Tag Archives: Augustine

If you comprehend, it is not God ….

27 Wednesday Jul 2016

Posted by in Augustine, Epistemology, Theology, Uncategorized

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Involved here is a matter of profound religious importance, to which Augustine gave expression as follows: “We are speaking of God. Is it any wonder if you do not comprehend? For if you comprehend, it is not God you comprehend. Let it be a pious confession of ignorance rather than a rash profession of knowledge. To attain some slight knowledge of God is a great blessing; to comprehend him, however, is totally impossible.” [Quoting Augustine, Lectures on the Gospel of John, tract. 38, NPNF (1), VII, 217–21.]

Herman Bavinck, John Bolt, and John Vriend, Reformed Dogmatics: God and Creation, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2004), 48.

Rejoice With Joy (1 Peter 1:8-9)

23 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in 1 Peter, Preaching

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The Apostle tells us where to obtain life and joy — despite the sorrows and trials of this world:

1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV)

3 Blessed 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, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so 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. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Here’s the sermon: Rejoice with Joy

Shepherds Conference 2015, Session 4

04 Wednesday Mar 2015

Posted by in Bibliology, Church History

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Stephen Nicols

1 Thess. 2:9 et seq

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. 1 Thessalonians 2:13

“How Did We Get Here”

How did we get here talking about inerrancy? We already got here with the Chicago Statement in 1978.

Paul was not merely a relational pastor, he gave them words.
In John 17, Jesus tells the Father that he has accomplished his mission:
For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. John 17:8

How is this given now? First by apostles, now by pastor-teacher.

Paul: received, ἐδέξασθε

There was no end to the words of men in the 1st Century. Paul, we are not peddlers of the word.

Continue reading →

Theophilus of Antioch: Providence as Evidence of God’s Existence

20 Friday Dec 2013

Posted by in 1 Timothy, Ante-Nicene, Apologetics, Romans

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The previous post in this series may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/11/20/theophilus-on-the-nature-of-god/

In chapter 5, Theophilus argues that God is understood by means of his actions. In chapter 4 he remarked that God is the self-existent sovereign creator. Here Theophilius continues with the proposition that God also maintains providential control over the creation.

This argument is line with the argument of Paul in Romans 1

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Romans 1:19–20 (ESV)

Theophilus writes:

For as the soul in man is not seen, being invisible to men, but is perceived through the motion of the body, so God cannot indeed be seen by human eyes, but is beheld and perceived through His providence and works. For, in like manner, as any person, when he sees a ship on the sea rigged and in sail, and making for the harbour, will no doubtinfer that there is a pilot in her who is steering her; so we must perceive that God is the governor [pilot] of the whole universe,

Theophilus then continues with the argument, fully supported by Christian Scripture, that God cannot be observed:

though He be not visible to the eyes of the flesh, since He is incomprehensible. For if a man cannot look upon the sun, though it be a very small heavenly body, on account of its exceeding heat and power, how shall not a mortal man be much more unable to face the glory of God, which is unutterable?

John 1:18 reads, “No one has ever seen God”. Theophilus’ imagery may have been inspired by Paul’s words in 1Timothy 6 that God dwells in unapproachable light and thus cannot be seen:

13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. 1 Timothy 6:13–16 (ESV)

Theophilus next picks up an argument which Augustine will ponder in the Confessions:

For as the pomegranate, with the rind containing it, has within it many cells and compartments which are separated by tissues, and has also many seeds dwelling in it, so the whole creation is contained by the spirit of God, and the containing spirit is along with the creation contained by the hand of God. As, therefore, the seed of the pomegranate, dwelling inside, cannot see what is outside the rind, itself being within; so neither can man, who along with the whole creation is enclosed by the hand of God, behold God.

Augustine raises this as a question: What is God’s relationship to the Creation:

Since, then, thou dost fill the heaven and earth, do they contain thee? Or, dost thou fill and overflow them, because they cannot contain thee? And where dost thou pour out what remains of thee after heaven and earth are full? Or, indeed, is there no need that thou, who dost contain all things, shouldst be contained by any, since those things which thou dost fill thou fillest by containing them? For the vessels which thou dost fill do not confine thee, since even if they were broken, thou wouldst not be poured out. And, when thou art poured out on us, thou art not thereby brought down; rather, we are uplifted. Thou art not scattered; rather, thou dost gather us together. But when thou dost fill all things, dost thou fill them with thy whole being? Or, since not even all things together could contain thee altogether, does any one thing contain a single part, and do all things contain that same part at the same time? Do singulars contain thee singly? Do greater things contain more of thee, and smaller things less? Or, is it not rather that thou art wholly present everywhere, yet in such a way that nothing contains thee wholly?

Book I, Chapter 3.

Theophilus then returns to his original proposition and seeks to bring the point to bear: If you can recognize a king by his secondary actions, why cannot you not recognize God by the same means?

 

Then again, an earthly king is believed to exist, even though he be not seen by all, for he is recognised by his laws and ordinances, and authorities, and forces, and statues; and are you unwilling that God should be recognised by His works and mighty deeds?

Consumerism

19 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, Contentment, Discipleship

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These are rough notes for a talk on covetousness and consumerism:

 

I.  The Good of Wealth

God seems quite fond of gold and jewels.  In Genesis 2 we read of the gold of Havilah, where there is also bdellium and onyx. When Solomon builds the temple, it is made of gold and cedar. The New Jerusalem in the New Heavens and Earth has streets of pure gold, walls of jasper. “The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel” (Rev. 21:19). When describes the glory of God in the place, he compares it to “a most rare jewel, a jasper, clear as crystal” (Rev. 21:11).

Those who search the sky have found a planet completely made of diamond[1] and a star where it rains olivine, a green stone like an emerald; [2] crystals in comets and gems on the surface and mountains of crystal on the moon.[3] Apparently, two neutron stars smashing into each other creates oceans of gold.[4]

When God blessed Job, he gave him wealth (Job 42:10-17). And when Solomon showed humility in asking for wisdom, God blessed Solomon by giving him wealth (1 Kings 3:12-13). Riches are in the right hand of wisdom (Prov. 3:16; 8:18):

            4       The reward for humility and fear of the LORD

      is riches and honor and life. Proverbs 22:4 (ESV)

II  What then is the trouble with stuff?

A) Read from “The Journey to the Bending Light”.

Ask the kids – what’s the trouble with the toys?

Are toys bad? Is it wrong to play with the toys?

They wear them out by chasing the wrong things.

They make them discontent.

The toys lead them to covet and coveting leads to more sin.

B) No amount of property in this world will make us content

1. Ecclesiastes 2:1-11: In the end, he owned an illusion.

a) Riches don’t keep: they are vain. 1:2 Proverbs 27:24, “riches do not last forever”.

James 1:11 (ESV)

11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

b) Proverbs 11:4 (ESV)

            4       Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,

      but righteousness delivers from death.

2.  When riches are end in themselves, they only leave to covetousness:

a) It ruins us in this life leading in pursuit of something which can never make us happy.

1 Timothy 6:9–10 (ESV)

9 But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

b) It ruins us for the life to come:

Luke 12:13–21 (ESV)

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

III How does covetousness work?

A) What is going on with the desire for wealth?

1) When a young man wishes to marry a young lady, he may give her a ring. The ring causes her to think of him. The ring is a token. But what if she were to love the ring and not the boy?

2) Think of the ways in which wealth is spoken of as a good thing:

a) The Garden,

b) The New Jerusalem

c) God’s glory

d) The Temple

e) Wealth given as a blessing alleviates some of the pain caused by the Fall.

3) Wealth appeals to our desire for something greater than this vain, fallen world.

B) What then is the trouble with wealth?

a) Our focus is directed to the toy alone.

b) The rich fool who forgot God.

c) The wicked whose wealth causes them to forget God:

Psalm 73:11–12 (ESV)

11  And they say, “How can God know?

Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

12  Behold, these are the wicked;

always at ease, they increase in riches.

 

d) Wealth becomes the end.

4): Augustine Book 10, Chapter 29:

For he loves You too little who loves anything with You, which he loves not for You, O love, who ever burnest, and art never quenched!

5) Here then is the secret:

a) We must receive all things – wealth as a gift from God:

Ecclesiastes 5:18–20 (ESV)

18 Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. 19 Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God. 20 For he will not much remember the days of his life because God keeps him occupied with joy in his heart.

b) We must allow wealth or poverty to cause us to forget God:

Proverbs 30:7–9 (ESV)

7  Two things I ask of you;

deny them not to me before I die:

8  Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

feed me with the food that is needful for me,

9  lest I be full and deny you

and say, “Who is the Lord?”

or lest I be poor and steal

and profane the name of my God.

Philippians 4:11–12 (ESV)

11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.

c) Contentment, ultimately, is a gift which comes by means of faith from Christ:

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13 (ESV)

Joy.1

17 Friday May 2013

Posted by in Augustine, Deuteronomy, Ecclesiastes, Exodus, Faith, Hope, Joy

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The book of common prayer (the graveside service) reads, “In the midst of life we are in death”. How then can joy be found in such a world? The world itself cannot rightly be the source of joy, as Augustine notes, vita misera est, mors incerta est (“Life is miserable, death uncertain”‘ Confessions Book VI, chapter 11). How then can joy be found? For some perhaps joy will be their privilege by disposition or circumstance — but such joys will necessarily be “vain” as Ecclesiastes says — vaporous, for the inexorable weight of death will strangle a joy of circumstance. At some point we will end alone.

So how and where can joy be found? The Scripture commends joy throughout, yet it is a joy of which rests not in circumstance but a joy which rests in God. How is this demonstrated and how is such joy obtained?

Consider the Feast of Booths commanded in Leviticus 23:39-43:

39 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
40 And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
41 You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
42 You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths,
43 that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”

The Israelites are to rejoice as they remember that God had rescued them from Egypt. It was this which caused Jethro to rejoice:

8 Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

Exodus 18:8-9. The story of God’s rescue was a cause to rejoice. How then could the people rejoice — even in the wilderness (as Bunyan wrote, “the wilderness of this world”)? We may rejoice when we remember and discuss what God has done.

Note that this does not negate the tragedy of life or the pain of this world. Rather, the pain and sorrow of life forms the contrast which makes the joy possible. You see, joy points to what God has done in the midst of trial: They are to rejoice when they recall that God “brought them out of the land of Egypt” (Leviticus 23:43).

Such memory may be most necessary in the midst of present trial and sorrow: in the middle of pain, the pain can overwhelm one’s sense of all else. The pain seems as if it could never end. The future looks hopeless. That is when memory can be of great good. Memory reaches back to what has happened; it reaches outside of the present and demonstrates, It has not always been as this. Joy fetches strength from the past. Joy flowers from the faith and hope which comes from knowledge who God is (note that the ground of joy in Leviticus 23:43 ends with “I am the LORD your God”) and what God has done.

Thirteen Diagnostic Tests for Soul Idolatry.2

04 Monday Feb 2013

Posted by in Biblical Counseling, David Clarkson, Puritan, Thomas Watson

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4. Resolution: That which is our aim – that thing for which we resolve to set our efforts is what we worship as God. We can see this in three ways.

 

First, we can consider the degree of our resolve: When we consider the degree of our resolve toward God and compare that with the degree of our resolve toward creature – be it anything – that which gains your most intense resolve is your God.  What promise will you not break? Which end will you not miss?

 

Second, do you resolve for things in this world without condition (our job, a relationship, a material good) and yet put limitations upon our resolution toward God? That which has no condition is our god or God.

 

Third, if we must have something of the world now – but leave our resolution for God for the future – then that which has our resolution now is our God. If we think, the world can have my morning and God have my deathbed conversion, then God is not your God.

 

5. Love: That which we must love is our God.  Love is the essential act of soul worship. God unquestionably demands the place of the highest and greatest love – he claims the place of that which we must love:

 

You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deuteronomy 6:5 (ESV)

 

 

Jesus called this the first and greatest commandment (Matthew 22:37). Other things may be loved, but God must be loved first:

He loves You too little who loves anything together with you, which he loves not for Your sake.

 – Augustine

 

John lays all sins as contrary to the love of the Father:

 

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)

 

Those that love pleasure have pleasure as a god (2 Tim. 3:4). Those that love their appetites have their belly as a god (Phil. 3:19). God even demands place before our dearest human relatives (Matt. 10:37; Luke 14:26).

 

6. Trust: That which we trust most is our God. Trust, a settled dependence upon God and God alone is at the heart of worship and faith. Faith necessarily entails trust. Thus, in Proverbs 3:5, we are instructed to wholly trust God:

 

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)

 

Do you trust in your riches – your ability to make money or the money you have (or dream you will have)? Then that is your god. Do you trust in friends – or the ability to make friends? Then such is your god. Yet the LORD is the rightful object of our trust:

 

8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. Psalm 118:8–9 (ESV)

 

To trust in something other than the LORD is to make that an idol and seek God’s curse:

 

5 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. 6 He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. 8 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? 10 “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:5–10 (ESV)

 

Trust in the creature is always idolatrous.

Part one is found here:

https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2013/01/31/thirteen-diagnostic-tests-for-soul-idolatry-1/

Augustine Confessions 1.1.1a (Translation and Notes)

19 Monday Nov 2012

Posted by in Augustine, Church History, John Calvin, Prayer

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Confessions 1.1.1

magnus es, domine, et laudabilis valde. magna virtus tua et sapientiae tuae non est numerus

 

Notes:

It is interesting that in seeking to confess his own life, Augustine begins with a confession of the Lord’s greatness.[1] This is praise draws heavily upon Scripture, as noted below.

Magnus es: Great are you

Domine: God, vocative

Et laudabilis valde: and praiseworthy intensely so.

magna virtus tua: Great is your strength

et sapientiae tuae: and your wisdom

non est numerous: not is numbered (cannot be numbered, infinite, exceedingly great).

 

Translation:

Great are you Lord, and worthy of praise. Great is your strength, and your wisdom has no end.

Pusey:  Great art Thou, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Thy power, and Thy wisdom infinite.

 

Biblical Cross-References:

Great are you Lord:

Magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis, et magnitudinis ejus non est finis. Psalm 144:3 (VGCLEM)

Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised: and of his greatness there is no end. Psalm 144:3 (D-R)

 

1 Aperiens autem Tobias senior os suum, benedixit Dominum, et dixit : Magnus es, Domine, in æternum, et in omnia sæcula regnum tuum : Tobit 13:1 (VGCLEM)

1 AND Tobias the elder opening his mouth, blessed the Lord, and said: Thou art great O Lord, for ever, and thy kingdom is unto all ages. Tobit 13:1 (D-R)

 

 

The Wisdom of God:

Psalm 146:5 (Vulgate, D-R):

      5 Magnus Dominus noster, et magna virtus ejus,

            et sapientiæ ejus non est numerus.

 

Great is our Lord, and great is his power:

and of his wisdom there is no number.  

 

Isaiah 40:8:

 

28 Numquid nescis, aut non audisti ? Deus sempiternus Dominus, qui creavit terminos terræ : non deficiet, neque laborabit, nec est investigatio sapientiæ ejus. Isaiah 40:28 (VGCLEM)

28 Knowest thou not, or hast thou not heard? the Lord is the everlasting God, who hath created the ends of the earth: he shall not faint, nor labour, neither is there any searching out of his wisdom. Isaiah 40:28 (D-R)

Romans 11:33:

33 O altitudo divitiarum sapientiæ, et scientiæ Dei : quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viæ ejus ! Romans 11:33 (VGCLEM)

33 O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways! Romans 11:33 (D-R)

 

 

 

[1] Calvin’s Institutes begin with this observation:

 

OUR wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. But as these are connected together by many ties, it is not easy to determine which of the two precedes and gives birth to the other. For, in the first place, no man can survey himself without forthwith turning his thoughts towards the God in whom he lives and moves; because it is perfectly obvious, that the endowments which we possess cannot possibly be from ourselves; nay, that our very being is nothing else than subsistence in God alone. In the second place, those blessings which unceasingly distil to us from heaven, are like streams conducting us to the fountain. Here, again, the infinitude of good which resides in God becomes more apparent from our poverty. In particular, the miserable ruin into which the revolt of the first man has plunged us, compels us to turn our eyes upwards; not only that while hungry and famishing we may thence ask what we want, but being aroused by fear may learn humility. For as there exists in man something like a world of misery, and ever since we were stript of the divine attire our naked shame discloses an immense series of disgraceful properties every man, being stung by the consciousness of his own unhappiness, in this way necessarily obtains at least some knowledge of God. Thus, our feeling of ignorance, vanity, want, weakness, in short, depravity and corruption, reminds us (see Calvin on John 4:10), that in the Lord, and none but He, dwell the true light of wisdom, solid virtue, exuberant goodness. We are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. For what man is not disposed to rest in himself? Who, in fact, does not thus rest, so long as he is unknown to himself; that is, so long as he is contented with his own endowments, and unconscious or unmindful of his misery? Every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself, is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find him.

 

2. On the other hand, it is evident that man never attains to a true self-knowledge until he have previously contemplated the face of God, and come down after such contemplation to look into himself. For (such is our innate pride) we always seem to ourselves just, and upright, and wise, and holy, until we are convinced, by clear evidence, of our injustice, vileness, folly, and impurity. Convinced, however, we are not, if we look to ourselves only, and not to the Lord alsoD2—He being the only standard by the application of which this conviction can be produced. For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white. Nay, the bodily sense may furnish a still stronger illustration of the extent to which we are deluded in estimating the powers of the mind. If, at mid-day, we either look down to the ground, or on the surrounding objects which lie open to our view, we think ourselves endued with a very strong and piercing eyesight; but when we look up to the sun, and gaze at it unveiled, the sight which did excellently well for the earth is instantly so dazzled and confounded by the refulgence, as to oblige us to confess that our acuteness in discerning terrestrial objects is mere dimness when applied to the sun. Thus too, it happens in estimating our spiritual qualities. So long as we do not look beyond the earth, we are quite pleased with our own righteousness, wisdom, and virtue; we address ourselves in the most flattering terms, and seem only less than demigods. But should we once begin to raise our thoughts to God, and reflect what kind of Being he is, and how absolute the perfection of that righteousness, and wisdom, and virtue, to which, as a standard, we are bound to be conformed, what formerly delighted us by its false show of righteousness will become polluted with the greatest iniquity; what strangely imposed upon us under the name of wisdom will disgust by its extreme folly; and what presented the appearance of virtuous energy will be condemned as the most miserable impotence. So far are those qualities in us, which seem most perfect, from corresponding to the divine purity.

 

 

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 1997).

Astronomy Divine.2 (Edward Taylor)

13 Tuesday Nov 2012

Posted by in Edward Taylor, John, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Meditation, Puritan

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(The entire poem may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2012/11/13/astronomy-divine-1-edward-taylor/)

 

The background on Taylor’s meditation is the story of Jesus in John 6[1]. The chapter begins with the feeding of the five thousand: A multitude was coming to Jesus. Jesus asks Philip how these people are to be fed. Philip does not know, because they do not have enough money to them all food. Andrew has found a boy with five barley loaves and two fish.  Jesus prays and multiplies the original meal so that all have eaten to the full.[2]

This story bears a relation to the overall frame of Jesus’ ministry promising a future marriage feast (Matthew 8:11-12; Luke 13:28-29; Mark 14:25). More importantly for purposes of Taylor’s poem (and the teaching recorded by John) is the relationship to the Eucharist, the Lord’s Supper, Communion (all of which designate the same event).

The meal breaks up when the people seek to make Jesus king:

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. John 6:15 (ESV)

Jesus and the disciples proceed that evening to the other side of the lake.[3]

The next day, the Jesus run around the lake to see Jesus again.  Jesus rebukes the people (the Gospel of John works through in great detail what it means to exercise true faith), because they wanted food alone:

26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” John 6:26–27 (ESV)

This concept will be developed at much greater length in discourse. It this theme which ends Taylor’s poem:

 This Bread of Life dropped in thy mouth doth cry,

Eat, eat me, soul, and thou shalt never die.

 

When the people hear Jesus, they ask what to do. He tells them to believe on him.  They ask, Why should we believe you? When Moses led the people, it was because he got them food – manna in the wilderness.[4]

Jesus answers:

32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 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. John 6:32–35 (ESV)

Taylor’s poem answers to this passage:

The Bread has come from heaven: In the first stanza, Taylor notes that the Bread has come to him from a “that bright throne” seen in an “astronomy divine”. Jesus says, “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Another parallel between the poem and Jesus concerns the call of the Father to bring one to the Son (Jesus). In the sixth stanza, Taylor writes:

Did God mold up this Bread in heaven and bake

Which from his table came and to thine goeth?

Doth he bespeak thee thus, This soul Bread take.

Come eat thy fill of this thy God’s white loaf?

It’s  food too fine for angels, yet come, take

And eat thy fill. It’s heaven’s sugar cake.

 

Jesus says,

44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— John 6:44–45 (ESV)

This passage is a key aspect of the “Doctrines of Grace” as understood within the Puritan, “Calvinistic”, “Augustinian” and refers to “effectual calling”.[5] Martyn Lloyd-Jones explains that the “effectual calling” is the internal call – it is the subjective experience of the desirability of the external call which goes to all persons:

What, then, is the difference between the external call and this call which has become effectual? And the answer must be that this call is an internal, a spiritual call. It is not merely something that comes to a person from the outside—it does that, of course, but in addition to that external call which comes to all, there is an internal call which comes to those who are going to be Christians, and it is an effectual call. The contrast, therefore, is between external, and internal and spiritual.

David Martyn Lloyd-Jones, God the Holy Spirit (Wheaton, IL: Crossways Books, 1997), 66.

This is a crucial point of Reformed Theology which is often misunderstood – and which would cause one to misunderstand Taylor’s poem. First, the human being has no claim or standing before God. This is the point of Taylor’s lines:

When that this bird of paradise put in

This wicker cage (my corpse) to tweedle praise

Had pecked the fruit forbade: and so did fling

Away its good; and lost its golden days;

It fell into celestial famine sore:

And never could attain a morsel more.

 

The human being, having rebelled against God, could no longer obtain any good. Second, humans being willing remain in rebellion against God – despite the offer of God. That is a great issue of the dispute between Jesus and the people with whom he was speaking.  Indeed, at the end of this public conversation we read:

 

After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. John 6:66 (ESV)

 

However, while most will turn away, for some, the call will be effective; that is, Christ will seem desirable.[6]   Taylor notes that by stating that he heard the call of God and the offer of Christ as:

 

It’s  food too fine for angels, yet come, take

And eat thy fill. It’s heaven’s sugar cake.

 

In short, Taylor is not stating that he is better than any one else (which is often what is heard when the word “elect” is used) but rather that he has received grace, unmerited favor (note how often Taylor uses the language of “grace” throughout the poem).

[1] The story is also reported in the other Gospels. However, Taylor references the teaching of Jesus recorded in John 6 – which takes place after the miracle but also acts as a comment on the miracle.

[2] John P. Meier writes in his examination A Marginal Jew, vol. 2, “However, despite our galling inability to be specific, I think the criteria of multiple attestation and of coherence make it more likely than not that behind our Gospel stories of Jesus feeding the multitude lies some especially memorable communal meal of bread and fish, a meal with eschatological overtones celebrated by Jesus and his disciples with a large crowd by the Sea of Galilee. Whether something actually miraculous took place is not open to verification by means available to the historian. A decision pro or con will ultimately depend on one’s worldview, not on what purely historical investigation can tell us about this event” (966).

[3] John 6:15-21 records Jesus walking on the water, which does not play into Taylor’s poem.

[4] Mark records that the meal took place “in a deserted place” (Mark 8:35)

[5] Calvin writes of John 6:40:

But we have no right to break through the order and succession of the beginning and the end, since God, by his purpose, hath decreed and determined that it shall proceed unbroken. 145 Besides, as the election of God, by an indissoluble bond, draws his calling along with it, so when God has effectually called us to faith in Christ, let this have as much weight with us as if he had engraven his seal to ratify his decree concerning our salvation. For the testimony of the Holy Spirit is nothing else than the sealing of our adoption, (Romans 8:15.) To every man, therefore, his faith is a sufficient attestation of the eternal predestination of God, so that it would be a shocking sacrilege 146 to carry the inquiry farther; for that man offers an aggravated insult to the Holy Spirit, who refuses to assent to his simple testimony.

John Calvin, John, electronic ed., Calvin’s Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), Jn 6:40.

[6]

72. Here, again, I was at a very great stand, not knowing what to do, fearing I was not called; for, thought I, if I be not called, what then can do me good? None but those who are effectually called, inherit the kingdom of heaven. But oh! how I now loved those words that spake of a Christian’s calling! as when the Lord said to one, ‘Follow me’, and to another, ‘Come after me’. And oh! thought I, that He would say so to me too, how gladly would I run after him!

John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1995), 42.

Of Communion With the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Digression 1c.iv (Shame)

05 Friday Oct 2012

Posted by in Augustine, Biblical Counseling, Hebrews, John Owen, Luke, Puritan

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Shame and sexual sin: It seems that sexual sin seems to bear such a weight of shame, because sexual sin is sin transgressing marriage. Since our marriage of Christ to his bride is the means by which shame is lifted, shame lies most heavily upon the corruption of marriage.

In Luke 7, we read of Jesus eating with a Pharisee. This story deals with the horrifying weight of shame in sexual sin and thus discloses the unfading and unending grace and love of God in Jesus Christ who carries our sin and shame far away:

36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Luke 7:36–39 (ESV)

Now in thinking of this scene we are likely to misunderstand the picture of the woman.  While I don’t have any particularized knowledge on the subject, certain things seem certain. First, her personal status in the culture would be brutally oppressive. This is a prostitute in the 4th or 5th world (not 3rd).  Second, she would be wracked with shame constantly. In a society which offered limited physical movement over the course of one’s life (peasants don’t have the ability or wealth to move about), this woman would have been known to all. Even the Pharisee and moralist knew her. Thus, her home town would have constantly held has a matter of public shame.

Third, she is likely quite young. Prostitutes being marginalized by their culture and victimized in their position will find themselves at the very least physically vulnerable. The potential for disease would be striking. It would have been striking for a such a woman to have a realistic change to grow old.

So let us picture a teenage girl, terrified, broken, ashamed charging into the room and falling before Jesus – all the while knowing the hateful and hurtful glares of those around.

Augustine notes irony in the moment. The Pharisee wonders that Jesus did not know this woman was a sinner. Yet, Augustine notes that this woman Jesus was God:

Christ was supposed to be but a man both by him who invited Him, and by them who sat as guests at the table with Him. But that woman who was a sinner had seen something more than this in the Lord. For why did she all those things, but that her sins might be forgiven her? She knew then that He was able to forgive sins; and they knew that no man was able to forgive them. And we must believe that they all, they who were at the table, that is, and that woman who approached to the Feet of the Lord, all knew that no man could forgive sins. Forasmuch then as they all knew this; she who believed that He could forgive sins, understood Him to be more than man. So when He had said to the woman, “Thy sins are forgiven thee;” they immediately said, “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?” Who is this, whom the woman who was a sinner already knew? Thou who sittest at the table as if in sound health, knowest not thy Physician; because it may be through a stronger fever thou hast even lost thy reason. …

This woman who believed that she could be forgiven by Christ, believed Christ not to be man only, but God also. “Who,” say they, “is this that forgiveth sins also?” And the Lord did not tell them as they said, “Who is this?” “It is the Son of God, the Word of God;” He did not tell them this, but suffering them to abide for a while still in their former opinion, He really solved the question which had excited them. For He who saw them at the table, heard their thoughts, and turning to the woman, He said, “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” Let these who say, “Who is this that forgiveth sins also?” who think me to be but a man, think me but a man. For thee “thy faith hath made thee whole.”

Augustine of Hippo, “Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament”, trans. R. G. MacMullen In , in A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series, Volume VI: Saint Augustin: Sermon on the Mount, Harmony of the Gospels, Homilies on the Gospels, ed. Philip Schaff (New York: Christian Literature Company, 1888), 418.

Think of this: The woman who bore such weight of sin and shame – before God and man – caught a glimpse of Christ, of God Incarnate and falls before him.  What does she bring? Sin. Shame. Faith. She does not care what the world thinks, if Christ thinks she is clean.

Consider further: Jesus knows that in forgiving her sin that he will need to carry her shame. The shame of sin must be carried. The curse and shame of sin must be discharged. This poor girl comes in her weakness and offers nothing but her weakness, she comes to him in faith and weeps that he will carry her sin and shame. And Jesus, in compassion and love, says, I will carry this shame, leave it here with me. I will carry this sin, place it upon my back. I will discharge the curse. You need feel no shame – it is gone, I have carried it far away.

The Pharisee sees only the sinful woman – because he cannot see the Son of God before him. The Pharisee sees only according to the flesh – but the one who sees according to faith sees deeper:

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 (ESV)

One final note comes from Hebrews 2. The writer tells us that Jesus does not help angels. No, Jesus not save angels. Instead, he saves prostitutes bowed down with shame and sin (their own sin and most painfully, the sin of others). Jesus entered into combat and destroyed the Devil who seeks to destroy human beings by means of sin and shame: And in so doing, he makes plain the place of rest and hope:

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:14–18 (ESV)