Context, Context, Context.

“I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13 

This verse is often used as a “life verse” by many Christians, but can it be applied to anything we are going through? Sports figures often put this verse on their eye-black, or stitch it on their jersey, or even tattoo it on their skin to show that the strength they get to perform well comes from Christ. What happens if two quarterbacks on opposing teams both have Phil. 4:13 on their jerseys? Did Christ fail the losing quarterback? Others may use it to get inspiration for making it through a tough day at work, or any number of trials or difficulties in life. If I claim this verse as the verse that I live by, what if I lose my job? Did Christ fail to give me the strength necessary to “do all things”? The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the church at Philippi from a Roman prison cell. I’m sure that Paul would have walked out of that cell if he had the option. Was he given the strength to do that? The context of this passage may give us some insight into what exactly Paul meant by “all things”.

“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.” (Philippians 4:10-14)

It seems that Paul is speaking about specific trials that he is going through in Rome; being poor, hungry, and persecuted for the sake of Christ. We know that everything that we go through in life is ultimately in God’s hands, and that he alone gives us the strength to endure hardship, but we must be careful to not take verses out of their context to prove a point. 

It may seem like nitpicking to single out this particular verse, that when taken apart from it’s context would seem to be true independently, but God’s Word is so important, as the primary means by which we can know His character and nature, that we must be extremely careful to not misrepresent it. 

Probably the most misused text in the Bible is Jeremiah 29:11, which reads, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” This verse is an encouragement to many Christians, but it is curious that no one reads the verses before or after verse eleven. “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29: 10-14) 

In context, it would seem that this particular prophecy is referring to a specific people. Unless you are an exile in Babylon, you might want to rejoice that God takes care of His people, and leave this promise alone. Furthermore, no one seems to want to claim the promise given to the Jews still in Jerusalem in the verses that follow the already quoted passage: “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, (Jeremiah 29:15-18)

A single letter is meaningless apart from other letters, that when combined, constitute a word. A single word (while having meaning in itself) cannot convey a thought when not combined with other words to constitute a sentence. This principal can be carried out all the way from letters, to words, sentences, paragraphs, and ultimately to genres. The genre in which an idea is conveyed can drastically effect the meaning of a single word. For instance, if I told you that it was raining cats and dogs outside, you would grab an umbrella, not a kennel. The phrase “cats and dogs” changes meanings depending on the genre of speech I am using, (metaphor in this instance).

It is impossible for us to know what an author intended for his original readers to understand apart from the context in which the statement is contained. If we would know what God has said in His Word, we must consider the context in which verses are contained. Many preachers, as well as lay people, yank verses out of their immediate context in order to import their own ideas into the scripture that they are using.

Some passages people use out of context seem harmless, however, when the Bible is used as a catch-phrase factory it becomes harder and harder to discern when a false teacher is mishandling the Word. The Holy Spirit will illumine the scripture to us, but when we refuse to allow the text to speak for and interpret itself, it is no longer the Word of God, but rather it is simply a neat book of cool sayings. In his second epistle, following his glorious message about the new heavens and the new earth, Peter says, “Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (2 Peter 3:14-19)

According to Peter, the result of twisting scripture is the destruction of the one doing the twisting. God takes his Word very seriously, and so should we.

Hebrews 1 and 2 and Christological Heresies

Wednesday my pastor was out of town, so I taught the adult Bible study at my church. This is the notes/outline of what I presented.

Hebrews 1 and 2 and Christological Heresies

9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. 10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. 11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1John 5:9-12(ESV)

We know from the clear teaching of the Apostle John from his first epistle that unless a person has the Son, they do not have life. It is vitally important that we understand who the Son is if we would believe in Him. Over the years, since the time of the Apostles, many heresies have arisen concerning the person of Christ. Unless we have a proper understanding of who Christ is, as revealed in sacred scripture, we will merely be worshipping a god of our imagination.

The Deity of Christ

The writer to the Hebrews opened his letter with a profound statement regarding who this Jesus is that we worship.

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. Hebrews 1:1-4 (ESV)

This text has many implications, however, here we will deal with the divinity of Christ as revealed by the writer.

Verse two distinguishes between the Father and the Son. The fact that the Son was appointed by the Father negates the idea that the Father and the Son are the same person. A heresy developed in the third century by the theologian Sabellius, known as Sabellianism (or more common recently as Modalism or “Jesus Only”), taught that God revealed Himself in three modes or manifestations, known as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Sabellianism denies the distinction of the persons in the Godhead. Modern day heretics like Oneness Pentecostals still hold to this false teaching, the most notable proponent being Bishop T.D. Jakes.

Verses two through four teach that Christ is the one through whom God created the world, and that He upholds the universe by the word of His power. This clearly teaches that Jesus is God, for no mere creation could uphold the universe by his word, much less create it. The Apostle Paul said no one has ever seen the Father, (1 Tim. 6:16) but here Christ is portrayed as the radiance of His glory, the very shekinah that was with the Jews in the wilderness! Furthermore, the exact imprint of His nature could not be merely a man, or any other creature for that matter. The word translated “nature” here is where we get the word character. In other words, Christ is the exact representation of the character of God, hence Christ can say, “Whoever has seen me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

This passage stands in clear contrast to Arianism, a heresy developed by Arius, an elder in the Egyptian church in the third and fourth centuries. Arius taught that Christ was a lesser, created being, that the Father used for the redemption of His people. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim the heresies of Arius as their own to this day, although they have gone further than even Arius dared to go in their blasphemy.

Mormonism also teaches that Christ was created by the Father, although differently than the Aryans. Mormons teach that Christ was conceived by the physical union between the Father and the virgin Mary. They have a convoluted concept of Jesus’ preexistence, in the loins of the Father, so they claim to believe in the eternality of the Son, although still as a lesser being than the Father.

Verse four also teaches that Christ is superior to the angels. Jehovah’s Witnesses, as well as Seventh Day Adventists teach that Christ is in fact the Archangel Michael.

The Humanity of Christ

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. Hebrews 2:14-18 (ESV)

We have seen from chapter one of Hebrews that Christ is truly divine, and a separate person from the Father. Chapter two clearly lays out the humanity of Christ as well. The writer says that Christ himself partook of flesh and blood, just as the children of God have. We see in verse fourteen that in order for the power of death to be defeated, Christ must have truly died, in the same way that His children die. Without a true death of the Son, there can be no deliverance for us.

The heresy of Docetism developed as early as 70 A.D. and was held by early gnostics. Docetism, (from the root dokeo, or “to seem”) is the belief that Christ only seemed to have a physical body, but in reality he was only spirit, and so the life, death and resurrection of Christ were simply an illusion. If Christ only seemed to die, then logically we must conclude that the wrath of God only seemed to have been propitiated at the cross. This leaves us in our sins, and no one can be saved.

Monophysitism is the belief that Christ possessed no human nature, but the “humanness” of Jesus was consumed by His divinity, thereby making Christ not “truly” human. If Christ was not a man, in every sense of the word, He did not qualify for the priesthood, making Him unable to offer sacrifice on behalf of His people.

There are many more heresies or variations of the ones addressed here, but the point has been made. Historic orthodox Christianity holds that Christ is 100 percent God, and 100 percent man. His human and divine natures are distinct, yet function within the one person of Jesus Christ. The second person of the Trinity added humanity unto Himself at the incarnation, bridging the gap between God and man and thereby making Him fully able to fulfill the law, and bear the weight of the wrath of God at Calvary.

A Critique of Rob Bell's "Love Wins"

A few weeks ago I presented a review of Rob Bell's new book, Love Wins, to my church. I read the book through a couple of times, and this is a quick summary of what I found.

A Critique of “Love Wins” by Rob Bell

“Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’  Mark 9:42-48

And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” Rev. 14:9-11

Rob Bell is a pastor of a church in Grand Rapids, MI. He has written a book titled “Love Wins” that is currently number seven on the Amazon Bestsellers list, and has stirred a lot of controversy. Bell is no stranger to controversy as a leader in the so-called Emergent Church.

In his book, Bell challenges the traditional Christian view of Hell. In fact, in the preface to the book he calls this view “toxic” and says that the true “Jesus story” has been hijacked and needs to be reclaimed. His position is hard to nail down, but in a nutshell, he teaches that Hell is not a literal place that God sends people who break His commandments, refuse to repent, and reject Christ, but rather, Hell is a state of mind, in which someone refuses to soften their own heart, do good deeds, and instead commit atrocities like not recycling or not buying fair trade coffee.

Bell’s position is known as Universal Reconciliation. UR is the belief that, eventually, everyone goes to Heaven, albeit through Christ. He teaches that, eventually “love wins” and everyone, no matter their rejection of Christ and His Gospel in this life, will embrace Jesus.

This position is not supported in scripture, and undermines evangelism, the church, and ultimately, the Gospel itself. But this is only a symptom of a much greater problem. Bell’s problem is not only the heresy of UR, but rather, Bell is wrong on two essential points of Biblical theology. First, he doesn’t believe that man is sinful, and second, he doesn’t believe that God is holy! His position on Hell is merely a symptom of an unregenerate heart worshipping a god of his own sinful imagination.

On page 54 of  “Love Wins” Bell says:

“Think about the single mom, trying to raise kids, work multiple jobs, and wrangle child support out of the kids‘ father, who used to beat her. She’s faithful, true, and utterly devoted to her children. In spite of the circumstances, she never loses hope that they can be raised in love and go on to break the cycle of dysfunction and abuse. She never goes out, never takes a vacation, never has enough money to buy anything for herself. She gets a few hours of sleep and then repeats the cycle of cooking, work, laundry, bills, more work, until she falls into bed late at night, exhausted.  

With what she has been given she has been faithful. She is a woman of character and substance. She never gives up. She is kind and loving even when she’s exhausted.

She can be trusted.

Is she the last who Jesus says will be first?

Does God say to her, ‘You’re the kind of person I can run the world with’?

Think about her, and then think about the magazines that line the checkout aisles at most grocery stores. The faces on the covers are often of beautiful, rich, famous, talented people embroiled in endless variations of scandal and controversy.

Where did they spend those millions of dollars?

What did they do with those talents?

How did they use their influence?

Did they use any of it to help create the new world God is making?

Or are we seeing the first who will be last that Jesus spoke of?

When it comes to people, then-the who of heaven-what Jesus does again and again is warn us against rash judgments about who’s in and who’s out.”

Notice that we know nothing of this woman’s spiritual state. She may be Christian, atheist, Buddhist, etc. To Bell, it doesn’t matter, she is a “good” person. No mention of sin, righteousness, judgment, or the cross.

On page 173 of “Love Wins” Bell says,

“Millions have been taught that if they don’t believe, if they don’t accept in the right way, that is, the way the person telling them the gospel does, and they were hit by a car and die later that same day, God would have no choice but to punish them forever in conscious torment in Hell. God would, in essence, become a fundamentally different being to them in that moment of death, a different being to them forever. A loving heavenly father who will go to extraordinary lengths to have a relationship with them would, in the blink of an eye, become a cruel, mean, vicious tormenter who would ensure that they had no escape from an endless future of agony.

If there was an earthly father who was like that, we would call the authorities.

If there was an actual human dad who was that volatile, we would contact child protection services immediately.

If God can switch gears like that, switch entire modes of being that quickly, that raises a thousand questions about whether a being like this could ever be trusted, let alone be good.

Loving one moment, vicious the next.

Kind and compassionate, only to become cruel and relentless in the blink of an eye.

Does God become somebody totally different the moment you die?

That kind of God is simply devastating.

Psychologically crushing.

We can’t bear it.

No one can.

And that is the secret deep in the heart of many people, especially Christians: they don’t love God. They can’t, because the God they’ve been presented with and taught about can’t be loved. That God is terrifying and traumatizing and unbearable.”

Rob Bell assumes that God has no rights over His creation. He divorces God’s love from His holiness, and in the process turns the triune Yahweh of scripture into an impotent beggar, who could not possibly judge anyone for anything. AND HE CAN’T! Because the god that Rob Bell believes in is a figment of his imagination.

Rob Bell is not a brother in Christ who has strayed on a minor doctrine. He has been presented clearly with the truth in scripture and denies it. Bell is a ravenous wolf seeking to devour the sheep under his care.