REFORMED WITNESS
Volume V, July 1997, Number 7
Following are two articles from the Reformed magazine, The Standard Bearer
The Pressure Is On
by Professor David Engelsma, Editor of The Standard Bearer
Reprinted from The Standard Bearer, May 15, 1997See more articles by this author
Also in this issue: The Enduring Apostolic Address - By Rev. Ken Koole
The pressure that I have in mind is the force of the ungodly world upon the instituted church. The purpose of this pressure is that the church conform her thinking, her message, and her life to the thinking, the message, and the life of the world. At present, in the West at any rate, the forms of the pressure are education; the mass media, especially television; public opinion; and the example of the world's life. Before long, there will be the oppression of overt persecution.
The fact is not new.
Scripture warns that conforming to the world's rebellious thinking and filthy life is the great temptation for the church in every age. Israel was always learning the ways of the heathen. The New Testament church is urgently called to come out of Babylon the great "that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4).
But the pressure increases in the last days. Churches are succumbing to the pressure. Churches that once were faithful to Christ are succumbing to the pressure. Not the liberal churches, which long ago deserted their rightful Lord for the embrace of antichrist, but evangelical, Reformed, and Presbyterian churches yield now to the world's pressure. They yield blatantly. There is nothing subtle or doubtful about their accommodation of themselves to the world, although, being churches, they still must try, vainly, to put a good face on their surrender.
The pressure is on.
The pressure is on, that the churches conform their thinking to the world.
Evangelical and Reformed churches give up the biblical doctrine of creation for the world's theory of evolution. Or they tolerate the theory of evolution in the churches and in the Christian schools with the inevitable result that in time it drives biblical creation out.
This accommodation of the church's thinking on the fundamental matter of origins betrays another concession by the church to the world: the authority governing the churches' beliefs is no longer Scripture, but science.
Nominally evangelical and purportedly Reformed churches tolerate, if they do not authorize, the teaching that God loves all humans without exception with a love that desires their salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Some permit, if they do not approve, the doctrine that finally every person will be saved. In any case, there will be no everlasting hell. Thus, these churches cave in to the world's avowed universalism and to the world's determined repudiation of the justice of the God revealed in Scripture.
So powerful today is the world's pressure that it becomes a serious theological issue to be debated, whether Jesus Christ is the only Savior. This is a problem for Reformed churches. They cannot say that all outside the covenant with believers and their children who die in unbelief perish everlastingly. Where there is still opposition to the rejection of Jesus as the only name given under heaven by which we must be saved, the appearance of this rejection is not met by quick, decisive discipline. Rather, the churches negotiate with the heretic and attempt an amicable separation.
The explanation of this denial of the uniqueness of Jesus and His work, particularly the cross, is the pressure upon the churches of the world's intense hatred of discrimination and fervent love of equality and sameness in the human race.
The pressure is on, that the churches conform their behavior to the world.
Adopting the world's agenda, that every position held by men shall also be open to women, evangelical and Reformed churches have lately approved the opening of offices in the church to women. With this decision, the churches have necessarily rejected the headship of the husband in marriage and family. Although these churches scour the Bible for a text or two, Scripture was not the cause of their decision. The world was.
The pressure is on.
These same churches now acknowledge the legitimacy before God of homosexual nature and activity. Or they permit the advocacy of homosexuality, which must result in ecclesiastical approval of homosexual nature and deed as godly.
Homosexuality!
Women changing the natural use into that which is against nature! Men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burning in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly! (Rom. 1:26,27).
Debated, then tolerated, and finally officially approved by evangelical and Reformed churches!
Why?
What heart-shrinking reality explains this?
The pressure is on.
Even abortion finds defenders in evangelical and Reformed churches. Recently, a noted evangelical theologian in one of the most prestigious and popular evangelical seminaries in the world published his sanction of the murder of millions of unborn in the earlier months of pregnancy. Recently, a Reformed college professor published his refusal to condemn all abortions that are not done to save the life of the mother. If the churches involved have not approved these lethal pronouncements, neither have they disciplined those who made them. They are open to the approval of abortion.
Not a whit less serious is the churches' acceptance of divorce and remarriage. Indeed, from the point of view both of the havoc wreaked upon nation and church and of the violence done to the revelation of the covenant of grace in the gospel, the acceptance of divorce and remarriage is the most serious of all the ethical accommodations to the world by the churches.
Churches that once held the biblical position that divorce is permitted only for fornication now allow divorce, and a subsequent remarriage, for many, if not all, reasons.
Churches that once restricted the right of remarriage to the "innocent party", that is, the husband or wife whose mate committed fornication, now allow the guilty party to remarry.
In this area -- this fundamental area -- of the Christian life, some churches and theologians are crafty. Before the reading, Christian public, they argue for divorce and remarriage on the ground of adultery. Perhaps they add the ground of desertion, with obviously erroneous appeal to I Corinthians 7:15. The actual life of the congregations, however, tolerates and approves the divorce and remarriage of the guilty party, the man who himself committed adultery, or who himself deserted his wife.
The doors to divorce and remarriage now open widely in the conservative churches. They open as widely in the conservative churches as they open in the godless world. Virtually every book and article on the subject have as their purpose to defend, and thus to promote, divorce and remarriage among those who profess allegiance to the Christ who is truth and faithfulness.
For one reason.
The Western world in which we live is a world of sexual promiscuity, rampant divorce, and abounding remarriage. Sexual pleasure is god.
The pressure of the world is on, and the churches cannot withstand it.
Such is the pressure that Scripture itself is deliberately and systematically reworded to force the Word of God into the mold of the world's thinking. In its issues of March 29 and April 19, 1997, World magazine reported that those in charge of publishing the New International Version (NIV) of Scripture plan soon to publish the NIV in a gender-inclusive edition. Feminist aversion to masculine pronouns will dictate to the inspiring Holy Ghost. The NIV is the Bible of choice in most evangelical and Reformed churches.
This publishing event will only highlight what is, in fact, happening all along the line of the evangelical and Reformed surrender to the world. The Word of the sovereign God is compelled to give way before the words of autonomous man.
The churches are guilty. But the people do not escape responsibility. Many would have it so. The world's thinking is preferable. The world's ways are easier and more pleasant. Others put up with what ought to be intolerable.
How then shall the true church glorify God and live under this pressure in these days of world-conformity?
By bold, uncompromising preaching of Holy Scripture by her preachers; by ready, firm discipline by her elders; by tough biblical, confessional decisions by her assemblies; and by unashamed, defiant confession by her members!
Basic is the truth of the warfare between the church and the world, rooted in God's eternal election and reprobation. The church's thinking, message and behavior, drawn as they are from Scripture alone, are holy and wise, whereas the world's thinking, message, and behavior, arising as they do from totally corrupt human nature, are profane and foolish. The church's thinking, message, and behavior end in life, whereas the world's thinking, message, and behavior end in death.
This warfare, our preachers must teach.
This warfare, our people must believe.
The pressure is on.
Against it will stand only those who know and live the antithesis.
The Enduring Apostolic Address
By Rev. Ken Koole
Pastor of Faith Protestant Reformed Church in Jenison, Michigan
Reprinted from The Standard Bearer, May 1, 1996See more articles by this author
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered..., Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit...: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied."
Peter addresses the church universal in a most significant and timeless way. He greets them as "elect strangers." The true believer and faithful church always confess this to be their true identity. Those in the church today who have no desire for these names, especially the first, have divorced their identity from the name of Christ and the apostolic church.
The times in which the apostle wrote were strikingly similar to our own.
First, they were days of an astonishing deterioration in the whole moral fabric or Roman society. The pagan writers themselves decried the loss of all regard for virtue and honorable behavior. There was loose and insatiable appetite for entertainment. The colliseums were full. And the only thing that satisfied was violence and blood. In the theaters of that day, as in ours, that is what received two thumbs up.
Second, there was a growing hatred for the true name of Christ Jesus, the Nazarene. Things were building toward those "fiery trials," a regular bloodbath for the early Christians. Peter writes to prepare the church for that day.
Today it might be argued that the name of Jesus is popular, never more so. But preach the Christ of Calvinism (and of Augustine and Paul); preach the predestinating God and a Christ who does not love every man, but who died for his own -- and that spirit of tolerance changes markedly. Calvinism as Christianity? It is much out of favor in religious society today. "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you..." (I Peter 4:12).
Those who bear the reproach of Christ need much encouragement. To that end Peter writes. We need encouragement to live in such a way that it is apparent where our loyalty lies, regardless of animosity and threats. We are to be Christians, and not in name only.
* * * * * * *
The apostle greets the church and blesses them. "Grace ... be multiplied unto you..."
What a wonderful thing grace is. Not only for what it forgives, great sins, but for what it makes of a man!
I give you exhibit A - Peter, an apostle, Petros! What a name, the Rock! - the name Christ gave to him. The name of a man who made a rock-solid confession and was bold in the faith.
But that is not who Peter was in himself. He had been Simon, Simon the boaster, with as much natural courage as you could find in any man. Witness Gethsemane's garden and who it was who had swept out a sword and gone head hunting. But when Christ disarmed him it was another matter.
It was Simon who on the night of Christ's betrayal had, in the courtyard, denied his Lord with vigorous swearing. Spiritual courage forsook him. He was embarrassed at being identified with the Galilean. Bearing Christ's reproach had been beyond him.
It is now this Simon Peter who writes, knowing full well the difficulty of discipleship and of confessing the Christ in a godless world, facing its animosity. He knew what it meant to cave in. He sympathized.
Still, this Simon Peter was, in the end, willing to bear the reproach of Christ, even to martyrdom if need be. He became rock solid in his confession and in courage.
Peter is himself therefore a living testimony of the power of grace and what it can make of a man. Grace has a way of making boasters meek, to the astonishment of all, and making of the most timid souls men and women of remarkable conviction and strength. Satan himself finally asks, "What possesses these people!" to which there is but one answer, "Christ does. They are Spirit possessed." Grace puts brute strength to shame time and again. It conquers.
Now we must notice to whom Peter addresses this epistle, namely, the elect sojourners or strangers. In the Greek, the word "elect" is first. In the interests of smoothness of translation the King James has had to sacrifice something of the power of the original. That the word "elect" is first in not without significance.
Striking, is it not, that election is the first thing the Spirit puts into Peter's mind when the apostle addresses the saints of God; yet today it is the last thing mentioned, if it is mentioned at all. Reformed pulpits, silent on the truth of God's electing love, assure us it cannot be preached, it has no real practical value. Election is one of those great mysteries best left to God, it has no relevancy to the Christian faith and life.
Really! How simpleminded the apostle was, not to have known this. He must have attended the wrong seminary.
The simple fact is that no less an authority than the apostle not only mentions it, but opens by addressing the saints of God as the elect. And we are to understand that one's personal election cannot be known? That those to whom Peter wrote could not be sure they were being addressed or not? And there is little practical value to this fundamental truth?
Preposterous!
The reality is this: if you do not confess and believe the election of God, which means that salvation was determined not by man's own will and choice, but by the eternal selecting will of God from before the foundation of the world, you cannot address the church. It's who she is made up of, the elect of God.
One's election is not unknown to the child of God. It is something known and cherished. This the apostle himself declares in II Peter 1:10, "...give diligence to make your calling and election sure..." Be sure of your own election; not make yourself elect, but give diligence to be sure of it. It is knowable. It is knowable in the pursuit of godliness.
This knowledge does not hinge on some mystical vision and sign, nor does it come via some extraordinary experiences in life that only the elite receive. Peter addresses common children of God. Election becomes known by the testimony of the Spirit in one's heart, and in the way of godliness and spiritual interests. That is why mention is made in verse 2 of the "sanctification of the Spirit." Do not expect this testimony if you live carelessly in sin. Then you quench the Spirit. But by the Spirit's fruits one may know himself elect, loved by God from before the foundation of the world.
The truth of election is a practical truth. This is why, when Peter addressed the church, he chose this word and not some other.
First, Peter's purpose is to remind the saints that the source and fountain of all our salvation is of God. We refer not just to the plan of salvation, to the way in which God will save men, but we refer to the personal salvation of each person who shall be saved. Why have you been saved? Why have you been awakened unto salvation and the confession of Christ? Because God so willed. Not your wisdom, but God's deep, gracious will is the origin.
This is why Peter says, "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." This demonstrates that one's salvation finds its source in God's choice.
God's foreknowledge is not simply "foresight" or "foreseen faith." This emasculates election. Then Peter could better have written, "Elect according to your faith foreseen" or "according to your choosing," or "as you have shown yourself worthy." Nothing of the kind: "Elect according to foreknowledge."
Foreknowledge is God's determining before time who would be His children, and who would come to know Him in love. That this is the meaning of foreknowledge is plain from what Peter says a few verses later (v. 20): "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world..." (i.e., Christ as sacrificial lamb). The word translated in verse 20 as "Foreordained" is the same word translated "foreknowledge" in verse 1. Certainly Christ's death was not simply something God was able to predict. Such a view is unworthy of God's wisdom. The heart of history was merely foreseen and predicted? Nor was your salvation. Give the glory to God's electing love, not to your imagined wise choice.
Secondly, election means God determined everything about us. Why are you who you are, what you are, where you are, and when you are? Why were you born in the latter part of the 20th century and not in the 1st century with the apostle Peter? That you were born in the 20th century is not by chance or biological quirk, some genetic coincidence. It was God's foreknowledge. Some were formed to bear witness to Christ back in the 1st century. But you and I have been chosen to bear witness over against this present age's immorality and apostasy. We have been appointed to stand rock-solid against these great evils. It is no little honor to have been chosen and formed to bear the name of Christ in the close of the New Testament age. As the elect of God, let us not become faint of heart.
And finally, the practical value of election is found in its comfort and encouragement.
Consider whom Peter addressed as elect. He was addressing those who were going to endure a bitter persecution, a great trial of their faith. They were going to be required to pass through fires for Christ's sake. What would see them through? What hope had they?
This! They were the elect of God. The electing God would see them through.
How well Peter knew this.
Peter had denied his Lord with cursing and swearing. Yet he had not been disowned. He had been kept and restored.
Why? Because he deserved it? No! His Lord's electing love: "You are mine, given to me, bought by my blood. I will never let you go." So the risen Lord sought him out and restored him again.
Election, beloved, electing love is the basis of our confidence in times of greatest trial. God's love is rock-solid, eternal. Though we falter and fall, the Father will bring us through.
Election is of no practical value, and cannot be preached? Be not deceived. There is no other gospel.
Remember, our faith is not simply in election, our faith is in the electing God! He is our Father who knows His own from eternity. His enduring love is what makes all the difference.
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