Knowing the Unknowable

^{Humble Orthodoxy}

^{Last weekend, I was able to attend a seminar, "Humble Orthodoxy," which was all about proclaiming the truth in love and humility. Many in the "emergent church" movement who want to claim that to be humble, we must be uncertain. This is also called s "Generous Orthodoxy" by author Brian McClaren. Why would someone say such a thing? It is like Pilate asking Jesus "What is truth?" It is likely that Brian McClaren and others like him have talked and argued with orthodox believers who were prideful, boasting that they have it all together. Reformed believers fall into that often, and are even stereotyped that way. Of course others do it as well, but the description has stuck with us.}

^{Orthodoxy means someone is wrong. But, we must look at ourselves, not just at others. We should be as precise as possible. If you aren't familiar with the term "Orthodoxy," basically it is belief and assent to fundamental truths of the faith, the pattern of sound words. We Orthodox believers don't want to invent new truths or downplay truth for the sake of false unity, but instead strive to make sure the pattern of sound words which we leave is as pure as those which we received.}

^{You who are teachers or striving to become pastors should desire to teach orthodoxy so well, that when error surfaces, it is seen for what it is. You will save yourselves and your hearers.}

^{All of this truth needs to be clothed in love and humility. We do not ned to learn the truth to win more arguments and gain greater influence. That is prideful. We need to approach it out of love for God and love for man. Our hearts should leap in worship at these great doctrines...if not, we've missed the connection. True doctrine should always lead to worship. All true doctrines should lead to humility. We have nothing to boast.}

^{This seminar was for Reformed/Calvinistic believers. The doctrines we hold are called the Doctrines of Grace. The question was asked at the end of the seminar, "Are these doctrines necessary?" Does a person need to believe these Doctrines of Grace? A long silence filled the room, and the answer from the podium that followed was "No." We gathered for an entire Saturday to talk about speaking the deep truths of the faith in love, to be told at the end that the doctrines we are refering to are not necessary.}

^{Is it necessary?}

^{I thought about that all day.} "Are these doctrines necessary?" But necesary for what? Salvation? No, they are not. I don't preach TULIP on the street corner. The Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand. We sinned, deserve God's judgment, Christ died in our place: we are commanded to repent and believe, and if we do, we get eternal life and the Holy Spirit. Not a long list. For someone to be saved, that is all that is necessary.

But what truths are necessary for sanctification? Ah, thats a whole different matter. While the Gospel may be simple enough for a child to understand and be saved, it is also deep enough that we will spend eternity plumbing out its depths and coming to a full understanding of God's love. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 reads "¹⁶All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." ALL scripture is necessary for our sanctifiaction. All of it. Maybe you did not realize it, but believing false theology is sin. It is the sin of idolotry. Let that one sink in.

The Holy Spirit convicts of sin, and so also convincts of false theology/doctrine. We will never attain sinless perfection in this life, but we certainly want to strive after it, strive to be like Jesus. Jesus had perfect theology. He was also the most humble man to ever walk the earth.

How much are we capable of knowing? How much has God revealed?

Recently Shea posted a blog about predestination and free will. Some of it i agree with, and some I disagree with. Regardless, I highly esteem Shea. Praise God we don't have to debate whether or not Christ was actually God in the flesh, or if homosexuality is really a sin. Looking into these deep things of God is both good and necessary. After reading Job 28, Shea came to the conclusion that:

"Basically, it said that only God can understand everything and it is futile for man to try to grasp the ways of God. This was a blessing.[...]It is our job to tell as many people as we can that The creator of the universe wants to have a relationship with us. Beyond that, it doesnt matter to me. For as much as I would know, it is by God that I have choice and through God that I make the choice. Anything beyond that does not matter to me.

If you delve deeper, it gets into those things that we wont understand, and dont need to. It is another instance of man trying to have all of the understanding in my opinion. We dont need to know who will ultimately be saved. We do what we can with what God has given us. He told us to go to the ENDS OF THE EARTH. God would not have us pass anyone up."

In a spirit of love, I do want to address some of those thoughts though. I've been reading Ephesians lately. It is one of the few epistles of Paul to a church that is not experiencing major problems. Romans is another. These are new believers. A letter from Paul has come. What excitement must have filled tha air as they all gathered to hear the epistle read. After a little greating from Paul to the chuch, we read and they would have heard "³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved." Say what? Given the opportunity to talk about ANYTHING, Paul wrote about God's sovereignty in election. The book of Romans is the same way. Right at the heart of the letter, Paul spends several chapters writing about God's sovereign choice. This would have shocked the hearers almost as much as it shocks honest readers today.

Paul goes on in verse 11"¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory." Shocking. Our minds rebel against it. But then again, maybe we just don't understand what he really meant. Maybe we can't understand. Perhaps as Shea and others on his blog posted, "it is futile to grasp the ways of God...if you delve deeper, it gets into those things that we won't understand, and don't need to."

You may have noticed I skipped a few verses in this first chapter. Sandwiched right between those two passages about God's wisdom and will, Paul wrote "⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth." This is the gospel, the mystery of His will that he has lavished upon us, that he has made known to us. Made known to us, that we might know it, understand it. This is not some obscure passage, or the proper interpretation of what locusts represent in Revelations. This is the Gospel, something we should strive to be experts in.

In Ephesians 3:1, Paul begins a prayer " --> --> For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles— " ...which he abruptly pauses in the middle of to let the readers/hearers know " --> --> ² assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, ³ how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. ⁴ When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, ⁵ which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. ⁶ This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. " The mystery revealed is this: God has not only chosen Jews, but also Gentiles also. Good news for us! By the way, that is about as close as I have come to finding in the scriptures who will be saved.

Further Paul writes in Ephesians 3:8b-9 that grace was given to him " --> --> to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable ^{riches of Christ, 9 and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things." How can he preach the unsearchable riches of Christ? Sounds paradoxical, but it is what he wrote. We know God through His Word. We can safely search the unsearchable Word, plumb out the depths of His wisdom. We will never understand it all, but we should not be affriad to look deeply. Looking deeply causes our hearts to worship. That is why Paul was given grace, to teach us these things. God's grace is not in vain.}

^{But still...how can we know?!}

^{As I alluded to earlier, Paul started a prayer and interupted it. Here is the prayer he wrote for us all: (Ephesians 3:14-21) " --> -->}

^{14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.}

^{20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen."}

^{Paul prayed that we would be able to know the unknowable. To know the knowledge that surpasses knowledge. If it wasn't written here, you'd call me a heretic. Even further, he prayed that we would be able to comprehend with all the saints--through faith--these glorious truths. It is no lack of faith to look deeply into God's Word. Paul prayed that we would...and that we would understand! Quite to the contrary, I believe it is a lack of faith to say that we can't understand God's ways, when he has given us his Holy Spirit for that express purpose, and Paul prays that we would. Now, will we understand it all? No, in fact, we will spend all of eternity coming to know God better. I was told as a kid that when we die, we get all the answers...nope! We will still be finite creatures, and will spend eternity learning. Our God is that deep.}

^{It is not that it is impossible to understand, there is just so much to understand. Conside the whole counsel of God. Pray over it. Meditate on it day and night. Keep trying to understand. On this i will close, 2 Timothy 2:15 " --> --> 15 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth."}