“Truth is by its nature imperishable, for if it perishes, it is still true that truth has perished; therefore truth has not perished.” – St. Augustine
Here’s a great clip of Yale scholar and philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff explaining, with analytic precision, various dimensions of the relationship between love and justice. Note how he points out that there are two dimensions of love in the Christian tradition. One dimension involves positively seeking the good of another. The other dimension involves respecting the worth of the other. The reason this distinction is important is because you can seek the good of another without respecting their worth. This is the problem of paternalistic benevolence. This is the problem of, for example, foreign aid.
Compelling as his argument is, I question the distinction. I don’t think you actually can seek the good of another without respecting their worth. I don’t think you can, in fact, have love without justice-or one dimension of love without the other. As Dallas Willard has said, “Justice without love will never do justice to justice, nor will ‘love’ without justice ever do justice to love.”
“When God designed the glorious work of recovering fallen man, he appointed two great means thereof: The one was, ‘the giving of his Son for them;’ and the other was, ‘the giving of his Spirit to them.’ And hereby a way was opened for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed Trinity; which is the utmost end of all the works of God.” – John Owen, Pneumatologia
This has to be the most intensely theological syllabus ever written. Walttke says,
“Simply put, late papers are NOT accepted based on the following rationale:
- The issue is not so much an inconvenience to Dr. Waltke (or his TA for that matter). If that were the primary issue, then he would grade late papers because it is fundamental to his Christian commitment to put the interests of others before his own.
- The issue concerns the apparent laxity with which extensions are often granted. This is not Christian education. Wisdom is living within boundaries. The cosmos exists because the Creator provided boundaries for air, water, land. And he also provided temporal boundaries for seasons. Without boundaries the cosmos would degenerate back into anarchy. It is the essence of Christian living that we live within boundaries. Liberals want no boundaries. They want freedom without form, liberty without law, lovemaking without marriage. This is a fundamental battle. Dr. Waltke is distressed when Christians do not respect boundaries and when students do not respect temporal boundaries.
- Wisdom also entails knowing the goal and devising a strategy to achieve it. Students must be aware from the syllabus what is required of them and should be able to strategize a successful model to achieve it. Laxity and uncertainty with regard to deadlines actually confuse the students and mitigate against a good Christian education. Paradoxically, “grace” sounds Christian and pastoral and “law” sounds non-Christian; but, sometimes so-called “grace” and “pastoral concerns” encourage libertarianism and in truth is non-Christian and non-pastoral. Consciously or unconsciously students realize that there is a fudge factor here, enabling them to rationalize their not turning in work on time.
- The issue also pertains to spiritual life, a subject on which a seminary rightly prides itself. But, the spiritual life includes self-control, discipline, etc.”
“The stones of the church are covered with gold, while its children are left naked. The food of the poor is taken to feed the eyes of the rich, and amusement is provided for the curious, while the needy have not even the necessities of life.”
- St Bernard, Apologia
“A landscape can sing about God, a body about a Spirit.”
***
“In the last analysis, what does the word “sacrifice” mean? Or even the word “gift”? He who has nothing can give nothing. The gift is God’s –to God.”
- Dag Hammarskjöld, Markings
“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”
G.K. Chesterton, A Short History of England
…are “going out.”
This is fantastic. Shai Linne, raps a song from his latest album, Storiez, at the WorshipGod conference.
The lyrics:
It’s the greatest story ever told.
A God pursues foes whose hearts turned cold.
The greatest story ever told.
Restoring all that the enemy stole.
The greatest story ever told.
The glory of Christ is the goal, behold.
The greatest story ever told.
It’s the greatest.
Alright check it: let’s go back in time, brethren. Divine lessons always keep your mind guessing. The glory of the Triune God is what I’m stressing. The origin of humankind was fine. Blessings were plenteous. God is amazingly generous. Crazy benefits in a state of innocence. God told the man what he could taste was limited. Not long after came our nemesis in Genesis. He scammed well, man fell, damned to hell. The whole human race—he represented it. Fooled by the serpent, man through his work, woman through birth—even the earth ruled by the curses. But instead of a wake immediately. God said her Seed would be the One to crush the head of the snake. Yo, wait what is this? Whoa, a gracious gift! In Jehovah’s faithfulness He clothed their nakedness. This was so they would know their Savior’s kiss and bliss. But first, many growing pains exist suffering in the worst form, ugly deeds. Eve’s firstborn seed made his brother bleed. Indeed things got progressively worse. Every section of the earth is been affected by the curse. And though God’s judgments against sin were gory, praise the Lord! It’s not the end of the story.
Next scene: man’s sin was extreme. God gets steamed, man gets creamed. The Lord is so Holy that He drowned them in the water. Fire in the valley of slaughter – Sodom and Gomorrah. But at the same time, He’s so gracious and patient that from one man He created a whole nation. Eventually enslaved by the mentally depraved, they cried out to the only One with the strength that He could save. He brought them out with signs and wonders – satisfied their hunger. Then He appeared on Mount Sinai in thunder. Where He laid down the law for God-ruled government. Commonly referred to as the Mosaic covenant. Sin was imputed. So for man to know he’s unrighteous, God instituted animal sacrifices. This was to show our constant need for atonement. And when it came to sin, the Lord would never condone it. And when His people disobeyed and went astray, He raised up prophets and kings to lead them in the way. But they would get foul with their idolatry—wet and wild prophecy—send them into exile. To take their punishment like a grown man. Then with His own hand He placed them back in their homeland. And while in their forefather’s land they dwelt, they awaited the arrival of Emmanuel.
After 400 silent years filled with sighs and tears. In Bethlehem the Messiah appears. God in the flesh—Second Person of the Trinity. At thirty begins His earthly ministry. Baffling cats with accurate, exact facts and back-to-back miraculous acts. A stumbling block to the self righteous. But the humbled—His flock, said “There’s no one else like this.” He came from heaven to awake the numb. Demonstrated His power over nature, son. A foretaste of the Kingdom and the age to come. But the reason He came was to pay the sum for the depths of our wickedness, our wretched sinfulness. Bless His magnificence! He is perfect and innocent. Yet He was wrecked and His death. He predicted it. Next He was stretched, paid a debt that was infinite. He said that He finished it. Resurrected so the elect would be the recipients of its benefits. Through faith and penitence we get to be intimate. His grace is heaven sent, it never diminishes. Now the Holy Spirit indwelling is the evidence for heaven’s future residents who truly represent Jesus, the Author, Producer, Director, and Star of a story that will never, ever end!
HT: Justin Taylor
The WTJ article, written by my good friend Jason Hood, can be read here for free.
I’ve bcome increasingly sensitive to the fact that I cannot see into the future, and yet also convinced that wisdom ought to enable me to face its uncertainties without fear or anxiety. How is this possible? The book of Proverbs points to two interlocking aspects of wisdom for the future: planning for the possibilities and trusting in God’s providence.
The first of these, planning, revolves around the responsibility we have as human beings to think (Proverbs 1:1-7). As a book of wisdom literature, Proverbs insists that we steward the life of the minds God has given us. And so, it follows that when this responsibility is extended to the future, stewardship requires us to apply our minds in planning:
The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty. (Prov 21:5)
Just as we would say, “Haste makes waste,” Proverbs stresses the importance of careful planning, especially with respect to the future. One of the most important aspects of planning is the pursuit of good advice. In fact, a particularly large swath of Proverbs’ teaching on planning involves the concept of listening to and accepting guidance from others:
- Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance. (Proverbs 1:5)Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. (Proverbs 15:22; cf. 11:14)
Make plans by seeking advice. (Proverbs 20:18a; cf. 24:6)
Yet Proverbs is quick to warn us that “the advice of the wicked is deceitful” (Proverbs 12:5). Merely seeking advice is not enough. Advice must come from those who are righteous and wise. Proverbs is emphatic when it comes to reminding us that God does not tolerate plans that neglect his priorities. In fact, listed among the “six things the LORD hates” is a “heart that devises wicked schemes” (Proverbs 6:16, 18), and several proverbs repeat this warning against bad advice in several different ways:
- There is deceit in the hearts of those who plot evil, but joy for those who promote peace. (Proverbs 12:20)Do not those who plot evil go astray? But those who plan what is good find love and faithfulness. (Proverbs 14:22)
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14:12)
These warnings are crucial when it comes to seeking financial advice. Do we self-consciously look for advisors who seek first the kingdom of God with all we have been given — not just a phat resume or a big black bottom line? Or do we think of financial advice as something that is merely “practical” or perhaps spiritually neutral such that we can go to any advisor who is able to finagle our finances with an eye for profit? “Those who plot evil go astray,” says Proverbs, and one of the easiest ways to stray into financial disobedience is by allowing our plans to focus exclusively on ourselves. “Evil” may sound like a harsh way of talking about financial plans that fail to take risks for mercy, justice and generosity, but we should remember that the apostle Paul told Timothy that “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10). Just as “all a man’s ways seem innocent to him” (Proverbs 16:2), selfish financial plans often appear to be “prudent.” Money is mighty, and few things have the power to pervert our way of thinking about the future more than plans which fail to fight financial fears with God’s promises. Our natural proclivity is to be selfish and afraid and afraid when it comes to the future. Because of this, we need the advice of those who are not only competent to help with the “nuts and bolts” of our decisions but also able and eager to remind us that nothing in this life will last. As Proverbs says, “Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle” (Proverbs 23:5). And so, rather than accept the advice of advisors who encourage us to store up treasures on earth where cars rust, fur coats are moth eaten, houses get termites, and things tend to fall apart, we ought to seek long-term advisors like Jesus who will challenge us to “store up treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Matthew 6:19-20).
As insistent as Proverbs is on our responsibility to plan wisely, the most notable piece of wisdom this book provides for the future is a relentless reminder to trust in God’s providence:
- Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. (Proverbs 19:21)A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way? (Proverbs 20:24)
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth. (Proverbs 27:1)
Proverbs does not criticize money-making, wealth creation or strategic planning in general—it commands and encourages both. However, Proverbs insists that God owns the future and warns against the attitude that “boasts about tomorrow” in self-reliance. Proverbs rebukes the assumption that human beings have the ability to determine their own destiny or chart their own course in the world. Proverbs addresses the spirit of the “rich fool” against which Jesus warned in his parable, the attitude that says, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19). This attitude drives many to make extravagant plans for the future that they may never enjoy, and it is diametrically opposed to what wisdom dictates. We are to “commit to the LORD whatever [we] do” (Proverbs 16:3), depending on God’s providence for our provision. After all, if Jesus, who is God, submitted himself and his plans to the will of the Father in Gethsemane, how much more should we as creatures commit our future to him?
Of course, what is important is not that we say, “Lord willing,” whenever we make a plan. Rather than merely paying lip service to God’s providence, we ought to pray for a mindset of humble reliance to direct us in all that we do. We must not do anything without recognizing that our “life is but a breath” (Job 7:7) which rests in God for its future, “a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14).
NB: This post is adapted from an article that I originally wrote for Generous Giving.
…has now officially accepted Kelly Kapic’s and my book project, God So Loved He Gave for publication!
“It is a great part of a Believers work, to have Christ’s Image very much upon his imagination and so upon his mind. As if he saw him in the Manger, in his temptations, in his preaching, in his praying, watching, fasting, weeping, doing good, as crowned with Thorns, as crucified, &c. that a Crucified Saviour being still as it were before our Eyes, we may remember the price of our Redemption, and the example which we have to imitate; and that we are not to live like a Dives or a Caesar, but like the Servants of a Crucified Christ. A Crucifix well befitteth the Imagination and Mind of a Believer.” – Richard Baxter
HT: Kelly Kapic
“After the seas are all cross’d, (as they seem already to be
crossed’d,)
After the great captains and engineers have accomplish’d
Their work,
After the noble inventors, after the scientists, the chemist,
the geologist, ethnologist,
Finally shall come the poet worthy of that name,
The true son of God shall come singing his songs.”
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass quoted by Walter Bruggemann in Finally Comes the Poet
Via Tom Okie via Andy Crouch:
Crouch comments: “The best part of this marvelous deconstructed music video is at the bridge, when Nataly Dawn sings, “Don’t make me sing this part of the song—the lyrics are so bad, we’re going to skip ahead.” There’s a lot to admire in this sly and super-catchy arrangement, but it does make me wonder why so much popular music by and for hip white people is so flat in affect. C’mon Nataly, don’t you believe in something enough to belt your heart out?”
…but the daughter has consumed the mother.”
- Rev. Cotton Mather, 1600s America
Just found this new gem being advertised on the Covenant College Website:
“The first Thorn was published in 1970 as the brainchild of a small group of Dr. Nicholas Barker’s creative writing students, and Covenant’s fine arts publication is alive and flourishing today. On a yearly basis, student editors have gathered submissions and creatively published a body of poetry, short prose, photography, and artwork for the Covenant community. Thorn: An Anthology features the publication’s finest work from 1970 to the present. Editor Sarah Lester (’07) compiled and designed the anthology as her Senior Integration Project, an endeavor that grew out of a brainstorming session in Nicholas Barker’s office.
Thorn: An Anthology includes over 100 pages of contributions from the students and faculty members listed below. The book is warmly dedicated to Dr. Barker, who helped cultivate the college’s rich literary and artistic culture, and includes a short dedication piece written by Dr. Jim Wildeman. Thorn: An Anthology also features a “Where Are They Now” index with current information about the anthology’s contributors.”
You can buy it here.
Focus on Family’s Webzine Boundless quotes an article I wrote for Generous Giving’s Stewardship Study Notes here. It addresses the ticklish issue of whether saving is biblical.
I’m happy to announce that the NIV Stewardship Study Bible is now available in stores. Brett Elder, one of the editors, wrote me this morning to let me know that copies have now left Zondervan’s warehouse and are populating the major retail outlets around the country and over seas. In fact, he was able to deliver fifty pre-release copies in Kenya to various international leaders who are championing the message of biblical generosity around the world.
It was my privilege to work on the editorial content review board for this Bible which I believe is going to prove to be a great resource, pressing the church towards greater levels of biblical stewardship and generosity. The Bible also makes extensive use of Generous Giving’s Stewardship Bible Study Notes which I wrote with Jason Hood and Jasper Reynolds. These notes are available for free and can be accessed here.
For a preview of the Stewardship Study Bible’s actual content click here. Or why not just buy it at Amazon?
“For how could there be any pleroma [fullness] or principle, or power, or any other God, since it behoves God, as the fullness of all things, to contain and evelop all things, and to be contained and limited by none. For if there is anything beyond Him He is not the fullness of all things, nor does He contain all things.”
Notice how closely Irenaeus correlates the ideas of 1) the fullness of God and 2) the embraciveness of God. If there is anything beyond God’s embrace he is not the fullness of all things. Thus, to receive anything from God is to belong to him and to belong to him is to receive.
“The Treatise of Irenaeus of Lugdunum Against the Heresies,” trans. And ed. F.R. Montgomery Hitchcock, pp. 45.
“Those who have more come to the aid of those who lack, and we are constantly together. Over all that we receive we bless the Maker of all things through his Son Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit.”
The First Apology of Justin, the Martyr, trans. Edward R. Hardy pp. 276ff
This is going to be good…
How the Father gives up His Son for us
1) He does not spare him
2) He offers him
3) He sends him
4) He gives him
5) He sacrifices him
6) He forsakes him
How the Son gives up Himself for us
1) He does not grasp his rights
2) He comes to us
3) He dwells with us
4) He suffers for us
5) He is slain for us
6) He dies for us
7) He offers himself for us
8) He lays himself down for us
9) He empties himself for us
10) He sacrifices himself for us
11) He gives himself for us
12) He hands over himself for us
13) He yields himself for us
14) He becomes poor for us
15) He becomes flesh for us
16) He is poured out for us
17) He gives himself as a ransom for us
18) He is gives himself as food and drink for us
“How great a God is He who gives God!”
- St. Augustine, On the Trinity
“Paul’s thought that God “did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all” (Rom 8:31) points to a certain convergance between sacrificing and giving. The gospel is all about God’s giving. The drama of redemption begins when God gives his word to Abraham in the form of an unconditional promise: “I will make you a great nation and I will bless you; and I will make your name great… and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Gen 11:2-3). The covenant of grace begins with God giving his word. And it reaches its apex with God giving his Word, his only begotten Son, in fulfillment of his earlier word. The atonement ultimately concerns God’s self-giving.”
- Kevin J. Vanhoozer, “The Atonement in Postmodernity: Guilt, Goats, and Gifts”
“No matter how grateful we are, gold will not make the world think our God is good; it will make people think that our god is gold. That is no honor to the supremacy of his worth.”
- John Piper, Let the Nations be Glad! p. 102
“Personal peace means just to be let alone, not be troubled by the troubles of other people, whether across the world or across the city–to live one’s life with minimal possibilities of being personally disturbed. Personal peace means wanting to have my personal life pattern undisturbed in my lifetime, regardless of what the result will be in the lifetimes of my children and grandchildren. Affluence means an overwhelming and eve-increasing prosperity–a life made up of things, things, and more things–a success judged by an ever-higher level of material abundance.”
Francis A. Shaeffer, How Should We Then Live?, p. 205.
It’s a nagging question that’s been haunting me recently. What is human flourishing? Can we give an account? I’ve got a working definition, but I wonder what you guys think? Any takers?
Increasingly, my inclination has been to define human flourishing in terms of a participation in God’s gifts. I think Paul had something like this in mind when he said “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” (2 Cor. 9:11). That’s a good word, at least to begin with, on the nature of human flourishing.
I’ll have more on this and other supporting passages later. But first, what do others think? Can you give a clear account of the nature of human flourishing? What does it look like?
“Why ‘gift’ exactly? The primary reason is that gift is a kind of tracendental category in relation to all the topoi of theology, in a similar fashion to ‘word.’ Creation and grace are gifts; Incarnation is the supreme gift; the Fall, evil and violence are the refusal of gift; atonement is the renewed and hyperbolic gift that is for-giveness; the supreme name of the Holy Spirit is donum (according to Agustine); the Church is the community that is given to humanity and is constituted through the harmonious blending of diverse gifts (according to the apostle Paul).”
- John Milbank, Being Reconciled: Ontology and Pardon, ix.
I haven’t read enough of Milbank yet to know what to think of him. But I do have one concern. That concern consists of the danger posed by focusing on the category of the ‘gift’ in such a way that the Trinity, the Spirit, the atonement, the church, and everything else ends up turning into little more than great examples of some ‘deep’ ontological principle. With that said, however, Milbank and the other theologians of the ‘gift’ are definitely onto something in their emphasis on the gift. As 1 John 5:11 itself says so succinctly, “And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.” There’s one active verb here in the testimony, and that verb is “given.” This emphasis is hard to ignore.
Here’s Herman Bavinck at his best…
“The fruits of Christ’s sacrifice are not restricted to any one area of life; they are not limited, as so many people think nowadays, to the religious-ethical life, to the heart, the inner chamber, or the church, but are extended to the entire world. For however powerful sin may be, the free gift is not like the trespass. The grace of God and the free gift through grace are superabundant (Rom. 5:15).”
- Reformed Dogmatics, 3: 451.
by J.R. Caines
I cut down the curtains
like pulling a bandage off bare light.
I cracked the lame chairs into sticks
and stacked them by the road,
herded out half the ailing furniture
into the yard and set them free,
burglarized my own home
carrying off the plunder,
and burned boxes of small notations,
mailings and magazines.
From the fire I rescued one photograph
of blue domes on a Greek island.
My good friend Lowen Howard just sent me these mesmerizing photographs of this man who paints himself into his surroundings. For some reason, these pictures immediately reminded me of that hackneyed old quote in The Weight of Glory where C.S. Lewis says, “The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing.”
The Avett Brothers have a new album out, I and Love and You which you can listen to in its entirety for free here at NPR.
I like these guys for their unadorned chords and honest lyrics. The words of their songs have all the stuff of life in them. They sing about dirt roads, beach umbrellas, and sin. The Avett Brothers seem to know that we’re all outlaws, murderers, and fools in need of redemption.
Thanks to Fritz Schalmo for the heads up on this link.
