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What is Sound Theology? (Foundations Series 2 of 6)
Having answered the question, “What is theology?” we need to ask an even more important question: “What is sound theology?”
Sound theology is doctrine that is true and conducive to spiritual health.
At the end of the Apostle Paul’s ministry, he writes his final letter to Timothy, his son in the faith, saying, “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13). Paul considers sound doctrine essential for Timothy to flourish in his life and ministry.
Again, in that same letter, Paul warns Timothy of a large-scale rejection of the truth: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:3-4).
Likewise, Jude, the half-brother of Jesus, warns us about the impending danger of people with unsound doctrine coming into the church. He writes, “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3).
We all have beliefs about who God is and what he does. But the critical question is whether our beliefs about God are correct or incorrect. So how do we know the difference between sound and unsound Christian doctrine?
By Scripture Alone
In Christian theology, sound doctrine is teaching that agrees with the Bible. The historic Christian principle of sola Scriptura (by Scripture alone) affirms that the Bible is the only infallible authority in all matters of faith and practice.[1]
Because Scripture is God’s inspired, infallible word, all statements of Christian belief must agree with the Bible. We must reject anything as our ultimate authority other than the Bible.
But how can we know if our beliefs are in agreement with the Bible? Don’t we need to rely on the expertise of the clergy and bible scholars to understand the meaning of the Scriptures? The short answer: No. Sola Scriptura affirms that the Bible’s teachings are clear to every reader or hearer of ordinary intelligence, without requiring special instruction.
Theologians refer to this as the perspicuity of Scripture. This means that if we have access to the Bible in a translated language we understand, we don't need the clergy to explain its meaning to us. The Bible alone can give us sound doctrine, through the illuminating work of God’s Holy Spirit. The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) succinctly describes the perspicuity of Scripture:
Those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. Chapter 1, Section VII.
However, this does not mean that all things in the Bible are equally clear. For example, the Apostle Peter refers to some things in the Apostle Paul’s letters as “hard to understand” (2 Peter 3:16). What it does mean is that those things that are necessary for salvation are so clear that, with “a due use of the ordinary means” anyone can understand them.
Systematic Theologian Charles Hodge speaks of the clarity of Scripture: “The Bible is a plain book. It is intelligible by the people. And they have the right, and are bound to read and interpret [it] for themselves; so that their faith may rest on the testimony of the Scriptures, and not on that of the Church.”[2]
Hodge agrees with the Protestant Reformation message that people do not need priests to interpret the Bible for them. Instead, the Reformers believed the Bible is clear enough on its own to be “intelligible by the people.”[3]
In both the Old and New Testaments, God calls ordinary parents to teach the Scriptures to their children (Deut 6:7, Eph 6:4). And the Psalmist proclaims the clarity of Scripture: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple” (Ps 119:130).
Clergy and Bible scholars are helpful and needed. However, they must be faithful to the clear teaching of Scripture that anyone can understand by just reading the Bible. Therefore, be on your guard against those who try to use their expertise in theology to contradict the plain meaning of Scripture.
On the other hand, the church as a community has made significant progress in understanding the Bible. And as a result of many controversies in the church’s past, written statements of biblical doctrine, called creeds and confessions, have emerged.
But many people hesitate to affirm Christian creeds and confessions written by mere humans. Some say, “No creed but Christ!” and “No creed but the Bible!”
Professing “No creed but the Bible” is a creed itself and one that the Bible does not support. If the saying is just another way of affirming that our theology must agree with the Bible, it is helpful. However, it’s often used to mean that Christians do not benefit from reading or referencing creeds, confessions, doctrinal statements, bible commentaries, etc. In that case, “No creed but the Bible” is a bad creed.
This is because when we read the Bible, we already have a doctrinal statement in mind, though it may not be in writing. We all have an existing set of core religious beliefs that shape our understanding of God, the Bible, and the world.
In fact, it’s impossible for any human being not to have religious beliefs, even if they believe there is no God. That in itself is a religious belief.
Under Scripture Alone
It is arrogant and even foolish to neglect learning from historical writings and traditions, but we must always see them under the Bible as our higher authority.
Remember, Scripture alone is our primary authority for determining sound doctrine, through the work of the Holy Spirit in our conscience. Therefore, we must test all teaching by the Bible to see if it is true.
However, no matter how sound our theology may become, Paul reminds us that our knowledge of God on this side of eternity is always limited: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Cor. 13:12).
It’s humbling to realize that even our limited knowledge of God only comes to us because God takes the initiative and reveals himself. For God to reveal himself means he must adjust himself to our limitations by using human language and analogies from his creation. Calvin describes this as a nurse talking in baby-talk to a child she’s caring for so the child can understand.[4]
Because of this, even the best analogies and comparisons about God fall far short of reality. For every human or created thing we say God is like, God is also unlike that. As Bavinck writes, “Accordingly, this knowledge is only a finite image, a faint likeness and creaturely impression of the perfect knowledge that God has of himself.”[5]
However, Paul did not allow the awareness of his incomplete knowledge of God to keep him from pursuing a deeper knowledge of God. He reveals his continuing life passion when he writes, “that I may know him... not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own (Phil. 3:10-12).”
With Principles and Methods
With so many Christian creeds, confessions, and doctrinal statements written since the time of Jesus, which ones should we affirm?
Although the Bible is infallible, our understanding of it is not. Sometimes we make mistakes in interpreting the Scriptures. We'll study the principles and methods of interpreting the Bible, called hermeneutics, later in this series. But first, there are foundational concepts that are important to understand in order to develop sound theology.
Just as we need to use a method to understand any discipline, so it is with theology. Systematic Theologian Charles Hodge wrote, “If a man adopts a false method, he is like one who takes a wrong road which will never lead him to his destination.”[6] We base everything we believe the Bible teaches about God on a set of foundational assumptions and methods.
The concern is that many of us never consider our underlying assumptions about God. We begin with the assumption that whatever our parents or culture believes is true. However, sincere, well-meaning parents and others, including pastors, often believe and teach unsound theology.
In the study of theology, the word prolegomena[7] refers to the underlying assumptions and beliefs about theology we need to understand first. The Greek preposition pro (means “before”) and legomena means “to say before.” So prolegomena refers to concepts we need to understand first in order to have a better foundation for what is coming next.
The goal of prolegomena is to equip you with a set of beliefs and assumptions, at the beginning, that will help you build a foundation for sound theology later.
Rather than just tell you what you should believe, we want you to go deeper and also understand why you believe and how your beliefs apply to all areas of your life.
So we’ll begin with a brief survey of some essential, biblical truths to help you lay a strong foundation for developing sound theology.
Apply Your Theology
A Mind for Truth
What is sound theology? Why is sound theology essential for you to flourish in your life and ministry?
What is the principle of sola Scriptura? How can we apply this principle to the teaching we receive today from church leaders and our study of doctrinal creeds and confessions?
A Heart for God
Is hearing and reading the Bible alone sufficient for you to have sound doctrine, through the direct, illuminating work of God’s Holy Spirit? Have you experienced this illuminating work of the Holy Spirit? If so, how?
A Life for Ministry
What are practical ways you can follow the example of the Apostle Paul and pursue a deeper knowledge of God and his will in the Scriptures (Phil 3:10-12)?
We Are All Theologians (Foundations Series 1 of 6)
Don’t Be Afraid
The term theology scares people.
It sounds formidable, abstract, and academic. Many of us see it as disconnected from real life. We associate it with old seminary professors and even older, musty books.
As a result, we feel a tension between doctrine and practical living. Sadly, doctrine can bring back painful memories, stirred up by self-appointed theologians who care more about truth than love. We probably should be a little suspicious of academic theology because, studied in the wrong way, it can cause unhealthy thinking and living.
So it’s important to start with a good orientation, to which end we hope this booklet will be of some help.
Let’s begin by understanding what theology is not. It's not trying to articulate our feelings about God (Schleiermacher). Neither is it trying to present all the content of the Bible as a sequential list of topics in a "proper order” (Hodge).
We’ll give you a more formal definition later, but for now, it’s helpful to understand theology as applying the whole Bible to the whole of human life. It is teaching the Bible to meet human needs. This doesn’t elevate the practical over the doctrinal. Neither does it elevate the doctrinal over the practical. Instead, it sees the Bible as authorizing the harmony of doctrine and practice.
For example, when you become a follower of Jesus Christ, you get some elementary doctrinal teaching to help you begin your practice of walking with the Lord. But understanding biblical doctrine is not enough. You must also learn how doctrine helps you solve practical problems you face in life.
For instance, the meaning of the sixth commandment (“You shall not kill.”) includes more than not killing people. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus shows us how the sixth commandment also applies to our practical problem of anger toward someone (Matt 5:21-26).
However, as soon as you learn how to apply biblical teaching to your anger in one area, you face new problems with your anger in another area. As a result, you go back to Scripture and theology for more advanced solutions. But now, through the ministry of God’s Spirit and Word, your greater spiritual maturity enables you to apply the same teaching in much greater depth.
Therefore, your growth in grace helps you become a better theologian, and becoming a better theologian helps you grow in grace. Similarly, your theology depends on your spiritual maturity. And your spiritual maturity depends on your theology. Theology is not something you believe, it’s something you do.
This is why we are all theologians.
And this is why a Bible study leader dealing with the doubts of church members is as much a theologian as a seminary professor. Likewise, the Christian employee trying to solve an ethical problem at work is no less a theologian than the seminary student struggling to answer: “What is Christ’s hypostatic union?”
Most authors of the New Testament were not theology scholars. They were ordinary people: a fishermen, a tax-collector, and a physician. These everyday followers of Christ were writing their books and letters in response to the problems and questions they faced as they were living out God’s mission. In his book Kingdom and Mission, Arthur Glasser calls them task theologians.
The New Testament authors and local communities of faith, in whose midst these documents were written, were not marginal to participation in the mission to which God had called his Church. These authors were all missionaries. When they were engaged in theological reflection, its focus was on the missionary task in hand. They were “task” theologians, and what they produced had relevance to the particular tasks in which they were involved.
In the same way, we are to learn God's solutions to our problems so we can obey and honor him as we advance his mission. If we are true followers of Christ, we must be theologians. The only question is whether we are good or bad theologians. Our sincere hope and prayer is that this booklet will help you become a better one, by the grace of God and for his glory.
What is Theology?
This will become clearer as you continue reading. But for now, let’s ask and answer a few questions to help you connect what you've just learned with our more formal definition of theology. Read each question carefully and formulate your best answer. Then compare that with the answers below. You may want to cover the answers until you’ve formulated yours.
Q: What is theology?
A: Theology is the study of God.
Q: Where can we study God?
A: We can study God only where he makes himself known.
Q: Where does God reveal himself?
A: God makes himself known in nature, but primarily in the Scriptures.
Q: What is the difference between theology and the Scriptures?
A: Theology restates the truth revealed in the Scriptures.
Q: If we have the Scriptures, why do we need theology?
A: Theology helps us know the Bible’s solutions to our problems.
Q: Why do we need to know the Bible’s solutions to our problems?
A: To become mature in Christ by applying Scripture to our lives.
So, what is our definition of theology?
Theology is the application of God’s revelation in Scripture to all areas of life.
Notice the important word “application” in this definition. The purpose of theology is to know God’s truth in Scripture so that we’ll become mature in Christ by applying it to all areas of our lives.
The Apostle Paul’s goal in all his teaching is to apply God’s word to real life. Therefore, in Colossians 1:28-29 he writes, “Him (Christ) we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.”
When Paul writes to Timothy, he reminds him that the purpose of the “sacred writings” is to make him “wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” so that, as a man of God, he “may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:14-17). Paul’s focus is on helping us understand and apply God’s word to our lives so we will grow spiritually.
Likewise, this is what Jesus had in mind when he gave the Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them… and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20, NIV). His commission to us is not just to teach people everything he commanded, but to teach people how to obey everything he commanded.
There is a big difference between learning all that Jesus commanded and learning to obey all that he commanded.
As a result, the real test of whether you understand Christian theology is not in the classroom. For example, passing an exam on the doctrine of God’s sovereignty is not the real test. It’s later, when you’ve just learned that a loved one has been in a serious accident or has a life-threatening disease. That’s when you learn how sound your theology is and what you believe about the doctrine of God’s sovereignty.
Kinds of Theology
It's helpful to understand that theology is divided into several biblical and theological disciplines described by these terms: exegetical, biblical, systematic, historical, philosophical, and practical. Each of these disciplines work with Scripture, but the unique focus varies by discipline.
Exegetical theology explains the meaning of the biblical texts in the original languages and historic contexts.
Biblical theology describes the progressive, unfolding themes revealed throughout Scripture, like kingdom, covenant, and nations.
Systematic theology arranges all the major subjects in Scripture into an organized system by asking what the whole Bible teaches about any subject, such as God, Jesus, sin, or forgiveness.
Historical theology analyzes past explanations of doctrine by the church, including creeds, confessions, and traditions, for the sake of the church’s present and future.
Philosophical Theology articulates and defends a general conception of the universe to help us understand Scripture. It’s the study of how people view what is real in the world. It helps us answer the ancient questions: what is (metaphysics), how we know what is (epistemology), and how we should act (ethics).
Practical Theology contextualizes and applies theology to all areas of life, both private and public. It includes the disciplines of apologetics, evangelism, discipleship, personal and social ethics, church planting and renewal. It also includes ministries of mercy, justice, prayer, preaching, world missions, etc.
We'll study these topics later in this series. For now, just be aware that a common problem in theological studies is failing to integrate these essential kinds of theology into one unified whole. In an age of specialization, theologians can focus on their areas of specialty to the neglect of other areas. For example, exegetical and biblical theologians often neglect historical theology. Likewise, systematic theologians may neglect practical theology and vice versa.
Applied Theology
In our study, we will seek to integrate the strengths of all these kinds of theology in an approach shown in the diagram below. Notice how the definition of theology, written across the top from left to right, gives us three sections separated by arrows:
Under God’s Revelation on the left side, we’ve placed the disciplines of historical and philosophical theology. The triangle represents integrating the three disciplines of exegetical theology, biblical theology, and systematic theology.
We set apart these three disciplines because they focus on the Scriptures. The focus of exegetical theology is on biblical texts, the focus of biblical theology is on biblical themes, and the focus of systematic theology is on biblical topics.
The value of historical and philosophical theology lies in their contributions, from the wisdom of the past, to these other three disciplines. That’s why they are placed to the left of the triangle.
Under Applied in the middle, we see practical theology’s contribution in how it applies (contextualizes) theology to ministries that transform lives and communities. The goal of these ministries is to see God glorified and his kingdom come in the private and public lives of Christians.
It's okay if there are parts of this diagram you don’t understand yet. Just think of it as your theological roadmap for future reference. Our focus here is on the definition of theology shown at the top of the diagram: “Theology is the application of God’s revelation in Scripture to all areas of life.”
Why Applied Theology? (Foundations Series Introduction)
Theology is Application
We named this series Applied Theology because the work of theology is not to discover some upper-story truth unrelated to our real-life experiences. Theology exists to humbly serve God’s people by helping them learn how to apply it to their lives in practical ways that will honor God.
We understand the meaning of Scripture by applying it.
In fact, every endeavor to understand the meaning of a passage is an endeavor to apply it, because we’re expressing a lack of understanding of how to apply what the passage means to our lives.
The opposite is true as well. Every endeavor to apply Scripture is also a request for meaning; the one asking doesn’t understand the passage well enough to use it.
Sinclair Ferguson writes, “All biblical theology is ultimately pastoral, and all pastoral ministry is ultimately theological.”[1] It is said of Calvin that: "He became a theologian in order to be a better person."[2] And John Duncan said of Jonathan Edwards' ministry, “His doctrine is all application and his application is all doctrine.”[3]
This understanding of theology calls us to engage the issues of our day that are being raised both inside and outside the church. It frees us from false intellectualism, and it enables us to use philosophical categories, scientific methods, and academic knowledge where they are helpful.
However, it can also express itself in nonacademic ways, as Scripture itself does—exhorting, questioning, telling parables, fashioning allegories and poems and proverbs and songs, expressing love, joy, patience, etc.
Ezra, an Old Testament priest and scribe, models the importance of not only engaging our minds and hearts in understanding Scripture, but also in obeying it: “Ezra set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel” (Ezra 7:10).
Theology is Doxology
In an age of false teaching and spiritual corruption, the Protestant Reformers returned to the ancient principle of seeing the Scripture as the only ultimate authority on truth (Sola Scriptura).
From this foundation in Scripture, they summarized and proclaimed the biblical teachings of of sound theology using Latin phrases, including: by God’s grace alone (Sola Gratia), on the basis of Christ alone (Solus Christus), received by faith alone (Sola Fide), and to the glory of God alone (Soli Deo Gloria).
We’ll study each of these “solas” in depth later in this series. But for now, we conclude this booklet by directing you to the glory of God alone, Soli Deo Gloria, as the ultimate purpose of theology.
The goal of sound theology is doxology. The word doxology comes from the Greek word doxa, meaning glory. When rightly pursued, the study of theology moves us to glorify and enjoy God with our whole mind, heart, and life. Thirteenth century theologian Thomas Aquinas summarizes it well: “Theology teaches of God, is taught by God, and leads to God.”
Theology is not just something we believe with our minds. It's also something we experience with the affections of our heart, and something we do in all areas of life—to the glory of God. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31).
Soli Deo Gloria!
Footnotes:
[1] Ferguson, S. B. (2017). Some Pastors and Teachers. Banner of Truth. 685.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid., 667.
Toward a Theology of Faith, Hope, and Love (Applications Series 6 of 6)
We learned earlier that toward the end of Augustine’s life, he received a special request from a man named Laurentius, who was seeking biblical answers to life’s ancient questions such as “What is to be sought in life above everything else?” Laurentius knew that Augustine was a great theologian and famous philosopher who had written many long books. But he mustered up the courage to ask Augustine to help him with his questions by writing a small, easy-to-understand handbook on the essence of Christianity.
Augustine’s Theology of Faith, Hope, and Love
In response, Augustine summarized all of Laurentius’s questions into one single question: “Perhaps this is exactly what you wish me to explain briefly and to sum up in a few words: how God is to be worshipped.” Augustine then answers his own question, regarding how God is to be worshiped and honored, by referring to the three virtues of faith, hope, and love found in 1 Corinthians 13:13. He writes:
You would have the answers to all these questions if you really understood what a man should believe, what he should hope for, and what he ought to love. For these are the chief things—indeed, the only things—to seek for in religion.
Augustine tells Laurentius that he will find the answers to his many questions about life in the answers to these three basic questions: 1) What should be believed?, 2) What should be hoped for?, and 3) What should be loved? Then he writes a small handbook showing that the essence of: 1) our faith is found in the Apostles’ Creed, 2) our hope is found in the Lord’s Prayer, and 3) our love is found in the Ten Commandments.
Augustine’s brief “Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love” soon became the basis for the education of clergy in the Middle Ages. History professor Gerald Bray writes, “It (Enchiridion) played a major role in shaping the spiritual outlook of the Western church for over a thousand years.”[1]
Luther’s Theology of Faith, Hope, and Love
Eleven centuries later a former Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, dedicated his life to continuing Augustine’s tradition of helping people cultivate the Christian virtues of faith, hope, and love by using the Apostles’ Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
Like Augustine, Luther became well known in his lifetime as a great theologian and author. One day when he went to a barber shop to get a haircut, his barber, Peter, asked the famous Reformer how to pray. Luther responded graciously by writing a letter to Peter about prayer, a letter we know today as the short book “A Simple Way to Pray.”[2] In this letter, he reflects Augustine’s teaching on the strong connection between prayer and the Bible, encouraging Peter to base his prayers on the Bible as a way to help increase his faith through prayer.
Luther identified with Peter’s struggles in prayer and shares with him a practical method he found helpful. He encouraged Peter to divide his prayers into “a garland of four strands” to help him pray through the Apostles’ Creed[3], the Lord’s Prayer[4], and the Ten commandments. For example, in praying through the Ten Commandments, Luther writes:
I divide each commandment into four parts, thereby fashioning a garland of four strands. That is, I think of each commandment as
first, instruction, which is really what it is intended to be, and consider what the Lord God demands of me so earnestly.
second, I turn it into a thanksgiving;
third, a confession; and
fourth, a prayer.[5]
Luther encouraged Peter to use this same method to deepen his faith, hope, and love by praying through the twelve affirmations of the Apostles’ Creed, the six petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
Calvin’s Theology of Faith, Hope, and Love
In 1535, when the fifty-two-year-old Luther[6] wrote this letter to his barber in Germany, there was a young scholar in his twenties, living in Basel, Switzerland, named John Calvin, whose ministry was just beginning. His theology and life were being significantly shaped by Luther and Luther’s spiritual Father, Augustine.
Calvin’s heart was broken for the multitudes who didn’t know Christ, especially his “French countrymen” whom he saw as hungering and thirsting for Christ, but without even a “slight knowledge of him.” So he decides to follow the example of Augustine’s “handbook” and Luther’s letter to his barber, by writing his own brief summary of the essence of biblical Christianity in a way that could be easily understood. Calvin affectionately called it his “short” work and “little book.”[7]
Following the historical Christian teaching and tradition modeled by Augustine, the catechisms of the middle ages, and Luther’s letters and catechisms, the nucleus of Calvin’s “little book” consists of three chapters that expound the meaning of: 1) the Apostles’ Creed, 2) the Lord’s Prayer, and 3) the Ten Commandments.
In response to the pressing issues of his day, Calvin subsequently added appendices that became three more chapters.[8] In 1536, Calvin titled his “little book” The Institutes of the Christian Religion. During the next 23 years, in response to many more issues, he updated the book and published several new editions until it became four long books in its final edition in 1559.
Calvin’s Institutes became one of the most influential works in the history of Christianity. But Calvin never abandoned the original purpose of his “little book,” found in its subtitle as “the whole sum of godliness and whatever it is necessary to know about saving doctrine.” Instead, he saw his later editions as needed clarifications and applications of this “sum of godliness.”
During the years Calvin was writing and updating his Institutes, he was also writing and updating a catechism, called the Geneva Catechism, to help children also learn a brief and simple summary of the essence of biblical Christianity.[9] Again, in the writing of his catechism, Calvin follows the examples of Augustine, Luther, the church in the middle ages, and his own Institutes, by structuring it around: 1) the Apostles’ Creed, 2) the Lord’s Prayer, and 3) the Ten Commandments.[10]
Toward a Theology of Faith, Hope, and Love
In the first century, the Apostle Paul also summarizes the heart of biblical Christianity when he writes: “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). So we seek a theology that encourages faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love for God and others. In Applied Theology we’re seeking to recapture for today the biblical, historical, and practical theology of faith, hope, and love, championed by the great theologians of the past.
Therefore, the goal of the Applied Theology series of books and courses is to help us develop our faith by renewing our minds in the biblical truths of the Apostle’s Creed, and our hope by renewing our affections as we pray the Lord’s Prayer. However, the ultimate goal of our faith and hope is to bring honor to the Triune God by our love for him and others as we obey his Ten Commandments.
A mind that is renewed by biblical faith and a heart that is aflame with biblical hope results in a life that honors God by loving him and others deeply and well.
—————-
[1] Gerald Bray, Augustine on the Christian Life, Crossway 2015, p. 34
[2] See the beautifully illustrated children’s book, that all adults should read, by R.C. Sproul, “The Barber Who Wanted to Pray” Crossway Publishers. 2011.
[3] Although the Apostles’ Creed is not found in the Bible, it is a summary of the essential biblical doctrines of Christian orthodoxy, with each affirmation rooted in the Bible. Therefore, Luther writes, “Treat the Creed in the same manner [as the Lord’s Prayer and Ten Commandments].” A Simple Way to Pray, p. 5
[4] “I pray in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ together with all thy saints and Christians on earth as he has taught us: Our Father who art, etc., through the whole prayer, word for word.” Ibid. p. 2
[5] Ibid. pp. 5-10
[6] Luther died at sixty-three in 1546.
[7] In 1536, he dedicates the book to the King of France, explaining his purpose for writing it in his opening paragraph: “My purpose was solely to transmit certain rudiments by which those who are touched with any zeal for religion might be shaped to true godliness. And I undertook this labor especially for our French countrymen, very many of whom I saw to be hungering and thirsting for Christ; very few who had been imbued with even a slight knowledge of him. The book itself witnesses that this was my intention, adapted as it is to a simple and, you may say, elementary form of teaching.”
[8] Chapters 4-6 included the topics of the sacraments, Christian freedom, ecclesiastical power, and political power.
[9] He wrote his first catechism in 1541 and published several new editions until his last one in 1560, one year after he completed his last edition of the Institutes.
[10] Similar to his Institutes, Calvin also adds more sections to his catechism on the Word of God and the Sacraments. Future Protestant confessions and catechisms were significantly influenced by this model as is seen in their expositions of the Apostle’s creed, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.
Our Love: The Ten Commandments, Part 1 (Applications Series 4 of 6)
Having seen how our faith should be rooted in the biblical truths of the Apostles’ Creed, and our hope should be stirred up by the Lord’s Prayer, we’ll look now at how our love for God and others should be a demonstration of God’s will for us revealed in the Ten Commandments.
We’re following the example of Augustine’s summary of biblical Christianity in his Handbook on Faith, Hope, and Love, in which he writes, “Thus, from our confession of faith, briefly summarized in the Creed … there is born the good hope of the faithful, accompanied by a holy love.”[1]
The Apostle Paul teaches that love is greater than faith and hope. “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor 13:13)[2] Augustine reflects this when he writes, “For when we ask whether someone is a good man, we are not asking what he believes, or hopes, but what he loves.”[3]
The superiority of love over faith and hope does not mean that love is separated from faith and hope. These three godly virtues are inseparable[4] and are interrelated: 1) our confession of faith, rooted in the Apostles’ Creed, leads us to hope and love, 2) our hope, stirred up by the Lord’s Prayer, leads us to faith and love, and 3) our love springs from our faith and hope.
What does this godly virtue of love look like? The Scriptures tell us it looks like the Ten Commandments. (Exodus 20:3-17)[5]
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (3)
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image …” (4-6)
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain …” (7)
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy …” (8-11)
“Honor your father and your mother …” (12)
“You shall not murder.” (13)
“You shall not commit adultery.” (14)
“You shall not steal.” (15)
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” (16)
“You shall not covet …” (17)
When someone asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?,” he responded by giving his famous Great Commandment, that is a concise summary of the Ten Commandments as loving God and loving others.[6]
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. (Matt 22:37-39)
In this Great Commandment, Jesus is not replacing the Ten Commandments but explaining them the same way Moses did to Israel: “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut 10:12-13, 11:13, 22, 30:20, Lev 19:18)
Jesus’ interpretation of the Ten Commandments as descriptions of love helps us understand the negative wording, all the “You shall nots,” of the commands. For example, God’s first command not to have any other Gods before him means more than we should not worship idols, but that we should worship God only.
Likewise, the negative command not to murder means we are also to stand for the sanctity of human life. And the negative command not to commit adultery conveys the positive command to uphold sexual purity, just as the negative command not to lie also means we are to stand for truth.[7]
Jesus presents the Ten Commandments as God’s revealed moral law in which God describes his will for all humanity at all times.[8] So the Ten Commandments are not a crude list of legalistic rules for ancient Israel.[9] Instead, they show us how to be fully human and honor God by knowing, loving, and serving him and others from sincere hearts. We’re never more human than when we align our will with God’s in these commands. Only then can we flourish according to God’s design as his image bearers.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also corrects common misunderstandings of the Ten Commandments by showing how they include a much deeper meaning. For example, Jesus teaches that God’s sixth commandment not to murder includes the sin of anger that is at the root of murder: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matt 5:21-22).
Likewise, Jesus teaches that God’s seventh commandment not to commit adultery includes the sin of lust at its core (Matt 5:27-28).[10] And God’s command to love our neighbors includes loving our enemies: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt 5”43-44).
Jesus ends this part of the Sermon on the Mount with an unequivocal call for us to love God and others perfectly. “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt 5:48) However, because we’re all incapable of perfect love, it’s tempting to lessen Jesus’ demand for perfect love to a lesser, more achievable demand.
Some try to explain how the Greek word used here for perfect (τέλειοι) does not mean perfect but mature love. But Jesus just explained in detail what this perfect love looks like. It doesn’t merely restrain from killing people, it’s not even angry. It doesn’t merely restrain from adultery, it doesn’t even lust. This perfect love is not a grudging outward form of religious duty we muster up against our will. Rather it’s a free and cheerful willingness that springs from a sincere, heartfelt faith, hope, and love for God and others.
Who can obey all these commandments out of a perfect love for God and others?
The short and biblical answer is no one. In a legal sense, because of sin, the Bible teaches that no one can do all that God requires in the Ten Commandments. Therefore, no one can love God or others perfectly. This is why the Apostle Paul writes, “By the works of the Law no one will be justified” (Gal 2:16).
But sin results in more than the legal problem of our guilt before a holy and just God. Because of sin, we also have the moral problem of a corrupt heart. Augustine describes this tragic result of sin as our “disordered loves.” The reason we don’t love God and others more is because our loves are now placed on other things.
Instead of loving God and finding our ultimate joy in him, we succumb to an excessive, prideful love for ourselves, to a defective love for others in our envy, anger, and lust, and an inordinate love for things such as possessions, food, sex, and comfort. Therefore, the essence of godly virtue is properly ordered loves for God and others.
When God gave the Ten Commandments, he wrote them with his finger on two tablets of stone (Exod.31:18; 34:1). But the Bible does not tell us what is written on each of the two stone tablets, and the church has never agreed on exactly how to number the commandments.[11]
However, it is generally agreed that the first commandments show us that our love for God is to be above all else, beginning with having “no other gods before him.” Then, flowing from our highest love for God, the last commandments show us how to love others, ending with not coveting people and things.[12]
But God’s commandments have no ability to deliver us from his just curse on us due to our disobedience. And God’s commands have no power to enable us to keep them according to God’s design. So why does God command us to love him and others perfectly when we’re already condemned for breaking them and we don’t have the ability to obey them?
The good news is that God graciously gives us the Ten Commandments as part of his cosmic redemption and restoration project to reorder our loves for him and others so we will flourish according to his original design.
In the next article, we’ll learn three important ways that God uses his commandments to advance his gospel of redemption and restoration in Christ.
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[1] Augustine, Enchiridion on Faith, Hope, and Love, chapter XXX, par. 114.
[2] Paul also explains the superiority of love over all other virtues (1 Cor 13:1-3) and writes, “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up” (1 Cor 8:1). He presents our ultimate goal as “faith working through love.” (Gal 5:6)
[3] Ibid., chapter XXXI. Love, par. 117.
[4] Augustine writes, “Now, beyond all doubt, he who loves aright believes and hopes rightly. Likewise, he who does not love believes in vain, even if what he believes is true; he hopes in vain, even if what he hopes for is generally agreed to pertain to true happiness, unless he believes and hopes for this: that he may through prayer obtain the gift of love.” Ibid.
[5] For the sake of clarity and brevity, only the first part of commandments 2-5 and 10 are included from Exodus 20:3-17. The Ten Commandments are also found in Deuteronomy 5:4-21.
[6] Likewise, the Apostle Paul describes the ultimate aim of our obedience to God’s law as authentic love that springs from our hearts: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” (1 Tim 1:5) To Paul, love is the chief virtue that binds all other virtues together: “And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col 3:14)
[7] Similarly, the command to honor our parents also conveys God’s will for us to honor all whom he places in authority over us, even the ungodly (Rom 13), and the neighbor to whom we’re not to lie or covet his house or wife is not just the person living near us.
[8] Calvin describes the Ten Commandments as “the true and eternal rule of righteousness for all humanity and nations who wish to conform their lives to God’s will.” Institutes 4.20.15
[9] Some Christians see the Ten Commandments as God’s laws for Israel in the Old Testament that no longer apply to them because of God’s love for them in Jesus, revealed in the New Testament. But Jesus teaches that he did not come to abolish these commands. Instead, he came to fulfill them so we will obey them as a display of our love (Matt 5:17,19).
[10] Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
[11] Roman Catholics and Lutherans combine the prohibition of idolatry with the prohibition of images into the first commandment and argue that there were two commandments against coveting. Reformed churches separate the prohibition of idolatry and the prohibition of images into the first and second commandments. Orthodox churches agree with the Reformed churches numbering pattern except they believe that God’s declaration, “I am LORD your God” is part of the first commandment, not just a “preface” to it.
[12] Those who appeal for separating commandments 1-5 from 6-10 argue that each of the first five commandments has an explanation attached to it, e.g. “because LORD brought you out of Egypt,” “because God is jealous,” etc. By contrast none of commandments 6-10 have explanations. In Hebrew, the first five commandments contain 145 words; the second five commandments contain only 26 words. The most-debated issue is the placement of the fifth commandment. Should the fifth commandment be considered in the category of the first commandments focusing more on love for God or in the second commandments focusing more on love for neighbor?
Our Love: The Ten Commandments, Part 2 (Applications Series 5 of 6)
The highest virtue of love looks like someone who obeys the Ten Commandments out of a sincere love for God and others. But because of sin, no one can fully obey these commands. So why did God give them to us? What is the relationship between God’s law, which demands our obedience, and the gospel, which promises us forgiveness?[1]
Distinguishing between law and gospel in Christian theology is challenging.[2] God’s law must not be used to deny the gospel, and God’s gospel must not be used to deny the law. This is because the Bible presents aspects of the law in the gospel and aspects of the gospel in the law. The gospel is both a gracious offer of salvation to all who believe and a royal summons for everyone to come under the Lordship of Jesus Christ in repentance and faith.[3] Likewise, when the Bible presents God’s law, it’s often in the context of the gospel of redemption.[4]
With this in mind, we return to our earlier question, “Why does God command us to obey his laws perfectly when no one has the ability to fully obey them? There are three important ways that God uses his laws to advance his gospel of redemption and restoration in Christ. These three biblical “uses of the law” are: 1) to restrain evil in society, 2) to convict people of sin and lead them to Christ, and 3) to guide believers in how they should live.[5]
First Use of The Law: Civil Use
The first use of of God’s law is called its civil use, and it applies to both Christians and non-Christians. When God’s moral laws are upheld in society, such as laws not to murder, steal, and lie, it inhibits lawlessness, protects the righteous from the unjust, and secures civil order. (Deut 13:6-11, 19:16-21) This is especially true when God’s laws are reflected in civil laws that punish offenders. (Rom 13:3-4)
Second Use of the Law: Conviction of Sin
The second use of God’s law is to convict people of sin and lead them to Christ. This also applies to both non-Christians and Christians. The law is like a mirror that reflects to us both God’s perfect righteousness and our sinfulness, thereby leading us to Christ in repentance and faith. Augustine writes, “the law bids us, as we try to fulfill its requirements, and become wearied in our weakness under it, to know how to ask the help of grace.”
God’s moral law in the Ten Commandments requires our obedience and condemns us but gives us no strength to obey.[6] The Apostle Paul writes, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20). John Calvin teaches that no one except Jesus has ever fulfilled the demands of God’s law to love perfectly.[7]
Though we don’t have the ability to obey fully even one of the Ten Commandments, God, in his mercy, has done that for us in the person and work of his only Son. Jesus perfectly obeyed all of God’s laws for us so that he could fully satisfy all of God’s just demands of us through his death on the cross in our place.[8]
God provides for us in Christ what he justly requires of us in his law. Jesus fulfilled all the righteous requirements of God’s law on our behalf, so that God would consider the perfect righteousness of Christ to be ours when we believe in him. (Rom 3:21-22) God’s amazing declaration is that all who are in Christ are righteous, based on the forgiveness of their sin by Jesus’ blood and the imputation of Jesus’ righteousness to them by faith. (2 Cor 5:21)
The good news is that God the Father promises to accept and love all who are in Christ as he accepts and loves his one and only Son, and there is no greater love than the eternal love of God the Father for his Son.[9]
So, if all the requirements of the law have already been met for us by Christ, and God now sees us as his children, clothed in Jesus’ perfect righteousness, why should we obey the law?[10] This leads us to a third use of God’s law.
Third Use of the Law: Guide for Believers’ Good Works
The Bible teaches that believers in Jesus Christ are now “free from the law” as a way of salvation. (Rom 6:14, 7:4-6, 1 Cor 9:20, Gal 2:15-19, 3:25) We are no longer under the condemning curse of the law because Jesus took that curse on himself for us.[11] However, we’re always under God’s loving authority revealed in his law as our rule of life.[12]
The difference now is that God’s law tells us, his children, what pleases and honors him as our heavenly Father. God’s law is now our family code to guide us so that we flourish in all our relationships. Obeying God’s commands is not our way of trying to earn God’s love. Instead, it’s a display of our love for God who first loved us in Christ. The Apostle John wrote, “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
There is a great contrast between obeying the law as a religious duty to earn God’s love and acceptance and obeying the law as an expression of gratitude for God’s love and acceptance of us in Christ. Tim Keller writes, “Religion says, ‘I obey; therefore I’m accepted.’ The Gospel says, ‘I’m accepted; therefore I obey.’”[13]
However, our obedience is often motivated by either fear of punishment or promise of reward in this life and the life to come. So it’s easy for us to wonder why we should obey God if he has already promised not to punish us and to bless us now and forever. Godly fear of our loving Father’s discipline for our disobedience as his children is a biblical motivation (Heb 12:5-11), as is godly hope of being rewarded for our obedience. (Matt 16:27, 2 Cor 5:10)
But our primary motivation for obeying God should be our love for him who promises not to punish us, but always to love us in Christ, even when we disobey him.
However, to obey God’s commands we need more than forgiveness for disobeying them. We also need power beyond ourselves. The good news is that God promises to give us not only forgiveness of sins but also the gift of his indwelling Holy Spirit, so that, springing from a new heart, we’ll be empowered to obey God with new motivations and desires (Acts 2:38, Ezek 36:26-27).[14]
God’s moral law requires our obedience, condemns us, and gives us no strength to obey. But God fulfills the law’s demands in Christ, forgives us, and then gives us strength by his Spirit to obey his demands with delight and joy. The poet and hymnwriter William Cowper summarizes this good news in a line from one of his hymns.
To see the law by Christ fulfilled,
And hear His pard’ning voice,
Transforms a slave into a child,
And duty into choice.[15]
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[1] Sometimes the issue is described as “Law and Grace,” “Law and Promises,” “Letter and Spirit,” and “Sin and Grace” in Lutheran and Reformed traditions.
[2] Martin Luther writes: “Hence, whoever knows well this art of distinguishing between law and gospel, him place at the head and call him a doctor of Holy Scripture.” Dr. Martin Luther’s Sämmtliche Schriften, St. Louis ed. (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, N.D.), vol. 9, col. 802.
[3] When Paul proclaims the gospel, he proclaims God’s command: “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). And Paul refers to believing in the gospel as obeying it. “But they have not all obeyed the gospel” (Rom 10:16). He also uses phrases like “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5).
[4] Even the original giving of the Ten Commandments, recorded in Exodus 20, begins with a prologue reminding us of God’s redemption: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery” (Exod 20:2). Here, as everywhere in Scripture, our gratitude for redemption provides our motivation and power for keeping the law.
[5] The three uses of the law is a topic about which there is a general consensus in Protestant theology, e.g. in the Lutheran tradition, the Formula of Concord (1557) distinguishes three uses, or purposes, of the Law in Article VI. And the Reformed tradition reflects these three uses in John Calvin’s Institutes, 2.7.6-13.
[6] Paul teaches that when we look at God’s commands outside of Christ, we can only see God’s holy justice and wrath (Rom 3:20). “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’” (Gal 3:10, Deut 27:26)
[7] John Calvin teaches that no one except Jesus has ever fulfilled the demands of God’s law to love perfectly: “The fulfillment of the law is impossible for us … I call “impossible” what has never been … If we search the remotest past, I say that none of the saints has attained to that goal of love so as to love God with all his heart, all his mind, all his soul, and all his might.” Institutes, 2.7.5
[8] John Stott teaches that the biblical meaning of the cross must always have at its center this principle of “divine self-satisfaction through divine self-substitution … the biblical gospel of atonement is of God satisfying himself by substituting himself for us.” The Cross of Christ, 158-159.
[9] When John Bunyan reflects on the riches of the gospel in contrast with the law, he writes, “‘Run, John, run,’ the law commands, But gives me neither feet nor hands; Far better news the gospel brings It bids me fly; it gives me wings.”
[10] Paul knew that it would be easy for believers in Jesus to misunderstand their relationship with God’s law after they came to saving faith, so he writes, “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law” (Rom 3:31). “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (Rom 6:1-2)
[11] The good news is that when believers look at God’s law in Christ, they can see God’s holy mercy and astonishing grace. They can rejoice that “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal 3:13). “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4)
[12] Paul calls this being “under the law of Christ” as a rule of life. (1 Cor 9:21, Gal 6:2)
[13] As children of God we strive to obey all of God’s commandments perfectly, to be like Jesus, not to be accepted by God, but because God already accepts us in Christ. God uses our obedience to his commands to drive us to deeper levels of repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, for the ongoing forgiveness and power we need to love God and others deeply and well.
[14] On the day of Pentecost, Peter ended his sermon by reminding his Jewish audience of two promises God made through the prophets if they would repent: 1) the forgiveness of their sin, and 2) the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38) Peter is referring to God’s New Covenant promise to put his Spirit in them to cause them to walk in God’s law. See Ezekiel 36:26-27.
[15] William Cowper, Olney Hymns III:384