ResponsiveReiding

Recently I read an article titled “The Points of Calvinism: Retrospect and Prospect.”1  It was written by Kenneth J. Stewart, PhD. Professor of Theological Studies @ Covenant College in Lookout Mountain Georgia. This piece was originally published in the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology. It appeared in the Autumn 2008 issue. In it, he makes a good argument for why an over-identification with the pop-Calvinism version of TULIP is in many ways unhelpful.

Dr. Stewart has graciously given me permission to provide you with the entirety of that article – YOU CAN READ THE FULL ARTICLE  HERE Or, you can click on “The Points of Calvinism: Retrospect and Prospect” in the “Do you know the Gospel?” column to the right.

Even the venerable Lorraine Boettner – who as near as I can tell first used the acronym TULIP in American theological writing anyway – in the 1932 printing of his wonderful work – The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination – warns:  “Let it be borne in mind that in this book we do not purpose to discuss in detail those other doctrines of the Scriptures which are accepted by evangelical Christendom, but to set forth and defend those which are peculiar to the Calvinistic system. Unless this be kept in mind much of the real strength and beauty of generic Calvinism will be lost and the so-called “Five Points of Calvinism,” – which historically and in reality are the obverse of what might be called the “Five Points of Arminianism,” – will assume undue prominence in the system. Let the reader, then, guard against a too close identification of the Five Points and the Calvinistic system. While these are essential elements, the system really includes much more.” (Pages 59-60 of the 1972 7th printing edition by The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company – Emphases mine” )

Indeed, I would argue that very many who self-consciously identify themselves as Calvinistic and/or Reformed, do so almost exclusively due to their identification with the 5-Points.

As others have suggested (see Dr. Stewart’s article), perhaps now would be a good time to try for a slightly better “shorthand” approach. One a bit more descriptive and hopefully not as liable to easy caricaturization. I make my modest proposal then for a new “T.U.L.I.P.” – the P.E.O.N.Y.

I advance it – and await your comments. Maybe you’ve got a much better entry. Don’t hesitate to give it a shot. This is mine:

Pervasive, uncaused and humanly irreversible SINFULNESS.

Eternal sovereign ELECTION, unconditioned in the creature.

Objective, penal, substitutionary ATONEMENT, universally applicable to all men on condition of faith.

Never failing, ultimately conquering, sovereign GRACE.

Yoked to Christ in an unbreakable bond of ENDURING love.

1 – My thanks to David Ponter by way of Ed Trefzger for pointing me to Dr. Stewart’s article.

1 – 1 Peter 3:9 (ESV) Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.

RAF: The thought is almost too simple isn’t it? Would you be blessed? Bless! Blessed people, those who live in the sense of being blessed of – and therefore happy in – God, are those who love to bless others. The route to blessedness is not to get others to pour out blessings upon you, but to bless them. Watch and see how the Lord pours back into your heart more than you give out.

But let us beware that we make this crude and bless others only to BE blessed. This is not an investment scheme, it is a way of life. God Himself cannot in any real sense be given to. There is nothing we can “bless” Him with in that sense. He is lacking nothing. Yet He is eternally blessed and happy. And a part of His happiness is in His native love to give to others. “God so loved the world, that He gave.” He desires that our blessedness be more like His. A blessing of others which is the overflow of having all things in Christ – and not a means to somehow put some effort into blessing so that we can get some blessing out of it. That is how Wall Street works, not Heaven.

Heavenly Father, give us your heart – so that we bless and are blessed in the way you are. Make us so full of the riches which are ours in Christ, the bottomless riches, that we can be like Elijah’s widow, pouring out an endless supply of oil, supernaturally welling up within. Holy Spirit, open our eyes again today to see what we really have, what has freely been given to us. Make us embarrassed with the riches, and lavishly reckless in our attempt to give them away. Oh, that others might have what we do!

2 – 1 Peter 3:13-16 (ESV) Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? ¹⁴But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, ¹⁵but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, ¹⁶having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.

RAF: Note first, that some may harm us, even when we do good. We ought not be too surprised if in this fallen world we suffer some injustice. Was not our Savior’s crucifixion the single most unjust act ever committed by human hands? Should it shock us so then if we are treated wrongly at times? This is sin’s unmasked face. It is grotesque, ugly and fearsome.

Note second that God does not count harm as we so often do. Peter echoes Jesus’ words here from Luke 12:4-7 ⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. ⁵But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! ⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. ⁷Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” Harm in this life can be but physical and emotional, and at that, temporary. Compared to eternal spiritual harm, such is nothing. Oh to keep that balance in our hearts when tested in this way.

Note thirdly that the way to be delivered from these temporal fears, is to regard the holy Christ as Lord in our hearts. In other words, to remember He is Lord, not others nor the circumstances; that He is holy and cannot sin against us but can only act for our good; and let those considerations govern our thoughts and attitudes, rather than whose hands it is we suffer directly from.

Note fourthly then, that this response to such treatment, is so counter-intuitive to normal human responses that it will evoke wonder from those who observe it in us. This then serves as a means to redeem that suffering and make it a means whereby the Gospel is preached and Christ it put forward before men. This is the hope that is so remarkable, men cannot help but wonder where it comes from.

Note lastly – that we make our response to them not as though defiant and self-triumphant, but with gentleness and respect. Their being put to shame for treating us badly is not to be a means of revenge for us, but a means of showing God’s grace and mercy for the sake of their souls.

Now who but our wondrous God would have put forth such a pattern to follow? Oh what a glorious God we serve!

1 – 1 Peter 2:2-3 (ESV) ²Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— ³if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

RAF: Have you tasted the goodness of God? Then train your appetite to desire more and more of Him. And begin to go after it like newborns do their mother’s milk. Milk in the Scripture is often a picture of God’s blessings. Hence we read so many times that Canaan is referred to as the land of “milk & honey.” In 1 Cor. 3:2 Paul likens the Gospel to milk – it is the single, most basic life giving provision of God. In Heb. 5:12 milk is the “basic principles of the oracles of God.” And in 5:13 it is that upon which we as babes find perfect sustenance as we grow to take in the stronger “bread” of the Word which is not just the good news about Christ, but more of Christ Himself. That then also becomes our meat in due season. Christ at the beginning, Christ as we grow, and Christ the fullness of God for us. This is John’s point in 1 John 2 where he writes to “little children”, young men” and “fathers.” We all grow in and by Christ. That never changes in any stage of life. Let your hearts taste Him often and your souls be drawn out after Him. Let the taste of His sweetness spoil you for everything else. Oh Father – feed us upon Christ every step of the way. Holy Spirit, break Him to us today as our daily portion – and let us be filled with Him!

2 – 1 Peter 2:4-5 (ESV) ⁴As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, ⁵you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

RAF: What a “priesthood” this is which belongs to the Believer. It is as high above the Levite’s priesthood as Jesus’ priesthood is above Aaron’s. The priests of the Old Covenant would take the sacrifices of the people, help them spill the blood of them and offer them before God. But ours are not sacrifices for sin. Christ has satisfied those once and for all. Ours is a priesthood of pure joy. The sacrifices we offer up – are all those of thanksgiving and praise. Celebratory sacrifices. Hebrews 13:15 explains it to us: “Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.” What a joyous occupation! Imagine, we are ordained to be happy and to give God thanks and praise for His goodness, mercy and grace to us. This is our holy employment. It is not somber and mournful – it is full of grace and glory. And though we know still the uncleanness of our own hands – note that the passage reminds us still our offerings are acceptable – “through Jesus Christ.” As poorly formed, ill conceived, sometimes pitifully executed and even tainted with mixed motives – still, our Christ renders them acceptable to the Father, because we offer them in His holy name. Oh may the spirit of praise grip us and may the shouts of joy rise up from the camp of the saints to drown out the miserable din of sin’s beckoning.

3 – 1 Peter 2:11-12 (ESV) ¹¹Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹²Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

RAF: One of the greatest weapons Christ has given to us for prosecuting the battle against sin, is to live in the reality of this present transitory state. That all temptation is passing and temporary. Here, the image is of OUR transient stay here. This world is not our home. The things it offers us will soon be gone, because we’ll soon be gone. We are sojourners here, exiles. If we think of ourselves in these terms, sin’s grip is dealt a withering blow. Temptation can be so much more endured when we realize it will end soon. That it will not always remain wooing us with the same vigor. Our enduring is but for a time. And we do not want the opportunity of the time allotted us to be robbed by falling into sin. Such passions within us war against our souls, make us dull to God’s voice, and prey to our lust’s. Holy Spirit, remind us often, this is temporary – and the glory which awaits us is at hand!

1 – 1 Peter 2:1 (ESV) So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

RAF: Look simply at the first word in this verse: “so.” A world of theology can be packed into such a brief expression. It bids us to summarize all of what has come before in chapter 1 – the theme of which is the “living hope” hope the Believer has been “born again to”, and the price paid for such glory – the ransom was paid with the “precious blood of Christ.” “SO” – if this be the case, act accordingly! This is the weight of the Apostle’s words. If chapter 1 is real, how ought that to impact the way we live our lives? And he mentions that its first impact ought to be in putting away the things which are incompatible with the living hope we are headed toward, and the precious blood which was shed for us. Oh what glory is ours! Father, keep such things ever before my eyes that I not live as though these are not true and governing realities. Keep them always in view. Let nothing cloud the clear vision of them.

2 – 1 Peter 2:9-10 (ESV) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

RAF: This is one of those passages packed with so much for us to understand, that one could spend endless hours musing on its implications. Here is one of those statements which is so sweeping in uveiling the scope of God’s dealings with us in salvation that to miss it, is to miss much of understanding the “why” behind this unsearchable plan. In the simplest of terms, it appears that God’s final goal in all things – is the divinely ultimate manifestation of His mercy and grace through eternal, familial society with a redeemed humanity. And that His motive in it all, is love.

That which God knows about Himself within the Triune Godhead, which He delights in in Himself, and which cannot be known any other way apart from the Fall and the Cross – is that He is a God who is merciful to sinners without violating His justice, and so full of grace, that He makes mere forgiven creatures, a part of His own family through adoptive grace. Mercy brings forgiveness, but grace brings sonship. His desire is to cause the universe to rejoice over His mercifulness and His graciousness. And to that end, He conscripts us into this holy and unspeakably joyous, delightful and eternal occupation.

It is a pity that we often focus only upon the naked facts that Believers are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession.” As glorious and stupendous and unimaginably wonderful as these things are – they are not the end. He didn’t just do all of this, to do it. All of this is “that you” – i.e. for this purpose: That we might make His mercy and grace KNOWN! To “proclaim” His “excellencies” in it. To be His declaration of His glory through us. And in order for us to proclaim that with zeal and burning love and not like the reciting of indifferent facts – like parrots reciting the Lord’s Prayer – He makes us the recipients of this mercy and grace. He makes us to partake of it. He wants not just eye witnesses, but heart witnesses. Witnesses so consumed with how merciful He is, and how gracious He is, we are stumbling over ourselves to get the message out.

Heavenly Father – grant me the capacity to understand the weight of this glory, so that I might be set ablaze with the realities of it. My heart is so hard at times. My mind so dark. My ears so dull and my tongue so thick. Open my eyes. Unstop my ears. Flood my mind with light. Melt my heart so that in grasping it all, I cannot but help proclaim your sweet excellencies with every atom of my being. Fill me with your Spirit. Spirit of the living God – fill me with Christ.

1. 1 Peter 1:1-2 (ESV) ¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

RAF: Our election and sanctification are not things done in a vacuum, or unattached to anything else. There is a purpose behind them. Here, the stated purpose is for “obedience to Jesus Christ.” Obedience – not to the Law, not to an external code, but to Christ Himself. A personal obedience. An obedience born of love rather than mere duty.

2. 1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESV) ³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

RAF: Our being born again is not the end, but the beginning. We are born TO – a living hope. Hope beyond this life, and stretching into the full eternity of the next. He has made us into new creatures that we might be inheritors of what He has stored up for us. Things which:

a. Are IMPERISHABLE – Can NEVER die or end.

b. Are UNDEFILED – Are possessed of absolutely no corruption whatever – nothing which makes them less than absolutely perfect in every way.

c. UNFADING – Are perennially fresh and new. Never losing their luster and shine.

Now THAT, is worth living for!

3. 1 Peter 1:6-7 (ESV) ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

RAF: Now trials themselves are indeed grievous – even though in Christ, they yield much, rich fruit. Christians do not live as though trials are not painful. We live authentically. They DO grieve us. But not like they grieve those who have no sense of the goodness of God in them and behind them.

And note that the tested genuineness of our faith may not seem to be more precious than gold to us – but it is to our God. He values above all to be believed and trusted by His own. Without faith it is impossible to please Him. With faith, it is impossible to displease Him. The intimacy of love requires trust. We can and will only know Him to the degree that we absolutely believe Him, and trust Him. Oh Lord – increase our faith. Increase MY – faith!

4. 1 Peter 1:13 (ESV) ¹³Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

RAF: “Therefore” – in other words, since verses 1-12 are true, we learn that: One cannot live well in this life, unless they are living with their eye fixed upon the next. If we are not living FOR the return of Christ, then we will never be ready to act properly given the stresses and concerns of this present age, nor will we be sober-minded in the face of all that confronts us. This comes only from having this future perspective rooted firmly in us. The song writer was correct when he wrote:

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.

My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.

The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door

And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

The question is then – are we living for eternity now? Or just for today?

Don’t ask me, I don’t know.  Somehow – I got invited to participate in a conference on the tiny and GORGEOUS  Caribbean isle of St. Maarten.

Sky & I fly out early Monday morning and we’ll be gone until the 17th.

I know I owe Phil and Ophalm  some responses (I’m behind) and I’ll do my best.

Meanwhile – to all my upstate NY neighbors – try and stay warm, will ya?

Corinthians 2:11 so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Satan is a ruthless enemy. When Christians fail to realize, that our enemy is real, and seeks to do us real harm, we give him even more opportunity. But make no mistake – if you belong to Jesus Christ, you are hated for that very reason. Hated by one who is more vicious, wicked and desirous of your destruction than you can ever imagine. There is not one drop of mercy within him. He is bent on destroying God’s name whatever the cost. Especially since he intends YOU to bear that cost. He has two chief ends in mind: a. To keep men bound in unbelief. And barring that, b. To keep the Believer bound and ineffective. Now our text is plain, but I fear that our understanding of it is shallow. We get it that Satan “can” outwit us and that he has “designs” against us – or as the KJV puts it – “devices. But all too often we really are ignorant of those devices. Let me list 5 of his most potent weapons against those who are in Christ.

Satan’s first device, is DECEPTION. He keeps the lost from thinking about Heaven, Hell, personal moral responsibility, and what it will mean to face God in the judgment. And for both the lost and the Redeemed, He tries to make sin easy, sweet, pleasing to the eye, with palpable benefits and the promise of no downside – at least nothing too painful. It is all a lie. But we are so prone to it. How we need to have the “belt of truth” on at all times.

Next, he specializes in DISTRACTION. Anything to get all of us so tied up with business, life, pleasure, self-pity, temptation, even “ministry” – so that we care less for finding our supreme pleasure in God Himself – and put ANYTHING else in front of it. If he can get us texting one another while driving on the Autobahn – disaster is sure to come. As one wag said: “Why use murder when a deck of cards will do?” However simple, however captivating, however seemingly harmless – just distraction from seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness.

DIVISION. Oh how the enemy of our souls – but even more of our Savior – loves to foment unnecessary arguments, hurt feelings, self-righteous stands and outright hostility between those who are also in Christ’s Body. If Jesus said the World would know us as His by how we love each other – how is it we find it so easy to malign, gossip, misrepresent, grieve and divide? How Satan laughs as we do his work for him.

DISILLUSIONMENT. Once we have put some other Christian upon a pedestal they fall from, or think God has failed us somehow, or engage in the battle this life is and feel we ought to have only peace and fruitfulness, or see how it is that Christians are not perfect yet and that ministry is often thankless, unglamorous, tiresome, tedious and hard – how easily we want to throw in the towel.

DISCOURAGEMENT. More fall to this device than virtually anything else in the Wicked One’s arsenal. Beloved, we must guard our hearts here with such tenacity and constant vigilance – for nothing will find us more quickly put off track and ruined for service than this hideous monster called discouragement. The tendency to let the other matters weigh upon us – especially our own failures – to make more of our own sin than of Christ’s imputed righteousness, more of our weakness than His strength, more of our guilt than His imputed righteousness and more of our set backs than Heaven’s promise of gain, cannot be fought too hard against. The JOY of the Lord is our strength. None other. If it is gone – fight until you get it back.

DO NOT RELENT! Beloved, this is war. The stakes are eternal. The battle is real. The wounds really hurt. And our God is really God. Our every trust and hope must be in Him. Our victory in Christ IS assured.