We’re looking forward to having Dr. G.K. Beale with us at Clarus, which is now only three weeks away. Dr. Beale recently published an article in the Westminster Theological Journal related to the theme of our conference, “Scripture: God Speaks.” The title adequately describes his subject, “Can the Bible be Completely Inspired by God and yet Contain Errors? A Response to Some Recent ‘Evangelical’ Proposals.”

The total truthfulness of God’s word has been creatively subverted since the serpent twisted the words of God in the garden. Sometimes the truthfulness of God’s word is called into question among those who claim allegiance to God and His word. Inerrancy, some say, isn’t an idea found in the Bible, but an idea we have imposed on the Bible. Some would even say this is a form of idolatry. They would argue that a belief in inerrancy means we take the Bible more seriously than God. Can that be true?

Dr. Beale begins his response with this paragraph:

There has been much literature written over the past fifty years on the topic of the authority of the Bible, especially discussions within so-called “evangelicalism” concerning the nature of the notions of infallibility and inerrancy. Recent writers have especially questioned the traditional understanding of inerrancy. In particular, a central idea underlying inerrancy has been that since God is true and without error and, therefore, his oral word is true and without error, consequently, his word in Scripture is true and without error. This implication or theological inference that reasons from God’s flawless character to flawless Scripture has been challenged, and it has been argued that it is a logical deduction that is never made in the Bible. Accordingly, it is argued that though God, of course, is true and without error, he can, and indeed has, inspired all of Scripture in such a way that, nevertheless, the marks of human fallibility are woven into it. Thus, there are what we would consider to be “errors” in the biblical text, but God has inspired even those “errors” to form a part of his message to his people.

In the rest of his article, Beale shows how the line from God’s faithfulness to the faithfulness of His written word is not only logical, but Scriptural. That is, that the Scriptures are “God breathed,” does indeed mean that God’s faithfulness is reflected in what is written.

Dr. Beale argues primarily from the book of Revelation, where Jesus, the “faithful and true witness” (3:14), says to John, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (21:5), and speaks of what John has written as “trustworthy and true” (22:6). Here, Jesus’ faithfulness extends to his oral word, and from his oral word to its inscripturation.

The entire article is available online as a pdf. Read it and enjoy!

Also, if you haven’t purchased tickets yet, remember that you can do so online.

HT: Dane Ortlund

In Sunday’s sermon, “Restoring Marriage,” Ryan preached from Colossians 3:18-19, where Paul writes, “Wives, submit to your husbands, as  is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and  do not be harsh with them.” Those words are simple, but they are charged with implications.

Since the language of submission can be misunderstood, Ryan clarified its meaning against what it does not mean according to Scripture. In doing so, Ryan referenced six points from a sermon delivered by John Piper indicating “What submission is not,” according to 1 Peter 3:1-6. Here they are:

1. Submission does not mean agreeing with everything your husband says. You can see that in verse one: she is a Christian and he is not. He has one set of ideas about ultimate reality. She has another. Peter calls her to be submissive while assuming she will not submit to his view of the most important thing in the world—God. So submission can’t mean submitting to agree with all her husband thinks.
2. Submission does not mean leaving your brain or your will at the wedding altar. It is not the inability or the unwillingness to think for yourself. Here is a woman who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. She thought about it. She assessed the truth claims of Jesus. She apprehended in her heart the beauty and worth Christ and his work, and she chose him. Her husband heard it also. Other wise Peter probably wouldn’t say he “disobeyed the word.” He has heard the word and he has thought about it. And he has not chosen Christ. She thought for herself and she acted. And Peter does not tell her to retreat from that commitment.
3. Submission does not mean avoiding every effort to change a husband. The whole point of this text is to tell a wife how to “win” her husband. Verse one says, “Be submissive to your own husbands so that even if any of them are disobedient to the word, they may be won.” If you didn’t care about the Biblical context you might say, “Submission has to mean, taking a husband the way he is and not trying to change him.” But if you care about the context, you conclude that submission, paradoxically, is a strategy for changing him. The goal of this text is to help wives bring about the most profound change in their husbands that can be imagined—the transformation from being a spiritually dead unbeliever to a spiritually alive believer. Submission does not say, “I renounce all efforts to change my husband.” What it does say we’ll see in a moment.
4. Submission does not mean putting the will of the husband before the will of Christ. The text clearly teaches that the wife is a follower of Jesus before and above being a follower of her husband. He is going on the path of unbelief. She does not follow him in that, because she has been called to be a disciple of Jesus. Submission to Jesus relativizes submission to husbands—and governments and employers and parents. When Sara calls Abraham “lord” in verse 6, it is lord with a little “l”. It’s like “sir.” And the obedience she renders is secondary obedience, under, and because of, and filtered through obedience to the LORD with a capital “L”.
5. Submission does not mean that a wife gets her personal, spiritual strength from her husband. A good husband should indeed strengthen and build up and sustain his wife. He should be a source of strength. There are ways in which a wife is the “weaker vessel” as verse 7 says. But what this text shows is that when a husbands spiritual nurturing and leadership is lacking, a Christian wife is not bereft of strength. Submission does not mean she is dependent on him to supply her strength of faith and virtue and character. The text assumes just the opposite. She is summoned to develop depth and strength and character not from her husband but for her husband. Verse five says that her hope is in God, not the husband.
6. Finally submission does not mean that a wife is to act out of fear. Verse 6b says, “You have become [Sarah’s] children if you do what is right without being frightened by any fear.” In other words submission is free, not coerced by fear. The Christian woman is a free woman. When she submits to her husband—whether he is a believer or unbeliever—she does it in freedom, not out of fear.

So, What then is submission? Piper continues:

It is the disposition to follow a husband’s authority and an inclination to yield to his leadership. It is an attitude that says, “I delight for you to take the initiative in our family. I am glad when you take responsibility for things and lead with love. I don’t flourish when you are passive and I have to make sure the family works.” But the attitude of Christian submission also says, “It grieves me when you venture into sinful acts and want to take me with you. You know I can’t do that. I have no desire to resist you. On the contrary, I flourish most when I can respond creatively and joyfully to your lead; but I can’t follow you into sin, as much as I love to honor your leadership in our marriage. Christ is my King.”

If you’d like to further explore the subject of Christian marriage or biblical manhood and womanhood, the following books should be a great help:

• What did You Expect? Redeeming The Realities of Marriage, Paul Tripp
• When Sinners Say “I Do”: Discovering the Power of the Gospel for Marriage, Dave Harvey
• This Momentary Marriage, John Piper
• Sex, Romance, and The Glory of God: What Every Christian Husband Needs to Know, C.J. Mahaney
• Feminine Appeal: Seven Virtues of a Godly Wife and Mother, Carolyn Mahaney
• The Masculine Mandate: God’s Calling to Men, Richard D. Phillips

Also, check out the messages portion of our site, which includes a number of sermons on the subject of marriage and biblical manhood and womanhood.

Update: Michael Horton’s excellent nine part response to Love Wins is now available in one spot on the web and in pdf form.

This Wednesday night, Ryan preached a sermon from Romans 8:1, where Paul writes,”There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” The sermon’s title was, “‘Now No Condemnation’ – What Condemnation?”

That’s an important question. What precisely are we rescued from through our union with Jesus Christ? What is so great about “no condemnation,” after all? To appreciate all that we have in Christ, we must understand all that Christ’s work rescued us from. To clarify what Paul means by “condemnation,” Ryan made the following points from Scripture:

• Condemnation is Hell
• Hell is Abandonment
• Hell is Destruction
• Hell is Conscious Torment
• Hell is Forever
• Hell is Punishment
• Hell is Just
• Hell is Wrath

This is a sober subject, but we can praise God that His grace is greater than all of our sin. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! In His life, Christ met God’s righteous demands for us. In His death, Christ absorbed God’s wrath for us. Death has no sting. Hell has no victory.

The question of the nature of hell is of particular relevance given the national attention received by a new book by Grand Rapids area pastor, Rob Bell, Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

While Bell does not adopt the label of “universalist,” he can only do so by redefining what he means by that. Bell asserts that every human person, in the end, will be won over by the love of God. In other words, everyone goes to heaven. Some will turn to him before death, and some after death. God wants all to be saved so, in the end, God gets what he wants.

That would sound like good news, but it does damage to Scripture. In addition to mishandling the Bible’s specific teaching on the subject of hell, Bell’s proposal undermines the constellation of Scripture’s teaching concerning nature of God and the nature of what Christ accomplished on the cross.

Whenever we find the Bible mishandled we have a chance to apprehend God’s glorious grace in Jesus Christ more fully by returning to the Scriptures with greater interest for clarity and understanding. To clarify your understanding of the Bible’s teaching against this occasion of false teaching, we recommend the following four resources for your review:

• Tony Reinke, “The Rob Bell Debate: A Reader’s Digest, with Suggested Resources“
• Michael Horton, “Bell’s Hell: A Review by Michael Horton“ (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9)
• Kevin DeYoung, “God Is Still Holy and What You Learned in Sunday School Is Still True: A Review of ‘Love Wins’“
• Albert Mohler, “We have Seen all This Before: Rob Bell and the (Re)Emergence of Liberal Theology“

In his interview with Bell on MSNBC, Martin Bashir made this timely interpretation of Bell’s work:

“You’re creating a Christian message that’s warm, kind, and popular for contemporary culture. . . . What you’ve done is you’re amending the gospel, the Christian message, so that it’s palatable to contemporary people who find, for example, the idea of hell and heaven very difficult to stomach. So here comes Rob Bell, he’s made a Christian gospel for you, and it’s perfectly palatable, it’s much easier to swallow. That’s what you’ve done, haven’t you?”

God is just. That is a good thing, even if it means bad news for us. But, thankfully, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). And He did this “that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26).

May we be found believing, defending, and proclaiming this best of all good news while there is time.