Heidelberg Catechism — Q. 25

Several years ago I began a project of providing a simple commentary of sorts on the Heidelberg catechism. I got up to question 24 before I tailed off. Recently, I have had one of the Father’s in the Church suggest that I should take this back up again. So, I have decided to do so for the benefit of the whole Church. I will try to do a question and answer daily. There may be days I do more. I figure if I can accomplish 5 questions a week I can finish this is less than 4 months (since I already have 24 questions finished.) Those previous entries on the Heidelberg catechism are listed under “Caleb’s Baptism” on Iron Ink for those who desire to peruse those.

I hope this can be of benefit to folks. Allow me to say that there are works out there on the Heidelberg Catechism. Herman Hokesema’s “Triple Knowledge” is excellent but in three volumes it will probably task most families. G. I. Williamson’s commentary is also solid. Current readers will want to keep before them that in the work that is being attempted here I have family devotions in mind. As such I am not going to be all Herman Hoeksema writing three volumes. (Though I highly recommend Hoeksema’s work for mature believers.)

With that let us turn to question 25 today;

Question 25: Since there is but one only divine essence,4 why speakest thou of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost?

Answer: Because God hath so revealed Himself in His Word,5 that these three distinct persons are the one only true and eternal God.

We know that God in one divine essence from the Scripture’s themselves. In Deuteronomy 6:4, as one example, we have the famous Hebrew Shema. The Hebrew word “Shema” means “Hear” and it opens the passage cited;

4Deut. 6:4, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.

Every Hebrew child would have been taught this from the crib. The reason it was pounded into their head, besides being true, was because the Hebrews lived in and among polytheistic and henotheistic cultures. These cultures owned pantheons of gods and so it was easy for Israel to take up this pagan polytheism. In order to ward such destructive influence off the Hebrew people repeatedly recited the Shema.

In question #8 however, the query is to the Trinitarian character of God. We are taught here that the One God of Heaven and Earth is spoken of as “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” thus introducing plurality into the One God who is and who reigns forevermore. The question asks why we speak this way.

And the simple answer provided is that this is the way that God Himself speaks of Himself in Scripture. Here, Zacharius Ursinus, with assistance from Caspar Olevianus (Authors of the Heidelberg Catechism) teach us that we are to be dependent upon the Scripture for our understanding of God.

They appeal to Scripture as follows for finding plurality in the Godhead. As you read the Scripture here keep in mind that if we had only one verse in Scripture to this end the doctrine might be more difficult to grasp. However, with the cumulative impact of the varied Scriptures we see a constant theme develop in the unfolding of Redemption that there is plurality in the One only God.

5 Gen. 1:26, And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

Note the plural pronoun “us” and “our” above. God is singular but the pronouns are plural. Now there are those who will try to diminish the importance of these plural pronouns or who will try to explain them away but doing that becomes more and more difficult as the Scriptures begin to pile up in a Trinitarian direction.

They next cite

Isa. 61:1, The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.

Here the plurality is found in the combination of the utterance of the ideal Servant of Jehovah (“upon me” … “anointed me”) speaking. That this ideal Servant of Jehovah is God is seen when this very passage is taken up by Jesus who is the Messiah in Luke 4 at the beginning of His ministry and who is later anointed by God with the Holy Spirit in His Baptism to the end of accomplishing His Messianic assignment.

Here we find a harmony of interests among the members of the One God. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, work without contradiction in achieving the same task. The Father anoints. The Spirit of the Lord is the anointing. The Son is the anointed one.

John 14:16–17, And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

Here again we see plurality in the one only God. The Son, who Scripture teaches is very God of very God, prays the Father to the end of being provided another Comforter (a Comforter like Himself) to be with the Church forever. The Holy Spirit who is sent by the Father and and the Son dwells in the body of Christ to the end of glorifying the Son that the Father might be known. Once again we see the divine harmony of interest.

1 John 5:7, For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

Here we have a clear claim of unity in diversity. The Word was one of John’s ways of referring to God the Son. Here God’s plurality, as supported by the other passages, is undeniable.

John 14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I have said to you.

Again, note the plurality. Jesus the God-Man is speaking instructs His disciples that God the Spirit will come as sent by the Father in the name of the Son. Again, note the harmony of interests among the members of the Trinity. This is important to keep in mind because other lesser forms of Christianity will often times try to create a conflict of interest among the members of the Trinity.

Matt. 28:19, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

Here again is plurality. Jesus the God-Man Messiah is speaking. Jesus uses the Greek singular for the word “name” and yet the singular name that is cited is plural –“Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

2 Cor. 13:14, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

We will end here. There are many more passages from Scripture we could easily cite that declares the trinitarian nature of the one only God. Here the plurality of God is explicit.

The doctrine can be a confusing doctrine resulting in significant, even if unintended, errors. For children the best way to teach is by trying to be as simple but comprehensive as possible. As such we would do well to teach our children the summary of the great American Presbyterian Dr. B. B. Warfield:

(1) “there is but one God,”

(2) “the Father and the Son and the Spirit is each God,” and

(3) “the Father and the Son and the Spirit is each a distinct person.”

“When we have said these three things, we have enunciated the doctrine of the Trinity in its completeness.”

Naturally, as the children grow there will be a need to explore this doctrine even more. We will want them to understand something of the personal properties of each member of the Trinity which distinguishes each member of the trinity from the other. We know from Scripture, for example, that the Father eternal begetting of the Son, the Son’s eternal generation from the Father, and the Spirit’s eternal procession from the Father and the Son. (Known as “paternity,” “filiation,” and “spiration.” We will want them to know about the fellowship they can have with each person of the Trinity (See John Owen’s work).

The doctrine of God as One and Many is a doctrine that one could spend a life in discovering and probing. There is no end to the depths that are found in this doctrine and frankly no exhausting of the errors that can arise from improper understandings.

In conclusion the doctrine of the plurality in the One only God is embraced because it is taught in God’s revelation of Himself in the redemption record of Scripture. In the plurality of the One only God we find God as both transcendent and God as immanent. We find God both High and lifted up and God who shared in our flesh and blood. We find a fuller understanding of the Cross and a deeper appreciation for our ongoing sanctification.

Indeed, without Plurality in the One only God, we would have a religion that is not Christianity and would therefore be some form of paganism.

“We thank thee magnificent God that thou hast revealed thyself as One and Many. We thank thee that a proper Trinitarian understanding colors and forms all of our thinking about all of reality. We beg of thee that you would enlighten those pagan religions which deny your Trinitarian reality. As such we pray for Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons who each deny your Trinitarian character. We thank you that because of your Trinitarian character you are a personal God who has not and never will forsake His people. We bless you One only God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

In Christ’s name we pray,

AMEN
 

 

 

Just Another Slander From Just Another Batty Female

One of the joys of being McAtee Contra Mundum is that the slander and libel is constant.

Today one Wendy Wilson decided to weigh in on a Peter Jones post and revealed herself as the stereo-typical hysterical woman who “heard it from a friend, who heard it from a friend, who heard it from another some ‘facts’ about McAtee.

As I can’t refute her on Peter Jones’ post since I am unable from seeing I thought I would try to calm her down here and help her get her facts right.

See interaction below;

Wendy Wilson writes,

Yes, kinist views should not be welcome in the church and those who vocally persist in them should be driven out. What does it profit a church to have its members embroiled in discussions about the supposed “functional inequality” of people on a “racial scale”?

 

Bret responds,

The profit lies in counseling against unwise marriages that because they are inter-racial are by definition functionally unequal on a racial scale as demonstrated by the documented higher percentage of divorce rates as between such marriages.

Also, if Wendy had read anything she would realize that the profit in discussing functional inequality among the races is found and discussed in the book “Bowling Alone.” That finding is that where people of other races live cheek by jowl with their functional inequality the consequence is significantly higher levels of social distrust.

Functional inequality is what diversity means. Japanese are not functionally equal to Rwandans who are not functionally equal to Intuits who are not functionally equal to Europeans. Nobody — individual or ethnic group — is functionally equal to any other individual or ethnic group. Only an irrational hysterical woman could say otherwise.

So, this is area #1 wherein we find Wendy’s hysterical response to be invalid.

Wendy Wilson writes,

At best this is a distraction, at worst it sets the stage for racial animosity. Kinism is Utopian in its own warped way, imagining that voluntary segregation will usher in peace instead of hateful and divisive tribalism.

 

Bret responds,

Note this is just an assertion without any supporting evidence.

Secondly, Windy presupposes here that Kinism as preference for one’s people automatically means hatred for other peoples. This is a errant presupposition. Since the presupposition is errant therefore the assertion about racial animosity is errant.

We would say that a kinist social order would usher in more peace as Robert Putnam demonstrates in his book “Bowling Alone.” Where kinism prevails there the social trust increases.

Windy writes,

The past oppression of racial groups cannot be ignored. History and context matter. It borders on the obscene to bring eating habits, as you did, and hobbies/interests, as Peter did, into this discussion.

Bret responds,

Yes, History teaches us that the white man, as well as other peoples, has often been terribly oppressed. See,

https://news.osu.edu/when-europeans-were-slaves–research-suggests-white-slavery-was-much-more-common-than-previously-believed/

As such I realize it would be good for all peoples involved to have a social harmony that is characterized by a homogeneous social order.

Windy writes,

People in the U.S. who prefer potatoes were never forced into their own schools. People who are more into chainsaws than IT work were never forced to drink at separate fountains.

Bret responds,

Typical kind of reasoning from an irrational woman. Ironic that the reality of functional inequality goes a long way towards explaining Windy’s lament.

Windy writes,

Bret McAtee was rightfully removed from ministry in the Christian Reformed Church.

Bret responds,

Now, I know about this one for sure. I was there. I was NOT removed from the ministry from the CRC. I requested my release (perhaps the only time in denominational history someone has asked to be released who had never been ordained) and the denomination granted my release. There was no discipline. No Church courts. No defrocking and this is because I was not guilty of anything.

Windy, once again, demonstrates she is absolutely clueless.

Windy writes,

That a handful of people of other backgrounds have a attended his church doesn’t begin to justify his positions.

Bret responds

Sure it does. It demonstrates that if people of other races and backgrounds agree with me that the position can hardly be labeled as “racist.” These people do justify my position.

Windy writes,

I used to be friends with him on FB and couldn’t believe the comments he and his like-minded friends would make. I remember him saying that although he liked some of Ted Cruz’s positions, he couldn’t vote for him because he wasn’t his kin.

Bret responds,

Windy is mad at me because I follow Scripture’s requirement?

“You are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.”

 

Cruz is a Canadian. Look into it. He is actually not even eligible to be President were we to follow our own laws. But then neither was Obama.

Windy writes,

He’s also a vile anti-Semite. He and some of his FB friends shared conspiracy theories about Jews plotting to control the U.S. They also smeared Jews in other ways on grounds that Jews killed Christ.

Bret responds,

I do not believe that J are plotting to control the US since it is my belief that they already control many aspects of the US. They even admit it in many of their own writings.

Wendy Wilson is just out there doing what so many are doing and that is to smear me with slander and libel.

I pray that she would discover the joys of the 9th commandment.

A Small Biblio-Theological Defense of Nations and Nationalism (Kinism)

1) Man is created in and reflects the image and likeness of God.

2.) Man is not completely man as an atomized singular individual (Gen. 1:27, 2:18). There is something lacking (Gen. 2:20f). Woman is created out of man. The first family unit together constitutes “Man.” Family is the primary building block that comprises tribe, which extended comprises nation which extended comprises ethnicity (people group), which extended comprises race. Think of outward concentric circles each larger circle related to the previous circle.

2) God consists of three persons in one essence. He is Trinitarian. God is both one and many.

See

a.) The One, the Three and the Many: God, Creation, and the Culture of Modernity  — Colin E. Gunton 
b.) The One and the Many — R. J. Rushdoony
c.) Assorted works of C. Van Til

3) Being created in the Imago Dei, man reflects God both individually (one) and corporately (many). Man is both Adam singularly and Adam & Eve corporately.

4) One manifestation of this idea is that while men are individuals they are also part of families. I am an individual and I am also a “McAtee,”– connected both to my nuclear family and my extended family — with all that entails for good or ill.

5) Love and right relationships are governed by God’s justice standard as enumerated in His law. As this love flows along boundaries of commandments, it makes distinctions between God and man and distinctions among men. For example, the commandment to honor one’s parents reflects the importance of the ties of kinship (also see I Tim. 5:8) and ordains that there are familial distinctions among men while also demonstrating that men have concentric circles of obligation. (see #2 above).

6) Ethnic groups are extensions of tribes–which are extensions of families. See Genesis 10, Psalm 22:28, etc. For example the Hebrews were the Ethnic group which was the extension of their 12 distinct tribes.

7) Along with creating families and nations, God judged ethnic/racial and linguistic Unitarianism at Babel (Gen. 11).

8.) God creates nations with the purpose of reflecting his glory and establishing dominion. He appoints their boundaries that “they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (Acts 17:26-27). Moreover, God wants to bless the nations (Genesis 18:18, 22:18) and God governs the nations (Psalm 22:28).

9) The nations are deceived by Babylon (Revelation 18:23 ) and Satan (Revelation 20:3,8).

10) Part of Satan’s rebellion against God is the destruction of the nations and similar to murder the destruction of nations is, therefore, an attack on the image of God.

11) Ethnic dissolution, dispossession, or genocide, which may take numerous forms, is a violation of the 6th Commandment and an attack on man as God’s Image Bearer.

12) Modern globalism–including the unfettered migration of “Image Bearers” with the intent that all peoples and colors bleed into one undifferentiable sea of humanity represents an economic, cultural, and demographic assault on modern nations and therefore on the Divine Image. It is the genocide of particularity by means of a unitarian impulse. It is monistic humanism.

13) Globalism is anti-Christ and therefore Satanic. Ethno-Nationalism produces social peace, for which we are obliged to pray (I Tim. 2:1-2).

14.) Jesus Christ himself was born with an tribal/ethnic identity. Born of the tribe of Judah (as prophesied in Genesis) Jesus remains a member of that tribe as interceding for us at the right hand of the father as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

15.) Jesus tribal/national identity was necessary in order for Him to be who he was. All the genealogies which trace out Jesus forbears testify to the importance that Jesus belong not to humanity as a mass but rather as belonging to the House of David.

16.) In Revelation 21-22 we see the nations as nations inhabiting the New Jerusalem. We are told that the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the Nations. We are told that the nations will walk by the light of God’s glory.
We are told the Kings — who by definition are leaders of particular nations — will bring their splendor into the new Jerusalem. We are told that the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into the New Jerusalem. Nations thus exist not only presently but will continue to exist in the New Jerusalem. Our national identities will not be eclipsed. If this is true then the attempt to destroy the nations is an attempt to destroy what God has ordained to be indestructible.

17.) In Isaiah 19 we read of the promise where distinct nations will belong to God as being distinct nations. The One and the Many principle is applied there as Egypt, Assyria, and Israel are spoken of as one day being the “people of God” together but yet without losing their identity as Egypt, Assyria, and Israel.

18.) In Romans 11 with the Olive tree and broken branches, the broken branches pruned and perhaps grafted back in to the Olive tree refers not to individuals but to nations. It is the Nations as nations that are pruned out and then grafted back in (See Geerhardus Vos).

19.) In Matthew 28 the command is go to the nations in order to baptize, teach and make disciples. It is not a bunch of random atomistic individuals that are gathered into the Kingdom but Nations as nations.

20.) In the New Testament we often (though not exclusively) see Households saved as Households. Seeing individuals saved also then reminds us of the one and the many principle throughout Scripture.

21.) In the great Judgment described in the Olivet discourse (Matt. 24) it is the nations that are gathered before the Son, and then judged, and separated so as to sit at either the left hand or right hand of Christ.

22.) In OT prophecy in Micah 2 and Isaiah 4 describing the future House of God and the Lord’s reign in Zion it is the nations as nations that we find streaming to the Mountain of the Lord.

23.) St. Paul emphasizes his own nationality and love for his distinct people in Romans 9:3

____________

 

How Do I Love My Racist Neighbor? — A Parody

I think it is time we discuss how we can best evangelize our racist neighbor. This subject needs to be examined so that we know best how to build bridges to our racist neighbors as opposed to just offending them because everyone knows that our racist neighbors will never be won to the Gospel by just calling them “racist,” as if that is the only thing that might be thought of or said of them. There is more to the humanity of a racist than just their racism. Keep in mind inside every racists is a non-racist just wanting to get out and wanting to be loved.

First, we have to get out of the way of ourselves. It is true that it takes a lot getting used to the hound dogs in our racist neighbor’s yard and the chickens roosting everywhere. It is true that seeing bootleg copies of Luther’s “The Jews and their Lies,” and David Duke’s “Jewish Supremacism” and a copy of “The Best of Chrysostom and Calvin on the Jews” sitting right out in the open in their living rooms without any kind of book covers covering the titles can be a pornographic sight. It is true that we might find their lack of hygiene, as seen in so many of them only have one tooth remaining, to be repulsive but as St. Paul says … “Such were some of you.”

Second, we need to realize that our racist neighbors are image bearers just like we are. It is true that they have this great sin about them that we find so objectionable but when we look at them we need to see them as God sees them and that is as people who bear the image of God. We have to realize that although a racist disposition denies God’s will for human dignity, we need to affirm that people who prefer the company of their own people should not have legal rights to protect their legal and economic security stripped from them. Remember, we are required to do unto the racists as we would have them do unto us. As Christians it is the least that we can do. I would submit that only when we make our racist neighbors feel safe can we expect to have a harvest of souls from among them.

So, instead of insulting them or not welcoming them in our churches we should go our of our way to see them as whole persons and not merely as racist pigs. How would you like to be known just by your besetting sin of uniquely loving your children, or paying only your families monthly bills?

Think about it for a second. We don’t think about sodomites only in terms of their sodomy. We don’t think about Pedophiles or Zoophiles only in terms of their pedophilia or zoophilia. We don’t think about cannibals or trannies only in terms of their cannibalism or trannie-ism. Why should we think of racists only in terms of their racism? I mean after all, wouldn’t Jesus think about the feelings of racists before condemning them to hell? Can we do any less?

For my part, I can only tell you that some of the nicest people my wife and family and I have ever met are racists. We’ve known some of these racists to befriend not only other white people but actually to greet non white people in stores, to visit with non-white people in public gatherings, and even to help non-white people in their need. It is true that they still won’t give their children in marriage to non-white people and they still insist that multi-cultural social orders breed low trust societies but we need to learn to give credit where credit is due and realize that the grace of God can save such people. I’ve seen these racist people perform deeds of kindness that would put our church people to shame. Does not God’s common grace count for something?

Of course the wife and I are careful to teach our children that we cannot turn a blind eye to these racist friends lifestyle. We point out to our children the disgusting sin of inter-ethnic preference. In family devotions we expose the racist sin of our neighbors by pointing out to the children how they only go shopping in safe areas of town. However, I think we in the church need to get past only seeing the most grotesque thing about a person (their racism) as if that is their only truth. These are people who love their mothers and family just like we do. We need to build on that to give them the Gospel.

We need to recall that just as God’s rain falls on the just and the unjust so that same rain falls on the racists and non racists alike. This teaches us about God’s incredible mercy and if that mercy could reach us when we were not yet Christian certainly it can reach even the racist while they are not yet Christian.  Where is the tenderness and kindness that was characteristic of the Church through the centuries? Where is the historic love of Jesus for the least of these? Would you die for your racist neighbor to see them won to the Kingdom? If not, then maybe you should slow up in your ready condemnation of the racist.

Given all this we need to start treating our racist neighbors as real people. Go ahead and say “hello” to your racist neighbor. I know enough of them to assure you that they won’t bite you. Make them a meal. Help them get to the hospital if they are hurt. Donate blood or an organ to help them return to health and great will be your reward in heaven. Remember underneath that racist veneer is a human whom Jesus died for. His or her racism does not negate their humanity. Remember that.

Remember, without your willingness to be a channel of grace, your racist neighbor may well go to hell. Let that motivate you in your outreach to racists.

Addendum — Even some our clergy need help on this subject. Call up your parson and take him out to lunch and talk with your clergy member about his or her shrillness on the subject of racism. Remind your minister that racism is not the unforgivable sin. Remind your minister that your church as well as (s)he and the church staff may well can learn something from the racists.

Remember… it only takes a spark to get a fire going.

Inspired by Paul Tripp