True spirituality means the Lordship of Christ over the total man

Despite our constant talk about the Lordship of Christ, we have narrowed its scope to a very small area of reality.  We have misunderstood the concept of the Lordship of Christ over the whole of man and the whole of the universe and have not taken to us the riches that the Bible gives us for ourselves, for our lives and for our culture.

The Lordship of Christ over the whole of life means that there are no platonic areas in Christianity, no dichotomy or hierarchy between the body and the soul.  God made the body as well as the soul and redemption is for the whole man.  Evangelicals have been legitimately criticized for often being so tremendously interested in seeing souls get saved and go to heaven that they have not cared much about the whole man.

The Bible, however, makes four things very clear: (1) God made the whole man, (2) in Christ the whole man is redeemed, (3) Christ is the Lord of the whole man now and the Lord of the whole Christian life and (4) in the future as Christ comes back, the body will be raised from the dead and the whole man will have a whole redemption.…

The conception of the wholeness of man and the lordship of man over creation comes early in Scripture.  In Genesis 1:26-27, we read, "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.  And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."  From the very beginning, therefore, man and woman, being created in the image of God (both of them!), were given dominion (lordship) over the whole of the created earth.  They were the ones who bore the image of God and, bearing that image, they were to be in charge, to tend the garden, to keep it and preserve it before their own Lord.  Of course, that dominion was spoiled by the historic, space-time Fall, and therefore it is no longer possible to maintain that dominion in a perfect fashion.

Yet, when a man comes under the blood of Christ, his whole capacity as man is refashioned.  His soul is saved, yes, but so are his mind and body.  As Christians we are to look to Christ day by day, for Christ will produce his fruit through us.  True spirituality means the Lordship of Christ over the total man.   — Francis Schaeffer, Art & the Bible

Presuppositional commitments

Why do so many of our Christian young people lose their faith when confronted with the secularism of the university?  Greg Bahnsen offers an answer in the midst of an exhortation:

"One must be presuppositionally committed to Christ in the world of thought (rather than neutral) and firmly tied down to the faith which he has been taught, or else the persuasive argumentation of secular thought will delude him.  Hence the Christian is obligated to presuppose the word of Christ in every area of knowledge; the alternative is delusion." (Always Ready, emphasis added)

Creative reading

"I never remain passive in the process of reading: while I read I am engaged in a constant creative activity, which leads me to remember not so much the actual matter of the book as the thoughts evoked in my mind by it, directly or indirectly."       — Nicolas Berdyaev

The revolution continues

For the latest effort by the Obama administration to promote the homosexual lifestyle (it is still a chosen lifestyle!!) check out the article from Onenewsnow.

Bahnsen article on the Areopagus address (Acts 17)

Our reading from Bahnsen last week included his comments on Paul's address to the Athenian intellectuals in Acts 17.  I mentioned that his longer treatment of that passage was included as a chapter in his book Always Ready.  It is also available online from Covenant Media Foundation.  Here is the link in case you don't have the book, or would like to have the article in an electronic format (e.g., it's easier to extract quotations you may want to save).  Enjoy.  Read it twice.

Embryonic stem-cell research

     My good friend and colleague in the ministry, Pastor Paul Viggiano, continues to raise a strong public witness for Christ-centered, Bible-shaped social policy in his editorial on embryonic stem cell research in this week's online Daily Breeze.  Read his telling commentary here.  Thanks, Paul, for your faithful witness, and compelling argument.  Let us pray that God will open the ears and hearts of those who make these terrible choices…from the President on down.

Expect more poison from pastors

   Peter Jones' latest e-newsletter "InsideOut" is a report from the recently concluded National Pastors' Conference (held in San Diego, February 9-14, sponsored by Zondervan and InterVarsity Press).  

   He notes the conspicuous absence from the festivities of an inerrant, trustworthy Bible as "the only infallible rule of faith and practice" (let alone actual biblical exposition!), Christ the Lord (as opposed to the human "Jesus" who is definitely "in"), and the resurrection of the body (as part of a distinctly Romans 8 eschatology).

   Instead Jones saw "various new forms of old-fashioned though very cool liberalism."

   Take a look at the newsletter, and if you don't already subscribe, go to Peter's home page and get on the list.

The Apologist's Evening Prayer

From all my lame defeats and oh! much more 

From all the victories that I seemed to score; 

From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf 

At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; 

From all my proofs of Thy divinity, 

Thou, who wouldst give no sign, deliver me. 

Thoughts are but coins. Let me not trust, instead 

Of Thee, their thin-worn image of Thy head. 

From all my thoughts, even from my thoughts of Thee, 

O thou fair Silence, fall, and set me free. 

Lord of the narrow gate and the needle's eye, 

Take from me all my trumpery lest I die. 

— C. S. Lewis