Should we abandon the Greek and Hebrew . . .

. . . if we don't know what we are doing? I was recently involved in a class discussion that got pretty heated. A fellow student presented a paper, the thesis of which might be stated as follows:

Students of the Bible should dedicate themselves to learning the original Biblical languages.

During the course of discussing his position, one of my classmates suggested that we be trained to use various tools such as the latest Bible study software, and that such training would be an acceptable alternative to a full-blown lifetime study of the languages in the tradition of the greatest Greek and Hebrew scholars. Upon hearing this, I attempted to argue in favor of some ideas that were similar (if not equivalent) to the following:

Simply training people in the proper use of Bible software and other such tools is the most dangerous move of all. A little Greek and Hebrew is far more dangerous than no Greek and Hebrew. If people are not going to display an on-going dedication to learning the languages, then they would be much better off to exegete the English text, always remembering to take great care in not resting any argument upon an English grammatical structure or the semantic domain of any particular English word. They should simply share the main idea that the English text conveys.

As you can imagine, this sparked quite a "discussion." I do not want to give my justification for making these statements just yet. I would much rather hear your opinions. What do you think about my comments? Why do you think I would make such a statement? Where do you stand?

What does "gospel" mean in the Scriptures?

Consider Romans 1:15-16:

"So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (NASB)

I have been struggling with several questions related to the meaning of the term "gospel" as it is used in Scripture. My primary question is:

Does the meaning of the term "gospel" change slightly depending on the context?

The Romans passage quoted above is a good example because it is a place where there could be a change in nuance from the first usage to the second with the one being in close proximity to the other. In the first, it sounds as though Paul is talking about a verbal account of the story of Christ and His role in the greater plan of salvation as designed and implemented by God from the creation of the world through the eschaton. Please don't read too much into that last sentence. I simply mean a verbal account of the way of salvation that could be as detailed as it is given in Scripture from Genesis through Revelation or as cursory as your average "Roman Road" presentation. What I'm really focusing on here is a vocalization or telling of the gospel to those who would hear.

In the second usage, however, I find it difficult to read the term in exactly same way as I do in the first. If I limit the second usage to a simple vocalization of the plan of salvation, I find myself asking, "Are the words that are coming out of my mouth really the power of God for salvation?" My mind wants to see the term differently in this sentence than it does in the first. I want to interpret the word in way that is more substantial (for lack of a better term) than a combination of fleeting vocalizations that are exiting from my face. When I say "substantial" I am referring to a meaning that points more toward the brute fact of the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ; a fact that is the power of God for the salvation of those who would believe.

So I ask you, in verse 16, is Paul still referring to a simple telling of the gospel or is he talking about the concrete reality of God's plan of salvation as executed through Himself, Christ, and the Spirit? Perhaps I have created a false dilemma. Are there other options? What about other usages in Scripture? Your thoughts on this matter are welcome!

Outward Signs of Inward Godliness - Part IV

I concluded the previous post by saying that a man is godly at the moment he rejects his sinful heart/desires and submits himself to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit:

Godliness is the result of a choice that occurs in the heart, the choice to follow God. The new nature is already godly because it emanates directly from the Holy Spirit. In order to achieve godliness, all one ever needs to do is put it on.

Part IV concludes this series . . .

Unfortunately, putting on the new nature is easier preached than practiced. It is the place where men stumble; the place where the battle is frequently fought and lost if it is even fought at all. It is here that the application of self-discipline is crucial. In fact, the first stage is the only stage in the process where self-discipline can be exercised at all, because it is the only place where a struggle takes place. Most people assume that self-discipline takes place in the last stage, that is, the stage where the activity is actually performed. Self-discipline is not exercised there because it isn’t necessary there. Discipline is only necessary at the point of struggle, and no struggle should be occurring in the last stage. Reading the Bible is no struggle. Reading is easy. Praying is no struggle. Talking is easy. Evangelizing is no struggle. Telling the story of Jesus is easy. The struggle occurs in the heart. Once the battle with the heart is fought and won, the activities become a joy.

A man does not need to discipline himself to do the things that he loves to do. If he loves to play basketball, then he makes time to play. It may be the case, however, that he does not enjoy doing those repetitive, rigorous, and often boring tasks that will make him a better player. The place where athletic discipline is absolutely crucial is at the point of struggle. I know that doing X will help me to do Y better, but I hate doing X. What should I do? I must discipline myself to do X. Given our previous example, the basketball player may say, “I know that running sprints will give me more stamina and help me to play basketball better, but I hate running sprints.” He must overcome his unhealthy desire to neglect that which would work to his advantage. He overcomes that unhealthy desire through discipline. In his pursuit of a healthy desire, he must first repent from the unhealthy desire. His act of discipline, therefore, begins with a rejection of the negative attitude, not the acceptance of a positive one. For the Christian, X is always turning away from the sinful nature, and then submitting to God. For us, that is the point of struggle. We need to exercise discipline in that area. Once the struggle has been overcome, the heart is properly aligned, and we serve God with joy. The activity becomes a desire and a passion, and regimentation a thing of the past.

If we have been victorious in our struggle and have surrendered our hearts to God, then the Holy Spirit filled, God-oriented heart cannot help but perform in the way that He desires. It should be noted that God is neither performing the activity, nor is He forcing the activity to be performed. A properly oriented heart is in place. A godly man is performing the activity with joy for the purpose(s) for which it was intended. It is in this context that the command “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness” comes to fruition. If I feel as though I am having to force or regiment myself to perform a particular activity such as Bible study, or if I have no joy while performing it, then I have failed at the first stage. I haven’t turned away from the sinful nature. I haven’t rejected my sinful self in favor of the new nature. This is why Scripture never describes any activity as producing godliness. This is also why Scripture never describes self-discipline in the context of performing activities. Self-discipline occurs far in advance of the activity.

Given what I have said to this point, I can formulate the last maxim:

Maxim 4: The godly man is he who has submitted to the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.

If we are ever confronted with the question, “How can I be godlier,” we should never respond by saying, “Pray more. Fast more. Study the Bible more.” We should always respond by saying:

You can be godly by repenting of your sins, turning away from your sinful nature, and turning your heart over to God. Godliness comes from submitting to the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Submission to Him results in godliness, which manifests itself outwardly in godly attitudes, behaviors, and activities such as prayer, fasting, and Bible study from which you can reap many benefits and rewards as you grow in your walk with Christ.

Now that the fourth maxim is in place, we can reject our initial thesis which was:

If I perform the activities listed above with a properly oriented heart, that is, having yielded to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God prior to performing the activities, then the end result will be godliness.

We can now formulate a new thesis:

Godliness is not achieved through the performance of any activity or set of activities but by turning away from the old sinful nature, turning toward the new godly nature, and submitting the heart to reorientation by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

If this is true, then I conclude that biblical self-discipline can only refer to the continual rejection of one’s sinful heart, desires, and nature in the effort to relinquish oneself to the new man, which is the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit. This is the battleground upon which the struggle for godliness takes place. Worship, prayer, fasting, and so forth are merely outward signs of the inward godliness. I also conclude, in response to my initial question, that a man performs the activities listed above because he is godly, not that he is godly because he performs the activities.

Outward Signs of Inward Godliness - Part III

I concluded the previous post by saying that many Christians believe the following proposition:

(4) If I perform certain activities such as prayer, Bible study, fasting and so forth with a properly oriented heart, that is, having yielded to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God prior to performing the activities, then the end result will be godliness.

I also said that an unsettling question which comes to my mind is:

Am I not a godly man at the moment that my heart has been properly aligned by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit?

Part III . . .

I feel that the best way to answer this question is to look at the process by which God uses the regenerate man for His glory:

a) First, you reject (repent from) the sinful nature and its sinful desires. This seems to be the biblical first step. It’s preached from thousands of pulpits every Sunday morning. For the brother in Christ who wants to pursue godliness, the first step is repentance. He must turn away from his sinful self. He cannot pursue godliness and sin at the same time. The one must be rejected in favor of the other. It is here that he opens the door of his heart to the possibility of godliness. At this stage, the desire for godliness gives way to the potential for godliness, and the potential for godliness awaits realization.

b) Second, in rejecting the sinful nature you have no option but to submit to the new nature. You must choose the nature to which you would submit. It cannot be both, and it cannot be neither. The natures are mutually exclusive. It makes no sense to say that I choose to follow God and my sinful self simultaneously. On the other hand, anything that has no nature is not a thing at all; it does not exist. Therefore, rejecting both natures is tantamount to self annihilation! For the Christian person, turning away from the sinful self means turning toward God. Not submitting to the old nature means submitting to the new one. At this stage, God’s work of heart alignment begins; the work necessary for you to lay claim to godliness.

c) Third, submission to the new nature triggers a reorientation of the heart. The new nature, which is controlled and directed by the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, removes (for the moment) any motivation you might have to pursue and satisfy the desires of the old sinful nature, and reorients your heart toward God, thereby motivating you to serve Him. I say “for the moment” because this process has to take place each time we make a decision. In this life, we are continuously confronted with a dilemma, should I follow myself or God? This is why self-discipline is so crucial in this area. Once you have fully submitted to the new nature, you now have a properly oriented heart. At this stage, God finishes His work of alignment and godliness is realized. At this moment, you are godly. Your pursuit of godliness has been successful.

d) Fourth, our godly heart now seeks to perform those activities that are pleasing to God. Your heart, because of God’s work, is able to participate in the activities listed above with the proper motives, which is key to their being pleasing to God and their being performed for His glory. At this stage, godliness, under God’s guidance, strives to impact the world through living acts of worship.

e) Fifth, the activities that you perform become fruitful and fully efficacious. They are performed properly, that is, with the proper motivations. They effect the ends for which they were intended. It is here that the godliness to which you have already laid claim impacts your life and the lives of others. The process begins with the rejection your own sinful desires, your sinful nature. It ends with God’s will and work being actualized through you.

The process above accounts for man’s freedom to make decisions and God’s sovereign work within his heart. If the first step is performed properly, then it will necessarily result in the last step being performed properly because the Holy Spirit is in control throughout the remainder of the process. Conversely, the last step will never be achieved apart from the first, because a) the sinful nature/heart will never pursue the end of the process, and b) even if it did, the Spirit would not be driving the process.

Godliness is actualized in the third phase. Once a person has relinquished control to the Holy Spirit, God is in control; and God always acts godly. The phrase “properly oriented heart” is synonymous with the phrase “godly heart.” If a man has a “properly oriented heart,” he has a “godly heart;” if he has a “godly heart,” then he is a “godly man;” if he is a “godly man,” then he has been successful in his pursuit of “godliness.” All of this occurs before he ever moves a limb or even takes a breath. Godliness is the result of a choice that occurs in the heart, the choice to follow God. The new nature is already godly because it emanates directly from the Holy Spirit. In order to achieve godliness, all one ever needs to do is put it on.

Outward Signs of Inward Godliness - Part II

My conclusion in the previous post was that simply performing an activity such as prayer, fasting, or Bible study is not enough to result in godliness. In other words, the activity alone is insufficient to produce the desired results. There is an intimate relationship between an action and the motive under which the action is performed. In order for prayer, fasting, Bible study, and related activities to have any chance of producing godliness, they must be performed with a properly oriented heart, and the heart must be in place before the activity is performed.

Part II . . .

The most obvious questions are: a) How can I ensure that my heart is properly oriented, and b) How can I make sure it is properly oriented before I perform the activity? Before addressing these questions I would like to quickly address the objection that performing the activities can result in a properly oriented heart, an idea that I touched on in the previous post. In order for this to be true, the following statement would also have to be true:

In order to align the heart in such a way as is necessary for the activities to result in godliness, one need only perform the activities.

There is an uncomfortable circularity in this claim. Is it possible that the activities can produce the very heart that lends power to the activities? When the cycle begins, we have to assume that we do not have a properly oriented heart. That is in fact our goal. So we begin performing the activities without the properly oriented heart, hoping that it will emerge. But I have already argued above that there are many people who perform these activities on a daily basis and that godliness does not result. I argued that it does not result because they are not performing them with the right heart. The claim, therefore, that performing the activity can bring about a proper heart must be incorrect. Otherwise, these people would develop properly oriented hearts and then godliness. The activities must not have the power to produce the heart which is necessary to properly perform the activities. This brings me to the second maxim:

Maxim 2: An activity, through the simple act of being performed, cannot produce the attitude necessary to assure its efficaciousness.

In other words, the heart must be properly oriented before the activity is performed, and it cannot be the result of performing the activity. So we still have a problem. We want to be godly. We want to believe that we can be godly if we perform the activities above with a properly oriented heart; but if that is the case, then we need to get the heart oriented before performing the activities.

Before regeneration man has only one nature, the sinful nature. After salvation, however, he has two natures: 1) the old (sinful) nature, 2) the new (godly) nature. With only the sinful nature to work with, the man can never have a properly oriented heart, because a right heart cannot be produced from a wrong nature. A sinful nature results in a sinful heart. If a right heart is to be had, it can only arise from a right nature, a new nature. What is the new nature within you? It is the Holy Spirit of God. The difference between the man who has the ability to perform the activities listed above with a right heart and the man who does not is that the second man does not have the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is why an unregenerate man can consistently perform those activities and never achieve a properly oriented heart. This leads me to a third maxim:

Maxim 3: A properly oriented heart comes from the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

Only God can reorient your heart. Apart from the power of God working within you, your heart will forever be disoriented. Unfortunately, the regenerate man can also perform these activities with an improperly oriented heart because he still has the old nature, and he can still surrender to it. Having the indwelling Holy Spirit does not mean that the heart is automatically properly aligned. Whereas before his regeneration he had no choice but to submit to his sinful nature (because it was the only one he had), he is now free to make a choice. Will he submit to the old sinful nature or to the new godly nature? Because of this, Maxim 3 must be modified:

Maxim 3 (modified): A properly oriented heart comes from yielding to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, rather than the old sinful nature.

It seems that in order to have a properly oriented heart before performing the activities, we must choose to submit to the power of the Spirit that is our new nature. Now that we have the third maxim in place, we can modify our original claim again. I have included a recapitulation of the argument for the sake of clarity:

(1) Godliness will be the end result of performing any or all of the activities listed above.

Maxim 1: No activity entails any inherent capacity for producing godliness.

(2) Godliness will be the result of performing the activities listed above if and only if they are performed with the proper motives, that is, a properly oriented heart.

Restated as . . .

(3) If the activities listed above are performed with a properly oriented heart, then the end result will be godliness.

Maxim 2: An activity cannot, through the simple act of being performed, produce the attitude necessary to assure its efficaciousness.

Maxim 3: A properly oriented heart comes from yielding to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.

Given maxims 2 and 3, the final form of the proposition should look like the following:

(4) If I perform certain activities such as prayer, Bible study, fasting and so forth with a properly oriented heart, that is, having yielded to the indwelling Holy Spirit of God prior to performing the activities, then the end result will be godliness.

Proposition (4) seems to say exactly what we need it to say. It accounts for all three maxims. It tells us that the activities need something other than themselves in order to be efficacious (i.e. the right heart). It also tells us that a right heart cannot come from the activities themselves, but must come from God, and that it must be in place from the beginning. There is no doubt that many Christians have come to believe proposition (4), and have attempted to put it into practice.

One unsettling question that comes to my mind, however, is this: Am I not a godly man at the moment that my heart has been properly aligned by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit?

Outward Signs of Inward Godliness - Part I

I haven't posted in a while, but I am trying to get cranked back up. I hope to be more diligent in the future. For those of you who have checked my blog for new posts over the last few months, I thank you for your interest, and I apologize for the intellectual void you have encountered.

I was recently involved in a discussion about the nature of certain activities in which Christians often engage such as prayer, fasting, Bible study, and so forth. The main question that we were addressing was: What is the true nature of biblical self-discipline? During the course of the discussion, I argued that discipline was neither developed nor exercised in the actual performance of the activity. I defended the position that the biblical concept of self-discipline has more to do with the rejection of one's sinful heart and desires rather than any positive engagement. That argument developed into a paper that I would like to share with you. The paper, while not excessively long, is a bit much for a single post, and I do not really want to post it as a downloadable document. I have decided to post it in four parts over the next few days. I hope you will take the time to read it. I also hope that it challenges your traditional way of looking at self-discipline, and I look forward to any comments that you might have.

Part I . . .

Thesis: Godliness is not achieved through the performance of any activity or set of activities but by turning away from the old sinful nature, turning toward the new godly nature, and submitting the heart to reorientation by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.

Consider the following list of activities: Scripture study/memorization, prayer, fasting, worship, evangelism, service, stewardship, the pursuit of solitude, journaling, and the pursuit of education. Suppose that someone presented us with the following claim:

(1) Godliness will be the end result of performing any or all of the activities listed above.

How should we respond to this? Is it true that the end result of performing these activities is a state of godliness? I am quite certain that a godly man engages in many (if not all) of these activities, but the question I have is this: Is a man godly because he performs these activities or does a man perform these activities because he is godly? At the very least, I do not believe that any of the activities listed above entails an inherent capacity for producing godliness; and I believe that I can demonstrate this in a fairly simple and straight-forward manner:

• There are men in the world who read the Scriptures everyday and never come to know God. In fact, there are individuals who once claimed to be Christians but have now renounced the faith altogether. They continue to read the Scriptures diligently, but their efforts never bear fruit. One example might be biblical scholars that read the Scriptures for purely academic reasons. Bart Ehrman is one of the finest New Testament scholars in the world. He graduated from Wheaton University, which is widely considered to be an evangelical institution. He once advocated the doctrine of inerrancy as a foundational belief. He has now publicly renounced his faith, but as a New Testament scholar, he still studies the Scriptures diligently even though it may be in a forensic and academic way (an issue I will address below).
• People all over the world practice various acts of worship. They worship pagan gods. In fact, their zeal for worship would put many Christians to shame. They exhibit an unyielding dedication in their efforts, but they are not godly people.
• The same argument that was made for Bible study and worship can be made for each of the activities in question. People in all places and in all ages have practiced the activities, but they were not necessarily godly people.
  

The most obvious objection to what I have argued so far is this: Yes, but they weren’t reading the Scriptures for the right reason. They weren’t fasting for the right reason. They weren’t pursuing the one true God. Their hearts were not properly oriented, and their motives were incorrect. In other words, something must be added to these activities if they are to produce godliness. They have to be performed with the proper attitude, the proper motive, and with the proper end or goal in mind.

The key element is a properly oriented heart, which leads me to the first of four critical maxims:

Maxim 1: No activity entails any inherent capacity for producing godliness.

If godliness factors into these activities at all, it can only do so if they are performed in the right way, that is, with a properly oriented heart. In fact, anyone who wishes to claim that they will result in godliness should add this stipulation to the original claim in order for it to have any chance of being true. The claim should be modified in the following way:

(2) Godliness will be the result of performing the activities listed above if and only if they are performed with the proper motives, that is, with a properly oriented heart.

It might be beneficial for us to restructure proposition (2) such that it is in the form of a hypothetical (or conditional) proposition:

(3) If the activities listed above are performed with a properly oriented heart, then the end result will be godliness.

In other words, a right heart must be in place in order for the desired results to be achieved. It is critical to note that the heart is primary in the formulation above. The heart cannot be properly oriented after the activity is performed because its orientation is necessary in order for the activity to be performed correctly. The evidence for this claim is the same as that by which I argued that the activity itself cannot make you godly. The people who perform these activities daily and with improperly oriented hearts (members of any other religion) would eventually develop properly oriented hearts and then become godly people. I conclude, therefore, that if there is any chance for the activity to make us godly, then the heart must be in order from the start.