Reformation Day 2016

Reformation Day 1516 brings us to the final year countdown to the 500th anniversary of Luther's call for a debate about the nature and scope of indulgences, the event which is popularly seen as the start of the Reformation.

What was the formal issue of the Protestant Reformation? R.C Sproul answers briefly...



Were the issues under debate during the Reformation matters of importance. Yes! They were matters of life and death because they were at the heart of the gospel.



Is Reformation still necessary today? Yes! Michael Reeves briefly explains...

500 Years Have Proven the Reformers Were Right

Here is a quick primer on the doctrinal biggies of the Reformation, the so-called “Five Solas.”

Scripture Alone (Sola Scriptura)

While the Catholic church taught that authority lies in two main sources: the Scriptures (Old & New Testaments) and the magisterium (the official dogma of the Pope and his councils), the reform Luther wanted was that the church should recognize only one source of revelation: Scripture alone. See 2 Pet 1:21; 2 Tim 3:16; Mark 7:7; 1 Cor 4:6

By Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

Where the Catholic church taught that salvation came to an individual by means of Christ’s work on the cross and man’s work in response (including necessary sacraments such as baptism into the Catholic church and communion administered by an authorized Catholic), the Reformers insisted that salvation came by one means: God’s free, unmerited favor initiated by him, or simply put, by grace alone. Ephesians 2:8-9, "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." See also, Titus 3:5; Romans 3:24

Through Faith Alone (Sola Fide)

Similar to the previous one, this doctrine emphasizes that the instrument by which grace is administered is not faith in combination with the practice of certain sacraments, but faith alone. Good works follow salvation from sin, but those works are not accounted as the means of saving grace.

Through Christ Alone (Solus Christus)

Integral to the Catholic system of salvation is the role of priests. These are men who mediate between sinners and the Savior. The Reformers emphasized that anyone can go directly to the Savior, and that he is the only needed mediator…

1 Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."

Although priests did have a mediatorial role in the Old Testament, once Christ came he fulfilled that role once for all and is the only needed mediator (Heb 7:23-25). Especially relevant today is that this doctrine is the opposite of the Catholic assertion that Mary occupies an office of “co-redemptrix” alongside Christ.

To God’s Glory Alone (Soli Deo Gloria)

Johan Sebastian Bach famously signed the written score of his compositions with this Latin dedication. The Reformers were ardent about reserving all glory for God (á la Jude 25) and not sharing it with deceased saints, Mary, the Pope, or anyone who occupied an elevated position in the Catholic system. See Isaiah 46:5-11.

The church is always in need of reform. Even in the New Testament, we see Jesus rebuking Peter, and we see Paul correcting the Corinthians. Since Christians are always sinners, the church will always need reform. The question for us, however, is when does the need become an absolute necessity?

The great Reformers of the sixteenth century concluded that reform was urgent and necessary in their day. In pursuing reform for the church, they rejected two extremes. On the one hand, they rejected those who insisted that the church was essentially sound and needed no fundamental changes. On the other hand, they rejected those who believed that they could create a perfect church in every detail. The church needed fundamental reform, but it would also always need to be reforming itself. The Reformers reached these conclusions from their study of the Bible.

Happy Reformation Day.

What is a Talent? Reflections on Working for the Master

“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

  “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

  “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

  “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

  “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

  “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.’

  “ ‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ” (Matthew 25:14-30)

In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells of a rich man who is about to go off on a journey. He calls three of his servants together and gives them money to be used while he is gone. He gives five talents to the first, two talents to the second, and one talent to the third. In Palestine, a talent was not a coin; it was a measure of weight. Because coins could be of copper, silver, or gold, and Jesus does not specify the kind of coinage in his story, it is impossible to calculate how valuable the talents were. It is sufficient to say that each was a large amount. If a talent was six thousand denarii, it would have taken a worker twenty years to earn that much money, so we are thinking here of hundreds of thousands of dollars at least. The footnote in the NIV specifies “more than a thousand dollars,” but this amount is too low.

Yet the amount is unimportant, and so is the fact that the parable is about money. Money is one thing God entrusts to us that we often misuse. But the same is true of many other endowments. J.C. Ryle says rightly, “Anything whereby we may glorify God is ‘a talent.’ Our gifts, our influence, our money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses, our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges as members of Christ’s Church, our advantages as possessors of the Bible—all, all are talents.” 

The point of the story is that waiting for Christ’s return and being ready for it are not passive matters. We must work faithfully and energetically for him now. The decisive matter is the way in which the two good servants and the one bad servant related to the master. The faithful servants served well because they loved him and wanted to please him, while the wicked servant failed to serve well because he actually hated and resented his master.

When the master returns for their accounting and the faithful servants tell what they have done, their words do not merely report that they have doubled the amount they were given. The man who was given five talents seems to have come with two bags, each containing five talents, and what he literally says is, “Master, five talents you placed in my hands; look, an additional five talents I have gained.” You can almost feel his proper pride in the achievement. 

The man’s eyes are sparkling. He is bubbling over with enthusiasm, is thoroughly thrilled, and, as it were, invites his master to start counting. The man has been waiting for this moment and is pleased at having done so well. The master is equally delighted. “Well done,” he says. We might almost translate his reply as, “Excellent!” “Great!” or “Wonderful!” It is the same with the servant who was given two talents. He says the same thing and receives an identical word of commendation.

By contrast, we can hardly fail to hear the angry, self-justifying, accusing tone of the servant who hid the master’s talent in the earth. “Master, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you” (vv. 24–25). This accusation was not true. The master was not a hard man. He had been generous in giving his servants much wealth to work with. But this man hated him. We can hear his contempt as he resentfully throws his talent on the table. “Here is what belongs to you,” he says. It was returned exactly as the master had given it, not a bit more and no less.

In response, the master condemns him both for his wickedness and for being lazy—wicked because he accused his master unjustly, and lazy because he did not faithfully use what he was given. The master then gives the talent to the one who has ten, on the principle that “everyone who has will be given more” and “whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him” (v. 29). He then has the lazy servant cast “outside, into the darkness” (v. 30).

The point is this: we must avoid a “do nothing” Christianity, of course. To have done no harm is praise for a stone, not for a man. But the situation here is worse than that. To have done nothing is proof that we do not love Jesus Christ, do not belong to him, and have no share in his kingdom. It is to perish forever. Let us be found faithful and lovingly working for the Master.

We are Reconciled for Reconciling

Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!

And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. - (2 Corinthians 5:11-20, ESV)

The idea or theme of reconciliation occurs a number of times in the preceding verses. And, if we were in a Bible Study 101 class it would be fairly easy to conclude what this passage is all about. Yes, this is a text about reconciliation!

The theme of reconciliation is treated in a number of ways by the narratives of the Bible. The most famous biblical reconciliation scenes occur in two family reunions that light up the book of Genesis. The first, you might remember, is the story of Jacob and Esau in Genesis 33, who were reunited after twenty years of separation. In that story Jacob is the guilt-haunted supplicant, humorously overprepared for the meeting, while Esau is generous and impulsive in his forgiveness. 

In the second great reconciliation story you might remember Joseph in Egypt, disclosing his identity to his brothers and forgiving them after their terrible treacherous selling of Joseph into slavery (Gen 46:1–47:12).

Tracking through the Hebrew Bible we note that the theme of reconciliation underlies the book of Hosea, where the prophet obeys God’s command to be reunited with his faithless wife, Gomer. 

In the Song of Songs moments of separation between the two lovers in that story are resolved in scenes of splendid reunion. A similar motif underlies the New Testament, for example, in the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus, and it becomes the dominant thread in the story of Jesus’ restoration of Peter (Jn 21:15–19).

Of course, I am not being exhaustive, but what I am suggesting is that the motif of reconciliation and restoration receives a distinct and emphatic treatment in the Bible—meaning of course that this is something to really pay attention to as students of God’s word. And what we find, particularly as we read scripture as Christians, is that this reconciliation is built on the foundation of God’s unbelievably gracious forgiveness of sinners because of the great work of Jesus Christ. It’s quite lavish, God’s grace, in the work of reconciliation—and if anyone is prodigal—a word which simply means “wasteful”—if anyone is prodigal in the Bible—it’s not the son from the famous parable—the truly prodigal one is God, who lavishly “wastes” his grace upon a sinful world. A thank God for that!

Another thing we find as we read scripture is this grammar or language in the Bible that expresses desire for reconciliation with God—and this becomes a model for us today as we reach out and expend ourselves seeking after God. The really classic case of desire for reconciliation comes from Psalm 51. Now, the only reason that the David can pen such a beautiful song of exhortation for reconciliation with YHWH is because he realizes that God is a reconciler. This characteristic is fundamentally a part of who God is.

Which brings me to 2 Corinthians 5 and a problem that Paul was dealing with. You see, there was a fundamentally important and abundantly exciting new reality in the world as Paul was writing this letter—God was/is...in Christ Jesus…reconciling all things to Himself. That was the new reality.

And that’s wonderful, right? But there was a problem. The problem was that the Corinthians, among whom Paul was ministering, were really kind of missing it because they hadn’t processed this new reality. And missing this new reality of what God was doing in the world because of the work Jesus Christ, was keeping the Corinthians from seeing the world with the new eyes of the gospel.

The result of the Corinthian’s anemic gospel view of the world was that they expected everything, particularly Paul’s own style of apostleship, to conform to the fashions and customs of the world they were used to. And the world that they were used to was an old world—a ‘merely human’ world. A world where things were assessed as Paul describes it: ‘according to the flesh.’

So Paul’s challenges the Corinthians to recognize that God is doing something entirely new. A new world has come about, through the death of Jesus in the ‘flesh’ and the resurrection of Jesus in a new body, which is gloriously physical but not corruptible. The challenge of the gospel is to live coherently in that new world, and this is where the Corinthians are missing it. They are living according to the standards of an old world. And Paul is quite troubled by this because he knows that the role of the church is to be the place in the world where the work of Christ in reconciling humans to God should be realized in practice. The task of the church, he suggests, is to be a sacrament of the world’s possibility. As he writes in Ephesians 3:10-11, “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And so Paul begins describing in 2 Corinthians 5, in sweeping terms, the view from where he now is. He is on the threshold of the new creation itself, and everything looks different because everything is different. 

And for Paul this new reality has an ethical purchase on him. He writes in 2 Cor. 5:16, "So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer.” In other words, when Paul looks at other people, other Christians…himself…anyone…he sees them in a new way from how he did before. 

When he looks at the Messiah, he sees him, too, in a new way; there was a time when all his dreams of a Messiah were concentrated on ‘purely human’, that is, ‘fleshly’, ideal—a Messiah who would conquer the enemies of God, build the Temple of God, establish a ‘purely human’ kingdom. But for Paul, in light of the new reality of the gospel, he realizes all such dreams must come to dust; that’s what the Messiah’s death and resurrection have taught him. The way to the true kingdom of God is through death, and out the other side into God’s new world.

So: putting together what he’s learned about other people and what he’s learned about the Messiah, he writes in 2 Cor. 5:17 one of his great summaries of what Christianity is all about. In the Greek language he was using, he said it even more briefly: ‘If anyone in Messiah, new creation!’ It sounds like gospel HAIKU doesn’t it? ‘If anyone in Messiah, new creation!’ In other words, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation!” And of course the ‘new creation’ in question refers both to the person concerned and to the world which they enter, the world which has now been reconciled to the creator.

And so Paul says in the next verses (18 and 19) something quite profound about reconciliation. He writes, "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.” OK, what does Paul say? He says (or rather he emphasizes) that what has happened in and through the Messiah is not a matter of God claiming a world that didn’t belong to him, or making a new one out of nothing, but of God reconciling to himself his own world, his beautiful and beloved creation, after the long years of corruption and decay. And this, once more, explains what Paul is up to. If God was doing all this in the Messiah, that work now needed to be put into effect, to be implemented. And disciples had (and still have today!) a part to play in this great work of God!

New Testament scholar NT Wright describes it in this way: “the great symphony of reconciliation composed on Calvary needed to be copied out into orchestral parts for all the world to play.” And that’s where Paul and the other Apostles come in. ‘God was reconciling the world to himself in the Messiah, and entrusting us with the message of reconciliation.’ He says it twice in verses 20 and 21, in very similar words, to rub the message home. Something new has happened; something new must now happen. 

Of course, the world had never before seen a ministry of reconciliation; it had never before heard a message of reconciliation. No wonder the Corinthians found Paul’s work hard to fathom. It didn’t fit any preconceived ideas they may have had. He was behaving like someone … who lived in a whole new world.

And this new reality of God had a really, really fun result for Paul (and for us too): This new world has a new king, and importantly for us…the king has ambassadors. Paul at that time was the chief of these ambassadors, though not the only one. So Paul was going into all the world with a message from the world’s newly enthroned sovereign, a message inviting anyone and everyone to be reconciled to the God who made them, loves them, and had provided the means of reconciliation for them to come back to know and love him in return. And so when Paul writes in verses 20 and 21 "We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God." He is saying, in effect, ‘This is what I do! I’m a reconciler!’

And this can be your confession too if you are in Christ! “This is what I do! I’m a reconciler!” Why is this the case? Because of what Paul comments upon in verse 21. Paul writes, "God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." How is this possible? And how is it then possible to be the conduit for a message of reconciliation? The answer is—time and again—because of Christ Jesus. The answer is in the cross, on which God made the sinless Messiah to ‘be sin’ on our behalf. 

All our sins, our failings, our inadequacies, were dealt with there, so that we—and those in Paul’s time—the apostles, and really all who are called to be ‘ministers of reconciliation’—could embody in our own lives the faithfulness of God. No wonder the Corinthians found it difficult to grasp what Paul was up to, why his ministry took the shape it did. Nothing like this had ever been thought of in the world before! But on this basis of this great work of Christ—and the ministry of reconciliation committed unto them—he turns to them in the first two verses of chapter 6 with a direct appeal (2 Cor. 6:1-2), which comes to us as much as to them: 

As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, 

“In the time of my favor I heard you, 

and in the day of salvation I helped you.” 

I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

In other words: You’ve accepted God’s grace; don’t let it go for nothing! Make the most of it! The new creation is already here. God is saying ‘Yes!’ to all the prophecies and promises of God. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:20-21: “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” 

And what I want to suggest to you is that God is saying the same thing right now: This is the day of salvation. This is the right time. Don’t forsake the time of God’s favor; make the most of it. So, let me leave you with these humble suggestions for “making the most of it”:

1) Respond to the great urge in your hearts for reconciliation with God and with others. Don’t fight that. 

2) Second, realize that God has commandeered us to act in accord with our blessed status as reconciled ones right now. Don’t be like the Corinthians might have been—acting in accord with an old reality that was not consistent with the fact that God was reconciling all things to himself. IN other words, don’t begrudge others. Don’t hold back your love for others, as if, like Scrooge, you might store it away for yourself. Let your love flow liberally and freely in the world, consistent with the reality that you are reconciled to God.

3) Third, remember the great and sobering point that as Christians ‘we believe in life before death and as Christians we believe in life after death’, and that is important. So often you will hear Christians speak of “Heaven over yonder up there” as of that is where the real game will begin so it keeps them from really flourishing as Christians in this life. But I tell you that ‘Salvation’ is not just ‘going to heaven up yonder over there’, but it is ‘being raised to new life in God’s new heaven and new earth’. In other words, we can enjoy ‘salvation’ here and now (always partially, of course, since we all still have to die), but we can genuinely anticipate in the present what is to come in the future—and this is part of our “ministry of reconciliation.” ‘We were saved’, says Paul in Romans 8:24, ‘in hope.’ And we should live like a people with hope.

4) Fourth, remember that God’s reconciliation through the death of Christ constitutes an enduring relationship between the living Christ and the reconciled so that we as believers can be certain of being saved in the final judgement and can exult in the hope of divine glory that is to be theirs. There is no need for existential doubt…God can be trusted in all things.

5) Which of course brings me to my next point. God of course is the sole agent of reconciliation, which is the demonstration of God’s love to the wicked, the sinners and his enemies. From before the foundation of the world, God freely and apart from outside influence determined to save sinners in order to eternally display the glory of His grace. And we know that God Himself is an eager reconciler, as Paul wrote to the Romans:

Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation. (Rom. 5:9–11).

On the Knowledge of God

God has plainly revealed His existence to every creature on earth; all people know that He exists, whether or not they acknowledge it. However, we need to move beyond the knowledge that God exists and come to a deeper understanding of who He is—His character and nature—because no aspect of theology defines everything else as comprehensively as our understanding of God. In fact, only as we understand the character of God can we understand every other doctrine properly.

GOD INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Historically, the first undertaking for systematic theologians is the study of the incomprehensibility of God. At first glance, such an undertaking appears contradictory; how can one study something that is incomprehensible? However, this pursuit makes sense when we grasp that theologians use the term incomprehensible in a narrower and more precise way than it is used in everyday speech. 

Theologically speaking, incomprehensible does not mean that we cannot know anything about God but rather that our knowledge of Him will always be limited. We can have an apprehensive, meaningful knowledge of God, but we can never, not even in heaven, have an exhaustive knowledge of Him; we cannot totally comprehend all that He is.

One reason for that was articulated by John Calvin in the phrase finitum non capax infinitum, which means “the finite cannot grasp the infinite.” The phrase can be interpreted in two distinct ways because the word capax can be translated either as “contain” or as “grasp.” An eight-ounce glass cannot possibly contain an infinite amount of water because it has only a finite volume; the finite cannot contain the infinite. But when Calvin’s phrase is translated with the other meaning of capax, “grasp,” it indicates that God cannot be grasped in His totality. Our minds are finite, lacking the capacity to grasp or understand all that God is. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He surpasses our ability to comprehend Him in His fullness.

GOD REVEALED

Since the finite cannot grasp the infinite, how can we, as finite human beings, learn anything about God or have any significant or meaningful knowledge of who He is? Calvin said that God in His graciousness and mercy condescends to lisp for our benefit. In other words, He addresses us on our terms and in our own language, just as a parent might coo when talking to an infant. We call it “baby talk”; nevertheless, something meaningful and intelligible is communicated.

Anthropomorphism

We find this idea in the Bible’s anthropomorphic language. Anthropomorphic comes from the Greek word anthrōpos, which means “man,” “mankind,” or “human,” and morphology is the term for the study of forms and shapes. Therefore, we can easily see that anthropomorphic simply means “in human form.” When we read in Scripture that the heavens are God’s throne and the earth is His footstool (Isa. 66:1), we imagine a massive deity seated in heaven and stretching out His feet on the earth, but we do not really think that is what God actually does. Likewise, we read that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Ps. 50:10), but we do not interpret that to mean that He is a great cattle rancher who comes down and has a shootout with the devil every now and then. To the contrary, that image communicates to us that God is powerful and self-sufficient just like a human rancher who owns vast herds of cattle.

The Scriptures tell us that God is not a man—He is spirit (John 4:24) and therefore not physical—yet He is often described with physical attributes. There are mentions of His eyes, His head, His strong right arm, His feet, and His mouth. Scripture speaks of God having not only physical attributes but also emotional attributes. We read in places of God repenting, yet elsewhere in the Bible we are told that God does not change His mind. God is described in human terms in certain instances in the Bible because it is the only way man knows to speak about God.

We must be careful to understand what the Bible’s anthropomorphic language conveys. On the one hand, the Bible affirms what these forms communicate about God; on the other hand, in a more didactic way, it warns us that God is not a man. However, this does not mean that abstract, technical, theological language is superior to anthropomorphic language, so that we are better off saying, “God is omnipotent,” rather than “God owns the cattle on a thousand hills.” The only way we can understand the word omni or all is by our human ability to understand what all means. Similarly, we do not conceive of power in the same way God conceives of power. He has an infinite understanding of power, whereas we have a finite understanding of it.

For all these reasons, God does not speak to us in His language; He speaks to us in ours, and because He speaks to us in the only language we can understand, we are able to grasp it. In other words, all biblical language is anthropomorphic, and all language about God is anthropomorphic, because the only language we have at our disposal is anthropomorphic language, and that is because we are human beings.

God Described

Because of these limits imposed by the gulf between the infinite God and finite human beings, the church has had to be careful in how it seeks to describe God.

One of the most common ways to describe God is called the via negationis. A via is a “road” or “way.” The word negationis simply means “negation,” which is a primary way we speak about God. In other words, we describe God by saying what He is not. For example, we have noted that God is infinite, which means “not finite.” Similarly, human beings change over time. They undergo mutations, so they are called “mutable.” God, however, does not change, so He is immutable, which means “not mutable.” Both terms, infinite and immutable, describe God by what He is not.

There are two other ways that systematic theologians speak of God. One is called the via eminentiae, “the way of eminence,” in which we take known human concepts or references to the ultimate degree, such as the terms omnipotence and omniscience. Here, the word for “power,” potentia, and the word for “knowledge,” scientia, are taken to the ultimate degree, omni, and applied to God. He is all-powerful and all-knowing, whereas we are only partially powerful and knowing.

The third way is the via affirmationis, or “way of affirmation,” whereby we make specific statements about the character of God, such as “God is one,” “God is holy,” and “God is sovereign.” We positively attribute certain characteristics to God and affirm that they are true of Him.

THREE FORMS OF SPEECH

In considering God’s incomprehensibility, it is important to note three distinct forms of human speech that the church has delineated: univocal, equivocal, and analogical.

Univocal language refers to the use of a descriptive term that, when applied to two different things, renders the same meaning. For example, to call a dog “good” and a cat “good” is to say they both are obedient.

Equivocal speech refers to the use of a term that changes radically in its meaning when used for two different things. If you went to hear a dramatic poetry reading but were disappointed with the performance, you might say, “That was a bald narrative.” You certainly would not mean that the narrator had no hair on his head; you would mean that something was lacking. There was no pizzazz or passion. Just as something is lacking on the head of a bald person—namely, hair—so there was something lacking in the dramatic reading. You are employing a metaphorical use of the word bald, and in so doing you are moving far away from the meaning of the word when it is applied to hair.

In between univocal speech and equivocal speech is analogical speech. An analogy is a representation based on proportion. The meaning changes in direct proportion to the difference of the things being described. A man and a dog may both be good, but their goodness is not exactly the same. When we say that God is good, we mean that His goodness is like or similar to our goodness, not identical but enough like ours that we can talk meaningfully with each other about it.

The fundamental principle is that even though we do not know God exhaustively and comprehensively, we do have meaningful ways of speaking about Him. God has addressed us in our terms, and, because He has made us in His image, there is an analogy that opens for us an avenue of communication with Him.

The Beauty and Glory of the Christian Worldview - Puritan Reformed Conference 2016 (Audio and Video)

Today’s Christians live in a culture shaped by a worldview that values tolerance and denies absolute truth—a stark contrast to the biblical worldview. As pilgrims in this world, we face the challenge of living in a society that embraces wickedness more brazenly than ever before. In light of these threats, it is vital that the church bring “into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ” (2 Cor. 10:5), standing firm on the truths of God’s Word. 

The Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary Conference 2016 took up the important theme of the beauty and glory of the Christian worldview, August 25–27. The church of Jesus Christ must remain steadfast in its conviction that the Lord has provided a better way for mankind, and that way starts and ends in Jesus Christ.

In addition to several PRTS faculty speakers, guest speakers included Dr. Derek Thomas, Dr. Brian Cosby, and Dr. Charles Barrett. If you want to better understand how to live in this world but not be of it, you will not want to miss this conference audio and video.

1. Joyful Exiles: A Worldview for Pilgrims Dr. Charles Barrett | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 700+ | 43 min

2. The Christian Worldview of the Trinity Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 820+ | 52 min

3. The Christian Worldview for Daily Life Dr. Derek W. H. Thomas | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 900+ | 61 min

4. The Christian Worldview of Human Identity Dr. David P Murray | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 780+ | 45 min

5. A Christian Worldview of Suffering Rev. Brian Cosby | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 640+ | 43 min

6. The Puritan Worldview Dr. Joel Beeke | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 1,480+ | 60 min

7. The Christian Worldview of Sexuality Rev. Mark Kelderman | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 08/26/2016 720+ | 54 min

8. Viewing This World by Following Jesus into the Next Dr. Charles Barrett | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play SAT 08/27/2016 740+ | 61 min

10. The Christian Worldview of the Great Comission Dr Jerry Bilkes | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 09/02/2016 620+ | 56 min

9. The Worldview of the Old Testament Dr. Michael Barrett | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 09/02/2016 900+ | 71 min

Panel Discussion Dr. Joel Beeke | Puritan Conference 2016 Puritan Reformed Theological  Play FRI 09/02/2016 1,100+ | 64 min