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00:00:00.000 | I am James Hong and welcome to the Surpassing Value Podcast.
00:00:15.620 | The fuel and desire for this podcast was born out of a compulsion to flesh out what's
00:00:19.740 | been going on in the midst of an ocean of megaphones that may not actually withstand
00:00:24.600 | the test of scrutiny.
00:00:26.620 | As a signpost theologian, I will do my best to filter out the impurities and point people
00:00:32.320 | in the right direction.
00:00:38.600 | For this episode, I want to address the sufficiency and clarity of scripture along with how it
00:00:48.900 | relates to historical theology.
00:00:52.940 | The sufficiency and clarity of scripture and historical theology may carry a level of pretentiousness
00:01:05.260 | with it that may come off intimidating.
00:01:08.440 | Let me tell you from the beginning that you have nothing to be intimidated over.
00:01:11.820 | Of course, I'm not covering these topics exhaustively, but I'll be giving you what I think are some
00:01:19.100 | of the relevant cookies.
00:01:21.680 | The sufficiency of scripture could be defined as the following, and I'll be quoting Professor
00:01:27.780 | Matthew Barrett on this, "Scripture is sufficient in that it is the only inspired, inerrant,
00:01:38.380 | and therefore final authority for Christians for faith and godliness, with all other authorities
00:01:45.540 | being subservient to scripture."
00:01:50.500 | When you hear that definition on paper, for many of us listening, it might seem like a
00:01:55.880 | no-duh.
00:01:57.500 | But it's one thing to understand it on paper, quite another to make sure that we've all
00:02:03.060 | applied it.
00:02:04.500 | To illustrate the difference by giving an example of how we've moved on from this definition,
00:02:11.100 | I've invited Professor Vodie Baucom to give us an illustration.
00:02:14.980 | Okay, just kidding, he's not coming on my podcast, but you are going to hear about a
00:02:20.820 | six-minute snippet from a lecture he gave about racial reconciliation.
00:02:27.020 | And if you haven't listened to it already, I highly encourage you to go listen to the
00:02:31.140 | entire lecture.
00:02:33.660 | Take a listen as to why we need to recapture the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture.
00:02:40.340 | All right, Ephesians chapter two, as I was saying, we're going to look at the red-headed
00:02:46.860 | stepchild of Ephesians, and that's Ephesians chapter two, verses 11 and following.
00:02:54.260 | Most people, we all love Ephesians, amen, and we all love Ephesians chapter two up to
00:03:02.900 | verse 10, right?
00:03:05.460 | You say Ephesians chapter two, everybody starts quoting, if we just started quoting
00:03:09.420 | and just reciting it from memory, we'd be good, all the way up to about verse 10.
00:03:17.060 | And then people are like, "Wait, there's more?"
00:03:21.540 | And the answer is absolutely, there's more in Ephesians chapter two.
00:03:29.580 | It's all good, amen?
00:03:31.860 | Ephesians chapter two is just good, but I mean, in verse 11, it just gets gooder.
00:03:41.140 | And that's not even a word, you know?
00:03:44.580 | And so we are going to look at that part of the chapter.
00:03:50.540 | But as we do, here's what I want us to understand.
00:03:58.580 | That in the midst of all of this, in the midst of these discussions about social justice
00:04:08.740 | and race and sex and all these other things, at the end of the day, the question is, what
00:04:20.400 | does God say about us?
00:04:25.660 | What does God say about us?
00:04:29.340 | And is what God says about us sufficient?
00:04:37.320 | And when we start talking about who we are in Christ, when we start talking about our
00:04:46.100 | unity in Christ, our brotherhood and our relationships, do we believe that the Bible is sufficient
00:04:54.400 | in that regard?
00:04:56.220 | And one of the scariest things about all of this talk is that we're beginning to see a
00:05:06.820 | new hermeneutic develop.
00:05:12.820 | Where now sin is institutional as opposed to being in the heart of man.
00:05:26.440 | We're reading things differently here.
00:05:30.240 | And not only that, but we're starting to develop a new canon.
00:05:37.700 | To where if you're not seeing things rightly on these issues, people are not saying, you
00:05:46.000 | need to go to this text.
00:05:47.960 | They're saying, you need to read Divided by Faith.
00:05:53.360 | You need to read Ta-Nehisi Coates.
00:05:56.000 | You need to read, right?
00:05:58.420 | If you're not getting this, then here's a list of books that you need to read in order
00:06:06.280 | to then be able to read the scriptures rightly as it relates to our unity with one another
00:06:12.480 | in Christ.
00:06:15.720 | That is a problem.
00:06:21.440 | Because I believe that the Bible is absolutely sufficient, not just inerrant, but absolutely
00:06:28.740 | sufficient for all matters of faith and practice.
00:06:34.180 | And how we deal with one another across ethnicities is a matter of faith and practice.
00:06:41.120 | The Bible is sufficient for that.
00:06:45.460 | Again, I am not arguing that we shouldn't read other things.
00:06:53.120 | I quoted other things over the course of this weekend, but the Bible is sufficient.
00:07:05.520 | Let me put an even finer point on it.
00:07:10.040 | I worry when we begin to hear people say things that would suggest that I've had the Bible
00:07:21.300 | all this time.
00:07:23.220 | And I've had relationships with brethren of different ethnicities all this time.
00:07:33.620 | But it wasn't until I read this book that I finally understood God's heart on this issue
00:07:47.520 | of justice as it relates to race and ethnicity.
00:07:58.220 | That no, no, and it's not even it's when I finally read this book and this book was an
00:08:08.620 | exposition of the, no, when I read this sociology book.
00:08:19.080 | And so now we've got sociology overriding and governing our theology.
00:08:33.860 | That's not okay.
00:08:36.580 | That is hugely problematic.
00:08:42.340 | Isn't what you heard from Professor Votie Bauckham emblematic of what's going on today?
00:08:47.940 | The heavy push to read certain books.
00:08:50.340 | And if you don't, you're a racist was very real, wasn't it?
00:08:54.100 | And if you yourself personally haven't fallen deep into that hole, let me ask you during
00:08:58.500 | this confusion, was your first instinct to go to blogs, podcasts, people, or the actual
00:09:04.660 | word of God?
00:09:06.420 | Did you have faith that the word spoke to what's been going on?
00:09:10.180 | Or did you think to yourself, maybe we need to look elsewhere for guidance on what's going
00:09:14.060 | on, even if it was ever so subtle.
00:09:19.420 | Let me read to you just a handful of verses about the doctrine of the sufficiency of scripture.
00:09:26.460 | Second Peter one three says this, his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain
00:09:32.420 | to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and
00:09:37.580 | excellence.
00:09:38.580 | It doesn't say his divine power gave us some things, and we have to look elsewhere for
00:09:42.580 | other things.
00:09:43.580 | It says that his divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and
00:09:49.820 | godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence.
00:09:55.800 | Second Peter one 21 says this, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but
00:10:01.300 | men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
00:10:05.060 | Hebrews 4 12 says this, for the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged
00:10:10.940 | sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning
00:10:15.980 | the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
00:10:18.420 | Second Timothy three 16 and 17 says this, all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable
00:10:24.420 | for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the
00:10:29.940 | man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
00:10:36.460 | To further expand upon this, let me quote from Mayhew and MacArthur from Biblical Doctrine.
00:10:41.980 | This is going to be a little bit of a longer quote, but I want to fully flesh out at least
00:10:48.620 | just a little more what sufficiency actually means.
00:10:52.780 | With respect to sufficiency, Mayhew and MacArthur state, "The Bible also attests to its sufficiency
00:11:01.820 | (Psalm 19 7-11).
00:11:04.600 | It is a light to one's path (Psalm 119 105).
00:11:08.140 | It is more reliable than even the most amazing spiritual experiences (2 Peter 1 19-20).
00:11:15.200 | It is able to lead a person to saving faith (2 Timothy 3 15).
00:11:19.700 | It instructs the religious elite as well as the common believer (Deuteronomy 6.4; Mark
00:11:24.900 | 12.37; Philippians 1.1).
00:11:27.200 | It was given by God to parents to instruct their children (Deuteronomy 6.6-7).
00:11:32.500 | And it is able to even bring a child to saving faith (2 Timothy 3 14-15).
00:11:38.060 | Paul wrote that all scripture is given by inspiration and that it is useful for teaching,
00:11:43.740 | proof, correction, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3 16-17).
00:11:49.700 | A closer look at each of these four features reveals the full sufficiency of scripture
00:11:56.220 | to equip a believer in living out the Christian life.
00:11:59.860 | The first term, teaching, means that the Bible instructs the believer in how to live, in
00:12:05.700 | what to believe, and in what God expects of him or her.
00:12:09.340 | It is related to content and doctrine.
00:12:12.260 | This concept fits with Jesus' injunction in the Great Commission that new disciples
00:12:17.220 | be taught to observe all he commanded (Matthew 28 18-20).
00:12:22.260 | The scriptures instruct God's people in how to live in obedience to him.
00:12:26.820 | The second term, reproof, shows the scripture's purpose of admonishment.
00:12:32.120 | It has to do with pointing out where a person has erred or departed from what God requires.
00:12:37.620 | Scripture is able to judge the heart when a believer has deviated in doctrine or practice
00:12:42.660 | from the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Hebrews 4.12).
00:12:47.220 | The next term, correction, is the companion to reproof.
00:12:51.100 | The Bible not only shows a person where he is wrong, it also identifies the corrected
00:12:55.940 | attitude, belief, or behavior that he should put on its place (Ephesians 4 20-24).
00:13:02.100 | Finally, training in righteousness indicates that the Bible shows how to put its teachings
00:13:07.380 | into practice on a daily basis with illustrations and examples (Ephesians 4 25-32).
00:13:14.340 | Between the scriptures and the indwelling Holy Spirit, the believer needs no additional
00:13:19.540 | revelation to be informed on how to live the Christian life.
00:13:24.340 | Pastors and teachers (Ephesians 4 11-12) are supplied to assist in the process of spiritual
00:13:30.080 | growth unto maturity, but even their ministries are founded on and informed by the all-sufficient
00:13:38.660 | Word of God (2 Peter 1 2-3; 1 Peter 5 2-3).
00:13:48.980 | Let me also quote from the great Dutch theologian, Herman Bovink, and you're going to be hearing
00:13:55.380 | a lot of quotes this episode, so get ready, but I'm going to be quoting the great Dutch
00:14:01.360 | theologian Herman Bovink at length.
00:14:05.180 | Herman Bovink stated it like this with respect to sufficiency, "This attribute of Holy
00:14:15.580 | Scripture also must be correctly understood.
00:14:18.700 | It does not mean that all that has been said or written by the prophets, by Christ, and
00:14:24.580 | by the apostles is included in the Scripture.
00:14:27.440 | Many prophetic and apostolic writings have been lost (Numbers 21-14; Joshua 10-13; 1
00:14:34.180 | Kings 4-33; 1 Chronicles 29-29; 2 Chronicles 9-29; 12-15; 1 Corinthians 5-9; Colossians
00:14:43.060 | 4-16; Philippians 3-1).
00:14:45.160 | And Jesus, as well as the apostles, have spoken many more words and performed many more signs
00:14:51.340 | than are recorded (John 20-30; 1 Corinthians 11-2; 2 Thessalonians 2-5; 2 John 12; 3 John
00:15:03.700 | 14).
00:15:06.180 | Nor does this attribute imply that Scripture contains all the practices, ceremonies, rules,
00:15:11.900 | and regulations that the Church needs for its organization, but only that it completely
00:15:16.500 | contains the Articles of Faith (Articulae Fide), the matters necessary to salvation.
00:15:25.380 | Neither does this attribute of Scripture mean that these Articles of Faith are literally,
00:15:29.860 | and in so many words, contained in it.
00:15:32.700 | Rather, it only claims that either explicitly or implicitly, they are so included that they
00:15:39.580 | can be derived from it solely by comparative study and reflection without the help of another
00:15:49.180 | source.
00:15:52.820 | A contemporary example of what Bovink is stating in this latter portion would be church membership.
00:16:00.540 | Nor in the Bible does it say that a church must practice membership.
00:16:04.620 | However, when you look at the reasons undergirding the practice of church membership in a post-modern
00:16:10.820 | "truth is relative, non-lordship of Christ" type of landscape, when you take the formula
00:16:17.740 | of adequately discerning biblical truth coupled with correctly interpreting the times, which
00:16:23.860 | is what Jesus rebuked many over, one could see why a church would deem the practice of
00:16:30.140 | church membership necessary.
00:16:32.500 | Let me quote that last part again just so we're clear.
00:16:35.100 | Bovink says, "Nor does this attribute imply that Scripture contains all the practices,
00:16:43.100 | ceremonies, rules, and regulations that the church needs for its organization, but only
00:16:48.740 | that it completely contains the Articles of Faith (Articulae Fide), the matters necessary
00:16:54.640 | to salvation.
00:16:55.980 | Neither does this attribute of Scripture mean that these Articles of Faith are literally,
00:17:00.260 | and in so many words, contained in it.
00:17:03.100 | Rather, it only claims that, either explicitly or implicitly, they are so included that they
00:17:09.620 | can be derived from it solely by comparative study and reflection, without the help of
00:17:17.120 | another source."
00:17:21.780 | Bovink goes on to state a little bit after this, "In other words, the question is whether
00:17:37.460 | the written Word of God explicitly or implicitly contains everything we need to know for our
00:17:44.300 | salvation and therefore is the total and sufficient rule of faith and morals, or whether, in addition,
00:17:55.120 | we must assume the existence of still another principle of knowledge" (Principiam Cognoscenti).
00:18:04.980 | Bovink answers this question by stating the following a little afterwards, "At no time
00:18:10.840 | is the Church in the Old Testament and the New Testament ever directed to anything other
00:18:16.640 | than the always-available Word of God, either written or unwritten.
00:18:21.940 | By it alone, human beings can have a spiritual life.
00:18:27.020 | The Church finds all it needs in the Scripture available to it at a given time.
00:18:32.980 | Subsequent Scriptures presuppose, link up with, and build upon preceding Scripture.
00:18:40.260 | The prophets and psalmists assume the Torah.
00:18:43.380 | Isaiah 820 calls everyone to the law and to the testimony.
00:18:48.500 | The New Testament considers itself the fulfillment of the Old Testament and refers back to nothing
00:18:55.660 | other than the existing Scripture.
00:18:58.340 | Even more telling is the fact that all that lies outside of Scripture is as firmly as
00:19:04.780 | possible ruled out.
00:19:08.020 | Christians are rejected as the institutions of human beings" (Isaiah 29.13; 1 Corinthians
00:19:17.220 | 4.6).
00:19:18.220 | The tradition that developed in the days of the Old Testament prompted the Jews to reject
00:19:23.140 | the Christ.
00:19:24.340 | Over against it, Jesus posited His "But I say to you" (Matthew 5.27; 5.32; 5.34; 5.38;
00:19:33.740 | 5.44).
00:19:34.740 | And against Pharisees and scribes, He again aligned Himself with the law and the prophets.
00:19:40.300 | The apostles appeal only to the Old Testament Scriptures and never refer the churches to
00:19:46.260 | anything other than the Word of God proclaimed by them.
00:19:50.020 | Inasmuch as in the early period, tradition sought to be nothing other than the preservation
00:19:54.840 | of the things personally taught and instituted by the apostles, it was not yet "dangerous."
00:20:03.660 | If you pull all of this together, it's exactly as Professor Matthew Barrett stated in the
00:20:09.660 | beginning.
00:20:11.540 | Scripture is sufficient in that it is the only inspired, inerrant, and therefore final
00:20:19.400 | authority for Christians for faith and godliness with all other authorities being subservient
00:20:28.260 | to Scriptures.
00:20:30.760 | So if the Scriptures are sufficient for all things pertaining to life, and to interpret
00:20:36.260 | and defend against every new intellectual fad that sweeps even nations, the next thing
00:20:43.340 | we need to be convicted about is that you yourself could dig into it and understand
00:20:51.220 | it.
00:20:52.300 | You yourself have the tools and the capacity to understand what is truth, beauty, goodness,
00:21:01.740 | right and wrong, reality and illusion, justice and injustice.
00:21:05.600 | This doctrine doesn't mean that some portions of Scripture are not more difficult to understand
00:21:10.720 | than others, or that it's not going to take any work to understand the Scriptures, or
00:21:14.840 | that it doesn't take any prayer to understand the Scriptures, or that at times other human
00:21:20.640 | beings could aid you in understanding the Scriptures because they're difficult.
00:21:24.400 | After all, Apostle Peter states in 2 Peter 3.16, in reference to the Scriptures, he says
00:21:29.840 | this, "As also in all his letters," referring to Paul's letters, "As also in all his letters,
00:21:36.960 | speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand,"
00:21:43.120 | referring to the Scriptures, "which they untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the
00:21:50.360 | rest of the Scriptures to their own destruction."
00:21:55.140 | So, concerning the clarity of Scripture, concerning the clarity of Scripture, let me quote Professor
00:22:06.160 | Mark Thompson here because he provides helpful insight here to further flesh out the doctrine
00:22:13.200 | of the clarity of Scripture.
00:22:15.760 | Professor Mark Thompson says this, "The doctrine of the clarity of Scripture is not simply
00:22:21.920 | a deduction from the character of God and His purpose.
00:22:25.740 | It is the teaching of Scripture itself.
00:22:28.200 | In fact, it is a basic presupposition of Jesus' ministry.
00:22:33.360 | His appeal, 'It is written,' would make little sense if what is written was inaccessible.
00:22:39.280 | Jesus' appeal assumes that what is written can be understood.
00:22:43.840 | So to his regular question, 'Have you not read?'"
00:22:46.380 | which is in Matthew 12, Matthew 12.5, Matthew 19.4, Matthew 22.3, "It was not because the
00:22:52.080 | words were obscure that the Pharisees failed to obey, and the Sadducees were without hope.
00:22:58.280 | Jesus' assumption is that they ought to have read, ought to have understood, and ought
00:23:03.280 | therefore to have acted differently.
00:23:06.840 | The use that a written word is to be put assumes its meaning is accessible.
00:23:12.780 | How else could it be a source of encouragement and hope," Romans 15.4, "How else could the
00:23:16.920 | sacred writings make one wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ?
00:23:21.260 | Or Scripture be profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness?
00:23:26.760 | In an important parable told to teach, among other things, the necessity of responding
00:23:31.700 | to the word that has already been given, Jesus concluded, 'If they do not hear Moses and
00:23:37.160 | the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead'" Luke
00:23:42.760 | 16.31.
00:23:44.440 | Paul would later encourage the Corinthians to learn not to go beyond what is written,
00:23:50.200 | 1 Corinthians 4.6.
00:23:52.120 | From Joshua, Joshua 1.8 to Timothy, 1 Timothy 4.13, encouragement is given to read and study
00:23:58.680 | the Scriptures both in private and public.
00:24:01.920 | The Apostle Paul reasoned from the Scriptures as a critical, central part of his ministry,
00:24:07.320 | Acts 17.2-3.
00:24:09.000 | The Beroean Christians would examine the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so, Acts
00:24:14.720 | 17.11.
00:24:15.720 | Jesus' ministry, his death, resurrection, and ascension were to be understood in light
00:24:20.100 | of the words of the Law and Prophets, and this great intervention by God provided the
00:24:24.480 | goal to which the testimony of the Old Testament had been pointing all along.
00:24:29.520 | John 5.39-24.44 The pattern of Jesus' ministry, the mission
00:24:35.740 | of the Apostles, and the life of the early church was a confident approach to the Scriptures
00:24:41.300 | expecting that they can and should be understood by those who read them.
00:24:46.440 | It has long been a feature of Christian discipleship that regular, deep engagement with the written
00:24:53.940 | word of God nourishes faith and shapes lives.
00:24:59.660 | The Anglican Reformer Thomas Cranmer put it, "This word, whosoever
00:25:03.220 | is diligent to read and in his heart to print that which he readeth, the great affection
00:25:08.500 | to the transitory things of this world shall be minished in him, and the great desire of
00:25:13.980 | heavenly things that be there and promised of God shall increase in him."
00:25:19.380 | From a fruitful exhortation to the reading and knowledge of Holy Scripture.
00:25:24.660 | That great work of transformed desire could hardly be done without understanding what
00:25:31.600 | is written.
00:25:33.180 | The Apostle Paul could ask on more than one occasion, "What does the Scripture say?"
00:25:43.260 | Romans 4.3, Galatians 4.30.
00:25:49.420 | So if the Scriptures are sufficient, which they are, and if the Scriptures are clear
00:25:54.300 | to the believer, which they are, how does this relate to historical theology?
00:26:00.820 | Keep in mind that as I'm answering this question, do not forget that history, theology, and
00:26:07.740 | therefore historical theology are fallible.
00:26:11.340 | We are fallible.
00:26:12.340 | The Scriptures are not.
00:26:13.620 | However, one of the many benefits we receive from studying historical theology is that
00:26:21.220 | we witness the absolute timelessness of the Word of God.
00:26:25.620 | We see the sufficiency and the clarity through this community of consciousness that we are
00:26:31.740 | linked through with the past saints who have also relied on the Word to get them through
00:26:38.820 | the storms of their own era.
00:26:41.940 | Because every era has their own storm.
00:26:46.580 | If history is indeed cyclical, which it is, then what we'll see is how past generations
00:26:53.260 | understood the Word.
00:26:55.060 | How did they understand the doctrine of the sufficiency and clarity of Scripture and how
00:26:59.700 | did they apply it?
00:27:01.580 | Using the Scriptures themselves, we could build upon the wisdom that was given to past
00:27:05.580 | generations, gain their insight, which is a healthy tradition when done in light of
00:27:12.260 | the Scriptures.
00:27:13.260 | Let me be clear.
00:27:16.060 | Past generations are fallible.
00:27:20.180 | Past generations are fallible.
00:27:23.660 | I could show you example after example of how even the greatest theologians were clearly
00:27:30.980 | wrong and even some early church fathers were wrong, Eusebius in particular, who prescribed
00:27:37.580 | this unhealthy delineation between the sacred and the secular.
00:27:43.520 | So Scripture alone is the authority.
00:27:48.660 | It does not mean historical theology is useless.
00:27:54.780 | I'm going to quote Hermann Bavink again because I think he is very helpful here.
00:27:59.820 | Speaking on the distinction of tradition between Rome and the Reformation, he stated
00:28:05.660 | it like this, "To the mind of the Reformation, Scripture was an organic principle from which
00:28:13.700 | the entire tradition, living on in preaching, confession, liturgy, worship, theology, devotional
00:28:21.700 | literature, etc., arises and is nurtured.
00:28:25.580 | It is a pure spring of living water from which all the currents and channels of the religious
00:28:31.440 | life are fed and maintained.
00:28:34.380 | Such a tradition is grounded in Scripture itself.
00:28:37.620 | After Jesus completed His work, He sent forth the Holy Spirit who, while adding nothing
00:28:42.500 | new to the Revelation, still guides the church into the truth (John 16, 12-15) until it passes
00:28:49.100 | through all its diversity and arrives at the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son
00:28:54.420 | of God (Ephesians 3.18; 3.19; 4.13).
00:28:59.020 | In this sense, there is a good, true, and glorious tradition.
00:29:03.900 | It is the method by which the Holy Spirit causes the truth of Scripture to pass into
00:29:09.500 | the consciousness and life of the church."
00:29:16.660 | R. Scott Clark
00:29:24.380 | The fundamental job of the historical theologian is to help the church and other interested
00:29:30.300 | parties to remember the theology, piety, and practice of the past, and thus to provide
00:29:37.540 | a context for contemporary theological reflections, doxology, and praxis.
00:29:44.660 | In our late modern period, we are particularly tempted to amnesia and in greater need of
00:29:50.900 | older readings of Scripture, theological reflection, and pastoral wisdom than ever before.
00:29:56.540 | Thus, we need historical theology more than ever before.
00:30:01.020 | Though historical theology is vitally interested in the history and development of doctrine,
00:30:06.540 | in the history of Christian experience, and practice of the faith, it is not the historian's
00:30:11.300 | job to "prescribe" what should be believed theologically or done practically today.
00:30:19.020 | If it is to be of use, historical theology must be "descriptive" rather than "prescriptive."
00:30:29.240 | As new waves of doctrine come in, as the ones who probably should lead are discouraged and
00:30:37.220 | scared and just plain wrong, sometimes we need to look to the generations of the past
00:30:44.340 | to see how they dealt with similar issues.
00:30:46.580 | Because you see, when these new waves of doctrine hit us, one of the most discouraging places
00:30:53.300 | to be is to feel as if this new wind of doctrine is completely novel.
00:31:02.100 | As if it's never been dealt with in the history of the world, in the history of mankind.
00:31:06.460 | As if the scriptures are incapable of dealing with it.
00:31:09.460 | But when you look back upon history and understand the scope of history and how the Word has
00:31:15.340 | responded in generations past, not man's writings or man's wisdom, but the Word of
00:31:20.300 | God has responded in generations past.
00:31:23.760 | As you begin to see and become convinced yourself, individually, of its timelessness, there's
00:31:31.020 | a sense of conviction that begins to grow about the Word of God itself.
00:31:38.820 | You begin to feel a kinship with the Christians of the past.
00:31:44.660 | The world and Satan tend to hit in areas that their particular generation is weak in.
00:31:50.780 | And we heard and saw it loud and clear with the current crop of controversial issues.
00:31:54.840 | It was as if nobody could define justice.
00:31:58.100 | Nobody understood social justice.
00:32:00.460 | Nobody had a biblical and truthful understanding of race, compassion, and work.
00:32:04.620 | And moreover, we continue to hold on to this foolish belief that there is a real dichotomy
00:32:11.140 | of the sacred and the secular for the Christian.
00:32:14.460 | But we are put at ease when we realize that the scriptures absolutely have spoken.
00:32:26.020 | We are even more comforted when we see that these issues, at least in the scope of history,
00:32:32.700 | are not novel.
00:32:35.460 | They are actually just old tricks repackaged with a different costume.
00:32:40.940 | Let me say that again.
00:32:42.900 | These new wind of doctrines, when you study historical theology, you see they are actually
00:32:48.980 | just old tricks repackaged with a different costume.
00:32:55.600 | When we realize this, and we become armed, conviction is much more easily born.
00:33:05.260 | I can't go into it in this episode.
00:33:07.620 | I'll try to devote a future episode on this topic.
00:33:12.580 | Believe me when I tell you there's a whole lot we could learn from the likes of John
00:33:18.140 | Calvin, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Boving.
00:33:21.820 | To be more specific, feel free to investigate what happened to the surrounding communities
00:33:27.140 | of those I just mentioned to you who advocated a right view of scriptural holistic thinking
00:33:35.740 | and living.
00:33:38.100 | Check out John Calvin's Geneva, Kuyper and Boving's Netherlands, and then compare that
00:33:44.940 | with the late apologist, Francis Schaeffer, the late American apologist, Francis Schaeffer,
00:33:51.460 | who tried to warn us of the coming threat to his last dying breath.
00:33:57.900 | Francis Schaeffer wrote a book called How Should We Now Live?
00:34:03.960 | If you do a quick search engine, put his name in, and then if you type in a Christian manifesto,
00:34:13.880 | he has some remarkable insight.
00:34:16.740 | That is a lecture he gave in 1982.
00:34:22.460 | One word of caution with respect to historical theology.
00:34:25.780 | One word of caution here.
00:34:29.100 | Before you engage and do a deep dive into historical theology, let me make something
00:34:36.340 | clear.
00:34:38.420 | Please, please know the entire scope of the scriptures first.
00:34:46.660 | If you don't, all you'll be doing is merely adopting the viewpoints of the first person
00:34:51.460 | you read.
00:34:53.580 | Please do not throw man's words above the actual words of God.
00:34:58.300 | I'm not saying that you have to do this incredibly detailed verse-by-verse study of the entire
00:35:06.620 | Bible before you crack open any theological book.
00:35:11.420 | That's not what I'm saying, but try to know the entire scope of the scriptures first.
00:35:20.220 | Or else, would you not just ingest the previous generation's errors along with the truth?
00:35:34.400 | That is something that I think we should all watch out for.
00:35:38.400 | Because even in our pursuit to seek after God's word, we can sometimes let man's opinion
00:35:50.300 | and their reflections about God's word be above God's word itself.
00:35:57.460 | And that would totally be a tragedy.
00:36:02.480 | Thanks for making it to the end.
00:36:04.400 | I'll continue to try to make the journey worth it.
00:36:09.080 | To Him be honor, glory, and eternal dominion.
00:36:26.200 | Amen.
00:36:40.840 | Amen.
00:36:45.320 | (upbeat music)