Saved, Being Saved, and Will Be Saved

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on God's salvation in Rom. 1:16:

Let us never use the term "salvation" glibly, or lightly, or loosely. Let us never stop at just saying, "I am saved," or "I have been saved"; let us put equal emphasis on the fact that we are being saved. . . .  

. . . let us, therefore, use the term carefully. Thank God, in Christ we can say we have been saved; but we say it as realizing what we mean. We also mean that we are still being saved. We also mean that we shall not be finally saved in this life, in this present world; that our glorification, which is an essential part of salvation, is beyond this world, and beyond this life. It is coming. It is certain. But not yet. We have been saved. We are being saved. We shall be fully and finally and entirely saved. Salvation—great salvation! God's salvation!

—Romans: An Exposition of Chapter 1, The Gospel of God (The Banner of Truth Trust: Edinburgh, 1985), 279-280.

Give Me the Book of God!

"O give me that book! At any price give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledge enough for me. Let me be a man of one book."—John Wesley

The Halls of Higher Critical Doubt

Scholars often refuse to do theological synthesis or interpretive borrowing among different authors of the sacred text. So in the academic guild (I almost said guild of unbelief), Paul's thought world and vocabulary are so distinct from, say, John's (or Moses's, for that matter), it's regarded as hermeneutically unacceptable to ever use John to help understand Paul or to see John as saying similar things to Paul. (Lest I be misunderstood, I realize the benefit of using each author's corpus to try to understand each author's intention and thinking. After all, the Bible was written by humans. It is a very human book. I acknowledge that.)

However, when evangelicals give way to the academy's way of handling the Word, we betray that we don't really think there is one mind behind it all. We don't acknowledge that Author. We say we believe all Scripture is from God; but in practice we act otherwise. I want to see evangelical Bible scholars and pastors who are convinced that the Bible is every bit as much God's mind as it is the mind of human agents, who expect it to bear resemblances to human writing but also expect it to differ as well— since it is the mind of a supremely, infinitely wise God, whose mind thinks coherently and connectedly (and no doubt very creatively), who does not speak out of both sides of his mouth.

In other words, evangelicals shouldn't play by the rules of unbelieving academicians, and should do the hard brain work of theological synthesis. Anything else is laziness and unbelief. So evangelical preaching and teaching should not sound like a commentary coming out of the learned halls of higher critical doubt.

Think, for instance, of Calvin, who wrote full-scale commentaries on more books of the Bible than anyone today. And he didn't seal off the rest of Scripture when he was interpreting, say, Paul. And this Bible scholar, doing the hard brain work of theological synthesis, gave us the Institutes, perhaps the most brilliant piece of biblical scholarship ever penned.

Boundary Markers or Neither Good nor Bad Works?

How one should interpret the word "works" (Gk., ergon) when Paul speaks of our not being justified by works, or elected by works, depends on the context (as interpretation of any word always depends on context). And at least in some instances, the law of Moses is definitely not in view and so "works" cannot be restricted to, or mean anything like, "boundary markers," that is, sabbath, circumcision, and food laws; or faithfulness to the Mosaic law (as in the writings of James D. G. Dunn; see, for an example of the latter, his commentary on Rom. 9:11).

The reason for this, in some texts anyway, is that the "works" in view occur before the law was given. See, for example, Rom. 4:1-4; 9:11. Abraham did not have the Mosaic law, nor did Jacob and Esau (although Jacob and Esau would have had circumcision). So "works" in such contexts must have a broader meaning like "anything one does to try to earn or merit something" (as in Rom. 4:1-4) or "anything good or bad whatever, morally speaking" (as in Rom. 9:11).

The Human Heart: A Very Busy Place

Ed Welch on medication use vis-á-vis the whole person:

If your view of persons is that we are essentially bodies and nothing more, then medication is the foremost means of change. But if you believe that the human heart is a very busy place of allegiances, dashed hopes, exaggerated desires, profound hurts and all kinds of contradictory motivations, then your attention will be drawn to where the action is. You still have a keen interest in the body and in alleviating physical suffering whenever possible, but you also know that we can grow in contentment, hope and love even in the midst of physical ailments. Physical troubles rarely can keep us from growing in godliness. The more you are drawn to the complexities of human experience, the less you will be drawn to the importance of psychiatric medications.

You may find the post from which this slice came over here.

Good News: To Be Announced, Heralded, Proclaimed

D. A. Carson on the "gospel" and "preaching" vocabulary in the Scriptures:

Because the gospel is news, good news (even if some will hear it as bad news), it is to be announced: that's what one does with news. The essentially heraldic element in preaching is bound up with the fact that the core message is not a code of ethics to be debated, still less a list of aphorisms to be admired and pondered, and certainly not a systematic theology to be outlined and schematized. Though it properly grounds ethics, aphorisms, and systematics, it is none of these three: it is news, good news, and therefore must be publicly announced. . . . The gospel is primarily displayed in heraldic proclamation: the gospel is announced, proclaimed, preached, precisely because it is God's spectacular news.

—"What is the Gospel?—Revisited, " in For the Fame of God's Name: Essays in Honor of John Piper (ed. Sam Storms and Justin Taylor; Wheaton: Crossway, 2010), 158.

Dependent, Desperate Preaching

John Piper on the preacher's dependence on the Holy Spirit in the work of preaching:

All genuine preaching is rooted in a feeling of desperation. You wake up on Sunday morning and you can smell the smoke of hell on one side and feel the crisp breezes of heaven on the other. You go to your study and look down at your pitiful manuscript, and you kneel down and cry, "O God, this is so weak! Who do I think I am? What audacity to think that in three hours my words will be the odor of death to death and the fragrance of life to life (2 Cor. 2:16). My God, who is sufficient for these things?"

—The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990), 41-42.

O Lord, Forgive Lazy, Listless Listening on the Lord's Day

A Lutheran prayer of confession for laziness in listening to God's Word on the Lord's Day:

I confess and acknowledge great sin and wicked ingratitude on my part because all my life I have made disgraceful use of the sabbath and have thereby despised his precious and dear word in a wretched way. I have been too lazy, listless, and uninterested to listen to it, let alone to have desired it sincerely or to have been grateful for it. I have let my dear God proclaim his word to me in vain, have dismissed the noble treasure, and have trampled it underfoot. He has tolerated this in his great and divine mercy and has not ceased in his fatherly, divine love and faithfulness to keep on preaching to me and calling me to the salvation of my soul. For this I repent and ask for grace and forgiveness. 

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 53.

A Sinner Pressed and Perplexed with a Sense of Guilt for Sin

What does the doctrine of justification primarily or fundamentally address? This question is important. If we answer that it addresses first and foremost the horizontal question of human relationships, the doctrine derails, the gospel aborts. But if we answer that it first and foremost addresses the vertical dimension of our existence, that is, our relationship with a holy and righteous God, the doctrine holds, the center stays. Then, and only then, certain horizontal entailments follow and function as they ought.

In volume 4 of his collected shorter writings, J. I. Packer says this:

The Augsburg Confession of 1531 states: "this whole doctrine [of justification] must be related to the conflict of an alarmed conscience, and without that conflict it cannot be grasped. So persons lacking this experience, and profane men, are bad judges of the matter." Calvin makes the same point in Institutio III.xii, a chapter on the theme that justification must be studied in the solemnising light of God's judgment seat (Honoring the People of God, 223). 

Packer then points out that "John Owen preserves this perspective when at the start of his classic treatise The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (1677) he writes":

The first inquiry . . . is after the proper relief of the conscience of a sinner pressed and perplexed with a sense of the guilt of sin. For justification is the way and means whereby such a person doth obtain acceptance before God, with a right and title unto a heavenly inheritance. And nothing is pleadable in this cause but what a man would speak unto his own conscience in that state, or unto the conscience of another, when he is anxious under that inquiry (The Doctrine of Justification by Faith, 7). 

So if in our formulation of the doctrine of justification we move too quickly to discussions of what justification has to say about man's relationship with fellow man, we step in the wrong direction. And this is what has happened with the so-called New Perspective on Paul (which is now old, by the way), valuable as some of its insights may be. It has a hard time addressing the distressed sinner (for that is not what it's for, they say, lambasting Luther for being so psychologically sensitive); its gospel lacks the potency and effect of the biblical gospel. Without adequately addressing the distressed conscience before a holy and just God, the doctrine falls flat and fails to liberate for love. And I believe it also makes a man-centered age even more man-centered. However, it works the other way too. It's no coincidence, to my mind, that a fundamentally horizontal understanding of justification has arisen in a period of history marked by profound man-centeredness. Sure, Luther had a context. But so do we.

Who Handed Jesus Over to Die?

"Who delivered up Jesus to die? Not Judas, for money; not Pilate, for fear; not the Jews, for envy—but the Father, for love!" 

—Octavious Winslow, No Condemnation in Christ Jesus (London, 1857), 358. 

Insipid and Useless Notions on Justification

John Owen on handling the doctrine of justification with holy hands:

It is the practical direction of the consciences of men, in their application unto God by Jesus Christ for deliverance from the curse due unto the apostate state, and peace with him, with the influence of the way thereof unto universal gospel obedience, that is alone to be designed in the handling of this doctrine. And, therefore, unto him that would treat of it in a due manner, it is required that he weigh every thing he asserts in his own mind and experiences, and not dare to propose that unto others which he doth not abide by himself, in the most intimate recesses of his mind, under his nearest approaches unto God, in his surprisals with dangers, in deep afflictions, in his preparations for death, and most humble disputations of the infinite distance between God and him. Other notions and disputations about the doctrine of justification, not seasoned with these ingredients, however condited unto the palate of some by skill and language, are insipid and useless, immediately degenerating into an unprofitable strife of words. 

—The Doctrine of Justification by Faith (vol. 5; Works, Banner of Truth), 4.

Preaching Thunder and Lightning

Speaking of the "God-given liveliness and authority" that used to be called unction, J. I. Packer gives this tribute to Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

There was in the Doctor's preaching thunder and lightning that no tape or transcription ever did or could capture—power, I mean, to mediate a realization of God's presence. . . . Nearly forty years on, it still seems to me that all I have ever known about preaching was given me in the winter of 1948-49, when I worshipped at Westminster Chapel with some regularity. Through the thunder and lightning, I felt and saw as never before the glory of Christ and of his gospel as modern man's only lifeline and learned by experience why historic Protestantism looks on preaching as the supreme means of grace and of communion with God. Preaching, thus viewed and valued, was the centre of the Doctor's life: into it he poured himself unstintingly; for it he pleaded untiringly. Rightly, he believed that preachers are born rather than made, and that preaching is caught more than it is taught, and that the best way to vindicate preaching is to preach. . . . 

I have never known anyone whose speech communicated such a sense of the reality of God as did the Doctor in those occasional moments of emphasis and doxology. Most of the time, however, it was clear, steady analysis, reflection, correction and instruction, based on simple thoughts culled from the text, set out in good order with the minimum of extraneous illustration or decoration. 

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 84-85.

Too Deep For Words

Luther on Gal. 4:6:

This is indeed a very short word, but it includes everything. Not the lips, but the feelings are speaking here, as though one were to say: "Even though I am surrounded by anxieties and seem to be deserted and banished from Thy presence, nevertheless I am a child of God on account of Christ; I am beloved on account of the Beloved." Therefore the term "Father," when spoken meaningfully in the heart, is an eloquence that Demosthenes, Cicero, and the most eloquent men there have ever been in the world cannot attain. For this is a matter that is expressed, not in words but in sighs, which are not articulated in all the words of the orators; for they are too deep for words.

 —Lectures on Galatians (vol. 26 of Works; St. Louis: Concordia, 1963), 385.

One Leak Sinks a Ship

"One leak will sink a ship, and one sin will destroy a sinner."

—John Buynan, Pilgrim's Progress (New York: Penguin, 2008), 205.

A Naturally Proud Person Made Humble

A snapshot of D. M. Lloyd-Jones as pictured by J. I. Packer:

He was a saint, a holy man of God: a naturally proud person whom God made humble; a naturally quick-tempered person to whom God taught patience; a naturally contentious person to whom God gave restraint and wisdom; a natural egoist, conscious of his own great ability, whom God set free from self-seeking to serve the servants of God.

—J. I. Packer, Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians (Vancoover: Regent College Publishing, 1999), 82.

The Doctor's Preaching, Teaching, Counseling Ministry

Summarizing what D. M. Lloyd-Jones' ministry looked like from 1943, when he became the sole pastor of Westminster Chapel after G. Campbell Morgan's retirement, J. I. Packer says:

He was the sole pastor for a quarter of a century, preaching morning and evening every Sunday save for his annual vacations in July and August. As in Wales, he lived at full stretch. Guest preaching during the first part of the week and pastoral counselling by appointment were regular parts of his life. On Friday night he taught publicly at the Chapel, for fifteen years or so by discussion, then by doctrinal lectures, and for the last twelve years by exposition of Paul's Letter to the Romans (Honoring the People of God: Collected Shorter Writings on Christian Leaders and Theologians, 81).

Notable, because of the common practice today with which it contrasts, is Lloyd-Jones' regular preaching and teaching and counseling ministry. With professionalization and a weakening of the ministry of the Word, today a pastor preaches or teaches perhaps half or a third so much as Lloyd-Jones did, and he hardly does any counseling at all, leaving that also to the professionals, most of whom haven't the foggiest idea how to care for souls.

Lloyd-Jones was clearly given to the Word of God and shepherding the flock. And he had no formal credentials to do so, having never done an M.Div. or the like. May God raise up more of his tribe.

Methods, Industry, and Trust

It ought to be said repeatedly that for all our methods and industry, it is God who must bestow light. For in his light alone do we see light. And lest this be misunderstood, it ought also to be said that God's ordinary means for bestowing light is through sound methodology and assiduous labor. Yet, God is not bound by them. He is free to bestow light on whom he will. Our methods and labor are futile without God's free favor. And so we are utterly dependent even as we break our brains and beat our bodies.

Fully Conversant with the OT

Scholars are sometimes fond of saying that Paul couldn't be alluding to (in a given instance) an OT passage in circumstances where his audience was primarily Gentile. But Prof. Doug Moo says this: "Paul's letters furnish abundant proof that he expected his Gentile readers to be fully conversant with the OT" (The Epistle to the Romans, 233).

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd;
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought.

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

—William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

Calvinism's Conservative Force

This is undoubtedly true.

A Panorama of Romans

Here's my tentative summary of Romans in broad outline:

Romans 1-4: The Gospel of God's Justification of the Ungodly by Faith Alone
Romans 5-8: The Gospel of Sharing in God's Glory Assured in God's Son
Romans 9-11: The Gospel of God's Unfailing Covenant Faithfulness Vindicated
Romans 12-16: The People of the Gospel of God Conformed to God's Son

The Gospel Going to the People of the Plains

Yesterday some dear friends spent their last Sunday with our local church before they depart for Burma. They're going out for the sake of the Name (3 John 7), that Name above all names. At our love feast, I had opportunity to give thanks publicly to God for his work in their lives. It was good to be there, three days before their departure, looking out over and considering the harvest with them. 

What follows were the reasons I gave why I'm so thankful, concluding with the brief word of exhortation and promise I gave them. (I've purposely not mentioned their names. For those who would know them, their children are named after two early church missionaries, and they themselves are children of missionaries.)

I’m thankful to God for bringing them this far, through much laboring and planning and praying and trusting and persevering. I remember when, years ago, before they knew each other, God laid on my dear brother's heart a desire to go to Burma. And now, years later, with his wife by his side, God is bringing that seed desire to fruition.

I’m also thankful for their courage. Think about it. You’re leaving behind all that is comfortable and familiar, all your family and friends and your church. You’re leaving behind a relatively easy life for a much harder one. And, you’re doing this with two little ones, not knowing exactly where you’re going and what you’ll be facing. That takes courage. And I’m thankful God’s given it to them.

I’m also thankful for their love for Christ and love for the Gospel of the free grace of God. They’re not doing this for their name, for their own sake, for their earthly advantage. They’re doing this in the cause of Christ and his kingdom.

I’m also thankful for their love for poor, perishing sinners, specifically, the people of the plains. They’re laying their lives down for the elect in Burma, bought with Jesus' blood, constrained by the love of Christ.

So I’m thankful for their perseverance, courage, love for Christ, love for the Gospel, and love for poor, perishing people. And I’m deeply thankful for all the support they’ve been given by NCC. They are worthy of this calling, having been fitted and equipped by God's good Spirit, and none will regret in eternity having given to this great cause. 

As we look out over the world, as we look out to the land of the people of the plains, bought with Jesus’ blood, hear Deut. 31:6: “Be strong, and be bold; do not be afraid, and do not tremble before them; for YHWH your God, he is the one who goes with you. He will not abandon you, nor will he forsake you.”

O God, Grant Grace to Learn and to Live

A Lutheran prayer to learn and live out God's commands:

O my God and Lord, help me by the grace to learn and understand thy commandments more fully every day and to live by them in sincere confidence. Preserve my heart so that I shall never again become forgetful and ungrateful, that I may never seek after other gods or consolation on earth or in any creature, but cling truly and solely to thee, my only God. Amen, dear Lord God and Father. Amen.

—Martin Luther, Luther's Prayers (ed. Herbert F. Brokering; Augsberg: Minneapolis, 1994), 51.

Evidence of Man's Deepest Corruption

Doug Moo on the implications of Rom. 1:22:

In that this "becoming foolish" involves the various idolatrous religions that people invent for themselves (v. 23), Paul's estimation of non-Christian religions also becomes clear in this verse. Far from being a preparatory stage in the human quest for God, these religions represent a descent from the truth and are "evidence of man's deepest corruption" [quoting Nygren].

 —The Epistle to the Romans (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 1988), p. 108.

God's Demands and Man's Inability

Augustin on God's demands in the face of human inability:

The Pelagians think that they know something great when they assert that "God would not command what He knew could not be done by man." But God commands some things which we cannot do, in order that we many know what we ought to ask of Him [italics mine]. For this is faith itself, which obtains by prayer what the law commands.

 —"On Grace and Free Will," in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (transl. Peter Holmes and Robert Ernest Wallis; transl. rev. Benjamin B. Warfield; vol. 5, ed. Philip Schaff; Hendrickson: Peabody, 1999), p. 457.