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The Natural Man
1 Cor. 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
The natural man is an unbeliever that lives a life in apparent, external accordance with God’s word. In contradiction to the Scriptural direction, he is tolerated in the churches. This was the case throughout most of the Christian era. R. J. Rushdoony in “Van Til and the Limits of Reason,” described the natural man as follows:
“Man outside Christ is, in terms of Scripture, a fallen and evil creature, at enmity with God, and yet many churchmen have seen him as basically a good man, needing only Christ to round out his life…
This perspective was present even among the Puritans. Thus, Thomas Hooker described “the civil man” as a paragon of public moral virtue,a man “outwardly just, temperate, chaste, careful to follow his worldly business, will not hurt so much as his neighbor’s dog, payes every man his owne, and lives of his owne; no drunkard, adulterer, or quarreler, loves to live peaceably and quietly among his neighbors,” even though hell bound, lacking Christ. Together with this, there was often a favorable view of reason. Such opinions were common in the medieval era, and in the Reformation and its churches.
What was the origin of such thinking? Given the plain speaking of Scripture on man’s sin and depravity, it seems strange that that this should that this should be so. The problem was that most people knew non-Christians within Christendom. These non-Christians took on the coloration of the Christian community. Just as to carry on business in an English-speaking country or community, one needs to know English, so within a Christian context the non-Christian has, until recent years, taken on the coloration of the community. For example, for a long time homosexuals were “in the closet” with respect to their vice; publically, they were a part of the general community, its churches, organizations, and activities. Society, as a result, for a long time did not know what a natural man is; some still do not know!
Given this situation, too many churchmen assumed that people are what they profess to be rather than what God in the Bible tells us they are. To insist on a Biblical doctrine of man is therefore seen as illegitimate when the “public evidence” indicates otherwise…
“Man’s fall, according to Scripture, is total, affecting all of his being. Even in the songs of Biblical worship, i.e., Psalms 14 and 53, we are told of the ungodly that none do good, “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one” (Ps. 53:3). When songs of Israel include such statements, we know that this was a basic doctrine. But churchmen are no more faithful to the Bible than were the Jews. They do, of course, proudly retain Jesus in the church, but only after remaking Him in their own image.” [1]
While the nation’s culture was Christian, the natural man pretended to be a Christian but worked to change both the culture and the church. He did so through man-centered philosophies and their application to society. He went to church, perhaps served as a deacon or elder and was a model citizen outwardly. Inwardly, he was his own god; living for himself, perhaps even believing he will go to heaven when he dies. The churches did little to help this poor soul. They didn’t rebuke him for his pretence of faith but let him go through life thinking all was well with his soul while he remained in Satan’s cruel grip.
Van til goes on to show how toleration of the natural man in the churches led to the rise of rationalism as a philosophy, but he did not pursue its impact within the churches. But what effect does the presence of the natural man have on the churches? It has a tremendous effect!
Spiritual development, like physical or mental development is a difficult and time consuming process. It involves, in addition to much serious Bible study, a retraining of the inner man, his likes, dislikes and entire way of life all need to come into conformity to God’s standards. The new believer has a long way to go before he even begins to approach his potential as a representative of his Lord. His model is Christ but he also looks around at his fellows to see how he’s doing, how he stands relative to them.
The natural man provides an alternative, although false model of what a Christian should be and could be if he so chose. If not directly emulated by the true believers he rubs shoulders with, he can and often does, serve as an excuse for a lower standard of achievement. When the natural man is recognized as a fellow congregant the bar is lowered and the spiritual development of the assembly as a whole is impacted. A few such individuals, recognized as members in good standing, can seriously impact the spiritual development of the entire assembly.
As Van til pointed out, this is no new problem; it is centuries old and has wreaked untold damage to the Christian cause. Here once again the Reformers compromised; they failed to alert the body of Christ to this serious problem in the churches and permitted the toleration of impurity within to continue.
The view of many churchmen is that the unbeliever is better off in church than out in the world; at least he is hearing the gospel and is exposed to the Christian culture, etc. but what does God say?
…deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus…
Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump…
Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Cor. 5: 5,6,7, 13)
The wicked person (anyone demonstrably without Christ) is to be excommunicated, delivered to Satan for his own good, and put out of the assembly for the good of the community.
The individual is benefited in that he is confronted with the truth of his spiritual condition; he can no longer deceive himself and must now face-up to his lost condition. The community is benefited in that a sub-standard role model has both been exposed and also can no longer directly influence the congregation.
The long-term presence of the natural man within the Christian assemblies has severely limited the personal development and thereby the effectiveness of the Christian community as an influence on society in general. Much of the degradation in Western society over the past century can be attributed to this factor. Had the churches obeyed God’s directions, guarded their purity and rejected the natural man, the world would be very different today.
[1] R. J. Rushdoony, “Van Til & The Limits of Reason,” Chalcedon/Ross House, Vallecito, California
Dominion
The dominion mandate is found right at the beginning of the Bible, in the first chapter:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:26-28)
It was given to Adam and Eve, our original parents. They were to be God’s overseers charged with the care of the earth. Later, after they forsook their responsibility, the mandate was given to Christ, the second Adam, and to His Bride, the new Eve, all Christians:
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt. 28:18-20)
Here we see Christ, after acknowledging His possession of all power and authority on earth, giving His instructions to His Bride. It is a repeat of the original mandate given to Adam but with a difference. A new element has been added. There are commandments, a law to be taught and obeyed. This wasn’t needed before sin was introduced but is necessary now. The nations need to be taught to obey the rules of life, the rules they relinquished when Adam sinned. They became like children that need to learn to stop harming themselves by doing wrong and foolish things. They rejected God and His law that gives life and have been hurting themselves for thousands of years.
This is the new Dominion Mandate that Christ, the second Adam has given to His Bride, the born-again people. As our text tells us, dominion is a teaching task; it must come from a loving heart, one that is concerned with the plight of his unbelieving neighbors and wants to provide as much help as he can to a lost and needy generation. The tools to be employed are reasoning and persuasion and not force or trickery. The unbelieving world must come willingly and whole-heartedly into the kingdom of God. There is no other means of entry.
The citizens of the kingdom bear the responsibility of building the kingdom of God, the kingdom Christ announced when He came (Matt. 4:17, 23). They see the Great Commission as their commission, the central aspect of the work they do for Christ. They understand that God has given them this task and that He expects them to take it seriously. It is the focus of their life’s work, their primary purpose in life (Matt. 6:33).
As they grow in the knowledge of God’s purposes and of who they are and begin to see the awesome responsibility God has placed on them, His people adjust their priorities accordingly. What may have seemed important to them before, dwindles in significance and pales before God’s requirements in their lives. As their numbers increase, their influence grows out of all proportion to their relative fraction of the population.
Each individual acts as the Spirit leads; one may feel a particular concern for the public schools and spend much effort to shed light on their godless teaching. Another may feel the need to speak and act to expose the horror of abortion or of the immorality of the media. There are many ways of service open to each believer and the Spirit leads each one to the work He chose for that individual. All, however, work to overcome their natural trepidation and develop a propensity to vigorously oppose godlessness wherever it appears.
The sum total of all this is dominion; not dominion by some elite individuals but dominion by God through His law-word. It is a dominion that is exercised from within the individual, one which affords the greatest freedom possible for mankind. It is a society in which the highest authority on earth is the family and each responsible adult person is free from external coercion. Only the irresponsible and the criminal element feel the weight of law as a restricting factor. This law is not one that has been imposed on the nations; it rather is a law that has been instituted through democratic processes by a willing population. It is a law that recognizes God as the Supreme Being. It works toward but does not require that faith of every citizen.
God’s Special Place
Paul the apostle speaking to the Christians in Colossae, said:
— God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (Col. 1:27)
“Christ in you, the hope of glory.” What meaning do these words convey? What is the “mystery” here? How can Christ who was in heaven when this was written be within His saints? He is within them in the form of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is possible and proper because God is One; Father, Son and Spirit: three distinct persons so alike and joined together as to be a singular entity. Where the Holy Spirit is, there Christ is as well.
It is a mystery in that until Christ came God was present in various places: in the cloud by day and fire by night that accompanied Israel in the wilderness, in the Ark of the Covenant, and in the Holy of Holies in the Temple. In short, God was in a place, a particular place to which His chosen people could come and worship Him. This was the case for Ancient Israel but now things are different: God’s presence is no longer in the Temple; the curtain that separated the Holy of Holies was rent in two at Christ’s crucifixion. Today God is present in the hearts of His chosen people, all true believers.
The old system of worship had outlived its purpose and was replaced by something entirely new. God now indwelled His chosen people and could be worshipped whenever and wherever they were, at home, abroad, or in any place they happened to be.
Is this correct? Does the whole of Scripture support this conclusion? Some passages seem to contradict it:
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the “church” of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Tim. 3:15, KJV)
Here, the church is identified as the house of God. Doesn’t this mean that the church is singled out as a place where God is present in some special way, much as He was in ancient times? It would seem so but we need to look a little deeper.
The word church (Greek: kuriakon) literally means “God”s place” or “house of God.” The original Greek word, however, that is translated church in our English language Bibles, is not “kuriakon” but is “ecclesia,” which means the “called-out ones,” a reference to God’s people and not at all a place or an institution. To translate it “church” is clearly is a mistranslation, one that has caused and still causes much confusion among Christians. In the minds of many if not most Christians, a church is a place, a building or an institution; but where we read the word “church” in Scripture, it is “ecclesia,” a reference to the people of God, all born-again Christians.
If, wherever we see the word church in our Bibles, we substitute the literal translation “called-out” ones, the meaning of the text changes quite radically. For example, let’s reconsider 1 Timothy 3:15:
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the “called-out ones” of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Tim. 3:15, Textus Receptus, literal translation)
The King James Version of this text places God in a house, an institution called the church, which is the place where truth is to be found. The Textus Receptus (the original from which the KJV was translated) places God’s home in the hearts of God’s people and says that they as a people are the upholders of the truth. The difference between the two is not at all trivial. In one case the reference is to an institution with a confession or statement of faith, ordained officers, etc. In the other the reference is to a special people, independent of their location, age, wealth, skills, education or any attribute other than the fact of their regeneration. One has a locale, the other does not; it is distributed throughout the world. One has many heads: pastors, priests, etc.; the other has but one head, Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, due to this defective translation,[1] most Christians today lack a correct understanding of what this verse says about who they are and what is expected of them. This is true of the more than one hundred passages where the word “ecclesia” is translated “church.” God’s special place in the world today is not in the church; it is within His people. Today’s churches have claimed too much; they are not God’s special place on earth and the church leaders that are aware of this should repent of their sinful silence in this matter.
[1] Other than in a very few instances such as this, the King James Version is a very reliable and trustworthy translation.
Christian Separation
God does not change; He cautioned His chosen people, the nation of Israel to be separate from the nations around it (Deut. 7:1-6) and He told the ecclesia (the called-out people of the New Testament) to separate themselves from the prevailing culture of the Roman Empire. Today and for all time, God requires good and evil to not commingle but remain separate. When good and evil come together; the evil may become less evil but the good also becomes less good and, from God’s perspective, this is not progress; it is sin.
Christians are called to avoid all close associations with unbelievers:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty (2 Cor. 6:14-18).
The Apostle Paul cites here several reasons for separation, all of which stress the extreme differences between believers and unbelievers. His words bring us back to God’s statements to Adam, Eve and the Serpent just after the Fall, where He said that He would put enmity between these two seeds (Gen. 3:15). Christians should see the worldly as their enemies! This should not surprise us; one group belongs to Christ, the other to Satan. Are not Satan and Christ enemies? Shouldn’t their followers also be enemies? What do we call a soldier that associates with the enemy? Are Christians that associate with unbelievers potential traitors to Christ?
The enmity, though, is not an all-out enmity, as in warfare. It is an enmity of the mind. The born-again believer has a renewed outlook and is developing a new mind-set that is very different from the unbeliever’s. In principle, it is God-centered as opposed to the self-centered nature of the unbeliever. In practice, the believer’s mind-set is becoming more and more God-centered as he matures in the faith. The rate at which this change progresses is strongly dependent on the believer’s environment. Fellowship with unbelievers impacts this development process; the ecclesia community environment enhances it.
Christians know that some of these enemies will become Christian converts and change sides. They also know that they have some responsibility in this. In addition, there is a built-in desire to end controversy, to seek a middle ground, one that can bring peace. These factors tend to temper the enmity but they always involve some give and take, some compromise. This, though, is the very thing God hates and is one reason for His putting the enmity in place (Gen. 3:15). His first concern is for the purity of His children; they are to become holy as He is holy (1 Pet. 1:16), which means no compromise, none whatever, with the world. The people of God are not very holy yet and actually are a long way from it; but it must be their goal, a goal they continually work toward. God knows us, His wayward children; He knows that we are still sinners and tells us we must separate ourselves from Satan’s children so that we can become pure as He is pure. As believers mature in the faith, their recognition of the difference grows and separation becomes more natural.
Albert Barnes cogently describes the meaning of unequal yoking:
It is implied in the use of the word that there is a dissimilarity between believers and unbelievers so great that it is as improper for them to mingle together as it is to yoke animals of different kinds and species. The ground of the injunction is, that there is a difference between Christians and those who are not, so great as to render such unions improper and injurious. The direction here refers doubtless to all kinds of improper connections with those who were unbelievers. It has been usually supposed by commentators to refer particularly to marriage. But there is no reason for confining it to marriage. It doubtless includes that, but it may as well refer to any other intimate connection, or to intimate friendships, or to participation in their amusements and employments, as to marriage. The radical idea is, that they were to abstain from all connections with unbelievers – with infidels, and pagans, and those who were not Christians, which would identify them with them; or they were to have no connection with them in anything as unbelievers, pagans, or infidels; they were to partake with them in nothing that was special to them as such.[1]
Barnes does not bar all connections with unbelievers; he excludes connections in anything that would detract from the fundamental differences between them. Unbelievers need to see that there is a great difference, that these born-again ones have really undergone a radical transformation. They look for similarities with themselves and, when the see one, they take hold of it and use it as an excuse for their ungodly behavior. God’s will is that they see the difference and feel the reality of His Presence, the Presence that they have always known was there. Every excuse for rejecting Him must be confronted and eliminated.
The expression, “touch not the unclean thing,” harks back to the many Old Testament warnings against contamination by physical or moral disease (Lev. 5:2, 3; 7:19, 21; Deut 14:8; Isa. 52:11). Sin is a disease of sorts, one we all have; it’s not contracted, but is still affected by association with unbelief. For Christians, the presence of the Holy Spirit is a healing influence but, as we see here, the unclean thing is a corrupting influence, one that hinders the work of the Spirit. We too often think too highly of our ability to resist evil influences and fail to give proper heed to such warnings. But God’s words are never idle; they are given for a purpose and, instead of acting as brash fools, we should humble ourselves and just obey. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).
Another consideration: Christianity is true, therefore unbelief is a lie. Truth and lies cannot associate together without contaminating each other. It is a poor choice to attempt to evangelize by association with unbelievers. We quarantine contagious disease and must do so also with unbelief. We cannot help the sick by exposing ourselves to their diseases. The doctor that must touch, wears gloves and a mask if necessary; others must keep away.
[1] Barnes, Albert. “Commentary on 2 Corinthians 6:14”. “Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament”. “//www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/2-corinthians-6.html. 1870.
Government of the People?
An interesting lesson in government can be found in the history of Ancient Israel. In the early years of that nation there was no visible governmental structure. Almost all government was family oriented. There were family and tribal elders that were recognized and acted as judges and leaders but their power was limited by how the people responded to them. There were no police, no prisons, no governors, no president, no lawmaking bodies. The only restraint on the citizenry was their voluntary obedience to the Torah—God’s law as written by Moses. They were a free people.
There were priests and a High Priest but these were teachers, not rulers. The primary purpose of the sacrifices they offered was to point to Christ, to teach the people to live in anticipation of His coming. The priests at times sat with the judges but were not judges themselves; they were there to explain God’s word as it may relate to the case under consideration. There were the Levites that did function as judges but only in cases that came to them and required special attention (Deut. 17:8-12).
We read of elders that sat at the gates of the cities and judged the people but never of any election or appointment of these elders. They had no expressed powers or authority other than what the people gave them. Evidently, they were just ordinary men that sat in a public place and communicated with each other and with passers-by. Anyone could sit but the younger men had to work and the older men were more likely to have the time to do so. They were seen as wise and just men and were generally respected for their wisdom. So much so that individuals that wanted justice brought their disputes to the elders at the gate for resolution.
Anyone could sit at the gate and could speak on any issue, whether related to a dispute presently under consideration or not. It appears to have been a free forum in which anyone could speak but where wisdom would discourage foolish words. Who then were the judges that decided the cases? Why, in a sense it was the entire population of the city and in another it was a collection of the wisest men. It was the entire population in that anyone could speak; it was the elders in that they were better able to convince the bystanders as to how God’s law applied to the dispute in question. The people had the greatest freedom possible; there was no coercive civil government. As long as the people obeyed God and lived by His law, it was unnecessary.
A few centuries after Moses though, their adherence to God’s law had declined and “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25). They could no longer govern themselves and went to Samuel the prophet and asked him to anoint them a king:
Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said un to Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. (1 Samuel 8:4-8)
God’s answer to this plea is telling: He said, “they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” God saw Himself as their rightful King! But in what way was He their King? Why through His law, of course. A king is a king only to the extent his law is obeyed. Those Israelites rejected God, not just by asking for another king, but by their disobedience to Him. He had given them a law that, had they continued to believe and obey, would make them a free and powerful nation (Deut. 4:5-9); but they threw it all away because they didn’t have the faith to live by that law. Their disobedience, followed by their desire for a physical king demonstrated their lack of faith in God. Here is the rest of God’s response to their request:
Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. (1 Samuel 8: 9-17)
God’s law had fallen into disuse; He was no longer King in Israel. From this point on they were ruled by men, a foolish and pitiful choice. The Kingdom of God is God’s people obeying the law of God. When they do so faithfully and diligently, they have no need for rulers or intermediaries of any kind. This truly free people, perhaps the only such nation in the pre-Christian world, chose to give up the great freedom they had and become the servants of a king. It seems incredible that they would do so but such is the hatred of God’s law for those under Satan’s bondage, those that have not been liberated by the Holy Spirit.
Does this seem familiar? There was a serious attempt to repeat it in the history of America. This country was originally patterned after the model of Ancient Israel. God’s law was foremost; judges would sentence offenders based on God’s law as found in the Bible, which they would typically read from when they passed sentence. The Constitution that came later was a procedural document and not a law book. The law of the land was God’s law-word and, because the great majority of the people obeyed, God was king. Sadly though, America has followed the path of Ancient Israel and is today a people that has rejected God and is now under the increasingly arduous rule of the kings that reign in Washington, D.C. and every state and county seat. We are no longer a free people.
The Two Seeds
In the beginning God created man and his environment perfect in every respect. Man was in every way in complete harmony with his surroundings and with God. There was no sin; Adam and Eve obeyed God and were at peace with God and their environment. They were given the entire world, everything they would need to fulfill God’s mandate for them:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. (Gen. 1:28)
This verse is known as the Dominion Mandate. Adam and Eve were commanded to be fruitful, to multiply and to take dominion over the earth and everything in it. This involved procreation, care for (replenish and subdue) the land, and dominion over all of God’s creatures.
The earth was then a paradise and, with man’s obedience, would have remained so as it was increasingly populated with God-revering and God-obedient people. In it there was to be no sickness and no death (Rom. 5:12); the people, recognizing themselves as God’s creatures would live together in peace and harmony as they obeyed Him.
This all changed with the temptation and the Fall. Our first parents, thinking they didn’t need God and could be free to decide for themselves between good and evil, submitted to the temptation of Satan and decided to be their own gods. Instead of becoming gods, though, they became slaves, slaves in bondage to Satan. Satan so dominated their minds that they could not shake off their desire to truly be gods themselves, even though they almost certainly could see the impossibility of it.
This condition of satanic bondage was propagated to their offspring; it continued through the ages and is very much with us today. Every child born throughout all of history is born into this bondage (Rom. 3:19,23). This delusion and desire to be self-determining beings has been and continues to be the fundamental cause and source of every form of evil in the world.
God, of course, knew that all this would take place; it was part of His plan for man and the world. For reasons beyond our understanding, it was necessary for man to go through a developmental process that included his sin. The sin, though, was entirely man’s; he was free to obey or disobey. The plan was God’s, who knows His creatures better than they know themselves and always knows in advance whether or not they will obey.
God is indeed great. He is able to predetermine every event in all of history and still give His creatures complete freedom of action. This means that God’s plan, although totally predetermined, is also contingent on man because he is always free to obey or disobey. Man’s future, although fully determined by God, is also fully dependent on what he does or doesn’t do; his future depends on him. MAN IS TRULY RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS ACTIONS!
Speaking to the Serpent immediately after the Fall, God said:
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Gen. 3:15)
There is much more here than the struggle between Christ and Satan. Albert Barnes identified the references to the seeds as the great division of mankind into the regenerate and the reprobate:
The spiritual agent in the temptation of man cannot have literally any seed. But the seed of the serpent is that portion of the human family that continues to be his moral offspring, and follows the first transgression without repentance or refuge in the mercy of God. The seed of the woman, on the other hand, must denote the remnant who are born from above, and hence, turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.[1]
We see here the first indication of a yet to come division within mankind; there are to be two seeds, two bodies of people in conflict with each other. It is a division God established; God puts the enmity in place, first between Christ and Satan, and also between the two great bodies of mankind.
At this point in time there was only one body, the entire human race was in Satan’s camp and without God’s interference, it would remain so. God’s plan to create a world that would glorify Him, a world governed by His faithful creatures, would have been frustrated. It would instead be a world of rebellious creatures, controlled by Satan. God, though, is never frustrated. That He would interfere and provide a way out of the dilemma is implicit in His speaking of two seeds, two divisions of mankind, and of a struggle to follow. The seed of the Serpent will face opposition from another seed, the seed of the Woman. The outcome of the struggle is also given. Satan’s head will be bruised (or crushed). This verse is known as the Proto-Evangelium, the first promise of God’s grace toward His wayward creatures.[2]
[1] “Notes on the Bible,” Albert Barnes, 1834. Albert Barnes (b. 1798, d. 24 Dec. 1870) was an American theologian who graduated Hamilton College, Clinton, New York in 1820, and Princeton Theological Seminary in 1823. He was ordained in 1825 as a Presbyterian minister. Born in Rome, New York, Barnes was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Morristown, New Jersey from 1825-30, and the First Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia from 1830-67.
[2] http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/proto-evangelium/
A Divided World – A World at War
Christ at the Cross divided mankind into two bodies; man was no longer entirely in Satan’s power as he was after the Fall. There was now the beginning of another body, another seed, one that would be at enmity with Satan and his seed. Its members are those that received the gift of faith, the new-born, the spiritually-alive people of God. It was reflected back in time in the Old Testament saints and forward, with far greater force and scope in the Christian era. This event placed a totally new force in the world, a force that will eventually usher in a Christian world order. This was the birth of the kingdom of God. It would complete in fact the work the Lord completed in principle on the Cross.
The great division within mankind is between these two seeds. They are the polar opposites of the great antithesis that God established at the beginning of history (Gen. 3:15). These two great bodies of mankind are outwardly indistinguishable from one another but inwardly differ in every respect but one. They are both God’s creatures and share the fact that they were created in His image. Satan has poisoned and so thoroughly deceived his seed that they constantly suppress and fight against what deep-down they know is the truth. They know they are God’s creatures and were made in His image but suppress this knowledge and refuse to recognize Him as Creator and Lord (Rom. 1:18-21).
Even though there is this one common factor, they are still in fundamental disagreement. Where there is apparent agreement, it is merely superficial; their reasons for believing what they believe always differ. Christians believe that God created and sustains the universe; unbelievers, blinded by Satan, deny God’s existence and claim to believe the universe is what it is by mere chance. They deny that there is any intelligence whatever that created or sustains it. They profess to believe in this utterly foolish, fairy-tale universe because they have been so blinded by Satan that they cannot see the obvious, the kingdom of God (John 3:3).
The struggle is not only between Christ and Satan as some believe; it is also between their seeds, Christians and unbelievers; it continues throughout history. Christians today do not fully comprehend the great and glorious part they have been created to play in this battle against Satan for the future of the world. It implies responsibility; they are expected to play a part in the recovery process and cannot just sit back and let the world go its way. God’s people need to see that they are in a very real sense at war with unbelief. They are in a war that God tells us they will win (1 Cor. 15: 54-57; 1 John 5:4). There is still, though, the need to actually win the war, a long and tedious process.
How long will the evil one be able to retain the control over the human race he now possesses? How long will he remain successful in his bid to frustrate God’s plan for a world that worships and glorifies Him? The answer fellow Christian depends on you! Will you rise to the challenge God has given or will you just sit back and let others take your place? God will not do for us what He commands us to do but will wait in His infinite patience until a sufficiently obedient generation arises and finally defeats Satan’s Seed.
This division of mankind is not an impenetrable barrier that has been frozen for all time but rather is one that admits individuals to move through it. One can be born-again at any time of life and become a new creature in Christ. This second birth though is still only a birth; there is much growth and development that must follow before the individual becomes a mature Christian. There is a learning process similar in a way to what a newly born babe must go through to reach adulthood. In addition, depending on the age and previous experiences of the new Christian, there is more or less old baggage that must be discarded before the new can be developed and fully acquired (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:24; 6:11).
The new creature cannot remain an infant and be a useful worker in this force God has created and assembled for His purposes. He needs to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and develop into the powerful personality God would have him become (Eph. 4:12-15). He needs to see himself as Christ’s emissary, charged with the awesome responsibility of the Great Commission of Christ. Sadly, today there are millions of Christians that have not progressed very far in their development and are still what can only be described as babes in Christ. Much of this is due to the many churches that have miserably failed to teach the full import of the responsibility side of Christianity. They have focused on the free gift and neglected the commandments; they limited their attention to the personal and family aspects of life and almost entirely ignored the world outside the church.
Christian Purity
The purity of the Christian community is vital to its ability to function as a useful component of God’s kingdom. A small number of unregenerate members can retard the development of a disproportionate number of Christian members. A larger number can disrupt the entire community’s ability to function as a culture changing force.
God speaking through the Apostle Paul says:
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1)
This is very plain and unequivocal language. Paul asks: what fellowship, communion, concord, or part do believers and unbelievers have together? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? The distances are too great to be bridged. God knows full well how weak and how susceptible we are to Satan’s ploys. He knows we cannot be exposed to the debilitating presence of unbelief and unbelievers. We must separate ourselves from the evil influences they carry in their hearts and communicate through their words and deeds.
Some would argue speciously that the apostle calls believers out of their pagan communities but does not preclude bringing unbelievers into the Christian communities. How, though, does this differ? Even a small amount of filth can contaminate a great deal of cleanliness. To allow some is to open the gate and allow more; where do we draw the line and say, enough? God answers: the unclean thing must not even be touched.
The need for purity in the community far exceeds any possible loss of opportunity to witness to unbelievers. We are told to be witnesses for God and to speak out against ungodliness wherever it is found (Acts 1:8; Rom. 10: 14-15; Eph. 5:11; 1 Pet. 3:15) but we must not bring it into our communities and rub shoulders with it day after day.
Newcomers are to be welcomed but also examined carefully. They need greater attention, both to facilitate the integration process and to identify and exclude any unregenerate, false brethren that could seriously disrupt the work of the community.
Christian Service
Many godly individuals have been discouraged and some utterly devastated by well-meaning Christian leaders that, perhaps unknowingly, placed themselves between their followers and Christ. Good leaders can be an asset but they need to be viewed as resources that can be employed to facilitate the work of the believer. Christians need see that Christ is their personal Lord and it is He alone that they must follow. Their attitude should always be one of expediency: How can I best serve the Lord? Should I join this or that group or would I be more effective working alone?
What should the believer’s goal be? Is it to end abortion, to accomplish some other great advancement of the faith in the nation or should it rather be to stand for God’s righteousness in any and every situation he finds himself? When Jesus said “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matt. 6:33), which attitude did He have in mind? How many Christians today donate and otherwise support the great movements but fail to speak out against the many violations of God’s law they encounter every day, even among family and friends? Yes, this must be done carefully but not with so much care that nothing is said. We should take our lead from Jesus; what did He do? He dealt with each situation that arose as it appeared, without delay and forthrightly. He didn’t mince or carefully guard His words but spoke the truth in love. Jesus was a light in the darkness of this world and we are to be reflectors of His light, not just useless onlookers that stand by and say nothing as God’s law is trampled underfoot day after day before our very eyes.
Humanism is prospering and the world is growing more and more wicked because most of today’s Christians are not serious workers for Christ. They lack this sense of personal responsibility to Christ and need to see that Jesus really has put the world in their hands. As more Christians become aware and feel the weight of this responsibility, they will begin to speak out as God’s representatives to a sinful world and we will see some real changes taking place. The nation will change but we also will see ourselves change. We will gain confidence and take satisfaction in the knowledge that we are engaged in the work that God has given us, His faithful servants.
The Christian’s Purpose
A Gift
A central purpose is an essential ingredient for a meaningful and productive life. Without it, the lesser goals lose their meaning and it is all too easy to lose interest or become discouraged when the going gets difficult. The question: why am I doing this? needs an answer and finds it in that overriding central purpose.
God has, in His love and mercy, supplied such a purpose to all His regenerate creatures. Every Christian is given a task, one that is to be the central purpose in his life. It is specified in the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20) and prioritized in Jesus’ words:
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matt. 6:31-33)
Jesus’ states here in no uncertain terms what the Christian’s central purpose in life should be. It is to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness as the first priority in life, even before food, drink, or clothing, it’s basic necessities. This would apply to personal life, life with family and associates and in every other activity. It is to be so vital a part of him that deprived of it life would become meaningless.
With it every aspect of life is alive; every event experienced, every word spoken is connected to an eternal thread, ordained by God and filled by His creatures. Life has eternal significance for all but that significance is visible only to those that take His word as a personal letter from Him.
The Lord’s prayer reflects the priority that work toward the establishment of God’s kingdom should hold in the believer’s life:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. (Matt. 6:9-13)
We see here that the first three petitions refer to this central purpose in the lives of God’s people; only after these do we see reference to personal needs.
This sense of meaningful purpose is God’s gift to His faithful servants, something they can devote their efforts toward, something that can give them lasting satisfaction. They can tell their grandchildren that their life has had, and still has, a purpose, one that filled their lives with meaning. They didn’t live the hollow, empty lives so many do today, seeking wealth and pleasures that fade away so quickly. This is truly a magnificent gift, a gift that no one else could give. Another will be coming when He says to us, “Well done good and faithful servant …” (Matt. 25: 21, 23).
Its Reception
God’s ecclesias (His called-out people) began with the understanding that they were the initial outposts of the kingdom of God, the kingdom that would supplant all the kingdoms of this world (Rev. 11:15). The subsequent centuries of clerical rule and its compromise with worldly government has all but buried this goal. It was revived briefly by the early Puritans but for most of the Christian era it was neglected and has not been the central life-purpose God provided for His people.
This has stripped the ecclesia of their God-given, primary purpose in life, to “seek first the kingdom of God.” But God did not create man to be an idle creature; for him life must have a purpose and he seeks it in pursuits other than the one he was created and designed to follow. This then becomes the norm; Christians pursue whatever goal, within limits, appeals to them and even the idea of a future Christian world is lost. Consequently, the great majority of Christians, for most of history, have had little real purpose and little involvement in the building of God’s kingdom.
This is the case today. The ecclesia, God’s chosen force for world renewal, has lost its prime directive and is no longer pursuing the Creator’s purpose. All but a very few of today’s churches have discarded teaching what to them seems to be the impossible goal of worldwide Christianity, as called for in the Great Commission. They instead have settled for a truncated version consisting of evangelism with the goal of personal salvation for a few. For these false teachers civil law is now the province of secular government. The notion of God’s law as the higher law, a view that was popular a century ago, is now considered obsolete.
The law aspect of the commission, which is vital to the growth and vigor of the faith, has been grossly neglected in recent history. This has been expressed as a distorted commission, restated as:
“And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, but I am not going to exercise much of it for a long time. For now, therefore, just go and make a few disciples of each nationality, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe a select few of the things I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you, kind of, until to the end of the age, when I shall come back, and do it all myself.” [1]
Today’s Christian leaders and teachers seem to have lost all sight of the central purpose behind their very existence. They have forgotten that we were created as a force designed to renew all things, to make this world a Christian world. They react to setbacks by lowering the God-given goal from world conquest to a rescue operation that attempts to save a few souls for Christ. Jesus’ words in The Great Commission have been distorted as follows: “Make all nations disciples” was changed to “make the people of the nations disciples.” This became, “make some of the people of all nations disciples” and eventually “make a few disciples in as many nations as we can.”
Teaching obedience to Christ was gradually de-emphasized and then dropped entirely. The clear statement that Christ is the rightful ruler of the nations was abandoned and the Great Commission reduced to personal salvation for a few.
We can see how detrimental to progress this has been. Europe, once known as “Christendom,” has essentially left the faith. America still has many Christians but its laws, its schools and its culture have been stripped of their formerly Christian character. How did this happen? How did this once solidly Christian nation fall so low? A major factor has been that the law aspect of the Great Commission has been neglected and unbelief has been permitted to fester. At first it was hidden in the shadows but gradually it grew and gained in numbers, power and influence, until now it commands the nation’s governments, its schools and almost every aspect of public life. These are the consequences of partial obedience (which is disobedience) to God.
Why is this the case? Psychologically, it avoids the recognition of failure by substituting a lesser goal for the greater, seemingly unreachable object. Purpose faded as a consequence of repeated failure followed by discouragement.
The people of God need to get their heads out of the sand and consider the reality that surrounds them. The world is in desperate need of God’s help and only they can supply it. God has placed the future of the world in their hands. They are the body of Christ, the new humanity, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Once started, they will constitute an unstoppable force but they do need to get started! They must accept the responsibility God has placed on their shoulders and stop trying to transfer it to the full-time Christians or anyone else. God’s people need to resurrect a sense of God’s gift of purpose in their hearts, the purpose that they buried long ago.
[1] By Joel McDurmon of American Vision as cited by Sye ten Bruggencate at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0gRqTTbKfM&feature=youtu.be”