Category: The Word (Page 32 of 34)

“God Wrote a Book”

June 10, 2015 / Allan Babcock

“God Wrote a Book” is the title of a short, dynamic video by John Piper and Desiring God. It is probably the most heart-stirring , motivation-empowering video on reading God’s Word I’ve seen or heard.

I know Pastor Adam Powers (SonRise Community Church) has already posted this on his blog, so some of you may have already seen it. But in case you didn’t, here it is. Along with the video, Piper provides helpful information for Bible reading. Please take a look. Access by right-clicking on the link—http://www.desiringgod.org/run.

I can’t let this post go by without making three comments, starting with . . .

A Problem. When it comes to regular personal Bible reading we’ve got plenty of problems. Time, for instance. For most of us, there is none. So it’s get up a half-hour early. Or go to bed a half-hour later. Or give up a TV show. Or shower only on Saturday night. Or skip a meal a day. We gotta face it: something will have to be sacrificed. Is God’s Word worth it? That’s what we have to decide.

Another problem: regularity. Typically in January I’m determined to read the Bible through for the year. Long about Leviticus I’m bogged down in sacrifices and required priests’ clothing and holy days. The only cure for inconsistent reading, though, is discipline—which gives us something specific to pray for.

A final problem I’ll mention: Leviticus (again). Let’s be candid: even though Leviticus is part of God’s Word to us it usually doesn’t get the juices flowing and often we (maybe I should just say I) have to slog through it. Piper doesn’t mention the “slog factor” in his video. In fact, you could come away presuming that every verse you read will seem as if God himself is speaking directly to you from his heavenly throne. And Leviticus isn’t the only “hard” book. Exodus‘ laws about slaves and social justice don’t make me misty-eyed. Isaiah‘s chapter-long judgments on Egypt and Tyre and Sidon and Babylon bore me with ancient history. And some of Ezekiel’s visions just seem plain, well, “weird”. (I put that in quotes because I don’t consider them actually weird; they just seem that way. After all, this is God’s Word and I don’t want a fiery prophet breathing down my neck!)

Anyway, all this talk about “hard” Bible books brings me next to . . .

A Commercial. For only $22 from Amazon you can buy the ESV Study Bible in paperback. There are other study Bibles; I mention this because it’s my favorite. It contains important information like an introduction to each book, date of writing, historical context (extremely important), purpose and occasion and background (also extremely important) and a running commentary throughout. But wait! If you call today you can get a second . . . Sorry. To be a serious reader of God’s Word you need a study Bible like this. (I get no commission, bear no responsibility for Amazon’s service, and mentioning my name will get you an ESV Study Bible for $22.) At least check it out at http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywhttp://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_0_9?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=esv+study+bible&sprefix=ESV+study%2Caps%2C190ords=esv+study+bible&sprefix=ESV+study%2Caps%2C190

Product Details

Finally . . .

A Prayer. “Father in heaven, it was your Word that taught me the gospel of your salvation. It’s been your Word, coupled with the Holy Spirit, that’s been sanctifying me. It’s your Word that builds my faith in a world of unbelief. It’s your Word that gives me hope in the darkness of my hopelessness. It’s your Word that makes sense of my life and tells me where we came from, who we are, and where we’re going. I praise you for writing this book that lies open before me on my desk. I pray you will use this video—and maybe even my comments—to move everyone who sees this to daily enter your presence and feed on your Word. Give those who started, but quit, the motivation and courage to begin again. Move the hearts of those who’ve never started to take the first step. Grant that we all might be able to say with the psalmist . . .

“How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)

And may this prayer be ours as we read . . .

“Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law!” (Psalm 119:18).

In the name of the Living Word. Amen.”

open bible with cross and lily flower top view of a open bible ...

KINGDOM? You’re KIDDING!

June 10, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Jesus isn’t content to head the church or sit on my heart’s throne. “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!” (Dutch theologian Abraham Kuyper)

That’s the reign to which Jesus referred when he came into Galilee, proclaiming God’s gospel . . .

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15a)

The Old Testament prophet Daniel described this kingdom most succinctly . . .

I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed (Daniel 7:13,14).

It almost takes your breath away. Jesus (“one like a son of man”) was given an invincible kingdom that all peoples, nations and languages should serve him forever. So it was that the risen Christ claimed to his disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

But I wonder: two thousand years later, where is that kingdom?

I don’t see Jesus reigning, do you? What I do see is the political class, mostly ineptly, reigning in Washington, D.C. I see 15 or 20 Republicans and a handful of Democrats battling to sit in the Oval Office inner sanctum of power. I see Islamic State slaughtering innocents to build its kingdom-caliphate in the Middle East. I see Vladimir Putin taking over Ukraine for Russia. I see political/military coalitions that seem to mostly talk while aggressors arrogantly advance. I see a “Heinz 57” smorgasbord of churches, divided over what are often minor doctrines, each claiming to preach the only true gospel, losing members as each competes for a shrinking potential-members’ pool and either seduced by material prosperity or embattled by violent persecution.

But I don’t see God’s kingdom which Jesus announced “at hand” 2000 years ago. Where is it?

In the next section of Mark’s Gospel (4:26-32), after “The Sower and Soils” parable, Jesus told two more parables from a boat to a very large crowd gathered on the shore. These parables answer my question.

The Growing Seed (4:26-29).

And he said,
“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground.
He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows;
he knows not how.
The earth produces by itself,
first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.
But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle,
because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29).

How do small seeds scattered on dirt sprout and grow into a harvest? We can describe the process. We can explain the inner workings of the seed. We can demonstrate its reaction to soil and water and sun. We can even slow-motion-video the progression. But from where comes the “life” in the seed? And why does this “life” grow? It’s a mystery 21st century biologists can’t solve. “Life” is just “there”.

And that’s the “punch” of “The Parable of the Growing Seed”. We can describe the process of preaching-hearing-believing-following. We can point to the “fruit” of an individual’s new life. We can explain the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a believing man or woman. But precisely how does that seed of the Word grow into a “new creation”? And precisely how does that advance the kingdom of God toward the “harvest” of the final judgment? Even the apostle Paul’s best answer left a mystery: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth” (1 Corinthians 3:6).

Jesus calls us to walk by faith. This parable calls us to believe that what we can’t see and don’t fully understand is in fact happening in the soil of human hearts in the dirt of this world. Somehow, like scattered seed growing into a harvest, God’s kingdom in his Son is growing toward the harvest day. We know not how.

The Mustard Seed Parable (4:30-32).

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God,
or what parable shall we use for it?
It is like a grain of mustard seed,
which, when sown in the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on earth,
yet when it is sown it grows up
and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches,
so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade” (Mark 4:30-32).

Seven hundred mustard seeds equal one gram. Just one of those so-small seeds can grow into a 10-foot-tall bush . Birds make nests on large branches that once were smaller than a grain of sand. It’s another of those surprising displays God seems to delight in. Like the Hebrew nation from a 90-year-old woman and a hundred year old man. Like eternal life from a crucified Messiah. Like a 2000-year-old church from foolish, weak, and lowly people.

So here’s the Mustard Seed Parable’s punch: God’s kingdom on earth starts small—insignificantly, unimpressively—but it will have a really big finish. Things are not always as they appear. We shouldn’t measure God’s kingdom with an ordinary ruler. Just as Jesus went from the ignominy of the cross to the exaltation of the ascension, so his kingdom goes from the insignificance of one Jewish “criminal” to the glory of an eternal, invincible reign over all peoples, nations and languages.

These parables answer, “Where is the kingdom?” And these parables call us to walk by faith. Sight isn’t always right. Size can fool us. What starts miniscule can end up mammoth. Such, Jesus claims, is the kingdom of God, that is, even now, mysteriously growing on earth.

No kidding.

Lest They Be Forgiven

June 3, 2015 / Allan Babcock

One of the most hard-to-take statements Jesus ever made—that’s what this is.

Before we get to it, recall Jesus just told “The Parable of the Sower and the Soils” (Mark 4:1-9—See “Got Ears? LISTEN!”, https://theoldpreacher.com/got-ears-listen/). After that, Mark reports . . .

(10) And when he was alone,
those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
(11) And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God,
but for those outside everything is in parables,
(12) so that ‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven'” (Mark 4:10-12).

TWO TYPES OF PEOPLE in that parable-hearing crowd– “those around him with the twelve” and “those outside.” Those with the twelve have “been given the secret of the kingdom of God” (4:11). Those “outside” “see but [do] not perceive” and “hear but [do] not understand” (4:12). Jesus wants the first group to know the secret of the kingdom, but he doesn’t want the other group to understand “lest they should turn and be forgiven.” Hear that? Jesus does not want “those outside” to turn and be forgiven!

Epistrephosin (translated “turn”) literally means “to turn physically” and figuratively means “to change one’s ways or repent”. Jesus uses it in Luke 17:4 where he teaches his disciples “if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.” Here, then, in Mark 4:12, “turn” implies repentance and repentance requires the granting of forgiveness.

BUT SOME JESUS DOESN’T WANT TO FORGIVE. This flat-out contradicts everything we generally believe about Jesus. Jesus is “Mr. Mercy”. “Sir Soft-Heart”. Lavish with love. Frenetic to forgive. But not here. Here he doesn’t want some people to understand his parables, because, then, they might repent and he’d be obligated to forgive them.

How could that be? Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9,10 where the Lord commissioned Isaiah for a strange prophetic ministry . . .

(9) Go, and say to this people:
“Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.”
(10) Make the heart of this people dull, and their ears heavy, and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.

WHY WOULD THE LORD SAY THAT? In his commentary, The Book of Isaiah, E.J. Young writes, “[The Lord’s] nation had so sinned and hardened its heart that it contained within it the seeds of its own destruction” (Volume 1, p. 258). Young is referring to the repeated calls to repentance prophets made to Israel—calls they repeatedly refused. Young quotes John Calvin, “Such blinding and hardening influence . . . must be ascribed to the depravity of man . . . The whole blame lies on themselves in altogether refusing [the prophets’ words]; and we need not wonder if that which ought to have led them to salvation becomes the cause of their destruction” (ibid., p. 260). In other words, our refusal to pay attention to the Gospel has a limit. Reach it (only God knows when) and we’ve hardened our hearts permanently. Repentance and forgiveness are no longer possible.

Glue that hardens in 60 seconds makes me nervous. My hands shake squeezing out the glue and fitting the broken pieces together. More than once I didn’t beat the clock–as warned the glue hardened. That can happen to hearts too.

PURITAN PASTOR-THEOLOGIAN JONATHAN EDWARDS EXPLAINS: “We have here . . . a tension-laden account of human unbelief: both the consequence of man’s refusal to heed the revelation of God and God’s judgment of the unwilling, confirming the hardhearted in their unbelief. Parables veil the truth to outsiders just as they reveal it to insiders. God both opens the eyes of the blind and blinds the eyes of those who have proved themselves uninterested and unwilling.”

LISTEN!

The sower sows the word.
And these are the ones along the path,
where the word is sown:
when they hear, Satan immediately comes
and takes away the word that is sown in them.
And these are the ones sown on rocky ground:
the ones who, when they heard the word, immediately receive it with joy.
And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while;
then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word,
immediately they fall away.
And others are the ones sown among thorns.
They are those who hear the word,
but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches
and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word,
and it proves unfruitful.
But those that were sown on the good soil are the one who hear the word
and accept it and bear fruit,
thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundred fold (Mark 4:14-20).

This is “the word”—“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in this gospel” (Mark 1:15). Let’s not let our heart become rocky ground, so Satan can snatch the word away! Let’s not let our heart be rootless, so trouble drives us from Jesus! Let’s not let our heart be cluttered with this-life cares or wealth’s lies or endless wants, so the word of the kingdom gets choked to death! Let’s make our heart good soil that embraces the word and bears fruit!

In other words, “Pay attention to what you hear” (Mark 4:24)!

Ears, Me, More & Homework

(A little prayer for a soft heart wouldn’t hurt either!)

Got Ears? LISTEN! Got Ears? LISTEN!

May 29, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Every morning he marched to his front porch and shouted into the neighborhood, “Tigers, get out!” One morning his wife rebuked him, “Harry, there are no tigers for thousands of miles!” Smiling with satisfaction, he replied, “See. It works!”

Parables are like jokes. Gordon Fee, Professor Emeritus of New Testament Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada, explains, “The two things that capture the hearer of a joke and elicit a response of laughter are the same two things that captured the hearers of Jesus’ parables, namely their knowledge of the points of reference (the characters in the parable with whom they identify) and the unexpected turn in the story” (How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, p. 127). Further, Fee writes, ” . . . parables function as a means of calling forth a response on the part of the hearer.”

Many parables are about the kingdom of God. George Eldon Ladd (1911-1982), professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary, defined the kingdom: ” . . . the Kingdom of God is the redemptive reign of God dynamically active to establish his rule among men, and . . . this Kingdom, which will appear as an apocalyptic act at the end of the age, has already come into human history in the person and mission of Jesus to overcome evil, to deliver men from its power, and to bring them into the blessings of God’s reign” (The Presence of the Future).

In this next section of Mark’s Good News (Mark 4:1-34) he reports Jesus telling three parables. Today we’ll “listen” to just the first—the familiar “Parable of the Sower and Soils” (4:1-9 , NIV).

1 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. 2 He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: 3 “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.” 9 Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” now Jesus has publicly preached and healed throughout Galilee for about two years. His fame has spread, again bringing a crowd to the shore so large that he taught—in parables—from a boat. The Greek word—parabolay—was used of riddles and puzzles and stories. Jesus’ parables were stories of ordinary life that were often puzzling—like an “inside” joke.

For about two years now, Jesus has preached and healed throughout Galilee. His fame keeps spreading, so again great crowds came to the shore, so that he taught them—in parables—from a boat. The Greek word parabolay is used of riddles and puzzles and stories. A parable, then, is a story of ordinary life with a puzzling twist.

This parable seems straightforward. We get the farmer scattering seed and the different results depending on the condition of the soil. But, had we been there, would we have understood what Jesus meant and the response for which his story called?

Later Jesus will interpret for his disciples (4:13-20). For now, let’s see what we can discover from just the parable itself. First, the audience is a “very large crowd” (4:1). Some were disciples (4:10), most not. Second, Jesus initially wanted each person to really hear, to consider carefully what he said. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (4:9). From Jesus’ urging, we can be quite sure this is the response Jesus wanted.

The Greek word twice translated “hear” is akoueto. It can mean simply hear or, more deeply, hear with understanding. In 4:12 Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9,10 speaking of those who “hear but [do] not understand.” So in 4:9 Jesus means something like, “The one who has ears to hear, listen carefully to understand!” Later Jesus repeats it to his disciples . . .

21 He said to them, “Do you bring in a lamp to put it under a bowl or a bed? Instead, don’t you put it on its stand? 22 For whatever is hidden is meant to be disclosed, and whatever is concealed is meant to be brought out into the open. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 “Consider carefully what you hear,” he continued. “With the measure you use, it will be measured to you– and even more. 25 Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

Hidden things are intended to be disclosed (4:22), just as we put a lamp on its stand to shine (4:21). Jesus is disclosing hidden things about God’s kingdom. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear” (4:23) repeats 4:9 (“He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”). Then comes 4:24a, an elaboration of 4:23—“Consider carefully what you hear” or “Pay attention to what you hear” (verse 24a, ESV). Again, Jesus wanted disciples to listen attentively, thoughtfully, seriously with an aim to comprehending what his story meant. And since this parable is about the kingdom of God (though Jesus doesn’t use the term), Jesus wanted them to listen carefully to understand what he was telling them about the kingdom of God.

Why does Jesus want them—and us—to consider carefully what he says in parables?

Parables are puzzling. This one isn’t to us because we have Jesus’ interpretation to his disciples. But if we were in the crowd that day, the parable would have perplexed us. Got ears? Listen!

The kingdom of God is a secret. “To you,” Jesus will later explain to his disciples, “has been given the secret of the kingdom of God” (4:11a). In other words, the knowledge of God’s kingdom is hidden until revealed by Jesus. Got ears? Listen!

The kingdom comes in a counter-intuitive way. When Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, he ordered his troops to openly march across the border and meet any resistance with force. But when God “invaded” the world to inaugurate his eternal reign, he sent his One and Only Son to preach, work miracles and ultimately die, then be raised. God’s kingdom comes in ways we don’t expect. Got ears? Listen!

Satan wants to steal what we hear. This will become obvious later (4:15). But even now we can see that hearing Jesus to understand is a spiritual battle. Got ears? Listen!

We’re not good listeners. “Couch potato” doesn’t describe a certain kind of furniture or vegetable. It’s me on a Sunday afternoon watching the Rays on TV. Soon (with eyes open) I couldn’t tell you what the announcer said, who hit the ball where, or who was playing what.

During 44 years of preaching, I dreaded knowing the answer to one question: “What was my sermon about today?” Many times I’ve seen that “holy glaze” on many eyes!

“Allan, I told you the answer to that question yesterday!” the teacher exclaimed. “Weren’t you here?” Yes, I was there, but my mind was on the girl sitting one row over.

There’s more to this parable than good listening. But, to paraphrase Jesus, “If we don’t understand this
parable, how will we understand all the parables?” (4:13). Got ears? Listen? Really listen with an aim to understand. Shut your ears to everything else. Open them wide to only what Jesus says. Think. Consider carefully. Pay attention to the parables of the kingdom of God.

Harry’s wife is right. There are no tigers. But there is good news of a hidden kingdom.

Jesus: Misunderstood

May 23, 2015 / Allan Babcock

People don’t understand Jesus. Agree or disagree?

Make an interesting poll question, don’t you think? Whatever results today’s poll might show, it’s clear people didn’t understand Jesus in this next part of Mark’s Good News report—chapter 3, verses 7-35. Some were . . .

Desperate for Jesus’ Healing (3:7-19).
Doesn’t sound like a misunderstanding. But think it through.

Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed,
from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea
and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon.
When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd,
lest they crush him, for he had healed many,
so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him . . . (3:7-12)

Word spreads, even without social media. A miracle-worker called Jesus is healing sickness! So they come. First, like a trickle of sea water on the beach. Then like a wave. Finally a flood. Limping. Dragging. Carried. Hundreds, like a thirsty mob frenzied for water pressed around him, straining just to touch him, frantic for their miracle.

Who can blame them? When you’re terminally or chronically ill, you long to be well. All you think of is health and healing is everything you want. Mark doesn’t say, but certainly Jesus healed as he had before.

However Jesus is much more than a divine doctor dispensing miraculous cures. He’s the Son of God. He didn’t come primarily to make these dust-bodies better. He came to inaugurate the eternal kingdom of God. That’s what he had proclaimed when he first entered Galilee . . .

The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;
repent and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:14,15).

In a science fiction movie, Earth faces alien attack. Government and citizens prepare. Countdown to THE TIME starts, When Jesus announced, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand”, he was telling us THE TIME of the countdown’s zero hour had struck. The arrival of God’s most incomparable act since Creation—the inauguration of the New Creation—had dawned!

Jesus’ healing miracles were signs of that kingdom’s in-breaking, but many that day were more than happy “just” to be healed. When we fixate “merely” on physical healing to the exclusion of kingdom glory, we’re “like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

Jesus: misunderstood.

Deranged Jesus (3:20,21,31-35). This misapprehension came from, of all people, Jesus’ family.

Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that he could not even eat.
And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him,
for they were saying, “He is out of his mind” (3:20,21).

The ESV Study Bible identifies Jesus’ family as his mother and sisters and half-brothers. But on this day they all seem like Jewish mothers! “Oy gavalt! He’s out of his mind. We have to go save our boy!” Jesus had given them cause for concern: so besieged by crowds “he could not even eat”. What he said when they found him probably didn’t calm their fears: ” . . . whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother” (3:31-35)? Anybody have the number for the psychologist?

Believe it or not, a few people today believe Jesus was a loon. At least a victim of his own success, who believed his own messianic press clippings. Certainly there are more, though, who think we are the loons for believing in him. Either way, in their mind, Jesus and his followers aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch.

Jesus: misunderstood.

Demon Jesus (3:22-30).

And the scribes (law teachers) who came down from Jerusalem were saying,
“He is possessed by Beelzebul”
and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons”.

This is misunderstanding gone ballistic. Jesus’ fame draws scribes from Jerusalem. They can’t deny his exorcisms, so they brand him possessed! Jesus called them together and, like a patient teacher reasoning with 2nd grade children asks, “How can Satan cast out Satan? . . . if Satan has risen up against himself . . . he cannot stand . . . ” (3:23,25).

We smile at the scribe’s sorry charge, but Jesus took it quite seriously. “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin . . . ” (3:28,29). Now “ballistic” misunderstanding has gone to hell.

I don’t know anybody today who says, “[Jesus] has an unclean spirit” (3:30). But rejecting Jesus as the Son of God who came to inaugurate the kingdom of God amounts to pretty much the same thing, How you be saved from God’s wrath against sin if you reject the Savior he’s sent? So learning to understand Jesus is the most important education we can have. And that brings us to part of this section we’ve skipped . . .

Disciples of Jesus (3:13-19).

And he went up on the mountain
and called to him those whom he desired,
and they came to him.
And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles)
so that they might be with him
and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons (3:13-15).

Since you’re reading this, you’re hearing the Gospel. Jesus is present in it. And he’s calling you. Not to be an apostle, but to be with him and to be sent out to make his Gospel understandably known.

None of us on this earth will completely understand Jesus. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours. But this is where we want to be—with him, learning from him through his written Word. Otherwise, at best we’re settling for “mud pies” and at worst eternally unforgiven.

Learning to understand Jesus and believe in Jesus and follow Jesus and make Jesus known is the highest understanding we can have this side of the new creation.

How Can We Kill Him?

May 15, 2015 / Allan Babcock

That’s what it’s come to. Already. After just a year. How can we kill Jesus? Actually, the Greek word is stronger. Apollumi means something like “destroy once and for all”. “The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him once and for all” (Mark 3:6).

Who are these would-be killers? Pharisees. An influential sect within Judaism. The name means “separatists.” Beginning 4 B.C., when Greek idolatry threatened the Jews, God used the Pharisees’ devotion to his Law to save Judaism. But now they’ve morphed into legalism—righteousness by avoiding “unclean” people and following “the traditions of the fathers”.

Herodians. A Jewish political party aligned with the family of the Herods, who ruled part of Israel under the Roman Caesar’s thumb. Typically the Pharisees avoided the Herodians, but popular Jesus became their common foe.

Scribes. Interpreters and teachers of biblical Law. Theologically, many were Pharisees. Though not mentioned in this text, they too opposed Jesus (see Mark 7:1-13).

Interesting that today in the U.S. nobody wants to kill Jesus. People take him or leave him, but few, if any, want to crucify him. Maybe because the popular Jesus today is a nice guy, loving, good. Not a provocative bone in his body. Different elsewhere though. Who do you think ISIS is trying to kill when they behead Christians?

This section of Mark’s Gospel divides into four parts which I’ll mark off with the words of Jesus’ enemies. The text is too long to quote in its entirety, best to read with Bible in hand . . .

Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners (Mark 2:13-17)? Jesus called tax collector Levi (Matthew) to follow him. Many tax collectors (Jews who assessed taxes for the Roman empire) and “sinners” (Jews Pharisees avoided because they didn’t keep “the religious rules”) joined Jesus and his disciples at Levi’s dinner party. “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” Table-togetherness signifies social acceptance.

Jesus doesn’t avoid these sinners or eat with them in a hidden cave. In Levi’s open courtyard Jesus unashamedly shares a meal. Nor does he try to rationalize it. (“We didn’t know these people would show up!”) Rather, he provokes the Pharisees: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17). In other words, “I’m eating with them intentionally. These are the people I’ve come to call. Not you.”

Why don’t your disciples fast like John’s and the Pharisees (Mark 2:18-22)? ” . . . John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.” Though Jewish Law required fasting only once a year on the Day of Atonement, different groups fasted more often (like the Pharisees who were fastidious fasters).

Jesus answers provocatively. “As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast”—provocative because Isaiah 62:5 told of the day when God would rejoice over his restored people “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride.” Jesus implies that he is the heavenly bridegroom.

“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” A not-so-subtle hint that these guys are the old, dried-up wineskins, and the new kingdom Jesus is bringing requires a new order.

Why are your disciples doing what isn’t lawful on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23-28)? As Jesus’ disciples walk through grainfields, they pick grain and pop it in their mouths . “And the Pharisees were saying to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?'” The LORD had commanded no work on the holy Sabbath (Exodus 20:8-10a) and warned that those who profaned that day should be put to death (Exodus 31:14).

Jesus doesn’t answer, “I’m sorry; I forgot what day it is.” He knew the legalistic Pharisees had made Sabbath-keeping a burden, so he reminded them of the LORD’s original intention: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” By restoring the the LORD’s intent, he identifies himself as “the Son of man [who is] lord even of the Sabbath.” A not-so-subtle jab at the Pharisees’ Bible-interpretation skills—and an audacious claim about himself!

How can we kill him (Mark 3:1-6)? Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Jesus knows they’re watching him there in the synagogue. He knows what holy day it is. A suspicious spectator might think this was a sting operation by the Pharisees. Who knows? Maybe it was. And Jesus, it seems, played right into their hand. He openly called the withered-hand man up front. He asked a compelling question about the Sabbath law. You could hear a pin drop. You could feel the wrath rising in Jesus as he surveyed the congregation. You could see the rage slowly shift to sorrow over how hardhearted the people were to this hurting man and to Yahweh himself. Openly to the man: “Stretch out your hand.” And there before them all, like a computer-engineered movie scene, his withered hand turned whole. That’s when the Pharisees had more provocation than they could take. They stormed from the synagogue and plotted with the Herodians how to destroy Jesus.

Jesus the Provocateur. Jesus wasn’t out to pick a fight. But when the real bullies assaulted him, he didn’t shut his mouth and slink away. By his responses in every instance, he provoked the Pharisees. His replies fueled their anger until their blood boiled for death. If Jesus wasn’t trying to pick a fight, what then was he doing? Rebuking sinful leaders who twisted his Father’s words to suit their own ends. Correcting their heresy by speaking Truth.

We all see God through our own eyes. We all read his words from our own point of view. We are all marred by our own sin and by the world’s. So through his written word, Jesus comes and provokes us. Like: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). “Repent”. None of us has all the right answers to all the questions, yet sometimes we act as if we do. Everybody’s theological system has its flaw, but we refuse to admit that. Who of us loves God with all his heart, soul, mind and strength? Who of us loves her neighbor as herself? Which one of us really loves his enemy and does him good?

Jesus comes not to pick a fight, but to provoke us to repent, to change our way of thinking and seeing and doing. To better learn the truth and walk in it. A lot we learn easily. But some things we need poking and prodding to get. If we’ve read Jesus’ words and found none provoking us, better read them again more carefully and humbly. Because Jesus will keep at it ’til we get what he says, don’t like it, but finally submit to it. That’s what a loving, good and gracious provocateur does.

Cut the “Body” from the Bible?

May 6, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Ready to “scissors-surgery” 1 Corinthians 12? Previous posts (“Gifts to Love” and “When the Perfect Comes”) hopefully make us hesitate. But, if you’re still a cessationist (one who believes the gifts of the Spirit ended with the apostles) you have no other choice. Cut the Body of Christ from 1 Corinthians 12!

But holster your scissors for a bit there, partner, and get comfy. We’re going to take a round-about route to answer why cessationism logically compels cutting.

CONTEXT. Paul’s subject in chapter 12 is spiritual gifts—not a full theology of the gifts, though. Paul wrote to address the Corinthians’ abuse of one gift—speaking in tongues. To them that gift was the supreme sign of “spirituality.” In chapter 12 Paul lays the theological groundwork for correcting their error.

CONFESSIONAL CONTENT: JESUS IS LORD (12:1-3). (For the sake of space, I can quote only portions of the text throughout. Reading it all would be helpful.) Here’s the last clause of this paragraph: ” . . . no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (12:3b). “Jesus is Lord!”—that was the early church’s supreme confession of faith. It was also the test to determine if a person was speaking “by the Spirit” or some other spirit. Because only the Holy Spirit can transform a self-allegiant heart to confess absolute allegiance to Jesus. Therefore, any speaking that demeans or detracts from the supremacy of Jesus is not of the Spirit.

UNITY WITH DIVERSITY IN THE BODY OF CHRIST (12:4-11). “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (12:4-6). God is three persons in one person. In this paragraph Paul calls God “Spirit,” Lord” and “God.” In God there is diversity (three Persons) in unity (one Person). So there is unity with diversity in God. Accordingly, there is unity (the church is one Body) with diversity of gifts. (“Gifts”, “service”, and “activities” are nuanced ways of referring to the Spirit’s gifts or “manifestations”.) Therefore, to elevate one gift as the sign of “spirituality” contradicts both the nature of the gifts in the Body of Christ and the Triune God himself. Furthermore, each “manifestation” (a “going public”) of the Spirit is “for the common good” (12:7)—that is, for the whole Body of Christ.

Paul lists (representative not exhaustive) the Spirit’s manifestations or gifts—the utterance of wisdom, the utterance of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, the ability to distinguish between spirits, various kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues (12:8-10). Who gets what? That’s up to the Spirit. “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit (unity of source with diversity of manifestation), who apportions to each one individually as he wills” (12:11).

THE HUMAN BODY AND THE BODY OF CHRIST (12:12,13). “For just as the (human) body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” The human body is “one” (a single unit made up of many members). So the Body of Christ (the church) is “one” (a single unit made up of many members). What makes the diverse church “one Body”? All members were baptized “in one Spirit” and “were made to drink of one Spirit.” We ask, “Are you a believer?” For Paul, the question was, “Do you have the Spirit?” To him, the Christian life begins with and is marked by the transforming work of the Holy Spirit—a work evidenced one way by the gifts of the Spirit.

AN ANALOGY: THE HUMAN BODY (12:14-26). ” . . . the (human) body does not consist of one member but of many” (12:14). The foot is as much a part of the body as a hand; the ear belongs as much as the eye. “God arranged the members in the (human) body, each one of them, as he chose” (12:19). Many parts, one body (12:20) according to the Creator’s design. Furthermore, each part is needed—eye, hand, head, feet, etc. The “parts-connection” is so tight, in fact, that when our stomach is sick, we often say, “I’m sick” or we actually feel sick all over (12:21-26).

THE BODY OF CHRIST (12:27-31). Paul moves from analogy (the human body) to reality: “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (12:27). But don’t miss who these members are and what they have been equipped with: “And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues” (12:28). In the one Body of Christ God has established a diversity of gifts.

CONCLUSIONS (finally!). If cessationists are correct, if the gifts of the Spirit ended with the death of the apostles or the close of the biblical canon . . .

the very nature of the Body of Christ as Paul describes it here has died too.
This is because the gifts of the Spirit empower individual members of the body to serve as a means of good for the body.
If the Spirit no longer manifests himself by gifts through the members, the means of the members’ ministry to one another as the body no longer exists.
If continuationism is biblical, the cessationist church is missing out on a veritable cornucopia of the Spirit’s gifts for the church’s good.

So which will it be? Cut 1 Corinthians 12 from our Bibles? If you believe the Spirit’s gifts are gone with the apostles, you have no choice. Logically you have to don your surgical gown and remove the Body of Christ as Paul describes it. Or you can review the evidence in these blog postings, put your scissors back in the desk, take the risk, and “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (14:1).

(One more thing: For whatever it’s worth, I doubt God would look kindly on anybody cutting out any part of his Word.)

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“When the Perfect Comes”

May 4, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Before we take scissors to 1 Corinthians 12, let’s take a closer look at “the Perfect” in 1 Corinthians 13. Because this is the text that reveals when the gifts of the Spirit will end.

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease, as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (13:8-12).”

WHY THIS MATTERS. We’re not splitting theological hairs. The gifts of the Spirit are from God and good for building up the church—that’s us together (1 Corinthians12:7; 14:12). So if we believe spiritual gifts have ceased but they haven’t, our church is missing some of God’s good for us. On the other hand, if we believe they haven’t but they have, we’re being deceived by “gifts” not of God.

THE NATURE OF THE GIFTS. They are “partial.” ” . . . we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes the partial will pass away” (13:9,10). The Greek meros essentially means “a part as distinct from the whole.” Paul uses it in 12:27—“Now you are the body of Christ and individually (meros) members of it.” The individual isn’t the whole body; but each individual is part of the whole body. So the Spirit’s gifts are “partial” in this sense: each spiritual gift is just part of what will soon be the completed whole (“the perfect”). Teliown means perfect in the sense of “complete” or “total.” So we can paraphrase: “For now we know and prophesy incompletely, but when the complete comes the incomplete will pass away.”

The gifts will also “pass away/cease”. The Greek word (pauontie) translated here “cease” simply means “stop”. Luke used it of Jesus: “And when he had finished speaking . . . ” (Luke 5:4). ” . . . as for tongues they will stop.” The Greek word (katargeo) is an eschatological (last days) word. Paul used it of the wisdom and rulers of this age “who are doomed to pass away” (2:6). He doesn’t mean that these rulers will merely die, but that this present age which defines them and their wisdom will pass away. That will happen, of course, when the eternal age is consummated at Christ’s coming. He uses katargeo again in 1 Corinthians 15:24-26 where it’s translated “destroying” and “destroyed.” ‘ Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power . . . The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” Here Paul uses the word of the very end of the end times. So in 13:8—“As for prophecies they will pass away”—“pass away” (katargeo) at least implies end times

THE STRUCTURE OF THE PASSAGE. Here’s the passage again . . .

Notice Paul contrasts love with gifts. Love “never ends” but the gifts (represented here by prophecies, tongues and knowledge will “pass away/cease.” He makes that contrast, not to disparage spiritual gifts, but to show the Corinthians shouldn’t be making spiritual gifts (especially tongues) the sign of spirituality. They should be esteeming love as the sign—because the gifts will pass away but love will never end.

After explaining love never ends but spiritual gifts will pass away, Paul gives two reasons (both beginning with the word “For”) and one illustration to support that statement. First reason why spiritual gifts will pass away: they are partial and will pass away when the perfect comes.

One illustration: there is a time for childhood and childish ways and there is a time for adulthood when childish ways are given up. (I don’t think Paul means God’s good spiritual gifts are “childish.” Rather he simply uses childhood into adulthood as a picture of passing away of spiritual gifts for the perfect.)

Second reason why spiritual gifts will pass away: now our knowledge is “partial”, like seeing “dimly” in a mirror (ancient Corinth was famous as the producer of fine bronze mirrors), but when the perfect comes our knowledge will be full. Not like looking face to bronze mirror, but face to face. Gifts won’t be needed to “know” the Lord any longer, because we will see him up close and personal!

The way Paul structured this passage argues strongly for only one interpretation of “the perfect.”

THE PERFECT. On a blog called “The Cripplegate”, Nathan Busenitz (Professor of Theology at The Master’s Seminary), claims the biblical interpreter can believe “the perfect” is love or the completed Scripture canon or the mature church or the believer’s entrance into Christ’s presence at death or the return of Christ or the eternal state and still remain a cessationist. Furthermore, he goes on to say, “Anthony Thiselton (Church of England theologian and author) notes in his commentary on this passage: ‘The one important point to make here is that few or none of the serious ‘cessationist’ arguments depends on a specific exegesis of 1 Cor 13:8–11

. . . . These verses should not be used as a polemic (argument of support) for either side in this debate’ (NIGTC, pp. 1063–64)”. What? My mouth is dropping. How can someone be a cessationist if he believes “the perfect” refers to the return of Christ? Why should 1 Corinthians 13:8-12 not be used to support continuationism?

Pardon me if I respectfully reject Busenitz’s and Thiselton’s views. “The perfect” is clearly the end of this present age when Christ returns. When “the perfect” comes the Spirit’s gifts will pass away. Until then they continue as they have from the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2. I am a continuationist and will be until someone convinces me differently from Scripture (not from church history nor from a list of cessationist giants of the faith).

But before we leave our scissors in the drawer and save 1 Corinthians12 in our Bibles, we have one more bit of evidence to consider. To that we’ll turn next time . . .

Gifts To Love

April 29, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Did the Spirit’s gifts end with the apostles? If so, we might as well grab scissors and snip 1 Corinthians 12 from our Bible.

WHY IT MATTERS. If we believe spiritual gifts have ceased but they haven’t, our church is missing some good things (1 Corinthians 12:7)—like upbuilding, encouragement and consolation (1 Corinthians 14:3). On the other hand, if we believe they haven’t and we’re seeking them, we’re being deceived by “gifts” that aren’t of God.

FULL DISCLOSURE. I’m a continuationist—someone who believes the Spirit’s gifts have continued from the 1st century to today and will until Jesus comes again. My wife and I grew up in a Pentecostal church. I graduated from a Pentecostal Bible college. I was originally ordained in a Pentecostal denomination. If you think I might suddenly bark like a dog or get “slain in the Spirit” or break out in “holy laughter”, think again. I abhor the abuses of the abusers as much as the staunchest cessationist does (someone who believes the Spirit’s gifts ceased with the apostles’ death around the end of the first century).

CONTEXT AND PROOF TEXT. How can we know which view is right? Scripture, soundly interpreted. That requires knowing the context of the proof text. (That’s the verse or verses used to substantiate a particular theological viewpoint.) For cessationists, the primary proof text (as far as I can tell) is 1 Corinthians 13:8-12.

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

Generally cessationists interpret “the perfect” to mean the close of the biblical canon. (“Canon” means “rule” or “standard” and in this context refers to the rule or standard of truth that God has revealed in Scripture.) When the apostles died or (some say) when the church officially recognized which books were God-breathed (that recognition came in the 4th century A.D.), the gifts of the Spirit ceased. The gifts were needed to confirm the apostles’ gospel preaching. The completed canon was self-confirming. To evaluate the cessationists’ interpretation of verse 10, let’s look at its context—the rest of 1 Corinthians 13.

“THE LOVE CHAPTER.” Chapter 13 sits in the middle of a larger section—chapters 12-14. So to understand the context of chapter 13, we have to briefly look at chapter 12. Chapters 12-14 are about spiritual gifts. It’s not a complete theology of spiritual gifts. Rather, as chapter 14 reveals, Paul is addressing an abuse of speaking in tongues: the Corinthians were making that gift the sign of being “spiritual.”

Seen in its larger context of chapters 12-14, chapter 13 functions as the way the gifts of the Spirit are to be desired. “But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way” (last verse of chapter 12). “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (first verse of chapter 13). Here’s the whole chapter . . .

Love is necessary (12:1-3). “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is morally excellent (12:4-7). “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth; Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Love is eternal (12:8-13). “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

THE SUPREMACY OF LOVE. Since I’ve exceeded my length limit (are you still there?), I’ll have to say “to be concluded next time.” But let’s take note how Paul resolves the Corinthians’ tongues-abuse. Before he issues “how-to instructions” for desiring spiritual gifts (chapter 14), he turns the spotlight on love. Without love, spiritual gifts amount to nothing more than self-indulgence. Without love “how to instructions” amount to nothing more than legalistic regulations. Love is supreme!

THE PRIORITY QUESTION. It’s not “What does ‘the perfect’ really mean?” It’s not “Why should we scissors 1 Corinthians 12 from our Bible if cessationists are right?” The urgent question of first importance is this: “Are we lovers like Jesus?”

Are we lovers like Jesus in the way we desire and use spiritual gifts? Are we lovers like Jesus when we discipline someone who uses a spiritual gift in an out-of-order way? Are we lovers like Jesus when we debate cessationism versus continuationism? Because they won’t know that we are Jesus’ disciples by our spiritual gifts or absence thereof. They will know we are his disciples if we love one another as he loved us (John 13:34,35).

Ongoing Revelation?

April 21, 2015 / Allan Babcock

Is God’s revelation to humans an on-going process? In ages past slavery was considered a given. Those who questioned slavery were directed to passages in the Bible (Onesimus) that appeared to justify, or at least condone, slavery. We as modern people do not accept slavery.. Do same-sex relations fall into that same category of modernity informing our understanding of Scripture? And does that equate to God revealing Himself to us according to our ability to understand ourselves and the natural world in ways our ancestors could not?

Good questions emailed from an old friend. Except “yes” would put the human (sin-corrupted) mind in control of God’s revelation. Think: if God revealed himself “according to our ability to understand ourselves and the natural world”, God’s revelation could never be any greater than our natural mind could grasp. We, not God, would be the masters of divine revelation.

Good questions except they presuppose that our “ability to understand” is evolving upward. Perhaps that’s true when it comes to the sciences or technology, but theology and morality and spirituality ? Given the violence and sexual perversity and weird belief systems we see all around us, are we really smarter or wiser than our ancestors?

THE SCRIPTURE. In the Bible’s last chapter, the apostle John issues an alert: “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book . . . ” (Revelation 22:18). This warning applies to the book of Revelation, of course. But positioned where it is at the end of the Bible, it may very well apply it to the entire Scripture. If so, it warns us not to tack “ongoing revelation” on to God’s Word.

The apostle Jude wrote, “I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3b). Why? Because ” . . . certain people . . . pervert the grace of our God . . . and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” (Jude 4). Notice: the faith (that is, the revelation of God fulfilled in the revelation of Jesus Christ) was “once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude’s language is plain: no ongoing delivery! Anything that purports to be “new revelation” perverts God’s grace and denies the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE BIBLICAL CANON. John MacArthur’s comments about canonicity argue strongly against ongoing revelation.

We must understand that the Bible is actually one book with one Divine Author, though it was written over a period of 1,500 years through the pens of almost 40 human writers. The Bible began with the creation account of Genesis 1,2, written by Moses about 1405 b.c.,and extends to the eternity future in the account of Revelation 21,22, written by the Apostle John about a.d. 95. During this time, God progressively revealed Himself and His purposes in the inspired Scriptures. But this raises a significant question: “How do we know what supposed sacred writings were to be included in the canon of Scripture and which ones were to be excluded?” Over the centuries, 3 widely recognized principles were used to validate those writings which came as a result of divine revelation and inspiration. First, the writing had to have a recognized prophet or apostle as its author (or one associated with them, as in the case of Mark, Luke, Hebrews, James,and Jude). Second, the writing could not disagree with or contradict previous Scripture. Third, the writing had to have general consensus by the church as an inspired book. Thus, when various councils met in church history to consider the canon, they did not vote for the canonicity of a book but rather recognized, after the fact, what God had already written.

With regard to the Old Testament, by the time of Christ all of the Old Testament had been written and accepted in the Jewish community. The last book, Malachi, had been completed about 430 b.c. Not only does the Old Testament canon of Christ’s day conform to the Old Testament which has since been used throughout the centuries, but is does not contain the uninspired and spurious Apocrypha, that group of 14 rogue writings which were written after Malachi and attached to the Old Testament about 200-150 b.c. in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament called the Septuagint (LXX), appearing to this very day in some versions of the Bible. However, not one passage from the Apocrypha is cited by any New Testament writer, nor did Jesus affirm any of it as Scripture. He recognized the Old Testament canon of His era (cf. Luke 24:27,44). By Christ’s time, the Old Testament canon had been divided up into two lists of 22 or 24 books respectively, each of which contained all the same material as the 39 books of our modern versions. In the 22 book canon, Jeremiah and Lamentations were considered as one, as were Judges and Ruth.

The same 3 key tests of canonicity that applied to the Old Testament also applied to the New Testament. In the case of Mark and Luke/Acts, the authors were considered to be, in effect, the penmen for Peter and Paul respectively. James and Jude were written by Christ’s half-brothers. While Hebrews is the only New Testament book whose authorship is unknown for certain, its content is so in line with both the Old Testament and New Testament, that the early church concluded it must have been written by an apostolic associate. The 27 books of the New Testament have been universally accepted since ca. a.d. 350-400 as inspired by God.

The “key tests of canonicity” clearly indicate that, when the church councils recognized what God had already “breathed out” (2 Timothy 3:16), they closed the door on further revelation. How could a recognized prophet or apostle suddenly appear today? Furthermore, any new “revelation” could not disagree with or contradict previous Scripture (something same-sex “marriage” certainly does—see, for example, the “creation ordinance” in Genesis 2:18-24).

A PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWPOINT. From a philosophical (or just common sense) viewpoint, if we allow for “ongoing revelation”, how could we judge its truthfulness? A recognized prophet or apostle certainly couldn’t have written or spoken it. It’s highly unlikely the church in general would recognize it as “God-breathed.” And it couldn’t disagree with already-recognized Scripture (something same-sex marriage clearly does). If we forgo those tests, or if the “new revelation” fails those tests, anything could be claimed as being God’s ongoing revelation. And if anything were God’s ongoing revelation, ultimately we couldn’t be confident that anything was from God.

THE SLAVERY ISSUE. Christians’ changed views about slavery didn’t come from “ongoing revelation” but from Christians (illuminated and convicted by the Holy Spirit) finally realizing the implications of biblical teaching, along with the abolition leadership of people like William Wilberforce in England and Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison and Harriet Beecher Stowe in America. Same-sex “marriage” can hardly be identified as “ongoing revelation” from God, since it blatantly contradicts what God-breathed Scripture teaches. In this case, we would have to call such revelation “change-of-mind revelation”, not “ongoing.” We’d also have to replace the word “revelation” with “culture trend”, because society, not God, would be the source.

A WARNING. When “modernity informs Scripture”, modernity wins the popular vote. Modernity, post-modernity or the latest cultural trend becomes authoritative. And whatever the philosophy, worldview or trend it comes from humans, who are natural born sinners and whose sin corrupts their thinking (Ephesians 4:17-19). Here’s one unspeakably tragic result when we don’t consider sacred what God does: almost 58,000,000 aborted unborn babies in the U.S. since 1973.

God has completed his written revelation. Jesus is his “last word”(Hebrews 1:1). Our role is not to consider so-called “ongoing revelation” but to go on learning and submitting ourselves to what God has once-for-all revealed—even when it leads us to stand against the popular culture, even when that popular culture purports to speak for God.