A helpful word here by Thomas Watson on the glory of God and our sanctification.
November 6, 2009
Theõsis and the glory of God in Christ
Theõsis came up in class recently. I was largely unfamiliar with the term and suspected it to be of Mormon error. Deification is not a definition that sits well with Christians, especially those from Protestant roots, especially within the Reformed tradition. It is an awkward explanation. The deification of Christians? Parktakers of the divine nature in some mystical sense where we ourselves become gods? That is weird and rightly so. It is Eastern and odd for me.
However, there is something amazing and perhaps inexplicable in Western categories when it comes to union with Christ. Paul said, “I don’t live anymore, Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Peter wrote about us becoming “partakers of the divine nature” (2Pet 1:4). I brought the issue up in Table Talk today. Pastor John was right on to leverage the subject by emphasizing that our role is primarily beholding, not becoming. Glorification, the Western term, does involve the transformation of the corruptible man. But it is unto the end that we can become inhabitants of the New Jerusalem, it is for us to become fitting to behold the glory of God forever, completely free from sin’s inhibitions.
The transformation that we undergo should not distract us from the One of Whom and By Whom we are being transformed. Conformity to the image of Christ is less about our conformity and more about Christ. The point is the glory of God manifested in a dead man becoming the workmanship of God, all by and for God (Eph 2:1-10). And it is now that we can take seriously what it means that we are changing from one degree of glory to the next (2 Cor 3:18)…
It is now that we can really feel our identity. It is now that we actually get who we are. It is here that we come to the end of ourselves. The Heidelberg is not mechanical. Really, our only comfort in life and in death is that we are not our own, but belong body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
November 4, 2009
John Murray on Hating Sin
Indeed, the more sanctified the person is, the more conformed he is to the image of his Saviour, the more he must recoil against every lack of conformity to the holiness of God. The deeper his apprehension of the majesty of God, the greater the intensity of his love to God, the more persistent his yearning for the attainment of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, the more conscious will he be of the gravity of the sin which remains and the more poignant will be his detestation of it.
John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, 145.
November 4, 2009
Glorious Contradiction and the Yearning for Consummated Reality
The end of sanctification is the gospel having its full effect in our lives.
This means perfect conformity to the image of Christ and the eradication of all that contradicts such conformity. Sin is what contradicts it.
So as we are being sanctified, our sin is being ridded or put down and the reality of the gospel is advancing to affect every facet of who we are.
We are a contraction. We are new creatures in Jesus Christ–the old has passed away, the new has come– and yet we are told to cleanse ourselves of every defilement. The old is still there and is a contradiction to the gospel reality of the New Covenant. Sanctification involves the cleansing ourselves of sin which is to say, eradicating all the contradictions within us to the truth that we are new creatures in Jesus Christ.
October 30, 2009
Thoughts on Authors, Texts, Intention, and Canonical Unity
Treier writes, “… the more focus placed on the human author (s) as opposed to the text (s), the more potentially problematic diversity one seems to find” (Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture, 113).
Okay. This is right. Dealing with authors primarily individualizes texts and books and therefore blurs the unity of the Bible. There are different languages, styles, concepts. This is an obvious result of the grammatical-historical approach and was counter-acted by the redemptive-historical approach (111).
But what if, in some way, the diversity of the Bible is part of its unity in that it was not absent in the mind of the authors as they penned the individual books? Can we understand inspiration to involve some grasp of the human authors that they were working in the midst of a more holistic project? If you say no, then why not?
The individual biblical authors understood the meaning of the canon as they wrote their individual books. A high view of God, of Scripture, of inspiration could lead to such an assumption, or presupposition. And it is one that I do not think is careless to affirm.
October 29, 2009
Hand-Over-Your-Mouth Humility: Job and the Judgement that God is Not So Much Glorified by a Faith that is Perfect, but by a Faith that is Real.
In verses 1-6 of chapter 42, Job answers the LORD and he says the right things. The narrator is clear that we get this (v. 7, 8). But the reader has seen that Job hasn’t always been right. Elihu nails Job from chapters 32-37, and then the LORD concludes the rebuke in 38-42. Job needs to be and is dramatically called out and corrected.
So, then, does Satan’s proposal in 1:8 stand? Does Satan prove that Job’s faith–his “fear of God”– is superficial?
No. The narrative goes on to demonstrate that Satan is very wrong. But, as we see, the faith of Job that debunks Satan’s accusation is a faith laden with errors. And yet this imperfect, cracked up faith is what God references and rebukes in order to manifest His glory and Satan’s defeat.
What does this mean? What follows is a judgment, not a summary or simplification: Upon the reality of this narrative, I judge that God is not so much glorified by a faith that is perfect, but by a faith that is real. A faith that He Himself has born, and one that He Himself will perfect.
Philippians 1:6 is true and we’d better base our lives on it.
October 28, 2009
Reading the Bible and Its Subversion of Arminian Theology
John Piper has some very helpful advice here.
This is the ‘bread and butter’ of Bible reading. Droves of people don’t get this. Not to be too emphatic here, but if this principle were understood by all Christians then it would significantly reduce the number of Arminians out there, and the number of legalists.
Read his post and feel the good news.
October 21, 2009
What is a ‘Relationship With Jesus?’
In an evangelical culture where phrases like “personal relationship with Jesus” have become common lingo, it is refreshing and intensely edifying to realize that there is no such thing as a relationship with Jesus apart from the Holy Spirit. My seeing and knowing and loving Jesus Christ is the present and continual work of the Holy Spirit in my life. My relationship with Jesus and his residence “in my heart” are just different articulations of the glorious reality that the Spirit makes real! He engineers my present experience of Jesus that is solely rooted in the objective, historical work of Jesus on the cross. It is by the Spirit that the objective work of God outside of me, in election before the world began and in the crucifixion of Jesus, is brought to have its intimate effect inside of me. The Spirit is my feet, my eyes, my tongue—so that I would walk in Christ’s way, see Christ’s majesty, and taste Christ’s glory.
October 19, 2009
My Plea for You to Live, Part 1: ‘Living it Up’ is Actually ‘Wasting Your Life’
Job 14:5 Since his days are determined,
and the number of his months is with you,
and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,
6 look away from him and leave him alone,
that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.
The days of mankind are numbered. Humans die. I will die. You will die. In the midst of his distress and on the basis of this reality, Job asked that God just leave him alone. “If life is so short,” he ponders, “why don’t you just let people go and enjoy what little time they have here.”
Have you ever thought that before? This is the doctrine of life for many people. You operate everything you do based upon this logic. The problem is that it misses something very important. Humans were created for eternity. However short our physical life on the earth may be, that is not the end. In fact, it must be just the start. The soul of man is nothing temporal. Just consider the depths of the emotions. Consider what it means to be moved by something–a sunset, the beach shore, a light snow fall when it isn’t below 0. We are beings who have been made for forever.
Made for forever and made for God.
To believe anything else is actually to cheapen what it means to be alive. It is the greatest irony invented by humans: “living it up” is actually wasting your life.
My name is Jonathan Parnell. My wife is Melissa and our daughters are Elizabeth and Hannah. We live in Minneapolis, MN where I am a member at Bethlehem Baptist Church, an apprentice in the seminary, and an employee at Desiring God.
