Category Archives: Theology

My Thoughts on Baptism and Church Membership

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Wayne Grudem just released an updated edition of his Systematic Theology.  Apparently, the pagination is relatively unchanged, however; the newer format is more attractive than the previous edition and provides wider margins for note taking.  However, Grudem has apparently rewritten chapter 49 section F1 (pp. 982-983) which is titled, “Do Churches Need to Be Divided Over Baptism?”  This rewrite is quite controversial and as such, I have decided to add my two cents worth here.

Justin Taylor: Grudem’s Change of Mind regarding Differences on Baptism within a Local Church 

John Piper: Response to Grudem on Baptism and Church Membership 

Wayne Grudem: Wayne Grudem’s Response to Piper 

My response is going to be short and sweet.  First, it is clear both symbolically and semantically that the baptism of which Scripture speaks is baptism by immersion.  Symbolically in that it pictures the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  The dead are not sprinkled with dirt and then left to rot in the open air, nor are the dead buried and then confirmed to have died years later; the dead are submersed in the earth and Christ was submersed in the earth.  Semantically the normal use of the word baptism (βαπτισμός) or any of its derivatives is immersion.  Second, Piper’s remark that required baptism “is preemptive excommunication” is completely unfounded.  The Scriptures clearly define excommunication in Matthew 18:15-20, however; here it is presented as a result of church discipline upon sinning church members, and not upon non-members as a means of rebuke.  This is not a denial of fellowship but membership.  I share a common faith with individuals who attend other churches and I can and do fellowship with them.  Honestly, I would not allow some of these individuals to serve in or become members at a church where I was pastoring but that does not prevent us from fellowshipping with and encouraging one another.  Third, if an individual desires to become a member of a local church, is unwilling to submit to that church’s authority, and would willingly choose to attend another, possibly less Biblical, church then that individual has a problem with pride.  Ultimately, the problem lies not with the local church but the individual’s unwillingness to submit to that church.

What do you think about this?

Thoughts on the 2008 Election and Politics in General

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I was skimming back through Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, by Nancy Pearcey, today and read this, “They [evangelicals] leaped into political activism as the quickest, surest way to make a difference in the public arena—failing to realize that politics tends to reflect culture, not the other way around.”  I continued to think about this and what it means during the upcoming elections and tonight I found a fantastic paper by John Piper entitled Taking the Swagger Out of Christian Cultural Influence (I have posted this paper in its entirety below).  I debated about posting this closer to the election; however, I concluded it would be best to post now and allow God’s Word to work on you over the coming months.  I will likely post on this again before the election.  Until then I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic.

Taking the Swagger Out of Christian Cultural Influence

The fact that Christians are exiles on the earth (1 Peter 2:11), does not mean that they don’t care what becomes of culture.  But it does mean that they exert their influence as very happy, brokenhearted outsiders.  We are exiles.  “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20).  “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

But we are very happy sojourners, because we have been commanded by our bloody Champion to rejoice in exile miseries.  “Blessed are you when others . . . persecute you . . . on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11-12).  We are happy because the apostle Paul showed us that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).  We are happy because there are merciful foretastes everywhere in this fallen world, and God is glad for us to enjoy them (1 Timothy 4:3; 6:17).  And we are happy because we know that the exiles will one day inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5).  Christ died for sinners so that “all things” might one day belong to his people (Romans 8:32).

But our joy is a brokenhearted joy, because Christ is worthy of so much better obedience than we Christians render.  Our joy is a brokenhearted joy because so many people around the world have not heard the good news that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15).  And our joy is a brokenhearted joy because human culture — in every society — dishonors Christ, glories in its shame, and is bent on self-destruction.

This includes America.  American culture does not belong to Christians, neither in reality nor in Biblical theology.  It never has.  The present tailspin toward Sodom is not a fall from Christian ownership.  “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19).  It has since the fall, and it will till Christ comes in open triumph.  God’s rightful ownership will be manifest in due time.  The Lordship of Christ over all creation is being manifest in stages, first the age of groaning, then the age of glory.  “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).  The exiles are groaning with the whole creation.  We are waiting.

But Christian exiles are not passive.  We do not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture.  We weep.  Or we should.  This is my main point: being exiles does not mean being cynical.  It does not mean being indifferent or uninvolved.  The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat.  Where it can, it saves and seasons.  And where it can’t, it weeps.  And the light of the world does not withdraw, saying “good riddance” to godless darkness.  It labors to illuminate.  But not dominate.

Being Christian exiles in American culture does not end our influence; it takes the swagger out of it.  We don’t get cranky that our country has been taken away.  We don’t whine about the triumphs of evil. We are not hardened with anger.  We understand.  This is not new.  This was the way it was in the beginning — Antioch, Corinth, Athens, Rome.  The Empire was not just degenerate, it was deadly.  For three explosive centuries Christians paid for their Christ-exalting joy with blood.  Many still do.  More will.

It never occurred to those early exiles that they should rant about the ubiquity of secular humanism.  The Imperial words were still ringing in their ears: “You will be hated by all for my name’s sake.  But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Mark 13:13).  This was a time for indomitable joy and unwavering ministries of mercy.

Yes, it was a time for influence — as it is now. But not with huffing and puffing as if to reclaim our lost laws.  Rather with tears and persuasion and perseverance, knowing that the folly of racism, and the exploitation of the poor, and the de-Godding of education, and the horror of abortion, and the collapse of heterosexual marriage, are the tragic death-tremors of joy, not the victory of the left or the right.

The greatness of Christian exiles is not success but service.  Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth and beauty and joy.  We don’t own culture, and we don’t rule it.  We serve it with brokenhearted joy and longsuffering mercy, for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.

—John Piper, August 27, 2003

2007-07-02 The Brief

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Culture:

            The Death Channel:  After Last weeks post on Death and Politics which focused on what death tells us about our culture it is ironic that EosTV, “a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week television channel devoted exclusively to aging, dying and mourning — will hit the airwaves [in Germany].”  Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading newspaper covers this announcement in its article, Dead Air: New TV Channel Takes on Death and Dying.  Albert Mohler has also commented on this in his recent blog entry A New Meaning for “Dead Air” — Digital Death in the Media Age.

            Downtown L.A. residents yell ‘Cut’: As more and more people chose to live in downtown LA, the constant filming that goes on there is becoming a nuisance rather quickly.  This article is more fun than educational.  I used to live on Spring Street, in downtown LA, and was privileged to listen to machine gun fire and explosions for several months during the filming of Transformers, extremely loud music during the Pussy Cat Dolls video shoot, and lots of yelling during CSI: New York (sorry people they film it in LA).  I actually thought this was fun so I am not sure what the complaining is about, but hey, we did get a free steak dinner across from Keanu Reeves out of it so maybe my opinion is biased.

            Do-it-yourself Cosmetic Surgery: I think it was several years ago that liquid nitrogen hit home in the form of q-tips used to freeze off warts and before that Dr. Scholl’s sold those acidic patches used to melt away warts over time.  Both of which seem rather dated now that cosmetic lasers are going retail.  The LA Times article Lasers Hit Home examines whether or not these products will meet the consumer’s expectations.  Whether or not these products meet the consumer’s expectations I think it makes a distinct statement about our culture.

Religion:

            Among other things, I have been reading God is the Gospel: Meditations on God’s Love as the Gift of Himself by John Piper.  One of his statements really challenged me this morning.  “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8).  Commenting on this he notes that, “The ability to see spiritual beauty is not unwavering . . . this is not an all-or-nothing reality.  There are degrees of purity and degrees of seeing” (p.55).  All too often I think of this as future promise rather than a current reality, but Piper presses upon us the ever-present need for a pervasive holiness because we need spiritual sight.  “Spiritual seeing is seeing spiritual things for what they really are—that is, seeing them as beautiful and valuable as they really are” (p.55-56).  We must constantly strive for purity so that we may maintain the eternal mindset necessary to keep a proper perspective on life, namely that we like Paul can say, “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8).

The Conservative Emergent

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I offer this post as a teaser of sorts before I begin my series of posts on the apostolic church as I am currently swamped with moving and preparing for my Ignite UK Apologetics and Worldviews class (please see the resources section for the fruits of this labor).

While most of you are familiar with the terminology, I want to quickly distinguish between the Emergent and Emerging church.  The Emergent church is both atheological and ahistorical concerned neither with the history of the church or the great statements of Biblical doctrine which have buttressed the faith since the churches inception.  The Emerging church is both theological and historical seeking to express the classic doctrinal statements in a way that addresses the modern dilemma while examining the church’s vast history in an effort to anticipate the questions raised by modernity and postmodernity.  We must be careful in our conversations not to lump these two groups into the same categories.

What is The Conservative Emergent?  Upon mentioning the Emergent church most individuals immediately think of a church that is both theologically and culturally liberal; a pragmatic church that twists the Bible so that it conforms to and supports their immoral lifestyle; an idolatrous church who has created a God in their image to serve their sin.  The Conservative Emergent appears, in many ways, to be the antithesis of such a church and because of that, its deception is far more subtle, thus requiring a far more meticulous discernment.

In his recent book, The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception, John MacArthur says,

The church has grown lazy, worldly, and self-satisfied.  Church leaders are obsessed with style and methodology, losing interest in the glory of God and becoming grossly apathetic about truth and sound doctrine.  For the moment at least, the battle appears to be turning in the enemy’s favor.

Macarthur’s statement aptly describes the Emergent church and the more subtle Conservative Emergent.  Both have lost interest in the glory of God and become apathetic about truth.  The Conservative Emergent is theologically and culturally conservative; a pragmatic church that twists the Bible so that it conforms to and supports their pharisaic lifestyle; an idolatrous church who has created a God in their image to serve their sin.

While the Emergent church and the Conservative Emergent may appear to be at the opposite ends of the same spectrum; however, they are both characterized by the same spiritual deadness and have much in common.  First, the theology and the culture of the church is determined largely by the target culture whom the church aims to reach; in regions where the culture is liberal the theology and church culture are decidedly liberal and in regions where the culture is conservative the theology and church culture are decidedly conservative.  Thus, the Emergent must cling to ambiguity and claim that the scriptures say less than they actually do, if they say anything at all, while the Conservative Emergent must rely heavily upon prooftexting and eisegesis to defend their man-made religion.  Ultimately, the concerns of both the Emergent church and the Conservative Emergent are pragmatic rather than theological; neither their message, nor their methodology, nor their theology are exegetically determined both of these movements are pragmatic to the core and that is cause for concern.

The Apostolic Church: An Update and a Request

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This is both an update and a request I am planning to begin a series of posts on the Apostolic Church and as of yet I have not narrowed down/exhausted the possible subjects which these posts should cover (i.e. worship, discipleship, evangelism, apologetics, etc.).  I would appreciate comments informing me which topics you feel to be the most pertinent to this series.  Feel free to list as many topics as you can think of, the more exhaustive the list the better.  As you comment, I will add your topics to the list below and will begin researching and writing on these various subjects.

In addition, I will be adding an Exegetical Digest on Galatians 5:16-26 to the Resources page, so if you enjoy Greek be sure and check that out.  Once I begin this series on the Apostolic Church I hope to begin posting with a greater frequency, as well as adding more resources to this site, the first of which will be numerous articles dealing with apologetics and several book reviews.  Until then I look forward to your comments on this post.

Topics to be covered:

  • Apologetics
  • Baptism
  • Bible Study
  • Discipleship and Evangelism
  • Church Membership
  • Fellowship and Community
  • Leadership
  • Preaching
  • The Gospel
  • Worship