The Relationship of Faith, Trust, Grace and the Christian Life in the World Today; Part 1

 The Relationship of Faith, Trust, Grace and the Christian Life in the World Today;  Part1

Faith has always been a universal value

We have travelled a long way in Herman Bavincks Reformed Ethics.  We are now in the last part of Chapter 7.   The Christian man lives by Faith in Christ, his Lord; Complete trust in the Word of God (in the person of Jesus Christ); found in the word of God (A historical revelation of the person and work of Christ found in Holy Scripture).   So, todays lesson will encompass the following found at the end of chapter 7:

“God’s Word has to be meditated upon before it becomes our thought, and therefore also Christ and his merits, accepted by faith, must be processed in struggle and pain and assimilated before they become ours. Thus, the new man, who does not live by bread but by the Word of Christ, grows. And this is a new, complete person, not just in part, because in regeneration the entire man with all his faculties and abilities is re-created in principle. And as this new person grows, he shows ever more clearly the traits of the image of God that, imprinted at once, gradually appear more noticeably (like a father’s image in a child).” (Reformed Ethics; Herman Bavinck; edited by John Bolt; page 271)

Bavinck Begins by talking of a mystical union with God.  The catholic definition is:

“The union of a soul with God in deep contemplation. It is characterized by a deep awareness of the divine presence, and has a variety of grades, not necessarily successive, but distinguished by spiritual writers. They are: the two nights of the soul (senses and spirit) before mystical union, the prayer of quiet, the full union, ecstasy, and spiritual marriage or transforming union.” https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=35031

If you want to go deeper have a read by Louis Berkhof; https://www.monergism.com/mystical-union-louis-berkhof

Thus we ought to believe in God and in his Son John 6²⁹

“29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:29”

Believing is also psychological (Bavinck page 267).

 In order to believe someone, one has to trust them.   Then the master theologian explains to us that the object of believing something or someone to be true could be; “A promise, a testimony, and, as ground, support, and basis, the trustworthiness of a person.”  This then is a generalization to the main topic ‘God’s Testimony’:

“If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning His Son. 11 And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.” 1 John 5:9-12

Looking deeper into why Bavinck may have said what he did and is their Scriptural evidence that even an atheist would look at.

I can see why Bavinck uses this reference.  God’s testimony of the Son is of paramount importance.  So how can this text be backed up from the life of Jesus? This Week in my other blog I went over some of this ground:

We are now on the verge of the new year, and I have decided not to move on from Hebrews to other parts of Scripture.  Over Christmas time, we were reminded that in Jesus we see God taking on human form.  In other words, Jesus was not a pretend man but a real man.  Yet in another sense he is fully God and Fully man.  We accept this by faith.  Not much is said about Jesus apart from when he was 12 years old until he turned 30! John was sent in the tradition of the Prophets, and he prepared the peoples hearts for the coming of the Messiah.  Jesus was baptized by John the Prophet in order to fulfil all righteousness.  We know the story; Jesus was baptized and at this public ceremony The Holy Spirit took on the form of a dove that landed on Jesus while God the Father spoke of Jesus being his beloved Son.  Here we have a picture of the Triune God:

Matthew

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

 

                Mark

9 It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. 11 Then a voice came from heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mark 1:9-11       Luke

21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” Luke 3:21-22

As you can see this story is found in all the three of the synoptic Gospels.  All three Gospels talk about the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus.  This is true also in John:

“32 John testified saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him. 33 I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Son of God.” John 1:32-34”

There is a fourfold public agreement on the offices Jesus was called to do.  As we saw in the Book of Hebrews Jesus is Prophet, Priest, King and the ultimate sacrifice for our sins as well as being the 2nd Person of the Trinity, so that we can have eternal life.

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. 14 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him. 16 When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. 17 And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

 

The Greek text here is moving very fast and the verbs are either in the present or the aorist.  The aorist does not exist in the English language, but it is an event that is punctiliar.  It happened and that is it. 

Verse 13

Jesus coming from Galilee (present tense).  He is already there by the river Jordan. This event is happening and being recorded on the spot.

Verse 14

John the Baptist felt so unworthy that he tried to prevent Jesus’ baptism because he felt it should be the other way around.  This event was a lot bigger than John because it was a sign to the world that Jesus indeed was sent from God.  Jesus is God’s message to the world. 

Verse 15

The rationale for the baptism is that God had planned this from eternity.  This moment has historical significance for God’s justice and righteousness. 

Verse 16

As soon as Jesus came up from the water ‘immediately’ God spoke.  God’s authority rested on Jesus.   The Holy Spirit descending on Jesus as a dove has a fourfold lock on it.  Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have all verified that this took place.  In any law court of any time and place this evidence would be taken as fact that it actually happened.  Obviously the character of the witnesses ought also to be looked at.  In any case they were willing to die for Jesus.  This would validate the facts even more.

What about the character references of these Apostles:

•              Matthew (Levi): Martyred about 60 AD by being staked and speared to the ground. Preached the Gospel in Ethiopia (Africa) and was killed for questioning the morals of the king.

•              Mark (John Mark): Was dictated to writing the Book of Mark. Martyred - dragged to death.

•              Luke: The Physician. Wrote Luke and The Acts. Was hanged on an olive tree.

•              John (The Beloved) (son of Zebedee / brother of James) : Natural Death The only apostle who did not meet a martyrs death. Banished by Roman Emperor Domitian to Isle of Patmos where penned Revelation, the last book in the Bible. Was later freed & went to preach in Turkey and died at 100.

(I got this information from “…csmedia1.com/thexenaproject.org/week-01-how-the-disciples-died.pdf”)

Jesus has his vindication that indeed he is the Son of God.  He is then sent to be tried and tested in the desert like Moses and Elijah were.

THEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

Historically something was happening at the time of Christ in the area of Israel and the surrounding districts.  The time was ripe for the Messiah to come.  I think one of the main questions would be:

 

What would the Messiah be like?

We do know that the dead see scrolls looked for a powerful leader.  We know there was a cultus that was an alternative to the Temple of Jerusalem with serious washing facilities discovered by archaeologists!

https://www.britannica.com/place/Qumran#ref259042

 

This does not surprise me because the Romans chose corrupt leaders to do their dirty work for them.  Herod is a case in point and then his children took his place.  Part of this Judaic community opted out of this decadence for simple obedience for the God of Israel.  They knew that the Messiah the true king of Israel would come into the world to save them.  From a Christian perspective they looked in the wrong place.  They looked for a powerful king who would trample their enemies into the ground.  

Jesus did not come into the world as this powerful king who would trample their enemies into the ground.  No! He was the ‘prince of peace’ born outside of any comforts and shared an area with the farm animals in a shed sleeping inside the feeding trough for the animals. How humbling how different to human logic.  God’s logic is always greater than human logic as Paul explained in 1 Corinthians.

Jesus was indeed the Messiah:

7 “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:

He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,

Today I have begotten You. Psalms 2:7

And then again in Isaiah

1 “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold:

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him:

He will bring forth justice to the nations. Isaiah 42:1

How do we know this?

Only look at the story of King Saul and king David.  Saul was the people’s choice.  He was tall, good looking and he could fight.

Look at David! He was but a youth but had a heart to obey God.  When he made mistakes, he would repent and be sorry for his sins.

Moses as well is recorded somewhere that he was the humblest man in all the world even though he was a leader.

REFLECTION

From what I have said Jesus is indeed the king of Israel and the world.  Jesus was there at the creation of the world with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  Yet Jesus did not come into the world with all of the regalia but rather the opposite.  He humbled himself to sharing space with farm animals and died on a cross like a common criminal.  This is seriously humbling.  Yet death could not hold him and he was resurrected from the dead which gives us hope in the face of death that we too can be resurrected like him and live forever in God’s presence.

https://weaver1hasonline.international/

 

So then in the baptism of Jesus and in the character of these Apostles we can see why we can really trust God at his word!  We now return to God’s testimony on page 267:

But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 1 Corinthians 1:30

“To believe is to say “Amen” to God’s Word.  If this now is the essence of faith, then those among the Reformed who maintained that consciousness is the seat of faith were right. What then follows in the Christian life does not belong to the essence of faith but to its fruits.  The truth and veracity of that faith (i.e., that it truly means What it says) is then demonstrated in this double move:

(a) abandoning the thought that life is to be found in something other than the son (in self, money, goods, family, any creature), for this would be unbelief; and

(b) seeking life in the Son alone because God says that it is in the Son alone.” (From pages 267-268)

As he says the fruit of faith ‘is the Christian life’.    The thing I like about Bavinck’s ethics is that he can bring the Christian in the world and the faith of the Christian, explain it is such a way that there is no disjunction between grace and works.   

Reflection

Bavinck will explain theses things in more detail over the next few pages.  Belief and trust are important in both the faith life and the daily grind of life.  For these two elements are related.   We would not have faith if God hadn’t by the Holy Spirit made the first move in our direction.  We are really blessed because we have in Christ a firm foundation for our faith.  Even from an evidence point of view we have very strong grounds for accepting the Christian message: that Christ came into this world to save us.  These Apostles who penned these ancient documents were willing to die for the truth of God’s Word. Not only that but as we saw in the baptism of Jesus all four Gospels agreed with the identity of Jesus.