us to deal with this real person. That's not only because Jesus is real, but also because the Bible is written as a historical record, not a myth.

Myths and fairy tales do not have written records from thousands of years ago. The Bible does.

Myths and fairy tales change over time. The Bible does not.

People do not die for fairy tales. Many Christians have been slaughtered for standing up for the Bible.

We can be confident that the Bible is true. It is a written record of God's revelation to us. It describes real things happening in specific places at specific times in history. At its most basic level it is a book that is believable. When we read the Bible let's not interpret it as if it is some sort of fairy tale or myth. It was not intended as such. Rather, we must read and interpret it for what it is: God's record of His amazing acts in history, centering upon our glorious Lord.