Proper Christian Hatred

One of the most frequent ethical exhortations in the Bible is for God’s people to love – him, fellow Christians, and others (even praying for our enemies).  But there is an object of hatred that is proper in the Christian life.  We can and should hate Satan and his kingdom of darkness. 

Satan is a murderer who is so full of lies that he cannot speak the truth (John 8.44).  He is Christ’s sworn enemy (Gen. 3.15, Lk. 4.2, Heb. 2.14, 1 Jn. 3.8, etc.).  He is the Christian’s sworn enemy (1 Pet. 5.8).  He is the church’s sworn enemy (2 Cor. 2.11).  Satan wants to destroy God’s kingdom and his evil and dark heart is absolutely and in every way opposed to everything good, pure, and noble (Luke 8.12, Acts 5.3, 13.10, etc.).  Therefore, it is right and proper for Christians to hate and detest Satan.  Biblically, there is “a time to hate” and we are called to “hate evil” (Ecc. 3.8, Amos 5.15).  In fact, the fear of the LORD is the hatred of evil (Prov. 8.13, cf. Ps. 139.21).

William Ames said it this way: “With our entire heart and all our strength we ought to be against the kingdom of the devil….” (A Sketch of the Christian’s Catechism, 212).

The WLC Q/A 191 says that in the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer we are praying “that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed.”  Likewise, the HC Q/A 123 says the second petition is a prayer that God would “destroy the devil’s work.”  In the sixth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we are praying that “Satan [be] trodden under our feet” (WLC 195).  It is good and right for us to pray fervently against Satan’s temptation and his wicked work. 

Thomas Watson wrote that the Christian “must offer violence to Satan. …We must offer violence to Satan by faith.  …There is a lion in the way but we must resolve upon fighting.  …Faith is a heroic grace; it is said, above all, to quench the fiery darts of Satan.  Faith resists the devil.  …Faith holds the promise in one hand and Christ in the other.” (Heaven Taken by Storm, ch. 10).

Martin Luther, as many of you may know, struggled intensely against Satan’s temptations and assaults. 

“The devil forever and a day would very much like to have us stray from the right way.  He knows very well that whoever believes in Christ will be saved.  That is why he tries with might and main and all manner of tricks to mislead us” (Sermons, 7.298).

The devil’s temptations are very real.  He tries to get us to lust, lie, doubt the promises of grace, and ignore God’s word.  If he would have his way, we’d all be literally doomed.  But Christ is much stronger than Satan and his horde.  He dealt the death blow to Satan on the cross and in the resurrection, and one day he’ll return to finish him off by throwing him into the pit of hell forever (Rev. 20.10).   This truth should make a great cheer rise up in our hearts already; part of the gospel is that Jesus will win total and eternal victory over Satan. 

So when Satan tempts you, with true love for Christ and deep hatred for the devil, you can tell him that you realize now he might win a few skirmishes here and there.  And you can tell him you hate him with every fiber of your Christian being.  You can tell him to leave you alone because you’ve been baptized and you have Christ as your Savior and Protector.  Finally, because of Christ’s certain victory, you can tell him to go to hell where he belongs.  You, however, belong to Christ, body and soul, and not even Satan can snatch you from his hand.  The battle may be hard, tear-filled, and bloody, but victory is certain.  Keep fighting!  God will soon crush Satan underfoot (Rom. 16.20).

rev shane lems

Double Imputation: On This Truth We Will Stand

At the heart of historic, confessional Reformed teaching and preaching is the biblical doctrine of justification by faith alone.  An essential part of justification sola fide is the truth of imputation.  R. C. Sproul’s words on this doctrine are outstanding and edifying.

“If any word was at the center of the firestorm of the Reformation controversy and remains central to the debate even in our day, it is imputation.  …We cannot really understand what the Reformation was about without understanding the central importance of this concept.”

“…If any statement summarizes and capture the essence of the Reformation view, it is Luther’s famous Latin formula ‘simul justus et peccator.’  ‘Simil’ is the word from which we get the English ‘simultaneous;’ it means ‘at the same time.’  ‘Justus’ is the Latin word for ‘just’ or ‘righteous.’  ‘Et’ simply means ‘and.’  ‘Peccator’ means ‘sinner.’  So, with this formula, – ‘at the same time just and sinner’ – Luther was saying that in our justification, we are at the same time righteous and sinful.  …He was saying that, in one sense, we are just.  In another sense, we are sinners.  In and of ourselves, under God’s scrutiny, we still have sin.  But by God’s imputation of the righteousness of Jesus Christ to our accounts, we are considered just.”

“This is the very heart of the gospel.  In order to get into heaven, will I be judged by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ?  If I have to trust in my righteousness to get into heaven, I must completely and utterly despair of any possibility of ever being redeemed.  But when we see that the righteousness that is ours by faith is the perfect righteousness of Christ, we see how glorious is the good news of the gospel.  The good news is simply this: I can be reconciled to God.  I can be justified, not on the basis of what I do, but on the basis of what has been accomplished for me by Christ.”

“Of course, Protestantism really teaches a double imputation.  Our sin is imputed to Jesus and his righteousness is imputed to us.  In this twofold transaction, we see that God does not compromise his integrity in providing salvation for his people.  Rather, he punishes sin fully after it has been imputed to Jesus.  This is why he is able to be both ‘just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus’ as Paul writes in Romans 3:26. So my sin goes to Jesus and his righteousness comes to me.”

“This is a truth worth dividing the church.”

“This is the article on which the church stands or falls, because it is the article on which we all stand or fall.”

When you hear this glorious truth preached on the Lord’s Day, listen with your head and heart, and rejoice in the gospel of grace.  If you don’t hear it preached, lovingly talk to your pastor and elders and discuss it.  It’s not a side issue, nor is it a dry doctrine that is impractical for our daily living.  The doctrine of justification sola fide gives us firm comfort, peace, and a grateful heart of obedience to the Lord.

The above Sproul quote is found in Are We Together? A Protestant Analyzes Roman Catholicism (Sanford: Reformation Trust, 2012), 43-4.

rev shane lems

Luther on Grace Alone (Sola Gratia)

This is a repost from March 15, 2011.

Here are some great words from Martin Luther on salvation by grace alone.  These quotes are from a sermon on Titus 3:4-8 and can be found in volume 3 of Baker’s 7-volume set of Luther’s sermons (edited by J. N. Lenker and others).

“So he [Paul in Titus 3:5-7] discards all boasted free will, all human virtue, righteousness, and good works.  He concludes that they are all nothing and are wholly perverted, however brilliant and worthy they may appear, and teaches that we must be saved solely by the grace of God, which is effective for all believers who desire it from a correct conception of their own ruin and nothingness.”

“Yes, dear friend, you must first possess heaven and salvation before you can do good works.  Works never merit heaven; heaven is conferred purely of grace.”

“The delusive doctrine of works blinds the Christian’s eyes, perverts a right understanding of faith, and forces him from the way of truth and salvation.”

“He who does not receive salvation purely through grace, independently of all good works, certainly will never secure it.”

“Truly, then, we are saved by grace alone, without works or other merit.”

“Notice [from John 3:16], all who believe have eternal life.  That being true, believers certainly are just and holy without works.  Works contribute nothing to justification.  It is effected by pure grace richly poured out upon us.”

“We receive absolution [forgiveness] and grace at no cost or labor on our part, but not without cost and labor on the part of Christ.”

“Our salvation must exist, not in our righteousness, but…in Christ’s righteousness. …Let his righteousness and grace, not yours, be your refuge” (p. 3.2.142ff)

Luther’s words remind me of the great hymn by H. Bonar that we often sing in the liturgy after the absolution (assurance of pardon): “Thy grace alone O God / to me can pardon speak; / thy power alone O Son of God / can this sore bondage break / No other work save thine / no other blood will do / no strength save that which is divine / can bear me safely through!”

rev shane lems

My Conscience is Captive to the Word of God (Luther)

(This is a repost from September, 2011.)

Heiko Oberman’s Luther: Man Between God and the Devil is one of those books that I’ll never forget reading.  I first read it around 10 years ago; I could not set this book down.  In fact, it led me to enjoy and appreciate church history in general, and Reformation history more specifically.  In my opinion, it is even better than Roland Bainton’s Here I Stand (although that may be an apples/oranges comparison, and I do really like Here I Stand).

Here’s a little snippet from Oberman’s book.  It has to do with Luther’s famous answer while he was on trial for his writings: “…My conscience is captive to the Word of God.  Thus I cannot and will not recant, for going against my conscience is neither safe nor salutary….”

“Luther’s appeal to conscience as the highest authority made an extraordinary impression on later generations.  Out of the understandable desire to declare Luther as the forerunner of the Enlightenment, the statement ‘Here I stand, I can do no other’ was reinterpreted as the principle of freedom of conscience.”

“But that is missing the whole point.  Appealing to conscience was common medieval practice; appealing to a ‘free’ conscience that had liberated itself from all bonds would never have occurred to Luther.  Nor did he regard ‘conscience’ as identical with the inescapable voice of God in man.  Conscience is neither neutral nor autonomous: hotly contested by God and the Devil, it is not the autonomous center of man’s personality, it is always guided and is free only once God has freed and ‘captured’ it.  What is new in Luther is the notion of absolute obedience to the Scriptures against any authorities; be they popes or councils….”

“Luther liberated the Christian conscience, liberated it from papal decree and canon law.  But he also took it captive through the Word of God and imposed on it the responsibility to render service to the world.”

Well said.  In Reformation terms, we say that “God alone is Lord of the conscience” (WCF 20.2).  The Lutheran Confessions (I’m thinking primarily of the Augsburg Confession and the Apology of the Augsburg Confession) also explain clearly and frequently that humans or human traditions cannot bind the conscience – only God can by his Word.  Commenting on Acts 15:10 and Galatians 5:1, the Apology says,

“Just as Alexander solved the Gordian knot once for all by cutting it with his sword when he could not disentangle it, so the apostles free consciences from traditions once for all, especially if they are taught to merit justification” (Apology XV).

The above Oberman quote is found on pages 203-204 of Luther: Man Between God and the Devil.

rev shane lems

sunnyside wa

Ten Reasons Why I Will Never Go To Rome

  For the past eight years or so, I’ve had the opportunity to read, study, and observe the doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church.  Most specifically, I’ve read extensively from The Catechism of the Catholic Church and The Canons and Decrees of the Council of Trent.  Having studied these resources, I have thought of many reasons why I believe Rome is unbiblical and why I will never go there.  I thought it might be helpful to give our readers citations along with ten of my reasons why I am a Reformed Protestant and not a Roman Catholic (though I do have more reasons than ten).  I will never go to Rome because:

1) …I will not have my conscience bound by man or man’s decrees.  Rome binds consciences beyond the Word by teaching that the dogmas of the Church’s Magisterium “oblige” adherence (Catechism, p. 33, 548).  I believe that God alone is Lord of the conscience and that it can only be bound by his Word (Westminster Confession of Faith 20.2).

2) …I will never submit to a Pope.  Rome teaches that the pope is “pastor of the entire Church” and has “full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered” (Catechism, p. 254).   However, Scripture teaches there is no other head of the church besides Christ (WCF 25.6).

3) …I refuse to pray to Mary or have her for a mediator or helper.  Rome teaches that Christians should pray “to” Mary; “we can entrust all our cares and petitions to her: she prays for us as she prayed for herself” (Catechism, p. 704ff).   The first commandment, however, teaches us not to pray to or confide in any creature (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 94).

4) …Rome anathematized the gospel of free grace. “If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone…let him be anathema” (Canons of Trent, 43).  Scripture, however, teaches that God justifies ungodly sinners by faith alone, completely apart from works (see HC Q/A 60-61).

5) …I believe the church is under the Word, not beside or above it.  Rome teaches that Scripture is not the highest authority in faith and life.  Rome says “both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence” (Catechism, p. 31).  However, Scripture teaches that it alone is authoritative and sets forth perfect and complete doctrine for salvation and life (see Belgic Confession of Faith article 7).

6) …I do not believe that salvation is losable.  The Council of Trent said that true faith can be lost and one can forfeit the grace of justification (Canons of Trent, 38-40).  But God’s Word teaches that Christ will never let go of his sheep and that nothing can separate the elect from God’s love in Christ (WCF 17.1).

7) …I do not believe the Eucharist/Lord’s Supper is a re-presentation of Christ’s sacrifice.  Rome’s catechism teaches that in the Eucharist “the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever-present…the Eucharist is also a sacrifice…because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross….” (Catechism, p.380).  Scripture, however, teaches that the body of our Lord ascended into heaven where he now is; therefore the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of his death, a participation in it, and a reminder of it (WLC Q/A 168-170).

8) …I am not convinced that baptism itself effects the forgiveness of sins.  According to Rome, “by baptism all sins are forgiven, original sin and all personal sins, as well as all punishment for sins” (Catechism, p. 353).  On the other hand, Scripture teaches that baptism is a sign and seal that points us to Jesus’ blood and the Holy Spirit’s work, which alone can wash away sin and effect its forgiveness (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 72-73).

9) …Purgatory is an unbiblical doctrine.  Rome says that Christians who die in an imperfect state “undergo purification” after death “to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven” (Catechism, p. 291).  Scripture teaches differently.  Scripture teaches that in Christ a Christian has all he or she needs to enter the joy of heaven, since he is our holiness, sanctification, and righteousness (WLC Q/A 85).

10) …Rome’s many superstitions lead people away from Jesus.  Rome’s icons, images, saints, indulgences, mysticism, and repetitious prayers often lead people into a vortex of idolatry.  For example, Rome teaches that dead saints “do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth….” (Catechism, p. 271).  Scripture, however, teaches us to stay away from superstitions and myths while standing firm only on apostolic truth, which has Christ as its center (WCF 22.7).

In case you were wondering, I cited Reformed Creeds/Confessions rather than Scripture texts.  The reason for this is simple: if you look up those confessional references, they will give you numerous Scripture citations.  Rather than me list dozens of Scripture texts, you can read the summaries in the Reformed Creeds/Confessions and look up the Scripture for yourself.

Also if you’re interested, I recommend R. C. Sproul’s book, Are We Together?  Finally, Andrew and I have both studied and critiqued other parts of Roman Catholic theology here on the blog, which you can find using the search bar.

rev. shane lems

sunnyside wa