"What a Good Boy am I!"

Several weeks ago I ran across an interview on Fresh Air featuring Dr. John Hagee. You can hear the interview here. If you are not familiar with Dr. Hagee, he is a dispensationalist on steroids. However, I came away from the interview more concerned about Dr. Hagee's soteriology than his eschatology.

When asked about who is going to Heaven Dr. Hagee replies, "There is no market on who's going to heaven. Only God himself knows who those people are who are walking and living as they should." [emphasis added] The interviewer later asked Dr. Hagee, "What are you doing to prepare [for the rapture]?" Dr. Hagee responds, "I am doing what I do everyday. I live right, read the bible, pray, try to treat other people like I would like to be treated and I am going to leave the rest to the grace of God." [emphasis added]

Now if you asked Dr. Hagee do you believe in a works based salvation, I would guess that he would resound with an emphatic "no." However, his theology clearly does not match up with sola fide. My question is who among us is "walking and living as they should?" Moreover, who is "living right?" If you lower the requirements of holiness to being a moral person you may have a few. However, the demands of the law are far greater- you must be perfect. Have I loved God with all my heart? Have I loved my neighbor as myself? If you have never done so, I would invite you to review the Westminster Larger Catechism questions 103-149. I think you will come away with the same conclusion as I did: most mornings I break all of the ten (10) commandments before I walk out the door for work. Where is our hope then?!

A dying J. Gresham Machen in a telegram sent to John Murray said, "I'm so thankful for active obedience of Christ. No hope without it." Meredith Kline comments on Machen's death bed declaration:

"The active obedience of Jesus is his fulfilling the demands of the covenant probation. By the passive obedience of his atoning sacrifice he secures for us the forgiveness of sins. But he does more than clear the slate and reinstate us in Adam's original condition, still facing probation and able to fail. Jesus, the second Adam, accomplishes the probationary assignment of overcoming the devil, and by performing this one decisive act of righteousness he earns for us God's promised reward. By this achievement of active obedience he merits for us a position beyond probation, secure forever in God's love and the prospect of God's eternal home." Meredith G. Kline, Covenant Theology Under Attack.

Dr. Hagee, I am leaving it all up to the active obdience of Christ. No hope without it.

The Cart Before the Horse

As Michael Horton has pointed out in a number of his works, a recurring theme in scripture is that the indicative precedes the imperative. That is, the promises of God precede his commands. Geerhardus Vos's exegesis of the patriarchs is illustrative of this point.

"God does not begin with working upon the inward psychical states of the patriarchs, as though they were subjects of reform -- an unbiblical attitude which is, unfortunately, characteristic of too much of modern religion. He begins with giving them promises. The keynote is not what Abraham has to do for God, but what God will do for Abraham. Then, in response to this, the subjective frame of mind that changes the inner and outer life is cultivated." [emphasis added] Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, The Banner of Truth Trust, p. 80.

Vos on Faith

"Faith and a desire for more faith frequently go hand in hand. The reason is that through faith we lay hold upon God, and in grasping the infinite object, the utter inadequacy of each single act of appropriation immediately reveals itself in the very act. It is the same in the Gospel: 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief' [Mark 9:24]." Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology p. 83

May we ever thirst for more faith until that day we see with our eyes and need faith no more.

A Culture of Life

"Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man's brother I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man." Genesis 9:5-6.

I was reviewing O. Palmer Robertson's work, The Christ of the Covenants, the other day in preparation for Sunday school and ran across his commentary of these verses. Robertson makes a good case that not only is capital punishment allowed, it is commanded in certain circumstances.

"All created life is sacred. Yet the highest value must be attached to the life of man. . .Because God's own image is stamped in man, the murderer must die. . . humanity must be preserved from the muderous forces of man and beast, which so obviously are present in a depraved world. The taking of life of the manslayer enforces the sanctity of human life, and preserves the race for future multiplication [see Gen. 9:1]. . .In effect, God institutes the temporal power of the state as his instrument in the insistent necessity of controlling evil." O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1980, p. 114-15.

Of course, the administration of such punishment should never be taken lightly nor overextended. It requires a civil government that is just and laws that properly safeguard the innocent.

Girls and Snakes

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

It sounds silly now, but growing up I thought the purpose of this verse was primarily to explain why girls did not like snakes. As an adult, I think I just dismissed the verse like so many others that I could not explain. However, after reading Geerhardus Vos' Biblical Theology, I found the Gospel there.

"The emphasis rests on the pronoun: God says 'I will put enmity'. Here is not primarily an appeal to man but a divine promise. Nor does God merely instigate or promote enmity; He sovereignly puts it. . .The essence of the deliverance consists in a reversal of the attitude assumed by man towards the serpent and God respectively. Man in sinning had sides with the serpent and placed himself in opposition to God. Now the attitude towards the serpent becomes one of hostility; this must carry with it a corresponding change in man's attitude toward God. God being the mover in the warfare against Satan, man, joining in this, becomes plainly the ally of God." Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology, Banner of Truth Trust, 2004, p. 42.

I look forward to that day when our redemption is complete and we love sin no more.