Theology Fashionistas and CH Spurgeon

Here is a snippet taken from a letter from one of my favourite Baptists, the inimitable C.H. Spurgeon, to the Scots Presbyterian Alexander Whyte, with whose writings I spent a delightful summer a few years back that issued in a book on his piety. It was written on September 13, 1884, at the height of the Down-grade controversy. “I am beginning to be banned as a stupid old fogey, who sticks in the mud & will not advance. …When they [those ridiculing Spurgeon’s theology] have gone round the whirligig they will pass some of us again, but they will there and then again begin to be behind us, & not before us as they dream.”

To all things there is a season. And so it is with theology—even the good solid theology of a Spurgeon. It is biblical truth. Of that there is no doubt. But such truth is not always in fashion. Right now, we are on the crest of a small wave of interest in Calvinist theology—Oh to make the most of this opportunity. But it is not always so.

And so it proved to be in Spurgeon’s day. He lived on the eve of a great depression and Calvinism was going out of fashion. And there are fashionistas in theology as much as in any other human sphere of activity or thought—people not terribly interested in truth, but passionate about being in style and not considered “a stupid old fogey.” The worst thing in the world in their books would be to be branded by such a label. But Spurgeon’s analysis was spot on: in the things of theology, the world’s passing fancies are not the ultimate judge of what is best. Rather: the Word of the Monarch is.

And frankly, when all is said and done, if the King deems your embrace of the latest theological fashion to come down the runway to be treason, not matter how mild—that is utterly disastrous for that is the only judgement that counts.

“The Life of Religion”

I have always loved reading the histories of local churches: they record the joys and triumphs, struggles and challenges of believers whose names are not recorded in the story of the Great Tradition of the Church, but whose names are written on the hands of the Crucified One and inscribed in that great Book of the Blood-bought brothers and sisters of the Lamb. Quite recently I was given a copy of the history of St. George Baptist Church, St. George, Ontario: 150 Years: St. George Baptist Church, 1824-1974 ([St. George, Ontario]: [St. George Baptist Church, 1974]). My attention was drawn to a statement of faith at the beginning of the book (p.3) and this clause: “The life of Religion consisteth in Communion with God and Christians.”

There are some today who find this incongruous since they have erected a linguistic distinction between religion—which is a bad thing—and “communion” with God or relationship—which is a good thing. For some, they are like east and west: the twain shall never meet. Such a view finds these words of the St. George statement of faith utterly contradictory: by definition, religion can never entail relationship.

Of course, at a fundamental level the problem here is the failure to understand language as it has been used in the past. But is there more? Does such a view as outlined above assume that the Christian message is only about relationship? If so, is there not more? If the heart of Christianity is communion—is it not the case that this communion/relationship is expressed in times of formal and informal worship? Does it not involve catechism and creed? In other words: the Christian religion is the inevitable result of Christian relationship and those Baptist forebears of St. George were on to something us moderns (or should I say post-moderns?) need to embrace.

A Caveat to My Appreciation for Dr. Packer

A few posts ago I posted an appreciation of Dr. Packer and the impact of his writing upon me. In light of some very helpful feedback about that post I need to make it clear that my deep and heartfelt appreciation of Dr. Packer does not entail endorsement of all that Dr. Packer has written. I suppose my appreciation is similar to when I cite Dr Packer’s writings in my own writings. I do not add a caveat that I disagree with his position vis-a-vis such things as ECT (Evangelicals and Catholics Together). Would my quoting, say something from his Knowing God, mean that I endorse everything that he has written? Of course not.

So it was with my appreciation. It was a genuine appreciation for the blessing that Dr. Packer’s writings have been to me and not an endorsement of all of his views.

Christianity & Islam: Which Is the True Religion of Peace?

Which religion is truly a religion of peace: Christianity or Islam? Well, simply compare Islam's first three centuries with those of Christianity. In both cases these respective periods of time were foundational—canonical, one can say—to the two religions. Which one of the two made its way by peaceful propagation by men and women who had no power beyond that of their personal lives of holiness and their words? And which one of them made its way by bloody conquest and military might?

And today: which religion is seeking to expand its realm by violence and which one by word and godly life?

The answer to the first question is obvious to anyone who wishes to study the historical records. And the answer to the second—well simply read or listen to the latest news report. When was the last time you heard of Christians blowing themselves up in indiscriminate acts of killing and maiming innocent bystanders? There is something dreadfully wrong with a religion that tolerates the random violence we see and hear about regularly with regard to Islam. And I am not thinking about the fighting in Iraq.

Much of life is complex—but some things are simple. Simply simple! Surely the answer to the question “which religion, Christianity or Islam, is truly a religion of peace?” is one of the latter.

Richard Greenham–”A Doing Preacher”

Why read the past? Well, one reason: it contains so many helpful models for living today. Take Richard Greenham (c.1540-1594), for example. An early Puritan, Greenham well typifies the best of Puritan ministry. In Eric Carlson's words: “Greenham’s ability to be compassionate, irenic and hospitable enabled his congregation to hear him speak plainly to them about sin and judgment, to (in the vivid words of Bishop Jewel) lay their filth open before their eyes Another Puritan, Leonard Wright, who had a very high view of preaching—“the office of a Preacher is a dignity of great Reverence,” he once said—argued that “saying Preachers good, but but doing Preachers are better; happy is that Parish, where both hitteth in one man."

Happy indeed! This little post helps show that from the Puritan standpoint, ministry is never just a matter of preaching. This also means that we must read widely in the past and be careful how we learn from it.

[1] “Good Pastors or Careless Shepherds? Parish Ministers and the English Reformation”, History, 88, no.291 (July 2003), 435. The whole article needs to be read.

[2] Cited Carlson, “Good Pastors or Careless Shepherds”, 434.

Why We Need to Study Our Calvinistic Baptist Heritage

Jaroslav Pelikan, one of the leading church historians of this century, used to tell of an occasion in 1956 when he was in Copenhagen and decided to seek out Hal Koch, an authority in second- and third-century Christianity. Twenty-four years earlier Koch had published a book on the Alexandrian theologian Origen, Pronoia und Paideusis, which had subsequently played a fundamental role in shaping Pelikan’s understanding of early Christian thought. To Pelikan’s surprise and even chagrin, though, Koch had ceased researching the patristic era. Instead, he was concentrating his energies on studying the life and thought of N. F. S. Grundtvig, a Danish theologian. When Pelikan expressed his surprise at this change in area of specialization, Koch replied that while the thought of Origen and other early Christian authors would never lack for students, if he and his fellow Danes did not do research on Grundtvig it would never get done.[1] Ever since I read this anecdote I felt how accurately it applied also to our Calvinistic Baptist heritage. A few figures from this heritage are of interest to those of other Christian communitites, for instance, John Bunyan and Charles Spurgeon, but the vast majority of those who played an important role in creating this heritage or tradition and passing it on have been all but forgotten. And the only way that their achievement is going to be remembered and valued is if we who share like theological convictions make a concerted effort to rediscover it.

[1] “Foreword” to Henry W. Bowden, ed., A Century of Church History. The Legacy of Philip Schaff (Carbondale and Edwardsville, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988), ix.

Christianity and the Mind: Think Again

There are some very good blogs out there, especially Christian ones. Whoever said Christians don’t think (the charge is as old as Marcus Aurelius and older), should think again about such an uninformed statement. Search the web and find some of these thoughtful Christian bloggers.

Some of the greatest minds in the history of humanity—Augustine, Aquinas, Calvin, Pascal, Edwards—have been Christians and spent their lives thinking through the implications of Christianity for all of life.

Theresa Veronica Haykin (1933-1976)

A few days ago I posted regarding my appreciation for my father. Growing up, though, my mother was much the main figure around my house. My father was simply too absent at work for much of my early life. My mother was Irish. And if I am pushed to the wall as to my ethnic identity, I am Irish or Irish-Canadian. My father is Kurdish, but certain decisions he made effectively cut off any contact with that part of my past. And so I grew up in a strongly Irish Catholic household with my mother’s culture forming the ambience in which I moved and had my childhood and teens. Yes, born in England. But there is far too much in my make-up that cannot be explained by the English land in which I was born and, as I have gotten to know the Irish better, I see it is that cloth that I am cut from

Origins are not everything. The most important fact about me is this: I am a sinner with a great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ (to borrow from John Newton). But this sinner was born and raised Irish. And I have grown to love that cultural heritage.

My mother was a consummate extrovert and loved people. People fascinated her and she could strike up a conversation with anyone. She became a true believer in the Lord Jesus not long before she died—and is now in glory (what a fabulous word that—glory!). Growing up, I adored her. Her death was devastating. Not that I ever doubted God’s goodness or right to do with his creation as he pleased.

She was a beautiful person. That death was in 1976. Over thirty years ago. In some ways, though, her person is as fresh now in my mind as when last I saw her on the day before she died.

Episcopalian Priest: Both Christian & Muslim!

What a world we live in! It sometimes takes one's breath away in terms of its beauty and symmetry. At other times, the horror of sin and death leaves one stunned, speechless, and sorrowing!

And then there are those moments that also leave one stunned, but in this case it is because of the folly of humanity.

Dr. Mohler reports on the case of an Episcopalian priest by the name of Rev. Ann Holmes, who has recently claimed she is both a Christian and a Muslim. Dr. Mohler rightly points out the folly of such thought. You cannot be both! Unless, as he states, you redefine these terms. She does, and is really guilty of heresy—from both Christian and Muslim standpoints! What is equally foolish is her bishop who says that Rev. Holmes’ commitment to both Christianity and Islam is exciting in terms of inter-faith dialogue.

Read the account here by Dr Mohler: Clueless in Seattle -- Can You Be Both a Christian and a Muslim?

John Newton and Unanswered E-Mails

It is very comforting to know that John Newton during his London ministry in the 1790s was “always working…from a stack of fifty or sixty unanswered letters” [Bruce Hindmarsh, John Newton (Oxford, 1996), 250].

It warmed my soul to read that and helped me realize that having a “pile” of unanswered e-mails is not as spiritually bad as I have thought it to be. I hate being so pressed as not to be able to answer e-mails, but I confess I do have some that have been there for a few months without an answer. If Newton could live with the guilt, then I have hope!

And brothers/sisters, an answer to your e-mail is coming., Patience—and more time for me!

Thanking God for My Father

I went to visit my father yesterday since he was flying to Helsinki, Finland, later in the day and would not be around for Father’s Day. As I think of my father, I am deeply thankful for a father who was never afraid to weep for his children, especially me, when I was a wayward youth.

I am thankful for a father who personally sacrificed for his children and decided not to go back to his homeland in Iraq because he rightly felt that we would have a better life in the West. What a providence that! I would have been of age to have fought in the Yom Kippur War, which Iraq was involved in. What I was spared from!

I am deeply thankful for a man who raised us in the West and gave us western values. One of my birth names is Azad (the A. in my signature is for Anthony, an uncle, not for Azad). It means “freedom.” It well depicts what my father felt when he came to England where I was born. It probably is not politically correct to say this, but I am so thankful to God for such a providence that I was raised in the West and that he led such a father to make critical decisions that have affected my life. I probably should start using that A. again—even if it means having three initials!

Heavenly Father, thank you for this man, who was the first man in my life.

Our Speech & the Holy Spirit

On the Lord’s Day, February 21, 1748, a sorrowful Jonathan Edwards mounted the pulpit of the Northampton meeting-house to deliver a funeral sermon for his daughter Jerusha (1730-1748), whom Edwards later said in a letter to John Erskine was “generally esteem’d the Flower of the Family.”

As he spoke that morning of his daughter who had died the previous Sabbath and who was the first of Edwards’ eleven children to die, he confessed that his heart was “very heavy and sorrowful” and that his daughter’s death was “so bitter and afflictive” to him. Yet, Edwards was ever the disciple of Christ, eager to learn what his divine Lord was teaching in the midst of this sorrowful event

As Edwards sought to apply the lessons that God was teaching through his daughter’s death, he began by telling the young people of the congregation to:

“Avoid a light and vain conversation. Don’t let any filthy communication come out of your mouth, contrary to that rule, Col. 3:8… Don’t delight in lascivious talking and jesting, and lewd and filthy songs, contrary to those rules, Eph. 5:3-4…And avoid all profane speeches, speaking in a light manner of things that are of a sacred nature, as though you had not much reverence towards God and things divine and religion, but could lightly bring in these things to set off a jest and enliven your diversions with them. It becomes Christians to observe that rule, Col. 4:6, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.” When you meet together, contrive that your conversation may often turn upon something in some respect profitable, tending to some instruction.”

Among the passages that Edwards is drawing these thoughts from is Ephesians 5, in which Paul is listing things that grieve the Spirit of God. While all unholiness grieves the Spirit, Edwards was right to notice the way that the Apostle Paul highlights misuse of our tongues as a way of grieving the Spirit.

“Do not grieve”

The text, Ephesians 4:30, is a classical proof-text of the personhood of the Spirit. This ascription of grief to the Spirit is an assumption of His personality. “To grieve” is to “affect with … deep sorrow.” In other words, “to grieve” is to cause emotional pain, deep emotional suffering, to disappoint, to sadden. As such, it is an affection which is only felt by persons. Only persons have such a rich emotional life to encompass grief. One cannot grieve a force, nor I dare say, animal. It is only persons who can be grieved.

As the Puritan author John Owen rightly says: “to talk of grieving a virtue or an actual emanation of power, is to speak that which no man can understand the meaning or intention of.”[2] The practical consequences of this means that we are to reverence and obey the Spirit.[3]

Forgetting who the Holy Spirit is

How are we to reverence the Spirit? Well, first, we are to reverence the Holy Spirit by having a high view of the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit when we fail to consider that dwelling within us is a co-equal member of the Godhead, worthy of worship, reverence and honour, One who has all the resources needed to overcome sin.

A part of a letter, though written nearly 200 years ago, well expresses the point here. It comes from the pen of a young Welsh Calvinistic Methodist woman named Ann Griffiths (1776-1805). Writing to a friend named Elizabeth Evans she says the following:

“Dear sister, the most outstanding thing that is on my mind at present as a matter for thought is to do with grieving the Holy Spirit. That word came into my mind, “Know ye not that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit which dwelleth in you” [1 Corinthians 6:19]; and on penetrating a little into the wonders of the Person, and how he dwells or resides in the believer, I think in short that I have never been possessed to the same degree by reverential fears of grieving him, and along with that I have been able to see one reason, and the chief reason, why this great sin has made such a slight impression upon my mind, on account of my base and blasphemous thoughts about a Person so great.

“This is how my thoughts ran about the Persons of the Trinity. I feel my mind being seized by shame, and yet under a constraint to speak because of the harmfulness of it. I thought of the persons of the Father and the Son as co-equal; but as for the Person of the Holy Spirit, I regarded him as a functionary subordinate to them. O what a misguided imagination about a Person who is divine, all-present, all-knowing, and all-powerful to carry on and complete the good work which he has begun in accordance with the free covenant and the counsel of the Three in One regarding those who are the objects of the primal love. O for the privilege of being one of their number.

“Dear sister, I feel a degree of thirst to grow up more in the belief in the personal indwelling of the Holy Spirit in my life; and this by way of revelation, not of imagination, as if I thought to comprehend in what way or by what means it happens, which is real idolatry.”[4]

Notice the statement “all powerful to carry on and complete the good work which he has begun.” Ann is alluding to the fact that the Spirit is the One who enables us to persevere to the “day of redemption”, as Paul puts it in Ephesians 4:30.

Grieving the Spirit by sin

But we also grieve the Spirit when we sin in thought, word or deed. Paul lists some examples of such sinful behaviour in the larger context of Ephesians 4:17-5:14:

We grieve the Spirit when:

· We live as though we do not have a new nature (Ephsians 4:17-24; 5:8-9). In general terms, the Holy Spirit is grieved by everything that is contrary to Holiness. Since he is the “Holy Spirit,” he is always grieved by unholiness.

· Specifically, when we sin with our mouths by lying (Ephesians 4:25), using “foul or abusive language” (Ephesians 4:29), slandering others (Ephesians 4:31), uttering obscenities, foolish talking, coarse jokes (Ephesians 5:4), we grieve the Spirit.

· When we exhibit unjustified anger (Ephesians 4:26-27, 31).

· When we steal (Ephesians 4:28).

· When we engage in sexual immorality (Ephesians 5:3). Cp. 1 Corinthians 6:19.

· When we covet (Ephesians 5:3, 5).

Notice how behind these admonitions lie a number of the ten commandments: You shall not murder, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not covet.

The Holy Spirit and our speech

Now did also you notice how many of the sins listed in these verses involve the tongue, Ephesians 4:25, 29, 31; 5:4? In fact, the Scriptures devote a lot of attention to sins of tongue. This devotion is well captured by a remark attributed to C.H. Spurgeon that “if all men’s sins were divided into two bundles, half of them would be sins of the tongue.” That this statement is no exaggeration is shown by the frequent reference to the tongue in, for example, Proverbs, our Lord’s teaching, James 3, and the letters of Paul, of which the text before us is a very instructive example.

Ephesians 4:25

Lying and deceit grieve the Spirit. “Falsehood can mean any distortion of the truth whether in act or word. Here, however, the emphasis seems to be on spoken falsehood, i.e. lying.”[5] Christians are to steer clear entirely of this vice. Yet, how easily to fall into, especially when we’re in a tough spot. Instead, Paul says, and he quotes from Zechariah 8:16, Christians are to tell the truth to one another. Why? First, truth is admirable for its own sake. By being truth-tellers we reflect the character of the Holy Spirit: see Titus 1:2.

Then, lying is especially detrimental to the Christian community. It is noteworthy that Paul does not appeal to the Decalogue: see Exodus 20:16. Instead he states that the bonds of Christian love and fellowship are broken when we deceive one another. “How can there be fellowship if there is lying?”[6] And Christian unity is a creation of the Spirit—look back to Ephesians 4:3. Insofar as lying hurts Christian fellowship, it grieves the Holy Spirit. When we speak the truth, we gladden the Spirit.

Do you grieve the Spirit by lying? Do you embellish, stretch the truth? Do you exaggerate? Do you flatter? Do you make promises you have no intention of keeping? Or do you seek to be honest with all your words?

Ephesians 4:29, 31; 5:4

Not only lying grieves the Spirit, but also “unwholesome word(s)”(NASB)/“corrupt communication” (NKJV). What is meant by “unwholesome words”? Look at some different ways this phrase is translated:

· “corrupt communication” (KJV; NKJV)

· “evil talk” (RSV)

· “unwholesome talk” (NIV)

· “foul language” (Phillips)

The Greek word behind these different translations has the idea of something that is “rotten” or “corrupt,” and bears the connotation of that which spreads rottenness. It can also be used to mean something that is “useless” or “worthless.” What lies behind this admonition is that “words reveal character.” See Matthew 12:33-35.

Further on Paul uses other terms that are part of this general admonition: slander and malicious gossip, described in Ephesians 4:31 as blasphemy and obscene language and lewd stories (Ephesians 5:4). Blasphemy is “speaking evil of others, especially behind their backs, and so defaming and even destroying their reputation.” It “includes the enjoyment linked with slandering others, deliberately saying or repeating things about others that are calculated to do them harm.”[7]

Even the best of Christians wrestle with this misuse of the tongue. A good example comes from the diary of John Newton (1725-1807), the well-known evangelical author and hymn-writer, and author of “Amazing Grace.” In a diary entry for 1777, some 30 years after his conversion, we find these words:

“My Lord, forgive me that, besides many other things wrong in me, I have not bridled my tongue. I profess to abhor evil speaking of another, yet I fear I have been guilty of it in a rash and needless censure of Mr. De Courcy—was ensnared in other respects with levity, from a foolish desire of pleasing. Oh pardon me, and teach me to avoid the like evils in future.”[8]

Ephesians 4:31

Then, finally there is the sin of shouting, screaming, brawling, which has its roots in anger and wrath (Ephesians 4:25-26). Now, Paul is aware that there can be such a thing as righteous anger. See Ephesians 4:25-26. Verse 26 is best understood in relationship to a text like James 1:19-20. “Anger, though on a rare occasion appropriate, does not often serve God’s purposes…, since it is usually compounded with…human sin. Only if this can be excluded can anger be justified.”

From the example of Jesus we see that anger may be free from sin, but such anger is rare in our existence. And even justified anger has a way of taking control of a person if it is nursed and allowed to smolder in the heart. Thus Ephesians 4:26. If one fails to heed this and allows anger to linger on until it grows into bitterness and resentment, you give the Devil a foothold, a base of operations, within your life, from which he can pollute your entire being (Ephesians 4:27).

What about you? “Are you guilty of any contention or strife? Do you quarrel, argue or engage in heated discussions?” Do you like to give people a “piece of your mind”?

The solution

How do we deal with the problem of the tongue? First, there needs to be constant recollection of who indwells us, namely, the blessed Holy Spirit of God who is grieved when we misuse our tongues. If we were more conscious of his presence and more fearful of hurting him we would be less likely to sin in this way. Then, Paul gives us positive ways of using our tongue:

· Speaking the truth (Ephesians 4:25)

· Ephesians 4:29: The test of a man’s conversation is not simply “Am I keeping my words true and pure?” but “Are my words being used to minister grace to the hearers?” And to do this, Paul stresses we must take into consideration the needs of those to whom we are talking. As we do so we follow footsteps of Christ: Isaiah 50:4.

· Ephesians 4:32.

Finally, there needs to be persistent prayer: see Psalm 141:1-3. A striking illustration of this is found in an account of the early ministry of D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (d.1981) by his Bethan Lloyd-Jones in Aberavon, Wales:[9] “William Thomas seemed to have little trouble with the lesser things, nor with some of the bigger hindrances either. His drinking habit just left him, with no effort on his part to deal with it. It had been a part of the whole of his adult life. There were not many days without drink playing a big part in them – not many evening and nights when he was not totally incapacitated through alcohol. And yet, at his conversion, his desire for it left him and was never a problem in his Christian life.

“There were, however, other areas of fierce struggle, and heading the dark list was bad language. Staffordshire Bill was foul-mouthed—so much so that even the toughest of his worldly acquaintances were sickened by him—one of the reasons why he always found himself left to his own company, in some deserted corner of the place where they were drinking. With his conversion came the conviction that he must do something about this. He realised that it was dishonouring to God and offensive to man. He must stop swearing and using bad language. But now he discovered that he was up against something that was too strong for him. He could not speak without swearing, he could not utter a sentence that was not peppered with oaths and blasphemies. He could not help it and he could not stop it.

“The truth is that he did not know that he was doing it until the words were out, and then the realisation that these horrible terms and words came from his own lips sickened and shamed him and he was driven to a frenzy of despair and to abject misery. It may seem strange that he never sought the help of a fellow Christian in this matter, but he was too ashamed, and he suffered for some weeks, little dreaming that deliverance was at hand.

“It came about in this way: he was getting up one morning and gathering his clothes together to get dressed. But there were no socks among his

clothes. He went to the bedroom door and shouted to his wife ‘I can’t find my … socks! where are the … things?’ As he heard himself, and realised what he had just said, a great horror possessed him and he fell back on the bed in a paroxysm of despair. He cried aloud: ‘O Lord, cleanse my tongue. O Lord, I can’t ask for a pair of socks without swearing, please have mercy on me and give me a clean tongue.’

“As he lay there and then got up from that bed, he knew that God had done for him what he could not do for himself. His prayer, his cry of agony was heard and answered. It was his own testimony that from that moment to the end of his days no swear word or foul or blasphemous word ever again passed his lips. Hearing his own account of this amazing deliverance on a subsequent Wednesday night at the Fellowship Meeting is something we who were there will never forget. His face, wet with tears and alight with an inner joy and wonder, his faltering voice broken with emotion, brought a warm wave of response from every heart.”

[1] OED, IV (1933), s.v.[2] Works, III, 88.[3] Cf. C.R. Vaughan, The Gifts of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975; rpt. 1894 ed.), 409-412[4] Cited A.M. Allchin, Ann Griffiths (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976), 49-50.[5] C. Leslie Mitton, Ephesisans (London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1976), 167.[6] See Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, 155.[7] Lloyd-Jones, 282. Cf. L.H. Marshall, The Challenge of New Ethics, 284-285.[8] Josiah Bull, John Newton (London, 1868), 223. [9] Memories of Sandfields 1927-1938 (London: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1983), 86-89.

In the World, but Not of the World

Appreciated this blog posting by my good friend Kirk Wellum: Here We Go Again. Kirk rightly points out the end-term problems with allowing culture to drive theology. Of course, as we have seen in the past 100 years, Baptists are not immune to this. One thinks of the Down-grade controversy in the 1870s and 1880s, the Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy of the 1920s, and the more recent struggles within the SBC. Of course, there is a tension here: how to be within a culture to have a credible witness yet not have one's core values shaped by that context? There is the rub!

But it can be done, as numerous instances of faithful witness down through the centuries remind us. One solution to the problem is to know our history better. It is not the only solution. One thinks of prayer, for example. But knowing the past is a solution. The writer of Hebrews 11--or should I say, the preacher of Hebrews 11, for I think Hebrews a sermon--knew this truth.

And taking history seriously will itself be a counter-cultural act in a world that is fascinated with the present and adores the future, but loathes the past.

True Shepherding a La Baxter

I have been thinking about ecclesial issues intentionally now for a number of years. In part it is a way of resisting the drift of North American Evangelicalism’s laxity when it comes to ecclesiological matters. One critical question for our day is: what is ministry according to the new covenant? What does it look like when “all shall know the Lord” and his Word is written on all of the hearts of the members of the community? Surely, it entails the minister becoming a true shepherd of the sheep—guiding them and guarding them, being a custos animae. In his response to the award he was given last night at the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection in Toronto (see previous blog entry), Dr. Packer spoke about the God of happy surprises. He described how, when he was called to be a pastor, he responded to the call by insisting that he was a bit of an “odd fish”—a good English expression—and really very shy. How was such a person to do the work of ministry, he asked himself and God. But he sensed God telling him to go forward and he would enable Dr. Packer.

What struck me afterwards as I reflected on this was that Dr. Packer hit the nail on the head regarding pastoral ministry. It is work among sheep, minding them, nurturing them, making sure that they do not fall into a thousand and one calamities. And to do all of this one must get among them.

In other words, the shepherd must smell of sheep! I am sure shepherds when they come home from their labours smell “sheepy.” So must true pastors. Here, Richard Baxter is the guide, is he not? For all of his oddities regarding certain soteriological issues, he laid out a true guidebook to pastoral work in his The Reformed Pastor. It is a very convicting book—but so necessary in our day for Reformed brothers whom God has called to pastoral ministry.

The task of the true pastor is a multi-faceted work: prayer and preaching, mentoring and discipleship, caring and loving. Please brothers who are called to this ministry, give your selves to this task: 1 Peter 5:2, shepherd the flock of God in all of its dimensions.

Thanking God for J. I . Packer

What follows is a small tribute I was asked to bring at the annual meeting of the Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection, Tyndale Seminary, Toronto, where Dr. Packer was given an award for his distinguished contributions to the Body of Christ as an historical theologian. In the mid-1730s George Thomson (1698-1782), the Anglican vicar of St. Gennys, a windswept village in North Cornwall perched atop cliffs overlooking the Atlantic, wrote to the Nonconformist hymnwriter Isaac Watts (1674-1748) to let the latter know how much he appreciated his hymns and other writings.[1] In his letter, Thomson happened to remark about the way that he and Watts were “differently ordered,” a reflection on their ecclesial differences. Well, I find myself in a similar position to Thomson, though in this case it is the Nonconformist thanking the Anglican Evangelical for his writings.

A few years ago, Dr. Alister McGrath, who has written the biography of Dr. Packer,[2] drew up a short collection of what he called the “core theological writings” from Dr. Packer’s massive literary output between 1954 and 1998. It sought to give the reader interested in Dr. Packer’s work some guidance as to the central ideas of Dr. Packer’s thinking. The pieces included ranged across the entire breadth of Dr. Packer’s contribution to the life and thought of the church, from biblical inspiration to ecclesiological issues, from revival to the cross, from Reformed piety to the importance of recognizing our indebtedness to the past.[3] Reflecting recently on this valuable collection caused me to think about what works of Dr. Packer have been most instrumental in shaping my Christian life and thought.

Undoubtedly, the first would be his classic Knowing God (1973), which I read not long after I became a Christian in the mid-1970s and gave me a vision of the God of the Scriptures: holy and sovereign, Triune and a God of mercy and grace abounding to sinners. Then there would be his Keep In Step with the Spirit (1st ed., 1984) that was of enormous help in making me realize that the central work of the Holy Spirit in this new covenant era is the glorification of the Lord Jesus (see John 16:14). This was of tremendous help to a believer struggling with the claims of the then-charismatic movement.

Then, Dr. Packer’s helpful essay “Steps to the Renewal of the Christian People” (1983) gave me a morphology for understanding revival that has stayed with me ever since I first came across it in the early 1980s. Fourth, Dr. Packer has helped establish me in the Reformed tradition through books like Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God (1961) and his introductory essay to John Owen’s Death of Death in the Death of Christ, which convinced me of the true nature of the biblical gospel.

Finally, may I say that Dr. Packer’s numerous essays on figures of the past, ranging from Thomas Cranmer to Richard Baxter, from George Whitefield to Martyn Lloyd-Jones have been of enormous help to me in knowing how to read history as both a Christian and as an historian. In particular, Dr. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (1990) has been a major shaper in my thinking about that remarkable body of believers, the Puritans. Dr. Packer led me to see the Puritans as sure guides to many areas of the Christian life. Though we are “differently ordered”, I thank God for Dr. Packer: for his enormous contributions to the life and thought of the church—and for the help that he has given, by the grace of God, to this one sinner seeking to be a faithful Christian pilgrim.

[1]For a good study of Thomson’s ministry, see G. C. B. Davies, The Early Cornish Evangelicals 1735-1760. A Study of Walker of Truro and Others (London: S.P.C.K., 1951), 30-34, 37-52. For the letter, see Donald Davie, The Eighteenth-Century Hymn in England (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 49.

[2] J.I. Packer: A Biography (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997).

[3] The J.I. Packer Collection (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 1999).

Reformed Preachers Whistling Dixie?

I am constantly amazed that far too many good preachers who love the doctrines of grace and who are assiduous in their reading of the Scriptures fail to notice one critical aspect about ministry in the New Covenant: it is intimately linked to bulding community and relationships. There is, I suspect, among some of these brothers, a mistaken view of what constituted faithful ministry in the past—among the Reformers, for example, or the Puritans. Those brothers in the faith from those bygone eras are seen as great expositors and nothing more. Now, there is no doubt that they were preeminentely preachers. And there is no doubt that the Word was central in their ministries. But, without friendships (is not Calvin the great model of friendship here with his passionate friendships with Farel and Viret? Or the spiritual brotherhood among the Puritans, a logical result of which was Baptist ecclesiology) and mentoring relationships (look at the remarkable Baxter in Kidderminister) the Word does not have a context in which to bear fruit.

When I first read the life of that quintessential Reformed loner, A.W. Pink, I thanked God for his great insights into the Word in a day when Reformed truth was not in high demand. But I was horrified (and I do not say that word lightly) by his isolationism and lack of concern for friendship and fellowship. Surely, the love of the truth should lead to a walking in the light with fellow lovers!

Or to put all of this more colloquially: if we think we are being faithful to the New Testament and are not passionately concerned about building Christian community, we are whistling Dixie!

F.W. Boreham & His Mentor, J.J. Doke

F. W. Boreham (1871-1959) has long been one of my favourite authors. I am not sure where I first encountered his writings. Most likely I came across them in what was then the library at Central Baptist Seminary,Toronto, the first school where I had full-time employment as a teacher. But I took an immediate liking to this author who was the final student C. H. Spurgeon ever accepted into his Pastor’s College. The books I first read were his unique topical sermons on Bible texts that he preached in Baptist Churches in New Zealand and Australia and that summed up the lives of various figures in church history. Boreham’s A Bunch of Everlastings (1920) and A Casket of Cameos (1924) are gems in this regard. It was with great interest, then, that I picked up this slim study—F. W. Boreham, Lover of Life: F. W. Boreham’s Tribute to His Mentor (Eureka, California: John Broadbanks Publishing, 2007)—by Boreham on the man who was his mentor, Joseph John Doke (1861–1913). Doke was a Devonian from the West Country in England who came out to New Zealand when Boreham had just arrived at his first pastoral charge. The two became close friends and in the matrix of their friendship there was what proved to be a rich experience for Boreham, namely that of being mentored by Doke. It was Doke who helped make Boreham into a voracious reader when Boreham had come to recognize the limitations of his theological training. The solution Doke suggested was reading: “Read my dear man,” he once told Boreham, “Read; and read systematically; and keep on reading; never give up” (p. 8)!

It was also Doke who challenged Boreham to reflect deeply on how to walk with God. On one occasion, by role-playing, he helped Boreham learn how to minister to the sick and dying. As Geoff Pound states in the introduction, this small work is “a helpful vision of what a mentoring relationship might become” (p. x).

Though a frail man physically, Doke was cut from heroic cloth, as his later years well reveal when he helped Mahatma Gandhi in his struggle for human rights in South Africa. On one occasion he even saved Gandhi’s life.

This is the first of a series of Boreham’s books that are being reprinted by the newly-formed John Broadbanks Publishing. It is attractively produced and augurs well for future reprints.

Note: “Chuddigh” on p. 6 should be “Chudleigh.”

To learn more about Boreham, visit: “The Official F W Boreham Blog Site” (http://fwboreham.blogspot.com/). For a brief biography, see Geoff Pound, “F. W. Boreham: Australia’s Greatest Baptist Preacher Ever”, The Baptist Studies Bulletin, 6, No.1 (January 2007) (http://www.centerforbaptiststudies.org/bulletin/2007/january.htm#Worlds%20Greatest ).

John Newton, a Letter to Samuel Pearce

This summer, DV, I hope to do some serious writing on one of my favourite Baptists, Samuel Pearce (1766-1799). It is long overdue. I had intended years ago to do a biography by 1999, the bicentennial of his death. Then it was to be 2000, the bicentennial of the appearance of the first biography of him by Andrew Fuller, his close friend. His is a great story and crosses the pathways of some of the great figures of that era. One of them is John Newton, the bicentennial of whose death is this year, 1807-2007. He wrote to Pearce on one occasion in 1797. The letter begins thus: "My dear sir, I stiled you...Reverend in my last [letter], and you stiled me Honoured--I like the epithet Dear better than either. Let us substitute it for the others if you please should we have correspondence in future." Typical Newton, ever the loving mentor.

Please pray for this. I know I have asked for prayer about this before. Please pray that all of the Pearce "stuff" that I need to write will get done!

Thank you.