Vatican Files no. 19 – Reformation21

Vatican Files no. 19 – Reformation21.

I have also referred several times to this on-going series on contemporary Roman Catholicism at the website “Reformation21″. This is actually a post I had saved last month (April 2013), and just yesterday I received notice that #20 in this series has been posted for this month. I believe it is important for us as 21st century Reformed Protestants to stay informed of the modern church of Rome. These posts by an Italian Reformed Baptist church planter in Rome are significant for our understanding of what Rome continues to do and teach. You will find this one and the latest one significant too.

Here is a part of #19; follow the “Ref21″ link above to read all of it, and to find #20.

Left Without Words: How Roman Catholicism is Reshaping the Evangelical Vocabulary

 

“The beginning of wisdom is the definition of words” (Socrates). If you define a word in a certain way you make claims about reality. Our postmodern culture has stirred us to come to terms with the fact that words do not have stable meanings but exist in an flux that drives them in one way or another depending on the interests of their users. This is the current situation of the word “Evangelical”.

Evangelical Catholicism and the Current Genetic Modification

 

The recent book by George Weigel, Evangelical Catholicism (New York: Basic Books, 2013) is a clever attempt to re-engineer the word by overlooking its Biblical focus, by severing its historical roots and replacing them with other roots, by changing its doctrinal outlook, by staffing its experiential ethos differently, and by renegotiating its religious use. In other words, this is a genetic modification of a word.

…According to Weigel, Evangelical is a qualifying adjective, not a noun. The noun which carries “thick” meaning is Catholicism. Curiously, what used to be termed as “Roman Catholicism” is now shortened to “Catholicism” alone. All the Roman elements of Roman Catholicism are nonetheless part of EC: sacraments, Mariology, hierarchy, traditions, papacy, devotions, etc. To this “Catholicism” Weigel adds the adjective “Evangelical,” which basically refers to the depth of convictions and the passion to make them known. EC is a full orbed Roman Catholicism practiced with strong impetus and missionary zeal. Catholicism is the doctrinal and institutional hardware, while “Evangelical” is the sociological and psychological software. While doctrine deeply remains Roman Catholic, the spiritual mood is called Evangelical.

“Sensational seeds” – Creation.com

Sensational seeds.

A little over a week ago I was finally able to start sowing my garden and my flower beds. It had been a cold, wet Spring thus far in West Michigan, which led to delayed planting time. But the last few weeks have been warm and dry (until yesterday, that is!), and I was eager to get things in the ground. I always put some greenhouse grown vegetable (tomatoes, peppers) and flower plants (geraniums, snapdragons, etc.) in the ground. But the rest are seeds (sugar peas, carrots, swiss chard, beans, squash, etc.; wild flowers, morning glories, moon flowers, etc.) And every year I am amazed at the wonders of life, growth, plants, beauty, and fruit that come from small (in some cases, tiny!) seeds. Seeds are simply an astounding tribute to the wisdom and power of our sovereign Creator and Father-God.

And so I was delighted to see this fascinating article on seeds at Creation.com (posted April 30, 2013). I think you too will identify with the truth that God’s seed world is truly “sensational”! Read the full story at the link above – below is a small part of it.

It’s amazing to think how the information and miniature machinery needed to produce an entire plant is compressed into such a small package. There’s a little energy store, too (known as the endosperm), to enable the germinating seed to firstly send down roots that both anchor the seedling into the ground and act as foraging conduits for water and nutrients. And then secondly to erect solar energy panels (the leaves, of course) to power the growing plant once the seed’s store of energy has been depleted. Imagine—the instructions and equipment needed to build and operate a self-maintaining and environmentally-friendly solar energy capturing system (photosynthesis), inside every seed!

For decades now, top solar energy engineers have been striving to mimic the way plants convert sunlight into fuel—but they’ve got a long way to go yet. In fact, scientists have not yet fully described all that happens in photosynthesis, let alone been able to duplicate it.¹ So, if such highly intelligent minds are thus challenged, what does it say about the One Who not only designed the incredibly complex chemistry behind photosynthesis, but somehow equipped tiny seeds with their own ready-to-build DIY solar energy kit, complete with instructions for sourcing component parts and ongoing maintenance?

Yet there are those who would deny the hand of the Creator in this, instead proclaiming that “evolution did it”. Really, they have “no excuse” (Romans 1:20) for ignoring the incredible design inherent in every seed. And, as every home gardener with a vegetable patch knows, when you plant peas, you get peas—right in line with God having pre-programmed them that way on Day 3 of Creation Week when He commanded the earth to bring forth vegetation, i.e. “plants yielding seed each according to its own kind” (Genesis 1:11–12). When the wheat seeds sown by farmers today at planting time subsequently sprout and grow they give rise to wheat—not lilies or thistles or poison ivy. If wheat didn’t reproduce “according to its kind” the wheat farmers would soon be out of business! Thankfully our God is a God of order, not of confusion or disorder (1 Corinthians 14:33a), as we can witness for ourselves every seedtime and harvest.

What We Talk About When We Talk About God – Rob Bell Reviewed at “Ref21″

What We Talk About When We Talk About God – Reformation21.

Perhaps you have heard – the infamous postmodern “Christian” (heretical) teacher Rob Bell has a new book out: What We Talk About When We Talk About God (HarperOne, 2013). Perhaps you don’t care, based on his previous heretical publications. But you should, not because his book is “must reading”, but because we should know what postmodernists like Bell are doing to and saying about the Christian faith. Indeed, we must defend the faith against those on the outside (such as the new atheists) but also against those on the inside (heretics), who claim to speak for the Lord and for His church. Bell does not, and he must be exposed as such.

As a brief introduction to this book, this is how the publisher describes it on the back cover:

How God is described today strikes many as mean, primitive, backward, illogical, tribal, and at odds with the frontiers of science. At the same time, many intuitively feel a sense of reverence and awe in the world. Can we find a new way to talk about God?

Pastor and New York Times bestselling author Rob Bell does here for God what he did for heaven and hell in Love Wins: he shows how traditional ideas have grown stale and dysfunctional and reveals a new path for how to return vitality and vibrancy to how we understand God. Bell reveals how we got stuck, why culture resists certain ways of talking about God, and how we can reconnect with the God who is with us, for us, and ahead of us, pulling us forward into a better future—and ready to help us live life to the fullest.

What I have linked you to above (top of the post) is a solid, straight-forward review by Dr.Michael Kruger, President and professor of NT at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC. It appeared yesterday (May 6) at the “Reformation21″ website. Here are a couple of points Kruger makes (Read all of his review at the “Ref21″ link above.):

…Of course, Bell’s method of defending Christianity is not by stripping it of its supernatural elements (that was the issue in Bultmann’s day). On the contrary, Bell is quite keen to remind the reader of the supernatural–God is everywhere, busy at work, in us and in our world.   Instead, Bell’s makeover method is to change Christianity into a broad “spirituality.”  His book downplays (and in some instances, simply ignores) many of the key doctrines that make Christianity distinctive. He simply turns Christianity into vague, general, theism. Whereas Bultmann demythologized the faith, Bell has detheologized the faith.

…In the end, my overall concern about this volume is a simple one: it is not Christian. Bell’s makeover of Christianity has changed it into something entirely different. It is not Christianity at all, it is modern liberalism. It is the same liberalism that Machen fought in the 1920′s and the same liberalism prevalent in far too many churches today. It is the liberalism that teaches that God exists and that Jesus is the source of our happiness and our fulfillment, but all of this comes apart from any real mention of sin, judgment, and the cross. It is the liberalism that says we can know nothing for sure, except of course, that those “fundamentalists” are wrong. It is the liberalism that appeals to the Bible from time to time, but then simply ignores large portions of it.

Bell’s book, therefore, is really just spiritualism with a Christian veneer. It’s a book that would fit quite well on Oprah’s list of favorite books. What is Rob Bell talking about when he is talking about God? Not the God of Christianity.

Sunday Worship Preparation – Psalm 115

Once again our Triune God and Father in Jesus Christ calls us to gather for public worship of Him on this Lord’s Day. As we answer this call with believing and obedient hearts, we take Psalm 115 as our guide. The psalmist of this particular song is also unknown, but this is what the Spirit of Christ gave to the human writer to put down for the profit of the whole church of Old and New testaments:

Psalm 115

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.

²Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?

³But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

⁴Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands.

⁵They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:

⁶They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:

⁷They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.

⁸They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.

⁹O Israel, trust thou in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

¹⁰O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

¹¹Ye that fear the Lord, trust in the Lord: he is their help and their shield.

¹²The Lord hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

¹³He will bless them that fear the Lord, both small and great.

¹⁴The Lord shall increase you more and more, you and your children.

¹⁵Ye are blessed of the Lord which made heaven and earth.

¹⁶The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’S: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

¹⁷The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence.

¹⁸But we will bless the Lord from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the Lord.

You will immediately notice the relevance of this psalm for our worship. It opens with that ringing cry for Jehovah alone to receive glory, and that because He alone is God, even the sovereign Lord. The unbelieving heathen (including the “new” atheists of our day) may taunt us with the question of where our God is, but the believing people of God know: He is in the heavens on His throne, performing all His sovereign plan and pleasure. In the meantime, where are the “gods” of the heathen? Well, they are idols (vanities, empty lies) and mere images of nothing. They are the product of men’s imaginations and the work of his hands. Notice how the psalmist contrasts Jehovah God with these “gods” of the nations (vss.4-8). And as dumb and deaf, as motionless and powerless, as these idols are, so are those who put their trust in them. Do we see then, that our own worship of the one true God means we must forsake all our own idols as well as those of the world about us? Entering the holy courts of the Lord means that we drop our lying vanities at the door and come to give God alone the glory!

In harmony with this truth that Jehovah alone is God, the psalmist calls and encourages the believing people of God to put their trust in Him alone (vss.9-16). The repetition of the call stresses its importance – and reveals our dullness and slowness to trust in the Lord. Simply look back on this week. When things were good, we forgot to trust Him because we thought we didn’t need God as our help and shield. And when things were rough, we still were slow to trust Him because we thought we could handle things by ourselves – we could be our own help and shield. But God teaches us that it is not so – by His Word and by His providences. And we learn (oftentimes, the hard way!) to trust the sovereign Lord as our only help and shield. As we stand – and bow! – in His presence today, let us reveal our trust in Him alone. Let us give Him all the glory – and give none to ourselves!

We are also encouraged to worship the only true and living God here. Note how the psalmist does so with the words of vss.12-16. God has been mindful of us – what a thought is that! Puny, insignificant, speck of dust, sinful me?! and you?! Yes, even us. From all eternity mindful of us. Thinking of us in Christ and for His sake. Mindful to create us as unique persons. Mindful to elect us to redemption in His Son. Mindful to send Christ to accomplish all our salvation. Mindful to plan our whole lives in perfect wisdom. Mindful to carry out that plan in absolute sovereignty. All for our good, even our everlasting good. Because He would bless us. O, He will bless us, because He is the Blessed God, and because He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus (Eph.1:3). Indeed we are blessed, people of God!

And what do such blessed people do? They bless the Lord, “from this time forth and for evermore” (v.18).  The dead can’t and don’t praise Him (v.17), but we are alive in our risen Savior and by His Spirit! So “praise the LORD”, fellow worshippers! Let us this day bless the One Who has so richly blessed us.

If you desire to meditate on Psalm 115 through music, I encourage you to listen to some versifications of this psalm at the PRC Psalter page. Here is one such versification to get you started (Click on the title to hear piano accompaniment):

308.  The Living and True God.  Psalm 115.  L.M.  (4 stanzas)

1. Not unto us, O Lord of heaven,
But unto Thee be glory given;
In love and truth Thou dost fulfill
The counsels of Thy sovereign will;
Though nations fail Thy power to own,
Yet Thou dost reign, and Thou alone.

2. The idol gods of heathen lands
Are but the work of human hands;
They cannot see, they cannot speak,
Their ears are deaf, their hands are weak;
Like them shall be all those who hold
To gods of silver and of gold.

3. Let Israel trust in God alone,
The Lord Whose grace and power are known;
To Him your full allegiance yield,
And He will be your help and shield;
All those who fear Him God will bless,
His saints have proved His faithfulness.

4. All ye that fear Him and adore,
The Lord increase you more and more;
Both great and small who Him confess,
You and your children He will bless;
Yea, blest are ye of Him Who made
The heavens, and earth’s foundations laid.

5. The heavens are God’s since time began,
But He hath given the earth to man;
The dead praise not the living God,
But we will sound His praise abroad,
Yea, we will ever bless His Name;
Praise ye the Lord, His praise proclaim.

Resolution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church-US Concerning Same Sex Marriage

Resolution of the Reformed Presbyterian Church-US Concerning Same Sex Marriage.

This news item was part of the weekly “Aquila Report” summary I receive each week ( I have referenced this before and encouraged you to subscribe. It is a good source for news on Reformed and Presbyterian churches, colleges, etc.). This resolution recently adopted by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America is faithful to Scripture and powerful in its witness to the truth of God on sexuality and marriage.

I will give you the “AR” introduction (below) and urge you to read this entire resolution at the link above. And now, I also ask you, Is it time for our churches through its Synod also to address this matter to our government? Do we not even have the duty before God to do so? We have made statements before on Sabbath observance and union membership. Why not on this pressing issue of our day?

I am simply thinking out loud. Why would we not?! I know the arguments we have mustered in the past about doing this kind of thing (It’s not ecclesiastical business; it’s a matter of private citizenship, not public church pronouncement, etc.), but are these really true and justifiable? Is not the church the conscience of the nation? Does she not speak publicly from her pulpit every week (And now, through the Internet more openly and farther and wider than ever before!)? Why then not publicly to our government by way of letter?

I also understand the question of where to draw the line, if one starts to do this. Shall we then also draft letters on abortion, other marriage issues, as well other social evils? These are not easy questions to answer, and I do not pretend to have the answers. I do believe, however, that we have “privatized” our united, ecclesiastical and public faith too much.

In any case, here is the Aquila Report introduction to the resolution:

The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the U.S., at it meeting on April 19, 2013, adopted a statement concerning Homosexuality and Same Sex marriage. They intentionally included positions from the Presbyterian Church in America and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church with the hope that they would once again join in making a prophetic statement to those in civil authority that the fear and judgment of God may at least move enough legislators and judges not to approve of or support legalizing “same sex marriage.” Their desire is that the whole Christian, and especially the Reformed church, should protest this matter.

And here is the first part of the resolution. Read the rest here:

The Reformed Presbyterian Church in the United States being of more recent origin than the Presbyterian Church in America does at this date adopt the position of the Presbyterian Church in America on Homosexuality adopted at the 5th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America, 1977, 5-49, 4, p. 67 and 8, p. 68:

Whereas, God has plainly spoken of homosexuality in his Word, denouncing both the,  act and the desire as sin, condemning this perversion as unnatural, a degrading,  passion, an indecent act, an error, an abomination and hence worthy of death  (Lev. 18:22, Rom. 1:26-32); and

Whereas, we recognize, that God’s righteous judgment is upon those who approve of  such detestable acts, as well as those who practice them; and

Moreover, whereas God has clearly stated that the condoning of homosexuals along  with murderers, immoral men, kidnappers, liars, perjurers and all other  unrighteousness is contrary to sound teaching (1 Timothy 1:11, 2 Peter 3:14-18);

Therefore, be it resolved that the General Assembly encourage Christians to recognize  their responsibility to petition the powers that be that such men and women who  practice, approve, or condone any of these activities not be invested with the authority to teach in schools or be in a position where they can influence our  nation, which professes “In God we trust.”

“Abortion” – Randy Alcorn

Abortion by Randy Alcorn | Reformed Theology Articles at Ligonier.org.

Yesterday I read the final main feature article in the April 2013 Tabletalk, which is on the theme “Defining Personhood” (See my previous Monday posts this month.). This article is simply titled “Abortion”, and is written by Randy Alcorn, who has also penned a book on this subject as well as numerous articles.

Alcorn begins with a strong Biblical defense of the personhood of the unborn and shows that the Word of God clearly counts abortion as murder. He also points out the proper perspective we must take of children, viz., that they are “a gift and blessing from the Lord”. He also addresses the line of argument from the pro-abortion camp that abortion is a necessity because of rape and incest (1% of actual abortions). He includes here some powerful quotes from other sources.

Again, there may be some statements and points with which we would differ with Alcorn, but on the whole this is a very profitable article, and I encourage you to read all of it at the Ligonier link above. Below are a few paragraphs to get you started.

Some “pro-choice” advocates claim to base their beliefs on the Bible. They maintain that Scripture does not prohibit abortion. They are wrong. The Bible does, in fact, emphatically prohibit the killing of innocent people (Ex. 20:13) and clearly considers the unborn to be human beings worthy of protection (21:22–25).

Job graphically described the way God created him before he was born (Job 10:8–12). That which was in his mother’s womb was not something that might become Job, but someone who was Job—the same man, only younger. To the prophet Isaiah, God says, “Thus says the Lord who made you, who formed you from the womb and will help you” (Isa. 44:2). What each person is, not merely what he might become, was present in his mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13–16 paints a vivid picture of God’s intimate involvement with a preborn person. God created David’s “inward parts” not at birth, but before birth. David says to his Creator, “You knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (v. 13). Each person, regardless of his parentage or handicap, has not been manufactured on a cosmic assembly line, but personally formed by God. All the days of his life are planned out by God before any come to be (v. 16).

Meredith Kline observes: “The most significant thing about abortion legislation in Biblical law is that there is none. It was so unthinkable that an Israelite woman should desire an abortion that there was no need to mention this offense in the criminal code.” All that was necessary to prohibit an abortion was the command, “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13). Every Israelite knew that the preborn child was a child. So do we, if we are honest. We all know a pregnant woman is “carrying a child.”

“The Ethics of Personhood” – Justin Holcomb

The Ethics of Personhood by Justin Holcomb | Reformed Theology Articles at Ligonier.org.

The third feature article on the theme of this month’s Tabletalk (“Defining Personhood”) is the above-linked article by pastor Justin Holcomb. Holcomb covers the spectrum of Biblical ethics relating to human personhood. He starts with the Biblical view and its implications (before the Fall), goes on to treat unbiblical view of personhood and its consequences (after the Fall), and ends with the gospel’s call to justice and mercy. I do not know this pastor/author, and his reference to “shalom” early in the article made my Reformed attennae perk up, but overall this was a profitable article. Here are a couple of paragraphs from it; read the rest at the Ligonier link above.

Unbiblical Views of Personhood

Genesis 3 records the terrible day when humanity fell and shalom was violated. Adam and Eve violated their relationship with God by rebelling against His command. This was cosmic treason. Instead of trusting God’s wise and good word, they trusted the Serpent’s crafty and deceitful words. In response, the Creator cursed humanity with futility and death. God’s royal image fell into the severe ignobility we all experience.

This tragic fall plunged humanity into a relational abyss. After the fall, humanity was enslaved to idolatry (hatred for God) and violence (hatred for each other). Sin inverts love for God, which in turn becomes idolatry, and inverts love for neighbor, which becomes exploitation of others.

The fallen human heart finds ways to justify its hatred of other people and its desire to exploit them. The result is the multitude of unbiblical views of personhood found throughout human history that dehumanize and exclude people who are made in God’s image. There have been several major non-Christian views of the nature of humanity, such as the rationalistic dualism of Plato, the materialist economic determinism of Karl Marx, the psychic determinism of Sigmund Freud, and the environmental conditioning determinism of B.F. Skinner. Myriad other unbiblical ideologies of personhood have existed, such as tribalism, Social Darwinism, racism, Nazism, and views of superior personhood based on religion, wealth, gender, age, intellect, heredity, and many other factors.

But from there Holcomb takes us to the gospel of God in Christ, ending with this point:

At its best, the church has been known for love and sacrificial service to the poor, oppressed, and marginalized. Such service has been a powerful apologetic for the gospel. By upholding the dignity of all people as the image of God and tangibly expressing the biblical ethic of personhood flowing from it, the church can be a light to the nations and participate in God’s mission by welcoming the weak and powerless to find grace, mercy, and rest in Jesus Christ.

Philadelphia abortion clinic horror – K.Powers

Philadelphia abortion clinic horror: Column.

The MSM (main stream media) has largely and significantly (though not surpisingly) been silent on this story of the trial of Philadephia murderer-abortionist Kermit Gosnell. But Kirsten Powers, a Fox News political analyst, writing in USA Today (April 11, 2013), calls her fellow journalists to task and expresses outrage over this silence and over the murderous actions of this doctor of death. Here is a portion of what she wrote:

Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven’t heard about these sickening accusations?

It’s not your fault. Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page. The revolting revelations of Gosnell’s former staff, who have been testifying to what they witnessed and did during late-term abortions, should shock anyone with a heart.

NBC-10 Philadelphia reported that, Stephen Massof, a former Gosnell worker, “described how he snipped the spinal cords of babies, calling it, ‘literally a beheading. It is separating the brain from the body.” One former worker, Adrienne Moton, testified that Gosnell taught her his “snipping” technique to use on infants born alive.

The actions of this doctor are revolting to the mind, heart and stomach. I cannot begin to imagine how this man could do such things to tiny infants and function in other areas of life. I cannot imagine the horrors of working in such an environment of killing.

And yet Dr.Gosnell’s actions are the logical working out of the principles to which those in the abortion industry and those who support it are committed. If unborn babies are not real persons in their estimation, then what difference does it make if you kill them before or after they are born? In fact, what difference does it make if you kill a person in his/her 40′s or 80′s by euthanasia (so-called “mercy killing) or if you take his/her life at birth?

It doesn’t, because principles always work through. This is what we are seeing in our day. Horrifying? Indeed! Logical? Yes, given the rejection of God’s principles for life and loving Him and the neighbor. And maybe that’s why the MSM ignores this story. Because it isn’t really gruesome news to them anyway. It’s all quite normal.

“Blood in the Streets” – R.C. Sproul Jr.

Blood in the Streets by R.C. Sproul Jr. | Reformed Theology Articles at Ligonier.org.

In connection with the theme of this month’s Tabletalk and under his usual rubric “Seek Ye First” R.C.Sproul, Jr. wrote the above-linked hard-hitting piece on our calling to defend the lives of the unborn. As Sproul points out, we have become too comfortable in our Christian lives and too complacent about the plight of the unborn and those involved in the abortion industry. Be prepared to be awakened (shaken!) to the cause and the need when you read this. I was.

Here are a few paragraphs from the article. You will find all of it at the Ligonier link above.

Our Lord reigns. His kingdom knows no bounds, for all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him. But there remains in His realm rebellion. There is work to do. In this country, we have once again denied the humanity of an entire class of people—the unborn. In so doing, we have shown forth our inhumanity. What may be worse is that this great evil demonstrates our lack of humanity. How twisted, how distorted, is a state that God ordained to punish evildoers, but that instead uses the sword God gave it to guard the grisly practitioners of this crime? How twisted, how distorted, are men who were made to protect and defend women and children, but who now drag their girlfriends, wives, or daughters to killing centers? How twisted, how distorted, are women who were made to nurture their babies, but who now hire assassins to kill them?

This, beloved, is the battle. Here is the drama. Souls of men and women are being twisted and slowly dragged into the very pit of hell. Babies are being burned alive, on purpose. And we, even though we have been made alive, even though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, worry more about stock markets and football teams.

Right now, in our own neighborhoods, people’s lives are at stake. Every one of our neighbors, young or old, male or female, believer or not, will die. And when they die, they will become fully, finally, and forever one thing or another.

…We don’t seek the kingdom merely when we read our Bibles or sing our hymns. We seek the kingdom when we love our wives and cherish our children. We seek it when we weep and mourn for the murder of our neighbors, and when we weep and mourn for our neighbors’ murderers. We seek the kingdom when we call on men to be men and women to be women. We seek the kingdom when we welcome the least of these into our lives, into our homes, and into our families.

Dr. R.C. Sproul Jr. is a teaching fellow of Ligonier Ministries and founder of Highlands Ministries. He is author of the video series Economics for Everybody.

“Imago Dei” (The Image of God in Man) – Mark E. Ross

Imago Dei by Mark Ross | Reformed Theology Articles at Ligonier.org.

As we noted last Monday, this month’s Tabletalk is devoted to the theme of “Defining Personhood”, being a form of “pro-life manifesto”. The second feature article on this subject is written by Mark E. Ross, associate dean and associate professor of systematic theology at Erskine Theological Seminary in Columbia, SC (tied to the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church). In this article he ties the theme of personhood and the Christian pro-life position to the image of God in man (“Imago Dei” is Latin for “image of God”).

We may have some theological points of difference with Ross on the nature of the image of God in man especially after the Fall (One has to be extremely careful about the language he uses about and the content he gives to the image of God in fallen man.), yet I believe Ross does a commendable job of showing how our Biblical view of life and personhood is also tied to the “Imago Dei”. You will not have to agree with every point to appreciate the God-centered perspective we must have as we look at our neighbor – and especially that unborn neighbor.

Her are a few paragraphs from Ross’ article; read all of it at the Ligonier link above.

When God makes man, He breaks the pattern that He has set by creating living things according to their kinds. The tenfold mention of this pattern causes us to expect it with each new living creature to appear, but something quite different happens when man is made; he is not made “according to [his] kind.” Neither is man created according to any other kind among the living creatures. Man does not, therefore, belong to their kinds, whatever similarities there may be between him and the other creatures. To put it in modern scientific language, he is not a particular species within a given genus of living creatures. Man is unlike any of the other living creatures (v. 26). Surprising as it is, man is made according to God’s “kind,” made in the image of God (imago Dei). Man, like God, is a personal being. God Himself, as the Bible later reveals, is three persons all sharing one divine essence. Human persons are created beings, and in that regard (as in others) they are similar to and share characteristics with other created beings. But what is most important about human persons is their likeness to God. This likeness is so very special that it sets them apart from all the other creatures God made. Man is not made according to their kinds; he is made according to God’s “kind.” In other words, man is made as the image and likeness of God.

…Further, as we are to respect God and bless Him by our words, so we must never curse those made in the likeness of God (James 3:9). The whole of human ethics is grounded in the imago Dei. Husbands must love their wives as Christ loved the church (Eph. 5:25–27). Fathers must discipline and instruct their children as the Lord does His children (6:4). The comforting love of a mother is the image and likeness of the comforting love of God (Isa. 66:13). Earthly masters should reflect the justice and fairness found in the heavenly Master (Eph. 6:9; Col. 4:1). Though sin has greatly defaced God’s image in us, by God’s grace in Christ that image is renewed (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). Living by that grace, people see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). When our restoration is complete, we shall forever live in the presence of God, clothed with His glory (Rev. 21–22), having truly become His “kind” of people. Thanks be to God.