Philip Appears
I was working the night shift in a lonely guard shack. My soul longed for the morning, but the morning would not come.
Once an hour I walked the perimeter, checking for fire and thieves. Between these patrols my job involved a lot of sitting at a desk doing nothing, so to redeem the time I studied Isaiah 40-55. The labor frustrated me, however, and I cried out to God for help. Suddenly a man named Philip appeared.
"Do you understand what you are reading?" Philip asked.
"How can I," I replied, "unless someone explains it to me?" I invited Philip to join me. He pulled up a chair and listened as I read:
"A voice of one calling,
'In the desert prepare the way for the Lord;
make straight in the wilderness
a highway for our God.'" (Isaiah 40:3)
I asked Philip, "Tell me, please, who is the voice? And who is the voice calling, the prophet or someone else?"
"The voice is God," Philip replied, "and he is speaking to Isaiah, telling him to prepare the way for the Restoration from Babylonian Exile."
"I thought this passage was about John the Baptist," I objected.
"It is," Philip said. "As Isaiah prepared the way for Cyrus, so John prepared the way for Jesus."
"I don't get it," I admitted. "But I want to. You've no idea how bad. I feel if I can understand these sixteen chapters, all the rest of the Old Testament will make sense."
Basic Interpretive Principles
Our surroundings shifted. We stood now in a brightly lit bar, where a hovering bartender named Counselor was serving drinks. The setting confused me. I asked Philip why we had come here.
Philip pointed to a door that led from the bar into Isaiah 40-55. "All must pass through this place," he explained, "if they would understand God's word." He turned to Counselor. "Get this man a BIP," he said.
The bartender pulled five bottles from the shelf and began mixing. The bottles were labeled Genre Awareness, Original Audience, Context, Scripture Interprets Scripture, and All About Jesus. When the liquids had been combined, Counselor withdrew a red pill from a small case and plopped it in my drink, turning the concoction a brilliant crimson. He handed me the glass and I drank.
The section of the Bible I knew best was Genesis 1, and as I consumed my BIP it was this passage of Moses that came foremost to my mind.
"Genesis 1 is prose, not poetry," I said, "and must be interpreted in the same manner as any other historical narrative. The Israelites wandering in the wilderness would likely have accepted the plain meaning of the text, namely, that God made the world in six literal, consecutive 24-hour days. Genesis 2 expands on the events of Day 6, thus also supporting the notion that the days in Genesis 1 are actual days. Exodus 20:11 equates the days of creation with the days of our week. Only if six-day creation is true can we say that Adam's disobedience is the cause of everything wrong with the universe - and that the obedience of Christ is therefore the solution for everything wrong with the universe."
I set my glass down. "Whoa," I said.
Philip slapped me on the back. "Pretty amazing stuff, huh?"
"Yeah."
I noticed there were hundreds of additional bottles on the shelf behind Counselor. I tried reading the labels closest to me: Original Language, Two Seeds Two Cities, Phenomenological Language, Hebrew Idioms, Three Creeds, Word Study, Theophany, Timeline, Various Versions, Mighty Maps, Typology, Anthropomorphism, Chiasm, Verbal Aspects, Hendiadys, Personification, Synecdoche, Metonymy, Metaphor, Irony, Hyperbole, Understatement, Exodus and Exile, From/Unto, Infinite Series, Head Crush, Bride & Groom, Total Greater than Sum of Parts, What's In a Name, Five Solas, Couples Dance, Chunky Chunks, Normative Norms, Leaky Lists, Seven Covenants, Continuity, Quest War Romance, Creation Fall Redemption Glory, Presuppositions, Sphere Sovereignty, Memorization, Meditation, Repetition, Skimming, Major on Majors, Logic, Whole Counsel, Case Laws, General Equity, Moral Ceremonial, Active and Passive, Cross-Textual Consistency, FAT, Redemptive-Historical Hermeneutics, Authorial Intent, Bias Awareness.
"Can I try some of those?" I asked, pointing over the bartender's shoulder.
Philip shook his head. "You've been entrusted with five Basic Interpretive Principles. First prove faithful with few things, and later you will be given many things. We can always come back for more."
The Blue Pill and the Red Pill
I turned to my left and observed three other men seated at the bar. The one farthest from me said, "I believe I'll have another beer." After receiving his draft, the customer added a blue pill to his drink. He downed the mixture and left.
The second man opened a suitcase at his feet. "I brought my own," he bragged. I watched in fascination as the aspiring drink-master synthesized an Ism Amalgamation. He combined Gnosticism, Arianism, Nestorianism, Pelagianism, Monasticism, Romanism, Liberalism, Racism, Marxism, and Postmodernism. He, too, added a blue pill to his drink, downed the mixture and left.
"What are the blue pills?" I asked Philip.
"The blue pills are deductive reasoning," he explained. "Those men first decide what they are going to believe, then look through the Bible for verses to support their beliefs. These are the subjectivists, the deconstructionists, blots and blemishes who try to make the Bible say what they want it to say. For them, authorial intent means nothing. Language means nothing. They have swallowed the blue pill. They will wake up in bed and believe whatever they want to believe. Their story is over.
"The red pill," Philip continued, "is inductive reasoning. You will not go to the Bible having already decided what to believe. Instead you will gather everything the Scriptures say on a particular topic. You will combine these various texts into a unified whole, thereby deriving a summary, a doctrine of what the Word says on that matter. Thus you will approach every field of inquiry, starting with the parts and proceeding to the whole. And if ever you encounter a Biblical teaching with which you disagree, you will immediately jettison your personal view in favor of the faith and practice revealed in the Scriptures. Do this, and you will believe what God wants you to believe. Your story will never end."
The Test of Solid Food
The gentleman closest to me then ordered a BIP. The bartender created a drink identical to the one I had consumed, complete with red pill. The man downed the mixture and rejoiced.
The Counselor then produced two plates of food, placing one in front of my neighbor and one in front of me. I looked, and saw three items on my plate: Grape of Canaan, Bread of Life, Bacon of Peter.
"Isaiah 40-55 is meat, not milk," Philip said. "Before entering you must prove you can digest solid food."
I ate the Grape of Canaan, and this is what I heard:
God didn't just save your ancestors from their bondage in Egypt; he also saved them unto a life of worship, covenant-keeping, conquest, and dominion. They hated this. They were used to a life of slavery: no responsibility. They resented God's efforts at turning them into responsible adults. They rejected what God had saved them unto. They tried to go back to Egypt, to a life free of responsibility. They died in the wilderness.
Are you any better? God saved you from your bondage to sin, and you are glad. But do you embrace the other half of your salvation - what God has saved you unto? Do you rejoice that Jesus did not come to save you from responsibility? That he has, in fact, saved you unto a life of worship, covenant-keeping, conquest, and dominion? The kingdom of heaven is not heaven. You are not meant to be an animal or an angel - not now, not ever. You are not supposed to spend your life sitting around, waiting for the rapture.
One reason Jesus saved you is that you might be fully human. Embrace this "unto." Be human. Fill and subdue the earth. Extend and prosper Christ's kingdom. Build the City of God. Yes, eating manna from heaven is good. But eating fruit of the land is even better.
I ate the Bread of Life, and this is what I heard:
"Salvation" is a broad term, properly encompassing every step in the Ordo Salutis:
1) Foreknowledge - God loves the sinner
2) Predestination - God chooses the sinner for salvation
3) Redemptive Work of Christ - Christ earns the sinner's salvation
4) Effectual Calling - God draws the sinner to Christ
5) Regeneration - the Holy Spirit makes the sinner born again
6) Faith and Repentance - the sinner turns from his sin and trusts the work of Christ
7) Union with Christ - God considers Christ the sinner's new federal head
8) Justification - God forgives the sinner
9) Adoption - God makes the forgiven sinner his son
10) Sanctification - the Holy Spirit changes God's son to be more like his Father
11) Perseverance - Christ makes sure God's son keeps repenting and believing
12) Glorification - God gives his son a resurrection body when Christ returns
Salvation is a package deal - a sinner gets all of it or none of it; he never, ever gets only some of it. Man is active in three of the steps of salvation, Faith and Repentance, Sanctification, and Perseverance, but passive in the rest. Baptism is a sign and seal of the passive steps, while the Lord's Supper is a sign and seal of the active steps. Thus we baptize infants, symbolizing that in some steps of salvation the sinner is acted upon by the God who works in him to will and to act according to his good purpose. Likewise we restrict the Lord's Supper to adults, symbolizing that in other steps of salvation the sinner is actively working out his salvation with fear and trembling.
I ate the Bacon of Peter, and this is what I heard:
There exists an indissoluble connection between what men believe and what men do. Meaning our actions flow from our beliefs. We do what we do because of what we believe. Our choices are not random, but rather determined by what we believe. It is possible to say one thing and do another, but it is not possible to believe one thing and do another. Our actions show what we really believe.
Did our ancestors in the wilderness believe God? They refused to conquer Canaan, thereby showing that they did not believe. "So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." (Heb 3:19) Peter says, "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." (Acts 10:34-35) Those are the words that came out of Peter's mouth. But talk is cheap. How do we know Peter actually believed these words? He entered Cornelius' house. He ate with Gentiles.
How this teaching offends! How freely we admit our words and deeds are sinful. Yet paradoxically, how grudgingly we admit our beliefs are sinful! Yet sinful deeds flow from sinful thoughts. If our beliefs were perfect, so would our actions be; and because our actions are not perfect, so we know our beliefs also fall short of the glory of God.
Why does this notion strike you as strange? Total depravity means that the totality of man is fallen, that sin affects every part of who we are. My beliefs are a part of me. Thus they are corrupt, never to be perfected this side of heaven. And thus will I always sin, till I behold Christ face to face.
To avoid the sting of this doctrine some Christians say, "I believe it in my head, but not in my heart." The Bible, however, nowhere says such a division exists, or is even possible. On the contrary, the Bible teaches the unity of man: if you believe it in your head, then you necessarily also believe it in your heart. And if you do not believe it in your heart, then necessarily you do not believe it in your head. "Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." (Luke 6:45)
How do you know what a person really believes? Observe his actions, and you will know.
Digestive Pride
When I finished the meal I thanked the Counselor, for this was meaty sustenance indeed, profitable for both body and soul.
Then I noticed the gentleman beside me gagging and spitting; he could not eat this food. The Counselor was gracious, placing an encouraging hand on the man and replacing his plate with a glass of milk. "Like newborn babies," he said, "crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation." (2 Peter 2:2)
It occurred to me that I could stomach solid food, while my brother could not, and I delighted in being able to do something he could not. The next instant the Counselor leaned across the bar and punched me in the face. I fell on the floor, bleeding and chagrined.
"I am the one who made you," he challenged. "I am the one who made you interested in the things of God. I made you alive with Christ even when you were dead in transgressions - it is by grace you have been saved. You were filled by me, a seal and deposit guaranteeing your inheritance. I am the one remaking you now, such that you are not the man you used to be. Who encourages you and sustains you and renews you day by day? Who illumines your heart and mind, enabling you to understand the Scriptures? And how do you enjoy your relationship with the Father and with the Son, if not through my indwelling?
"All this you have forgotten. You had no claim upon anything I gave you. You weren't entitled. You had no right. You still have no right. You're no better, no more deserving, than any other man at this bar tonight. What you have from me, you have by grace. Be zealous, therefore, and repent."
I remembered then that word of the Lord which says, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:14) Also the command of Paul: "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." (Philippians 2:3) And finally the exhortation of Peter: "All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, 'God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.' Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time." (1 Peter 5:5-7)
So I praised and exalted and glorified the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just. And those who walk in pride he is able to humble.