Kevin DeYoung’s The
Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th
Century Catechism is a wonderfully pastoral yet theologically rigorous
exposition and application of the Heidelberg Catechism for the church in the 21st
century. Perhaps it is because we are of
the same cohort, but I really enjoy Kevin’s subtle wit and humor, and his
willingness to say (or write) what we believe to be true but didn’t think
anyone else noticed it. I’ll be honest;
I was not expecting to find an application of doctrine of the Trinity to the perennial
problem of the one-and-the-many or unity-diversity as I worked through this
book. With great clarity Kevin makes just
such an application and shows its relevance to our contemporary culture.
The Trinity matters for
evangelism and cultural engagement. I’ve
heard it said that the two main rivals to a Christian worldview at present are
Islam and postmodernism. Islam
emphasizes unity—unity of language, culture, and expression—without allowing
much variance for diversity.
Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasizes diversity—diversity of
opinion, beliefs, and background—without attempting to see things in any kind
of meta-unity. Christianity, with its
understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity. If God exists in three distinct persons who
all share the same essence, then it is possible to hope that God’s creation may
exhibit stunning variety and individuality while still holding together in a
genuine oneness (p. 52).
In this, Kevin is faithful to his Dutch Reformed heritage and
the apologetic that flowed from it, not least in Cornelius Van Til’s
thought. In Common
Grace & the Gospel Van Til stressed the importance of this
application of the doctrine of the Trinity for apologetics.
The God that the philosophers of
the ages have been looking for, a God in whom unity and diversity are equally
ultimate, the “Unknown God,” is known to us by grace (p. 9).
In the ontological trinity there
is complete harmony between an equally ultimate one and many. The persons of the trinity are mutually exhaustive
of one another and of God’s nature. It is the absolute equality in point of
ultimacy that requires all the emphasis we can give it. Involved in this absolute equality is complete
interdependence; God is our concrete universal (p. 8).
Again, in The
Defense of the Faith Van Til says,
Of the whole matter we may say
that the unity and the diversity in God are equally basic and mutually
dependent upon one another. The
importance of this doctrine for apologetics may be seen from the fact that the
whole problem of philosophy may be summed up in the question of the relation of
unity to diversity; the so-called problem of the one and the many receives a
definite answer from the doctrine of the simplicity of God (p. 10).
So, thanks to Pastor DeYoung for showing us a very relevant
application of this most holy doctrine of ours!
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