The Spiritual Chymist, Meditation LVIII, Upon Spiritual Warfare

25 Friday May 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Ephesians, Uncategorized, William Spurstowe, William Spurstowe

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Ephesians 6, Spiritual Warfare, The Spiritual Chymist, William Spurstowe

(From William Spurstowe’s The Spiritual Chymist, 1666)

Who can either think or read what a slaughter was made by one angel in the numerous army of Sennacherib, who in a night destroyed a hundred fourscore and five thousand men [Is. 37:36] without reflecting upon a vast disparity that is between the strength and power which in angelical and human beings?

Great things are recorded in sacred history to be done by some of Israel’s Judges and David’s worthies which would be looked upon as impossibilities, if the Spirit of God were not the voucher of the truth of them. Shammer slew six hundred Philistines with an ox goad; Sampson with the jaw bone of an ass laid heaps upon heaps; and Adino the Tachmonite lifted up his spear against eight hundred, who he flew at one time.

But if these and the like remarkable acquists [acquisitions, events] which others also are famed for and have their names enrolled in the list of worthies were as several parcels brought to one total, how far short would the foot of the account [the total, the summation] be in regard of this number fell by the sword of one angel?

Well might the Scripture give to them the name of mighty ones of principalities and powers such as excel in strength. How quickly would a legion of such elohims [Hebrew for gods, mighty one] turn the whole world into a charnel house [house of dead bodies] filled with the skulls and bones of its inhabitants when a single angel can in a small space of time change so many living person into dead carcasses? How soon could they cloy and surfeit the grave itself which is insatiable as any those four things that say, It is not enough? [Prov. 30:15-16]

Does not all this therefore greatly heighten the wonder of the spiritual warfare in which the frail Christian, who has not put off the infirmity of the flesh, does yet go forth to fight and war with the combined hosts and powers of darkness? If young David were looked upon as an unequal match by Saul and all Israel to commute with Goliath, the vastness of whose stature and warlike arms had struck terror into the whole camp; how strange must it needs be deemed that one who to the outward view is as any other man should conflict not with flesh and blood but with spiritual wickedness, which are for number many and for power great?

What is one weak lamb to resist the lions of the forrest? Or one harmless dove to encounter with birds of prey? As impotent as either of these, may the strongest man seem, to do ought to deliver themselves or to offend any of their spiritual enemies when they assault them.

But yet the resolved Christian, who is called to a holy warfare by God, he does such noble exploits against sin and Satan, as cause both a shout and a wonder in heaven. Angels are affected to behold what a great fight of afflictions he [the Christian] endures; what replaces he die to the reiterated assaults of enraged fiends; and when at any time worsted, who he rallies again, recovers his ground and comes off both with victory and triumph, putting to flight whole armies of those infernal Anakims. [Joshua 14:12]

It is worth our inquiry and knowledge of them to understand wherein this great strength of a Christian lies, which is not a natural but a mystical and sacramental strength, like Sampson. But it lies not in his hair [like Sampson, Judges 16:17], but in his head and in his armor, which for efficiency of it, as well as for excellency of it, is called the Armor of God. [Ephesians 6:13]

First, the head of every believer is Christ, who derives an influence of life and power of himself [that is, from Christ; Col. 2:10 & 19] worthy of himself. I can do all things (says Paul) through Christ that strengtheneth me. [Phil. 4:13] There is a continued efflux of virtue that goes from him which to every Christian communicates a kind of omnipotency; He, who without Christ can do nothing, can in him [Christ] can do everything.

What a catalogue of forces does the apostle muster up in the eighth of Romans, from which he supposed an opposition may come: Life, death, angels, principalities, powers, things present, things to come, height, depth. And that he may leave out none, he adds, any creature. And yet he pronounces them, that in all these, We are conquerors, yea more than conquerors. [Rom. 8:37-39]. Which, as Chrysostom interprets it, is to overcome them with ease, without pains, and without sweat.

O that Christians did but understand their own strength, that they war in the power of his might [Eph. 6:10], who spoiled principalities and powers and made a show of them openly, leading them as so many pinioned captives after the chariot of his cross [Eph. 4:8; Col. 2:15], whereon he showed many signal testimonies of a glorious victory in saving a their without means [Luke 23:43]; in ending the veil of the temple from top to the bottom, in the shaking of the earth, cleaving the rocks asunder, opening graves and causing many bodies of saints to arise. [Matt. 27:51-53] How greatly would these thoughts keep us from being weary and faint in our spiritual war, and make our hands steady like the hands of Moses until going down of the sun of our life [Exodus 17:11].

Secondly, a Christian’s strength lies in his armor which when rightly put on is able to preserve that the evil one touch him not. [Eph. 6:13] There is no standing in the battle without it, and there is no fear of perishing in it. When did ever Satan bruise or wound the head of him that had the helmet of Salvation for his covering? Or endanger the vitals of him who had put on the breast plate of righteousness, and his loins girt about with truth? What one fiery dart of the wicked did ever so burn that the shield of faith could not quench? Or what way of suffering could not he walk in, whose feel are shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace? [Eph. 6:13-17]

Methinks when I consider that God, who best knows the utmost both of Satan’s power and policies, is the maker of the armor It is a voice becoming every soldier of Christ to say, Of whom shall I be afraid? [Ps. 27:1] If he calls to fight, and furnishes us with arms that unable to defend us, or to offend our enemies, he would suffer in his glory as well as we in our comfort: He would then have his champions to be Satan’s captives, and the banner which they spread to his Name become Hell’s trophy. And can he, do you think endure at once to see the destruction of his people and the dishonor of his Name?

Whosoever therefore you be, that are clad in his armor of proof [tested, pure], let me say unto you as the Lord to Gideon, Go in this thy might and fight the battles of Jehovah. [Judges 6:14] Take unto you the Sword of the Spirit, that will kill lusts and make the Devil flee: It has wrought wonder in all ages and its edge is still as sharp as ever it was.

By the word of thy lips (says David) I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. [Ps. 17:4] It is written, says our Savior, when he foiled his and our Adversary and him to flight after his repeated assaults. [Matt. 4:1-11] And in that great battle that we read was fought between Michael and his angels and the Dragon and his angels [Rev. 12:7-17], he and his hosts overcome by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of their testimony. [Rev. 12:11]

Let every man then have his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the night: put not off your armor till you have put on your robes. [Rev. 7:13]. It is made to be worn, not to be laid up, nor yet to be laid down, because our warfare and our life are both finished together. Till then there is not a truce, must less a peace for to be expected. Sooner may we contract a league [make a treaty, become allies] with poisons that when taken down they shall not kill; or with fiery serpents and cockatrices that they bite not, than to obtain respite in this war, in which the malice of the cursed devils is an unquenchable as the fire of Hell, to which they are doomed.

Lord, therefore do thou

Who are the Prince of Life,

The Captain of Salvation to all thy people,

Who hath finished thine own warfare,

and behold theirs,

Enable me to prevail unto victory;

Shew forth thy wonders in me,

That I may overcome the Wicked One.

And though the conflict should be long and bitter,

Yet make me to know

That the sweetness of thy reward

Will abundantly recompense the trouble of resistance

And the joy of trip ump,

The bloodiness of war.

Church Conflict and Robbers

13 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Ephesians, Uncategorized

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Biblical Counseling, Bond of Peace, Church Conflict, Conflict, Ephesians 4, John Chrysostom, love, Preaching, Robbers, Unity of the Spirit

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The great preacher John Chrysostom was asks what is it that destroys the bond of peace, the unity of the Spirit, the expression of Christ’s love within the church? It is love which destroys love: When love becomes twisted and seeks that which destroys, there can be nothing but sinful conflict:

Now then, what impairs this bond? Love of money, passion for power, for glory, and the like, loosens them, and severs them asunder. How then are we to see that they be not cut asunder. By seeing that these tempers be got rid of, and that none of those things which destroy charity come in by the way to trouble us. For hear what Christ saith, When iniquity shall abound, the love of the many shall wax cold. Nothing is so opposed to love as sin, and I mean not to love towards God, but to that towards our neighbour also.

But how then, it may be said, are even robbers at peace? When are they, tell me? Doubtless then when they are acting in a spirit which is not that of robbers; for if they fail to observe the rules of justice amongst those with whom they divide the spoil, and to render to every one his right, you will find them too in wars and broils. So that neither amongst the wicked is it possible to find peace: and where men are living in righteousness and virtue, you may find it every where. But again, are rivals ever at peace? Never. And whom then would ye have me mention? The covetous man can never possibly be at peace with the covetous. So that were there not just and good persons to be wronged and to stand between them, the whole race would be torn to pieces. When two wild beasts are famished, if there be not something put between them to consume, they will devour one another. The same would be the case with the covetous and the vicious. So that it is not in nature that there should be peace where virtue is not strictly practised first. Let us form, if you please, a city entirely of covetous men, give them equal privileges, and let no one give his assent to be wronged, but let all wrong one another. Can that city possibly hold together? It is impossible. Again, is there peace amongst adulterers? No, not any two will you find of the same mind.

John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, and Homilies on the Epistle to the Ephesians, vol. VI, A Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church (Oxford; London: John Henry Parker; J. G. F. and J. Rivington, 1840), 208–209.

His living poems

02 Saturday May 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Ephesians

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Darrell Bock, Ephesians 2, Gospel, Grace, Recovering The Real Lost Gospel, salvation, works

Our condition at the beginning is a key to the entire picture. We start out dead because of sin, so only God can bring us back to life:

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to this worldly age, according to the ruler of the atmospheric domain, the spirit now working in the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and by nature we were children under wrath, as the others were also. But God, who is abundant in mercy, because of His great love that He had for us, made us alive with the Messiah even though we were dead in trespasses. By grace you are saved! He also raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavens, in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might display the immeasurable riches of His grace in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God’s gift—not from works, so that no one can boast. For we are His creation—created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.

It could hardly be clearer. We were spiritually dead before God. We were absolutely powerless to do anything on our own behalf. The “you” and “we” in this passage are Gentiles and Jews, respectively. All had sinned, Paul told us in Romans 3, and the apostle tells us the same thing here in different words. In the midst of this terrible dilemma, God shows up. He shows up full of mercy. Mercy is something God does because He wants to, not because He has to. He shows up full of love. God chooses to make us alive in Christ. God gives us a place with Him in heaven, making us a part of His family.

So in the end, salvation is His gift, not from works. Those who benefit from God’s grace are the work of His creative hands, experiencing a new life in a new birth, what Scripture calls elsewhere “being born from above” or “born again.” And yet, despite all Paul says about works, he does not throw them away.

This is another part of Paul’s teaching we often miss. Works are a product of the new life of faith. Faith saves and faith works. We were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time so that we should walk in them.” Why does God save us? So that we can again be useful, fulfilling the design that He originally had for us.

That is true fulfillment—walking in the purpose for which we were made. Good works are the indicator that salvation has taken place. When we are born again, we are God’s creation, His living poems. The word for creation in Ephesians 2:10 describes something someone else, in this case God, has brought into existence. We are designed for good works. We are built to serve and be useful. God designed this path so that having been saved and enabled in this new relationship, we can now walk in the good labor He designed for us originally to perform.

Bock, Darrell (2010-10-28). Recovering the Real Lost Gospel (pp. 63-64). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Meditation and Good Works

28 Saturday Mar 2015

Posted by memoirandremains in Creation, Ephesians, Meditaiton, Psalms, Redemption, Thomas Manton

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Creation, Ephesians 2, Meditation, Psalms 139, redemption, Thomas Manton

More on meditation: Thomas Manton, in a sermon on Ephesians 2:10, explains that one means to help us abound in good works is to meditate on the fact that God has created us and redeemed us. As Paul writes, “you are not your own”. See here again: we meditate so that our affections are changed, which leads us to action.

“Keep your hearts under a sense of God’s authority, that you may feel something in your own bosoms that may tell you you are bound to obey him, and may plead God’s right with you. This is, done by a frequent meditation upon your creation and redemption: your creation giveth God a full right to you, and redemption maketh it comfortable; by both you see you are his: Acts 27:23, ‘There stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve.’”

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 2 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1871), 407.

How would you do such thing? Stop and think. Read through Psalm 139, carefully considering each word: The Psalmists knows that God knows him and made him. Look how the Psalmist’s meditation ends: search me, know me, lead me. Read through Ephesians 2:1-10. Consider the gracious rescue of God, “but God”; consider the utter grace of salvation; look how God created and redeemed you for good works. Do not leave off pondering these things until you begin to feel created and purchased. Pray before and after. Do not rush. Ask, What hinders you from knowing yourself to be created and bought? What provokes you to right thoughts? Consider songs you know which speak about being created or redeemed. Redeemed how I love to proclaim it. And can it be that I should gain, an interest in the savior’s blood. Sing, pray, think, read, and then act.

Btw, meditating upon our belonging to God does not only provoke us to good works, but as the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us, it is our “comfort”:

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?
Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Paul Baynes, Brief Directions Unto a Godly Life, Chapter Thirteen, Spiritual Armor

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Ephesians, Paul Baynes

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1 Corinthians 3:18, 1 Samuel 17:34, 1Corinthians 6:4, 2 Corinthians 10:4, 2 Peter 1:4, armor of God, Brief Directions Onto a Godly Life, Ephesians 6, Ephesians 6:14, Isaiah 13:7, John 16:33, Luke 22:33 & 57, Matthew 5:8, Paul Bayne, Paul Baynes, Philippians 4:7, Proverbs 30:6., Proverbs 3:6, Psalm 119:5, Psalm 120:1, Psalm 32:2, Psalm 37:37, Psalm 77:10, Romans 5:1, Spiritual Armor

The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/paul-baynes-brief-directions-unto-a-godly-life-chapter-12-meditation/

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: PRIVATE DISCIPLINES, RELIANCE UPON SPIRITUAL ARMOR

The third private help is the armor of a Christian: concerning which four points are fit to be known.

The Pieces of Armor

First what it is, and which be the chief is parts of it. It is that spiritual furniture of the gifts and graces of the Holy Ghost, by which God does deliver his people from all adversarial power, and bring them to the obedience of his will. 2 Corinthians 10:4. The parts are set down, Ephesians 6:14.

A. Whereof the first is sincerity, which is the general grace whereby a Christian is made simple and without fraud or hypocrisy bearing sway in him, both towards God in his neighbor. Psalm 32:2. Matthew 5:8. Proverbs 30:6.

B. The second is righteousness; which is that gift of the Spirit whereby our hearts are bent to all manner of goodness and righteous dealing; approving of it as most excellent, desiring fervently and delighting in it, and that because it is good and delighting, and hating all naughtiness and evil. Proverbs 28:1. Psalm 1:7.

C. The third is the shoes peace, which is, that having received the gospel, and found the sweetness of it, we are now thereby as they who are ready to take a journey Chardon prepared, ready to deny ourselves, and to take up our cross and follow Christ, through this our pilgrimage. Romans 5:1, Luke 22:33, 57; Philippians 4:7; John 16:33.

D. Forth as the shield of faith, which is to build our persuasion on God’s faithful promises, but Christ Jesus is ours. And that God has given him to us to obtain forgiveness of our sins and salvation by him, yea, and all other good things also fit for this present life. Colossians 1:33.

E. The fifth is hope, which is a joyful longing and steadfast desire in looking for the performing accomplishing of all those mercies, temporal and eternal, which God has promised, and we by faith are assured of. Luke 2:30, Peter 1:13.

F. The sixth is sort of the Spirit, which is to be well instructed in the sound and living knowledge of the Scriptures, and to digest the same, also to season our understanding within us. In such wise [in this way] that we may know the will of God and have the same and remembrance in the things which most concern us (as we can) that thereby we may at all times in all cases be readily led by it. Psalm 119:5. Where it is to be remembered, that he which has most knowledge, if it be not guided by what he understands, he knows nothing as they ought. 1 Corinthians 3:18, Proverbs 3:6, Isaiah 13:7.

The Necessity of the Armor

The second general point is the necessity of this armor, that is, we should clothe and furnish our souls with every part of it: which is so great [a necessity], but the right Christian life cannot stand without it. For to venture upon the manifold tribulations of this life without the shoes of preparation is as much as to go barefoot among thorns or to run naked through the pikes.

To be destitute of the shield of faith is the undoubted way either to despair utterly or else in deadly presumption and security to drown ourselves in perdition.

To leave off the breast plate of righteousness is to expose oneself into the danger of every temptation. For he that does not from time to time afresh indent with his heart against all unrighteousness, he may look to be carried into those unlawful actions which shall bring disgrace to himself, and his holy profession also. 1Corinthians 6:4-5.

He that has not the sword of God’s Spirit, so that he be able to say in temptations it is written to the contrary, shall never be able to cut asunder those bonds of sin wherewith he shall be compassed.

He that has not all these gird up to him with sincerity and truth, shall but deceive himself and others also.

He that has not true hope of salvation, to keep life in his soul, how can he be void of fainting^{^[1]}, irksomeness , heaviness, destruction, dump it is common sundry such discouragements? Or how can he have any cheerfulness in his life or contentedness, but has not this hope of passing his afflicting days^{^[2]} under the wing of God’s protection.

So that we may well affirm without this complete armor of God, that the Christian life cannot be conducted.

Put on the Armor

The third point is, how this armor should be put on. For the answer whereof we are to know, that it is not wholly lacking in any true Christian. For every true believer at his first conversion is made partakers (though in week measure) of all things appertaining to life and godliness, 2 Peter 1:4.

What then means the apostle when he bids us to put on this armor? His meaning is that we should not have it as men in the time of peace have their bodily armor hanging by them, unfit for use. But as soldiers have theirs in battle, we must be sure that in all places and upon all occasions we have it with us so far as we are able. We must lie down and rise up with it. Because our battle lasts all our life long, and are enemies be deadly, and all our strength is in our armor.

Now to put on and also to keep on, and to have the feeling of every part of this armor (faith against distrust, hope against fainting, uprightness against hypocrisy; knowledge against the deceitfulness of sin; righteousness against all kinds of iniquity; and the preparation of the gospel of peace against all crosses) to have, I say, this armor in readiness, we must use continue watching, hearty prayer, and frequent meditation about them. Matthew 26:4.

Here is to be observed that the sword of the Spirit has two branches, that is, that knowledge which we get out of the letter of the Scripture only, and so have at but by rule. [Second,] the knowledge which we learn by proof and trial for the bettering of us.

For as in all trades and sciences there is a great difference between the experimental knowledge^{^[3]} of them and the bare naked skill of them; so is there great distance between one that has only attained so much knowledge as will enable them to give account of his faith; and him who has had the proof of this knowledge, how it has been effectual in him. He considers, observes, and applies the things which he hears and sees, and does, to his own use. And by these things past thus duly recorded, he learns and gives wisdom to at eyes to guide him for the present, and for a time to come.

This is experience, which makes us wise in all things that are profitable for godliness and eternal life.

The observation of the reward^{^[4]} of evil make us avoid it. And experience of the fruit of a godly life is the best means to continue it. Our own trial [teaches us] how afflictions may be easiest borne and come to [the] best end is our best rule for ever after. The example we have in David, Psalm 120:1, 1 Samuel 17:34, Psalm 77:10, Psalm 37:37.

In sum, as in all trades the beginning is hardest and experience brings facility, so it is in the practice of Christianity. Woeful therefore it is that in this, of all other, men will not labor for experience.^{^[5]}

The Benefit of the Armor

The fourth general fruit is the benefit of this armor, which is not small, for he that puts it on, goes clothed with it through the day; though the Devil and his instruments to assault by craft and deceit, or by force and might, he shall mightily prevail against them, and preserve himself. He shall be able to live with comfort in all estates [circumstances] that God shall set him in, and in all places which he show bring him to, and change by no occasions, but hold out until an end be made of all difficulties these and uncertainties.

Objection: We may serve God well enough without putting on this armor after so strict a manner.

Answer: It is true indeed that a Christian serving God may be ignorant of this armor. But he cannot then say, he serves God well enough. Because that kind of life must needs be wandering, unsettled, and not to be rested in.

Objection: At least it is not expedient to impose so heavy a burden upon weak Christians.

Answer: The child of God is no sooner born but he desires to continue in that life and salvation and to please God in all things, and to maintain peace and joy within himself; all which is effected by the use of this armor.

[1] If one does not have the true hope of salvation, he will not be able to avoid fainting – that is, giving up; et cetera.

[2] Those times when he will be afflicted, that is, days in which he suffers.

[3] This is a phrase which is used commonly up through the 19^th century. It means to have an actual experience of the thing at issue, not merely a secondhand knowledge. An “experimental” religion is one which the human experiences the truth, as opposed to merely hearing about the matter.

[4] A “reward” would be the natural consequence, which could be good or bad. Reward, at this time, did not have a solely positive connotation.

[5] It is sad and unfortunate that people will make great effort to learn a job or play a sport, but when it comes to the exercise of godliness people will make no efforts at all.

Does Ephesians 4:22-24 Command That One Put-Off and Put-On?

05 Monday May 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Colossians, Ephesians, Romans, Uncategorized

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Colossians 3:9-10, Ephesians 4:22-25, New Man, New Self, Old man, Old self, Romans 12:1-2, Romans 1:21-24, Romans 6, sin nature

In much biblical counseling literature, there is the indication that one is commanded to put off the old self and put on the new self. This is based upon the text of Ephesians 4:2-24:

Ephesians 4:21–24 (ESV)

²¹assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, ²²to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

In the attached paper, I contend that the infinitives do not translate imperatives (commands to put off and put on) but rather they have been used as infinitives of indirect discourse: Paul is summarizing his teaching, not giving commands. Thus, in parallel to Romans 6 and Colossians 3:9-10, Paul is referencing a change in the human being which took place in the past, not present: Here is the paper:

Put off and put on

The Fountain of all Theology: The Father’s Love for His Son

31 Monday Mar 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Christology, Ephesians, Glory, God the Father, Image of God, Justification, Revelation, Romans, Soteriology, Trinity

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1 John 3:1-2, Bartel Elshout, christology, Colossians 3:9-10, Creation, Ephesians 1:3-7, Father, Puritan Reformed Seminary, redemption, Revelation 4:11, Romans 8:28–29, Son, The Beauty and Glory of the Father, Trinity

An August 2012 conference at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary resulted in a book of essays entitled The Beauty and Glory of the Father. The first essay in the collection, “The Father’s Love for His Son” by Bartel Elshout contends:

The Holy Spirit gives us a glimpse into the infinite depth of the Father’s heart — a heart that is eternally moved in love for His eternally begotten and beloved Son. This is the fountain from which all theology flows. Nothing so precisely defines who the Father is as the fact that He loves His Son with the totality and fullness of His divine person. (3)

The remainder of the essay sets out to demonstrate and develop that thesis. He sets out a series of minor theses respecting the Trinity in eternity, creation, fall, redemption, and the eschaton.

The presentation is precise and scholarly without being pedantic. While the work entails rigor of thought, it does not present any difficulties which an attentive adult could not master. While never quite poetic, it is beautiful in its clarity and object.

Elshout presents his case with careful logic, drawing out implications which are not immediately obvious — but which once demonstrated can be affirmed. This is the primary strength of the essay.

For example, as he works through the manner in which creation demonstrates the Father’s love for His Son, Elshout contends:

The Father’s love for His Son, the love that moved Him to create the entire univere for His Son, also moved Him to create Adam in the image of His Son. (7).

I was not immediately sure that one could say that Adam, who was certainly created in the image and likeness of God was particularly created in the image of the Son. Elshout recognized the difficulty and so presents a careful case.

First, he looks to Romans 8:28-29. The first verse is the much abused text that all things work together for good — which fails to recognize that “good” is defined in verse 29:

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

“In other words, the ultimate goal of redemption is the conformity of fallen human beings to the image of the Father’s well-beloved Son” (7). He confirms the proposition by referencing 1 John 3:1-2:

1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
2 Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

From this proposition, Elshout draws an inference: “If the goal of the Father’s redemptive work is to conform men and women to the image of His Son, this must have been His original goal in creating man” (7). This is the greatest leap of the argument.

To support this jump, he argues that the goals of creation & redemption are the same. First, he looks to the purpose of creation. He reasons, “If the goal of the Father’s redemptive work is to conform men and women to the image of His Son, this must have been His original goal in creating man.” (7)

What is the purpose of creation: “thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev. 4:11, KJV). [The Greek text has “καὶ διὰ τὸ θέλημά σου ἦσαν καὶ ἐκτίσθησαν”; thelema, will/decision. Here is an example of how English words have shifted meaning over the past 400 years. In 1611, “pleasure” would be something in accordance with one’s will.]

All things exist according to the pleasure, the will of God and continue so. At this point, I believe Elshout would have strengthened his argument by a reference to Ephesians 1:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love
5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,
6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

The fact of redemption in the Son is solely a matter of the Father’s will [Greek: κατὰ τὴν εὐδοκίαν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ, according to the pleasure of his will, thelematos.] Elshout certainly seems to presume this passage in his argument.

We know that the purpose of redemption is conforming rebellious, straying human beings to the image of the Son. This is done according to the good pleasure of God’s will. Moreover, creation itself is an act of the very same will. Indeed, the process of redemption and sanction is conformity to the Creator:

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices
10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10

At this point, Elshout’s observes something which I found fascinating. Skipping a portion of his argument, Elshout draws out an implication of Adam being created in the image of the Son. First, the Son himself discloses the Father (John 1:18). Thus, to look upon the Son is to know the disclosure of the Father.

This leads to the realization:

We may therefore conclude that, before the Fall, Adam and Eve delighted themselves in the very same Son of God in whom the Father eternally delights Himself. Being the bearers of the image of His Son, loving and worshipping Him, Adam adn Eve were the recipients of the love the Father has for His Son. The Father beheld the reflection of His eternal Son, and loved them with the same love with which He loved His Son. …In summary, the Father created man for His Son and in His image in order that man might know and love his Son and live for His glory. (8)

This brief notice concerns only two pages of the 16 page essay. The entire piece is well worth one’s consideration.

The Call, A Poem by George Herbert

19 Wednesday Feb 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Ephesians, George Herbert, John, Literature, Puritan

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17th Century Poetry, christology, Death, Feast, George Herbert, heart, Hope, John 14:1-6, John 15:10-11, John 1:1-13, John 6:35, John 6:35-40, John 8:12, joy, love, Names of Christ, poem, Poetry, Puritan Poetry, strength, The Call, Titles for Christ

Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life:

Such a Way, as gives us breath:

Such a Truth, as ends all strife:

Such a Life, as killeth death.

Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:

Such a Light, as shows a feast:

Such a Feast, as mends in length:

Such a Strength, as makes his guest.

Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:

Such a Joy, as none can move:

Such a Love, as none can part:

Such a Heart, as joyes in love.

Notes:

Meter & Structure: The poem primarily uses regularly iambic feet (unaccented syllable, accented syllable, “my WAY, my TURTH, my LIFE). However, the first foot of each stanza begins with a single syllable, the strongly accented “Come”. This gives the poem a quick movement and also emphasis the imperative, “Come”.

The first foot of lines 2-4 are stressed-unstressed-stressed; the amphibrach: “Such a Way”. The effect of the amphibrach is to set the first part off of the line off as the subject of the clause, “SUCH a WAY — as gives us life”. Also note that each noun in lines 2-4 has been introduced in line 1.

Each stanza begins with an imperatival prayer, “Come” followed by three nouns. In the first two stanzas, the nouns describe Christ and found in John’s Gospel. The third stanza describes the subject results of the relationship to Christ, joy, love, heart.

In all three stanza, lines 2-4 show the effect of each attribute, “Life which kills death”.

In addition to the end rhyme ABAB, Herbert has also embedded an additional in lines 2-4 of each stanza: The last word of the second line rhymes with the third word of the third line. The last word of the third line rhymes with the third word of the fourth line:

Breath-truth

Stife-life

Feast-Feast

Length-Strength

Move-Love

Part-Heart

Descriptions of Christ: The descriptions of Christ would have been readily known to any contemporary reader of Herbert’s poem.

First Stanza: Way, Truth & Life: This comes directly from John 14:6. The scene is during the “last supper” of Jesus and his disciples. Jesus is asked a question and answers. Here is the contex and the quotation (as found in John 14:1-6, ESV translation):

1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

4 And you know the way to where I am going.”

5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Second Stanza: Light, Feast, Strength: This triad does not appear in a single verse; however it is a common set of associations in the gospel of John.

Light: The prologue to John’s Gospel makes repeated references to Jesus (the Word) being the true light:

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.

8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,

13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:1-13

Jesus refers to himself as the “light” at a “feast”, which is recorded in John 7-8. In John 8:12, Jesus proclaims,

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

The ESV Study Bible notes provides the background for this usage:

John 8:12 I am. See note on 6:35. Jesus is the light of the world (see note on 1:4–5; also 3:19–21; 12:35–36, 46). Jesus fulfills OT promises of the coming of the “light” of salvation and the “light” of God (e.g., Ex. 25:37; Lev. 24:2; Ps. 27:1; Isa. 9:2; 42:6; 49:6; John 9:5; Acts 13:47; 26:18, 23; Eph. 5:8–14; 1 John 1:5–7).

Feast: In addition to Jesus speaking at the feast, Jesus also said that he was the proper feast of humanity:

35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.

36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe.

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me.

39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.

40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

John 6:35-40.

Certainly this “feast” will be a demonstration of “strength”.

The ESV Study Bible notes here:

John 6:35 Jesus’ claim, “I am the bread of life,” constitutes the first of seven “I am” sayings recorded in this Gospel (see chart). Apart from these sayings there are also several absolute statements where Jesus refers to himself as “I am” (e.g., v. 20; 8:24, 28, 58; 18:5), in keeping with the reference to God as “I am” in Ex. 3:14 and the book of Isaiah (e.g., Isa. 41:4; 43:10, 25). Jesus is the “bread of life” in the sense that he nourishes people spiritually and satisfies the deep spiritual longings of their souls. In that sense, those who trust in him shall not hunger; that is, their spiritual longing to know God will be satisfied (cf. John 4:14 for a similar discussion of satisfying people’s spiritual thirst).

Strength: While “strength” is not an appellation used by John of Jesus, it is a common enough description of God. John unquestionably takes over the understand of God in the Old Testament and applies it to Jesus. Herbert, an orthodox Christian, would likewise have no hesitation to make such a usage. Here is an example of the usage from Exodus 15:2:

The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

Third Stanza, Joy, Love, Heart. This final triad differs from the first two in that these are not images derived from John’s description. Rather, these are responses of the worshipper to Jesus.

Joy: In John 15, Jesus says that he has come to produce love and joy in the hearts of his disciples:

10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

Herbert has taken over the effect (love and joy) and attributed the effect to cause (Jesus). Thus, by producing love and joy Jesus is Herbert’s love and joy.

This matter of joy was a serious concern for the theologian and pastor of Herbert’s day. While the Puritans are caricatured as dour, sour people, their concerns where quite different: joy was a constant concern and desire. In particular, joy was seen as the result of knowing God and the gift of God:

As it is not the great cage that makes the bird sing, so it is not the great estate that makes the happy life, nor the great portion that makes the happy soul. There is no true comfort nor no true happiness to be drawn out of the standing pools of outward sufficiencies. All true comfort and happiness is only to be found in having of an all-sufficient God for your portion: Ps. 144:15, ‘Happy is that people that is in such a case, yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord.’ And therefore, as ever you would be happy in both worlds, it very highly concerns you to get an interest in God, and to be restless in your own souls till you come to enjoy God for your portion.

Thomas Brooks, The Complete Works of Thomas Brooks, ed. Alexander Balloch Grosart, vol. 2, “An Ark for All God’s Noahs” (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; G. Herbert, 1866), 7.

Love

(3.) Our love to God shall never be abolished.—“Love never faileth;”* the same kind of love, the same numerical love that was in gracious persons on earth, shall be continued in heaven, and receive its perfection presently after its delivery from the body of death. There will be a greater change in all our graces than in our love. A great part of our life is taken up in the exercise of those graces, that, I may in some respect say, die with us. The one-half of our life is, or should be, spent in mortification. The whole of our time needs the exercise of our patience. Our life, at best, is but a life of faith. Much of our sweet communion with God is fetched-in by secret prayer. But now, in heaven, there shall be no sin to be mortified, nothing grievous to be endured. Faith shall be swallowed up in enjoyment, and your petitions shall be all answered. So that now, Christians, set yourselves to love God, and you shall no way lose your labour. Other graces are but as physic to the soul,—desirable for something else, which when obtained, they are useless; but love to God is the healthful constitution of the soul,—there is never any thing of it in any sense useless. Most of the graces of the Spirit do by our souls as our friends by our bodies, who accompany them to the grave, and there leave them; but now love to God is the alone grace, that is to our souls the same that a good conscience [is],—our best friend in both worlds.

James Nichols, Puritan Sermons, vol. 1, “How May We Attain to Love God With All Our Hearts, Souls, and Minds?”, Rev., Samuel Annesley, LL.D., (Wheaton, IL: Richard Owen Roberts, Publishers, 1981), 606.

Heart: The final image of Jesus being one’s “heart” is a traditional English usage for that which is most important to one. While Jesus is never said to be one’s heart in the Scripture, Paul’s letter to the Ephesians states that Jesus will dwell in a believer’s heart. In fact the entire complex of images used in Paul’s prayer may have an additional source of Herbert’s imagery for this poem:

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,

15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,

17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19.

Discipleship and the Church: Introduction

09 Monday Sep 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Ephesians

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A study in church membership and discipline, Agape Leadership, Biblical Counseling, Biblical Eldership, Bite and Devour, church discipline, Deliberate Church, Discipleship, Ecclesiology, Evangelism in the Early Church;, F.B. Meyer, In Pursuit of Prodigals, John MacArthur, Learning Evangelism from Jesus., Life in the Father’s House, Mark Dever, The Church the Gospel Made Visible, The Disciple Making Church, The Disciple Making Pastor, The Master’s Plan for the Church, The Shepherd Leader, The Trellis and the Vine, Those Who Must Give an Account, Wayne Mack, What is the Mission of the Church

(These are notes on lessons concerning the nature of the church and discipleship; particularly as it relates to biblical counseling).

DISCIPLESHIP AND THE CHURCH

Introduction

I. The Importance of the Church:

A. “The preeminence of the church in God’s scheme of things could hardly be stated more vigorously than in several texts in the Epistle to the Ephesians. With moving rhetorical power Paul says in the closing verses of chapter 1 that God (the Father) has designed Christ as Lord of all creation ‘and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way’ (Eph. 1:22,23 NIV).

“Later he goes onto say that though God’s justice and wisdom in providence may have been ‘hidden for ages in God who created all things,’ it is His purpose that ‘through the church the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places’ (Eph. 3:9,10, RSV).

“Further on, he says that the church was from eternity so cherished by the Son that He ‘loved the church and gave himself up for her’ (Eph. 5:25 NIV). As for the Holy Spirit’s interest in the church, Paul explains that members of the church are ‘sealed with promised Holy Spirit’ (Eph. 1:13), and that by virtue of Christ’s reconciliation through that Spirit, we all ‘have access …to the Father’ (2:18), and that the Spirit is the spiritual presence in us that brings forth ‘fruit … in all that is good and right and true’ (Eph. 5:9).”[1]

B. “There has been no time in the history of the last 1,500 years, when the community of believers which we call the church has been more critically important to mankind. The breakdown of the natural communal life of people around the whole world has ripped mankind out of the commonality of existence among men with whom and to whom they counted for something, and brusquely dropped them in the rude and rushing crowds where they count for nothing.”[2]

II. The Church Needs Biblical Counseling

A. Counseling is merely deliberate discipleship. Colossians 1:28

1. It flows from the command to make disciples by teaching. Matthew 28:19-20. Therefore, it lies at the heart of the Church’s mission.

2. The practice of making disciples entails the work of the entire church by means of public worship, public and private instruction, public and private example, encouragement, et cetera. By “counseling” we are referring primarily to private instruction.

3. The counselor teaches another believer to observe what Christ has commanded: “That is not conversion alone; it is discipleship. If Christ says anything in this passage [Matt. 28:19-20], it is that the church is an educational institution. The church is a school. Students matriculate by baptism (that word means, literally, ‘uniting’ or ‘joining’), learn from Him (Matt. 11:29) from that day on, and are expected to translate His truth into life (‘teaching them to observe’). Converts come into Christ’s school (the church) precisely for this reason: to learn to do ‘all’ that He commanded.”^{^[3]}

B. Such private, deliberate instruction is necessary:

1. Because it can respond to the particular situation of fellow Christian. 1 Thessalonians 5:14

2. Particular instruction is modeled and commanded in the NT.

a. Correcting the doctrine of fellow believers. Acts 18:26; 19:1-7.

b. Paul exhorts private instruction to resolve a dispute in the congregation at Philippi. Philippians 4:3.

c. Christians are commanded to exhort/encourage one-another daily. Hebrews 3:12-13.[4]

d. Christians are commanded to mutually confess sin. James 5:16.

e. Christians are commanded to find and bring back an erring brother. James 5:19-20. Matthew 18:15.

f. Each of the NT letters is an example of counseling from a distance to a particular congregation so as to respond to the needs and situation of that particular congregation.

3. Such private instruction is mandatory for pastors/elders [while I agree with Adams that such instruction is not a matter of choice for the elder/pastor; I want to make plain that the duty to provide such instruction must not be limited to only ordained elders in a congregation. The duty to instruct, at least at some level, is incumbent upon all members of a church.]:

God has given (1) the ordained teaching and ruling officers (2) the task of changing people’s lives (3) through the authoritative ministry of the Word (II Tim. 3:15–17). When that authority is exercised properly (biblically), Christ promises to be “in the midst” giving encouragement, furnishing wisdom and providing strength (cf. Matt. 18:15–20). Both exousia (externally conferred authority) and dunamis (internal power and capability) are granted these officers by virtue of their calling to the work of ministering the Word. The exousia authorizes them to command respect and obedience (I Thess. 5:13; Heb. 13:17); the second empowers them to carry on their work (II Tim. 1:7).

All too few officers—pastors included—recognize and exercise their authority and power (and too often some who do abuse it and, as a result, put it in the wrong light for others). No wonder, then, that counseling limps. Ordination is important because it is the orderly appointment of a man to his office and work; in Christ’s name it grants him the right to authoritatively use the gifts that the Holy Spirit has already given (the recognition of the gifts is one of the bases for ordination). The authority for counseling is granted through Christ’s Church. Ordination brings one’s counseling under the scrutiny and regulation of other elders. He acts under—not apart from—the counsel and admonition of Christ’s divinely instituted order, the church.

When a pastor of a congregation may claim that his ministry keeps him too busy to counsel (as some do), his claim is always false. Surely he could not be busier at the Lord’s work than the Lord Jesus (Who found so much time to counsel individuals) or even the Apostle Paul (who followed his Lord’s example in this—cf. Col. 1:28; Acts 20:31). If the pastor really is too busy (and that claim is not merely an excuse), then something is radically wrong. He must examine his activities to discover what it is that is keeping him so busy, because (surely) it will not be the ministry of the Word.[5]

III. Biblical Counseling Needs the Church

A. Why do we think of counseling as something separate from the church?

1. Our understanding of the church affects the way in which we understand admonition, exhortation and encouragement. The default understanding for many Christians is a church based upon “volunteerism” [being or not being part of a congregation is solely a matter of personal decision and preference.] & consumerism [a church provides services which meet my desires or not’: We begin with an understanding of salvation as a purely individual event, “Me and Jesus Got our Own Thing Going.” The church, rather than being the primary place where God works, becomes a marketplace which is judged on its ability to provide services:

Consequently, the latter [a radical individualism] tends to exchange a covenantal interpretation of the church for a contractual view. To the extent that the relationship of the believer to Christ may be conceived as a contract in which God offers certain benefits in exchange for our making him Savior and Lord, our relationship to the church is simply a matter of personal decision based on the services we think it can provide for us….The personal decision of each person to believe in Christ and to join a church actually constitutes ecclesial existence [that is, a church comes into existence solely upon the individual decisions of people – not the sovereign work of God]. In evangelical contexts, the church is often regarded chiefly as a resource for fellowship and a platform for individuals to serve the body and the world in various ministries….From this perspective, the church has become increasingly to be regarded primarily as a service provider for a personal (unique and individual) relationship with Christ.[6]

2. Recent history: A great many things contributed to the Christian church giving up the practice of soul-care. Things which previous Christians considered primarily a matter of being a Christian became seen as purely psychological, emotional, environmental, behavioral, physical concern. Rather than understanding that one’s circumstance, body, training shaped how sin was expressed (for example, no one in 1920 sinned by watching too much television or became “addicted” to internet pornography – because such things did not exist); Christians began to believe to that one’s circumstance, body, psychology, et cetera was the beginning and end of one’s trouble. One was unable to function due to fear, not because they failed to have a sufficient trust in God’s goodness and ability, but because they had been raised by an “alcoholic father”. Rather than see that the world shapes our expression of sin, we came to believe that our troubles were not even in sin at all: we suffered from a neurosis, not sinful fear.

Having taken on the world’s understanding of human trouble, we also came to see the world’s solutions. Psychology and psychiatry deliberately mimicked the role of the pastor giving counsel. However, the work of the psychologist and psychiatrist was also detached from the community of the Church. It focused on one’s private and personal situation (as opposed to sin and a failure of love/to love). When it comes now to counseling, we have a tendency to look to the psychologist-model of private, personal and isolated counsel to make my life better – rather than the entire church involved in the process of discipleship in love.

B. Counseling must take place within the context of the church:

1. Adams writing states, “Counseling may not be set up as a life calling on a free-lance basis; all such counseling ought to be done as a function of the church, utilizing its authority and resources.”^{^[7]} This is consonant with the command of Christ: “Go … make disciples … .teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28-19-20). The command to make disciples is the function of the Church.

2. In the church, God has given gifts to each believer so that they can in turn “build up the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13). The church is the place in which people are trained to present every believer to God “mature in Christ” (Col. 1:28). All of the commands given in the New Testament Epistles are written to churches and/or church leaders (for the administration of the church). Even private letter such as 3 John presuppose the existence of the church. The command to instruct one-another was written to believers working together within a local church (Rom. 15:14).

C. Biblical counseling (as we shall learn) does not seek an improvement of one’s life and “happiness” but rather seeks “renew[al] in knowledge after the image of [our] creator” (Col. 3:10). This transformation takes place by union with Christ in the church:

Eph. 1:22, 23—“the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.” He who is the life of nature and of humanity reveals himself most fully in the great company of those who have joined themselves to him by faith. Union with Christ is the presupposition of the church. This alone transforms the sinner into a Christian, and this alone makes possible that vital and spiritual fellowship between individuals which constitutes the organizing principle of the church. The same divine life which ensures the pardon and the perseverance of the believer unites him to all other believers. The indwelling Christ makes the church superior to and more permanent than all humanitarian organizations; they die, but because Christ lives, the church lives also. Without a proper conception of this sublime relation of the church to Christ, we cannot properly appreciate our dignity as church members, or our high calling as shepherds of the flock. [8]

D. The church is necessary for the Christian life:

The church then is necessary for several reasons: it is part and parcel of (1) the eternal purpose of God in redeeming fallen human creatures; (2) the Father’s mighty work in regard to the exaltation of his and crucified Son; (3) the eternal divine counsel with regard to the revelation of himself and his ways; and (4) prophetic Scripture that assigns an important role to the church in the outworking of salvation.[9]

IV. How Does the Matter of Biblical Counseling Relate to the Doctrine of the Church?

A. In giving instruction, we must understand our purpose. If we have a poor understanding of our purpose, we will have no good basis to judge whether our instruction is appropriate.

1. When it comes to counseling, the tendency will be relief suffering, ease one’s conscience, make someone “happy”.

2. However, if the purpose is to make disciples of Jesus, then our counseling means and aims will be different.

B. If counseling is a basic action of the church, we had best understand what constitutes “the church”.

C. If counseling is a church activity, it will affect how we understand the relationship between a “counselor” and “counselee”.

1. Do we have separate offices like a psychologist or therapist?

2. What takes place in counseling?

3. How does it relate to other actions of the church? Worship? Communion? Discipline?

4. What is the involvement of other members in the congregation to the process?

D. Counseling is a response to the disintegrating effects of sin coming into the world (both our own, the sin of others against us and the fact of sin generally). A goal of the Christian life is the reversal of that disintegration (Col. 3:10). Therefore, the work of love in a communion of human beings is a necessary aspect of discipleship. The Christian counseling process is not a matter of better communication technique, but rather a question of how one lives with others.

V. Three Ways to Study and Understand the Church:

A. In terms of function:

1. What does the church do?

2. What are the offices?

3. What are the ordinances?

4. What are the responsibilities of the congregation collectively?

5. What are the responsibilities of the congregants individually?

6. Since we will not be primarily covering this area, here are some resources for future use:

a. Theology texts: Erickson, Christian Theology, 2^nd, chapters 51-54, 1079-1152; Grudem, Systematic Theology, chapters 45-51, 873-1015.

b. General works on church function: John MacArthur, The Master’s Plan for the Church; Wayne Mack, Life in the Father’s House; Mark Dever, The Church, the Gospel Made Visible & Deliberate Church.

c. Church discipline: In Pursuit of Prodigals, Stephen Davey (general introduction); Those Who Must Give an Account, A study in church membership and discipline, Hammett & Merkle, eds. (detailed theological and historical analysis of issue).

d. CBC sermon series, “You and the Church”, Dr. Jack Hughes, 2007.

e. Alexander Strauch, Biblical Eldership; (not exactly function, Agape Leadership, Bite and Devour).

f. The Shepherd Leader, Timothy Z. Witmer.

f. Additional resources: 9marks.org

B. In terms of mission: What must the church do?

1. What are the potential answers? Kevin DeYoung & Greg Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church?

2. The Great Commission

a. Proclamation: evangelism, personal and private; missions. Many good books in this area. Two less common resources: Michael Green, Evangelism in the Early Church; Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism from Jesus. Missions, John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad. This last book is a great example how an understanding of what the church is (essence) will affect the church’s understanding of mission and thus of function. The church is doxological: one aspect of the true church is that it gives God glory. Missions exists because God is not being glorified/worshiped somewhere. Thus, a local congregation’s support of missions directly flows from the congregation’s self-understanding as a worshiping body. The September 2013 9 Marks e-journal is on evangelism.

b. Baptism.

c. Teaching them to observe.

i. A.B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve. Classic study of how Jesus discipled the 12. Very short explanation: It’s all about Jesus.

ii. Bill Hull, The Disciple Making Pastor, The Disciple Making Church: The pastor and the entire congregation have a role to play in making disciples. The church needs to have a means to introduce people into a process of deliberate disciple-making. When a new Christian appears at the church, how does he begin to learn, be exhorted and encouraged, watched, minister? The exact structure one uses needs to accord with both the congregation, the environment of the church and the gifts available to the congregation.

iii. Colin Marshall, Tony Payne, The Trellis and the Vine. An explanation of how the structures of the congregation can actually inhibit disciple-making by putting emphasize on the trellis (structures) which should be used for the vine (the people).

iv. There is a tendency to think of discipleship as extending to only “spiritual” matters or perhaps things directly related to the church. F.B. Meyer’s Discipleship does a good job of explaining that if all things must be done to the glory of God, then discipleship must extend to all things.

iv. Biblical counseling would fall within this category, as a species of intensive discipleship.

v. This is probably where most of the difficulty lies when thinking through the functions of the church. A white board exercise where the church has no structures, no organization: what must happen? The pulpit is the primary means of discipleship. With this would come ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. What then comes next? Where is the emphasis placed?

vi. Examples of teaching goals for discipleship

C. In terms of essence: What is this thing called the church?

1. One Holy Catholic Apostolic, Nicene Creed, 381:

a. One

b. Holy

c. Catholic

d. Apostolic

2. Allison’s Definition (which we will use as our basis for this class):

a. The church is the people of God who have been saved through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ and have been incorporated into this body through baptism with the Holy Spirit. It consists of two interrelated elements: the universal church is the fellowship of all Christians that extends from the day of Pentecost until the second coming, incorporating both deceased believers who are presently in heaven and the believers from all over the world. The universal church becomes manifested in local churches characterized by being doxological, logocentric, pneumadynamic, covenantal, confessional, missional, and spatio-temporal/ eschatological. Local churches are led by pastors (also called elders) and served by deacons, possess and pursue purity and unity, exercise church discipline, develop strong connections with other churches, and celebrate the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Equipped by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts for ministry, these communities regularly gather to worship the triune God, proclaim his Word, engage non-Christians with gospel, discipline their members, care for people through prayer and giving, and stand both for and against the world.^{^[10]}

b. The question of function becomes, in light of the definition, Does function X fulfill the mission of the church and is it in light with the nature of the church?

3. Most systematic theologies will cover this topic at some length. Horton, Culver & Bray have some of the more thought-provoking discussions on the topic. Calvin’s Institutes (Book IV) gives the classic reformed position on the essence of the church. Gregg Allison’s Sojourners and Strangers is probably the best one-volume theology on the nature of the church.

[1] Robert Duncan Culver, Systematic Theology: Biblical and Historical (2005; repr., Geanies House, Fearn, Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publication, 2006), 800.

[2] Culver, 807.

[3] Jay Edward Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resource Library, 1986), 284.

[4] This matter of daily exhortation would spare the church extraordinary pain. Many troubles could be more easily resolved if they were dealt with earlier. For example, a marriage does not go “bad” all in an instance. Typically it takes years for a marriage to dissolve into a determination to divorce. Had someone been involved early on, the couple may have been spared years of sin and sorrow.

[5] Jay Edward Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resource Library, 1986), 278–279.

[6] Horton, The Christian Faith, 837

[7] Jay Edward Adams, A Theology of Christian Counseling: More Than Redemption (Grand Rapids, MI: Ministry Resource Library, 1986), 276.

[8] Augustus Hopkins Strong, Systematic Theology (Philadelphia: American Baptist Publication Society, 1907), 888.

[9] Gregg R. Allison, Strangers and Sojourners: The Doctrine of the Church, Foundations of Evangelical Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 59.

[10] Allison, Sojourners and Strangers, 29-30.

Edmund Spenser, “Easter”

28 Wednesday Aug 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 Corinthians, 1 Peter, 2 Corinthians, Edmund Spenser, Ephesians, Literature, Love, Praise

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1 Corinthians 15:50–56, 1 John 3:4, 1 John 3:7–11, 1 Peter 2:21–24, 2 Corinthians 5:14–15, Easter, Edmund Spenser, Ephesians 4:7–10, forgiveness, Hebrews 9:15–22, love, poem, Poetry, Resurrection, Romans 13:10, Sin, Sonnet

Edmund Spenser’s sonnet “Easter” may be best understood by first recounting this paragraph in John’s first epistle:

⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. ⁸Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. ⁹No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. ¹⁰By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

¹¹For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 1 John 3:7–11 (ESV)

The fact of Christ’s death and resurrection – which frees us from sin and death – translates into the practice of love. “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4b). But “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10b). Thus freedom from sin – gained by Christ on the cross – becomes free to holiness and thus freedom to love.

MOST glorious Lord of Lyfe! that, on this day,

Didst make Thy triumph over death and sin[i];

And, having harrowd hell, didst bring away

Captivity[1] thence captive[ii], us to win:

This joyous day, deare Lord, with joy begin;

And grant that we, for whom thou diddest dye[iii],

Being with Thy deare blood clene washt from sin[iv],

May live for ever in felicity!

And that Thy love we weighing worthily,

May likewise love Thee for the same againe;

And for Thy sake, that all lyke deare didst buy[v],

With love may one another entertayne[vi]!

So let us love, deare Love, lyke as we ought,

–Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

[1] Note the emphasis falling on the first syllable.

[i] 1 Corinthians 15:50–56 (ESV)

⁵⁰I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. ⁵¹Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. ⁵³For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. ⁵⁴When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

⁵⁵ “O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

[ii] Ephesians 4:7–10 (ESV)

⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

“When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,

and he gave gifts to men.”

⁹(In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.)

[iii] 2 Corinthians 5:14–15 (ESV)

¹⁴For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; ¹⁵and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

1 Peter 2:21–24 (ESV)

²¹For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. ²²He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. ²³When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. ²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

[iv] Hebrews 9:15–22 (ESV)

¹⁵Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. ¹⁶For where a will is involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. ¹⁷For a will takes effect only at death, since it is not in force as long as the one who made it is alive. ¹⁸Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood. ¹⁹For when every commandment of the law had been declared by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water and scarlet wool and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, ²⁰saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God commanded for you.” ²¹And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tent and all the vessels used in worship. ²²Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

[v] 1 Peter 1:18–21 (ESV)

¹⁸knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you ²¹who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

[vi] Hebrews 13:1–2 (ESV)

Let brotherly love continue. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.