The Plowman

Well, what do you say. “It’s over.”, I guess. The only reason we came back this evening was to see if “anything” would develope out of the IMB report. There were a few ripples. At the point of “questions” two men stepped up to the mic and both each directed their question, not at Dr. Rankin, but the new chairman of trustees, John Floyd. Each messenger in his turn ask Dr. Floyd what he was going to do concerning “certain trustees” not being allowed to attend all meetings of the IMB, and of the excessive use of executive (closed) sessions. Dr. Floyd responded both times to the effec “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” My pastor said afterward concerning the response, “What condescension. What an insult.” The point was made, and publically, so the monkey is on the IMB’s back, and they are going to have that monkey for the next 12 months.

There was also the unveiling of a large bronze statue of the Rev. Billy Graham standing in front of a cross, holding up a Bible in one hand with the other arm raised, in his typical style of offering the gospel. There was also a brief appearance and address by Cliff Barrows. It was all nice, a nice gesture, but. . .

Impressions
Keep in mind, this was my first SBC ever. I was raised a Southern Baptist. I am a Southern Baptist now. The first twenty-five years of my adult life I raised a family of five in an independent, rural, reformed Baptist church. Three pastors and twenty-five years later, I woke up one day and found myself in a reformed Episcopal church, to which my wife and I said “Hey, what are we doing here? We’re Baptists.” So here are a few random impressions of my first convention.
1. The music was better than I thought it would be. My pastor’s wife asked what kind of music do I like, to which I replied, “I don’t know. I haven’t heard it yet.” More on this some day. Maybe.
2. Everybody clapped for everything. After praying, after preaching, after singing, after business. If we were doing God’s business, why were we constantly applauding man for everything.
3. Too many frivolous resolutions and motions, especially the ones that passed.
4. Too much preaching. Now this comes from someone who listens each work day on an iPod to 25 min. of Piper, 26 min. of Sproul, 38 min. of Mohler. I also listen to my pastor’s three messages twice, because I record and publish them, and want to make sure the audio quality is fit for the internet. Then there’s the odd conference messages I pick up, and the audio of of other pastor’s sermons. I guess I should have said “Too much shallow, man-centered, mediocre preaching. Some day I will tell you what I really think.
5. Words too often used: inerrency (without the accompanying “sufficiency”), ten percent, and baptism (without the accompanying “regeneration”). More on these later, maybe.
6. Words not used often enough: soli Deo gloria

I’m sorry. It’s late. I really did enjoy the convention. I will have to post a counterbalance soon. There was much good, much encouragement, if you looked for it, but I just can’t get the phrase “Ringling Brothers” out of my head.

Go to the blogs I linked to in the previous post. They’ve all updated this evening, all good stuff. Go to Wade’s blog also. I’m going to paste his photo in the margin of my dictionary next to the words gracious, patient, and longsuffering. It’s late. I’ve got to get to bed. We shove off at dawn.

Well, despite heavy rains, there was a considerable crowd at the second day of the convention. It was an interesting morning, with a speech by Secretary of State Condelesa Rice, a report from Dr. Mohler on Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, and debate and votes on a number of resolutions. Pastor Rod and I are on the bus now, headed for lunch with our wives.

Dr. Mohler’s address will probably proove be the high point of today. He spoke to the health of the seminaries in the SBC, and the role of truth as a reflection of God, and subsequently, the character of God. Dr. Mohler stated that SBTS existed for three things:
1. for the truth
2. for the church
3. for the world
Again, what I love to hear from a minister of the gospel, Dr. Mohler spoke on these subjects in light of “how to deliver the maximum glory to God alone.

Dr. Tom Ascol spoke from the floor, requesting that his resolution, which did not make it out of committee, be voted on to be considered anyway. This required a two-thirds majority, which it did not get. Dr. Ascol’s resolution was one basically calling for honesty in reporting church membership numbers, which by implication is a call for churches to take the responsibility of church discipline seriously. A representative from the committee on resolutions responded by saying that the reason why the resolution didn’t make it out of committee was because we don’t want to get rid of those records of people who no longer attend, because we need them for contact and prayer purposes. It seems like a lame excuse to me. No body said anything about throwing three-by-five cards in the trash bin. Good grief, you can remove someone who never attends from a church roll, and still keep the “card” for information purposes. I grew up with this: “Oh, you can’t take someone off the rolls, that might send them to Hell.”, or something like that.

A resolution which did make it out of committee, and indeed was passed by the convention, was one regarding the SBC making a strong statement discouraging the use of alcohol. Brave arguments were brought against this resolution by Ben Cole, Jeff Young, Marty Duren, and Dr. Ascol, but to no avail. We can pass a resolution to discourage something that Scriptures does not, but we cannot pass a resolution which promotes something that Scripture speaks plainly on. I haven’t met any of these young men (Well, Dr. Ascol is older than myself.), but if this is a picture of the future of the SBC, I think we are going in the right direction. Judging from their deportment, articulation, and emphasis on the glory of God, the best years of the SBC are ahead.
Go check these guys blogs out. Their reports are all interesting, much more detailed than mine.

Art Rogers
Tom Ascol
David Phillips
Marty Duren

I was going to post something on the road Sunday and Monday, but there really wasn’t anything worth writing about. It was two days of driving with lots of pretty scenery. Though I have been to every state west of the Mississippi, I haven’t been west of Arkansas in the south, so Tennessee and North Carolina were special treats. The landscape is hard to write about, so you will have to wait till I get some pics posted. . . some day.

This morning at 6:30 Pastor Rod, Suzan and I went to the Founders breakfast, where Mark Dever was to preach on Romans 9 and 10, Why aren’t my loved ones saved? . After Dever, the preaching was pretty much downhill the rest of the day.

Pastor Dever gave three reasons from the text why those that Paul longed to see saved weren’t:
1. Because God hadn’t saved them.
2. Because they don’t believe.
3. Because No one was telling them the good news.

Under this last point Pastor Dever went on to answer the question “How should we tell the Gospes?”
A. That it is an urgent decision.
B. That it is a costly decision.
C. That it is infinitely worth the cost.

In conclusion several points were made, including, but not limited to, the following:
1. Pastor Dever gave examples from Scripture as well as church history, of those who were patient and persistent with their loved ones: God with Paul, and Monica with her son Augustine, for example.
2. “The Gospel is full of whoevers”
3. It is not up to us to limit the gospel.
4. We Calvinists often use our theology to excuse our laziness.

The Convention
1. The preaching peppered throughout the business was energetic, loud, illustrated, emotional, innovative, but not half as good as Pastor Rod on his worst day. One bright spot was a report from a young man, I missed his name, during the NAMB report. He had a church plant in NYC, and he said several times that his goal was to “display the greatness of God to the world.”, and not xx number of baptisms or decisions.
2. Frank Page from South Carolina was elected president, with 50.48 percent in a three way race, just barely avoiding the necessity for a runoff. Mark Dever got the most votes for 1st Vice President on the first vote with 29.72 percent, but lost to Jimmy Jackson in the runoff, 51.44 to 47.86 percent. We voted on 2nd vice president, but no results before we adjourned last night. I will try to post on this tomorrow, as there was a considerable amount of humor involved?
3. I was hoping to see some people I was familiar with. I saw the obvious: Tom Ascol, Mark Dever, Tom Nettles, Wade Burleson. I did not get to meet them, but it was nice to see a real face with familiar names. I did unexpectedly see Steve Parks (For you Tangleites/Trinitites). He brought a motion to the convention. Pastor (Bishop) Jeff Young brought a comment to a motion made. Ben Cole also raised a question on one of the reports. I’ve never met Cole, and have only traded a few emails with Young. Now Steve Parks: well I could tell stories for weeks about Brother Steve.
I’ve got to get some snooze. Bus leaves at 7:30 in the morning.

I will not be posting a Baptist, What Do You Believe? installment this week. It won’t be needed until next Sunday. Another brother will be leading a review lesson this Sunday morning in my Sunday-school class.
By the title of this post I’ve already let the cat out of the bag. Yes, were going. My wife and I, along with our pastor and his family, are making the 16-hour trek from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Greensboro, North Carolina. This will be my wife’s and my first convention, so Pastor Harris is going to hold our hands. For the congregation back home and others interested, I plan to post some From-the-Laymans-View articles while at the convention, maybe with a few photos sprinkled in. They might not be worth a flip, but I will let you decide that.
From all that has been going on lately, this year’s convention could prove to be one not to miss. In going, we certainly want to help, to represent our home church, to give it a voice at the convention. The five of us from Trinity certainly have our opinions concerning the issues that are pressing this year, but I think that all of us want to hear the discussion and debate, if any, to try to get the whole story and everybody’s point of view.

I have been saving this picture since shooting it back in March, thinking I would write a post titled something like “Can It be Salvaged?” I am glad that never took place. I am inserting it now to illustrate the need for regular, faithful maintenance, so our great convention, and especially the IMB doesn’t wind up like this old barn near Muskogee, Oklahoma. These past few months I have been so encouraged by the upbeat, optimistic words of Pastor Wade Burleson in his blog. He never misses a chance, as he did in this Friday’s post to praise the efficiency and effectiveness of the IMB, and his fellow trustees, and the faithful missionaries that are sent out by them (and thereby all us all). My prayer for this coming week is that we all pack our hammers and nail aprons, and leave our wrecking bars at home.
A word about the home front. Anybody thinking about burglarizing should be advised that the Marine will be at our house, and Barny (Fife) the attack Beagle will be guarding Pastor’s home.

Are you trying to resist that popular wave of modern worship music, but can’t seem to find anything good to listen to? Well, Old Fashioned Christian Radio is the place you have been looking for. This site is different from all the other sites I have mentioned and placed in my sidebar, in that this is not a resource for mp3 files, music lyrics, or scores. This site provides streaming audio. In other words, it is an internet radio station. As far as web sites go, this one is “U-G-L-Y, you ain’t got no alibi.”, but it does a good job at what it does, which is stream classical-style traditional Christian music over the internet. The site has settings for dial-up, as well as broadband users, and you can purchase the cds of the music aired right there on the site. Go check it out.

Article III, Man

Review Questions:
1. What is regeneration?
2. What is illumination?
3. Why is the Holy Spirit called the Holy Spirit?

Introduction
This week in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 we turn our attention to Article 3: Man. What makes us different from the animals? Is there any difference, or are we just grown up germs? Is it simply that we have won the cosmic lottery, and wound up at the top of the heap? Or could it be, as Article 3 begins, that we are the special creation of God? At first glance, if we are His crowning work then something is very wrong with this picture. As we work our way through the doctrine of man, as laid out in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, we begin to see the picture rightly, as God would have us see it.

The Creation of Man
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice.
What is so special about man? Where in Scripture are we told that man as the crowning work of His creation?

• We are made in God’s own image and likeness: Genesis 1:26
• God gave us dominion over all else that He had created on earth: Genesis 1:26; Psalm 8:6
• God blessed man: Genesis 1;28
• Only after the creation of Man did God say that His creation was very good: Genesis 1:31
• Man is the only creature that God breathed the breath of life into: Genesis 2:7
• We are made just lower than the angelic beings, and with glory and honor: Psalm 8:5
• God sent his only begotten Son to die on a cross and redeem His people: Romans 5:8

The underlined portion above is the only part of Article 3 that constituted a significant change from this article in the 1963 Baptist Faith and Message. Obviously, the societal mores in the 21st century are not what they were in the middle of last century. Even though homosexuality was a known sin in 1963, it was not an accepted practice in general society. Today, on the other hand, homosexuality has passed into, not only accepted practice, but is all but considered as perfectly normal in America. The added wording is intended to show that the creation story specifically includes gender, and in fact shows God to be kind and generous in providing complimentary companionship as a part of His crowning work of creation. It is only after the fall that prohibition against the perversion of homosexuality has to be spelled out (Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:27, 1 Corinthians 6:9).

Man’s Rebellion and Fall (Genesis 3:1-24)
By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation.

Not long after being placed in the garden, Adam and Eve disobeyed the one and only command of God by, first desiring the benefits of the forbidden fruit (being like God: Genesis 3:5), and then taking and eating it (Genesis 3:6), thus bringing sin into the world. We are also told in this section that the temptation was prompted by Satan. All of humanity was represented in Adam, and consequently, all humanity inherited a sin nature. On a personal note, I believe that the phrase his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin is too weak. The next sentence leaves no doubt that all are indeed sinners by virtue of being the posterity of Adam, but the word inclined weakens the idea a bit. An inclination can be changed. while a nature cannot.

David said in Psalm 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This verse points out the inherency of our sin nature, and as the next sentence of Article 3 states, as soon as we are capable of sin, we do so. As Christian parents, this should not make us wonder what the age of accountability is, but rather should cause us to raise our children as Timothy was raised, knowing from childhood the sacred Scriptures, which were able to save him (2 Timothy 3:15). What better blessing any parents could give their child, than for them to never know a time when they didn’t have saving faith in Christ Jesus.

God’s Gracious Act of Redemption in Christ Jesus
Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God.

Here we have a nutshell version of the gospel. Because man is a sinner by nature, that is all he is capable of. It takes a gracious God to bring man back (Ephesians 2:8,9). Man cannot and will not come to God (Romans 8:7), so God must do so by the power of the Holy Spirit, through His son Jesus Christ. Only then can we fulfill the creative purpose of God (Ephesians 2:10).

The Dignity of Every Human Being
The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Here we are where we started with the doctrine of man. Man being made in God’s image makes him special, having full dignity, and sacredness. The article gives two proofs for the dignity of all mankind: being made in the image of God, and Christ dying for His people. Man bearing the image of God is the reason God condemns murder (Genesis 9:6). In Acts 17:26 Paul points out that all of the races have their origin in Adam and Eve, and later in verse 30 he tells his hearers that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. Jesus, when He gives the great commission in Matthew 28:19 tells His disciples to make disciples of all nations. John, in Revelation 5:9 records that God has saved people from every tribe and language and people and nation. All peoples everywhere, therefore deserve our greatest effort to reach them with the gospel of grace.

Previous Lessons:
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #1 (An Introduction)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #2 (On the Doctrine of Scripture)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #3 (On the Doctrine of God)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #4 (On God the Father)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #5 (On God the Son
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #6 (On God the Holy Spirit)

Technorati Tags: The Baptist Faith and Message 2000

Article II, Section C: God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.

Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28- 32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

Introduction
We Baptists know very little about the Holy Spirit, and yet it is not because of the lack of Scriputral material. The Scriptural references listed with this section on the doctrine of the Holy Spirit alone are witness to this fact. A quick word search of Holy Spirit turned up ninety-three passages, ninety of them from the New Testament. Add to that references to the Holy Sprit, like Spirit (Gen. 1:3; 6:12; Judges 14:19) and helper (John 14-16), and the references to the third person of the Trinity more than triples.

So, why do we Baptists know so little about the Holy Spirit?
I believe there are at least three possible reasons:

• With so much ostentatious hoopla that surrounds so much of what we call the Charismatic movement, I believe that Baptists want to stay as far away as possible from the so-called Spirit-filled stuff. Pastor Harris put it so well in a recent Wednesday-evening message on this subject when he said “Afraid of going out on a limb we refuse to get in the tree!”
• Another reason has to do with the nature of the Holy Spirit’s work. What He does is not all that visible. When we talk of God the Father, we talk about His acts of creation. We can look all around us and see physically all that He has done. Throughout the pages of the Old testament we see the wrestling match between God and His chosen people, Israel (Gen. 32:28). We see His hand in the raising up and tearing down of empires. God the Son takes on flesh and blood and dwells among us. Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine teaching, preaching, and praying. He heals, drives out, and overturns. Most of all, we see the passion of our Savior, and we see Him raised again the third day. The work of the Holy Spirit is so different from that of the Father and the Son. He works in the Spiritual realm, largely unseen. He is much like the wind (John 3:8) You can’t see the wind, but you can see its effects, if you pay attention. Look at the paragraph before us in the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, and note the work He does: inspires, illumines, exalts, convicts, calls, regenerates, cultivates, comforts, bestows, seals, enlightens, and empowers. These are all things that cannot be directly seen, although, like the wind, you can see the effects of the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those whom He indwells.
• And finally, one big reason little is known about the Holy Spirit is because of the nature of His role. His job is not to proclaim or put forth Himself, but to show forth Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 15:26: “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” Paul echoes the same idea in 1 Corinthians 12:3, when he says that “no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” John also states that the Spirit of God will “confess that jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” The third person of the Trinity takes a subordinate role in redemption. His job in this gospel age is to promote Jesus Christ.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
Section C gives us just one brief sentence concerning who the Holy Spirit is: The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. We can fall back on the main paragraph that deals with the doctrine of God as a whole and get a few more details. The last sentence there says that He is one with the Father and the Son, and with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

If God is spirit (John 4:24), don’t we mean the same person when speaking about the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2)? That might be a possibility to consider except if it were not for the numerous times when the Father and Holy Spirit are mentioned together as distinct persons. In Genesis 1 verse one speaks of God in the beginning, and in verse two it is the Spirit of God that is hovering over the face of the waters. At Jesus’ baptism God speaks from heaven, while at the same time the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the form of a dove. At the great commission, Jesus commands His disciples to baptize disciples in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Even though God is a spirit, and does not have a body like men, the Scriptures makes a distinction between the Father and the Holy Spirit. Here again is one of those mysteries that should make us marvel and worship rather than doubt.

The Holy Spirit, just like the Father and the Son, is personal. He can be grieved (Ephesians 4:30), He can be blasphemed (Mark 3:29), and He can be lied to (Acts 5:3). If you drop down two verses to Acts 5:5, you notice that Peter, after first asking why Ananias had lied to the Holy Spirit, goes on to state that he has not lied to man, but to God. Here we have a firm affirmation to the deity of the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of God, fully divine.

Why is the Holy Spirit called the Holy Spirit?
Why don’t we call the Father and the Son holy? Why is there this adjectival addition to the third person of the Trinity? Is it because the Holy Spirit is more holy than the Father and the Son? By no means. This would violate the orthodox formula of the Trinity: one in essence, three in person. The three persons exist in one essential Godhead, all sharing the same attributes, no one person being more or less of anything than the other two.

The main reason the Spirit of God is called the Holy Spirit, is because of the work He performs. Look again at the list of verbs above drawn from Section C: inspires, illumines, exalts, convicts, calls, regenerates, cultivates, comforts, bestows, seals, enlightens, and empowers. The Holy Spirit’s primary work, at least in this gospel age, is to draw out lost sinners out of the world through regeneration. Once justified, the Holy Spirit moves on to work in us sanctification through things like illumination, bestowal, enlightenment, and empowerment. Both of these acts are separating us out of the world, making us fit for special use, making us servants of the King.

What Does the Holy Spirit Do?
Well, we have answered much of what the Holy Spirit does in the previous paragraph dealing with the whole concept of holiness. Before we conclude this brief look at the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, lets look at the Holy Spirit’s part in the saving of lost souls.

• Conviction of sin: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:7-11). The gospel has no appeal to the lost sinner until he is aware of the desperate plight that he is in. Thanks be to God that He has sent His Spirit into the world to attend to His preached word, and convict men of sin and righteousness and judgment.
• Regeneration: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8) Born again? That is what regeneration is all about: being re- generated, born again, made all over again. (In the Greek and the Hebrew language there is just one word for the English words breath, wind, and spirit. The English rendering is determined by the context.) Again, all praise and glory be to God for this essential initial gift from the Holy Spirit to us poor retched sinners who were spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1, Colossians 2:13, Romans 8:7,8)

Conclusion:
After the Holy Spirit convicts, calls, and regenerates us, He comes to dwell in us and provides all of the other things listed above, fitting us for service in the King’s army. If you try to work your mind through all of this you won’t really have time to ponder things like baptism in the Holy Spirit, or second blessings. There is already enough here to stand in amazed silence for the rest of our days. May we do so.

Previous Lessons:
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #1 (An Introduction)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #2 (On the Doctrine of Scripture)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #3 (On the Doctrine of God)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #4 (On God the Father)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #5 (On God the Holy Spirit)

God the Son

This week we move on to the second section in Article II, concerning God the Son. If ever there is a need for doctrine in the Christian faith, it is at this very point. The faith we call Christianity finds its name from the very one who is its hub, its keystone, its very heart; from Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior. It is a popular saying among many Christian circles, that doctrine divides. That is the main reason so many denominations, especially the newer ones, are very light on doctrine; they hate confrontation and division. They have adopted that famous line from Rodney King: “Can’t we all just get along?” Yes, doctrine does divide. That is what it is intended to do. It divides true Christianity from false Christianity, or those belief systems that call themselves Christian. Many groups believe in Jesus, but just as we spoke a couple of weeks ago about the need to define which God, we also need to define which Jesus. The Jehovah’s Witness and Mormons believe in Jesus, but they do not believe that He is God. Islam revers Jesus as one of the great prophets, but not as the only begotten Son of God.

Controversies over who Jesus is have raged ever since He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Jesus asked His disciples “Who do people say that I am?” (Mark 8:27) Battling heresy on a number of fronts, the Church nailed down a doctrine of the deity of Christ at the council of Nicea in 325, and the doctrine concerning the dual nature of Jesus at the council of Chalcedon in 451. The so-called Higher criticism in the 19th century, and the Jesus Seminar in the 20th century attempted to take away from, to diminish our Lord and Savior by discrediting the inerrancy of Scripture. Even in our day, Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code has sent shock waves throughout our culture, attempting to cast doubt on the reliable nature of the New Testament concerning the person and work of Jesus.

I do not intend to go line by line through Section B, as I have in the other lessons, because the paragraph is pretty straightforward, reading very much like the historic confessions would read on God the Son. The Scripture cited with this section more than adequately cover the material found therein. The paragraph covers both the person and the work of Jesus Christ. In theological terms this is a division between Christology and Soteriology, or basically a division between who Jesus was, and what Jesus did. In a nutshell, this is the gospel.

Article II, Section B. God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6- 21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7- 9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.

Christology: Who is Jesus?
Jesus is in a class by Himself. Look what the Section B says about who Jesus is:

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. . . .taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind . . . . fully God, fully man, . . .

In these statements we see that Jesus was:

• Eternal God (John 5:18; 8:58) and the Son of God (John 10:36), and yet, at the same time. . .
• Real flesh and blood, not just in appearance, but in His very nature (1 Timothy 3:16; Hebrews 2:14), and also. . .
• Jesus was not one part God and one part man, but fully God (Colossians 1:19), fully man (John 1:14; Philippians 2:7,8).

Jesus must be these things in order to be able to do what it is He came to do.

Soteriology: What did Jesus do?
This is so much more relevant a question than the trite quip “What would Jesus Do?”. It is far more important to know, understand, and embrace with one’s whole being what Jesus did do. Let’s look at the remainder of Section B:

Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, . . . yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, . . . in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

There are three things that Jesus did while on earth that are essential to salvation:

• Jesus lived a sinless life (Hebrews 4:15). Jesus obeyed completely and perfectly God’s holy law. He did for us what we could never do for ourselves: satisfy the demands of God’s holy law.
• Jesus died the death of a criminal. He died in such way that signified that He was cursed of God (Galatians 3:13). He bore the wrath of God on the cross in our place.
• Three days later Jesus Christ rose from the dead (Acts 2:24). This signified God’s satisfaction, that the price paid was sufficient to meet God’s righteous justice.

It is all summed up in 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. What a great transaction: our sins laid on Him on the cross; His righteousness (from those thirty-some-odd years of perfect obedience) laid on us who believe.

This section on God the Son goes on to finish the story of Christ’s work after His life, death/burial, and resurrection:

• Jesus ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9).
• Jesus is our One Mediator (1 Timothy 2:5), effecting reconciliation between us and God (Ephesians 2:16).
• Jesus will come again some day to judge the world and consummate His redemptive work (2 Timothy 4:1).
• Jesus dwells in every believer (2 Corinthians 5:17).

There are so many other particulars that Jesus did that relate to this central message of the gospel: He crushed the head of the serpent, conquered death and hell, established His church, broken our bondage to slavery, vanquished our fear of death, and on the list goes; but all of these are subsumed under the topic of what Christ did in His person and work. The material found in this one paragraph on the doctrine of God the Son is enough to keep us occupied, and wondering, and praising God for the rest of our lives. Let us begin to do so.

Previous Lessons:
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #1 (An Introduction)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #2 (On the Doctrine of Scripture)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #3 (On the Doctrine of God)
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #4 (On God the Father)

Article II, Section A: God the Father

Words for Review from Last Week:
incomprehensible, deism, dualism, pantheism, polytheism, immutable, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, righteous

Introduction
In Matthew 6, Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, and as He does, he instructs them to refer to God as Our Father. In the gospels Jesus refers to God as Father more often than He does any other name or title for God. This paragraph dealing with the first person of the Trinity touches only on the issue of God as Father. To be sure there are many more facets and categories dealing with God, but this brief description is only concerned with God’s governance or economy in time and space over what He has made. Other attributes of God will surface elsewhere in latter articles of this confession, where they will fit better.

Article II, Section A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

God as Father reigns . . .
God reigns and rules, but His reign is a fatherly reign. God’s reign over His creation, especially over the sons of Adam, is not the cold, calculated reign of a monarch, but the reign of a father over a household. God is sovereign, no doubt, but His sovereignty is in context of His goodness. If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him! Luke 11:13

. . . with providential care over His universe, His creatures,
Providence is a word you don’t hear very much any more. In previous centuries in America Providence was commonly used as a name for God. From providence we get the word provide, which is made up of a root and a prefix. The prefix pro gives the meaning of forward or ahead. You see the idea in words like propeller, which pushes a boat forward. When you promote something, you are pushing something forward, setting it out in front, so that it can be seen better. The root of provide comes from the Latin word videre: to see. We see that root word in words like video, visible, and vision. When you put the root and the prefix together, you get to the heart of the meaning of provide. To provide for your family is to see future needs, and then plan accordingly. God’s providential care is exactly like that. His seeing of future needs aren’t just good guessing, wisdom, or insight. The eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing God of the universe sees and knows all things, past, present, and future. Those categories of time and space have no meaning in eternity. The Bible says that He sees the end from the beginning. Isaiah 46:10

One of the most touching stories found in the pages of the Old Testament is found in Genesis chapter 22, where God commands Abraham to take his son Isaac and sacrifice him up on mountain top in the land of Moriah. The key passage is found in verses 7 and 8 with an exchange between Abraham and his son: And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. And of course, you know the rest of the story. God did provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

. . . and the flow of the stream of human history . . .
Again, Isaiah 46:10 is a fitting verse: declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ God is in control of all matters in the universe, from the greatest to the smallest. His providence extends even to the flow of the stream of human history.

. . . according to the purposes of His grace.
First of all, God is a gracious God. He hasn’t left us in our sins, He graciously has made a way to be reconciled to Him. Secondly, all of the flow of the stream of human history is according to His purpose, which is gracious. We cannot see the big picture, because we are not God, so, much of what we see seems to us not to be good. Why is there evil in the world? Why are there natural disasters that kill and injure “indiscriminately”? We have so many of these kind of questions. The short answer to the situation in general is all about sin. As transgressors of a just and holy God, we don’t deserve even a fraction of the good we do receive. God could have consigned us all to Hell immediately as he did the angels who rebelled against Him (2 Peter 2:4). Paul’s praise of God’s grace in Ephesians 1 is a good place to begin to see the gracious purposes of our God and Father.

He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise.
Here is an echo from the opening paragraph of the article, namely a quartet of absolutes. God is not just the most powerful, most knowing, most living, most wise. When God finishes showing Job who He is in chapters 38 through 41, Job responds by saying “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2) To get a small peek at what it means to be all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise, you should read these four chapters in Job.

God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
When God saves us He adopts us into His family. We enjoy all of the privileges of sonship.

• But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, John 1:12
• For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Romans 8:15-17
• . . . to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. Galatians 4:5-7

He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
Sometimes called common grace, God takes good care of all men, whether lost or saved. This bountiful common grace provides an opportunity to repent and believe. God reveals Himself as good to all mankind, by not giving us, as sinners, what we deserve on the spot.

• Yet he did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness.” Acts 14:17
• And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for “‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ Being then God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, Acts 17:26-30

Conclusion
This brief paragraph on the first person of the Trinity is by no means exhaustive, but there is plenty here to get us started on the majesty and splendor of our great God. Next week we are on to the second section in Article II, God the Son.

Previous Lessons:
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #1
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #2
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #3

Audio Resources:
A great audio clip to get you fired up about the names of God is S. M. Lockridge’s My King.

R. C. Sproul’s audio series on The Names of God is an excellent survey of the meanings and significance of the names of God. You can order the CD Series from Ligonier Ministries, or you can listen to the streaming audio, which happens to have just finished airing, online from Ligonier’s 30-day archive page (for the next few weeks from this post’s posting).

Article II: The Doctrine of God

Questions for Review from Article I:
1. Why is the Doctrine of Scripture Article I?
2. Why was the wording in this article changed in the 2000 statement?
3. Who wrote the Bible?
4. What is the purpose of the Bible?
5. Who is the central focus of the Bible?

Introduction
With the foundation of Article one firmly laid down, dealing with the doctrine of Holy Scripture, we are now ready to move on to Article two, concerning God. This is the best and most logical progression of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. In Article one, we have established that we have a sure and authoritative word, as we stated last week, in which we can confidently speak truth concerning our faith and practice as Baptists. Because Article one states that “The Holy Bible . . . is God’s revelation of Himself to man.“, and “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation.“, it is just natural and right that Article two deal with the doctrine of God. Last week we dug deep and laid a “firm foundation”. This week we climb to the pinnacle: the doctrine of God. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

Which God?
When we begin looking into Article two, we want to remember and be faithful to Article one. In other words, use God’s Holy Scripture to describe and define God. The reason it is necessary to have a doctrine of God, especially in this day, is that many have used all sorts of sources other than the Bible to define their god. Perhaps most popular of all is the god each individual spins out of his own fallen, perverted head. The problem is best described in the introduction to a lecture my pastor gave back in October of 2005 on the doctrine of God:

“The vast majority of Americans say they believe in God. I have no reason to question that – in fact I think they do. The problem is, “Which God do they believe in?” Is it the God who has revealed himself in history and in the pages of the Bible or is it the god of Islam, Mormonism, Hinduism, New Age thinking, pantheism or paganism? Is it a god of one of the world’s religions or a designer god of their own making? Our culture is very spiritual.”

We will cover only the opening paragraph this week, following each of the next three weeks with each person of the Trinity separately. Let’s look now at the opening paragraph of Article 2.

Article 2: The Doctrine of God
There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

The Incomprehensibility of God
This word incomprehensible doesn’t mean we can’t know anything about God. We just cannot know God exhaustively. If we could, then God wouldn’t be very great, would He? The only reason we know anything about God is that He desires to be known by His creatures, and reveals Himself to them. There is, and always will be more to know about God. Even in heaven we will not know all there is to know about Him. What a thought to consider; that in heaven we will never stop learning about Him, never stop being amazed, never grow tired of worshiping, throughout all eternity. This concept of incomprehensibility is not stated explicitly in the article, but the profusion of the absolutes (infinite, perfections, all powerful, all knowing, perfect, highest, and eternal) greatly imply the idea.

One God
The opening statement, There is one and only one living and true God rules out many things:

• dualism: two equal and opposite powers in the universe are locked in eternal combat.
• pantheism: all things are god or contain god.
• polytheism: there are many gods.

There is only one God: Deuteronomy 6:4, Isaiah 46:9.

May The Force Be with You
God is Intellegent, Spiritual, and Personal, not an impersonal force or source of energy. No, He doesn’t have a body like men, but He is intellegent and personal, and yes, He is a He.

God is Active.
To say that God is Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the Universe, is to say that he has been active, and still is, and forever will be, concerning the universe and His created beings.

• In creation: He created all that is.
• In redemption: When man fell, God made a way to redeem men.
• In preservation: He preserves all of creation, before and after the fall. Without Gods hand on the universe it would all fly apart into oblivion.
• In governance: God is in charge of this universe, which means nothing happens by accident.

To say that God is Creator is also to say that He was not created. He is self-existent. God is the only being who has the power of being in and of Himself. All others have a derived being, a contingent being. When Moses asked God’s name at the burning bush in Exodus 3:14, God told Moses “I am who I am.” God never refers to Himself as “I was”, or “I will be”. Unlike all of God’s creatures, who are constantly changing, God just IS. In other words, there is no change in God (James 1:17). He, like His Son, is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

Infinity
God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. What do these words mean?

• holy: God is other, separate, in a class by Himself. He is not like man, or any other created being.
• infinite: God’s holiness has no boundaries, no beginning or end. That is why God is incomprehensible. No one can get his mind completely around it all.
• all other perfections: This is just a quick way of saying that infinite in holiness is just the first in a long list of God’s perfections. God’s other perfections include immutability, omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, righteousness, truthfulness, love, judgment, and wrath.

Open Theism
God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. Because of the relatively new aberration of Open Theism, this sentence was added in the 2000 BF&M. It restates, more pointedly, what the previous sentence obviously implies by all other [infinite] perfections. Open Theism states that God does not know the future, but He is a good guesser. God’s word clearly teaches otherwise: I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ (Isaiah 46:9, 10)

Our Duty
To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. It goes without saying that God, as described in this brief article, deserves nothing less than our highest love, reverence, and obedience; even as the catechism begins with: The chief end of man is to glorify God and to love Him forever. This is not just our obligation, this is the reason we were made.

The Trinity
The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. This last sentence sets up the next three sub-articles, each one dealing with a separate person of the Trinity. The wording of this sentence draws heavily from the historical creeds and confessions of Christianity. It carefully maintains the unity of one God, while affirming the mysterious reality of the Trinity. In the next three weeks we will be looking more closely at the three persons of the Godhead.

Previous Lessons:
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #1: Introduction: Creeds and Confessions
Baptist, What Do You Believe? #2: Article I: The Doctrine of Scriptures

Acknowledgement: I would like to express my appreciation for the Wednesday evening teaching series by Pastor Rod Harris, on the Baptist Faith and Message 2000. He was kind enough to give me his entire set of study notes and other resources on this series entitled What Does it Mean to be Baptist?, delivered between October 5, 2005 and March 29, 2006. In my lessons I have drawn heavily from his notes, as well as the delivered messages.