I've been looking forward to Paul's last "trustworthy saying," and it's one that is especially appropriate for reflection at Easter.
"[W]hen the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,
so that, having been justified by his grace,
we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life" (Titus 3:4-7).
I broke the passage up into meaty lines, each of which could be an Easter sermon. Read over those verses a few times and soak it in. When you're ready to start shoutin', we'll move on.
In the interest of time, let's focus on two things:
"[God] saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy."
Why "mercy?" Our society doesn't like this part. Why does God need to show me mercy? I'm a pretty good guy. I don't cheat on my taxes or beat my wife or kids. I'm not perfect, but I'm alright. So what's the big deal?
We don't understand that our righteous acts are all filthy rags in God's sight. Every "good deed" we've ever done has been tainted by self-interest. It was an attempt to silence our guilt, or we secretly hoped people would notice our good deeds. We want to make sure someone thanks us or admires us. So our good deeds are worthless.
But our bad deeds are legion. We've been sinning since we could walk. No one ever has to be taught to lie or be selfish. Violence comes to us naturally, as do greed and jealousy. Paul says in verse 3 we are "foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another."
It's not that we didn't quite measure up, weren't quite good enough. We were wicked, rebellious, and obstinate. We didn't just not deserve mercy; we deserved wrath.
But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us and took upon himself the penalty for our sins. He made a way so that we could be reconciled to him. He “made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions" (Eph 2:4-5). (Here's some mood music to help you reflect on this truth.)
The second thing is that ...
"He saved us ... so that ... we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life."
I never get tired of talking about our adoption in Christ. God did not save us solely to rescue us from hell. He did not intend that we should become servants in his kingdom. No, his plan was that Christ should be "the firstborn among many brothers and sisters" (Rom 8:29). How great is the love the Father has lavished upon us that we should be called children of God! (Here's another song reflecting on the grace of God.)
God saved us so that we could be adopted into his family and through that have the hope of eternal life. That promise is something we should always cherish, but this very odd Easter season it should hold a special power. None of us is promised tomorrow, but right now many people are wondering if they will see another Easter. People are confined to their homes hoping to see their relatives again. But Christians have a hope that transcends this life, and the world needs to see that we do not fear death because we know that death has already been defeated.
And there's something else the world needs to see. If we focus only on our justification and our hope in Christ, we'll miss the point Paul was trying to make here. As he did in other places, Paul rolled out this powerful theological teaching to drive home a very mundane lesson.
"Remind the people ... to be ready to do whatever is good, to slander no one, to be peaceable and considerate, and always gentle toward everyone. At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived ...
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done..." (3:1-5).
Reflecting on our salvation should produce humility. We were not saved by the good things we did but in spite of what we were, and we should respond to the people around us as people of grace, people who know that everything we have is a gift. Are the people around you acting like panicky, selfish children? "And such were some of you." Are people around you lashing out in fear or anger? "There but for the grace of God go I." Reflect on the grace you have been shown and respond to the sinners around you with the love of Christ and the patience of, well, a saint.
Paul ends this passage with "And I want you to stress these things, so that those who have trusted in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing what is good" (3:8).
God did not save us because of the good deeds we have done, but he saved us to do good deeds. He wants us to live like children of the King.
So in this crazy time, whether you're watching the news from the safety of your couch, venturing out of your home to forage for food, or having to go to work, "be gentle toward everyone". Remember what you were and would still be were it not for the grace of God. And "love your neighbor as yourself." Remember most of all that the lost around you need to hear about the hope that you have in Christ Jesus.
“And [Jesus] continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:9).
The struggle during the Protestant Reformation was over salvation, specifically whether we’re saved by faith alone or if good works are required, but a necessary battle was over the authority of the scriptures. What was the ultimate authority for the Church — the Bible or the traditions as taught by the Roman Catholic Church?
The Roman Catholic Church teaches the dual authority of tradition and scripture, but it is scripture interpreted according to their tradition, and when push comes to shove, if some tradition cannot be supported by scripture, tradition wins. On the other side, RC Sproul says, “Luther and the other Reformers said that only one authority ultimately has the absolute right to bind our consciences. Luther did not demean the lesser authority of the church or the importance of historic church councils such as Nicea and Chalcedon. His point was that even church councils do not have the same level of authority that the Bible has. This focused attention on the nature of and basis for biblical authority.”
It is incumbent upon us to diligently and prayerfully study the scriptures. Then we have to do what it says. Every other authority has to be subordinate to the word of God.
This does not mean that tradition is not important. The apostles taught the first generation of the church, who taught the next, who taught the next, etc. We should not ignore what they taught. But it is not scripture, and if we are convinced that they are in error, we have to follow what we believe is the teaching of scripture. As Jesus repeatedly showed in the gospels, religious traditions can run off the rails. We must always be testing tradition against scripture.
That does not mean, however, that the Bible means whatever you think it means. Many have taken the reformation slogan of “sola scriptura” and perverted it into “me and my Bible are all I need.” Instead of “sola scriptura” this error has been called “solo scriptura”.
The doctrine of the clarity of scripture comes with the caveat of diligent, educated, prayerful study. It assumes that God has given wisdom and insight to other believers and you’ve consulted their work. It assumes you’re reading the biblical text in proper grammatical, historical, and theological context. It assumes you’re keeping the sum total of the Bible’s teaching in mind.
“Me and my Bible” tends to result in heresies of every stripe. It has led people to deny the deity of Christ, to support racism, and to divide churches over tertiary issues.
Instead of “solo scriptura”, ie, my Bible all by itself, we should seek the help of educated believers who have dedicated their lives to the study of the scriptures. We have to learn to study the word well, to learn theology (which is what we’re doing right here) so we know what the right answer isn’t, and to use good Bible study tools like commentaries and Bible dictionaries. To borrow from Isaac Newton, we see further by standing on the shoulders of giants.
God wants us to know him and his will through his word. He has promised that he will help us to understand it. But it is the height of hubris to refuse the helps that he has given us through our brothers and sisters in Christ because we are expecting to be provided everything supernaturally.
“The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb” (Psalm 19:9b-10).
The word of God is a treasure that is worth the effort, humility, and occasionally expense to learn to handle it properly.
For more on the authority of scripture, see “Scripture and Authority” in Everyone’s a Theologian by RC Sproul.
Part of Christianity 101
There's a reason why most new year's resolutions are broken before the month is out: Perseverance is hard. We don't like doing hard things. Unfortunately, Jesus calls us to do hard things. He calls us to work hard, to suffer, and to endure through the hard times. Paul invoked this in the next of his "trustworthy sayings":
If we died with him, we will also live with him;
if we endure, we will also reign with him.
If we disown him, he will also disown us;
if we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself. (2 Tim 2:11-13).
I used to do "verses I wish weren't in the Bible." This would be a good candidate for that series. I spent a lot of time thinking about this passage and looking through commentaries trying to make it not say what it appears to say, but I couldn't.
If we died with him, we will also live with him
This saying starts off pretty positively. If you have placed your trust in the death and resurrection of Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and to make you right with God, according to Paul you have died with Christ (Rom 6). And so the believer will live with him, probably referring to the future, but there is also a sense in which he have eternal life now.
Paul said, "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his" (Rom 6:4-5). Or in Jesus' simple statement, "Because I live, you also will live" (John 14:19b). We have hope, not because of what we have done, but because of what he has done.
If we endure, we will also reign with him
And then things get hard. "If we endure." If we endure what? Whatever the world, the flesh, and the devil throw at us? Probably, but especially that first one. Up to this point Paul has been reminding Timothy to expect persecution for the gospel. We have to endure. Jesus "for the joy set before him he endured the cross" (Heb 12:2), and we're expected to do no less (cf, Matt 10:22). But he has promised that those who endure will reign by his side (eg, Rom 8:17, 1 Cor 4:8). But that is if they endure.
If we disown him, he will also disown us
And then things get ugly. Paul didn't make this up. Jesus himself said, "Whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven" (Matt 10:33). The commentaries point out that there are more than one way to deny Christ. You can do it verbally, but you can also do it by your actions (eg, Titus 1:16). Christians throughout the ages, even today, have been offered the trade of denying their Lord to save their life, but so many deny him by their actions to make money or to make their lives a little easier. We are offered the opportunity to deny him daily, and we have to reject that opportunity daily. "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23).
But all is not lost. Jesus was betrayed twice. Judas, loving money, payed him false honor while delivering him into the hands of the Jews. Peter, fearing men, denied even knowing him. One of those men died in sin. The other died repentant after a long life of service. No single act of denial is fatal. Because ...
If we are faithless, he remains faithful
The Lord knows we are dust (Psalm 103:14). He wants us to endure. He wants us to deny ourselves and take up our crosses. But he knows "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak". We are not to presume upon his generosity, but we can trust in his grace (1 Cor 1:8-9).
Paul wrote this to Timothy to remind him that persecution will come and to encourage him to stand strong. Paul wanted him, and us, to persevere. We don't know what lies ahead for any of us or for the Church, but we know we were promised "in this world you will have trouble." Our response should be to "put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes ... so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand" (Eph 6:11, 13).
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law" (Deut 29:29).
Many people today are looking for “a new word from God” or search for other spiritual insights. As important as it is for us to know that the Bible is true, it is equally important for us to know that it is enough.
Pastor Tony Evans explains, “God’s revealed word has everything we need to know to be all that God expects us to be.” God has not left us to search out how to please him; he has told us exactly what he wants. Nor has he left us to seek out the secrets of knowing him; he has revealed all that he wants us to know about himself at this time through his Son and his word.
That doesn’t mean he has told us everything we want to know. “The secret things belong to the LORD.” There are things he will tell us in glory. There are things we may never be privy to. But what he wants us to have, we have, and what he does not want us to have, we are not going to get. The ancient Gnostics and the modern New Agers search for hidden secrets in vain. There is nothing that has not been disclosed to those who will submit themselves to the scriptures.
Wayne Grudem offers some practical applications of this doctrine:
- It should encourage us as we try to discover what God would have us think or to do.
- We are to add nothing to scripture, nor should we consider anything else equal to it.
- God does not require us to know or believe anything about him or his work that is not found in scripture.
- No modern “revelations from God” should be treated as equal with scripture.
- Something is not a sin unless it is forbidden by scripture either explicitly or implicitly.
- God requires nothing of us that is not stated in scripture either explicitly or implicitly.
- We should emphasize what the Bible emphasizes and be content with what God has revealed.
Of course, the sufficiency of scripture doesn’t do us any good if we can’t understand it, which is why the counterpart to this doctrine is the clarity of scripture.
“The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7b). We mustn't think of the scriptures as if they're written in code, and only special people have the key. God gave us his word to be understood. He wants to make the simple wise. He wants us to know him and to know how to please him.
However, the clarity of scripture does not mean that you can understand the scriptures easily or that all parts are equally clear. Grudem says, “The clarity of Scripture means that the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings are able to be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it.”
One reason for the doctrine of the clarity of the scriptures is the Holy Spirit. The same God who inspired the text lives in the hearts of believers and will help those who seek him to understand his word. As Spurgeon said, “If you do not understand a book by a departed writer you are unable to ask him his meaning, but the Spirit, who inspired Holy Scripture, lives forever, and He delights to open the Word to those who seek His instruction.”
The scriptures reward diligent study. The essentials (eg, how to be saved) are easier to find and understand than ancillary issues (eg, what will happen when Jesus returns), but nothing is guaranteed to those who refuse to come to the word with humility.
So why do we need Bible teachers? First, not everyone is equally diligent about Bible study. Some study the scriptures as their career, and the rest of us fit it into our lives where we can.
Second, that’s the way Christ set up his Church. His design was that the Church should be made up of people with different gifts, including teaching, who all work together to one end (cf, 1 Cor 12). Spurgeon remarked, “It seems odd that certain who talk so much of what the Holy Spirit reveals to themselves, should think so little of what he has revealed to others.” The wisdom and understanding the Spirit has given one has been given them for the edification of all.
However, even though there are specialists, every believer is called and equipped to search and understand the scriptures so that they can know God and live according to his ways. He has promised that his word will refresh the soul, make wise the simple, and give joy to the heart and light to the eyes (Psalm 19). Those are gifts that should not be left unclaimed.
I think anyone would benefit from a close reading of “The Four Characteristics of Scripture: (4) Sufficiency” in Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. “The Bible is Sufficient” in Tony Evans’ Theology You Can Count On is also well worth your time.
Part of Christianity 101
Every time there's some kind of calamity we have people offering their opinions about why this is happening to us. In recent weeks I’ve seen a few versions of the idea that this virus outbreak is God’s way of punishing or correcting our love of money, sports, busyness, etc. Such as:
In three short months, just like He did with the plagues of Egypt, God has taken away everything we worship. God said, "you want to worship athletes, I will shut down the stadiums. You want to worship musicians, I will shut down Civic Centers. You want to worship actors, I will shut down theaters. You want to worship money, I will shut down the economy and collapse the stock market. You don't want to go to church and worship Me, I will make it where you can't go to church."
It’s a compelling idea — we went from idolizing athletes to having all sports canceled in just a couple of weeks. It sounds very Old Testament.
Which is the problem. We’re not in the Old Testament. Praise Jesus, we do not live under the old covenant!
Under the old covenant, there were very clear rewards for obedience and penalties for disobedience. If an invading army or a plague swept through ancient Israel, it was accompanied by some prophet saying, “God warned ya!” The Pentateuch spells out exactly what the Israelites should expect if they disobey God, and the script plays out out exactly throughout the rest of the OT.
But that’s not our world. Neither the United States, China, Italy, nor any other modern nation have a covenant like that with God. All of that died with Christ on the cross.
Jesus taught that bad things are not necessarily tied to what we’ve done (cf, Luke 13:1-5, John 9:1-3). In fact, bad things happened to very faithful people. Remember Paul's recounting of his hardships?
I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2 Cor 11:23-27)
God is in control of everything, so when bad things happen, it’s natural to want to know why he allowed this. Most of the time, he doesn’t tell us. We should not feel free to guess. Unless you have a literal special revelation from God, don’t tell people you know why the bad thing happened. You don’t.
People around us do not need to hear that God is taking away their livelihood and possibly life because Americans like sports too much. What people need is to hear the Christians around them talking about the hope they have in Christ Jesus and to see them loving sacrificially.
