Stylos is the blog of Jeff Riddle, a Reformed Baptist Pastor in North Garden, Virginia. The title "Stylos" is the Greek word for pillar. In 1 Timothy 3:15 Paul urges his readers to consider "how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar (stylos) and ground of the truth."
But whosoever drinketh
of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life (John 4:14).
Here we are told what Christ offers to thirsty men. He offers them
the living water that satisfies and wells up like a spring within a man to
eternal life.
Calvin notes that the Lord does not invite “those who have drunk
enough, but the thirsty, not those who are satisfied but the hungry, to eat and
drink.” He adds: “For we are like a dry and barren soil; for there is no sap or
vigor in us, until the Lord water us by his Spirit.”
They say one can live three weeks without food but only three days
without water. A couple of years ago I went with my three oldest children for a
couple days of hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail. We hiked a stretch
parallel to the Skyline Drive with which I was not very familiar. Most
importantly, I did not know where the watering holes were. We had to make camp
one evening with very little water and ran the risk of dehydration. How
wonderful it was to hike the next morning a few miles down the trail to
discover a spot where there was a flowing creek and pools of water from which
to drink!
How needful is water? Take it away and you find out quickly how
important it is. Take it away and a man will dwindle and die. Give it to him
and he will live and flourish. That is what Christ is to a man’s spiritual
life. This is what Jesus is saying here and what he will say later in John 6:35
when he says, “and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.”
Does this mean that Christ’s disciples never have hardship? No.
Christ perfectly satisfies our ultimate thirst in salvation, even if the
believer must sometimes pass through periods of dryness. So, in this sense,
Calvin writes:
Thus believers thirst, and keenly thirst, throughout their whole
life; and yet they have abundance of quickening moisture; for however small may
have been the measure of grace which they have received, it gives them
perpetual vigor, so that they are never entirely dry.”
Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters,
and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat….”
I have posted Word Magazine # 80: Review: Douglas Wilson and James R. White Debate the Text of the NT (listen here). In this episode I read through a draft of a review article giving some analysis of the the recently (summer 2017) published booklet, Debating the Text of the Word of God: Douglas Wilson vs. James R. White (Simposio, 2017).
Here is the opening of my review:
This booklet is a brief written debate between Presbyterian
theologian Douglas Wilson, perhaps best known most recently for distancing
himself from the “federal vision” theology he once championed, and Reformed
Baptist apologist James R. White. The debate ostensibly addresses the question,
“In the context of the Christian faith,
has God best preserved His written word in the New Testament in the Textus
Receptus or in the modern Nestle-Aland/UBS Text Platform?”
The debate structure consists of five parts: (1) opening
statements; (2) rebuttals; (3) cross-examinations (each participant poses seven
questions to the other, who replies); (4) closing statements; and (5) questions
and answers (with some questions posed to both participants and others to each
individually). In addition to the written debate, the publisher also has
available an audio version.
In this debate, Wilson is meant to defend the TR and White
the NA/UBS. The exchange becomes somewhat confused, however, by the fact that Wilson
puts forward a unique defense of the TR based on his idiosyncratic understanding
of the text of the NT from a “canonical” perspective, a view which White
appears, perhaps justifiably, only flounderingly to grasp or critique, as he
falls back on some stock arguments in favor of the modern critical text. Though
there are significant differences between the two positions, in the end both advocate
a version of a “reconstructionist” perspective on the text of the NT.
And here is my concluding analysis:
This written debate on the text of the NT is brief but dense
in content. In the end, I agree with
Wilson that the approach of both presenters is “structurally identical.” They
both present a “reconstruction” view of the text of the NT, as opposed to a
classical Protestant, confessional view of the providential preservation of
Scripture, as expressed in chapter one, paragraph eight of the Westminster
Confession (and the Second London Baptist Confession). Both believe that the
text of the NT, at present, can only be closely approximated but it remains
“unsettled.” Wilson presents a unique “canonical” view of the text, suggesting
the best current approximation of the true text is found in Stephanus’ 1550
edition of the TR. White is taken aback by Wilson’s unique approach and
struggles properly to understand his perspective. For White the closest text to
the autograph is found in the current edition of the modern critical text (NA
28/UBS5), which he doggedly defends. The problem, again, is that neither view
articulates the traditional Protestant perspective on the text of Scripture and
its preservation as presented in the confession.
He that hath received
his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true (John 3:33).
The verb here for “setting the seal” refers to a form of
authentication meant to verify the genuineness of something. It is used, for
example, to refer to the setting a seal on a letter, which often involved
pressing a distinctive mark on wax. The NKJV renders this verse: “He who has
received His testimony has certified that God is true.”
So, John says no one receives this testimony merely from natural
or earthly witnesses, but the one who receives this testimony is given an
overwhelming confirmation or authentication from above. He realizes that the
witness to Jesus as the Messiah is true, no matter the objections lodged
against it. One thinks of Paul’s words in Romans 3:4, “let God be true, but
every man a liar.”
This verse tells us something about how revelation—especially for
us in this age, inscripturated revelation—is received by God’s people. Just as
they trust in Christ by faith, they also trust in his Word by faith. There are
many apologists who spend much time defending the truthfulness of God’s word,
often by the use of rational evidences. I am not saying there is no place for
that. It can be useful in both evangelism and discipleship, if God is pleased
to use it as an instrument. On the other hand, trust in the truthfulness of God’s
Word is something that will be most readily accepted by those who are converted
with no need for apologetics at all.
Think of an infant being fed by a bottle or nursing at his
mother’s breast. Do you really need to stand there and convince the infant of
the value of milk? “Now baby, let me reason with you. You really need to drink
this milk. I know you may be unsure about it, but I can demonstrate to you that
it is wholesome and it will help you grow and develop, and I’m sure that once
you understand my presentation on milk you will just love it.” No, such
cajoling is unnecessary. A born-again believer hungers for the Word of God and
craves its truthfulness, just as an infant desires and is satisfied by milk. He
has “set to his seal that God is true.”
Note: This devotion taken from the conclusion to last Sunday's sermon on John 3:22-30.
He must increase, but I
must decrease (John 3:30).
Brethren, the spiritual application for us is simple: John the
Baptist has provided for us here a model for the mindset that should govern
every born-again believer. We should make much of Christ and little of
ourselves.
I wonder how many of our personal problems would be solved if
we applied John’s attitude to ourselves. How many problems would be solved if
we made much of Christ and little of ourselves? In our homes and families? In
our workplaces? In our church? In our communities?
One of the persons who immediately came to mind when I
considered examples of a John the Baptist type spirit was the great Reformer
John Calvin. I’ve said before that one of the things I admire about John Calvin
is that when he died he left orders to be buried in a pauper’s grave with no
marker, for he feared people would make more over him than they would of
Christ.
I thought of that when we were in Krakow last month and our
walking tour guide told us there were 30 statues and memorials to John Paul II
in the city and over 1000 in the country. What a contrast!
In the biography of Calvin which I read while on that trip, the
author noted the conflicts the Geneva Reformer had with a heretic named
Servetus. This man would rail against Calvin and call him all manner of vile
names, to which Calvin responded that all his defamations were like “the
barking of a dog at a pile of manure” (H. J. Selderhuis, John Calvin, 33).
That is a John the Baptist type of spirit. I am nothing.
Christ is everything. He must increase. I must decrease. May we have that same
spirit.
In his commentary on John 3:30, Calvin observes: “and this
zeal of John all Pastors of the church [we might justly add: and all believers within
the church] ought to imitate by stooping with the head and shoulders to elevate
Christ.”
He that believeth on
him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:18).
In this verse John contrasts the regenerate man with the unregenerate
man. The unregenerate man is self-condemned due to his unbelief.
The thought here flows from v. 17 wherein Jesus said that God
the Father did not send the Son to condemn the world but that the world through
him might be saved.
John 3:18 begins with a positive statement: The one who
believes in the Son is not condemned (v. 18a).
This reminds us of the necessity
of faith (cf. v. 16). It also reminds us of the instrumentality of faith. This is what we mean when we talk about
justification by faith. Men are not save because
of their faith but through the means (instrumentality)
of their faith. This distinction is crucial. This is what Paul will speak of
when he points to the example of Abraham in Romans 4:1-5. No man is saved apart
from faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The contrast to this is the person who does not believe in
Christ, the person who is enslaved in the blindness of his unbelief. That
person stands under condemnation, but this condemnation is not something
brought upon the unbeliever by Christ. It is something that the unbeliever has
brought upon himself. He is self-condemned (read v. 18b).
Has he failed to uphold some amorphous and vague conception
of God? Has he failed to be a mere theist? No, he has not believed “in the name
of the only begotten Son of God.” The “name” refers to the fundamental identity
of the triune God.
Think of Jacob wrestling with God’s messenger through the
night and asking God through him: “Tell me, I pray thee, thy name” (Gen 32:29).
Jacob calls the place Peniel, which means “the face of God” “for” he said “I
have seen God face to face and my life has been preserved” (v. 30).
Think of Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3 asking for God
to reveal his name and God saying, “I AM THAT I AM” (v. 14).
The unbeliever does not believe in the name of the only
begotten Son of God. What is his name? He is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
what Paul meant when he wrote, “Wherefore God hath given him a name which is
above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow … and that
every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the
Father” (Philippians 2:9-11).
The unregenerate man does not believe that Jesus is Lord.
Either he does not confess it aloud, or he confesses it but does not truly mean
it. A parrot can be trained to utter
various words and phrases but that does not mean he believes or even
understands what he says.
See also the ending of this chapter: “He that believeth on
the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see
life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (3:36). Is there any clearer rejection of universalism
that this? And notice that the distinguishing factor between having life and
not having life is faith, belief, fundamental trust in Christ alone.
I read Sam Harris’ little book Free Will (Free Press, 2012) just before our Ukraine trip and have
been meaning to post some thoughts on it.
The outspoken atheist Harris argues that free will is an
illusion. He even says, “The illusion of free
will is itself an illusion” (p. 64). Harris essentially upholds biological
determinism. Everything you will do, say, or think is biologically destined.
You only think you have a choice.
So, Harris suggests:
Take a moment to think about the
context in which your next decision will occur: You did not pick your parents or
the time and place of your birth. You didn’t choose your gender or most of your
life experiences. You had no control whatsoever over your genome or the
development of your brain. And now your brain is making choice on the basis of
preferences and beliefs that have been hammered into it over a lifetime—by your
genes, your physical development since the moment you were conceived, and the
interactions you have had with other people, events and ideas. Where is the
freedom in this? Yes, you are free to do what you want even now. But where do
your desires comes from? (p. 41).
The human sense of free will imposes ethics and tricks you
into thinking you have freedom, but this is not, in fact, the case. For Harris
it is all a matter of “luck.” He was lucky, while criminals and psychopaths are simply
profoundly unlucky. Even laziness, like diligence, is “a neurological disorder”
(p. 62). Man is a “biochemical puppet” (p. 47).
Again, Harris is an atheistic determinist. Though he makes an
effort to argue for “moral responsibility” despite the fact that humans are
little more than “neuronal weather patterns”, it does not come off as very
convincing (p. 48).
As a Calvinist I can appreciate a lot about Harris' skepticism toward the conventional views of free will. What’s the difference, however, between Harris’ rejection of free will
and, say, that articulated by RB pastor Walt Chantry in his tract The Myth of Free Will? Chantry says man’s will is bound
by sin, rooting man’s path and his hope in the decree of God. Harris takes man
back to his biology but does not tell us where the biology comes from. Despite
the brave face, for Harris life is nihilism, nothingness, no meaning, no
purpose. I find (choose?) chapter 9
of the 2LBCF to be a more satisfying account of things.
I took this photo Sunday after church of me with my friend Bonnie Beach. It was twenty years ago this summer that I first met Bonnie Beach. We worked together for 13 of those years. She taught my oldest daughter Hannah in preschool and later became my ministry assistant when I served an SBC church in Charlottesville. She now does the bulletin each week at CRBC as part of her member duties. Bonnie has been a blessing to me and my family in many ways (not the least of which is that she takes care of our dog when we're out of town!). She is a kind and generous friend with a servant's heart who has been like a sister to me. We also greatly appreciate her husband John, a graduate, as he tells it, of O.I.C. and the school of hard knocks, who's always been ready to lend me a hand when I've needed his expert counsel for home projects. I am blessed and thankful.
For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
Jesus begins, “For God so loved….”
God. This is the God of the Bible. The God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. The jealous God who will not yield his glory to another. The God who
in the beginning made the heaven and the earth. This is not some amorphous God,
some life force. This is Jehovah.
So. This is the adverb houto.
I think there is a natural tendency to take the English word in the sense of
“so much” or “to such a great degree.” We get the picture of love overflowing
from God’s heart. But the word can also mean, “in such a manner” or “in such a
way.”
Loved. The verb here is agapaomai,
from the noun agape. This is the
distinct word for Christian love. It can describe the love a Christian husband
is to have for his wife (cf. Eph 5:25). It is the word Paul uses in his great
love chapter: 1 Corinthians 13, when he says that love suffers long (is
patient), is kind, does not envy, does not vaunt itself, is not puffed up, does
not behave unseemly, does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, thinks no
evil, does not rejoice in iniquity but rejoices in the truth (vv. 4-6). This is
the word Jesus uses in the new commandment, when he tells the disciples to love
one another and the term John uses when he says, “Beloved, let us love one
another….” (1 John 4:7-8). God is himself love. He is the definition of love,
the standard of love.
The God of the Bible is a God of love. We sometimes criticize
mushy-gushy evangelicals for talking of God’s love and not his wrath, but we
can become just as unbalanced if we speak only of his wrath and neglect his
love.
After breakfast we took a walk through Kostopil, taking in
the local scenes. Many of the houses are neat and colorful. I observed that
Eastern Europeans have distinct aesthetic sensibilities that do not necessarily
match up with Western ones, especially with regard to symmetry and color
schemes. The houses do not have grass yards, but vegetable patches, fruit
trees, and flower gardens. This perpetuates a tradition from the Soviet era (or
beyond) when home food production was a necessity.
Images: Houses in Kostopil.
We took a tour of Hannah’s school (Number 6). Like many
schools, it has undergone a summer cleaning and the rooms were covered with a fresh
coat of paint. The lobby had patriotic pictures of students with arms and dressed
in camo, as well as a memorial to the 2014 uprising.
Images: Inside School No. 6, Kostopil.
We caught a bus to the city center where we had lunch at
Hannah’s favorite pizza place, visited the central Orthodox church, and did
some shopping for her apartment. After supper, we walked back to the city
center, strolled by the river and then got some ice cream. The town center has
a monument to the Ukranian poet Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861). Hannah says this
is the norm in each Ukrainian town. It is busy on a warm Friday night with
young folk and families milling about, sitting on park benches, talking, socializing,
and eating ice cream. We ran into and chatted with a young family from Hannah’s
church. By late evening we were back at her apartment where I did some work on
fall semester class syllabi and Llew and Hannah watched a movie online.
Image: the Shevchenko memorial in central Kostopil.
Saturday, August 12
(Kostopil)
After breakfast we caught a bus to the outskirts of town to
the “quarry” a local swimming hole. It was hot and scores of others had the
same idea. Just about every space on the “beach” was filled. We met a young Christian
couple and their children, who heard us speaking English. She is a Polish
teacher and he works in an evangelical men’s rehab ministry for recovering
alcoholics. Sweet people. They gave us a ride back to town in their van.
Image: At the quarry.
After a shower we walked over to meet and have tea with
the host family with whom Hannah lived when she first moved to town.
Image: With Hannah's host family, Kostopil.
Ukraine is seven hours ahead of east coast time. By the time
we got back to Hannah’s apartment that evening and checked our email and the web
we discovered the riots and violence that had transpired in Charlottesville
that day. Sad.
Sunday, August 13
(Kostopil-Lviv)
We headed into town early and walked through the outdoors
bazaar, where everything seemed to be for sale, from clothes, to food, to
flowers, to used power-tools. In conversation with some locals at church later that
day I learned the bazaar had been going for about 10 years and did not operate
in the communist era.
Images: Passing through the bazaar on our way to church.
From there we went over to the river where Hannah’s church, Word
of Life Baptist Church, was holding its annual baptism service. The service
last from 10:00 am to 1:30 pm. 21 persons were baptized and the Lord’s Supper
was served. I was asked to give a greeting, so I offered a few words from
Hebrews 13:1-2, 24-25. My message was interpreted by the pastor’s wife, nine
months pregnant, and who had begun having contractions that morning. After
service a tasty lunch was served to the assembly which had been catered by a
man from Belarus, and fellowship ensued. We got to meet many of Hannah’s
friends and some of her students from the school and English clubs. I was also
approached by a man (not a church member) who is part of an anti-Russia militia
who wanted to talk politics. He told me he had talked on skype once with
Senator McCain. With the pastor’s translation help, I tried to talk to him
about Christians loving their nations but having their true citizenship in
heaven. He did not seem much interested. An older woman named Alexandra, also
not a believer, approached and asked me to pray for her as she suffers with
breast cancer. I did.
Images: Scenes from Sunday baptismal service.
We got back to Hannah’s apartment about 4:00 pm, packed out bags
and caught a bus to the city of Lviv. This is a beautiful city, formerly
Polish, and largely untouched by damage in WW2. We checked into our hostel and
walked to the city center where we grabbed supper at a patio restaurant that
served breakfast food. It was downright chilly, but they provided blankets for
patrons. The English menu was confusing. I ordered a drip coffee but it came in
a wine glass so I got a cappuccino instead. Llew ordered “hot chocolate” which turned
out to be a cup of hot chocolate sauce. It was delicious!
Images: Sunday evening at the hostel and restaurant in Lviv.
Monday, August 14
(Lviv-Krakow, Poland)
We had breakfast at the Lviv branch of Lviv Croissants and
explored the central square, including the Opera House and the Shevchenko
statue, before catching tram Number 9 to the train station and taking the noon
train to Krakow, Poland. We reached Krakow around 6:00 pm. At the border
crossing you could see a near immediate difference in tidiness and orderliness
on the Polish side.
Image: Shevchenko memorial, Lviv.
Image: Opera House, Lviv.
From the train station, we took a ten-minute walk to our
hostel, dropped off our bags in our room, and took a ten-minute walk up
Copernicus Street to the city center.
The first thing we encountered in the city square was a festive
crowd, a blast of music from a stage, and the sights and smells drifting
from scores of pierogi stands. Yes, it was the annual pierogi festival. We
loaded up with meat, potato, cabbage, as well as chocolate banana, strawberry,
and raspberry-honey pierogis. Tasty! From there we walked through the square,
taking in the sites, people-watching, and sites. By the fountain, we listened to
the famed trumpet tune with the closing broken note from the towers of the
church of St. Mary. We headed back to our hostel about 10:00 pm to go to bed.
Images: Pierogi festival, central Krakow.
Image: Towers of St. Mary's church, Krakow.
Tuesday, August 15
(Krakow, Poland-Lviv)
Before we arrived, we did not know that August 15 was a major
holiday in Poland, the feast of Mary’s Assumption. Though most of the country
was closed, Krakow’s city center was open and lively.
We met an English walking tour group at the Barbican, the old
fortified gateway to the city, for a two and a half hour tour of the old city.
Our guide, a young, out-of-work history teacher did a nice job.
He pointed out that Poland was founded in 966 and Krakow in 1257. The Germans occupied Krakow, which had a significant German population, in WW2 and did some redesigns to the city center. The city was spared destruction in the war and retains many of its medieval streets and buildings.
We walked from the Barbican back through the square. The guide told us the story of the trumpeter of Krakow, having been hit by an enemy arrow as he played a warning note, was a legend created by American author Eric Kelly in his 1929 Newberry award winning children’s book, though the hourly trumpet call was indeed a tradition from the middle ages to report fires, attacks, etc.
The guide took us by the cloth hall and pointed out the knife posted over the entrance to warn thieves of the consequences of stealing.
From there we walked to the Jagiellonian University, founded in 1364, the oldest university in Poland. Noteworthy alumni include Copernicus (1473-1543) and Pope John Paul II (1920-2005). We watched the clock with moving figures in the university courtyard and then walked through the “professors’ garden” with memorials to various teachers, including a number who were sent to concentration camps during the Nazi occupation of the city. From there we walked to the Copernicus statue and then through the park past the “pope’s window” where JP2 greeted crowds who gathered to see him when he visited Krakow in the communist era. The guide told us that there are over a 1,000 monuments to JP2 in Poland and over 30 in Krakow.
From there we walked to the baroque church of Peter and Paul, alongside the church of St. Andrew, the oldest in Krakow. Then, it was up the oldest medieval street in Europe to the castle hill, where we explored the castle complex, palaces, and cathedral, ending the tour at an overlook over the Vistula River.
Image: Gathering for the walking tour at the Barbicon.
Image: The knifc suspended over the entrance to the cloth hall.
Image: In the couryard of Poland's oldest university.
Image: Copernicus statue.
Image: The "Pope" window, Krakow.
Image: Up the medieval street to the castle.
Image: The cathedral in the castle complex.
Image: A memorial to JP2.
Image: Overlooking the Vistula River.
From there we had lunch at a restaurant in the castle area
and walked back through the city. At a bookstore, I picked up a copy of
dissident philosopher Leskek Kolakowski’s selected essays Is God Happy? We got ice cream, toured St. Mary’s church, shopped,
and took in more sites in the city center. We ended the day with supper at a
Lebanese restaurant on the square and then walked to the train station where we
caught a 10:00 pm overnight train back to Lviv, spending the night in a triple
bunk sleeper cabin, awoken at the border to check out passports.
Image: On the train back to Lviv.
Wednesday, August 16
(Lviv-Kiev)
We reached Lviv at c. 7 am, stored our bags in a train
station locker and took bus 31 into the city center (the ride cost 4 UH). We
toured the Latin Cathedral (Polish church) before sitting down for a great
breakfast at one of Hannah’s favorite cafes. From there we went to the city
center to join an English walking tour. We got started with the tour but
dropped out after about an hour to explore on our own. We watched a Ukranian
team filming a musical scene in the town hall square. We watched the Lviv
trumpeter play his tune from the city hall (a tradition begun in 2011, probably
borrowed from Krakow,, but not a bad tourish ploy!) and then payed 20 UH to
climb to the top of the city hall building for spectacular views of the city.
On the way down we ran into one of Hannah’s students from Kostopil and her
mother. We noted a display by the city hall noting the 500th
anniversary of the Reformation. From there we toured an amazing coffee company
where coffee is ground and packaged on site and donned helmets to explore its
cavernous underground where coffee is served and prepared with torch flames.
Then it was on to a chocolate company where we each picked a few pieces of chocolate
(mango was so good!) and climbed to the roof top tables to enjoy our purchases.
Lviv is a great city to visit. I predict it will be a major tourist destination
of Americans/Westerners once things settle down in Ukraine.
Images: Scenes in Lviv.
From there we visited an outdoor marketplace and then an outdoor
bookmarket. We had a late afternoon meal at a Georgian restaurant before
heading back to the train station to retrieve our bags and board an overnight
train to Kiev.
Images: The Lviv outdoorbook market with Putin "momentos"
Thursday, August 17
(Kiev-Vienna-Zurich-Virginia)
We arrived in Kiev at c. 4 am and took a half hour cab ride to
the airport, checked our luggage, said our farewells to Hannah, and entered
security to catch our 7 am plane to Vienna. It was sad to part from Hannah, but
we had had a great time and are proud of what she was been able to do and
accomplish in Ukraine, a country she now loves. We will see her back stateside
soon. From Vienna we headed to Zurich and from there to Washington, Dulles. Our
plane landed an hour early at 2:30 pm at Dulles. Hard to believe we had started
the day arriving on a train in Kiev. The other Riddle children met us at the
airport and we were back home to North Garden by 6:00 pm.
Image: In the Kiev airport: "We meet to part, but part to meet"
