Love, Marriage, Courtship part 1

For many young people, love, romantic relationships, marriage, and forms of courtship are constantly on their minds. For some, they use these things to honor God and their families. For others, they use these things to fall into sin and/or cause a lot of emotional trouble for themselves. In our post-modern society, it is much easier to fall into the latter category. When I mention “sin and/or cause a lot of emotional trouble,” I don’t just mean sexual deviancy through pornography, premarital sex, etc. I also mean the reverse side of this where so many people have avoided romantic relationships so much in their attempt to keep their purity that they create an emotional void in themselves that is hard to repair. Not to mention, I believe this is unbiblical since God created mankind for such relationships for various reasons as we will later see the more we study this topic.

First off, let me clarify that I am whole heartedly for keeping one’s purity for marriage. However, I also think that the lengths some people go to in order to keep their purity are sometimes unnecessary and often times unhealthy. Let me tell you of a video I watched in my sociology class to help illustrate what I am talking about and some of the dynamics that we are dealing with.

The video was specifically studying the modern, and very homeschooler way of courtship. It followed a couple during their courtship and the process by which they courted. Both people were young. He was 19 and she was 20. Before the courtship started, he went to her father and asked him if he could court his daughter. After the girls father asked the boy all the questions he desired to ask, he gave his permission. Only after these things took place did the girl even find out about the whole deal. She was given the option of veto power, but she liked the boy and agreed to the courtship. The parameters for the courtship were as follows:

1. They could not touch, even each other’s hand. The closest they could get to each other was to hold either end of the Bible during church and family devotions.
2. They could only visit on weekends and were allowed only one phone call per week.
3. When they went places, they had to be supervised by their parents and could never be left alone together.
4. Every week, they would write letters to each other and then read their letters to the other person.

So you get the point. It was a very restrictive courtship, but for them it seemed to work very well. At their wedding, they touched for the first time and never let go of each other through the entire reception. After one year of marriage, they had a three month old baby.

After the film, the class had the opportunity to discuss it. A couple of the questions we were supposed to ask ourselves were “could I do a courtship like this?” and “is this couple likely to stay together or get divorced?” For a lot of the place, the sentiment was “well, it was okay for them, but I would do it differently.” Others (mostly the Christians) said “I hope that I could do what they did, even if I wouldn’t be as extreme as they were.” And the last group of people were very upset that the couple even courted the way they did, claiming that the couple could never be happy under such circumstances. All that being said, everyone, even the last group, had to admit that it was very unlikely that the couple would ever get a divorce.

One more thing that I want to point out is that this couple did take courtship to an extreme and it worked for them. They are a rare few because there are many more that would like to hold to that standard, but as a result, they don’t get married. Instead, many well meaning people hurt themselves emotionally. For some people, certain things will work and for others, something else needs to be done. Love is not universal in that one size fits all. The couple in the video accomplished their goal and kept their purity for marriage. My question to you is does the Bible show us possible ways to keep our purity for marriage during a courtship process other than how this couple did it? If so, what sorts of ways?

Not love, marriage, or courtship

Sorry, this is not about love, marriage, or courtship, but I really found Ken Ham’s post today very cool because what he says is so true about salvation. We need to not diminish the value of accurate theology and doctrine, but these things ultimately are not what saves you. Only Christ’s work, death, and resurrection can save anyone.

Answers to Justification and Sanctification

I would like to first start with an answer from the Westminster Larger Catechism. The Shorter Catechism’s answers are good, but I like the Larger’s better. These are gotten from here.

Q. 70. What is justification?

A. Justification is an act of God’s free grace unto sinners, in which he pardoneth all their sins, accepteth and accounteth their persons righteous in his sight; not for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received by faith alone.

Q. 75. What is sanctification?

A. Sanctification is a work of God’s grace, whereby they whom God hath, before the foundation of the world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto sin, and rise unto newness of life.

Q. 77. Wherein do justification and sanctification differ?

A. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in that God in justification imputeth the righteousness of Christ; in sanctification of his Spirit infuseth grace, and enableth to the exercise thereof; in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one doth equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life, that they never fall into condemnation the other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.

If anyone has an objection to any of these, please let us know. The Larger Catechism is not Scripture, even for its very high scholarship.

But, moving on from there, the Bible mentions justification and sanctification a lot. One could study these topics for a long time and never leave the Bible. Sanctification has especially been on my mind lately because of this passage in Scripture:

“And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace. For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife? But as God hath distributed to every man, as the Lord hath called every one, so let him walk. And so ordain I in all churches.” -I Cor 7:13-17

Ultimately, we all know that no one saves another since it is only Christ that can save us, but it seems interesting in light of my post on Covenant Children.  I realize that this doctrine is unpopular in the church today and many of you may not hold to it, but as I understand it, by faith alone are we saved through justification and we grow in righteousness “towards perfection” through God’s sanctification, again by faith. This truly gives me hope and is a great encouragement to seek having and raising a Godly family. Let us know your thoughts, disagreements, encouragements, etc.

In the next few posts, I would like to talk a little bit about love, marriage, and romantic relationships, so stay tuned.

Million Dollar Question of the Day

Whew! School has been rough for the last week. Couple tests in a row and tons of homework. It’s amazing that so many people make it through college and don’t just drop out.

Anyway, to the question (but if you answer, you won’t get a million dollars). What are the definitions of justification and sanctification as understood in Scripture and what are the differences between the two?

I will give a brief answer of my own later, but first, I would like to hear yours.

CRTA

Found an interesting website that I will add to my side bar. Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics has some cool resources and a thought provoking forum. I haven’t thoroughly looked through all of their stuff, so I may not necessarily agree with everything on there, but it would be rather fun to browse every now and then. Some of the cool things that they have include Historic Church Documents and a forum of some thoughtful people who are trying to work out their faith. I particularly found the post on being “Slain in the Spirit” interesting.

While thinking about speakers who claim certain things about themselves and their “spiritual gifts” and powers (reference to speakers pushing folks over as they are “slain in the Spirit”), I have a few thoughts on this and particularly those who call themselves prophets. A lot of red lights come on when I hear people tell me that so and so is a prophet and they will be speaking at their church. They give examples of what this person says that are uncannily “true” and try to convince me that this is the work of the Holy Spirit. I just have a few things to say about this. First, just because someone can foresee something about someone else doesn’t mean that it is God at work in him/her. It may be the work of a more demonic spiritual force. Demonic activity is not always so easy to identify. Remember, Satan appears as an angel of light (II Cor. 11:13-15). Secondly, being a prophet of God is not a glamorous job. Think about the prophets of the Bible for a moment. Jeremiah had a lot of trouble. You can’t say Jonah enjoyed what he was doing. Ezekiel’s wife died as part of the prophesy he was to give to Israel. He wasn’t even allowed to morn for her. Being a prophet is not easy. Even beyond that, God came to these people and told them directly what they were to say. None of them became prophets because they believed that they had any special “spiritual gifts.” See, modern day prophets are people more like Francis Schaeffer, Robert Lewis Dabney, and others who would not call themselves prophets and would deny being a prophet if you asked them, can foresee the future, not of individuals, but of society. Their discernment and understanding of people and Scripture is incredible.

Thoughts? Questions?

Election Day

Don’t forget to vote! I know it is only an off off year, but it is still important. I voted.

Back Online and Some Thoughts on Covenant Theology

Sorry everyone. My internet was down for over a week and I just got it back this past weekend. With school and riding the bus, I didn’t have time to post off of any of the School computers. Well, what can a man do? Can’t control these sorts of things.

Anyway, on to some weightier matters, I was asked by a good friend to provide some Scriptural evidence for covenant theology (which I hold to if you haven’t guessed it yet). So here are some Scripture references I gave my friend in an e-mail.

To start with, I want to show you that things are passed on generationally in Scripture, both blessings and curses. If it were not for the passing on of the faith generationally, Christianity would die. The first example that comes to mind is the second commandment.

“…for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;”-Exodus 20:5.
There are also blessings:

“And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments”-Exodus 20:6.
And another blessing:

“And because he loved thy fathers, therefore he chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in his sight with his mighty power out of Egypt.”-Deuteronomy 4:37.
And again:

“Thou shalt keep therefore his statutes, and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, for ever.”-Deuteronomy 4:40
I would also like to point out several other verses referencing passing through generations.

“But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end. The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before thee.”-Psalm 102:27-28

“For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”-Psalm 100:5
“But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.”-Psalm 103:17-18
“And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”-Isaiah 54:13
“They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.”-Isaiah 65:23
I would now like to reference some verses that have directly mention the covenant.

“And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:”-Genesis 9:12
“And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.”-Genesis 17:7-9
“As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.”-Isaiah 59:21
Lastly, dealing a little with infant baptism, giving you some references in the New Testament that is (at least for me) quite plainly expressing covenant theology.

“And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”-Acts 16:31
“Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”-Acts 2:38-39

That is some of the Scripture that supports covenant theology. There are a lot more references that support it a little more indirectly, but that is vast and far too much to cover in one e-mail. I would like to point out something in the last verse I cited. Peter says “Repent, and be baptized…for the remission of sins,” The remission of sins comes through baptism as well as repentance. Both you and I know that both real baptism and communion are more than just having water sprinkled on your head or being immersed and eating bread and wine or grape juice. The real significance is spiritual. So, the reason infants are baptized is that they are saved. They are saved before they can make any conscious decision to believe because of their believing parents. Because the parents believe, the children are sanctified. To not believe this implies that infants are heathens and unsaved until a special age where they can “understand” what they are doing. Why not baptize an infant in church if it has already been baptized by God through the faith of the parents?
…covenant succession is about the promise God made to pass on the faith to our children because we were faithful. If you look statistically at it, by far, and I mean by far, those who believe, believe because their parents believed first… There is only one convert to Christianity per 40 already believing Christians. That is incredibly low. Although converting other people is important, it is much more important that we pass on the faith.

Of course, I’ll have to reference you to my pastor’s (Pastor Rayburn) paper on Covenant Children and Covenant Succession. You can find it at this address: http://www.faithtacoma.org/doctrine/covenant.aspx... He covers the topic Scripturally (you will find all the Scripture I gave you in it plus some), historically, doctrinally, and theologically. Frankly, I would say it is a masterful work, but Pastor Rayburn is highly educated and some of what he says is difficult to understand unless you are also well educated. Often times, he is way over me and I just have to remember that I am at a different place at that particular point in time and move on with the rest of what he is saying.

So yeah, that was some of the e-mail. I thought it might be good to hear some thoughts on the subject from other people too, so please let us know what you think.