The Apostle Paul and the Doctrine of Sovereignty

 (Photo courtesy of St Paul's)

¹² I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 
Philippians 1:12-18 ESV

I recently preached a sermon (a video of this sermon can be viewed here) over the above text. In it, I discussed how the Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote these words. What, then, is the reason for his great optimism? Paul was convinced that God was sovereign and had a plan of redemption that transcended any trial or circumstance. Moreover, Paul, though his situation was bleak, actively embraced the theological truth of God’s sovereignty and sought to be a willing participant in God’s plan of redemption.

What does sovereignty mean? The dictionary defines it as follows: “having supreme rank, power, or authority.” This seems to be correct with respect to God. Certainly, the Bible (and reason for that matter) teaches that God—the creator of all things, infinite in knowledge and power, eternal in being—is sovereign. God has supreme rank, power and authority. We can also conclude from this truth that this great God is intentional and has a plan. 

The passage listed above is a fine example of this. Paul clearly recognized this truth. This is why he was able to rejoice even though his circumstances were poor by earthly standards. As one writer notes: “Paul had been bound but the word of God could not be bound.” Yet, these poor circumstances were the means by which God furthered His redemptive plan. God is sovereign over all, God was sovereign in Paul’s circumstances, and God is sovereign in your life. 

We want to be careful when we discuss God’s sovereignty. Some, unfortunately, speak of God’s sovereignty as though it were sheer power or omnipotence. We must always remember that God’s sovereignty can never be separate from His moral goodness. Theologians very often organize God’s various attributes into two categories: natural and moral. Natural attributes are things such as omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, etc. God’s moral attributes are things such as his faithfulness, goodness, holiness, etc. Andrew Fuller once said that God’s natural attributes are those that evoke respect and the moral attributes are those that evoke love. In the end, however, we must never compartmentalize God and his attributes. People sometimes think of God as an all-powerful ruler, or, perhaps, only as a loving but impotent deity. Whenever we compartmentalize God in this way, we misunderstand Him altogether. God is a unity and all of His attributes work together in harmony. Everything that God does as the sovereign king of the universe is done from the perspective of perfect moral goodness. If all of this is true, then be a willing participant in God’s sovereign plan of redemption. 

   

View the sermon here.          

Denominationalism, Baptists, and the Bill of Rights

An appreciation for one’s denomination is not as prevalent today as it once was. Nevertheless, concerned members of the body of Christ should have an understanding and an appreciation for the heritage and contribution of their denomination. What are our distinctive beliefs? What have we contributed to the Christian community and society generally? These are important questions. Since I am a Baptist, I would like to recommend that you read a great article (here), written by Kenneth Keathley, regarding the Baptists key involvement in the adoption of our great nation’s Bill of Rights. 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY  

A Preliminary Response to “A Statement of the Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation”

A recent doctrinal statement has been released wherein Southern Baptists are implored to reject Calvinism as a theological benchmark and to embrace a series of doctrinal affirmations and denials that presumably affirm a kind of baptistic Arminianism. And indeed a number of prominent and respectable Baptist ministers and theologians have signed their name in approval. The document may be read here.

I have only briefly looked over this document, but I plan on reading it much more carefully in the near future. I will blog on this more fully at a later time. Nonetheless, I have a couple of preliminary observations:

“. . .we are asserting that the vast majority of Southern Baptists are not Calvinists. . . We believe it is time to move beyond Calvinism as a reference point for Baptist soteriology.”

Though I generally agree that Calvinism as a baptistic nomenclature is less than helpful (for reasons of ecclesiology and missiology rather than soteriology), I am troubled when the writer asserts that the majority of Baptists are not Calvinists. He may be right about this (in a robust 5 point sense); yet, I find myself asking: how does the writer know? In other words, he did not publish his research.

Also, something else disturbing to me is that the doctrinal affirmations and denials lack nuance. For example, when speaking of election, double predestination is assumed, and there is a failure to acknowledge moderate Calvinism which opts for preterition as an alternative—something that is historically quite common among Calvinists (Andrew Fuller for instance). The result of this lack of nuance is that though I realize my theological views are often different from the writer of this document, I am nonetheless affirming and denying right along with the document (with some obvious exceptions of course). And, the writer, as a result, is in danger, at times, of making a caricature of this so called “New Calvinism.” If we can agree (and I’m preaching to both sides now) that many of our theological conclusions are the same, then, perhaps, we can co-exist with a greater degree of unity. More on this later…

Road to Emmaus

A link to a video sermon I recently preached can be accessed here. In it, I am delivering a sermon on the post-resurrection appearance of Christ to two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35). Some of you may have a particular interest in the video starting around 19:00 into the sermon, where I discuss the importance of affirming a bodily resurrection of Christ. This doctrine is contrasted to a spiritual non-physical resurrection.

Blessed Assurance

Recently, I preached a sermon on 2 Peter 1: 1-11. The text reads as follows:

Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

After we finished looking at the text exegetically, we turned our attention to the subject of salvific assurance. In other words, what are we to believe about our salvation? Can we know whether we are truly saved? The Bible appears to answer this in the affirmative. Peter, in this passage, provides us with one important clue to answering these important questions. Now, the doctrine of assurance can be looked at in two ways. First (and Peter does not touch on this point), there is the objective sense in which we find assurance. Objective is defined as: “not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased.” So the objective way in which we find assurance of our salvation is by looking at the cross of Christ. Christ made sure the salvation of anyone who will come. If we have reached out to Christ and have trusted him as our only hope of salvation, then we may gaze upon the finished work of the cross as an objective means in order to find salvific assurance.

Now, Peter shows the way we experience assurance in a more subjective way. Subjective may be defined as: “existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought.” In other words, once we gaze upon the finished work of the cross, we then believe. And, through the help of the Holy Spirit, we begin to seek after those Christian virtues spoken of in Peter’s epistle, which ultimately bear fruit—they become, in a progressive sense, a reality in our lives. This work of the Holy Spirit is something we sense and perceive in our lives. The apostle Peter says it in the following way: “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Theological Literacy in the Home

Josh McDowell has, within the last few years, written a book entitled The Last Christian Generation. His research has revealed a startling number of youth from Christian homes having abandoned a number of foundational Christian beliefs. These teens are not turning their back on spirituality; rather, they have rejected several important and crucial aspects of Christian theology.

It is my conviction that as parents we must become ourselves more theologically literate in the home. Parents must see the urgent need to teach their children the essential doctrines of the Christian faith, so that their spiritual and devotional responses to God may be informed by the content of Christian doctrine. This can be accomplished if we will make a deliberate commitment to thoroughly acquaint ourselves with the foundational theological teachings of Christianity.

I am in the process of putting together a seminar and corresponding book resource in order to help families in the Church implement a plan to accomplish this great task. I would love to get any feedback you may have.