A W Tozer on Christianity "Today"

Here is some more of A W Tozer (1897-1963), on his contrast between the Christianity of his day, and NT ideals:

"Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to self abnegation and death; we call them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate religious zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers."

(This comes from a little book called "Gems from Tozer", which is a compilation of excerpts from multiple sources.)

A W Tozer on Faith

I was reading a little of A W Tozer (1897-1963), this morning. Here are some quotes relating to the topic of "faith":

"Faith now means no more than passive moral acquiescence in the Word of God and the cross of Jesus. To exercise it we have only to rest on one knee and nod our heads in agreement with the instructions of a personal worker intent upon saving our soul. Such a faith as this does not perturb people. It comforts them. The face of their ego is washed and their self-confidence is rescued from discouragement."

"People must be told that the Christian religion is not something they can trifle with. the only man who can be sure he has true Bible faith is the one who has put himself in a position where he cannot go back."

"Faith as the Bible knows it is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit. Faith is the gift of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford. Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith but something else short of it."

(These come from a little book called "Gems from Tozer", which is a compilation of excerpts from multiple sources)

John Owen on Free Pardon in Penal Substitution

Some people have issues with the idea of a penal substitution and satisfaction, with regard to Christ's death on behalf of his people. There are actually many challenges that are posed against this teaching, but one particular argument goes something like this: If Christ fully met the demands of justice in his death, then salvation is not a matter of free forgiveness from God, but rather it is God acting under legal obligation to save, since nothing is really forgiven, since full punishment was meted out, and all the debt of sin fully paid for. I was reading some of John Owen again, and this was one of the objections raised against him, as a result of his "The Death of Death in the Death of Christ". This is because Owen uses language like idem (= "same") regarding Christ's satisfaction, meaning that Christ suffered the very same as that deserved by those in whose place he died. Some (eg Richard Baxter) objected that this leaves no room for forgiveness and free pardon, since pardon implies a relaxation of justice. Basically Owen says that there are two aspects to the penal requirements of justice, firstly, the particular penalty demanded by the law, and secondly, the particular person to be punished under the law. In the case of God's forgiveness in Christ, justice is not relaxed with regard to the penalty, but it is relaxed with regard to the person being punished, and therefore there is still free pardon involved.

Here is Owen's own summary, from a response to Baxter:

The freedom, then, of pardon hath not its foundation in any defect of the merit or satisfaction of Christ, but in three other things:-

(1.) The will of God freely appointing the satisfaction of Christ, John iii. 16; Rom. v. 8; 1 John iv. 9.

(2.) In a gracious acceptation of that decreed satisfaction in our steads; so many, no more.

(3.) In a free application of the death of Christ unto us. Remission, then, excludes not a full satisfaction by the solution of the very thing in the obligation, but only the solution or satisfaction of him to whom pardon and remission is granted.

[from Of the Death of Christ, p446 in Works, Vol. 10]

Sabbath, Fourth Commandment and Lord's Day for Christians today?

I have recently been in some discussions about the essence of the fourth commandment (cf Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15). I thought I would compile some of the notes here. They are very abbreviated, with little justification, but here they are anyway, as something of a summary of my present thought...

• There is an abiding application of the 4th commandment, since the creation until now. Sunday as the Lord’s Day has become the holy/special day for Christians, rather than the Saturday Sabbath, as recognised in the New Testament and early church history. This is the day that Christians regularly assembled together for worship, encouragement and edification. There seems to still be a set day, the Lord’s Day. I understant that the Lord’s Day has always been considered as the first day of the week, both in Scripture and in early church history. (I think some of the shift has to do with a practical distinction between Mosaic Jewish administration and new Christian administration, and part because the new age has already begun on the first day of the week, when Jesus rose from the dead.)
• The essence of our Christian observance of the Lord's Day is of keeping the the day holy and distinct from our other days. That day is specially the Lord’s, where the other six are in a sense more left to us and our particular needs in this age. The Sabbath day was never just about the past, but also about the future hope of entering God’s rest (of which the promised land was a typological fulfilment, clearly not being the real thing, but meant to make the people think in those terms). I understand that the Sabbath was primarily about hope (and not primarily about judgement or whatever else). And that hope is now kept holy by us on the Lord’s Day instead. The Lord’s Day is then a special day to look forward to the perfect rest to come (as the Gen 2:1-4 seventh day was the holy perfection of the creation account), and enjoy the anticipation of that. So part of the essence of the day is still a resting from this-worldly employment (to provide for our this-worldly needs), and depend upon and enjoy the Lord, living by his word alone (so to speak). A day when we shouldn’t be trying to make money, or force others to make money for us (like our slaves, servants, oxen, donkeys etc, to use Ex 20/Deut 5 terminology). It is a day of joy in the Lord. A day of delight. A day of holy desire and hope.
• There are some aspects of OT Jewish Sabbath requirement that are not required in the same way for Christian believers on the Lord’s Day. There is a greater sense of freedom, joy and closeness with God for the Christian community, than there is in the OT Jewish economy. You see that for example in the difference between restricted access to God’s throne in the tabernacle/temple system, and the free access and boldness we are given as Christians. I think part of that has to do with the “typological” distinctiveness of Israel amongst the other nations, and how that needed to be displayed outwardly and legally etc, since as a whole community they did not have the Spirit dwelling in their hearts individually. And there is this kind of shift when it comes to how we think of observing the Lord's Day as the Christian holy day.
• The difference between Ex 20 and Deut 5 also shows us that the essence of the 10 commandments is not tied to the precise and entire wording in a over-legal way.
• Hebrews 3-4 is not about a “Lutheran grace not works” type of rest. I think it is about a future rest, and actually still points to a continuing Sabbath observance as we look forward to entering the rest of God which Jesus has already entered (for himself as the new Adam, and also on our behalf).
• The Col 2, Gal 4 and Rom 14 passages are more about Jewish-type holy days, not about the Christian Lord’s Day (since the context of all these passages has to do with Jewish-influenced wrong thinking coming into the church).
• I have heard many people say that Jesus broke the Sabbath. I don't think Jesus broke any OT requirement of the Sabbath, since he had to fulfil all righteousness and perfectly keep the law. What Jesus broke was only the interpretation of the law by some contemporary Jews.
• When it comes to questions of practical situations, of what we should and shouldn't do, one principle is, if I don’t think I should do it, I shouldn't require others to do it for me, or encourage others to do what I wouldn’t do. (cf Matthew 7:12 and Luke 6:31.) However, on the other hand there are issues of necessity, and mercy, and the dangers of Pharisaical extremes, similar to the “Corban” situation, where one thing is overemphasised at the expense of something else, and it becomes emphasis on a man-made rule, rather than issue of real sin. Or where detailed rules are contrived, which go beyond God’s requirements. And this is where things become complicated in the real situations that we face.
• Yes, technically, we could say the “Lord’s Day” is not to be called “the Sabbath”, however I don’t think it is wrong, and often is helpful, to use the shorthand of referring to it as the “Christian Sabbath”. Particularly because we don’t have the same kind of confusions with the prevalence of Jewish influence today (at least not to the same degree and in the same form, eg food laws and circumcision are not as big an issue for us today as it was in the NT)

Unity in the Church of Christ (1 Corinthians 12 etc)

In our evening church gathering, we have been working through 1 Corinthians. So recently I was reading 1 Cor 12 again. Sometimes we go to this passage looking for information about God's gifts to individuals, or to talk about the diversity amongst the people of God. Yet what strikes me about this particular section, is that it is more about unity and oneness in Christ, despite the diversity. And this makes sense when it seems that the church Paul was addressing was quite fragmented and divided (cf. 1 Cor 1:10-13, 1 Cor 3:1-4), and seemed to use the possession of particular gifts as a claim to superiority or authority (cf. 1 Cor 4:7; this seems to be a general problem with the church in a number of areas, and in chapters 12 to 14, the issue seems to focus on those who claim superiority or authority because they can speak in tongues). Instead of emphasising the value of gifts among Christ's people, Paul needs to emphasise that they are all one, and need to live as a unified community, rather than practising some kind of caste system based on gifting.

I take 1 Cor 12:3 to introduce this emphasis. God does make a significant distinction between people. But it is not based on what special gift they have from His Spirit. It is based on whether or not they have the Spirit at all, whether or not they follow Jesus at all. And if they do follow Jesus, if they do have the Spirit, then they are to be counted as fellow-members in the family of God, and none are to be despised, excluded or competed against. It is not that Paul wants them to have a low view of those who do not yet follow Jesus, but he wants them to have a high view of everyone else who does follow Jesus.

As we read through the rest of chapter 12, we should count how many times Paul uses words like 'one' and 'same'. And as we do this, and note this important emphasis in the Scriptures, we should also ask ourselves, 'How important to me is unity in Christ's church, because it is certainly important to Christ?'

I once heard someone comment that the priority of individualism was advanced by the Reformation (eg Luther's "Here I stand" and all that). There is certainly value in freedom of speech and opinion, and the significance of the value of the individual is not to be dismissed (we don't want utilitarianism either). But there is also an ugly flip side that over-emphasises the individual, and under-rates the community. And as Christians (especially as influenced by Western thinking?), we need to recapture the importance of unity amongst the wider Christian family, and the value of that community. In my experience, too often we still talk about 'us and them', whether in terms of denominational patriotism, or of loyalty to the local church we are part of, or of our own particular grouping within or across denominations. How often have we heard other Christians (even myself!) emphasise 'I'm a Pentecostal', 'I speak in tongues', 'I'm an Evangelical', 'I'm Reformed', 'I studied at this or that Theological College' etc etc. Is that what Jesus wants of us?

Of course we have to make some distinctions. There is a difference between truth and error. There are wrong understandings of Bible passages as well as correct ones. And in our imperfect existence as Christ's body, probably there is a place for different expressions (even differently labelled ones) of Christ's people, to expedite kingdom work and gospel ministry. However, somehow we have to do this while avoiding the 'us and them' mentality, and without looking down our noses at Christians in other groups. Somehow being able to still foster cooperation and partnerships amongst us all.

Sometimes we talk about how we can better do our part in more people becoming Christians, trusting Jesus, believing the gospel and following Christ. We ask, 'What sort of things can we do to make our evangelism more effective?' In our morning church gathering today, we were also reminded about another verse which gives a challenging answer to these kinds of questions, and also strikingly highlights the point of this post: 'I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their Word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.' (John 17:20-21; NJKV)

[PS: I remember doing a Bible talk a few years ago on 1 Corinthians 12. I haven't reviewed it recently, but I've uploaded a copy of the audio here anyway :-D ]