A Boomer in the Pew

The Profound Danger of Saying "This is What the Bible Means to Me"

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Interpretation of Scripture (Part 1 of 7)

I wasn't in Dr. Grudem's class back in 2005.  But, for some reason he jumped out of his text and spent seven weeks instructing his class on how to properly interpret Scripture.

Dr. Grudem spent four years going through his Systematic Theology in his Scottsdale Bible Church Sunday school class.

I hope to accomplish this task in this calendar year.  Therefore, rather than ignore his seven week out of text teaching on this subject, I am going to pick up my pace over the next few days on these seven lectures.

When it comes to matters of faith, our post-modern culture seems to be completely satisfied with a relativistic philosophy.  This viewpoint would contend that there is no absolute truth.  Truth, this viewpoint contends, is relative and subjective to each individual.

This is how a post-modern culture can contend that a Buddhist and a Christian, both holding completely different worldviews, can both be right.  Our society tends to believe that truth is whatever you believe it to be, and at the same time, truth is whatever I believe it to be.

Although this seems preposterous, I have often seen this relativism brought into the church as a group of people are seeking to understand a particular passage of scripture.

Sitting around a table you might hear, "this is what this passage means to me", and then someone else will chime in, "nice, and this is what it means to me".  These two views might be completely contradictory, but the group will generally go away giving no heed to where the actual truth might lie, but were pleased to hear the contradictory truths all in the spirit of sharing.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have nothing against the healthy sharing of thoughts and ideas.  The danger lies in allowing a sneaky relativism into our belief system.

The Buddhist and the Christian cannot both be right.  One of them is wrong.  Let's be honest and have a healthy disagreement instead of the nonsense that both can be right.

The writers of the Westminster Confession of Faith dealt with this very issue back in the 17th century.  They wrote:

"The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself: and therefore, when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched and known by other places that speak more clearly."

In other words, there is only one meaning for each text.

Therefore, we should amend our understanding, and our subsequent speech to, "I wonder if this is what God is saying to us", rather than reporting our individual, many times spur of the moment beliefs.

What are your thoughts on this subject?

Here's the audio and notes from Dr. Wayne Grudem's class:

Interpretation of Scripture (Pt 1 of 7)

Download Interpretation of Scripture (Pt 1 of 7)

Note:  hover your mouse over the above audio player to find the start button.

Is the Bible Only Understandable by Those With Seminary Degrees?

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Chapter 6 

The Four Characteristics of Scripture: (2) Clarity

There is a school of thought that suggests that the world made a significant change once the Bible was translated so that the common man could for himself read and understand the Bible.

Prior to the Reformation, the Bible was only available in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.  Therefore, it was nearly impossible for the common man to consider reading the Bible for himself.

John Wycliffe (c. 1328 – 31 December 1384), an early dissodent of the Roman Catholic Church, opposed this harboring of the Bible and in 1382 translated the Bible into English in what is now known as the Wycliffe Bible.

Carol and I attended a traveling museum, a few years back, called From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America.  The museum's collection includes hundreds of Bibles.  It was here that I was able to photograph scores of important Bibles in history including Wycliffe's Poor Man's Bible (pictured above).

In the sixth chapter of Grudem's text, we come upon the the doctrine of clarity which he defines as:

"The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it."

As Grudem points out in his lecture (see audio below), the Bible itself makes it clear that it is understandable with God's help and obedience.  Further, the Bible instructs that we should become students of God's words protrayed in the Bible.

But here is an important fact for all of us to consider:  if the people in the pews are not reading the Bible for themselves, then they are certain to come under the spell of hucksters seeking their own personal gain.

I remember reading of Martin Luther's humiliation as he witnessed people crawling on their bloody knees giving alms to the Roman Catholic Church hoping to buy their way into heaven.

It was this very scene that birthed the Reformation in Luther's heart and brought about his ninety-five theses that he nailed to the church door in Wittenberg.

I have read the Bible through, cover to cover, twice now in the last two years.  I can personally attest that a great deal of the Bible is easily understandable.  Certainly there are things difficult to understand, and further, there are things in the Bible that are complete mysteries to us.

But, these few things shouldn't prevent us from the blessings of the whole.  As Paul told Timothy:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." (Timothy 3:16-17)

I desire to be competent and equipped for every good work.  How about you?

Grudem - The Four Characteristics of Scripture - (2) Clarity

Download Grudem's Notes - The Four Characteristics of Scripture - (2) Clarity

Feeling Jealous of Moses' Dinner with God

I was reading in Exodus this morning, on my annual journey through the Bible, and came upon the following verses:

"Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank." (Exodus 24:9-11)

Perhaps it is wrong, I'm not sure, but whenever I read of these men of old coming into the presence of God, I find myself filled with a bit of jealousy.

Not jealousy in the way of seeing something spectacular, but jealousy because I desire to be in the presence of my adopted Father.

I desire to be with the one who chose me, who created me.  The one who adopted me as his son, and has given me an inheritance beyone imagination.

Not being a Greek scholar, I'm not sure what "saw" here means, as I know that no one has fully seen God. 

Nonetheless, can you imagine the things that these people witnessed at the foot of Sinai?

As I was trying to decide what image to use for this post, I decided to use an image from the Hubbell telescope as those images are about the most wonderful, and mind-bending images I have ever seen.

Here's a question to ponder:  If you were able to interview Moses after his descent from the presence of God, would you ask, "What was it like?", or would you ask, "What was He like?"

Ponder the difference.  :)

Rightly Raising My Angry Fist To God?

When various trials occur in our lives, it is very common for our human nature to murmur. 

I'm not suggesting that murmuring is necessarily a good or right thing.  I'm just saying that it happens.

Here's what I am saying:  when we murmur, our angst is generally misplaced.

One thing I have learned, in my two journeys through the Bible, is that God is absolutely sovereign.

Theologian R.C. Sproal puts it this way:

"If there is one maverick molecule in all the universe, then God is not sovereign. And if God is not sovereign, He is not God."

When we lost 45% of our cash assets in October of 2008, I said to God, "God, look at what happened to me!"  When a business agreement went south, and significantly impacted our lives, I said to God, "God, look at what this guy is doing to us!"

Misplaced angst?

When Israel began their wandering in the desert, only three days after crossing the Red Sea, they murmured to Moses.

"Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”"

Here's C.H. Spurgeon on this scene:

"Observe—and this is worthy of note—that the murmuring was not ostensibly against God. They murmured against Moses. And have you ever noticed how the most of us, when we are in a murmuring vein, are not honest enough to murmur distinctly against God. No: the child is dead, and we form a conjecture that there was some wrong treatment on the part of nurse, or surgeon, or ourselves; we lay our hold on that for which there may not be a shadow of proof, and the murmuring is upon that point. Or we have lost money, and have been brought down from opulence to almost poverty; then some one person was dishonest, a certain party betrayed us in a transaction by failing to fulfill his part; all the murmuring is heaped on that person. We deny, perhaps indignantly, that we murmur against God; and to prove it we double the zeal with which we murmur against Moses. To complain of the second cause is about as sensible as the conduct of the dog, which bites the stick with which it is beaten. It owes no anger to the stick, but to the person who uses it. Is there evil in the city and the Lord hath not done it? Whoever is the instrument, the Lord overrules. In our heart of hearts our rebellion is against the Lord himself. We have not quite honesty enough to rail against God openly and avowedly, and so we hypocritically cover up our repining against him by murmuring against some person, occasion, or event."

God is not Santa Claus, only there to provide good gifts to us.  God is Lord of all, and sometimes he ordains that trials come upon us.

At the end of the day, am I saying that it was God who removed 45% of my cash assets?  Am I saying that it was God who allowed a written business agreement to head south costing us a significant loss of income?

Yes.

I am learning that it is foolhardy to place anyone, or anything at the very root of life's path.  I'm not suggesting an irresponsible passiveness when we encounter such things, only that God Almighty uses these things to teach and test.

The Israelites should have mumbled to God.  When we lost 45% of our cash assets, I should have mumbled directly to God.  When our business agreement went south, I should have mumbled to God.

It would have been more honest for me to point my finger at God, rather than blaming others, or circumstances.

God is big enough to receive our misplaced angst, and in time will teach us to bow before him as King, Lord, Savior, Creator, and more importantly, Father.

The Inerrancy of Scripture: Are There Any Errors in the Bible?

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Chapter 5 - The Inerrancy of Scripture

We are spending the first eight weeks of our study seeking to understand the nature of this Bible that we have in our hands.

You see, as we delve into what the Bible actually says over the course of the year, we are going to come upon doctrines that are very, very difficult to understand with our natural minds.

When this occurs, a natural tendancy might be to allow a crack in our belief about the nature of the Bible itself.  Can we trust the Bible?  Are there errors in the Bible?  How do we know we have the right books in the Bible?  Was anything left out?

Therefore, the seven weeks that we will spend considering the many claims about the Bible, and further understanding the objections of the scoffers is time well spent.

There are quite a few people that would dismiss the whole of the Bible because they believe that the Bible contains errors.  Because of this belief, they dismiss or greatly reduce the Bible's authority for our lives.

On the contrary, there are those who contend that the Bible is inerrant, with every single word therein being absolutely true, literal, and worthy of our complete trust.

Those holding to the Bible's inerrancy, for example, contend that Jonah was literally in the belly of a whale for three days, while some might contend that this story is merely allegory.

Here is Dr. Wayne Grudem's definintion of inerrancy:

"The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not affirm anything that is contrary to fact."

In 1978, a collection of nearly 300 noted evangelical scholars, including James Boice, Norman L. Geisler, John Gerstner, Carl F. H. Henry, Kenneth Kantzer, Harold Lindsell, John Warwick Montgomery, Roger Nicole, J. I. Packer, Robert Preus, Earl Radmacher, Francis Schaeffer, R. C. Sproul, and John Wenham, gathered to produce a document called the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

This document contains 19 affirmations about the inerrancy of the Bible along with a brief exposition giving readers the foundation for these beliefs.

Furthermore, the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerracy contains a "short statement" which compresses the work into five succinct statements:

1. God, who is Himself Truth and speaks truth only, has inspired Holy Scripture in order thereby to reveal Himself to lost mankind through Jesus Christ as Creator and Lord, Redeemer and Judge. Holy Scripture is God's witness to Himself.

2. Holy Scripture, being God's own Word, written by men prepared and superintended by His Spirit, is of infallible divine authority in all matters upon which it touches: it is to be believed, as God's instruction, in all that it affirms: obeyed, as God's command, in all that it requires; embraced, as God's pledge, in all that it promises.

3. The Holy Spirit, Scripture's divine Author, both authenticates it to us by His inward witness and opens our minds to understand its meaning.

4. Being wholly and verbally God-given, Scripture is without error or fault in all its teaching, no less in what it states about God's acts in creation, about the events of world history, and about its own literary origins under God, than in its witness to God's saving grace in individual lives.

5. The authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired if this total divine inerrancy is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible's own; and such lapses bring serious loss to both the individual and the Church.

Personally, I don't struggle with this issue.  I believe in the inerrancy of the Bible.  For me to think anything else would put my human understanding above God's infinite and perfect understanding.  I just don't see myself in heaven someday questioning God about what He wrote for us in the Bible.

What about you?  Do you believe in the Bible's inerrancy?

If you would like to give further study to the issue of the Bible's inerrancy, Dr. Grudem spent three weeks on this in his Sunday school class at Scottsdale Bible Church. 

Please find below audio from Grudem's three classes and his lecture notes:

Grudem - The Inerrancy of Scripture (Pt. 1 of 3)

Grudem - The Inerrancy of Scripture (Pt. 2 of 3)

Grudem - The Inerrancy of Scripture (Pt. 3 of 3)

Download Grudem's Notes - The Inerrancy of Scripture

The Dark Winter of the Soul

I maintain a website for a men's Bible study called The Marketplace Bible Study. 

I thought our most recent topic might be of interest to my readers, so I copied the post below.

Occasionally, in our walk with God, we can find ourselves in what seems to be a dark, cold place apart from God. 

The Bible is full of accounts where God is seemingly quiet. 

In such cases, it is not uncommon for our spirits to grow confused, afraid, and perhaps even despondant in what many have called the dark winter of the soul.

Pastor Jamie Rasmussen shared with us that "when it comes to God, and our relationship to him, faith and faithfulness are higher values than emotional or physical experiences."

During these times, Pastor Jamie put forth these four points:

• Use suffering and dry seasons to fortify your faith. (Matthew 26:36-42)
• Remain steadfast and determined in the disciplines of your faith.  (Revelation 2:5)
• Practice obedience.  (Philippeans 2:12)
• Persevere.  (Psalm 30:5)

Listen as Pastor Jamie Rasmussen explains:

Winter of the Soul

Note:  hover your mouse over the above player to find the start button.

Are All the Words in the Bible God's Words? All of Them? Really?

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Chapter 4 - The Four Characteristics of Scripture: (1) Authority

Dr. Grudem mentions in his audio that this particular topic is the absolute bedrock for the serious student of the Bible. 

The Bible itself, the prophets, and the apostles all make claim that every single word in the Scriptures are God's and it is the Christian's job to understand this and to accordingly obey them.

Hear it from Dr. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology:

"The authority of Scripture means that all the words in Scripture are God's words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God."

The Apostle Paul is one of Dr. Grudem's sources for such a statement:

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness," (2 Timothy 3:16)

As we journey through the doctrines of the Bible, we are absolutely certain to encounter teachings that are completely adrift from our natural sensibilities. 

When we encounter them, what will be our response?  Take them out of the Bible like Thomas Jefferson?  Ignore them?  Believe that some things in the Scriptures are true, and some things are not true?  If so, who is the judge of such things?  Ourselves?  Individually?  Really?  You think God would leave that up to us?

If we don't first come to grips with the authority of Scripture, then we are certain to find ourselves shipwrecked in our thinking as we attempt to understand God's infinite mind with our finite minds.

So...what say you?  Every single word in the Bible from God?  Every one?

Resource materials from Dr. Grudem's Sunday school class:

Grudem, Four Characteristics of Scripture, Part 1

Grudem, Four Characteristics of Scripture, Part 2

Note:  hover your mouse over the above players to find the start buttons.

Download Dr. Grudem's Notes on Scriptural Authority

How Do We Know That We Have the Right Books in the Bible?

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Chapter 3 - The Canon of Scripture

Audio and notes from Dr. Wayne Grudem's Sunday school class:

Wayne Grudem - The Old Testament Canon

Wayne Grudem - The New Testament Canon

Note:  hover your mouse over the above player to find the start button.

Download Wayne Grudem's Notes - The Canon of Scripture

We ended last week's article with the conclusion that God's written words in the Bible are the most reliable place for us to know God, and to understand his desires.

However, if we are going to base our lives on the words in this book, how can we know that we have the right books in the Bible?

A very important question, right?

Here's the "Reader's Digest" version of Grudem's answer:

• God began the canon of Scripture with his writing of the 10 Commandments.
• God instructed Moses to write down everything from Mount Sinai, and Moses continued his writings throughout his life.
• Joshua, and those who filled the office of prophet continued writing the words of God until God quite speaking around 435 BC with the book of Malachi.
• Although Jewish history continued to be written by historians, these same historians lamented the fact that God has not spoken since Malachi.
• God then came speaking in the person of Jesus Christ.
• The recorded words of Jesus, in the Gospels, and the Holy Spririt inspired words of the apostles were now God's design to communicate to his people.
• God's divine word to his people ended with the book of Revelation and the canon of Scripture is now closed.  

A foundational belief that we have the actual words of God in our Bibles in critical.  We are certain to come upon rough theological waters as we continue, and without this belief, we are certain to struggle even more.

I believe that the words contained in my ESV Study Bible are the actual words of God.

How about you?  What are your beliefs?  Actual words of God?

Homework:  Next week we move to chapter four:  The Four Characteristics of Scripture. 

Would You Pay More Attention if God Spoke to You Personally From Heaven Than Through the Bible?

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem - This post is part of my year-long journey through Dr. Wayne Grudem's world-renowned Systematic Theology.  I welcome and hope for your interaction.

Chapter 2 - The Word of God

Before we can now begin our year-long journey, we must first make two assumptions:

1. That the Bible is true and that it is, in fact, our only absolute standard of truth.
2. That the God which is spoken of in the Bible exists, and that he is who the Bible says he is: the Creator of heaven and earth and all things in them.

Of course, these are enormous assumptions for some, and we will certainly be exploring these very assumptions as we move along. 

As we place our gaze upon the whole of the Bible, we find that God has spoken to us in primarily two ways:

1. "The word of God" as a person: Jesus Christ (John 1:1)
2. "The word of God" as speech by God.

As we consider God's word as speech, it has come to us in a number of ways:

• God's decrees.  For example, God said, "Let there be light".  God's decrees cause something to happen which we can then witness.
• God's words of personal address.  The Bible is full of examples of this.  Think of God speaking to Adam and Eve, or God speaking from heaven during the baptism of Christ.
• God's words as speech through human lips.  Think of prophets like Moses, Elijah, or Jeremiah.
• God's words in written form (The Bible). 

Grudem goes on to say that it is this fourth way where the student of systematic theology will spend his/her time.  Although the other three ways are possible, it seems that God has chosen today to let us find him primarily through the written word: the Bible.

Dr. Grudem left this chapter with a very good question for us to consider:  Do you think you would pay more attention if God spoke to you from heaven or through the voice of a living prophet than if he spoke to you from the written words of Scripture?

My answer to this, right or wrong, is yes. 

If God were to appear in my home office right now, it would significantly change my life.  Yet, I don't seem to give his words in the Bible the same respect. 

I suppose some of this is only natural and I should give myself a break?  Or, I need to significantly deepen my understanding of the way God personally communicates to me today.

What say you?

Homework:  Next week we will explore chapter three and discuss what belongs in the Bible and what does not.  See you then!

Extra! Extra! Scottsdale Man Raised From the Dead

Sensational headline...right?

If this headline were to appear across the national media, I suspect it would likely be the story of the century.  Or, with our cynical post-modern minds, we immediately presume "tabloid headline".

Perhaps the greatest understanding for mankind to wrap its mind around is a beginning understanding of God's grace.  We've all heard the term. If fact, there are countless churches around the world where "grace" is even a part of the church's name. 

Yet, if we were to ask 100 people in the church to describe what's so amazing about grace, sadly many would stumble to answer.  And to be completely honest, I was in this camp for many years.

Here's the deal. 

The third chapter of Genesis describes the fall of man, and throughout the Bible's testimony we learn that there is a physical death, and a spiritual death.  It seems that we are all "born into sin" and into the most precarious position of being physically alive and spiritually dead. 

Here's Paul in Ephesians 2:1-7:

"And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

As my pastor (Jamie Rasmussen) pointed out in his message on Sunday, the word "dead" here is from the Greek word "nekrós" and means ... dead.

So, why do the angels in heaven rejoice with sounds of great praise when someone places their faith in Jesus the Messiah?  It's because God has just raised the dead to life. 

If you force upon yourself the discipline to plumb the depths of this understanding, then you too will be melted in the deepest parts of your soul and proclaim loudest praise to God for his amazing grace.

Dear reader, please set aside 40 minutes and listen to Pastor Jamie Rasmussen explains our position before holy God and why his grace truly is amazing.