01: New Testament Reflections on Grasping the Old Testament’s Message

By / Aug 2

“Serving Not Themselves” (1 Pet 1:12)

According to the New Testament authors, the Old Testament authors knew that they were speaking and writing for new-covenant believers, and they also had some level of conscious awareness about who the Christ would be and when he would rise. With Christ’s coming, anticipation gives rise to fulfillment, and types find their antitype, which means that new-covenant members can comprehend the fullness of the Old Testament’s meaning better than the old-covenant rebel and remnant.

The Old Testament’s Audience

Romans 4:23–24, 15:4, and 1 Corinthians 10:11 stress that the Old Testament author wrote his text for the benefit of believers living this side of the cross. For Paul, the Old Testament is Christian Scripture and fully applicable to believers when read through Christ.

The apostle said this much to Timothy as well. Speaking about the Jewish Scriptures, he wrote that the “sacred writings … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim 3:15). Thus, Paul asserts, “All Scripture is … profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (3:16–17).

Based on this fact, New Testament authors frequently cite Old Testament instructions, assuming their relevance for believers today. For example, Paul reaches into the Ten Commandments when addressing children (Eph 6:2–3; Exod 20:12; Deut 5:16) and draws on execution texts from Deuteronomy when speaking about excommunication (1 Cor 5:13; Deut 22:21, 22, 24). Peter also recalls the refrain from Leviticus when he writes, “Be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Pet 1:15–16; Lev 11:44–45; 19:2; 20:26). Because we are now part of the new covenant and not the old, there are natural questions that rise regarding how exactly the Christian should relate to specific old-covenant laws or promises (see future posts on this topic!). Nevertheless, the point stands that God gave the Old Testament for Christian instruction.

Paul was not explicit as to whether it was only God’s intent, as the ultimate author, to write the Old Testament for our instruction, or whether this was also the human authors’ intent. Peter, however, made this clear when he wrote that “it was revealed to [the Old Testament prophets] that they were serving not themselves but you” (1 Pet 1:12). He emphasized that the human authors themselves knew that their Old Testament words were principally not for themselves but for those living after the arrival of the Christ. Therefore, the Old Testament is actually more relevant for Christians today than it was for the majority in the old-covenant era.

The Old Testament Prophets’ Understanding of Christ’s Person and Time

In John 8:56, Jesus declared that Abraham eagerly expected the coming of the Messiah. Similarly, Peter believed that David himself anticipated Christ’s coming in Psalm 16 (Acts 2:30–31), and David’s last words affirm that he was hoping in a just ruler who would overcome the curse and initiate a new creation (2 Sam 23:3–7). Likewise, the writer of Hebrews stressed, “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar” (Heb 11:13). The Old Testament remnant enjoyed some light; they themselves wrote of the Christ and hoped in him.

On the other hand, Jesus also declared that “many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it” (Luke 10:24). It seems that we should understand Yahweh’s prophets of old as truly seeing God’s beauty and purposes and the hope that awaited them, while also affirming that they did not experience and, therefore, comprehend all that we do in Christ. For them, full disclosure awaited a later day.

First Peter 1:10–12 captures both sides of this interpretive framework. According to Peter, the prophets were themselves studiers of earlier revelation. And under the Spirit’s guidance (2 Pet 1:21), they “searched and inquired carefully” to know who the Messiah would be and when he would appear. While they may not have known Jesus’s name, they had a general sense of the type of person he would be and of when he would come, and they often learned this from studying the Scriptures (e.g., Ps 119:2; Dan 9:2). Revelation did indeed progress from the Old to New Testaments, but the development was often from conscious prediction to realized fulfillment, not simply prediction of which only God was originally aware but which we now recognize retrospectively.

As in the case of Daniel (Dan 12:8–10), the full meaning of some Old Testament texts transcends the human authors’ understanding. Nevertheless, the New Testament testifies that these authors usually understood their end-time visions, truly hoped in the Messiah, and knew something of when he would come. Furthermore, interpreters should expect that the biblical authors’ use of antecedent Scripture organically grows out of the earlier materials, never contradicting them, because all Scripture comes from God (2 Tim 3:16) and the prophets “searched and inquired carefully” (1 Pet 1:10) and made Spirit-led interpretations (2 Pet 1:20–21).

The Rebels’ Inability to Understand the Old Testament

The New Testament is clear that the blindness associated with the old-covenant unbelieving majority continued into Christ’s day. We see this incapacity, for example, in the religious leaders whom Jesus confronted numerous times (e.g., Matt 12:3–7; Luke 16:31; John 5:39–40). The Jewish leaders were spiritually blind, unable to see how the Old Testament itself pointed to Christ.

The Gospels indicate the roots of such blindness. In brief, they speak of an innate wickedness that stands hostile to God, of hard hearts, of desires that are aligned with the devil, and of a passion for man’s praise over God’s glory (Matt 16:3–4; 23:6; Mark 3:5; Luke 11:43; 20:46; John 8:42–44). The result was that they could not hear God’s voice or savor God’s beauty and purposes in the Scriptures. And where the leaders went, the rest of the nation went also (John 12:37–41).

Likewise, other New Testament passages teach that the old-covenant age was one of ignorance and hardness (Acts 17:30; Eph 4:18; 1 Pet 1:14), with the devil keeping most of the world blind to God’s glories culminating in Christ (2 Cor 4:3–4). But in Jesus, new creation dawns, with gospel light breaking over the horizon and dispersing darkness and shadow (4:6).

Why would God extend such a season of hardness, ignorance, and blindness? If Romans 9:22–24 is any indication, Paul believes God purposed to move those receiving his mercy to marvel more at his manifold glory in Christ. The Lord made the darkness so deep and the night so long, that we upon whom the light has dawned may be able to savor even more the warmth, brilliance, and merciful glory of God bound up in his gift of Christ.

Some of the Remnant’s Delayed Understanding of the Old Testament

The New Testament is clear that some, such as Simeon, were anticipating Christ’s coming and rightly grasped his person and work, including his mission of suffering (Luke 2:25–35). Nevertheless, many of the disciples closest to Jesus failed to recognize fully who he was and all that their Scriptures anticipated about him (see, e.g., Mark 4:13; 8:31–33).

Luke especially emphasized the disciples’ lack of knowledge of the Old Testament. After his resurrection, Jesus challenged the two on the road to Emmaus for failing to “believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25). Nevertheless, he made them wise to the Old Testament’s meaning (v. 27), thus fulfilling what Isaiah and Daniel said would come to pass (Isa 29:18; Dan 12:10). Likewise, Christ later appeared to his remaining followers and “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:45). The resurrected Christ now allows his followers to see things in the Bible that were there all along but ungraspable without the correct light and lens (see Rom 16:25–26; 2 Cor 3:14). In Christ, God “enlightens” the eyes of our hearts (Eph 1:18).

John’s Gospel in particular highlights how Christ’s resurrection and glorification mark a turning point in the disciples’ understanding of Scripture. In John 2:20–22, for example, Jesus’s resurrection moved the disciples to embrace in a fresh way both “the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.” And as John 12:13–16 makes clear, only when the Father glorified his Son did Christ’s followers connect how the Old Testament Scriptures testified to Christ’s triumphal entry.

Conclusion

The New Testament authors affirm that the Old Testament was written for Christians and that the prophets knew they were writing for our benefit. The prophets also knew something about Christ and the time of his coming, but the full meaning of their texts at times transcended their understanding.

Fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah (Isa 6:10; 53:1), the innate wickedness and hard-heartedness of most of the Jewish populace rendered them spiritually disabled. In judgment, God hardened them, so that they were unable to understand his Word or see his purposes culminating in Jesus (Rom 11:7–8). Only “through Christ” is their blindness removed (2 Cor 3:14).

As early as Jesus’s birth, some like Simeon properly understood that the Christ’s triumph would only come through tribulation. However, full understanding of Scripture’s testimony about Jesus’s death, resurrection, and global mission came to most of his disciples only after his resurrection.

This blog series summarizes Jason S. DeRouchie’s forthcoming book, Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2024). You can pre-order your copy here.



How Jesus Shepherded His Sheep

By / Aug 2

Editor’s Note: This article is an excerpt from Planting by Pastoring. You can purchase your copy anywhere books are sold.

We know Jesus is a shepherd because he calls himself one. But even if he’d never used the title, we would still see his shepherd’s heart by observing his ministry—how he prayed, how he loved and taught, how he shared authority, and ultimately how he sacrificed himself.

Jesus prayed. I used to think a day of prayer and solitude was time away from the mission. Jesus saw it the other way around. As he went about planting his church and the crowds pressed in, Jesus’s instinct was to pull away frequently in order to pray (Mark 1:35; Luke 5:16; 6:12). As he faced the agony of the cross, he steeled himself with an intense session of prayer (Luke 22:39–46). Jesus was planting as a pastor, and pastors pray.

Jesus loved and taught. While lounging at a dinner party with the town elites, Jesus didn’t see the sinful woman who interrupted the meeting as a distraction, but as an opportunity to love and teach. A parable of grace and forgiveness came effortlessly from his lips as the woman wept and the town elites mocked (Luke 7:36–50). He was willing to lose face with the movers and shakers in order to shepherd one single, burdened woman. Jesus was planting as a pastor, and pastors love and teach.

Jesus shared authority. When it came time for Jesus to call his closest followers, he didn’t select the gifted and the powerful, but instead chose twelve fumbling men—a few nondescript fishermen, a despised tax collector, and so on. After a period of discipleship, he then “gave them authority” and sent them out in pairs so that they would “proclaim that people should repent” (Mark 6:7, 12). Notice two things in this passage. First, Jesus took advantage of his popularity to give authority away. Second, he gave authority away in order to see people repent and believe. Jesus was planting as a pastor, and pastors share authority in order that more and more people might proclaim the gospel and be won to that gospel through faith and repentance.

Jesus sacrificed himself. Perhaps most amazing of all, Jesus “remained silent” (Matt. 26:63) as he stood before the unjust Sanhedrin, hearing false charge after false charge leveled against him. It’s tempting to wonder why. After all, Jesus was heaven’s darling! He threw demons into pigs! We want him to speak up for himself, to rebuke these fools and make the truth known. Eventually he does speak up, and in doing so he explains his silence. Blood dripping from his brow, he says, “For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice” (John 18:37). Jesus remained silent so that he might sacrifice his life in order to bring his sheep into the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus was planting as a pastor, and pastors sacrifice for the good of their people in order to bear witness to the truth.

Jesus didn’t hastily build the church. He was deliberate and careful. He prioritized relationships over speed. Jesus was a pastor. He planted his church as a pastor. He knew his sheep and his sheep knew him. He drew near to them. He cared for them. He led them, gently. He listened and ministered to individuals. Names, not numbers, concerned him. He looked people in the eye, he touched their wounds, he wept with them, he entered their homes, he shared meals, he washed their feet, he taught them the truth, and he prayed for them.

Churches built on Jesus and his gospel will survive on the last day. If you’re a church planter or pastor, it’s worth asking the question, What lies at the foundation of this thing I’ve spent such a long time building?



What is the Penal Substitutionary Atonement?

By / Jul 26

Editor’s Note: The Theology in the Everyday series seeks to introduce and explain theological concepts in 500 words or less, with a 200-word section helping explain the doctrine to kids. At For The Church, we believe that theology should not be designated to the academy alone but lived out by faith in everyday life. We hope this series will present theology in such a way as to make it enjoyable, connecting theological ideas to everyday experience and encouraging believers to study theology for the glory of God and the good of the Church. This week, penal substitutionary atonement.

From the Garden of Eden to the present day, the fundamental human problem has always been sin—its destructive power, its all-pervasive presence in the world, and its inevitable consequence of divine judgment. The doctrine of penal substitutionary atonement teaches us what God has done through the death of Jesus Christ to save sinners from sin, most pointedly, to save sinners from the inevitable wrath of God against sin (Matt 1:21). To treasure this doctrine in our everyday lives, we should understand how each word teaches precious truths about Christ’s death for us.

Christ’s death was Penal.

In His dying, Christ took on the punishment due for human sin, though He Himself was sinless. The Scriptures clearly teach that sin—as rebellion against the holy, righteous, and eternal God—merits divine wrath both in time and eternity (Rom 1:18; Rom 2:5-6). The bad news is that because all have sinned, all stand under the just condemnation of God’s wrath (Rom 3:23; John 3:18-19). The good news is that Jesus Christ took on the punishment for the sins of those who repent and believe in Him. Scripture tells us that He was “crushed” for “iniquities” and “pierced” for “transgressions” (Is 53:5).

Christ’s death was Substitutionary.

Because Christ lived a sinless life, He had no sins of His own to pay for. Amazingly, then, in His death, Christ was suffering God’s wrath for sin on behalf of undeserving sinners. Christ “bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pt 2:24) and was “pierced for our transgressions” (Is 53:5). Our Lord “suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous” (1 Pt 3:18). In His death, Christ was suffering for us who believe. He stood in our place to take the punishment we deserved.

Christ’s death was an Atonement.

Christ’s death was no partial cure for sin. In His death, Jesus perfectly satisfied the demands of God’s just wrath against sin. Christ’s death completely and eternally covered the guilt incurred for our sins (Heb 10:1-18). As God’s wrath is averted to His sinless Son, Jesus’s death repairs the sinner’s broken relationship with the Father. Indeed, Christ died “that he might bring us to God” (1 Pt 3:18).

Christ’s death for your everyday life.

This biblical understanding of Christ’s penal substitutionary death stands at the very heart of the Christian Gospel. Therefore, it is truly a doctrine for Christians to cherish “in the everyday.” As we walk this pilgrimage on the way to our heavenly homeland, we will continue to battle indwelling sin within us and the influence of sin around us. As John Owen famously warned, “Be killing sin, or it will be killing you.” As we struggle through an imperfect journey of growth in holiness, we need not be insecure about our standing before God or His love for us. The payment for our sins has been settled once for all, and Christ’s penal substitutionary death is the Father’s definitive and unwavering proof of His love for weary sinners and sufferers (Rom 5:8).

For the Kids:

What happens when you do something wrong, like disobeying your parents or lying to them? Do you get in trouble? Is there some punishment for the bad thing you do? The truth is that there is a punishment coming for every bad thing that we do. God is perfectly good and will never let any bad thing go unpunished. The bad news is we all have done bad things that deserve God’s punishment. But the good news is that God loves us even though we do bad things He hates! So, He sent Jesus to save us from the punishment we deserve.

When Jesus died on the cross, He was punished by God the Father so that we don’t have to be. Can you imagine if you did something bad and one of your friends said he would step in to take your punishment for you? That would show your friend loves you a lot! Well, that’s exactly what Jesus did for us. By turning from our sin and trusting in Him, we are forgiven and free from the punishment we deserve, and we can live with God forever and ever!



8 Reasons We Should Evangelize

By / Jul 20

For most of us, if we are honest, evangelism is intimidating. It can be incredibly hard to work up the courage to talk to others about Jesus. In some moments when we have opportunities to share the Gospel, that little voice in your head rattles off about 10 reasons why you shouldn’t. “What if you mess it up? You should just remain quiet until you have studied more…” Or “You really don’t have time. After all, if you speak up now and get into a conversation, you may be late for church!”

The first thing that needs to be said is that this is, unfortunately, normal. I say it is unfortunate because it would be great if when we became a Christian, evangelism, all of a sudden, became easy. But that isn’t often how it works. Rather, evangelism is hard. It is hard because evangelism requires us to kill our pride and the fear of man.

And, because evangelism never just becomes easy (at least in my experience it hasn’t), this means that the reason why we evangelize must be based on something other than our feelings. Therefore, consider these eight reasons we should evangelize. These eight reasons will, I pray, help to give you proper motivation to share the Gospel (even if you don’t feel like it).

First (and in no particular order), we evangelize because we have an incredible message to tell. Think with me briefly about the nature of our salvation. God is the holy and just one, and we are sinful and unworthy. Due to sin, humanity’s relationship with God was ruptured. God would have been right and just to give sinners what they deserve, that is, His holy and righteous wrath due their sin. But instead, God planned to save sinners. In the Gospel, we are confronted with the reality of full pardon for all of our sin, past, present, and future. Not only full pardon, but a restored relationship with our Creator. We are adopted as sons of the King. This is truly a remarkable message, and God’s goodness demonstrated in this remarkable message compels us to tell others.

Second, we evangelize because Jesus commanded us to do so. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

We, as followers of Christ, are commanded to go and make disciples. This is not an optional endeavor for a set apart group of Christians. Rather, this call is for every person who claims to be a follower of Christ. As slaves of Christ, we must be faithful to what our Master has commanded us to do.

Third, we evangelize because Hell is real. There is a real place called Hell where people will go if they die outside of Christ. The Bible describes this place in graphic terms. Listen to some of them:

Revelation 21:8: “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Matthew 25:41: “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:46 says that those outside of Christ will “go away into eternal punishment.”

Revelation 14:11: “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 says: “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.”

Matthew 13:50 describes the unrighteous being thrown “into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And we could go on and look at more verses that speak about the awful reality of Hell. Because Hell is real, we should pray that God would use us to save as many people as possible from that terrible reality.

Fourth, in light of the reality of hell, we evangelize because we love the lost. What kind of sick people would we be if we had the cure for cancer but told no one? That would reveal that we don’t actually love people. But sometimes, this is how we act with something even far more important than a cure for cancer. We have the good news of the Gospel which reconciles God and man for all eternity. Therefore, let us pursue people with the Gospel out of love for them. We aren’t trying to win arguments; rather, we are trying to win souls. To truly love people is to share the Gospel with them.

Fifth, we evangelize because we are God’s means to reconcile the world to Himself. Yes, God is absolutely sovereign over all things. Yet, He accomplishes His Divine purpose by using means. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:17-21, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

God could have written the Gospel in the clouds for all to see, but He didn’t. Rather, He calls people to Himself and then He entrusts them with the ministry of reconciliation. That is, He entrusts you and me to take His saving message to all peoples. God uses means to accomplish His purposes and accomplish His purposes, He will! Revelation 7:9 describes an incredible scene in heaven, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”

So, take confidence that God does in fact save people, and there could be several people standing around the throne one day because of God using you, as His means, in this great endeavor called evangelism. Let that amaze you for a moment.

Sixth, we evangelize because tomorrow is not promised. Our lives, and the lives of those around us, could be gone in an instant. As we are told in James 4:14, our life is but a vapor. Therefore, we seek Gospel conversations with others in the here and now because tomorrow is not guaranteed. The Bible is clear that Christ could return, or we could die at any moment. Let’s share the Gospel with diligence and zeal because we never know when the Lord will either return or call us home.

Seventh, we evangelize because it sanctifies us. Evangelism is one of God’s means to kills our pride and make us more dependent upon Him. Some of you might find that evangelism is one of the hardest things you will ever do. You will find that you pray for strength a lot when you are sharing the Gospel with people. But this is intended! God designed it that way because we were never meant to live in our own power. Dependence upon God is a good thing. So, when you feel overwhelmed, discouraged, or fearful. Pray. That may be exactly why God has you in that moment.

Eighth and finally, we evangelize because we love God. This is, perhaps, the most important reason. The fuel for our evangelism should not be out of duty or dread. Rather, we should strive to be obedient in evangelism because we love the Lord, and we want to see Him rightly honored and worshipped.

In conclusion, we have at least 8 reasons we should evangelize.

  1. Because we have an incredible message to tell.
  2. Because Jesus commanded us to do so.
  3. Because Hell is real.
  4. Because we love the lost.
  5. Because we are God’s means to reconcile the world to Himself.
  6. Because tomorrow is not promised.
  7. Because it sanctifies us.
  8. Because we love God.

Therefore, when you don’t “feel” like sharing the Gospel, don’t let that “feeling” have the final say. Rather, remember these reasons for why we evangelize and strive to be faithful. It won’t always be easy, but our God is faithful.



There Is One God

By / Jul 20

Excerpted with permission from You Are a Theologian: An Invitation to Know and Love God Well, by Jen Wilkin and J. T. English. Copyright 2023, B&H Publishing.

The Bible begins with the claim, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1). Do not miss the significance of that first sentence. The Bible begins with a stunning claim: there is one God.

Imagine how this statement would have landed on the ears of its original audience, Israel, waiting in the wilderness between Egypt and Canaan. For four hundred years, they had lived in a polytheistic land, the fruit of their labors pulled from their hands to be offered up to a pantheon of Egyptian gods. Here they stood, poised to enter into a land with a pantheon of equal size. The Canaanite gods were equally numerous, and equally demanding. And God declares there is no pantheon at all, but a mono-Theon. It is a message embedded in the covenant He had declared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it is a message He had declared to Moses at the burning bush: “I AM WHO I AM” (Exod. 3:14). The so-called gods of Egypt and Canaan might claim, “I am the god of rain or harvest or childbirth,” but none could make this claim. Only the God of the Bible can say: “I AM.”

In the wilderness wandering, Israel finds comfort in God’s oneness: “Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deut. 6:4). They owe all of their allegiance to Him and Him alone. Similarly, our worship cannot be divided. We worship the God who creates all things and redeems us from slavery to sin, and we worship Him alone. Just as Israel would run to foreign gods, we, too, are tempted to trade our mono-Theon for a pantheon. Like them, we need to hear, again and again, that the Lord our God is one.

God’s oneness remained in the hearts and on the lips of Israel’s faithful all the way into New Testament times. This is what makes Jesus’s claim in John 10:10 so bold. He says, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). We will explore Jesus’s claim of unity and equality with God in chapter 7, but note here that He reiterates the historic claim that there is only one God. The gods of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome are not gods at all. According to Jesus, there is only one God.

The New Testament authors preserve this teaching, as well. Paul reminds the church in Galatia, full of Jewish and Gentile believers, that “God is one” (Gal. 3:20). Over and over again, the Bible asserts there is only one God who is Creator, Sustainer, and providential Ruler over all things.

As in the days of Abraham and Moses, as in the days of Jesus and Paul, so in every era of human history we have been drawn to belief in many gods. Or in no god at all. The Bible emphatically disagrees. There is one God, and He alone is worthy of worship.

The oneness of God is the first of two important instincts for Trinitarianism. It is what distinguishes the God of the Bible from the many gods and godlessness of human invention.

God Is Three Persons

The second important instinct for Trinitarianism is the threeness. God is one God, but He is One God who eternally exists as three distinct persons—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Each person is fully God. But the Father is not the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son, but they are the triune God who is perfectly one and distinct in three persons. The threeness of God is not a form of poly-theism because Christians worship just one God. Nor would Christianity teach particular or preferential worship of any of the three persons within the godhead.

Confused yet? Let’s break it down by asking a few further questions: What distinguishes each person of the Trinity?

What makes the Father, Father? What makes the Son, Son? And what makes the Spirit, Spirit?

If ever an analogy offered help, it would seem that now would be the time to employ one. Maybe you have heard some analogies for the Trinity: God is an egg: a shell, white, and a yolk. God is like water: ice, water, and steam. God is like a three-leaf clover. Though at first these honorable attempts may seem helpful, they can actually hinder our understanding of the diversity of the three persons in the Godhead. Fortunately, the Bible offers some simple language that helps us with distinguishing the three persons.

Two categories that have historically helped Christians see the distinctions of each person are the Immanent Trinity and the Economic Trinity. The Immanent Trinity refers to God in Himself—even before creation. The Economic Trinity refers to how we see the Immanent Trinity revealed in redemptive history. What we see in Scripture is that:

Economic Trinity

God the Father initiates the plan for salvation.

God the Son accomplishes salvation. God the Spirit applies salvation.

Immanent Trinity

The Father, eternally unbegotten.

The Son, eternally begotten by the Father.

The Spirit, eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son.

In order to see these two categories more clearly, we give our attention to how the Bible describes each person and what they do. To understand what distinguishes each person, we look to what each person does in the biblical story. What do we know of each person as it relates to their redemptive acts in history that give us insight into their eternal relations as Father, Son, and Spirit?

Here are the three keys:

  1. God the Father is never sent in Scripture. That means He is eternally unsent or eternally unbegotten. Who is God the Father? The eternally unsent.
  2. God the Son is sent by the Father in Scripture. That means He is eternally sent or eternally begotten. Who is God the Son? The eternally sent by the Father.
  3. God the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son in Scripture. That means He eternally proceeds from the Father and the Son. Who is God the Spirit? The eternally sent by the Father and Son.

 
Editor’s Note: Interested in reading more? You can purchase your copy of You Are a Theologian: An Invitation to Know and Love God Well here.



The Verse from Acts that Inspired Preaching Revelation

By / Jul 18

“This will really bring the crazies out…” That is my inner dialogue whenever I considered preaching the book of Revelation. Many pastors, including myself, look at the book of Revelation and think: I have not been doing this pastor thing long enough to preach that book. Preaching the book of Revelation brings all sorts of interesting questions and theories out of the hearers. Some come with strong views of what the book references, some come with anxiety over how crazy the images are, and others have their minds drawn to charts and ideas of exactly what the future holds (not to mention you have to address the colloquial title of “revelations”). For the preacher, Revelation produces anxiety over how to deal with all the different approaches and experiences that a congregation has.

I felt all of this before. A few years ago, I had done the seven letters from Revelation 2 and 3. But moving beyond it seemed like too much to handle. I did not want to deal with the questions about the locusts corresponding to military helicopters. I did not want to explain views on the millennium. I just want to preach God’s Word expositionally without facing the dystopian pictures that fill the minds of whoever might walk in the doors on a given Sunday.

Now, months into the preaching Revelation, and getting to the closing stretch, I’m glad I have labored in this bizarre treasure in God’s Word. My view of the book changed last July. And it was one verse from the book of Acts that changed everything! In Acts 20, Paul meets with the Ephesian elders for what is probably the last time. Paul knew these men from three years of laboring together. He warned and exhorted them. And in this beautiful story of Acts 20, Paul says “I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).”

Paul declared the whole counsel of God in three years. As I look at the 66 books, the 1,189 chapters of the Bible, I do not know how I can come close to that type of declaration in my preaching ministry. I started to think about the ways it could be done within my conviction of expositional preaching. This brought me to Revelation. Revelation was a way to do it. You see Revelation is full of the whole counsel of God.

When you read Revelation, You are drawn to every corner of God’s Word. Revelation on the conservative side has 500 Old Testament citations. Not only that but scholars believe John cites somewhere between 17 to 22 books of the Bible. This certainly adds to the difficulty and to the richness. Expositional preaching often sends you down rabbit holes trying to understand all the cross-references. Revelation as the final book written makes the challenge even greater. John has access to more of the Scriptures than any other author and boy does he use it.

Understanding the vision of God in chapter 1 depends on the description of the Lord Almighty in Daniel 10. The four horsemen in chapter 4 are running from Zechariah bringing God’s people restoration, not torment. The throne room visions throughout the book use language from Exodus, Isaiah, and Daniel. The dragon, woman, and child reflect the enmity between woman and serpent from Genesis 3. The judgment of Babylon amplifies the call of Jeremiah to be faithful to the Lord under evil kings and kingdoms. The final chapters’ New Heaven and New Earth pull together the visions of ultimate restoration in God’s land from the Isaiah and Ezekiel paired with Eden to give readers a timeless hope.

John richly weaves stories and prophecies from the whole counsel of God together into a beautiful tapestry of God’s glory and comfort for his church. John’s use of the Scriptures and his encouragement to hold to the Scriptures has encouraged me as a preacher and our young congregation. Revelation is a marvelous writing in its telling of God’s story and glory. We saw our church grow in numbers and in commitment as we walked through the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God that John recorded for us. And at the end of preaching Revelation, I can say I did not shirk from preaching the conclusion of the counsel of God.



Small Groups and Church Planting

By / Jul 13

In church planting contexts, community groups can be the best way to reach the unchurched, build strong community, and identify future leaders.

Over the past fifteen years, I have had the privilege of leading community groups in four new congregations, including the one I now serve as lead pastor (Trinity Community Church in Columbia, MO). As a result, I recommend a general process for planting healthy groups in a new church environment. If you are planting groups from the beginning—which I encourage—then your community groups will each serve as a microcosm of the church as a whole for the first few years.

Starting your first few community groups with strength will enable a healthy trajectory for your new congregation, while neglecting these groups can be costly to the whole church. While every context is different, I encourage some broad principles and practices.

Launching the Pilot Group

Since the first community group will be a microcosm of the church plant, it’s typically best for the lead pastor and his wife to lead the pilot group. Whether it’s located in their own home or another member’s, this is a great foundation for future groups. This pilot group can turn into a core group or launch team, and your future leaders may come from this group as well.

The lead pastor typically sets the tone and culture of the church from this early community group. It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of the lead pastor’s vision for the pilot group. Most church planting statistics show that people who join a new church do so for the community. Whereas a church of 200-400 will grow largely through visitors being attracted to the preaching and worship, churches under 200 tend to grow by fostering deep community through engaging small groups.1

Thus the pilot community group should get a large amount of the church planter’s best energy. This will be difficult for some. Whereas most church planters have been trained in biblical studies, preaching, leadership, and mission, few have received significant training in community groups. As a result, the typical church planter overestimates the need to teach and cast vision and underestimates the need to build relationships and deploy members for mission.

The most effective church planters I’ve witnessed typically do a few things well. They often:

  • Gather in another member’s home and train the hosts as future leaders
  • Share a meal together with the group (approximately 30-45 minutes of group time)
  • Lead a short Bible study or devotional that blends prepared teaching with well-planned questions and times of discussion (30-45 minutes)
  • Offer childcare for families with young children, perhaps using a children’s ministry curriculum
  • Prepare the group for regular growth and multiplication
  • Gather the group outside of regular meeting times for increased fellowship
  • Allow significant time for prayer weekly (15-30 minutes)

 

Consider meeting on Sunday evenings prior to launching your first Sunday gatherings. This will give you the opportunity to launch Sunday evening services if needed, or the community could remain a Sunday evening group if morning services are chosen. You may also want to have a musician lead a few worship songs at the beginning of the gathering time, although you’ll need to subtract this time from discussion, sharing, and prayer. In total, two hours seems to be a good maximum gathering time.

The First Multiplication

Hopefully, this pilot community group will reach new people and grow to be multiplication ready. As described in chapter three, the leader must lay out a vision for multiplication from the first gathering to increase the likelihood of a healthy new group.

Ideally, the next community group leaders after the planter’s family will have some experience leading a small group. Being the first non-pastor community group leader is a big responsibility, and many people may not want to step into this role. While you certainly want a high-character person in this role, you also want to trust God with the people he has given you.

In my opinion, the two non-negotiable things to look for in a group leader at this stage are character and relational skills. While some leadership background and theological knowledge will be helpful, those can be provided through training over time.

While the need for a character-qualified leader or couple should be obvious, we can often forget to look for strong relational skills in our leaders. Remember, your church of 20 to 40 adults will grow primarily from life-giving relationships, not vision and doctrine. Although God can anyone to build his church, it is typically wise not to entrust this particular role to individuals who lack social awareness or who aren’t relationally oriented.

As for the process of multiplication, following chapter three should help ensure a healthy new group. You don’t want to rush this first multiplication; think of it as the DNA for future multiplications and prayerfully seek to make it as healthy as possible.

Shepherding Growth in Small Groups Ministries

In leading groups and coaching numerous other pastors and leaders, I’ve noticed some common growth barriers for groups ministries. You may be familiar with growth barriers for church attendance; there are similar barriers to group ministries. I would expect to see occasional slowing of multiplication at the following points:

5-6 groups: At this stage, the lead pastor will be unable to adequately oversee each community group; it’s ideal to identify another elder or leader who can come alongside him and coach groups toward health.

10-12 groups: Here, the lead pastor will want to consider focusing his time on equipping group coaches and training leaders as a whole; at this stage, you want to consider having three to four coaches overseeing 3-4 groups each. Monthly gatherings of all the leaders together will help with vision and equipping.

25-30 groups: While not all churches will reach this number of groups, for many this will be another difficult barrier. In fact, I have talked to multiple churches over 1000 in attendance that can’t get past this number of groups despite consistent Sunday growth. At this stage, the lead pastor is typically unable to oversee the number of coaches needed, and even then, a second layer of coaches is recommended. In other words, to grow beyond 30 groups, a church will typically need a full-time groups pastor or leader, plus three or four lay elders or head coaches overseeing three or four coaches each. Here, monthly group leader gatherings are essential and a quarterly or annual new group leader training should be considered.

In general, you will want to have a coach for every three or four community groups and an elder for every 10-12 groups. Just like with multiplying, these are conversations to have long before the need is urgent.

Conclusion

In bringing this series to a close, I want to summarize a bit. I believe, after a decade of overseeing community groups ministries, that the thesis of my e-book is reality:

Community groups are the best place for us—as relational beings—to become mature disciples of Christ.

As I did in the first article, I’ll do again here. I want to compel you: Pour your hearts and souls into your community groups.

As a pastor or church leader, you will not regret a minute spent in prayer, reflection, or planning for your groups. If you can cultivate healthy, multiplying groups in the first five years of your church plant, you will reap decades of spiritual transformation and church health.

Let me say it again: Your investment in small groups will pay off exponentially in the souls of your people and the culture of your church.

1. For church size and growth dynamics, see Tim Keller “Leadership and Church Size Dynamics” http://www.gospelinlife.com/leadership-and-church-size-dynamics. See also Bill Easum and Bill Tenny-Trittian, Effective Staffing for Vital Churches.

*This article is Part 8 of an eight-part series on community groups and their importance that will run this summer. Read the full series here.



What is Biblical Theology?

By / Jul 12

Editor’s Note: The Theology in the Everyday series seeks to introduce and explain theological concepts in 500 words or less, with a 200-word section helping explain the doctrine to kids. At For The Church, we believe that theology should not be designated to the academy alone but lived out by faith in everyday life. We hope this series will present theology in such a way as to make it enjoyable, connecting theological ideas to everyday experience and encouraging believers to study theology for the glory of God and the good of the Church. This week, biblical theology.

What is biblical theology? It’s not just theology that is ‘biblical.’ All good theology sits under the authority of Scripture and seeks God’s revelation of Himself in it, but there are several important types of theological study. Biblical theology seeks to understand the unity and diversity of Scripture’s expressions by comparing the Bible’s parts to its other parts in light of the whole canon. Those parts might include a phrase, metaphor, theme, pattern, book, author, genre, section, or even testament (Old or New). When one of these parts is compared to another of these parts or to the whole canon, biblical theology is happening.[1]

There is obvious diversity of expression and emphasis in Scripture, because God spoke through many human authors in many genres on many occasions (Heb 1:1). There is nevertheless unity in Scripture, because it is the one triune God who breathes out all Scripture (2 Tim 3:16), from whom and through whom and to whom are all things (Rom 11:36). Sound biblical theology is biblical not only because it takes God’s Word as its authority and source but because it is occupied with the literary particulars of Scripture, its diverse expressions, its canonical structure (for example, there is both an Old Testament and a New Testament), and the way later books refer to earlier books. It is also theological because it takes all these books as God’s one Book revealing God’s own essential nature through His economy, that is, His interactions with His creation, chiefly through the work of the incarnate Son. Indeed, “All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation”[2] (Luke 24:27).

Biblical theology benefits our exegesis and our systematic theology. It can help us to understand the richness of any given part or passage of Scripture as we study, teach, or preach it. It can also help us see how Scripture’s structure and story support or correct our systematic theology. Biblical theology also benefits from these sister disciplines. For example, the particular grammatical construction of an NT quote of the OT can help us discern whether the NT author is trying to draw out a particular implication of the OT text or perhaps re-apply it to a new context in a new way. Likewise, a theological concept like the hypostatic union–the universal Christian confession that Jesus is one Person with two natures, one divine and one human–can help the biblical theologian rightly relate two diverse statements about Jesus in Scripture by distinguishing whether a passage is referring to Jesus’s one Person, His divine nature, or His human nature (a method called ‘partitive exegesis’).

In the Scriptures, through many human authors in many circumstances, the one God speaks (Heb 1:1), and the unity in this diversity leads us to God’s final Word: Jesus Christ. Biblical theology is the attempt to relate the diversity and the unity alongside the likewise important disciplines of exegesis and systematic theology, all with the ultimate goal of beholding God.

For the Kids:

Do you know how many people wrote parts of the Bible? Dozens!

Can you guess how many words are in the Bible? Hundreds of thousands!

Do you know how many names there are in the Bible? Thousands!

Though the Bible has so many authors, it was written by God. God picked the authors of the Bible, so they were prepared to speak for Him. God’s Spirit inspired them to say exactly what He wanted to say to His people!

Though the Bible has so many words, it is God’s Word. God never lies or changes His mind, so everything in the Bible is true and trustworthy.

Though the Bible has so many names, it’s all about one name: the name of Jesus. God is perfectly wise, so everything in the Bible is connected in God’s big plan of rescue and glory through His Son by His Spirit.

All the authors, words, and names of the Bible are like one big choir, all singing a song of praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: one God in three persons speaking one message in sixty-six books.

Bonus Poem:

The Bible’s a book full of chapters and verses,

Problems and promises, blessings and curses,

Rules and riddles and stories and songs

Of the power of God to make weak people strong

 

It was written by dozens of men through the ages

But the Spirit of God has breathed out all its pages

Its stories are woven together like threads

In one beautiful quilt on a comfortable bed

 

You can rest, child, knowing that all of its words

Are telling the best news that you’ve ever heard

How we all need a hero, and there’s really just One

God sent Him to save us: Jesus, His Son

 

He’s the Word that God spoke when He made everything

He’s the King people want when they cry or they sing

He’s the Lamb who laid down His own life in our place

He’s the Logic of laws and the Giver of grace

 

He’s the Baby Boy laid in Bethlehem’s manger

The Best Friend of sinners who cares for a stranger

The Teacher who taught us to live with great love

The Miracle-Worker who came from above

 

He came for His people, but He was rejected

Accused, betrayed, abandoned, arrested

Though He raised up the dead, He was hung on a tree

To save loveless people like you and like me

 

He went down to the dead, but He didn’t stay there

He walked out with hell’s keys and went up in the air

Now He sits at God’s side, and He gives us good things

He commands us to fly, and He gives us His wings

 

A new life with His Spirit and His family, the Church

Now there’s no better gift, there’s no reason to search

Still we study His Word and find riches of grace

Until Jesus returns and we see face to face

–

[1] Some common types of biblical-theological studies might seek (1) a theme in a book (e.g., “the kingdom in Matthew”), (2) a theme in all Scripture (“the kingdom of God”), (3) an overall structure for Scripture (“from Garden to Garden-City”), or (4) how a later author uses the themes, phrases, or ideas of an earlier author (like the repeated use of “I will be your God”). When this study is done in light of the whole canon in submission to it as God’s Word, we have reason to hope that good biblical theology is happening.

[2] From Article I: The Scriptures, The Baptist Faith and Message, 2000 ed.



Practicing and Maintaining Healthy Group Multiplication

By / Jul 6

Over the last few articles, and in my short book Life-Giving Groups: How to Grow Healthy, Multiplying Community Groups, I’ve been trying to establish a biblical vision for healthy group multiplication and practical steps for carrying out that vision.

Here, I hope to describe some of the action steps that enable healthy group multiplication in the life of a church.

Throw a multiplication party.

When it’s finally time to multiply, gather everyone from the original group to throw a party. It should feel more like a graduation than a funeral. Gather in the backyard, cook a meal together, or host a movie night for the kids. Do something that celebrates the successful multiplication of one community of believers into two. You may even want to take time for members to share how the group was instrumental in their spiritual journey. Or you can just party.

Commission the new leaders publicly.

One of the best ways to honor and bless community groups leaders also generates excitement and exposure for groups in general. Bring your new leaders up front at a Sunday worship service, and commission them to their new ministry. You may bring up the sending leaders as well, or have all the elders up front to lay hands on them. You can give the new leaders a gift—a Bible and a journal or a bunch of pasta and sauce to make together as a group that week—and encourage the congregation to applaud the leaders’ sacrificial service to the church.

Set ground rules for the new group.

See the appendix: “The Five Rules of Community Group.” For the first few weeks, you may want to read these rules out loud, a la Fight Club. Once your group understands the rules, you won’t have to revisit them every week, but your members will be able to remind one another of simple rules like, “Hey, remember we Put Others First, so let’s give her a chance to speak.”

Start the new group with a renewed vision.

Once your new group starts—and both groups may want to do this—you may want to start a short series together to gain a renewed vision. A short study discussing the four discipleship rhythms would help set a vision and direction for the group. Maybe you want to spend six weeks on the six chapters of Ephesians and discuss how your group will seek to grow together and reach others.

Whatever your vision of group life is, it’s ideal to revisit that vision with each new group multiplication. If your groups are multiplying every one or two years, it becomes a helpful reminder for all leaders and members. You don’t want multiplications to feel like high school breakups. Each new group should be celebrated in a way that reminds both the new and the sending group of the biblical foundations for multiplication.

Jump quickly into mission as a new group.

Especially for a group meeting in a new location, there is no better time to start evangelistic efforts as a group. If the new group is meeting in an apartment or home for the first time, the group can spend one of the first gatherings going out and inviting people from the neighborhood. Consider setting a fun, family-style gathering about a month or two into the new group, and specifically invite neighbors to that low-pressure gathering.

Your neighbors’ first experience of your community group shouldn’t be the parking issues created! As soon as you start your group, reach out to them, share your vision for community with them, and invite them to join you!

So once you’ve started your new group, how do you maintain health over the long haul?

Maintaining Health After Group Multiplication

I’ve found a few final things to be helpful in maintaining health after group multiplication.

Gather two or three more times with both groups.

About a month after the multiplication, then maybe again in 3-6 months, gather both groups together for a meal or outdoor party. This is a great way to reconnect with one another, meet new visitors that have joined since the multiplication, and hear stories from the new groups.

These post-multiplication gatherings help remind us that multiplication can be done well, relationships don’t fall apart overnight, and new groups can create space for new people to experience Christ and community.

Form a coaching region where groups still share a common mission.

In an ideal situation, establish a geographically based coaching region for groups that have recently multiplied. For example, if you have a group meeting on the south side of town, and it multiplies into southwest and southeast neighborhoods, you can have one elder or coach oversee the region.

When you reach 12-15 groups, it’s ideal to have three or four regions of groups, each with its own pastoral or coaching oversight. At that point, three or four groups in the same region can gather for missional events and fellowship, helping the church to feel smaller while growing larger. This is also a strategic step in getting pastors and members working together to reach a very particular part of the city.

Give multiplication testimonies at new group leader training.

Once a church has more than a dozen groups, you’ll likely need to add a formal group leader training component (if not sooner). During these trainings, make sure to give examples of healthy multiplication. These testimonies can come from the leaders or even the group members. Let group leaders ask questions like “What worked best?”, “What was your timeline?”, and “What would you do differently?”

The long-term health of your community groups ministry depends significantly on the health of each group’s multiplications.

When you have set a vision and culture of healthy multiplication, when reasonable expectations have been set, when you have prepared well for each new group, and when you have maintained health long after each multiplication process, you will likely see a slow, steady increase of new groups.

*This article is Part 7 of an eight-part series on community groups and their importance that will run this summer. Read the full series here.



What Makes Baptist Political Theology?

By / Jul 3

The distinctive Baptist contribution to political theology is the doctrine of religious freedom and disestablishment. You will find some mention of religious freedom in almost every chapter of this book. But why? And what does religious freedom mean for the whole body of political theology? Is it the only thing we have to say about politics?

An inner logic connects adult baptism, conversion, religious freedom, and disestablishment. Baptism is a ritual that marks the entry of a penitent person into the church community by symbolizing the washing away of sin, the death of the old self and resurrection of the new self. Such a ritual has no meaning for infants or children who have no awareness or understanding of sin, repentance, or the gospel of Jesus Christ. No one can enter the kingdom of God apart from a conscious, inward, informed turning away from sin and toward Christ—a turning that we call repentance and faith. And if people cannot enter the kingdom, they should not be counted full members of the local church, which is an embassy of the kingdom. The church should strive to have a membership made entirely of regenerate Christians, baptized adults who have made a public profession of faith and covenanted together to hold one another accountable for walking in holiness.

By the same logic, no adult can be coerced into the kingdom—or the church—at the point of the sword. Our doctrine of baptism and the church is the seed from which grows an entire panoply of implications about the state. The state may coerce someone into attending the right church, uttering the right creed, and even comporting their behavior to the appearance of outward righteousness—none of which makes the least contribution to a person’s actual salvation. We call this the doctrine of “soul competency,” the idea that each person is accountable to God for himself or herself and no other authority is ultimately able to effect another’s salvation. It is pointless for the state to use its tools, which touch outward behavior, to try to compel inward belief.

Worse, it is dangerous. The state has an educative function. When it passes laws, it habituates people to believe, even if unconsciously, that those laws reflect standards of good and evil. When the state makes laws endorsing, establishing, or regulating religion, it teaches people to rely on the state’s judgment, rather than the church’s or the words of Scripture, for their salvation. Imagine a citizen goes to church and recites a creed because the state tells him to. That citizen is at grave risk of believing he is a Christian because he is performing the appropriate deeds—without any reference at all to the saving work of Christ on the cross. State-endorsed (and, much more so, state-mandated) religion always has strong tendencies toward a religion of works. And there are further dangers, including the long history of states hijacking religion to use as propaganda for whatever political purpose the ruler has in mind. State religion cheapens religion, turning religious authorities into cheerleaders and boosters of the status quo, with all its injustices, and of whomever exercises power, regardless of what that power is used for. State religion has no prophetic witness and no independent voice.

The idea of religious freedom and disestablishment is one of the most revolutionary ideas in world history. Virtually every state in history allied with a religion or, when they banned conventional religion, invented new ones (like communism). The Baptist doctrine of religious freedom amounts to a claim that every state in history got it wrong. It would be breathtaking in its audacity, except for subsequent history in which religious freedom spread worldwide and vindicated the belief that states and churches relate best when they are institutionally and jurisdictionally separate. Every state on earth has (at least on paper) agreed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 18, which affirms that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”[1]

Does the Baptist political witness end there? Do we have anything else to say? In fact, religious freedom and disestablishment, as revolutionary ideas, cannot but have far-reaching consequences throughout the full range of cultural, social, and political issues. Most importantly, religious freedom and disestablishment mean the state has limited jurisdiction. There are matters over which it has no legitimate authority. Religious freedom and disestablishment are thus intrinsically opposed to totalitarianism and, at least, highly suspicious of softer forms of authoritarianism. Totalitarian government is sinful and anti-Christian by its very nature; authoritarian government with no check on its power is inherently dangerous and carries the potential for overstepping its bounds. Baptists should be the first to warn against the encroaching power of states that try to grow beyond their rightful boundaries.

That means Baptists are naturally sympathetic to forms of government that recognize their own limits, have checks on their power, and respect the religious rights of their people. That natural sympathy is reinforced by Baptists’ own practice of congregational autonomy and self-government. Baptists practice self-government among themselves, which habituates them to its rhythms in society at large. That is why, in practice and in history, Baptists are almost exclusively republicans and democrats (with a small r and a small d) who believe in some version of representative government and in civil and political rights. That is not quite the same as saying that Baptists believe the Bible mandates democracy. We respect the authority of the Bible enough to reserve our strongest conclusions for what is explicit and clear in Scripture. But for Baptists, the logic linking biblical revelation to religious freedom and congregational autonomy and, thence, to free government is simpler and stronger than for any other Christian tradition. We have always thrown in our lot with free government. Most Christian traditions in the modern era support basic civil and political rights and find biblical support for them in the idea that all humans bear God’s image and have coequal moral worth. But Baptists add our distinctive doctrine of religious freedom and disestablishment, an additional bulwark against authoritarianism and a cornerstone of free government.

This is an especially needful truth to revive today. We live amidst an upsurge in nationalist sentiment and rising authoritarian powers, which bring twin dangers to the right relationship of church and state. On the one hand, nationalism has historically almost always come tinged with religious rhetoric, religious symbolism, and even religious demagoguery. Statesmen know the power of religion, and if they can tap into that power and redirect it to themselves, they will. On the other hand, in reaction, nationalists’ opponents often blame religious institutions and religious leaders, equate religion with the political agenda they oppose, and seek to shrink, ban, or silence religion in the public square. That means religion is in danger of hijacking by one side and proscription on the other; of being used and manipulated; and of being ignored, sidelined, and neglected.

In this context the Baptist political witness is crucial. More than any other Christian tradition, we can insist on the importance of disestablishment and warn of the dangers of being co-opted by those in power—at the same time and with the same framework that we insist on the vital necessity of religious freedom and a robust and vocal Christian presence in the public square. Christians must advocate for justice, peace, and flourishing—our Lord commands it of us—which means we must be active, present, and free to believe and speak. We must also insist on the state’s limitation and the church’s independence, which means our presence in the public square is never an effort to take it over in the name of serving it.

We have traveled a great distance from the seemingly small matter of believer’s baptism. But that is the legacy of revolutionary ideas. They work their way through the architecture of ideas and recenter relationships in new ways. And the Baptist revolution in religious freedom and disestablishment—in free government and republicanism—is not done yet.

 

[1] United Nations, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 18, un.org, accessed October 27, 2022, https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.

 

Editor’s Note: This article is taken from Baptist Political Theology and used by permission of B&H Academic. The book is now available everywhere Christian books are sold.