Spurgeon On Contending For Truth

Can you guess who said this?????? Leave a comment to guess! I’m sure this will be pretty easy. I’ll reveal who it is by tomorrow night.

As good stewards, we must maintain the cause of truth against all comers. ‘Never get into religious controversies,’ says one; that is to say, being interpreted, ‘Be a Christian soldier, but let your sword rust in its scabbard, and sneak into Heaven like a coward.’ Such advice I cannot endorse. If God has called you by the truth, maintain the truth which has been the means of your salvation. We are not to be pugnacious, always contending for every crotchet of our own; but wherein we have learned the truth of the Holy Spirit, we are not tamely to see that standard torn down which our fathers upheld at the peril of their lives. This is an age in which truth must be maintained zealously, vehemently, continually. Playing fast and loose, as many do, believing this to-day and that to-morrow, is the sure mark of children of wrath; but having received the truth, to hold fast the very form of it, as Paul bids Timothy to do, is one of the duty of heirs of Heaven. Stand fast for truth, and may God give the victory to the faithful.

-C.H. Spurgeon, from his autobiography

Coffee With Cream & Schaeffer

This morning, my wife and I were sitting down, having our morning coffee (is there really any other way to start a day?!?!?) and so I picked up some Francis Schaeffer. See, I like to do a “light” workout in the morning with Schaeffer just before I get into Aquinas in the original Latin. THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKIN’ ABOUT; YEAH; NO PAIN – NO GAIN, FEEL….THE….BURN! Isn’t that what everybody does first thing in the morning? UH, CH’EAH

The Truth Is…….
Actually, my wife recently pulled out volume four of The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer, which is the volume dealing with A Christian View of the Church and she has been getting into it on her own. OK, so the book just happened to be on top of a stack of books on the end table where I set my coffee and I picked it up. I was just thumbing through it when I came across the excerpt below which I think is pertinent to the state of affairs in the church today. This quote is from chapter 3 (The Practice of Truth) of Schaeffer’s book “The Great Evangelical Disaster.” (emphasis his)

When the Scriptures are being destroyed by theological infiltration and compromise, and equally by cultural infiltration and compromise, will we have the courage as Bible-believing Christians to mark the watershed? Will we have the courage to draw a line, and to do it publicly, between those who take a full view of Scripture and those who have been infiltrated theologically and culturally? If we do not have the courage, we will cut the ground out from under the feet of our children, and we will destroy any hope we have of being the redeeming salt and light of our dying culture.

We cannot wait for others to draw the line. We must draw the line. It will not be easy, and for many it will be costly. It certainly will not be popular. But if we believe in the infinite-personal God-the God of holiness and love-if we truly love the Lord and his Word and his church, we have no other choice.

(disclaimer- I don’t read Aquinas in the original Latin and I’m only pretty sure that his writings are in Latin)

Piper on the Importance of Doctrine, Not Just Biblical Language

“4. The truth of biblical language must be vigorously protected with non-biblical language.

Athanasius’ experience was critically illuminating to something I have come to see over the years, especially in liberally minded baptistic and pietistic traditions, namely, that the slogan, “the Bible is our only creed” is often used as a cloak to conceal the fact that Bible language is used to affirm falsehood. This is what Athanasius encountered so insidiously at the Council of Nicaea. The Arians affirmed biblical sentences. Listen to this description of the proceedings:

The Alexandrians . . . confronted the Arians with the traditional Scriptural phrases which appeared to leave no doubt as to the eternal Godhead of the Son. But to their surprise they were met with perfect acquiescence. Only as each test was propounded, it was observed that the suspected party whispered and gesticulated to one another, evidently hinting that each could be safely accepted, since it admitted of evasion. If their assent was asked to the formula “like to the Father in all things,” it was given with the reservation that man as such is “the image and glory of God.” The “power of God” elicited the whispered explanation that the host of Israel was spoken of as dunamis kuriou, and that even the locust and caterpillar are called the “power of God.” The “eternity” of the Son was countered by the text, “We that live are alway (2 Corinthians 4:11)!” The fathers were baffled, and the test of homoosion, with which the minority had been ready from the first, was being forced (p. 172) upon the majority by the evasions of the Arians.

R. P. C. Hanson explained the process like this: “Theologians of the Christian Church were slowly driven to a realization that the deepest questions which face Christianity cannot be answered in purely biblical language, because the questions are about the meaning of biblical language itself.” The Arians railed against the unbiblical language being forced on them. They tried to seize the biblical high ground and claim to be the truly biblical people—the pietists, the simple Bible-believers—because they wanted to stay with biblical language only—and by it smuggle in their non-biblical meanings.

But Athanasius saw through this “post-modern,”post-conservative,” “post-propositional” strategy and saved for us not just Bible words, but Bible truth. May God grant us the discernment of Athanasius for our day. Very precious things are at stake.”

To read or listen to Piper’s entire biography on Athanasius, click here.