Lewis on Old Books

Many thanks to commenter Craig for helping me place my finger on this exact quote, which is worthy of repeating both for its keen insight and its classic Lewis tone.

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books. All contemporary writers share to some extent the contemporary outlook - even those, like myself, who seem most opposed to it. Nothing strikes me more when I read the controversies of past ages than the fact that both sides were usually assuming without question a good deal which we should now absolutely deny. They thought that they were as completely opposed as two sides could be, but in fact they were all the time secretly united - united with each other and against earlier and later ages - by a great mass of common assumptions. We may be sure that the characteristic blindness of the twentieth [or twenty-first] century - the blindness about which posterity will ask, 'But how could they have thought that?' - lies where we have never suspected it... None of us shall fully escape this blindness, but we shall certainly increase it, and weaken our guard against it, if we read only modern books... The only pallative is to keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds, and this can be done only by reading old books. Not, of course, that there is any magic about the past. People were no cleverer then than they are now; they made as many mistakes as we. But not the same mistakes.

- C.S. Lewis, Introduction to St. Athanasius' On The Incarnation (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir's Press, 2002; orig. ed. Centenary Press, 1944).

Election and the Problem of Free Will

As we wrestle through the hard texts of Romans 9, we inevitably bump up against the question of free will. Everyone who has ever wrestled with predestination wonders how exactly God can be sovereign and at the same time humans can be truly free. This is a powerful question and one that requires careful thought. In this post I will attempt to offer some clarifications that may be helpful.

But first let me offer some insight into how to read my writing. I take my responsibility as a teacher of God's word very seriously, knowing that I will be held to a stricter judgment (James 3:1). And I place a high value on biblical truth and on the fear of God and his glory as the starting point of wisdom and knowledge (Prov. 1:7; Psalm 119:98-99). For this reason, my writing tends to have a very direct tone. I would plead with you not to interpret this direct-ness as a lack of charity or kindness. Rather, please hear in it the longing of a pastor and "older brother" in the faith who has worn a path of 10 years of prayerful study on these issues. The major texts of Scripture on these subjects are worn into my memory. Additionally, my shelf bears copiously underlined volumes from Augustine, Luther, Edwards, Owen, Calvin, Packer, Piper, Sproul, Frame, Arminius, Wesley, Pinnock, Sanders, Geisler, and others. So please know that there is no question being asked that I have not asked myself, and no verse being quoted that I have not studied. When one has delved deeply into the richness of God's word and the breadth of historical theology on a subject, his depth of conviction grows along with his (sometimes sinful) impatience toward those who would "want to be teachers... even though they do not understand the matters about which they make confident assertions" (1 Tim 1:7).

Now, to the issue of free will. Objectors to doctrines like election are quick to defend "free will" without reasoning clearly about 1) the limits of human freedom, and 2) the nature of human freedom. Proper thinking about these two matters will clear up a lot of ambiguity.

1) The limits of human freedom. To put it simply, humans are not absolutely free. They are contingently free. You are not free to fly. You are not free to lay eggs. You are not free to exhaustively know everything in the universe. Simply put, you are free to act as a human, within the boundaries that God has placed on human freedom. This is true in the physical realm (i.e. flying) and in the moral/spiritual realm (responding to God's grace and making moral/ethical choices).

Most objectors to God's sovereign grace in salvation assume a libertarian view of freedom: all humans are free to choose either good or evil, at any time, with no conditions. However, this sort of freedom is never taught in the Bible. God is the only being who is free in a libertarian sense - free to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. John Frame points out that "in heaven, the consummate state of human existence, we will not be free to sin. So the highest state of human existence will be a state without libertarian freedom."

2) The nature of human freedom. St. Augustine was the first theologian to think deeply and biblically about the nature of human freedom. Augustine was first and foremost a consummate student of Scripture. He knew that the Bible held humans, not God, responsible for sin, and that the Bible very clearly taught that humans were free to exercise their wills – indeed, God would hold them accountable for their own free choices. He recognized that somehow, God’s sovereignty and human free will must be compatible.

Based on his study of Scripture and his common-grace insight into human nature, Augustine saw that the human will is not an entity in itself. It is an aspect of our total being, and it is only exercised in accordance with our desires. In Augustine’s words, “there is no ability whatever in free will to believe, unless there be persuasion or summons towards some one in whom to believe.” To will something requires that I desire to will it. (Though I am free to eat at all times, I only do so when I desire food because I am hungry). So Augustine reasoned that freedom consisted in doing what one wants to do. In his own words, “I am free with respect to any action… to the extent that my wanting and choosing to perform that action are sufficient for my performing it.”

Augustine rightly saw that the grace of God in regeneration changes the desires of the human heart. Grace does not create free will, as though true freedom did not exist before salvation. Rather, grace changes our desires, so that we now want Christ (whereas before regeneration, we did not want him). So salvation is entirely and totally a work of God, because without God’s intervention we would never desire Him. And yet faith is really and truly our faith, for (moved by new desires) we trust in Christ as an act of our own free will.

A right understanding of of total depravity is rooted in this foundational work of St. Augustine. Human beings have true freedom. But because our hearts are depraved, our free will is always inclined away from God. Only the regenerating grace of God can incline the human heart toward God! Martin Luther (a more colorful and creative writer than Augustine) put it this way: “A man without the Spirit of God does not do evil against his will, under pressure, as though he were taken by the scruff of the neck and dragged into it… he does it spontaneously and voluntarily. And this willingness or volition is something which he cannot in his own strength eliminate, restrain, or alter.”

It is a misunderstanding of election to say that God's electing grace removes human free will from the equation. Human free will is essential in salvation, and yet salvation is totally and fully a work of God from beginning to end. It is not true that an emphasis on the sovereignty of God diminishes human free will. Rather, a correct definition of free will, rooted in the Bible’s teaching, shows how human free will can be both truly free and in bondage to sin at the same time.

A29 Goes Hip-Hop

Eric Mason is one of our Acts 29 brothers planting a church in the urban heart of Philly... and I mean the urban heart, yo. And how better to contextualize the gospel in the cradle of the hip-hop and rap scene than to produce a music video of your core values? Witness some deep gospel-driven theology articulated in hip-hop style... these people are talented. It's great to be part of a network that is this culturally broad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sABnKcNC5bA

Luther on Divine Election

[Note to those readers outside the CD community: we are teaching our way through Romans, and thus the topics of election and predestination are on the front burner for many in our community. It might be wise to refrain from commenting without first listening to some of the sermons which unfold the text and establish a common base for conversation.]

One of my goals in the coming weeks is to post various quotes on the blog that will ignite reflection and prayer on the subject of election/predestination. If you have thoughts or questions you'd like to throw out for discussion, don't be shy! Let's hash through this in ways that further the glory of God and the benefit of our community.

Here's a quote to start the conversation. In his Commentary on Romans, Martin Luther writes, "There are yet three thoughts that should be considered in connection with the subject of divine predestination..."

First, there are the proofs of God's unchangeable election, gathered from the words of Scripture and His divine works. [He goes on to quote Scripture for 3 paragraphs, referencing Romans 9:8, 9:15, 9:18; John 13:18; John 10:27-29; 2 Timothy 2:19; Matthew 26:14; and Luke 23:41.]

The second thought is that all objections to predestination proceed from the wisdom of the flesh. Hence, whoever does not deny himself and does not learn to keep his thoughts in subjection to the divine will, never will find an answer to his questions. And that rightly so, for the foolish wisdom of the flesh exalts itself above God and judges his will, just as though this were of little importance... For this reason the Apostle refutes all objections with two brief statements [Rom 9:20 and 21].

The third thought is that this doctrine is indeed most bitter to the wisdom of the flesh... But [the flesh] is fully defeated when we learn to know that our salvation rests in no wise upon ourselves and our conduct, but is founded solely upon what is outside us, namely, on God's election. Those who have the wisdom of the Spirit become ineffably happy through this doctrine...

If one fears that he is not elected or is otherwise troubled about his election, he should be thankful that he has such fear, for then he should surely know that God cannot lie when in Psalm 51:17 He says: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." Thus [the fearful] should cheerfully cast himself on the faithfulness of God who gives this promise... It is not the characteristic of reprobates to tremble at the secret counsel of God; but that is the characteristic of the elect.

Faith Is A Divine Work In Us

I can't lay my finger on the quote right now... but I remember reading something C.S. Lewis (a great person to name a child after) wrote about the importance of reading old books and not just new ones. He said that every age has a "characteristic spirit." And reading old books, from a different time with a different "spirit," is the only way to get outside of the spirit of the current age and therefore avoid some of its cultural baggage. With that in mind, I've been reading Martin Luther's Commentary on Romans this week. Here are some challenging words he has about faith that definitely run counter to our customary (current) usage of the term. (I have written some of this before, somewhere, so forgive me if you've read it before.)

Faith is not that human notion and dream that some hold for faith. Because they see that no betterment of life and no good works follow it, and yet they can hear and say much about faith, they fall into error, and say, 'Faith is not enough; one must do works in order to be righteous and be saved.' This is the reason that, when they hear the Gospel, they fall-to and make for themselves, by their own powers, an idea in their hearts, which says 'I believe.' This they hold for true faith. But it is a human imagination and idea that never reaches the depths of the heart, so nothing comes of it and no betterment follows it.

Faith, however, is a divine work in us. It changes us and makes us to be born anew of God (John 1); it kills the old Adam and makes altogether different men, in heart and spirit and mind and powers, and it brings with it the Holy Ghost. Oh, it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith; and so it is impossible for it not to do good works incessantly. It does not ask whether there are good works to do, but before the question rises, it has already done them, and is always at the doing of them. He who does not these works is a faithless man. He gropes and looks about after faith and good works, and knows neither what faith is nor what good works are, though he talks and talks, with many words, about faith and good works.

Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man would stake his life on it a thousand times. This confidence in God's grace and knowledge of it makes men glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and all His creatures; and this is the work of the Holy Ghost in faith. Hence a man is ready and glad, without compulsion, to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, in love and praise to God, who has shown him this grace...

Climbing the Walls

Our pastoral team took a 2-day prayer and strategy retreat last week. Which caption best explains this photo?

a) Don't make JD sit for 2 days straight

b) Yes, the rock climbing in Omaha is that bad

c) If you put the Coram Deo guys in a room with rock fireplace, this is bound to happen sooner or later

d) All of the above

How 'Bout This Jesus?

Now THIS is a B.A. Jesus!

Read the continuation of Anthony Bradley's "Jesus in a Pink Dress" for why this picture exists, and for Mr. Bradley's insightful theological reflections on the matter.

(Thanks Wes)

When "Green" Goes Bad

My friend Todd (Austin, TX) sent me a link to this article. In case you thought human worth was not in question (or perhaps, in case you thought the worth of carbon dioxide was not in question):

Children 'bad for planet'
By Sarah-Kate Templeton in London
May 07, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Sunday Times

HAVING large families should be frowned upon as an environmental misdemeanour in the same way as frequent long-haul flights, driving a big car and failing to reuse plastic bags, says a report to be published today by a green think tank.

The paper by the Optimum Population Trust will say that if couples had two children instead of three they could cut their family's carbon dioxide output by the equivalent of 620 return flights a year between London and New York.

John Guillebaud, co-chairman of OPT and emeritus professor of family planning at University College London, said: "The effect on the planet of having one child less is an order of magnitude greater than all these other things we might do, such as switching off lights.

"The greatest thing anyone in Britain could do to help the future of the planet would be to have one less child."

In his latest comments, the academic says that when couples are planning a family they should be encouraged to think about the environmental consequences.

"The decision to have children should be seen as a very big one and one that should take the environment into account," he added.

Professor Guillebaud says that, as a general guideline, couples should produce no more than two offspring.

The world's population is expected to increase by 2.5 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050. Almost all the growth will take place in developing countries.

The population of developed nations is expected to remain unchanged and would have declined but for migration.

The British fertility rate is 1.7. The EU average is 1.5. Despite this, Professor Guillebaud says rich countries should be the most concerned about family size as their children have higher per capita carbon dioxide emissions.

Biblical Missiology

In March, a bunch of us from the Coram Deo community attended the Acts 29 bootcamp in Seattle. For the past month I have been ruminating on what we learned and distilling what might be helpful to others.

For my money, Jeff Vanderstelt's talk on "Biblical Missiology" illuminates the nexus of gospel, mission, and community - and therefore the heart of what Coram Deo is longing to be about - better than anything I have heard this year. I am jealous for all of you to listen to it (you can find it here).

If you desire to dive deeper into the things Walker is currently preaching about - or if you just want to get your fingers around the essence of Coram Deo - please listen to this message.