Paul's Passing Thoughts

“The following seems to be the issue: no one wants to say in no uncertain terms that the new birth infuses the righteousness of the Father into believers. In other words, believers are not merely declared righteous; they are righteous. Believers are righteous as a state of being” (Clouds Without Water, p. 27. TANC Publishing 2015).

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It’s not about you. It’s all about the group, the collective, and anything else is selfishness, narcissism, moralism, etc. It takes a village to raise a child, that is, a village properly overseen by a good philosopher king or queen. And how much selflessness is enough? If you have a proper “worldview,” the totally depraved never sufficiently eradicate self, which also includes our individual ability to reason. However, nothing is more obvious that when we stand before God one day, it is very much an individual affair. Whether politics or religion, the masters we served will not be standing with us to help plead our case. The following of men as superior beings uniquely gifted with an ability to reason is by far the biggest scam ever perpetrated on humanity. America is unique for one reason and one reason only; its founders were the first men in history to say, “No more!” to Elitism.

This post was inspired by something Andy posted on our FaceBook page this morning that drew some good responses.

Traditionally, the need for Protestants in general to understand interpretive principles would be unnecessary, and as a result, Protestantism functions that way this very day. People are simply taught to think other men’s thoughts. This is exactly why hundreds of thousands of Christians can sit in church week after week and not know the first thing about how to share the gospel with someone…because they have no clue about what they themselves believe!

I would add that though this is true, they think they know. Why? Because they know all of the talking points. Even with everything this ministry has learned in the past ten years, Susan and I were discussing this morning how lame we are at presenting the gospel to people. Indeed, my friends, the Protestant Dark Age is a deep, deep darkness that we are climbing out of slowly but surely. While claiming to cast light on the darkness of Catholicism, it actually compounded the darkness. The “facts” of the Protestant Reformation are rank propaganda through a rewritten history that can be discredited by a cursory observation. What sparked the Reformation was the Catholic Church’s inclination towards enlightenment ideas beginning in the 12th century. Those are the real facts.

What about the talking points being logically inconsistent? That’s irrelevant. That’s totally irrelevant. But why? Because, though the talking points state that truth is paramount, truth really doesn’t matter at all, that is, a logically consistent truth. Full stop. Take a moment to think about this. Many, many people in religion and politics think they know what the rules are. They don’t. I rarely watch or listen to Fox News anymore. Why? It’s a constant clamoring about the symptoms of the problem which appear to be insane, while the real problem is never addressed. Tucker Carlson gets close when he coins it, “group think,” but stops short of asking what drives group think to begin with.

I will start to make my case via a young man that Susan and I used to mentor. The last church we went to, that is, the last one before we wrote church off completely, turned him against us because of our “dangerous ideas.” What made them dangerous? They couldn’t find a celebrity evangelical who shared the same ideas. Anyway, he ended up converting to Catholicism from being Baptist. And by the way, that’s a very common phenomenon in our day. The following is a paraphrase of his explanation to me regarding why he converted to Catholicism.

Paul, if everyone would simply follow the Catholic Church all of the world’s problems would be solved. Lack of unity under a single authority is the problem, that’s why we have all of these denominations. And, what church was around 1500 years before Protestantism? Of course, the Catholic Church. The Protestants rebelled against God’s anointed church. If everyone would simply unite around the Church, all would be well in the world.

Well, take note, that’s the very thesis of Plato’s Republic. Plato defined social justice as unity around any given ideology. The ideology doesn’t matter, just the unity around it. And why is a universal objective truth irrelevant? Answer: truth can’t be known anyway. The philosopher kings of the world, whether religious or political, have never claimed to know what truth is. Sure, they use the word, “truth,” but that’s just another talking point. In fact, the very confession that they don’t know truth makes them the experts on reality. You will notice an egregious arrogance about those who share this philosophy as they disdain earth-dwellers who think they can know truth. That is, people who have the audacity to think they can discover truth empirically through the five senses. In essence, the definition of being born again in all religion is the obtaining of that sixth sense that allows you to endeavor in a progressive realization of what you don’t know. One of Martin Luther’s favorite Bible citations was “knowledge puffs up.” Luther wasn’t talking about the misuse of knowledge for self-aggrandizing, he was talking about, knowledge…period.

Now we have to make sense of that. Earthy knowledge and spiritual knowledge are two different things according to this ideology that has dominated world history from the beginning. Sure, sure, empirical knowledge can be used to manipulate the cells and atoms of the filthy material world, but that has nothing to do with the spiritual world, or the good, true, and beautiful; known as “Plato’s Trinity.” Another favorite citation of Luther was referring to this as “knowledge from below rather than knowledge from above” even though he otherwise rejected the book of James. The Reformation was founded on Luther’s “Theology of the Cross” which involved “the glory story,” or reality as a story and that story being about man, or the “cross story,” which is a reality narrative about God’s redemption. And of course, if all reality is a metaphysical narrative prewritten by God, it necessarily calls for a dedication to predeterminism. How can you say an author wrote a story and the story is not predetermined? And why would God write such a story with the pen of reality? Well, for his own glory, of course.

So, all bets are off; God’s prewritten narrative calls for seers, those written into his story and preordained by him, to “save God’s people from ignorance.” And so it goes. Look at what’s going on in the SBC right now and most evangelicals are totally perplexed by the runaway train of compromise. They don’t get it; truth doesn’t matter, and it never did.

But there is a big problem. As the story goes, church counsels decided who the valid seers are, but God was never present at any of the counsels. Should we take their word for it? That is, “this is what God clearly wants because we say so.” I think not. Sorry, God wasn’t there, and I am next to kin, and He never said anything to me about it. Furthermore, wars, at least before Americanism, were wars between philosopher kings out to save the world from itself, by force, if necessary. Islam is said to be a religion of peace; of course it is, the world will be at peace when its totally under Islam’s rule and there are no foes to war against. Now, individual peace is another topic altogether. World unity has NEVER concerned itself with individual happiness…NEVER!

When I was still in church, I ran a ministry that evangelized Jehovah’s Witnesses. The goal was to undermine their authority. Few JWs, if any, know the history behind the “House of Princes” and other scandalous historic facts concerning the JW church. In the 50s, JWs where anti-blood transfusions which led to the deaths of many children. Later, they changed their position. Few JWs, if any, are aware of this. Our theory followed: if JWs were confronted with this information which included copies of the actual Watch Tower articles from the 20s through the 50s, they would immediately repent and become Protestants. Not. Why? Because truth is not the issue at all, authority is. JWs have a doctrine they call, “Bright Light” based on Proverbs 4:18. It’s basically progressive revelation. Hence, they are intellectually unaccountable for anything they teach, which isn’t the issue anyway because it’s truth because their authority makes it truth. But, I might add, Protestantism has the exact same doctrine known as “Semper Reformanda” or “always reforming.” Likewise, the Protestant church is not accountable for anything they teach. It’s a like doctrine based on progressive knowledge. And in regard to what’s going on in the SBC, the outcry is indicative of how ignorant Protestants are regarding Protestantism.

Group think necessarily has a group leader. The group gets its ideas somewhere. “But Paul, what are we supposed to do? Just tear down all the guardrails and let individualism rule the world?” You just made my point for me with your apparent rhetorical question. Why all the fear about individuals running the world? I thought we were all created in the image of God? Yes, there is a balance; it’s called, “limited government” and the following should be added to it…limited religion.

Both are for the purpose of supporting individualism, not the other way around.

paul

Galatians 3:1-3 

…and the church’s also. As seen on this link.

John Piper’s gospel is based on “double imputation.” This is the idea that Christ died for the sin of man imputed to Him (Christ) who knew no sin, but ALSO came to live a perfect life to establish a righteousness that is imputed to believers over the course of their lives to complete salvation. According to this gospel, Christ kept the law perfectly during the course of His life to establish His righteousness which could then be imputed to believers.

Hence, “double imputation.” The fatal flaw of this gospel is very simple.

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it – ” ~ Romans 3:20-21

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” ~ Romans 3:28

“Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’” ~ Galatians 3:11

“You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” ~ Galatians 5:4

When the Bible speaks of a righteousness from God “apart” from the law, that literally means, “APART.” It doesn’t matter who keeps it, righteousness (justification) and the law are mutually exclusive. Contention against this exact same error was a focal point of the apostle Paul’s ministry. In Galatians, chapter 3, he argues that the law cannot give life and is therefore not the source of righteousness because there is only “ONE seed.”

Why then the law? Paul also answers that question in Galatians, chapter 3. All sin is imputed to the law, and Christ came to end the law of condemnation (Romans 10:4).

But if righteousness is not based on perfect law-keeping, where does righteousness for the believer come from? Answer: the New Birth. This is the cardinal point of 1 John, chapter 3. The believer does not sin because “God’s seed is in them.” The old man has died, therefore the law can no longer judge him. There is no law to judge the new creature, thus, where there is no law there is no sin! This is why the believer is truly righteous as a state of being, NOT because the so-called double imputation of Christ is perpetually applied to the believer’s life in contrast to much written in the book of Hebrews.

Among many other problems with this gospel, it does not make justification a finished work in the believer via the new birth because the “believer” is still under the condemnation of the law and thus needing a continuing “atonement” by Christ. Instead of what the Bible states in several places, “Where there is no law, there is no sin,” all remain under the condemnation of the law because it has not been ended and is the basis for righteousness. This is what’s behind the often heard term, “final justification.”

Here is where the confusion arises: the new birth changes the relationship of the law to the believer. All people are either under law or under grace; saved or unsaved (Romans 6:14). But “under grace” doesn’t mean that we are not under any law, it’s merely a different relationship to the law brought about by the new birth.

This boils down to the Spirit’s two uses of the law; to convict the world of sin and the judgment to come (John 16:7-11), and to sanctify the believer (John 17:17). John Piper’s double imputation only recognizes the former and therefore denies a true biblical definition of the new birth. This is why he has said on many occasions that “Christians still need to be saved by the gospel.” John Piper’s gospel keeps so-called Christians under law.

The new birth changes the believer’s relationship to the law (Romans 8:2), this frees the new creature in Christ to aggressively love (according to the law) without fear of condemnation. Christian’s do not sin, per se, but fail to love God and others which can lead to chastisement and natural consequences, but they do NOT need continued salvation because they are under the condemnation of the law. In other words, a Christian’s failure to uphold the law of love (“If you love me, keep my commandments”) does not condemn them, and this is why they no longer need the “gospel of first importance” in the same way that unbelievers do.

John Piper’s gospel redefines the new birth, keeps people under law, and makes the love they are called to something substituted by Christ.

In conclusion, the many verses of Scripture cited by Piper et al to make a case for the believer’s “service of love” being substituted by Christ must be reevaluated in a truthful context. This reevaluation will enable the Christian to receive a full reward and makes sense of, “Well done faithful servant.”

TANC Ministries

Link to video part one.