Freedom of God

We live in the age of democracy. Most of us are living in countries where all citizens are considered equal and are free. This freedom is limited to certain things which our government has given us as privilege, say for example right to freedom of speech, right to practice and profess any religion etc. But still we are not free in the fullest sense. For example, we are bound to the law of gravity even if I want to break from it, we cannot. We cannot stop time and go back to the past or future. We cannot control our aging process. We are not free from physical death. These are some of the things from which we are not free. There are so many things like that in our lives. So we are not free indeed in many things. But this is not the case with God.

God is free in absolute sense. He is not time bound. He is the one who created gravity and the laws of this universe. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is not bound to anything in this universe. He needs no councils and he is not under any other creation’s authority be it visible or invisible ones.

To reiterate that fact, let us look at two passages from scripture.

"Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. "Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? "Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'? (Job 38:2-11)”

Here God is asking a series of rhetoric questions to Job to make him understand His absolute power and His wisdom in how the entire creation has been created through His power. The above passage is just an example which I have quoted to state the point I am trying to convey. I will give another example from scripture to prove the absolute freedom God is having:

“All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?" (Dan 4:35)

Nebuchadnezzar was a king of Babylon. During his period, Babylon was the only superpower nation of the world and almost all other civilized nations were under its control either directly or through diplomatic supremacy, somewhat like our present day United States. As a ruler and king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar was proud about his accomplishments. Immediately, God gave him some mental illness and he was so humiliated that he was put to stay along with animals. Then he realised his folly and understood that there is God who is so powerful and mighty with absolute freedom to do whatever He wants to in this universe, who is much greater than the greatest king in the world.

These are some of the examples given in Scripture to show us the absolute freedom God is having. He is free to do whatever He wants to do. There is nothing which God cannot do. God is not bound to any other authority.

There are some people who ask questions like this: If God is having absolute freedom, then why is there suffering in this world? Where is God when we suffer? Can God stop all sufferings in this world?

Before giving a straight forward answer, let us remember who God is in first place. God need not have to create this universe. Even if God didn’t create this universe, even if He didn’t create any of the creation in this universe, He would have been the same. He is in no way dependant on us. Even if He didn’t create any human beings, He will be the same and he could have might as well not created anyone or anything. So the question is not ‘Can God eradicate sufferings in this world?’ but rather ‘Should God eradicate sufferings in this world?’ In other words, is God under some higher authority, where He is bound to eradicate sufferings in this world? Bible’s answer to that question is no. God is the highest authority in this universe. He is answerable to no one.

Inspite of having such absolute power, God’s only son, Jesus Christ though He has the exact nature of God, yet He chose out of His absolute freedom to become humble and take the form of human flesh and took up the cross and died for us so that we can be free from our sins. How great our God is! The very God who has absolute freedom chose to take up the worst form of bondage so as to give us freedom! Now when we ask the question why we are suffering, we should also ask this question, why God who has absolute power and freedom, should also suffer in the worst way possible? This is the only answer: “He does all that he pleases.” (Psa 115:3)

What is the application of knowing about God’s absolute freedom for us? Firstly it gives us a sense of awe and wonder about how great our God is. We worship a God who has absolute power and authority. Also this gives us humility to know how inadequate and weak we are. Inspite of this contrast, God chose to love us so much so that He gave us His only son, the Lord God Jesus Christ for the sake of our redemption from our sins. How great is the love of God?

Second thing which we can learn from this attribute is that, there is nothing beyond God’s control. Even if we think our life is so messed up, God can change that and make it a God honouring one. The best example for that is the life of Samson. We know that Samson was not faithful to God fully when he was in his youth. But towards the end of his life, when he was blind and bounded, when his life was in absolute shambles, God used him mightily so much so that the final battle is one of the greatest battle ever he had fought against the Philistines.

This is the same God upon whom we have our faith in. Therefore let us bow down and worship such an awesome God with full reverence and honor and be hopeful that He would lead us to Shalom one day. May the Lord bless us all!

On Secret Sins - Excerpts from Puritan writer S.S. Smith

It has been a long time since I have written an article in this blog. Hopefully I would be able to be regularly update this blog in future, God willing. Today I would like to share some thoughts on 'secret sins' and ways to overcome them.

What is Secret Sin?

Secret sins are those which are committed either in our hearts or flesh which no one else who are close to us may know except God. These may appear benign but most of them have fallen into horrendous acts of evil because they have let the secret sins to dwell in their lives.  How can we identify and make ourselves pure from secret sins?

1) Fear of God:

The starting point of any sins in our lives would be because of the lack of fear of God. So to overcome this sin, we would have to have the holy reverence and honor for God both in our thoughts and actions.

Exodus 20:20 "“Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” 

2) Lack of knowledge of Word of God:

We sin in our lives because we don't know what exactly sin is. In order to know that we have to go back to scripture and meditate upon it to identify what are all the areas which are not pleasing to God so that we don't do it.

Hosea 4:6My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge;

Listen to the words of the puritan on this:

"Those who are least informed, indeed, cannot be wholly ignorant of the evil of these vices, but, unacquainted with the holiness and extent of the divine law, the high degree of their criminality is, in a great measure, unknown to them. They are covered with the guilt of secret faults, and are sinking into perdition, unconscious of the load that is pressing them down." 

3) Love of self:

Our Lord Jesus has given a call to all of us deny our self.  

"Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Mat 16:24

The reason for such call of Jesus is because we are all totally evil in our being. Our minds are totally corrupt and our natural tendency is to do evil. No man born in this world is innocent. Who has taught a child to steal chocolates from the jar? It just come naturally for all men. So the reason why we entertain secret sins is because we love our self and follow what our hearts desire rather than doing the will of God.

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked, who can know it?"

"Of all the principles of self-deceit pleasure is the most powerful, and opens the widest field for those impositions which men are daily passing upon themselves. They are easily deceived where they already wish to be deceived. Whatever yields them pleasure they are studious to justify. All the fallacies of reason are mustered up to defend the favorite indulgence, and to overcome those scruples that fill the mind, and oppose themselves to the first approaches of vice. "

3)Culture and society around us:

We are the products of our culture. We tend to take things for granted because everyone around us does those things. Many of our habitual sins are because of this kind of reasoning. Some sins are so specific for a particular culture. This has been repeatedly seen in history. For example, abortion is so common in our society and many people don't even consider it as sin. Even 30 years ago, homosexuality was considered an 'abomination' in west, but now it's just a 'lifestyle' because of the influence of the culture. We may also entertain may sins in our lives because others around us are doing it. Smith calls this 'general influence'. 

"In consequence of that mysterious sympathy by which men are drawn together, and formed on each other's character and model, they slide insensibly into manners that are continually presented to view in the public example. Custom they confound in their ideas with propriety. And, in a thousand instances, we daily see folly lose its impertinence, and frivolity, deformity, and even vice cease to disgust when recommended and justified by fashion. The best of men frequently perceive their zeal for the glory of God, and the highest interests of human nature, languish through the lukewarmness and formality that have invaded the great body of their fellow Christians. They contract some taint in their own manners from the general license in the midst of which they live. "Because iniquity abounds the love of many waxes cold."

4) Our Secular Education:

One of the most important reason Smith gives for secret sins is the influence of education. What we learn in our classroom, the underlying philosophies, drive the culture of the society. For that, I can show from the culture of my country. Indian culture of the 80s is different from the present culture because of education. The early indian culture considered traditional family morality, virtue, honesty and love for others more important than money and hedonism. Entered the education of 90s which taught us, the children of that time, that money and hedonism are the centre of everything in life. The society taught us, to become a doctor or an engineer and grow in our career, as the greatest achievement of the life. This effect is seen in the present age. Both husband and wife goes for work leaving their children to day care from the age of 1 for earning more money. This has resulted in broken marriages, broken children, increased violence against women, increased corruption in the society, abortion, etc. This is just an example. Historians attribute the fall of roman empire to the influence of education during that time, which destroyed that society to barbarianism. 

This will affect our churches too. Who is called a good Christian according to our culture? Anyone who is not offending others by telling them anything that offends them. Many students fellowship don't talk about worship because it can offend people. This kind of reasoning is because of the predominant worldview of our society 'New age thinking'. The term 'agree to disagree' has come because of this faulty reasoning.

Much more are they liable to errors in their conduct of inferior moment from the false principles which the frailty of reason and the prejudices of education frequently mingle with the religious systems of the best of men. -- They maintain, perhaps, the basis of divine truth; but they erect upon it a superstructure, in many instances, incorporated with errors of greater or less magnitude. In whatever degree such errors exist, in the same proportion is the spirit of their piety impaired, and the system of their virtues rendered imperfect. According to the figure of the apostle, if they build on the solid foundation of the gospel, wood, hay, stubble, that is, any erroneous principles that lead to an unholy practice, their works shall be burnt, but themselves shall be saved yet so as by fire -- the fire shall consume all the false additions that have been made to this rock of ages which supports the faith and hope of every real believer. Yet, till the day when the fire shall try them, the mistaken professors of the gospel may not only remain blind to the imperfections of their own character, but even flatter themselves with the idea of their innocence or their merit.

With this in mind, let us seek to glorify God by repenting of our secret sins and asking God to mercifully deliver us from them.

Refutation of Cessationism – Part 1

(I am going to post a series on the unbiblical doctrine of cessationism for few weeks with refutation of each arguments for cessationism each week)

Introduction:

Cessationism is a doctrinal stand which says that the miracles, prophecies, tongues, supernatural healings by the Holy Spirit etc., (Charismatic gifts) has stopped after the closure of Canon of Scripture. It is important that we define our terms correctly before starting an argument. So I am going to use the definition of CARM on Cessationism:

“Cessationism is the position within Christianity that the Charismatic Spiritual gifts (speaking in tongues, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, interpretation of tongues, etc.) ceased with the closing of the Canon of scripture and/or the death of the last apostle.”

Many Christians consider Cessationism as a minor doctrinal position like Baptism etc, which means that a person may choose to not to be a cessationist but still his salvation won’t be affected by his stance. Whereas few other Christians are so vocal and some even consider that a person may be damned to hell if he is not believing in Cessationism. Take for example the case of Dr. John MacArthur from his statement in his conference ‘Strange Fire’:

“Why don’t evangelical leaders speak against this (Charismatic) movement?  Why is their such silence? Look When somebody attacks the person of Christ the Evangelical world rises up and says “no, no, no!”  . . . the Holy Spirit has been under massive assault for decades and decades, and Ive been asking the question ‘where are the people rising up in protest against the abuse and the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?‘ The only thing I can suggest is that they have been literally backed up into a corner by intimidation that they need to be loving and accepting and tolerant and not divisive in the body of Christ, thats been the mantra. . .”

According to Dr. John MacArthur, if a person is doing miracles or speaking in tongues in this era, he is damned to hell because he is blaspheming the Holy Spirit, even if he claims to be a Christian and shows signs of regeneration. This is just to show you the seriousness of this issue. Many Cessationist are like him vocally accusing Christians of following a damnable heresy.

Even with this background, I can say that I am a continuationist. I believe that Charismatic Spiritual gifts has not yet ceased. The reason I am doing so is because I have Scripture as my support to prove that Charismatic Spiritual gifts to exist even now. Not only that, I am going to show that all cessationists are basing their theology on slippery slope with no scriptural evidence for their stance. I know I may be branded by these militant Cessationist as a ‘heretic’ for being a Continuationist, but Catholics did the same to the reformers for showing Justification by Faith Alone from Scripture. So I fear God more than the approval of men.

In these series of articles, I am going to disprove Cessationism with one argument at a time for each article. So let me start with the first argument today. For this passage, I would like to ask my readers to keep your bible open with 1Corinthian 13 all the time so that it would be easy for you to follow my arguments as I would be going back and forth the context of those verses to understand and refute cessationism.

Cessationist Argument 1: Charismatic Spiritual gifts will cease when the perfect ( Closed canon) comes (1Cor 13:10):

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.

(1Co13:9-10)

I think an exposition of this text is sufficient for rebuttal of this argument. Let us look at the background of this text. Apostle Paul has written 1 Corinthians to Corinth church which had been struggling with many sinful practices and wrong ecclesiology. In 1Cor 12-14, he gives regulations on how to use the spiritual gifts. As he was encouraging the church to seek for spiritual gifts, he said, love is much more superior to all other spiritual gifts (1Cor 12:31), because love is patient, kind, bears all things, rejoices in the truth. It is superior to spiritual gifts because, love never ends (1Cor 13:8), but prophecies, tongues and knowledge will cease (1Cor 13:8). Paul goes on to say that “when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away (1Cor 13:10)” So both cessationists and continuationists all agree that prophecies and tongues would cease at some point of time when the ‘perfect’ comes. But both differ at this question, when prophecies and tongues cease to exist. Cessationists say that spiritual gifts would cease with the closure of canon, since according to them, in 1Cor 13:10, perfect means ‘closed canon’. Benjamin Warfield held on to this view. Continuationists would say that spiritual gifts would cease when Christ comes back again, when we are all glorified, since ‘perfect’ means ‘glorified body’.

So does ‘perfect’ means ‘Closed canon’ or ‘Glorified Body’?

The greek word for perfect in Verse 10 is ‘Teleios’ which means ‘Complete’. I agree that this can be used for both ‘Glorified body’ and ‘Closed Canon’, I would say the context of this verse seems to suggest that it means ‘glorified body’:

1)     The object of this passage is Corinth church. As I have told you before, Paul is addressing the believers in Corinth Church and instructing them the right doctrines. It is against hermeneutics to suddenly change the object from ‘glorified believers’ to ‘Closure of canon’.

2)      In Verse 8, Paul says ‘knowledge will pass away’. Paul here means our ‘knowledge which we know in part’ passes away (Verse 9). Partial Knowledge cannot pass away until the Second coming of Christ because when Christ comes, we will be knowing clearly about Him because Bible promises about that in Hab 2:14: For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. With the context of Verse 11,12 it would mean only when we see Christ face to face, our partial knowledge will pass away.

3)      Scripture should interpret Scripture. There are similar passages in the Bible which can be used to compare this account. I will quote some here. You can look up the other passages from this website.

“(Matthew 12:32) Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come.

(Mark 10:30) but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.

(Luke 18:30) who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the world to come, eternal life

(Ephesians 1:21) far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come.”

From these verses, we can see there are two ages. This age and age to come. What is ‘This age’? This earthly life. What is ‘this age to come’? Glorified New heavens and new earth. 

With this in context read these verse now:

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1Co 13:12)

If we apply the rule ‘Scripture interpret Scripture’, then the best possible meaning for the word ‘face to face’ is ‘Christ in New Heavens after second coming of Christ’, not ‘Closed Canon’. If you disagree here, then you would have to reject 2^nd coming of Christ and be a strict preterist.

This is why John Calvin also comments ‘Perfect’ as ‘Glorified body’ and ‘Face to face’ as ‘seeing Christ when we are glorified after His 2^nd coming’.

“He now proves that prophecy, and other gifts of that nature, are done away, [798] because they are conferred upon us to help our infirmity. Now our imperfection will one day have an end. Hence the use, even of those gifts, will, at the same time, be discontinued, for it were absurd that they should remain and be of no use. They will, therefore, perish. This subject he pursues to the end of the chapter.

9. We know in part This passage is misinterpreted by most persons, as if it meant that our knowledge, and in like manner our prophecy, is not yet perfect, but that we are daily making progress in them. Paul's meaning, however, is -- that it is owing to our imperfection that we at present have knowledge and prophecy. Hence the phrase in part means -- "Because we are not yet perfect." Knowledge and prophecy, therefore, have place among us so long as that imperfection cleaves to us, to which they are helps. It is true, indeed, that we ought to make progress during our whole life, and that everything that we have is merely begun. Let us observe, however, what Paul designs to prove -- that the gifts in question are but temporary. Now he proves this from the circumstance, that the advantage of them is only for a time -- so long as we aim at the mark by making progress every day.

10. When that which is perfect is come "When the goal has been reached, then the helps in the race will be done away." He retains, however, the form of expression that he had already made use of, when he contrasts perfection with what is in part "Perfection," says he, "when it will arrive, will put an end to everything that aids imperfection." But when will that perfection come? It begins, indeed, at death, for then we put off, along with the body, many infirmities; but it will not be completely manifested until the day of judgment, as we shall hear presently. Hence we infer, that the whole of this discussion is ignorantly applied to the time that is intermediate.”

And on the phrace ‘Face to face’, Calvin comments like this:

The ministry of the word, I say, is like a looking-glass For the angels have no need of preaching, or other inferior helps, nor of sacraments, for they enjoy a vision of God of another kind; [802] and God does not give them a view of his face merely in a mirror, but openly manifests himself as present with them. We, who have not as yet reached that great height, behold the image of God as it is presented before us in the word, in the sacraments, and, in fine, in the whole of the service of the Church. This vision Paul here speaks of as partaking of obscurity -- not as though it were doubtful or delusive, but because it is not so distinct as that which will be at last afforded on the final day.

We can clearly see that Calvin also is also interpreting this passage like a continuationist. Christ is what we see face to face when we are perfect.

Also there are two problems if we mean ‘closure of canon’ as ‘perfect’:

1)      It means that the Scriptures were not perfect till the closure of Canon. Just because new testament was not completed during that time, that doesn’t make Old testament Scriptures as ‘imperfect’. For example in James 1:25, he says the law is perfect and he is using the same greek word ‘teleos’. So this view actually undermines the nature of Scripture and opens up the possibility of ‘imperfect Scripture somehow became perfect after canon was closed’ which is fallacious.

2)      If Cessationism is true, then ‘knowledge should have also passed away now if tongues get ceased to exist at the closure of canon’ (1Co 13:8: Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away ). If that is the case, then no one can be believing in Christ! How can anyone believe in Christ without God revealing His knowledge about Christ? Cessationism actually opens up a Pandora box of logical fallacies!

This is the end of my rebuttal of first argument of cessationism. I will refute the other arguments of cessationism in the following articles and I would request my readers to keep following. Soli Deo Gloria!

God - The Portion for Righteous Man

(I gave this sermon on 17-2-2015 in Danish Mission Hospital, Thirukoilur)

A Psalm of Asaph. Truly God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled, my steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs until death; their bodies are fat and sleek. They are not in trouble as others are; they are not stricken like the rest of mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; violence covers them as a garment. Their eyes swell out through fatness; their hearts overflow with follies. They scoff and speak with malice; loftily they threaten oppression. They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue struts through the earth. Therefore his people turn back to them, and find no fault in them. And they say, "How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?" Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches. All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence. For all the day long I have been stricken and rebuked every morning. If I had said, "I will speak thus," I would have betrayed the generation of your children. But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end. Truly you set them in slippery places; you make them fall to ruin. How they are destroyed in a moment, swept away utterly by terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms. When my soul was embittered, when I was pricked in heart, I was brutish and ignorant; I was like a beast toward you. Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For behold, those who are far from you shall perish; you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you. But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

(Psa 73:1-28)

I will divide my sermon into three topics, Exposition of Psalms, Doctrine and Practical Application.

Exposition:

The psalmist is a righteous man who has written this psalm from his perspective. He sees the lives of two types of people, an upright man and an unrighteous sinner. The unrighteous man is always proud (v.6) with all types of riches and wealth (v.12). Inspite of all these blessings he never thanks God or honour Him rather, he mocks at God (v.11). Even then he still never has any sufferings in this world (v.4,7).

But the psalmist is an upright and holy man of God (v.13), yet he is struggling with many sufferings (v.14). So he is actually envious of the unbeliever (v.3)

When he sees this from the Sanctuary of God (v.17), he understood the end of the evil men. God has kept them in a slippery slope (v.18-20) and they will be destroyed by God. Then the righteous psalmist realised his folly of envying the unbeliever and he was praising God for being his portion and strength for him (v.23,26)

Doctrine:

a)      God is sovereign over both believers and unbelievers:

God controls everything He has created. He upholds the universe by His word (Heb 1:3). So God is in control of the life of both believers and unbelievers.

b)      God is in control of both riches and poverty for His glory:

I am going to show you three examples how God can use both riches for destruction of a person and poverty for blessing a person.

First is the example of rich man and poor Lazarus. Rich man had all the wealth and comfort with all the pomp in this world. But his end was a miserable one since he was not upright. Whereas poor Lazarus, though he was poor in this world, yet he was a righteous man thus when he died, he entered heaven and was with God. Another instance is the story of Haman in Esther. God used Haman’s wealth for his own destruction (Est 9:12). Here we see that the earthly comfort which the evil men have is not good before God but rather they are for bringing destruction to evil people.

God can use poverty as a means of blessing for an elect. Job lost all his wealth and his health yet God used that for testing the faith of Job. Bible says in Rom 5:3-5: More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (Rom 5:3-5). In other words, trials for a Christian is good and it will make him even more holy and upright before the Lord and ultimately will glorify God.

Conclusion:

Riches and Poverty doesn’t determine blessedness. Only righteousness is considered as blessed by God:

If you are in Christ, if you are a child of God, even if you are suffering, that is ultimately for your good. If you are having worldly blessings like good health, wealth and prosperity and you are a believer, then it is your responsibility to use that worldly blessing for God’s glory. Ultimately, in front of God’s eyes, righteous man is the blessed man and only he would inherit the heavenly kingdom. He may be poor and miserable in this earth but he would eventually be satisfied by God in Heaven. So to be blessed, we have to be righteous. Let us seek God’s righteousness and seek to glorify him to the utmost.

Canon of Scripture

(This is my transcript for the sermon I had given on 15-2-2015 in Vellore Reformed Church, Christian Medical College, Vellore)

There are many ‘Christians’ who read Scriptures, who discuss about many doctrines, who wants to know about the intricacies of Baptism and second coming of Christ but when it comes to their practical life, there is no spiritual fruits. They live just like non Christians, they think just like non Christians and their actions also would be like non Christians. Jesus says, “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words (Joh 14:24)”. So if you are indeed loving God, your actions will be Biblical and God honouring. And remember, the word of God is so valuable that many Christians have willingly given their lives both in the past and in present just for the sake of reading it.

I hope and pray that the message which I am giving here is not just going to be an academic interest but rather would be life changing and transforming so that we would be glorifying God to the maximum through our obedience to his words.

In this session, I am going to talk on following subtitles:

1)      Pretest: To test our current knowledge before attending this session if we can answer the questions which are normally asked to a Christian from other faith.

2)      Definition of Canon

3)      Principles of Canon

4)      How 66 books of Bible were compiled in the past

5)      What is not canon?

6)      Practical applications of Canon

Pretest:

I am going to give you three practical scenarios. And think about those and if you know the answer, I hope, God willing you would be even more clear about how to answer such questions. If you don’t know the answers, don’t worry you would be able to answer these after this session if you pay attention to what I am telling.

Scenarios:

1)      What about the gospel of Thomas found in 1940s? Would you add that to the gospels in current Bible? If not, Why?

2)      Why the catholic books like Apocrypha not added in Protestant Bible?

3)      Some Hindu sages have said Jesus Christ is mentioned in Rig Veda. So is Rig Veda also God’s Word?

Canon of Scripture – Definition:

According to Merriam Webster, Canon means ‘a criterion or standard of judgement’. It simply means ‘Rule’. Roman Catholics preferred ‘list’ as the definition of Canon. Protestants consider ‘rule’ as the best definition of Canon.

Principles of Canon:

There are three rules which were considered by both old and new testament saints to test the authenticity of Scriptures.

1)     

Internal consistency of 66 books of Bible:

Gordon Clark says, “One of the main test for validity of a worldview is internal consistency of its axiom.” For Christians, we start our worldview with Scripture as the axiom. When I say internal consistency, I mean this: “All 66 books of Bible are not self-contradictory”. From Genesis to Revelation, all 66 books talk about the Attributes of God, the sinfulness of man and the need for a messiah to atone for our sins. This theme has been there throughout the scriptures. Most importantly the greatest test is whether a book is proclaiming Christ or not. Luther said, “This is the touchstone by which all books may be tested, to see whether they proclaim Christ or not, since all Scripture witnesses to Christ, and St.Paul will know nothing save Christ. Whatever does not teach Christ is not apostolic, even were it taught by St. Peter or St. Paul.”

Jesus and New testament authors quoted the passages of Old testament as Scriptures for about 295 times. Even in the new testament era, the apostles quoted from each other’s epistles as ‘Scriptures’. I will get back to you later about this in detail in the next part.

In other words, Bible has been inspired by God through many authors who lived in different parts of time, from different background (Prophets, kings, administrators, doctor, Pharisee, tax collectors) and yet they all proclaim the similar theme which is in unison with rest of the scriptures.

2)     

Illuminating witness of the Holy Spirit:

Before Jesus was taken up to heaven, He said "But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. “(Joh 15:26). God has promised us that the Holy Spirit would guide us in truth. Since God’s promises will come to pass, this has been the testimony of Christians throughout all the time. Wayne Grudem puts it in this way:“

“As we read Scripture the Holy Spirit works to convince us that the books we have in Scripture are all from God and are his words to us. It has been the testimony of Christians throughout the ages that as they read the books of the Bible, the words of Scripture speak to their hearts as no other books do. Day after day, year after year, Christians find that the words of the Bible are indeed the words of God speaking to them with an authority, a power, and a persuasiveness that no other writings possess. Truly the Word of God is “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Heb. 4:12).”

3)      God’s providence in closing the canon:

Since God is good and perfect, it is against His nature to hide some of the ‘God’s word’ somewhere in a scroll in a secret place for more than 2000 years after Christ has risen to heaven. Heb 1:1-2 says “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. “(Heb 1:1-2). This verse is the proof for what I have said with regards to closure of canon. There are two periods of time where God revealed. One during the time of Jewish nation which we call as Old Testament and another during the time of Jesus Christ and the apostles in the 1^st century Rome, which we call it as new testament. And God has Rev 22:18,19 not to add or remove the words from the Word of God. Jesus also says in Mat 5:18, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” These are the assurances from God himself that we don’t need to worry if the Bible is incomplete.

Historical Background on Canon:

The idea of Canon started by God when He gave the Ten Commandments. “And he gave to Moses, when he had made an end of speaking with him upon Mount Sinai, the two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God” (Ex. 31:18). Moses wrote from Genesis to Deuteronomy. Joshua and Judges contributed books Joshua and Judges. After that prophets wrote most of the books. King Solomon wrote Proverbs, Song of Solomon and Ecclesiastes. Psalms is collection of many people from different background. Prophets wrote the rest of the books. Last book to be written in Old Testament is Malachi around 435BC. The Jews considered these works as part of Torah and Apocrypha was not considered to be part of Canon. The confusion for Canon of Old testament was not very much because in the New testament Jesus and apostles quoted from these 39 books upto around 295 times.

Just like how the apostles quoted the Old Testament texts, they also quoted New Testament verses as Scriptures. For example, Peter is equating Pauls epistles with Scriptures in 2Pet 3:16 : “So also our beloved brother Paul wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, speaking of this as he does in all his letters. There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures” (2 Peter 3:15–16). Paul also quotes from Luke 10:7 for the verse in 1Tim 5:18: For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain," and, "The laborer deserves his wages." (1Ti 5:18). These two instances prove that the new testament books were recognised as Scriptures by the apostles.

Historically, it has been considered that the apostles were entrusted with the writing of books under divine authorship and inspiration of God. Bible says, “For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2Pe 1:21)” So the first century Christians considered new testament books as scriptures and were quoting them in their letters written to churches. But still all 25 books were not compiled together as new testament till 2^nd century. In 2^nd century, a gnostic heresy called ‘Marcion’ heresy came which claimed that gnostic gospels were the sole truth of God. Gnosticism involves various heretical doctrines like denying humanity of Jesus Christ, Literal death of Jesus on Cross etc. In order to save the church from heretical teachings, the early church leaders wanted to identify and compile the books which are truly inspired by God. Irenaeus was the first to compile as New Testament based on apostolic witness. By the end of 2^nd century, the church leaders understood and accepted the current 25 books as part of New Testament canon.

What is not Canon?

Church is not the authority of Scripture:

The most important argument of Roman Catholics for Scriptures is that, the church authorities of the past were the one who decided what books are to be part of Scripture and what books are not canon. Canon is not the list of books as approved by any human authority. Be it apostles, prophets or Church councils. The Scriptures are self-attested. God providentially illuminated the church leaders in the past to recognize and understand the superiority and the authority of the books of the New Testament. In other words, Church is not above Scripture to decide which books to include and which book to not to include. Rather, God made the church to recognise the books in the new testament as Scriptures through the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit.

Practical application of Canon:

Satan’s attack on Christianity always started with undermining the truthfulness of Scripture and to add or modify the Scripture with falsehood. Be it during the time of Adam and Eve, or with the usage of the divorce laws by Pharisees, Satan always attacks Scripture. Almost all Pseudo-Christianity like Roman Catholics, Liberals, JW, Morons have a distorted Scripture. So if you want to know if a person is truly saved or not, look at his attitude towards Scripture. They may be reading all other Christian related books, watch Christian movies, listen to contemporary Christian songs and even organise Shiloh. But If he or she is not at all interested in reading Scriptures and practically applying it in their lives, it more or less means that they are not saved. Because only a regenerated person will have a desire and passion to read the Word of God. Only a truly saved person can say: “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces. (Psa 119:72)”.

Also closed canon gives us assurance that we don’t need to go and run around other books and ‘prophecies’ to know about the salvation and things of above pertaining to God. We don’t need to run around special anointed leaders to know God’s will. We can read the Scriptures and God will reveal it to us His will directly to us. Read Deu 29:29.

"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. 

(Deu 29:29)

If Bible is truly God’s word inspired, then it also means all of what Bible says is true. The mark of a true Christian is not by just easy believerism. When I say ‘easy believer’ I mean Christians who claim to be born again but their lives have been just like that of the world. A true Christian will have new affections to please God. He would willingly want to do the things pleasing God. In order to know what pleases God, we need to go back to Scriptures since 2 Tim 3:16 says Bible is complete for all necessary Christian life. If you are a Christian, you should be asking this question to you: What motivates your daily activitities? For example, why you go to college? Why you choose a particular future goal? Why you go for shopping etc? Why do Pegasus etc…. What is your answer for these questions? If your answers are no different from what the world says, then you should be questioning your salvation. A Christian should base his life through scripture. You should be able to say the reason why you live in a way different from what the world says.

Answers for Scenarios:

1)      What about the gospel of Thomas found in 1940s? Would you add that to the gospels in current Bible? If not, Why?

Because it is not internally consistent. And God in His providence would not have kept Christians for the past 2000 years in darkness without revelation, illuminating work of the spirit

2)      Why the catholic books like Apocrypha not added in Protestant Bible?

Not internally consistent, God’s word has more authority than church councils, illuminating work of the Spirit

3)      Some Hindu sages have said Jesus Christ is mentioned in Rig Veda. So is Rig Veda also God’s Word?

Even if Jesus is mentioned, that doesn’t make any difference. Ultimately Vedas and Puranas endorse other gods also which is in total contradiction to the nature of Christian God. So either it is an intellectual plagiarism of Bible or just hearsay which ultimately means not truth.

Why I am not an Arminian

Two days ago, while the world was celebrating Halloween, Protestant Christian Churches all over the world remembered the most significant event which happened in 1517 on the same day, when Luther nailed the 95 thesis and rebuking the wicked practices of Catholic church, as Reformation day.

I think that this was one of the world’s most significant event which turned the history upside down because Reformation is the reason for the spread of the gospel all over the world and it is only because of reformation, true Christians were able to read the Bible in their own language. Most of the world renowned educational institutions, orphanages, missionary activities and medical philanthropic missions can be directly linked to the fruits of Reformation.

In spite of all these legacies, many of the 21^st century Protestants hardly would have heard of Luther’s name. Among those who know about Luther hardly know about the debate which he had with a Catholic called Erasmus refuting the doctrine of Free will through his book, “The bondage of the Will”.

Now most of the evangelicals believe in Free Will and a theological system called Arminianism or Semi-Pelagianism. There are various arguments to disprove Arminianism from Scripture. Yet here in this article, I would address few of it, which convinced me that Arminianism is not Biblical.

Those who want to know what Arminianism is, click here

1)      Arminianism undermines the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross:

According to Arminians, Jesus Christ has died for the all the sins of the whole world. If that is the case, everyone should be in heaven. Hell should contain only Satan and his evil angels. But Bible clearly says that there will be some men who will be going to hell (Mat 7:23). If men are going to hell inspite of what Christ death on the cross, by logic that implies that the blood of Christ was not sufficient enough for those in hell to be saved.

Armininans would say that those men are thrown to hell because they did not choose Christ out of their free will. So by implication, Christians are saved only by the ‘choice’ which they took in believing Christ because of their ‘free will’. This creates an even greater problem and I would tell you why. If the act of ‘choosing Christ by Free Will’ is what is going to make a difference between heaven and hell, then the death of Christ on the cross is of no primary importance. A person can go to hell due to his choice inspite of what Christ did for him on the cross.

On the contrary, Bible says that the death of Christ on the cross is enough to save the person from the punishment of Hell.

He (Christ) entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. (Heb 9:12)

Samson, David, etc at times took bad choices and sinned yet they were not sent to hell because they were elect and Christ had died for all of their sins including their bad choices and thus became champions of faith (Hebrew 11). So the blood of Christ is powerful than the evil choices of the elect.

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (Joh 10:27-28)

Christ had died specifically for His elect. Thus His death is sufficient and specific to save them from all the sins including their evil choices.

2)      Armininanism undermines the power of God in prayer:

Bible says we should pray for unbelievers that they will be saved (2The 3:1). If man has ‘Free will’ to not to choose God, then why pray for unbelievers to be saved? By implication of Arminianism, no matter how much we pray, no matter how much grace God gives, a person can frustrate God’s grace by using his ‘free will’ not to choose Christ? This would discourage me from praying for a person because only his choice can save him from his sins ultimately.

But we pray because, Bible says that God hears the righteous prayers (James 5:16) and changes the hearts of unbelievers to be saved. Because only God can change a person’s heart. No man can change his heart by his own.

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. (Eze 36:25-26)

Here we can see it is God who gives a new heart and removes the heart of flesh. Only then a person will have a desire to love Christ. If you think you can change a person’s heart by your own power, then you will only be disappointed by your failure because only God can create a new heart and no one else can. The only thing which we can do is to pray for that person to change and to preach the gospel continuously and commanding him to repent.

3)      Arminianism undermines the sinfulness of man:

If a sinful man is sent to hell because of sin of not choosing Christ, by implication, those who are going to heaven are better and morally good than those going to hell since they have chosen Christ. So that means that there is some inherent goodness in those who are going to heaven, which made them choose Christ. This view not only can give us pride and a sense of superiority over unbelievers but also undermines the glory of God.

Rather Bible says all men have equally sinned in the eyes of God and all men are totally depraved. There is no inherent goodness of man.

"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. (Rom 3:10-11)

Thus there is nothing inherent in man to choose God. Only God can supernaturally enable a man to choose Christ.

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. (Joh 15:16)

Free will theology is wrong, unbiblical and can dishonour God if practically applied. Thus I am not an Armininan.

If you have liked reading this, you can also read O Faithless Generation! and also Two Dangerous Sins which A Reformed Christian can face

The Two Dangerous Sins which a Reformed Christian can Face

All Christians are sinners. Bible says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1Jo 1:8)”. Yet there are two particular sins which are notoriously common with people adherent to ‘Doctrines of Grace’ which is also called ‘Calvinism’. Though these sins can be there among Christians belonging to other denominations, yet a wrong understanding of Calvinistic theology can make these sins very obvious.  I will address both of these and write a rebuttal for the same from Scripture. I am not writing this with a ‘holier than thou’ attitude, but I know these things because I have also committed these sins after starting to believe in Calvinism. So let me address these primarily as a means to admonish Calvinistic believers:

1)      Pride of  our Theological knowledge:

Honestly speaking, of all the denominations in protestant Christianity, most number of Christian works are written by Calvinistic preachers and teachers. People like John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards and other puritans have written so many great works in Christian faith which is a treasure house and a shining gem of Christianity. When a Christian discovers these great truths of Calvinism from Scripture, he would be overjoyed and glad about the greatness and magnificence of God’s wisdom. But sometimes, these ‘new’ Calvinists, tend to compare their theological knowledge with believers who are theologically naïve and develop a sense of superiority complex, thinking that they know so much from Scripture. This would manifest in two ways:

a)      Not willing to learn further from Scripture or from other Christian works.

b)      Having ‘holier than thou’ attitude with Christians who are not as theologically mature as them.

I want to share two verses for these people.

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (Jam 4:6)

Bible says it is God who reveals all the truths of Scripture to man, since naturally man is blind (Eph 1:4). When God is revealing to us more from Scripture, a true Calvinist would be more and more humble about the magnificence and greatness of God’s wisdom and knowledge rather than being proud of his theological superiority. A consistent reformed Christian would exclaim with Paul in pure humility:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. 

(Rom 11:33-36)

If you think you are rich in theology, consider again: God can take away all the theological knowledge from you anytime if you are proud since it is God who has given you wisdom to understand this and you did not 'choose' on your own.

So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. (Rev 3:16-17)

I want to clarify another important thing with regard to this. I am not in anyway encouraging theological ignorance and this should not be taken as an excuse to not to learn theology at all. A Christian should always be ready to listen to what God is speaking to us through Scripture and through the work of Godly teachers and preachers with an attitude which Samuel had to listen to Lord’s voice(1 Sam 3:10)

2)      Prayerlessness:

      It is one of the duties of a Christian to watch and pray daily. Prayer is a means of communication of our thankfulness and petition to God. When we are newly into reformed faith, sometime, we undermine the importance of prayer. We think, “Since God has predestined everything in my life, why should I have to pray? Anyway irrespective of whether I pray or not, God is not going to change what he has destined. So why should I pray?”

To answer this question simply:  “We have to pray because, God has commanded us to do so”.  Let me explain to you in detail. The duty of a Christian is to obey God and enjoy Him forever. One of the means of obedience is through pray. Bible gives ample amount of instructions for a Christian to pray. Our Lord taught us how to pray in Matthew 6. Yet if we are not praying, it means we are disobeying God. And Bible says that God hears our prayers and acts accordingly. Let me explain to you with this following verse:

At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison--

(Col 4:3)

Paul asks the believers to pray for his work. He says that God will hear their prayer to open the door for the word. Many Arminians think that God doesn’t know our future and only by our prayer that we can ‘remind’ God to act. But Paul knows that God has ordained everything what is going to happen in future. Paul would have known this verse: Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,' (Isa 46:9-10)”. Yet he is asking the believers to pray because:

a)      It is a commandment of God for Christians to pray.

b)      God chooses to act providentially through the means of our prayer. In that way, we are not believing in a fatalistic gods of Islam and Hinduism but to the God who listens to our prayer and rewards our efforts by His action, though all these are ordained already before the foundation of this world.

That was the reason why Paul is asking all the believers to pray regularly. Therefore let us all be living a prayerful life, consistent with what is taught in Scripture. I humbly write all these for the edification of fellow warriors of Christian faith so that we would be more and more sanctified in Christlikeness.

If you have liked this, you can also read Why I am not an Arminian?