A good theological discussion to start of 2014 from my good friend, the Rev Jim Tuckett.

Every so often we are afforded the privilege of random discourse on a particular facet of our theology   as members of the Westminster Fellowship.  The Rev. Jim Tuckett; who has presided over our fellowship for several years now, has once again tossed the  gauntlet for very relevant and meaningful discussion. I like to share my personal perspective about the intent of the Westminster Divines in England. I'd like also to strongly preface what was not intended by them and certainly not intended by the Word of God!  

 

 

 

 

 

The Westminster Confession teaches:

Chapter 33: Of the Last Judgment 1: God has appointed a day, wherein He will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father.  In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged,  but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil. Does this mean there will be gradations of rewards in Heaven and punishments in Hell?  If so, how do you interpret this?

 

 

Yours in Christ,Jim 

 

 

When taken out of proper context, this paragraph would lead an uninformed observer to deduce that our reward in Heaven is proportional to our merits exuded here on earth and how we thus engaged them.Yet we are reminded in the words of Paul in his Letter to the church at Ephesus.  In the second chapter verse 10;

 

 " For we are created in the workmanship of Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them."

 

 Does this present a conundrum? I think it in fact healthy to ask ourselves how, if at all,do we reconcile this catechetical passage  as being deliberately reflective of God's Word revealed  to us in the Scriptures.

 

 To accomplish this,it is needful for the elect not to search for confessional, but rather Biblical perspective. The Apostle Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, Chapter 8, verse 23 we read

 

"We cannot be justified by the law because by the law is the knowledge of sin."

 

In verse 28, we are taught

 

 " Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

 

 So the Bible is very clear on this.  Now when  compared to the Scriptures,it certainly nullifies the implication carried by paragraph 1 of chapter 33 of the Westminster Confession. Out of context and by itself, in almost negates the Reformed theology of its 17th century architects.

 

But look a little deeper ....In chapter 9 article 3 of the WCF, the elect are also reminded:

 

 " Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation: so as, a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself thereunto."

 

The answer is simple. Indeed we all will stand before the Judgment Seat of God; whereupon the wheat shall be separated from the tare. The word "according"  was never meant to imply proportional to the merit of one that will one day stand before the Judgment Seat.  Anymore that our "goodness" can be gauged by one's knowledge of the Scriptures, confessions or our ability to recite them ver batim.   The goodness we see in man is actually not man's goodness, but God's. The intent of the Westminster divines most certainly was not to convey the notion that you can carve a better, larger or sweeter portion for yourself in the life to come based on the exactitude you employ while yet on earth. 

 

 

 Case in point:

 

 Does the mountain lion stalk deer to secure his place in the cat family? No. His habits, appearance, biology and predation techniques reflect that he is a member? All of the above were deigned for him by God to sustain him long before he appeared on this planet. He's a cat...period.

 

 

 

Every man,woman and child in Heaven knows that, apart from the Father's effectual calling, they deserve to be sipping on a brimstone julep on the banks of the river Styx alongside of Madalyn Murray O'Hare or Cynthia Bolbach!

 

 

Without Christ as the sole advocate, a respected minister, elder or theologian is no more "deserving" of Heaven then a murderer, a sodomite or a five dollar harlot !!!!!!

 

The Bible makes it clear that we cannot broker for ourselves.........we have no bargaining power....end of story. 

 

 

 

 The very notion  reeks of  "celestial meritocracy"; which was the very papist misnomer that helped trigger the Protestant Reformation in Europe in the first place!

 

 

 

 

In his exegetical magnum opus, The Death of Death In the Death of Christ, the Rev John Owen expounds as follows:

 

" The  merit or atonement of Christ was to the Arminian like an ointment in a box set out in the Gospels to the view of all. And those who will ,by their own strength, would lay hold upon it and apply it to themselves would be healed".

 

 

How can you use a tendency that was given to you by God Himself to bargain with Him?  It doesn't make sense,does it ?  Truly what the divines in England were referencing was the range of will that man has; which -I would add -is neither free nor absolute. The reference was there to remind the elect that, at some point, you will be called on the carpet to answer for your  indiscretions - irrespective of how minute or egregious they may be. It's all foreordained  by an omnipresent, omnipotent an omniscient Creator. A Creator who,while slow to anger, would doubtlessly bring his justice to bear at the foreordained time! Total depravity, to say the least, precludes man's ability to enhance his station in the least with God. We are to take comfort not on our own merits, but only on the atoning power of Christ and the transforming power of the Gospel. For it is the Gospel alone that has satisfied the penalty of death of which all of man is deserving and from which the elect have been reprieved.    

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed the intent of the Westminster Assembly was not to suggest you could wax the synergistic to feather  your own nest in this life for the next. In fact, quite the contrary.They soberly remind us how pitifully unable we are to do any such thing!!



I'd like to dedicate this entry to my dad, Mr. Harold Thomas-who entered the Kingdom of God nineteen years ago, today!!