John Piper on Entertainment’s Danger to Our Souls

John Piper gives some excellent thoughts on why he doesn’t have a TV.  This is not a rule he enforces on others, nor is he asking everyone to ditch their TV.  But all of us should consider the important warnings he offers regarding the effect tv and movies can have on our souls.  Read the entire article, but I’ve provided an excerpt from the meatiest part below.

I think relevance in preaching hangs very little on watching movies, and I think that much exposure to sensuality, banality, and God-absent entertainment does more to deaden our capacities for joy in Jesus than it does to make us spiritually powerful in the lives of the living dead. Sources of spiritual power—which are what we desperately need—are not in the cinema. You will not want your biographer to write: Prick him and he bleeds movies.

If you want to be relevant, say, for prostitutes, don’t watch a movie with a lot of tumbles in a brothel. Immerse yourself in the gospel, which is tailor-made for prostitutes; then watch Jesus deal with them in the Bible; then go find a prostitute and talk to her. Listen to her, not the movie. Being entertained by sin does not increase compassion for sinners.

There are, perhaps, a few extraordinary men who can watch action-packed, suspenseful, sexually explicit films and come away more godly. But there are not many. And I am certainly not one of them.

I have a high tolerance for violence, high tolerance for bad language, and zero tolerance for nudity. There is a reason for these differences. The violence is make-believe. They don’t really mean those bad words. But that lady is really naked, and I am really watching. And somewhere she has a brokenhearted father.

I’ll put it bluntly. The only nude female body a guy should ever lay his eyes on is his wife’s. The few exceptions include doctors, morticians, and fathers changing diapers. “I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?” (Job 31:1). What the eyes see really matters. “Everyone who looks at a woman to desire her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Better to gouge your eye than go to hell (verse 29).

Brothers, that is serious. Really serious. Jesus is violent about this. What we do with our eyes can damn us. One reason is that it is virtually impossible to transition from being entertained by nudity to an act of “beholding the glory of the Lord.” But this means the entire Christian life is threatened by the deadening effects of sexual titillation.

All Christ-exalting transformation comes from “beholding the glory of Christ.” “Beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Whatever dulls the eyes of our mind from seeing Christ powerfully and purely is destroying us. There is not one man in a thousand whose spiritual eyes are more readily moved by the beauty of Christ because he has just seen a bare breast with his buddies.

But leave sex aside (as if that were possible for fifteen minutes on TV). It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television.

Bob’s Back, But Is He Blogging?

Small note here to say, I’m back from a trip.  I’m busy too with reading the books on my review list, and I received a few more when I was gone.  You’ll remember reviewing books on my blog is a way for me to ensure I’m investing time wisely. Lately I’ve also been posting regularly to my team KJV Only blog too.

I want to apologize for the lack of good posts around here.  My reviews sometimes get in the way of consistent posting.  Plus it’s summer, and life has its own obligations. We’re a part of a church plant launching this summer in St. Paul, and so that will take some time away from blogging too.

I realize that a few series around here are stalled, and I haven’t finished them.  I have other plans for what I’d like to do, as well as migrate this whole blog to my newly owned url.

As a result of all of this, summer posting will be somewhat infrequent, I fear.  Of course there’s no shortage of other good blogs to follow.  Check out my Recommended blogs in the sidebar if you haven’t in a while.

With all this being said, I still plan on posting a couple times this week to my blog.  So infrequent posting doesn’t mean I won’t post at all!  Thanks again to all my readers, and those who continue to find my old posts worthy enough to post fresh comments on.

Oh and let me give  a preview of some of the upcoming book reviews you can expect to see around here.  I’ll just list off the titles of book’s I’ve read or just about finished off.

• 101 Portraits of Jesus in the Hebrew Scriptures by Bob Beasley (Living Stone Books)
• The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology by Larry Helyer (IVP Academic)
• The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism: Responding to New Challenges to Biblical Authority by G.K. Beale (Crossway)
• Commonly Misunderstood Bible Verses: Clear Explanations for the Difficult Passages by Ron Rhodes (Harvest House)
• The Gift of Psalms: Devotional Wisdom from 50 of the Best Loved Psalms (includes Word of Promise Audio CD of 30 Psalms) (Thomas Nelson)

New Testament Text and Translation Commentary by Philip Comfort — A Review

Author: Philip W. Comfort
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 899
Publisher: Tyndale House
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9781414310343
Rating: 5 of 5 stars

My thanks go out to Christy Wong at Tyndale House Publishers for supplying me with a review copy of Philip Comfort’s New Testament Text and Translation Commentary.

I have always been intrigued by textual criticism and the study of how we got our Bible. The Bibles we have today are the descendants of hand written manuscripts, written on papyri, vellum or paper, and in either large (uncial) or small (miniscule) letters. Those manuscripts were written originally in Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic, and later translated into Latin, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, and other languages. Today we have English Bibles finely produced from the magic of printing presses and publishing houses. But how can we know that these Bibles accurately represent what was originally written? This is where textual criticism comes in – a highly disputed field, especially in today’s skeptical age. Textual scholars referred to as critics, take the time to compare all the hand written manuscripts that have been preserved down to our day. Using various methods of comparing, contrasting and evaluating the readings of numerous manuscripts (over 5700 for the NT!), they help guide today’s church in deciding which textual variants are the likely original readings.

Philip Comfort is one of these scholars, and he has provided a fabulous resource for Bible scholars, pastors, and others to study the textual data on all the 3,000 or so places in the New Testament where we find textual variants that may affect the Bible translations we have in our hands. Comfort focuses primarily on the variants which result in differences between the various English Bible versions in use today (KJV, NKJV, NASB, NIV, ESV, HCSB, NLT, TNIV, NRSV, etc.). He also highlights some of the intriguing variants and places where the Western family of manuscripts often expands the text. What makes Comfort’s work so especially valuable is that his discussion is all in English! He discusses the Greek and other languages, but is mindful of the non-technical, English speaking reader. This makes New Testament Text and Translation Commentary (NTTTC) very accessible, opening up the intricacies of textual critical studies to the average Bible student.

While Comfort may not include all the textual data accessible to scholars in the UBS4 or NA27 Greek texts and other scholarly resources, he does format his work and provide relevant information in a much more user-friendly format. In places where there are two or more variants that have affected the English Bibles, Comfort will first give each variant reading in Greek and English, then he lists the Greek manuscripts and other supports for each variant, and he also adds which English Bibles follow that variant in their text or margin. Following all of this, he offers a brief discussion of that particular variant, taking us step by step through how a conservative, evangelical scholar will assess this textual evidence to arrive at a conclusion concerning this particular reading.

This detailed analysis of each major variant in the Greek New Testament makes up the bulk of the book and provides an easy to look up reference for practically any passage where one might encounter a variant. Comfort also provides a brief overview of textual criticism and a very interesting assessment of the major textual witnesses for each section of the New Testament. He displays an extensive understanding of the papyri manuscripts in particular as well as the history of textual criticism and all the relevant data. A few appendices are also included for more specialized discussions.

Keoni’s Big Question by Patti Ogden — A Review

Authors: Patti B. Ogden, illustrated by Mary Manning
Format: Hardcover
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Capstone Productions
Publication Date: 2008
ISBN: 9780981678368
Rating: 2 of 5 stars

As the father of four young girls, I have to pay attention to kid’s books.  As a Christian, I look for good Christian literature that is age-appropriate for my children to read.  As a blogger and self-proclaimed book reviewer, I am blessed with the opportunity to review good kid’s books on my blog, for free.  My thanks go out to Capstone Productions for providing me a review copy of Keoni’s Big Question by Patti B. Ogden, and illustrated by Mary Manning.

This book is big and colorful, and very attractive.  With an old fisherman, a boat, fish and animals, a young boy, family, church and home pictures, it is sure to grab the attention of many a young inquiring mind.  The story contained in the book is good as well.

A young boy wants to know if anyone can see God.  He is frequently let down when various adults evade his question.  Along the way he has an adventure with his friend the old fisherman.  The fisherman finally answers his question and Keoni begins to understand what it is to know God.

Such a story provides ample opportunities for Christian parents to ask (and answer) questions of their children about spiritual matters.  Children will certainly identify with the boy and his quest to get a “straight answer” from adults.  They too have wondered why we can’t see God physically.

I would guess this book to be appropriate for children from ages 3 through 12, and it really is produced well.  The only drawback of the book comes on the last page.  There we discover that this book and others were “inspired and written using stories excerpts and actual sentences from the sermons of William Branham”.  Who we are later told “received revelation and visions from the Lord Jesus Christ of what actually happened down throughout Bible history.”  Branham’s personal stories are told, they believe, “to inspire spiritual growth so that we would personally know the character and loveliness of our savior”.

I can agree with that last line.  That purpose and aim is worthy.  But setting Mr. Branham up on a pedestal as if he is uniquely inspired by God is troubling to me.  I don’t know much about Branham or his teachings, but such undue admiration for and devotion to one man should be cause for strong caution and concern.  Because of this unqualified promotion of a man, and implied belief in extrabiblical revelation of “what actually happened” in Biblical history, I cannot unreservedly give my recommendation to this book.  It gets only 2 out of 5 stars from me.

All in all, its a great book for kids.  The theology and message of the book is not at all troubling.  I was quite surprised when I read the above sentiments on the last page.  Parents can discerningly take advantage of this book, but they would need to be careful not to blindly follow the teachings of Brother Branham however, and use the book with caution.

You can pick up a copy of this book at Amazon.com, or directly from the publisher.  You can also preview some of the artwork and pages at both of the above links.

Feel free to explore all my reviews at Amazon, Goodreads, or here on my blog.

Minnesota Religious Bloggers

Desiring God’s blog, with 21,000+ subscribers may be the most popular Minnesota religious blog.  Tony Jones’ emergent blog is showcased on belief.net.  But in an article on Minnesota religious blogging published today at MinnPost.com, it is yours truly who heads the list of Minnesota religious bloggers!

Since blogging is inherently narcissistic, I guess no one is surprised that I’m tooting my own horn right now!

Seriously, the article is an interesting read, and MinnPost.com looks like an interesting mix between online journalism, blogging and a traditional newspaper format.  A couple of my local blogging buddies also make honorable mention: Jamsco at The Responsible Puppet, and Shaun at Bible Geek Gone Wild.

The article does bring up a good point.  Talking about faith has been enhanced through the online media.  Many who are in oppressive religious groups or who are just hesitant to make their questioning or religious seeking known, find the internet very helpful in evaluating their religious beliefs.  The world wide web both equips and propels one to find out what they believe and why.  The one thing you can count on with respect to the web is that your opinion will be challenged — from all sides.  Personally, I think that is a good thing, as Biblical Christianity can stand on its own two feet, and a well-grounded faith is a strong faith.

So all my loyal blog readers will have to go over and read the article.  Be sure to leave a comment too, and say how awesome my blog is!

Legalism Versus Grace

I stumbled across a great blog post that relates with the theme of our last several posts: the Gospel’s work in believers.  The post actually was first an article for Discipleship Journal.  Let me quote a relevant portion of it here, but encourage you all to go over and read the whole thing.  It’s also available as a .pdf scan from the magazine here.

Legalism is the opposite of living by grace. It is the belief that one can be justified (attain right standing with God) by following his rules. Paul addressed the error of this belief throughout the book of Galatians, explaining that it’s impossible to be right with God by obeying the law. We need grace.

Most evangelical Christians today know enough to avoid the most basic form of this error. We understand that our entrance into life in Christ—salvation—comes through faith in Christ alone, and not by keeping God’s law. Yet even when our theology of salvation is thoroughly grace-based, we can still fall into legalism. Colossians 2:6-7 says as we have received Christ we should also walk in Him, rooted and grounded in faith. That is, the way we walk in Christ should be consistent with the way we received him.

Many times, though, we fail to extend our understanding of grace and faith past the foundation of receiving Christ, to the daily matters of following him. Instead we begin to think that we stay right with God by keeping his rules. That’s what the Galatians were doing. After entering a relationship with God through grace, they thought they also needed to obey Jewish laws. Paul’s instruction to them—and all believers—is clear: just as we receive salvation by faith and grace, not by following rules, we also walk in Christ by faith and grace, not by keeping a list of commands.

Explore my other posts on gospel-centered living, and the dangers of legalism.

A Gospel-Centered Response to Blog Attacks in Bandit Country

Carl Trueman has a great post on dealing with web critics or blog attacking bandits. I thought his advice was spot on, and his example of a Gospel-centered response to criticism quite helpful. I took the liberty of quoting Carl at some length, but I encourage you to read the full article.

This raises the question of whether one should respond to individual blog attacks. My advice is no, never, not under any circumstances. Now, one of the reasons I do not read these things (in addition to having a real life with real friends, real problems etc) is because I know that, if I did so, there would be times when the temptation to respond would be overwhelming, and that would be fatal. As soon as one responds, the attacker grows parasitically stronger, gaining an audience and a credibility previously denied him. And the victim has lost because he has taken the rant of some nutjob seriously enough to acknowledge it; he has granted it a status which it simply does not merit in and of itself; and in his efforts to refute it, he has perversely made it important, given it a constituency it did not possess. Look, to repeat: the web is bandit country. Let the wild and the whacky compete with the sane and the measured, the incoherent and rambling with the logical and well-argued, the extreme with the moderate. If people believe you are really a lizard from the Planet Iguanadon who has assumed human form and infiltrated a church or a seminary to make it the base for an Iguanaman takeover of the entire Christian church, then let them do so. Nothing you can say to the contrary will do anything other than convince them of the depth and sophistication of the extraterrestrial reptilian conspiracy. Their emotional and psychological needs are clearly more serious than your own; and if you respond to such nonsense, you give it credibility and allow the parasitic nature of the attack to succeed. Ignore it and it may not go away, but sane people will see it for what it is and walk by, slightly embarrassed, on the other side of the virtual information highway.

There is, however, a spiritual dimension to blog attacks which is, ironically, conducive to spiritual health and growth. Here I have learned much (as elsewhere) from the master theologian, churchman, public figure, and normal Christian believer, Martin Luther. It is well-known that in his writings in table conversation Luther would often refer to visits from the Devil, how the Devil would come to him and whisper in his ear, accusing him of all manner of filthy sin: “Martin, you are a liar, greedy, lecherous, a blasphemer, a hypocrite. You cannot stand before God.” To which Luther would respond: “Well, yes, I am. And, indeed, Satan, you do not know the half of it. I have done much worse than that and if you care to give me your full list, I can no doubt add to it and help make it more complete. But you know what? My Saviour has died for all my sins – those you mention, those I could add and, indeed, those I have committed but am so wicked that I am unaware of having done so. It does not change the fact that Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; and on the Day of Judgment I shall be exonerated because he has taken all my sins on himself and clothed me in his own perfect righteousness.’

…Those disturbed by web attacks on their good names should not be so. Believe me, you are much worse than they say, and God is much greater and more gracious than they imagine. It’s bandit country out there on the web but sane people know lunacy when they see it: let the nutters do their nutjobby thing; let the psychos babble; and let the vicious vent. And then, in the tradition of Luther, thank God for bandit country and use the malice you find there to help you appreciate Christ

The Gospel’s Work in Believers, Conclusion

Continued from part 2.

We have seen that the Gospel has many purposes for believers beyond initial conversion.  It is as much for believers as unbelievers.  I’d like to start this final post by quoting Tim Keller once more at some length.  (I should mention that the quotes from Keller in this series come from this online article.)

…the gospel is not just for non-Christians, but also for Christians.  This means the gospel is not just the A-B-C’s but the A to Z of the Christian life.  It is not accurate to think ‘the gospel’ is what saves non-Christians, and then, what matures Christians is trying hard to live according to Biblical principles.  It is more accurate to say that we are saved by believing the gospel, and then we are transformed in every part of our mind, heart, and life by believing the gospel more and more deeply as our life goes on….

If we think of the gospel as only pardon or forgiveness of sins, we will trust in God for our past salvation, but will trust in our own present strivings and attainments for our present relationship with God…  the entire Christian life is a life “lived (in a continual present progressive) by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Gal. 2:20)  …we must continually remind ourselves of our status as legally righteous, adopted children of God.

Applying the Gospel to Yourself

It’s time to get more practical, how can we live in light of the Gospel?  How can we apply this Gospel-power, that is at work in us believers, to our lives?

1. Live in the light of what is supremely true.

The only remedy for sin is Christ.  We are accepted by God because of His sacrifice.  This world is passing away while God’s promises offer hope for eternal life.  The sin we so enjoy offers a false pleasure which offends our God and injures us.  Even though we can’t see it, God’s word and the glorious city of Heaven, the New Jerusalem, is more true than the reality we endure each day.  We need to live as if we really are citizens of a Heavenly country.

For this point, I like to think of Abraham as described in Hebrews 11.  He was living for a heavenly city, which He didn’t physically see.  He was living in light of a glorious inheritance which he only could hope for, not truly experience in this life.  He is our pattern, we are citizens of a Heavenly Kingdom on a pilgrimage through this life.  We need to live in light of what is supremely true.

2. Become what you are.

John Piper explains this point well (in When I Don’t Desire God: How to Fight for Joy):

One of the ways the Bible talks about our action in relation to our standing in Christ is to command us to become what we are.  For example, using Old Testament ceremonial language Paul says, “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened” (1 Cor. 5:7).  In other words, become what you are.  You are unleavened (sinless in Christ); therefore become unleavened (sinless in practice)….  You have already died with Christ (Rom. 6:5-6); therefore “consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).  You have already been made alive together with Christ (Eph. 2:5); therefore, “seek the things that are above” (Col. 3:1).  You are already holy in Christ (Col. 3:12); therefore “be holy in all your conduct” (1 Pet. 1:15).  You already are the light of the world in Christ (Matt. 5:14); therefore, “let your light shine” (Matt. 5:16).

3. Keep your Indicatives and Imperatives straight.

This is basically a reiteration of the point above.  You’ll have to forgive me but I get excited about this: something about saying indicative and imperative together so appeals to the intellectual in me!…   The indicative is the statement about what you are in Christ, the imperative is the commands for what we should do.  To put it another way: Indicative is Be, and Imperative is Do.  In the New Testament, every Do is firmly rooted in a Be.  Ephesians and Romans split nicely into two sections Eph 1-3 builds the basis for the commands in 4-6.  Romans 1-11 builds the gospel basis for the commands in 12-16.  Other books, like 1 Peter, intersperse commands and statements together.  Titus 2 illustrates this well, the commands for how to live in vs. 1-10 are connected to the Gospel reality in vs. 11-14 by the word “for” (gar).  Because we’ve been forgiven and given the Spirit, we will want to obey God’s commands, not to gain favor with Him, but because He has so blessed us.

4. Preach the Gospel to yourself.

Perhaps the best way to let the Gospel impact you day to day is to constantly remind yourself of the truth of the Gospel.  I have a lot of quotes on this point, but they have really helped me and perhaps we can share with one another how to practically live out this point better.

D. Martin Lloyd Jones used to use the phrase “preach the gospel to yourself” often.  Piper gives a few insightful quotes from Jones’ most famous book Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cures.  Jones is commenting on Ps. 42:5: “Why art you cast down, O my soul?  And why art thou disquieted in me?  Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (KJV).

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?  Take these thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning.  You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.  Somebody is talking.  Who is talking to you?  Your self is talking to you.  Now this man’s treatment [in Psalm 42] was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself.  “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” he asks.  His soul had been depressing him, crushing him.  So he stands up and says, “Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.”…  The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself.  You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself…. You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: “Hope thou in God” – instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way, and then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and… what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.  Then having done, that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: “I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.”

We need to encourage our own self to believe the Gospel on a daily basis.  Jerry Bridges has much to say on this topic.  From The Discipline of Grace:

…preaching the gospel to ourselves every day reminds us that we are indeed sinners in need of God’s grace….It helps us to consciously renounce any confidence in our own goodness as a means of meriting God’s blessing on our lives. Perhaps more importantly, though, preaching the gospel to ourselves every day gives us hope, joy, and courage. The good news that our sins are forgiven because of Christ’s death fills our hearts with joy, gives us courage to face the day, and offers us hope that God’s favor will rest upon us, not because we are good, but because we are in Christ.

These three posts have now come to an end, but life goes on and our need for the Gospel’s power will always remain.  I pray we all are encouraged and spurred on to let the Gospel transform us.  How are you doing that now?  And does anything in these posts ring true for you? Please continue the conversation in the comments.

The Gospel’s Work in Believers, Part 2

Continued from part 1.

So, in the gospel, as unbelievers we found acceptance through Christ and forgiveness from sin.  But as believers, don’t we rely on that acceptance as we work out our salvation?  Don’t we need to be constantly challenged to obey more and be more faithful to God?  Does our spiritual life depend in some sense on our own efforts and our obedience to Christ?  Yes and No.  Let’s look at what the Bible says about the Gospel’s work in believers more closely.

The Gospel and the Believer

1. Spiritual growth comes by hearing the Gospel and believing.

Galatians 2:19-3:5 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.  I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.  I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.  O foolish Galatians!  Who has bewitched you?  It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.  Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?  Are you so foolish?  Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?  Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?  Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?

Just as we initially receive the Spirit when we are converted by hearing (the gospel) with faith (Vs. 2).  Even so, our continued life in the Spirit comes by hearing (the gospel) with faith (Vs. 5).  We cannot live our spiritual lives by fleshly effort (vs. 3, 2:20, cf. Col. 2:20-3:4).

2. All of life is to be lived in accordance to the Gospel.

Gal. 2:14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all,….

Paul challenged Peter that his conduct was not measuring up to the gospel, implying that our conduct needs to measure up to the gospel.  Paul could have scolded Peter for displaying the sin of racial prejudice.  He could have called him to the carpet for disobeying the command to love his neighbor.  Instead, Paul pointed out how Peter had failed to live in accordance with the gospel.  The gospel has claims on us and requires we live in light of it as we make decisions in all of life.

3. Holiness, and proving that one has a genuine faith, depends on not shifting from the hope of the gospel.

Col. 1:21-23 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has not been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I Paul, became a minister.

Holiness and growth in godliness depend on keeping close to the gospel.  Proving that one is indeed reconciled, that they have a genuine faith is manifested by how they continue in believing the gospel.

4. Strength is supplied to us by the gospel.

Rom. 16:25 Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith.

Strength is from the gospel, which is further described as the “preaching of Jesus Christ”.  This preaching brings about the obedience of faith.  So strength to obey and persevere in faith comes from the revelation of Christ in the gospel.

5. The Gospel is the very Power that Saves us.

Rom. 1:16-17 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (literally = everyone [presently/continually] believing), to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The righteous shall live by faith.

In one sense we are already saved from having believed the gospel, but in a very real sense we are not yet ultimately saved. When the New Testament uses the term saved or salvation, it often refers to the point in time when we are glorified in heaven, when we actually arrive there. Often Scripture speaks of salvation as in a sense a work in progress, it’s not yet complete. This is reflected well in how the ESV translates the meaning of the Greek tenses for the word sowzo (saved) in the following passages.

1 Cor. 1:17-18 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Cor. 15:1-2 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.

Salvation depends on us “holding fast to the word … preached”. When this doesn’t happen, it reveals that the individual has “believed in vain”. They have a faith like that described in Luke 8, they “believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away” (see also 1 Jn. 2:19). True saving, genuine faith endures to the end and doesn’t fail. What supplies us with that kind of faith is a holding on to the Gospel. The Gospel has a power by which it saves us.

To conclude this point: we have seen the Gospel has many purposes for believers beyond initial conversion. It is as much for believers as unbelievers.  We’ll explore some practical ways we can avail ourselves of the power of the Gospel in our Christian life, in the third and final post in this series.

For more on the idea of “being saved”, check out posts in my topic on perseverance, especially My 219 Epiphany.

The Gospel’s Work in Believers, Part 1

The following is taken from an adult SS lesson I taught this past Sunday.  I thought it would be a blessing to share it by means of my blog for a wider audience.

1 Thess. 2:9-13 For you remember, brothers, our labor and toil: we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how holy and righteous and blameless was our conduct toward you believers. For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

What does the Gospel do in believers? Many would say it supplies us with assurance of forgiveness, a home in heaven, and it obligates us to server God to Whom we are greatly indebted. The gospel when received admits us into the church, we become believers in Christ, and we now start the work of living by faith in God’s principles. We now, since we believed (past tense), work on growing into the kind of people God wants us to be. We work hard, train ourselves to flee from sin, we develop habits of prayer and Bible study, and we look to the Bible for guidance on how to use money, succeed at work, have a blessed life and a good family, how to do church, reach the lost, and worship God.

Sounds pretty good. But where does the gospel fit in again? Is it only the first hoop of many that we must jump through as Christians? Is it what gives us the uniform to be a soldier for Christ? Is it the Get-Out-of-Hell-Free Card that settles our conscience and encourages us that living for God has benefits?

Consider the following texts again:

1 Thess. 2:13 And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is the word of God, which is at work in you believers.

Acts 20:32 And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (cf. 20:24 & 14:3 word of grace = gospel message)

Col. 1:3-6 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. OF this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and growing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth.

So what do you think? What does the Gospel do in us believers?

Before we answer that question directly, perhaps its best to focus on this question: What does the Gospel do in unbelievers?

The Gospel and the Lost

1 Thess. 1:5-6, 9 Because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit…. You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.

The Gospel challenges the lost to repent of their sin and believe Christ. The Gospel says Jesus absorbed the just punishment we deserved and He will accept all who repent and turn to God in faith.

Tim Keller says this about the Gospel:

The gospel is that you are more wicked and flawed then you ever dared believe, and more loved and accepted than you ever dared hope at the same time. Unconditionally loved and radically humbled.

(And) Religion is “if I obey I will be accepted.” Irreligion is “I don’t really have to obey anyone but myself.” The gospel is “since I am accepted, I will obey.”

We’ll continue in the next post to look more closely at what the Gospel actually does for believers. But please use the comment section and share your thoughts on this so far. What does the Gospel do for believers?  How does the Gospel impact your life?