The Bible is supposed to be accessible to children. This is one reason the various tortured interpretations of Genesis 1 are so painful. No child would ever read Genesis 1 and come away with the Day-Age, Gap, or "It's-all-just-poetry-so-it-doesn't-really-mean-what-it-sounds-like-it-means" interpretations.
Contrast this with Genesis 2. Read Genesis 2, then ask a child to draw a picture of Adam and Eve. What do Adam and Eve look like? Invariably, the child draws a picture of two adults. The child realizes that although Adam and Eve are less than a day old, they are created with the appearance of age. In other words, they look older than they really are. And the great thing about this is that you don't have to read it into the text. It is obvious, right on the surface (unlike the gruesome gymnastics to which Genesis 1 is so often subjected).
Why is it reasonable to conclude that Adam and Eve are made with the appearance of age? Because they are given adult tasks to perform. Naming the animals, tending the garden, having children, and defending Eve from the serpent - all of this dominion labor requires a grown-up body.
Now is God being deceptive by making Adam and Eve look older than they really are? Is he like the fraudulant craftsman who specializes in making fake antiques? Or does God have good and necessary reasons for giving our ancestors the appearance of age? And if God had good reasons for giving Adam and Eve the appearance of age, is it not possible that he could have good reasons for giving the world (and universe) around them the appearance of age as well?
This is no way denies that God could have taken 14 billion years to create the universe. The question is why God would take 6 days to make a creation that looks 14 billion years old? What are his reasons for doing this? What advantages does he obtain that could not be achieved any other way?
Do not fight the obvious. The most straightforward interpretation of Genesis 1-2 is that we live in a young universe that has been given the appearance of great age. The fun comes in meditating on why God created it this way!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Salvation is a Package Deal
To review, the Ordo Salutis (order of salvation) is...
Foreknowledge
Predestination
Redemptive Work of Christ
Effectual Calling
Regeneration
Faith and Repentance
Union with Christ
Justification
Adoption
Sanctification
Perseverance
Glorification
Another benefit of the Ordo Salutis: it visualizes the idea that salvation is a "package deal." In other words, you get all of it or none of it. You never, ever only get some of it.
Such is Paul's point in Romans 8:29-30. "Those whom he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." There is no such thing as a sinner God predestines whom he does not also proceed to call, justify and glorify. A package deal.
This is the ground of Christian assurance: God always finishes what he starts. He who began a good work in you will most certainly carry it on to completion.
Salvation is a package deal. The Ordo Salutis helps us understand what that means. Praise God that if he has predestined, called and justified you, he will most certainly one day glorify you!
Foreknowledge
Predestination
Redemptive Work of Christ
Effectual Calling
Regeneration
Faith and Repentance
Union with Christ
Justification
Adoption
Sanctification
Perseverance
Glorification
Another benefit of the Ordo Salutis: it visualizes the idea that salvation is a "package deal." In other words, you get all of it or none of it. You never, ever only get some of it.
Such is Paul's point in Romans 8:29-30. "Those whom he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified." There is no such thing as a sinner God predestines whom he does not also proceed to call, justify and glorify. A package deal.
This is the ground of Christian assurance: God always finishes what he starts. He who began a good work in you will most certainly carry it on to completion.
Salvation is a package deal. The Ordo Salutis helps us understand what that means. Praise God that if he has predestined, called and justified you, he will most certainly one day glorify you!
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Salvation is more than Justification
Another advantage of the Ordo Salutis: it emphasizes that salvation is more than justification.
Justification is the central benefit of the gospel. The doctrine of justification by faith alone (JBFA) is the core doctrine on which the church stands or falls. Nevertheless, there is more to the gospel than justification. In other words, we need Christ's righteousness imputed to us, and we need to be forgiven. But we need more than this.
Consider just the next step in the Ordo Salutis: adoption. After forgiving sinners, God does not simply kick us out on the street, saying, "Have a nice life." No, as justification gets us out of God's courtroom, so adoption gets us into God's family room. And we need this. We need, not only to be saved FROM sin and its consequences, but UNTO a new life in which we can fulfill the original purpose for which we were created.
J. I. Packer writes the following: "Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. That justification - by which we mean God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future - is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. But justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge...Contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship - he establishes us as his children and heirs. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater." (from Knowing God, pp. 206-207)
The good news is that Christ saves us out of God's courtroom and into God's family room. Justification and Adoption. FROM/UNTO theology. The Ordo Salutis visualizes this fact: there is more to salvation than justification.
Justification is the central benefit of the gospel. The doctrine of justification by faith alone (JBFA) is the core doctrine on which the church stands or falls. Nevertheless, there is more to the gospel than justification. In other words, we need Christ's righteousness imputed to us, and we need to be forgiven. But we need more than this.
Consider just the next step in the Ordo Salutis: adoption. After forgiving sinners, God does not simply kick us out on the street, saying, "Have a nice life." No, as justification gets us out of God's courtroom, so adoption gets us into God's family room. And we need this. We need, not only to be saved FROM sin and its consequences, but UNTO a new life in which we can fulfill the original purpose for which we were created.
J. I. Packer writes the following: "Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification. That justification - by which we mean God's forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future - is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. But justification does not of itself imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge...Contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship - he establishes us as his children and heirs. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater." (from Knowing God, pp. 206-207)
The good news is that Christ saves us out of God's courtroom and into God's family room. Justification and Adoption. FROM/UNTO theology. The Ordo Salutis visualizes this fact: there is more to salvation than justification.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Ordo Salutis and Past-Present-Future Salvation
The Ordo Salutis (order of salvation) also helps explain why the Bible, in various places, speaks of the believer's salvation as past, present, or future.
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer has already experienced:
"Today salvation has come to this house..." Lk 19:9
"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." Tit 3:5
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer is currently experiencing:
"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" Php 2:12
"...but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor 1:18
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer is yet to experience:
"...our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Rom 13:11
"...how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" Rom 5:9
How can salvation be past, present, and future?
For a Christian currently alive on earth, several steps in the Ordo Salutis are past tense: Foreknowledge, Predestination, Redemptive Work of Christ, Effectual Calling, Regeneration, Faith and Repentance, Union with Christ, Justification, and Adoption. All nine of these steps have already happened. So in this sense, the believer has already been saved.
But for a believer in this life, two steps in the Ordo Salutis are present tense: Sanctification and Perseverance. The believer is being sanctified, and he is persevering in faith, repentance, and good works. In this sense, then, the believer is being saved.
Yet no Christian's salvation will be complete until Christ returns from heaven. On that Day God will raise the believer up with a new resurrection body, that he might then share in Christ's glory forever. And so in this sense, the believer (whether on earth or in heaven) still waits to be saved.
If you are a Christian, some of your salvation has already happened, some of your salvation is currently taking place, and some of your salvation will not be given to you until Judgment Day. Praise God for so great a salvation!
When you say, "Jesus saved me," be sure you know what you mean!
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer has already experienced:
"Today salvation has come to this house..." Lk 19:9
"He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." Tit 3:5
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer is currently experiencing:
"...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" Php 2:12
"...but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." 1 Cor 1:18
Examples of salvation being spoken of as something the believer is yet to experience:
"...our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed." Rom 13:11
"...how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him!" Rom 5:9
How can salvation be past, present, and future?
For a Christian currently alive on earth, several steps in the Ordo Salutis are past tense: Foreknowledge, Predestination, Redemptive Work of Christ, Effectual Calling, Regeneration, Faith and Repentance, Union with Christ, Justification, and Adoption. All nine of these steps have already happened. So in this sense, the believer has already been saved.
But for a believer in this life, two steps in the Ordo Salutis are present tense: Sanctification and Perseverance. The believer is being sanctified, and he is persevering in faith, repentance, and good works. In this sense, then, the believer is being saved.
Yet no Christian's salvation will be complete until Christ returns from heaven. On that Day God will raise the believer up with a new resurrection body, that he might then share in Christ's glory forever. And so in this sense, the believer (whether on earth or in heaven) still waits to be saved.
If you are a Christian, some of your salvation has already happened, some of your salvation is currently taking place, and some of your salvation will not be given to you until Judgment Day. Praise God for so great a salvation!
When you say, "Jesus saved me," be sure you know what you mean!
Friday, August 21, 2009
Ordo Salutis: Definition of Salvation
The Ordo Salutis (order of salvation) commonly lists the following twelve steps:
Foreknowledge - God knows (loves, sets his love upon) some of the people he will create (though not because these people are better than those he decides not to love)
Predestination - God chooses to save these people (making them the "elect"), though again not because "likes" these people more than the ones he does not choose - there is nothing about them that sets them apart from those God does not choose
Redemptive Work of Christ - through his active and passive obedience, Christ earns the salvation of the elect
Effectual Calling - God draws an elect sinner to his Son, primarily through the preaching of the gospel, also through all the other ordinary means of grace
Regeneration - the Holy Spirit makes born again the elect person hearing the gospel, bringing him from death to life, thereby enabling him to respond to the gospel
Faith and Repentance - the elect sinner rejects his former way of thinking and living, trusting in the Person and Work of Christ for the forgiveness of his sins
Union with Christ - the believer gets included in Christ (Christ becomes his "federal head")
Justification - God forgives the new believer and imputes to him Christ's righteousness (as he was considered guilty of Adam's first transgression, so now he is credited with Christ's obedience)
Adoption - God makes the new believer a part of his family (thus the sinner is transferred from God's courtroom to God's family room)
Sanctification - the Holy Spirit progressively transforms the believer, making him more and more like Christ as the years go by
Perseverance - the believer keeps repenting and believing (because Christ, the faithful Shepherd, preserves, feeds, and protects him)
Glorification - the believer receives a resurrection body when Christ returns, and gets to enjoy living with Christ forever in the new heavens and earth
Taken as a whole, the Ordo Salutis explains what "salvation" actually is. It is a broad, comprehensive process that begins before creation and is not complete until the return of Christ.
The word "salvation" is thrown about freely by Christians, often with little clear understanding of what the term means. Frequently when a believer uses the word "saved," what he really means is "justified" or "forgiven." This creates unhelpful confusion.
Allow me to offer a challenge: because the words "saved" and "salvation" have become near-meaningless church buzz-words, do not use these terms unless you have in mind the above twelve steps of the Ordo Salutis!
Next time you say that Christ has saved you, and someone asks you what that means, promptly respond:
"I mean that God the Father predestined me, that Christ died as my substitute, and that the Holy Spirit quickened my heart to respond to the preaching of the gospel. At the appointed time the Holy Spirit made me born again, enabling me to reject my former way of life and trust in the finished work of Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. At that moment God did indeed forgive me, and adopt me as well, such that I have become a child of God. The Holy Spirit now dwells within me, and he is so changing me year by year, that not only have I been freed from sin's penalty, but I am also being freed from sin's power. And I am confident the Spirit will continue his work in me, such that at the moment of my death I will still be found one of Christ's faithful followers. When Jesus returns, God will raise me from the dead with a resurrection body like Jesus' resurrection body. And so I will live forever with the Lord."
"That is what I mean when I say Christ has saved me!"
Foreknowledge - God knows (loves, sets his love upon) some of the people he will create (though not because these people are better than those he decides not to love)
Predestination - God chooses to save these people (making them the "elect"), though again not because "likes" these people more than the ones he does not choose - there is nothing about them that sets them apart from those God does not choose
Redemptive Work of Christ - through his active and passive obedience, Christ earns the salvation of the elect
Effectual Calling - God draws an elect sinner to his Son, primarily through the preaching of the gospel, also through all the other ordinary means of grace
Regeneration - the Holy Spirit makes born again the elect person hearing the gospel, bringing him from death to life, thereby enabling him to respond to the gospel
Faith and Repentance - the elect sinner rejects his former way of thinking and living, trusting in the Person and Work of Christ for the forgiveness of his sins
Union with Christ - the believer gets included in Christ (Christ becomes his "federal head")
Justification - God forgives the new believer and imputes to him Christ's righteousness (as he was considered guilty of Adam's first transgression, so now he is credited with Christ's obedience)
Adoption - God makes the new believer a part of his family (thus the sinner is transferred from God's courtroom to God's family room)
Sanctification - the Holy Spirit progressively transforms the believer, making him more and more like Christ as the years go by
Perseverance - the believer keeps repenting and believing (because Christ, the faithful Shepherd, preserves, feeds, and protects him)
Glorification - the believer receives a resurrection body when Christ returns, and gets to enjoy living with Christ forever in the new heavens and earth
Taken as a whole, the Ordo Salutis explains what "salvation" actually is. It is a broad, comprehensive process that begins before creation and is not complete until the return of Christ.
The word "salvation" is thrown about freely by Christians, often with little clear understanding of what the term means. Frequently when a believer uses the word "saved," what he really means is "justified" or "forgiven." This creates unhelpful confusion.
Allow me to offer a challenge: because the words "saved" and "salvation" have become near-meaningless church buzz-words, do not use these terms unless you have in mind the above twelve steps of the Ordo Salutis!
Next time you say that Christ has saved you, and someone asks you what that means, promptly respond:
"I mean that God the Father predestined me, that Christ died as my substitute, and that the Holy Spirit quickened my heart to respond to the preaching of the gospel. At the appointed time the Holy Spirit made me born again, enabling me to reject my former way of life and trust in the finished work of Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. At that moment God did indeed forgive me, and adopt me as well, such that I have become a child of God. The Holy Spirit now dwells within me, and he is so changing me year by year, that not only have I been freed from sin's penalty, but I am also being freed from sin's power. And I am confident the Spirit will continue his work in me, such that at the moment of my death I will still be found one of Christ's faithful followers. When Jesus returns, God will raise me from the dead with a resurrection body like Jesus' resurrection body. And so I will live forever with the Lord."
"That is what I mean when I say Christ has saved me!"
Thursday, August 20, 2009
A Young Earth That Looks Old
According to the Bible, our planet is about 6000 years old. Yet our world and the universe around it look much older than this. Layers in rock and ice, radiometric dating, non-random distribution of species - all give evidence of a world millions or billions of years old. Astronomic observation reveals a universe that appears to be about 14 billion years in age.
These two views are so wide apart, that a year here or there in one's calculations hardly matters. It is convenient, therefore, simply to refer to these two views as Young Earth Creationism (YEC) and Old Earth Creationism (OEC). Both views have earnest and intelligent Christian supporters. In the denomination of which I am a part, the PCA, men holding both positions labor together for the cause of the gospel.
I am a Young Earth Creationist. Holding this position leaves me with several obligations. First, I must be certain to live at peace with those who think otherwise on this matter. We are all brothers in Christ. Second, I must explain why the issue matters. What difference does it make, after all, how old the planet is - as long as we affirm that God made it? Third, I must answer the most obvious question raised by my position: why would God make a young planet that looks old?
Is God a deceiver? Imagine a furniture maker who specializes in creating fake antiques. He crafts a new table, for example, and then puts the table through a series of treatments that give it the appearance of having aged several hundred years. The trickster then puts "wear" into the table: nicks, scratches, bang marks - whatever it takes to convince a prospective customer that the table is a genuine antique.
If the creation really is only 6000 years old (and I believe that it is), then God must be really good at "faking it." The simple fact of the matter is that the world looks a lot older than this. It is in trying to deny this observation that Creation Science so badly goes awry. There is just no use getting around the pervasive appearance of great age.
Which leaves me with a question I have to answer if anyone is to going take the Young Earth Creationist position seriously: Why would God make a young earth that looks old?
These two views are so wide apart, that a year here or there in one's calculations hardly matters. It is convenient, therefore, simply to refer to these two views as Young Earth Creationism (YEC) and Old Earth Creationism (OEC). Both views have earnest and intelligent Christian supporters. In the denomination of which I am a part, the PCA, men holding both positions labor together for the cause of the gospel.
I am a Young Earth Creationist. Holding this position leaves me with several obligations. First, I must be certain to live at peace with those who think otherwise on this matter. We are all brothers in Christ. Second, I must explain why the issue matters. What difference does it make, after all, how old the planet is - as long as we affirm that God made it? Third, I must answer the most obvious question raised by my position: why would God make a young planet that looks old?
Is God a deceiver? Imagine a furniture maker who specializes in creating fake antiques. He crafts a new table, for example, and then puts the table through a series of treatments that give it the appearance of having aged several hundred years. The trickster then puts "wear" into the table: nicks, scratches, bang marks - whatever it takes to convince a prospective customer that the table is a genuine antique.
If the creation really is only 6000 years old (and I believe that it is), then God must be really good at "faking it." The simple fact of the matter is that the world looks a lot older than this. It is in trying to deny this observation that Creation Science so badly goes awry. There is just no use getting around the pervasive appearance of great age.
Which leaves me with a question I have to answer if anyone is to going take the Young Earth Creationist position seriously: Why would God make a young earth that looks old?
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Five Rules for Interpreting the Bible
Five Rules for Interpreting the Bible:
1) What type of literature is the passage? The simplest division is prose or poetry.
2) What is the context of the passage? Look at what comes before and after.
3) How would the original audience have interpreted the passage?
4) Scripture interprets Scripture. The unchanging triune God wrote every word of the Bible.
5) It's all about Jesus. The Bible is relentlessly Christocentric.
Let's apply these rules to Genesis 1.
1) Genesis 1 is historical narrative or prose. Its language should therefore be taken literally rather than figuratively or symbolically. This means one cannot escape the Young Earth interpretation by calling Genesis 1 poetry. It is not poetry.
2) The immediate context of Genesis 1 is Genesis 2. Gen 2 recaps the events of Day 6 in much greater detail. Since the events of Genesis 2 do not take an age or epoch to occur, Day 6 back in chapter 1 must also not take a long period of time.
3) The Israelites wandering in the wilderness (sometime between 1446 to 1406 BC) were Moses' original intended audience for Genesis. There is no way this nation of ancient near-Eastern slaves heard Genesis 1 and thought of any of the modern fanciful interpretations (Day-Age theory, gap theory, etc.).
4) Exodus 20:11, the fourth of the ten commandments, refers back to the days of creation in Genesis 1. God says that we should work six days and rest on the seventh because that is what he did. Because Moses wrote Genesis and Exodus, and because Ex 20:11 equates the days of Gen 1 with the days of our current work week, the days of Genesis 1 must be six literal, consecutive 24-hour days.
5) If we live on a young Earth (about 6000 years old), then the way we find the planet today is not the way God made it. He did not make a world with death, decay, misery, entropy, etc. He made a world radically unlike the one we experience. But when we fell into sin, the creation (placed under our dominion) fell with us. And if the sin of the First Adam is the cause of everything that is wrong in the universe, then the obedience of the Last Adam is the solution for everything that is wrong in the universe. Young earth creationism therefore exalts the Son of God by magnifying the comprehensiveness and efficacy of his redemptive work - strong correlative support that the six days of Genesis 1 are six literal, consecutive 24-hour days.
1) What type of literature is the passage? The simplest division is prose or poetry.
2) What is the context of the passage? Look at what comes before and after.
3) How would the original audience have interpreted the passage?
4) Scripture interprets Scripture. The unchanging triune God wrote every word of the Bible.
5) It's all about Jesus. The Bible is relentlessly Christocentric.
Let's apply these rules to Genesis 1.
1) Genesis 1 is historical narrative or prose. Its language should therefore be taken literally rather than figuratively or symbolically. This means one cannot escape the Young Earth interpretation by calling Genesis 1 poetry. It is not poetry.
2) The immediate context of Genesis 1 is Genesis 2. Gen 2 recaps the events of Day 6 in much greater detail. Since the events of Genesis 2 do not take an age or epoch to occur, Day 6 back in chapter 1 must also not take a long period of time.
3) The Israelites wandering in the wilderness (sometime between 1446 to 1406 BC) were Moses' original intended audience for Genesis. There is no way this nation of ancient near-Eastern slaves heard Genesis 1 and thought of any of the modern fanciful interpretations (Day-Age theory, gap theory, etc.).
4) Exodus 20:11, the fourth of the ten commandments, refers back to the days of creation in Genesis 1. God says that we should work six days and rest on the seventh because that is what he did. Because Moses wrote Genesis and Exodus, and because Ex 20:11 equates the days of Gen 1 with the days of our current work week, the days of Genesis 1 must be six literal, consecutive 24-hour days.
5) If we live on a young Earth (about 6000 years old), then the way we find the planet today is not the way God made it. He did not make a world with death, decay, misery, entropy, etc. He made a world radically unlike the one we experience. But when we fell into sin, the creation (placed under our dominion) fell with us. And if the sin of the First Adam is the cause of everything that is wrong in the universe, then the obedience of the Last Adam is the solution for everything that is wrong in the universe. Young earth creationism therefore exalts the Son of God by magnifying the comprehensiveness and efficacy of his redemptive work - strong correlative support that the six days of Genesis 1 are six literal, consecutive 24-hour days.
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