FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 6, number 47, November 22, 2007

Thy word is truth, John 17:17.

Post Conservatism

If you are an evangelical then you tend unconsciously to bring a bias to your reading of Scripture. For example, if you are a Calvinist then you believe in eternal security, once saved always saved; and clearly the Bible teaches this. See John 10:28, 29. So you tend to read all of Scripture from this angle while failing to see and act upon passages like Hebrews 6:4-6 and Hebrews 10:26-31 which seem to teach that people can lose their salvation. Also your belief in the eternal security of the saints does not square with Jesus’ admonitions to the seven churches of Asia Minor when He says things like, "He who overcomes I will grant him to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. . .He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and His angels." The tendency for some Calvinists is to rejoice in eternal security but to live carelessly, as though their actions mean nothing.

If you are an Arminian then you believe man has an innate ability to decide to become a Christian, that the unbeliever holds the cards. He decides if and when he will become a Christian, even though most Arminians I know pray, asking the Holy Spirit to convert the lost. If man holds the key to his salvation, then why pray. There is nothing God can do to save the person. It is all in the hands of the unbeliever in question. And if you are part of a seeker friendly church with drama and Contemporary Christian music or an Emerging Church (post modern style of worship, music, ambiance) then you probably deny the old adage, "You must first believe, then belong" and you probably embrace the new one, "You first belong, and then you believe" Perhaps you thus fail to take seriously, "He delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of His Son," Colossians 1:13, which clearly states that God is the One who engrafts into His kingdom and then commands that we live out that life in the covenant community.

Can we not agree that the post liberal criticism of us is somewhat valid? We do tend to read our own bias into the text of Scripture, and if this is true, then how can we be so sure that God is speaking to us in His word as we have been taught? Post conservatism is a movement which wants to get back to the text of Scripture. It continues to believe that the Bible is fully authoritative, but it wants to read the Scriptures unfettered, unhindered by denominational or theological bias. How does this happen? It requires preachers, theologians, and lay people to be very careful and diligent in their study of Scripture. We are to use all our exegetical and hermeneutical skill to find the central meaning of a text of Scripture. We are to use our study of theology to help us understand Scripture but we work hard at not reading our theological bias into the text. We let Scripture speak for itself. Does this mean we are not allowed to fall back on the ancient creeds and confessions, things like the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed, the Heidelburg Catechism and the Westminster Confession of Faith?

We acknowledge the importance of creeds and confessions which have labored to be faithful to Scripture. The Nicene Creed in particular is very helpful because it was born out of theological controversy concerning the deity of Christ, deriving from Scripture the vital truth that Jesus is very God of very God, begotten not made, being of one substance with the Father. It teaches that Jesus is both God and man. Believers around the world, regardless of their denominational affiliation, embrace the Nicene Creed. The Confessions, many of which were written in the 16th and 17th centuries, are more limited to certain theological traditions, and thus not quite as helpful as the ancient Creeds but they still have a vital place in the life of the church.

Now I wish to summarize what I hope has not been too technical. Post modernism has been helpful in removing the deadening effect of modernism which denied the possibility of the supernatural. It stops short, however, of benefiting mankind because it still denies any over arching truth system which brings all the pieces of our broken world together. Post liberalism has been helpful in that it has called people back to the text of Scripture, urging people to deal with what God says in the Bible. It falls short, however, because it places the locus of authority in the church, the covenant community; and the question becomes, "What covenant community speaks truth?" It fails to give us full biblical authority. Post conservatism is helpful because it places the locus of authority in the Biblical canon, the sixty-six books of the Bible. It challenges the modern church to go first to Scripture, grappling with the text, not relying on one’s Systematic Theology to interpret the text, moving the student of the Bible to go more deeply into the text, seeking to find what the Holy Spirit intended when He breathed into the Biblical writer the very words of God.

So, practically what does this mean for you? It means you need to go to a church which is serious about the study of Scripture. You then need to pray for your preacher that he will set aside the time for diligent study of the Biblical text, in the original languages of Hebrew and Greek, if he has the skill. It means that you urge your pastor to continue growing in his skill as a biblical exegete, that he not rest on his experience, his past training. He ought continually to be reading, studying, meditating, applying Scripture to his own heart, soul, conscience, and will. He ought to ask the Holy Spirit to speak first to him, to have His way with him, and then to take that passion with him into the pulpit and to proclaim the unfathomable riches of Christ through the power of the Spirit.

This is what people need today in our post everything world. They need the same thing they have always needed- truth. How is one made right with God? How is one to prepare himself for eternity? What must he do to be saved? How can he love God and his fellow man? This is the primary task of the preacher. And while you may not have the skill, training, or time to engage in the study of Scripture as your pastor, you nonetheless are required by God to feed daily on His word, to allow it to speak to you, so that you may be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may present yourself as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service of worship.

FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.

If you would like to add your, or someone else’s, name to the list to receive this weekly devotional (or be removed from it), please contact us at admin@christcpc.org. This and archived back-issues may also be found on our website, www.ChristCPC.org