Author:
Genre: Theology - General
Tags: Bible, Grace, Legalism / License / Liberty, Modern Authors / Theological Issues, Progressivism / Conservatism, Thinking / Reading
Series:
Rick Shrader‘s Review:
The habit of reading is absolutely critical today, particularly for Christians. As television turns our society into an increasingly image-dominated culture, Christians must continue to be people of the Word. When we read, we cultivate a sustained attention span, an active imagination, a capacity for logical analysis and critical thinking, and a rich inner life. Each of these qualities, which have proven themselves essential to free people, is under assault in our TV-dominated culture. Christians, to maintain their Word-centered perspective in an image-driven world, must become readers.
Gene Edward Veith, Jr.1
This is the time of year when a rocking chair, a glass of lemonade and a good book may be all the exercise one can take. But it also seems to be the time of issues, boycotts, resolutions and conflict within many bodies of believers. Maybe it’s just the sultry weather that makes us all irritable and we’ll all cool down eventually. Perhaps a vacation, a little time away and some reflection on the issues is what we need. Vance Havner wrote, “It is good to get away from it all now and then, for we cannot run well in the midst of it all unless now and then we run away from it all.”2
This issue of ALETHEIA will depart somewhat from the usual format. I have been reading in a few various controversial areas and would like to respond to each of these. My study of these is certainly not complete but ongoing as must be the case with such things. By responding to particular books in these areas, I am not responding to everything that has been written or that I should have read by now. However, when a book is published you figure that the author has said all that he wanted to say about the subject and so comments about it are justified.
The first area of controversy is over Charles Swindoll’s The Grace Awakening, and Ernest Pickering’s response to it, Are Fundamentalists Legalists? The second area is the hot topic of The Bible Code, the discovery of coded messages about our present day within the Hebrew text of the Old Testament. The third area is the ongoing problem of Bible versions and the new book from Central Seminary, The Bible Version Debate. I think all of these are interesting and, depending on one’s point of view, critical to the present life of God’s church. I hope this change of format is profitable to you.
1. The Struggle For Biblical Grace.
Charles Swindoll published his book The Grace Awakening in 1990 & 1996. Not being a big fan of Swindoll’s writing style, I just got around to reading the book because I was given a copy of a rebuttal by Ernest Pickering which he decided to title Are Fundamentalists Legalists? I wondered if Pickering’s title was a fair evaluation of what Swindoll was trying to say. I even thought to myself, surely Swindoll doesn’t use such caustic language as Pickering quoted in his review.
Actually he does. Though Swindoll is careful to refer to “legalists” not “fundamentalists,” the connection is hard to miss. The terms were such things as “grace-killers,” “religious killjoys,” “cramped, somber, dull and listless,” “rigid, grim, exacting and lawlike,” “cramped, closed, dirty, emotionally crippled,” “suicidal,” “look alike, talk alike and act alike,” “petty, so unbelievably small-minded,” “tactless, blunt, accusatory, and sometimes sarcastic.” Those were the few that I marked. That hardly sounds like a book on grace!
Swindoll makes no bones that his purpose is to expose legalism for the danger it is to the church. I found, however, the problem to be (as it always is) the definition of legalism. I thought Swindoll did a good job of defining grace in salvation and even in pointing out legalism for salvation and within those parameters I had no problem. But what Dr. Pickering became alarmed about (and I also) was not that standard theological fare, but the stretching of that definition to include an indictment as legalism of most preaching done in order to encourage Christian works. At that point there seems to be a definite division between the vernaculars “legalism” and “license.”
Ernest Pickering has been one of the bright stars in Fundamentalism due to his writing and teaching ministries and his personal integrity. He objects strenuously to Swindoll’s caricature of conservative Christianity. I have to admit that Swindoll leaves little space for the adherence to personal separation. But even Pickering would have to admit that there is such a thing as “legalism” in the vernacular, an attempt to control the conscience of others by mere rules rather than the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
But I cannot agree with Swindoll that any admonition from one Christian to another in order to apply biblical principles to worldly situations constitutes legalism. Swindoll leaves one with the definite impression that no Christian should ever tell another Christian what is right and wrong unless it is specifically mentioned in so many words in the Bible. Many of Swindoll’s own peers have warned about making this sweeping generalization.3
My disagreement with Swindoll would be that I think he gets people up on the wrong side of the bed. I mean that we all agree we must come to the end of ourselves in order to be saved by grace and not works. In this sense we die or are crucified with Christ. (There are true legalists today trying to work their way to heaven. Interestingly, Swindoll favorably quotes Catholics such as Richard Neuhaus and compliments his charismatic friends. Are these not working for their salvation? Then they are legalists in the biblical sense of the word! Yet they never receive the same criticism). But once we die with Christ in salvation, we are raised to walk in a new life. We are not raised back out of the “death bed” on the same side we got in! We are raised to live a new life of holiness. Whether Swindoll intends to or not, I think he definitely encourages new converts to walk old paths where they have walked before, not the new paths of holiness. Yes, there is liberty in grace, but there is also grace in liberty. Admonishing oneself and others is stewardship, not legalism.
2. The New Bible Code
In 1988 a paper was published by Doron Witztum, Eliyahu Rips and Yoav Rosenberg of the Jerusalem College of Technology and the Hebrew University on what was called “Equidistant Letter Sequences in the Book of Genesis.” Within the last couple years articles have appeared in Bible Review and other magazines giving certain credence to the “discovery.” More recently (1997, Simon & Schuster) Michael Drosnin, a former Wall Street Journal reporter has published a popular book, The Bible Code and has appeared on many television and radio programs.
What would you think if someone told you that major events in history, with definite names and dates, were present in coded message within the Hebrew text of the Old Testament? Adolf Hitler, John Kennedy, Yitzhak Rabin and others were foretold down to some amazing details. Drosnin also claims that future events can be gleaned if one can enter the right information into the computer.
The process goes something like this. Starting with the Masoretic Text, each letter is entered into a computer in order as it appears in the Old Testament; no punctuation, spaces between words or vowel pointing. When asked for a reading of any entry (such as a specific name), the computer searches the entire text, arranges it into a huge crossword-like grid or puzzle with the word “Kennedy” for example (in Hebrew, of course), in a lined sequence along with related words such as “Dallas” and even exact dates. In this way the “Bible Code” contains predictions of current events in a text compiled thousands of years ago. The computer rearranges the grid depending on what word has been entered.
Drosnin is convinced that this “Code” is actually the seven sealed book of Revelation which could not be opened until the technology was in place to open it. Now, he says, it is our responsibility to use what we know to avoid destruction. The next predicted dates for global disaster are 2000 and 2006.
There are more than a few obvious concerns about the code. 1) The Masoretic Text is a compilation of textual traditions and cannot be said to represent the originals exactly. There are many Masoretic Texts containing hundreds of variants, any one of which could change the code. 2) The Hebrew language seems more given to such usage than others because it has only 22 letters and no vowels. This would greatly enhance such “sequences” that appear in a line. 3) This reduces the understanding of the Bible to mere mathematics rather than faith. Drosnin, admittedly is not a Christian or a Jew, and yet has become a prophet. 4) The Bible code has not been 100% accurate and that was the mark of a false prophet. 5) There seems to be little regard for what the text of the Old Testament actually said in the words of the books themselves. 6) Revelation specifically says that Jesus himself opens each of the seals on the seven sealed book.
It will be interesting to see how much publicity the Bible Code gets. It certainly is a more interesting approach than previous date-setters. I am waiting to hear from Christian Hebrew Scholars on the merits of using the sacred text in this manner.
3. The Bible Version Debate
I was very glad to see a Baptist Seminary, known for its fundamental and conservative position, publish a straightforward, scholarly position on this divisive issue. The Bible Version Debate is written and published by Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis, MN. The chapters were written by President Douglas McLachlan and three professors. I especially enjoyed reading the book because Central is my Alma Mater and these professors were classmates of mine.
The book begins with a quote from the late founder and president of the seminary, Richard Clearwaters, from his book The Great Conservative Baptist Compromise, “Honesty compels us to cite the 1901 American Revised as the best English Version of the original languages which places us in a position 290 years ahead of those who are still weighing the King James of 1611 for demerits.” Also, “We know of no Fundamentalists . . . that claim the King James as the best English translation. Those in the main stream of Fundamentalism all claim the ASV 1901 as the best English translation.” That sounds amazingly like my old college professor, Noel Smith who used the ASV 1901 in class at Baptist Bible College.
I personally agree with the conclusions of this book. I have never been a majority Text or Textus Receptus fan. Although I grew up hearing Pete Ruckman speak at my church, I was not taught a KJV Only position at church, at Baptist Bible College (68-72), at Central Seminary (72-75) or at the GARBC seminary I attended (82-84). As Dr. Clearwaters’ quote points out, the KJV Only position is a recent intruder into Fundamentalism.
There are a few valuable contributions that this book from Central Seminary makes to the overall discussion. 1) Roy Beacham, professor of Old Testament, points out the inconsistencies of the Old Testament texts, specifically the Masoretic Text. It is wrong merely to assume that all Old Testament texts agree. 2) W. Edward Glenny, professor of New Testament, shows the unreliability of the Textus Receptus, especially when arguing for divine preservation. 3) Glenny has an excellent chapter on Biblical preservation and the misuse of “preservation texts” by KJV Only advocates.
The seminary’s position on Bible translations is set forth in three criteria for what can be called the Word of God. “They must be (1) translations, (2) nonsectarian and (3) made from the original language manuscripts. We can be confident that any nonsectarian translation of manuscripts of the original languages is the Word of God” (p. 119).
This book is a welcomed step for Baptists to return to their roots as Bible believing people.
Notes: 1. Gene Edward Veith, Jr. Reading Between The Lines (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990) xiv. 2. Vance Havner, Rest Awhile (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941) 23. 3. See J.I. Packer, Truth & Power (Wheaton: Harold Shaw, 1996) 145. Also, Charles Ryrie, Balancing The Christian Life (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994) 160.