Christian Political Action: Defined

The Christian political task is to bring to the whole world, in the political way and for the political side of its life, the blessing of Christ’s redemptive concern for the world. It is a task directed to human society in the world. It is genuinely Christian and meaningful only when it is an activity of service to the world, to all mankind. For this reason it can never be a camouflage effort to further the interests of particular Christian citizens, or more or less Christian communities or even of the Christian churches as they are instituted in a particular time and space. Christian political action is, as they say in the Netherlands, “Het volk ten daag,” this is to say, For the good of the (whole) people. Coming out of the integral Christian task of renewal, Christian political action seeks, not as an activity of any instituted church or group of churches, but as a political activity of the Body of Christ, to reform the world in its political aspects, so that there too as acknowledgement may come of the good and holy Law of God and that thus the blessings that follow upon obedience may be showered upon the life of humanity.

H. Evan Runner, Scriptural Religion and Political Task, 2^nd ed. (Toronto: Wedge Publishing Foundation, 1974), 42.

THE BIBLICAL ONTOLOGY: GROUNDING THE FAMILY

What are the theological foundations of the family? As St. Paul declared in doxological jubilee, speaking of the triune Majesty, the living and true God revealed in the cosmos, Canon, and Christ: “For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). Since, according to scripture, history, and experience, the family is the central sphere of these “all things,” it follows that the family is rooted and deeply grounded in the nature of the holy Trinity.

Family: Rooted in the Nature of God

The family is rooted and grounded in the nature of the triune God. Human beings, individually and socially, are created in the imago Dei, the image and likeness of God (Gen. 1:26—28; cf. Ps. 8, etc.). In addition to the constitutional aspects of human nature, e.g., being rational, moral, spiritual beings, etc., this imago has a profoundly relational dimension.

Trinity and Family

Man is made to reflect God’s nature and glory, in a creaturely sense, not rationally only but also relationally. This relational reflection is firstly and obviously Godward, vertically, as the temporal fulfillment of God’s originally-good purposes for humanity hung on Adam’s perfect and personal covenant-keeping obedience to YHWH’s law-word. Similarly, man’s interpersonal relationships are what they are as humans display God’s moral attributes toward each other and enjoy the gracious metaphysical common ground people enjoy between themselves, as God’s image bearers.

Less obvious to many Christians, however, is the second horizontal plane of man’s relational image reflecting function, which is to “replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over [it]” and to “dress” and “keep” the garden-temple that YHWH had planted and wherein he originally placed man, “eastward in Eden” (Gen. 1:28; 2:8, 15). So, the object of man’s relational reflection of the image of God is tripartite: Godward, and also toward both his fellows and the rest of the non-human creation.  

            Man’s divine mandate was to cultivate and expand the garden-temple, rule over it in a God-like way, and fill the earth with subsequent image-bearing progeny—man was not, is not  to be, nor ever will be “an island to himself” (Gen. 1:28). This is because God himself is not an “island”; he is not a monad, an abstract point of singularity, as he is idolatrously conceptualized of in Judaism, Islam, and the later German idealism that come out of the Enlightenment. Rather, God is tri-unity. God is both unity and plurality; he’s the ultimate One and the Many. God is one with respect to the “what” question; yet he is many—three to be exact—with respect to the “who” question. He is one in his essential nature, yet three, i.e., Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in the three co-equal, co-eternal, and co-glory-worthy persons. God is thus the ultimate and absolute Society or Community.

            As God created, ordered, and evaluated his creational works in the beginning, he pronounced that things—as they conformed and operated according to his law-word ordinances to reflect his glory—were “good” no less than seven times in Genesis chapter one. “Good” is God’s ordo rerum, his design and ordering of things. Nevertheless, in chapter two of Genesis, YHWH sees a moment in his creation that an aspect of his creation is “not good,” namely that man, God’s image-bearer, “was alone” (Gen. 2:18). Man as individual was insufficient to reflect God’s image and glory. This is not surprising, since in the nature of the Godhead, and therefore the nature of the case, aloneness is eternally impossible.

             God therefore created Adam his ezer-woman, his “help meet” (2:18). Eve was Adam’s co-equal in terms of her nature, dignity, and moral value, as she enjoyed an equal share in the honor, majesty and mystery of the divine image of her Creator. Similarly, in obedience to the culture-dominion mandate of Genesis 1:28, as Adam and Eve became “fruitful and multiplied,” they produced image-bearing progeny, according to the purposes of God. Man’s co-mission therefore requires a plurality of persons; it requires a micro-society, a family. Thus, the triune Majesty—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost—created humanity in his very image, to reflect both the unity and the plurality of the Godhead.  So, according to their very nature—human nature—each member of the human family, the father, mother, and child(ren), share equal dignity and value, according to their mutually equivalent participation in the imago Dei.                                  

Family: Multi-Personal Image-Bearing

            Apart from the necessity of the family as the uni-plural image-bearer, for sake of the realization of God’s purposes expressed in the cultural mandate (Gen. 1:28) there are manifold ways that the family reflects the image of the ontological Trinity (i.e., the a se Godhead, in and of himself, apart from any creature) in the ordinary rhythms of the family’s daily, covenantal life together. One such example comes by way of daily private family worship in the home.

            For eternity past each person of the Trinity has enjoyed the full communion, love,  and unmediated glory of the other two. This absolute spiritual love and unity is reflected, imaged, mirrored in a creaturely way, when the father, mother, and child(ren) come around the Word of God, listen to the voice of God, in the Spirit of God. In this harmonious fellowship and worship, the family reflects in glory and harmony of the intra-Trinitarian communion, love and fellowship, which is for the mutual good and honor of the others. Thus, being created in the image of God, the family subsequently reflects God’s nature through their private worship, revealing the love, harmony and sweet communion of the three persons of the triune God.

Life, Death, Evangelism, Apologetics, and the Heidelberg Catechism

Here is an email I shared with a work associate. I share it to reveal how powerfully catechesis can be both in life and in death, both in yours and others.
________________

Dear Jack,

[“Jack,” a friend who worked for my client’s company was facing a case of the most aggressive cancer and invasive treatment. It entailed a mere five percent chance of surviving the next five years. I first addressed Jack’s grave circumstances, sharing with him our concentrated prayer on his behalf, and the many-sided ways that God’s mercy and grace were available to him through Christ and his gospel. Then, I identified a similar situation I had, and made application, then used the faithful Heidelberg’s gospel center in Q 1 to show and tell the gospel hope. Since the note, I am blessed to share that Jack's prognosis is greatly improved and treatment measures have been remarkable!]

I’m not sure if you were aware or not, but late last spring, I took a fall, while fishing and the next evening was in the first class seat on a life-flight helicopter headed to Roanoke Memorial. Evidently, the blow I took ruptured my spleen. By the time I finally went to the ER in Bedford, I had lost about two units of blood into my abdomen. All the staff, bless their hearts, began freaking out! They wanted me outta there yesterday! After making it clear to Fanny and I that the prognosis was rather poor, granting how much I had already lost, how much is lost during the removal surgery and the other attending risks, they told us that they already called and LGH didn’t want me either! Ugh. That was because their blood bank wasn’t prepared for a level three trauma. And I just thought I threw my back out real bad! This was a shocker to say the least. I had never felt so utterly out of control of myself and my circumstances in my entire life. I felt helpless and nearly hopeless.

After ten hours’ worth (I think; it’s all a bit fuzzy) of observation in ICU, my H & H number (hemoglobin and h-something?) began to rise. To everyone’s surprise, this indicated that the hemorrhaging had begun to slow way down, if not stop altogether. All the staffers were nothing short of incredulous. Nevertheless, three days later, my numbers were leveled out at normal; they ejected me! I had several doctors and nurses tell me that they had never witnessed a splenic rupture heal on its own. Just this week an MRI finally revealed that my spleen wasn’t the only thing to rupture. Two discs in my thoracic 12 / lumbar 1 area are bulging, one is ruptured, and a vertebrae is displaced, putting pressure on my spinal cord. Ironically, I’m thankful for that. I feared that the continued pains were related to the spleen, which is not an issue I really wanted to revisit.

Sorry for the windbag autobiography. But I share this story for a couple of relevant reasons.

First, although the doctors had little experience in, and even less so a naturalistic explanation of, the spleen “healing,” concerning the latter, we did. Here we were, 1200 miles from any family and (despite how likable we are, we haven’t made many friends in Big I ;), my main concern was for my girls, Fanny and Israel. Poor Fanny got lost in Bedford, trying to leave BMH and follow the chopper to Roanoke! But she was praying, and praying hard. A pastor friend, who lives in Bedford, shot over to BMH and was able to pray for me just before I was loaded in the bird. We had a handful of close family in the faith praying, and God heard these faithful few, and our faithful King Jesus came, “with healing in his wings” (Malachi 4:2).

This explains what was inexplicable to the doctors, regardless of whether or not they would admit it. Granted, this answer isn’t subject to pathological analysis or empirical observation. However, neither are time and gravity, logic and love, morals and motion. That these aren’t subject to scientific observation doesn’t challenge their reality; rather, the reality of these things—among others—provide the necessary preconditions that make scientific analysis possible; they must be taken for granted for my doctors to even do their scientific reasoning. So, that the absolute-personal God, who created and is “upholding all things by the word of his power,” has the gracious will and almighty power to be personally present, caring for his people, may have been implausible at best to those doctors of mine, that didn’t challenge the fact that he was there and acting (Genesis 1; Hebrew 1:1—3). Heck, science is allegedly all about finding the best case explanatory hypothesis. But, if Jesus Christ promised that his Father and ours would respond to our prayers in his name, and we thus prayed, and God responded, our explanation certainly got the blue ribbon at the science fair that night (St. John 14:13—14)! I just think sometimes that the doctors’ pride can’t handle being outclassed by the Great Physician. :) As William Hunter’s ole hymn by the same name goes:

The Great Physician now is near,
The sympathizing Jesus;

He speaks the drooping heart to cheer,
Oh, hear the voice of Jesus!

Mine was just one experience of many—an unusually many—remarkable answers to prayer for healing and wholeness. I’m sure you are aware of Ms. E’s radically reversed situation this year. We had the honor of praying her through that season with them. So incredible and “scientifically inexplicable” was her situation that I believe even many of her doctors had to tip their hats to God’s hand of providence in the situation. God’s mercy in healing people has just been incredibly apparent round about us this year. It’s been a privilege to witness it and be a part of it. I’m excited and hopeful about praying with so many others to see what God might do in you and your situation.

In addition to the physical healing that God wrought in my experience last spring, the second reason for sharing it is the spiritual and psychological wellness that I experienced during and through it.

Our particular theological heritage has a rich history in creeds, confessions, and catechisms. These, whether the shorter or longer ones, are basically systematic summaries of what we believe the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments teach concerning the big numbers—God, the creation and preservation of the world, man, sin, salvation, etc. Earlier last spring I was winding up to write a devotional commentary on one of the oldest, most-beloved catechisms in the Reformed-Presbyterian tradition, the Heidelberg Catechism (which, Lord willing, will be ready for press spring of 2015). About a week before my fall I had memorized the first question and answer of the Heidelberg. I believe, with many others throughout the world and time, that the first Q/A of this warm and personal catechism is one of the finest statements of the good news that God brought to light in Christ that has ever been penned (outside the Bible, of course). It goes like this.

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Savior Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

There are some folks that think that doctrine is airy-fairy, abstract and dry, having nothing to do with practical, warp-and-woof experiences of life. Well, this doctrine and my experience stand as an indictment against such ideas.

I had buried this truth deep into my head the previous week, but my fall brought about the true test of whether I had truly buried it in my heart. In my twenty years of following my faithful Lord, knowing myself like I do, I had always feared that my faith would falter when a serious test hit me. I have often enjoyed this “comfort in life,” but what would happen on the pangs of possible death? I’m the guy who was still sucking my thumb at 12 years old! I still cried about getting shots when I was 14 years old! I’m the most pusillanimous person you know, believe you me! 

Nevertheless, Jack, I felt utterly no fear, as I was being prepped and loaded on the helicopter. Of course, I was worried about my girls. That was the only fear I felt, however. By grace and the enabling power of God’s Spirit, Christ Jesus—who had died and rose three days later, defeating the grave—he was truly my “only comfort” in body and soul, life and death! By God’s grace, this doctrinal truth had made its home in the deepest part of my soul. If this doctrine is true—and it is—then there is no reason to fear anything in either life or death, if Christ is one’s “faithful Savior.”

It is amazing how circumstances like mine and yours radically relativizes what once seemed like top priorities but are now periphery issues at best.

It’s with chagrin and shame that I must confess that I’m ignorant of whether or not you enjoy this hope that the Heidelberg talks about, and that carried us through my recent crisis. The gospel of Jesus Christ, that is. I pray—and will continue to pray—that are enjoying it. If not, though, it is my earnest hope and prayer that you will reconsider it...or seriously consider it even if for the first time. Frankly, I know of no other real hope we have, save God’s mercy in Christ.

After years of studying the plethora of perspectives and worldviews available to us, I’ve found that only the biblical world and life view provides sure enough footing to make sense of our experiences, be they better or worse, in this world or the one to come.

I’ve enjoyed what little times we’ve had to talk, and pray that they continue well beyond this windy note...(salutations, etc.).

PRACTICAL REASONS FOR RETAINING THE KJV, DR. JOEL BEEKE

1. The Standard Text of the English Bible

It is wiser to choose the known over against the unknown. The weaknesses and disadvantages of a particular version of the Bible cannot really be assessed apart from a thorough trial of daily usage over many years. Many who welcomed the New International Version (NIV) with great enthusiasm when it first appeared are now prepared to admit its serious weaknesses as a translation.

The KJV is well established in the market-place and in the literature of Christian scholarship. It will continue in production in many editions for years to come. Helps and reference works are commonly available. It is not likely that the KJV will fade from view and disappear as have many versions produced to supplant it.

Likewise the KJV is widely studied and commented on in the literature of biblical scholarship. It will always be a standard of reference and comparison of Bible commentators. All other versions are compared to it, contrasted with it, tested by it. Campaigns to sell other versions must attack it. The same cannot be said of any other Bible version.

2. Based on the Full Text of the Hebrew and Greek Originals

Based on the Textus Receptus (the Greek NT), and the Masoretic Text (Hebrew OT), the KJV gives the most authentic and fullest available text of the Scriptures, with none of the many omissions and textual rewrites of the modern translations such as the Revised Standard Versions (RSV) and the NIV.

(a) Oldest Does Not Mean Best – The Westcott and Hort arguments that ‘the oldest manuscripts are the most reliable’ and that ‘age carries more weight than volume’ are not necessarily true. It could well be that the two oldest, complete manuscripts were found to be in such unusually excellent condition because they were already recognized as faulty manuscripts in their time and therefore were placed aside and not recopied until worn out as were the reliable manuscripts. This is further supported by numerous existing differences between the Vatican and Sinaitic manuscripts.

(b) Volume – The King James Version is based upon the Traditional Text. The vast majority of the more than 5,000 known partial and complete Greek manuscripts follow this textual reading.

(c) Church History – The ‘Received’ or ‘Ecclesiastical’ Text has been used by the church historically. The English, French, Dutch, and German Reformation churches all used Bibles based on the Traditional Text. (The Dutch ‘Statenvertaling’ is also based upon the ‘Ecclesiastic’ Text.)

3. A More Faithful Method of Translation

The KJV translators employed a method of verbal equivalence (‘word for word’) rather than the method of paraphrase of dynamic equivalence (‘meaning for meaning’) used in the NIV. The result is that the KJV gives you what biblical authors wrote, not what a committee thinks they meant to write.

4. A More Honest Translation

The text of the KJV used italics to identify every word or phrase interpolated (supplied by the translator) and not given in the original. Such a practice was not followed in the NIV, lest the loose method of its translators be unmercifully exposed to view.

5. A More Precise Idiom

Often attacked at this very point, the KJV actually is a more accurate and helpful translation precisely because of the archaic pronouns (‘thou, thy, thee,’ etc.). Both Hebrew and Greek distinguish clearly between the 2nd person singular (‘thou’) and the 2nd person plural (‘ye,you’). In many statements this makes an important difference (e.g. John 3:7). In a sense it is correct to say that in praying the Lord Jesus used ‘Thou’ – God is one, not many! – for he definitely used the Hebrew or Greek equivalent.

6. The Best Liturgical Text

The KJV excels as a version to be used in public worship. That is why it has been used so widely in the churches. The requirements of the sanctuary are not those of the classroom. Other versions may be helpful on occasions to the student, but none is more edifying to the worshipper.

7. The Best Format For Preaching

The KJV traditionally has been laid out verse by verse on the page, rather than in paragraphs; though for most of the text, paragraphs are indicated by a sign. The Hebrew and Greek texts, of course, have no paragraphing at all. The verse-by-verse format best serves the purpose of verse-by-verse consecutive expository sermonizing.

8. The Most Beautiful Translation

The KJV gives classic expression to many important passages in the Bible (e.g. Ps 23, Isa 53, Luke 2, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son). Our seniors need to hear these passages as a comfort and help as they draw near to the end of life’s journey and our children need to hear them in the KJV as part of their nurture and education. They need to understand that the KJV is an important part of the spiritual and cultural heritage of all English-speaking Christians, and a key to our greatest literature. Children well instructed in the KJV will be greatly advantaged over other children, spiritually, linguistically, educationally, and culturally.

9. An Ecumenical Text For Reformed Christians

No other version has been used so widely among evangelical Christians. More significantly for Reformed Christians, this version is used by preference in many conservative Reformed congregations. The KJV is also used in the Christian schools these churches sponsor. Using the KJV is one way to underscore our unity and identity with other conservative evangelical and Reformed Christians.

10. A Practical Choice

The KJV is available in many editions; with a full range of helps and reference materials, not to mention computer software; in large-type, clear-print editions; and often priced well below modern translations.

11. ‘Sounds’ Like the Bible

More than any other version, the KJV sounds like the Word of God, even to unbelievers. The KJV translators aimed at this very thing. Even in 1611 the KJV sounded old-fashioned, ancient, a voice from the past. This was to command a reverent hearing, and to suggest the timeless and eternal character of God’s Word.

The modern unbeliever, if he has any spiritual concern at all, is well aware that the contemporary scene really offers him no hope. He expects the church to speak in a way that is timeless and other-worldly.

Many church-goers and occasional visitors to a church go much more by ‘feel’ and ‘mood’ than by intellectual content or apprehension. They are more likely to take seriously what is said to them if they sense that this is something more important than a casual conversation.

12. The Character of the Translators

The fifty men appointed to translate the King James Version were not only well-known scholars, but were also men of sound religious faith. They were strong believers in every word of the Bible being inspired by God and in all the central doctrinal truths of Scripture. They were God-fearing men whose lives testified of a saving knowledge of these truths. This same testimony cannot be made of all translators serving on modern translation teams.

13. Upholds ‘Old Paths’

Using the KJV is a clear statement of where we stand and want to be as a church walking in the ‘old paths’ of God’s Word. ‘Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls’ (Jer 6:16). In choosing this version we choose to stand with all that is best in the great tradition of historic Christianity.

The penchant for new translations was part of the program of change which has done such harm to many denominations over the past century. This change to new translations was often part of an effort to strip worship services of dignity, reverence, and beauty, in favour of the casual, the contemporary, and the convenient. It also causes a congregation to lose touch with keeping the Word in memory. Memorization of the Scriptures suffers when each generation uses a different translation.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke is the president and professor of Systematic Theology and Homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, and pastor of the Heritage Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Thanks to Pooyan Mehrshahi, the Young Puritan, for the repost.