Thomas a’ Kempis’ The Imitation of Christ has good words for me and other bibliophiles: ”Certainly, when Judgment Day comes we shall not be asked what books we have read, but what deeds we have done; we shall not be asked how well we have debated, but how devoutly we have lived.” (1.3.5)
Hmmm…a good word for the day.
The ancient inscription on the Delphi Temple read, “Know thyself.” That two word command (or is it an invitation) summarizes
almost all of ancient philosophy; all the great thinkers beginning with Plato sought to do just that – to “know thyself.” It wasn’t just the pagan philosopher either; Christian theologians quickly adopted the motto and reoriented it towards knowing thy true self along with true knowledge of God. Here is a sampling of Christian theologians on “knowing thyself.”
Clement of Alexandria: ”If one knows himself, he will know God.”
Augustine: ”I desire to know God and the soul.” Nothing more?” ”Nothing whatever.”
Augustine (again): ”Let me know myself, let me know Thee.”
Calvin: “Nearly all wisdom we possess … consists of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.”
What does it mean, then, to “know thyself” and how does it help us know God? Calvin gives a couple of suggestions. First, to “know thyself” is to consider how we were meant to be when first created. We are to ponder all of the great gifts that God gave to us in creation – intellect, creativity, dominion, love, justice, relationships, etc – and to realize that none of these came from our own hand, but by the gracious hand of God. In like manner, the Psalmist bursts into song: ”What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands…” (Ps. 8:4-6). What a delight to contemplate our intended place in God’s good creation!
Seconldy, however, Calvin points out that in “knowing thyself” we understand our “miserable condition” we now find ourselves in because of sin. An honest assessment of who we are now, says Calvin, will reveal to us a “sorry spectacle of our foulness.” (This, I suppose is where we get the image of all the sour-faced Calvinists!) But, thankfully, we don’t stop there. Calvin writes, “From this source arise abhorrence and displeasure with ourselves, as well as true humility; and thence is kindled a new zeal to seek God…” (II.I.i). Earlier he states, “No one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he ‘lives and moves’” (I.I.i).
So, with a healthful look at thyself, seeing thy intended beauty and realizing thy “sorry spectacle,” turn thy gaze from thyself to the Living God.
Time magazine has an interesting article on the “10 Ideas Changing the World” – #3, interestingly enough is “The New Calvinism.” It’s fitting, I suppose, that Calvinism is making a comeback on his 500th birthday.
Also checkout this blog by Ray Pennings in which he reflects on perhaps why there is a growing appeal for Calvinism.
I was doing some reading and came across some helpful words from a Puritan, Lewis Bayly. One of the chapers in his book, “The Practice of Piety” is called: “BRIEF DIRECTIONS HOW TO READ THE HOLY SCRIPTURES ONCE EVERY YEAR OVER, WITH EASE, PROFIT, AND REVERENCE.” He outlines six guidelines for profitable Bible reading. Although they seem profitable, I’m not sure they make reading the Bible in a year “easy” as he claims. Regardless, I offer them as suggestions for reflective Bible reading.
I’ve taken the liberty to “”modernize” and paraphrase what Bayly wrote.
“Just as faith is the soul of Bible reading, so reading and meditating on the Word of God are the parents of prayer, therefore, before you pray in the morning read a chapter in the Word of God, then meditate on all the excellent things there are in that passage. The following is a guide for meditation:
First: How is the passage challenging you to live a holy life filled with good works?
Second: Are there any warnings of God’s judgment on particular sins that you need to hear?
Third: What blessings does God promise to those who demonstrate patience, chastity, mercy, gift-giving, zealous service, love, faith and trust in God, and other Christian virtues?
Fourth: How is God the gracious deliverer and gift-giver to his faithful people in this passage?
Fifth: Apply these things to your own heart; don’t read the passage merely as history, but as God’s letter sent from heaven to you.
Sixth: Receive God’s Word with reverence as if God stood by your side speaking His word directly to you. Apply all that you read in Scripture to yourself and respond appropriately – either growing in faith or in genuine repentance.”
I loved the section: “reading and meditating on God’s Word are the parents of prayer…”; what a great metaphor!
In 500 years since Calvin’s day, much of his thought has been distorted – by detractors as well as supporters. Here are two quotes from Calvin that I think are instructive for Calvinists like myself and those who find him highly distasteful and overly speculative.
“In the reading of Scripture we ought to ceaselessly to endeavor to seek out and meditate upon those things which make for edification. Let us not indulge in curiosity or in the investigation of unprofitable things.” (1.xiv.4)
“The theologian’s task is not to divert the ears with chatter, but to strengthen consciences by teaching things true, sure, and profitable.” (1.xiv.4)
Calvinists or not, we would all do well to pay attention to Calvin’s advice here.
As I’m reading through Genesis, I’m struck by how often the Bible refers to us as being not at home – a wandering people. Later in Scripture this gets picked up with the idea of exile, but already in the first few chapters we are no longer at home with God; we are a pilgrim people.
Genesis 3:23,24: ”…the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim…”
Genesis 4:12,16: “You [Cain] shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth. … Then Cain went away from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.”
Genesis 12:1: “Now the LORD said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 12:10: ”Now there was a famine in the land. So Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there…”
In Genesis (and later in Exodus), God’s people were physically wandering. Today that wandering continues until we return to God. Jesus, too, tells a story the wandering son (the Prodigal Son) who left his loving father and wandered to a distant land only to squander his wealth and life. Finally the prodigal wanderer remembered his Father and returned home. St. Augustine nailed it when he wrote in his Confessions, “My heart is restless until it rests in Thee.”
As some of you may know already (but probably don’t care!), John Calvin will be celebrating his 500th birthday on July 10, 2009. So with that in mind, I thought it appropriate that from time to time this year to reflect on some of Calvin’s legacies – not to bring glory to him, but to be reminded of his service to Christ’s church – both in the 16th century as well as how his ideas and work has been beneficial throughout the centuries since. Of course there are plenty of Calvin celebrations this year, all of which Calvin would not have enjoyed seeing that he really didn’t want to bring attention to himself (the “Captain” of the Reformation, some have called him, requested to buried in an unmarked grave!).
In March, USA Today published a religion story entitled, “Has the ‘notion of sin’ been lost?” It’s an interesting article that surveys Americans’ understanding of sin and how some churches are dealing with it (from Mark Driscoll’s and Tim Keller’s attempts to make sense of sin in secular settings (Seattle and New York respectively) to Joel Osteen’s apparent glossing over sin). The fact of the matter is, however, as the article states, most people still recognize some degree of sinfulness. However, the article deals primarily with acts of sin – not necessarily with our sinful natures.
The Heidelberg Catechism helpfully asks:
Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners – corrupt from conception on.
I have often asked my students this question: Are we sinners because we sin or do we sin because we are sinners? Typically we think in terms of the first option (we are sinners because we sin), but biblically-speaking the latter is more accurate; we sin because we are sinners – we have “poisoned natures.” (more…)
At the time that John Calvin was forced out of Geneva by the city council, he was in the midst of preaching through the Bible. On his return three years later, he returned to the pulpit and picked up preaching at the exact spot he had left off. It hasn’t been (quite) three years, but it has been awhile so let me pick up where I left off with the Heidelberg Catechism:
Q. Did God create people so wicked and perverse?
A. No. God created them good and in his own image, that is, in true righteousness and holiness, so that they might truly know God their creator, love him with all their heart, and live with him in eternal happiness for his praise and glory.
Q. Then where does this corrupt human nature come from?
A. From the fall and disobedience of our first parents, Adam and Eve, in Paradise. This fall has so poisoned our nature that we are born sinners – corrupt from conception on.
Q. But are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?
A. Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.
This set of questions deal with the sharp reality of the brokenness of this world. I believe it was G.K. Chesterton who stated that the sin – our depravity – is the only scientifically verifiable doctrine. We all recognize that the world is “not the way it is supposed to be (a title of Calvin Seminary president Neal Plantinga’s classic work on sin). We know it globally as we hear of wars and rumors of wars; we know it as we hear of the human destruction caused by earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. We know it personally as well – unfulfilled desires at work, relationships broken and distorted, families torn apart. (Just survey the headlines briefly to get a sense of the brokenness of the world: http://news.bbc.co.uk.) (more…)
Q. What is your only comfort
in life and in death?
A. That I am not my own,
but belong—
body and soul,
in life and in death—
to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.
He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven:
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.
Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.
Certainly the most familiar words from the 450 year old document come from this first quesion and answer – and for good reason! There is so much here to be packed that we could camp out here for a long, long time. In fact that’s just what I did for awhile during college. In a time of uncertainty in my life and deep worries, I turned to this Q&A for deep comfort. I memorized the lines: “I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.” That phrase I turned into a breath prayer. Throughout the day I would pray it repeatedly – “I am not my own, but I BELONG to you Lord and you are faithful.” In this way, my heart did find comfort.
