Recently, we (husband and I) have been praying and thinking about our "theology." Some deep things to think over!
Today, the thought of "total depravity" was on my mind. Total Depravity means that, apart from God, we are completely sinful. John Piper (ck out http://www.desiringgod.org/ for things by him) talks about how there are two types of sin referred to in the Bible (my wording, not his). There are sins, and then there is sin. The first type is what you normally think of as sin - going against the will of God. Sins are things we continue to commit even after we are saved. "Sin," in contrast, is everything we do apart from God. Piper points out the following verses to make this point:
Romans 14:23 - Whatever is not from faith is sin.
Hebrews 11:6 -And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must
believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
Romans 7:18 - For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is
present in me, but the doing of the good is not.
What he is saying is, before we are saved, nothing we do can truly be "good," even if it looks good in the eyes of the world. Why is this? As Paul says, ". . . nothing good dwells in me . . . " so, connecting the dots, nothing good can come out of us in our flesh. As Piper says, even building a hospital or doing some other great philanthropic deed, if done apart from faith in God, is sin because it does not please God for us to do seemingly good things apart from Him. This doesn't make sense from a worldly perspective - how can doing something good be sin regardless of whether or not God is involved. Perhaps it's because God's ultimate goal is not to make "good people" who do "good deeds," but to make humble people who know Him and have a relationship with Him. What is the ultimate goal of life - to be good? According to the Westminster Confession, "The chief end of man [is] to glorify God and enjoy His presence forever." Challenging!
I was reading James 3:13-15 today. Here it is: "Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. " It's interesting to consider how negatively James portrays a life lived without true faith. He really makes clear how much of a stench all our "good works" are without the true, saving faith of God at work in our lives. Verse 13 implies that, witout wisdom (that comes from faith in God), we cannot live a good life, we cannot perform deeds in humility. We will have bitter envy and selfish ambition in our hearts because they are simply characteristics of "good deeds" performed without the wisdom of God. Think about it - why can't you do anything good without God's wisdom? Because your wisdom, which governs what you do, will - by nature - be sinful. It is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. I was a "good" person before I was saved. But I wasn't "good" in God's eyes because the wisdom that directed everything I did was evil! Even if it looked good from the outside, it wasn't because my heart was wrong. Understanding that makes it all that much more clear how precious God's grace truly is, how amazing it is. He saved a wretch like me because His grace is amazing - not because of anything I did right. I was the worst of sinners, as Paul says (1 Tim. 1:16), but God showed me mercy so that " . . . Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.." Wow.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Faith
I decided to break-up these two thoughts because they're really two different trails. "Faith" is a word you hear bantied around a lot in Christian circles. So, in my undying devotion to the true meaning of all things, I decided to look it up! Faith, according to the dictionary, means: "belief that is not based on proof; the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved; belief, trust and loyalty to a person or thing." Faith is to be contrasted with "blind faith," which is "belief without true understanding, perception, or discrimination." Indeed, as my previous post suggests, if one has blind faith in God then his or her actions won't illustrate it. And so, such faith cannot and will not save. Another definition I found that I thought helpful was in Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology (I know, a "biased" source! But, I figure it may actually give more of the meaning of a word in the Biblical sense, since the meaning of a word is influenced by its context). It says ". . . 'Faith is a spiritual attitude involving activity.' It is the actions that follow a declaration of faith which determine whether or not it is true." Faith might be something you can't see, and it might be based on something that can't be objectively proven, but it can be proven to be true by the resultant actions. It's almost like a backwards way at getting at "proving" God exists. If He is real and if He truly does change a person as He says in His Word, then a person who puts his/her faith in God should be changed. If you don't see a change, either the faith isn't real or the thing that a person has faith in is not real. I, for one, have seen the proof of real faith in my life - I am a different person, I do different things, than I did before I had faith in God. These changes are not things I could manufacture on my own, apart from God. How do I know this? I tried! Therefore, from what I can see, I know God is real.
The Proof Is In the Pudding
First, let me just say - if anyone is actually looking at this (!) - that I'm sorry for not being consistent. I guess that's just how it will be. So, if you are reading this - I apologize, but at least it makes it easy to stay caught up! And, if no one is, then it works great as an outlet for me! So it's a win-win all around!
For some reason, random idioms like to float through my mind when I'm reading or thinking abou things! Sometimes it's song lyrics (usually kid's songs, so not very helpful!). Occassionally, it's something spiritual like a Bible verse! But most of the time it's something seemingly useless - like this. Today, however, I decided to look it up to see if it applied to what I was reading - and, amazingly, it did. The even cooler part (is that a word?!) is that it made some of what I was reading click even more! Apparently, the phrase comes from Don Quixote and is actually "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." It means, according to Ask Yahoo, ". . . the true value or quality of something can only be judged when it's put to use." So what was I reading when this little gem popped into my mind?! James 2:17 - "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." Often, I've heard this verse and related it to "being good." I figured it meant that I had to act in a certain way in order to be truly saved. I think a lot of people tend to thing it means that. But, in reality, what James is saying is that, if you are truly saved, you will act a certain way. You can't earn your salvation through your actions. Romans 3:28 says "For we maintain tht a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." We are justified - declared righteous by God - through our faith in God's promises and His Word, not through anything we do or say. So James says, simply, that if we are truly saved, our deeds should reflect that. The way we behave should reflect that we have been changed on the inside. The proverbial proof - the quality or value - of our faith will be found in the pudding - when it's put to use. Cool!
For some reason, random idioms like to float through my mind when I'm reading or thinking abou things! Sometimes it's song lyrics (usually kid's songs, so not very helpful!). Occassionally, it's something spiritual like a Bible verse! But most of the time it's something seemingly useless - like this. Today, however, I decided to look it up to see if it applied to what I was reading - and, amazingly, it did. The even cooler part (is that a word?!) is that it made some of what I was reading click even more! Apparently, the phrase comes from Don Quixote and is actually "the proof of the pudding is in the eating." It means, according to Ask Yahoo, ". . . the true value or quality of something can only be judged when it's put to use." So what was I reading when this little gem popped into my mind?! James 2:17 - "Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself." Often, I've heard this verse and related it to "being good." I figured it meant that I had to act in a certain way in order to be truly saved. I think a lot of people tend to thing it means that. But, in reality, what James is saying is that, if you are truly saved, you will act a certain way. You can't earn your salvation through your actions. Romans 3:28 says "For we maintain tht a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." We are justified - declared righteous by God - through our faith in God's promises and His Word, not through anything we do or say. So James says, simply, that if we are truly saved, our deeds should reflect that. The way we behave should reflect that we have been changed on the inside. The proverbial proof - the quality or value - of our faith will be found in the pudding - when it's put to use. Cool!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Works vs. Fruit
Ok, so I said I was going to get back to some of my favorite definitions - but that will have to wait for another day, when I don't have anything else I've been thinking about! I just finished some time in Galatians, and I wanted to share something that is just starting to make sense to me. I was reading Gal. 5:16-26, and was looking specifically at verse 19 and verse 22. Here's what they say:
Vs. 19-21 - "Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Vs. 22 - 23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Here's the thing that hit me - notice how, in verse 19, the word "deeds" is used, and it is plural. In verse 22, the word "fruit" is used, and it is singular. As I mentioned previously, I love words - and think God intended to use the exact words He used in the exact places He used them, in conjunction with each other (so, in other words, context is also key!). So why did Paul use a these two words? The word "deeds" refers to things we do (according to the concordance, the word used means "an act, deed, thing done - the idea of working is ephasised in opposition to that which is less than work"). The list which follows is not meant to be exhaustive, but simply an example of what we do in the flesh - what we do when we try to do things on our own. The same word is used when referring to "works" vs. faith. Left to our own devices, these are the types of things we do. We might do all of them, but we do some of them! However, in verse 22, the word fruit is used in the singular sense because, when the Holy Spirit works in you, you become someone new. You don't just do better things - you ARE better.
So, here's a summary of what I got - God doesn't want us to be simply good rule-followers. If that's all He wanted, He would have just given us the law and left us to our own devices. Instead, He wants us to be new people. And the only way that can happen is by the grace of God: Eph 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of WORKS (there's that same word as in Gal. 5:19), so that no one may boast." For years, I thought that if I did everything I thought God wanted me to do (not by following Old Testament Law, but by "being a good person" and not stealing or cheating, reading my Bible, praying, etc.), I would be saved. I was wrong - not only was I not "saved," I was miserable! Why was I miserable? Because the law only serves to condemn and bring about death. It only points out what I was doing wrong because, ultimately, that's all the law can do. But when I gave myself to God and asked Him to live inside of me, that's when I became truly free - and that's when I was no longer miserable! Because, when you give yourself to God, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and when you listen to that still, small voice, you are changed. You become a different person. And it is through no act of your own, so you can't boast about it in the least! So that's my insight for today . . .
Vs. 19-21 - "Now, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."
Vs. 22 - 23 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."
Here's the thing that hit me - notice how, in verse 19, the word "deeds" is used, and it is plural. In verse 22, the word "fruit" is used, and it is singular. As I mentioned previously, I love words - and think God intended to use the exact words He used in the exact places He used them, in conjunction with each other (so, in other words, context is also key!). So why did Paul use a these two words? The word "deeds" refers to things we do (according to the concordance, the word used means "an act, deed, thing done - the idea of working is ephasised in opposition to that which is less than work"). The list which follows is not meant to be exhaustive, but simply an example of what we do in the flesh - what we do when we try to do things on our own. The same word is used when referring to "works" vs. faith. Left to our own devices, these are the types of things we do. We might do all of them, but we do some of them! However, in verse 22, the word fruit is used in the singular sense because, when the Holy Spirit works in you, you become someone new. You don't just do better things - you ARE better.
So, here's a summary of what I got - God doesn't want us to be simply good rule-followers. If that's all He wanted, He would have just given us the law and left us to our own devices. Instead, He wants us to be new people. And the only way that can happen is by the grace of God: Eph 2:8-9 says "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of WORKS (there's that same word as in Gal. 5:19), so that no one may boast." For years, I thought that if I did everything I thought God wanted me to do (not by following Old Testament Law, but by "being a good person" and not stealing or cheating, reading my Bible, praying, etc.), I would be saved. I was wrong - not only was I not "saved," I was miserable! Why was I miserable? Because the law only serves to condemn and bring about death. It only points out what I was doing wrong because, ultimately, that's all the law can do. But when I gave myself to God and asked Him to live inside of me, that's when I became truly free - and that's when I was no longer miserable! Because, when you give yourself to God, when the Holy Spirit lives inside of you and when you listen to that still, small voice, you are changed. You become a different person. And it is through no act of your own, so you can't boast about it in the least! So that's my insight for today . . .
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