"But systematics [Systematic Theology] helps ministers to preach the whole counsel of God, and thus to make God central in their work" (Cornelius Van Til, An Introduction to Systematic Theology (ed. William Edgar), 22).
Showing posts with label Van Til. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Van Til. Show all posts
Thursday, November 7, 2013
Friday, May 31, 2013
Covenant
God is the Master and Creator of the Universe. He is the
Divine Head, the Lord of creation, and as Lord he self-discloses himself to man
“by way [mode] of covenant” (Westminster
Confession of Faith, VII.I).
God is distinct from and sovereign over all of creation. This means that there is a permanent-and-ontological difference at back the relationship between God and the creation. Thus, we can say that there are two ontological realities in this world:
1) the eternal and infinite Triune-God.
2) the temporal and finite creation.
What are the implications?
For starters, this means that creation is ontologically and metaphysically dependent upon God. In John 1:3, God revealed that through the Word, Jesus Christ, all things were created: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Therefore, Jesus Christ is the “source of all activity and life” (Marcus Dods, The Gospel of John, vol. 1, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint 1983), 684).
Since man is temporal and finite and distinct from the eternal and infinite Triune-Creator, there must be some way that God relates-to and relationships-with Creation. According to Scripture, God freely chose to reveal and relate to creation by way of covenant, that is, covenantally (Genesis 2:17, 6:18, 9:11; Exodus 6:4, Deuteronomy 5:3, Psalm 25:14, 89:3; Luke 1:72; Romans 10:5-20, 11:27; Hebrews 12:24, 13:20). The milieu of God’s covenant with man is God’s law. “The law of God expresses God’s holy nature to man (Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics, (Nacogdoches: Covenant Media Press, 3rd ed.), 141). Therefore, God's law is the axiomatic system of the covenant.
God expresses his holy nature to all of creation; God relates covenantally with all of creation, but since man was specifically created in God’s image, and as such is a representative of God to the rest of creation, this implies that man has a moral and an ethical obligation to obey the stipulations of God’s law. Since man has this ethical obligation to keep the law of God, there are conditions and promises tied to God’s covenant with man. The covenantal conditions and promises are sanctioned by God’s authoritative declaration: on the one hand, blessings and life will be rewarded for covenantal faithfulness and obedience, while on the other hand, curses and punishment unto death will be rewarded for covenantal unfaithfulness and disobedience (see Deuteronomy 27-30).
We see in Scripture that God has made two covenants with man: the first was a “covenant of works” made with Adam, the first federal head of humanity; the second was a “covenant of grace” made with Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the federal head of restored humanity.
Adam failed to keep the ethical obligations of the “covenant of works” that God made with him, and as the federal head of humanity sanctioned curses and judgment unto death for himself as well as all of his descendants. Thus, ever since Adam’s fall mankind has attempted to make himself the measure of all things: sinful man’s aim is to be absolute, sinful man’s aim is to be autonomous. By this vain attempt, sinful man attempts to usurp God the glory for which He alone is due. Because of sin, the relationship (covenant) is broken that exits between man and the Divine. Secondarily, it is also important to note that man’s relationship with the entire created-universe is broken.
Cornelius Van Til noted, when God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, Adam was supposed to be “a prophet, priest, and king under God in this created world” (Christian Apologetics, ed. William Edgar (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2nd edition, 2003), 41). God intended for Adam to “interpret,” “dedicate,” and “rule” the world, not for the sake of himself, but for God. That is, for God’s glory! Sinful man, however, does not execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king for God’s glory, rather he twists that ingrained-innate-calling as he attempts to be absolute and autonomous.
Thus, sinful man is always trying to do prophetic, priestly, and kingly things in this world, but he does them while in a broken relationship (covenant) with God. So, what proceeds is this: false interpretation, perverted dedication, and corrupted rule and judgment – these things are not of God but are of man, thus, the prophetic, priestly, and kingly things that fallen men accomplishes are after the “tradition of men” and “not after Christ.” (cf. Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Paul is saying you need to fashion knowledge and belief after (the knowledge and belief in) Christ, that is, after the Creator, not after knowledge and belief of the traditions purported by sinful men and a fallen created-universe.)
However, God freely chose to make a “covenant of grace” with Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the obedient prophet, priest, and king. Jesus Christ was obedient, he had covenantal faithfulness and entirely fulfilled the ethical obligations of God’s law as prophet, priest, and king. Jesus Christ, therefore, faithfully interprets, dedicates, and rules the world for the glory of God!
So, what we know about God by way of the covenant is that God is not only the Lord who created the universe, but that he is also the Lord who mercifully restores sinful men and renews creation. God does that by adopting sinners through propitiation, that is, through the obedient and atoning prophetic, priestly, and kingly work of Jesus Christ, with whom God made a “covenant of grace” – wherein God “offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved” (Westminster Confession of Faith, VII.III).
God is distinct from and sovereign over all of creation. This means that there is a permanent-and-ontological difference at back the relationship between God and the creation. Thus, we can say that there are two ontological realities in this world:
1) the eternal and infinite Triune-God.
2) the temporal and finite creation.
What are the implications?
For starters, this means that creation is ontologically and metaphysically dependent upon God. In John 1:3, God revealed that through the Word, Jesus Christ, all things were created: “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” Therefore, Jesus Christ is the “source of all activity and life” (Marcus Dods, The Gospel of John, vol. 1, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, ed. W. Robertson Nicoll, (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, reprint 1983), 684).
Since man is temporal and finite and distinct from the eternal and infinite Triune-Creator, there must be some way that God relates-to and relationships-with Creation. According to Scripture, God freely chose to reveal and relate to creation by way of covenant, that is, covenantally (Genesis 2:17, 6:18, 9:11; Exodus 6:4, Deuteronomy 5:3, Psalm 25:14, 89:3; Luke 1:72; Romans 10:5-20, 11:27; Hebrews 12:24, 13:20). The milieu of God’s covenant with man is God’s law. “The law of God expresses God’s holy nature to man (Greg Bahnsen, Theonomy in Christian Ethics, (Nacogdoches: Covenant Media Press, 3rd ed.), 141). Therefore, God's law is the axiomatic system of the covenant.
God expresses his holy nature to all of creation; God relates covenantally with all of creation, but since man was specifically created in God’s image, and as such is a representative of God to the rest of creation, this implies that man has a moral and an ethical obligation to obey the stipulations of God’s law. Since man has this ethical obligation to keep the law of God, there are conditions and promises tied to God’s covenant with man. The covenantal conditions and promises are sanctioned by God’s authoritative declaration: on the one hand, blessings and life will be rewarded for covenantal faithfulness and obedience, while on the other hand, curses and punishment unto death will be rewarded for covenantal unfaithfulness and disobedience (see Deuteronomy 27-30).
We see in Scripture that God has made two covenants with man: the first was a “covenant of works” made with Adam, the first federal head of humanity; the second was a “covenant of grace” made with Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the federal head of restored humanity.
Adam failed to keep the ethical obligations of the “covenant of works” that God made with him, and as the federal head of humanity sanctioned curses and judgment unto death for himself as well as all of his descendants. Thus, ever since Adam’s fall mankind has attempted to make himself the measure of all things: sinful man’s aim is to be absolute, sinful man’s aim is to be autonomous. By this vain attempt, sinful man attempts to usurp God the glory for which He alone is due. Because of sin, the relationship (covenant) is broken that exits between man and the Divine. Secondarily, it is also important to note that man’s relationship with the entire created-universe is broken.
Cornelius Van Til noted, when God created Adam and put him in the Garden of Eden, Adam was supposed to be “a prophet, priest, and king under God in this created world” (Christian Apologetics, ed. William Edgar (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2nd edition, 2003), 41). God intended for Adam to “interpret,” “dedicate,” and “rule” the world, not for the sake of himself, but for God. That is, for God’s glory! Sinful man, however, does not execute the offices of prophet, priest, and king for God’s glory, rather he twists that ingrained-innate-calling as he attempts to be absolute and autonomous.
Thus, sinful man is always trying to do prophetic, priestly, and kingly things in this world, but he does them while in a broken relationship (covenant) with God. So, what proceeds is this: false interpretation, perverted dedication, and corrupted rule and judgment – these things are not of God but are of man, thus, the prophetic, priestly, and kingly things that fallen men accomplishes are after the “tradition of men” and “not after Christ.” (cf. Colossians 2:8: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Paul is saying you need to fashion knowledge and belief after (the knowledge and belief in) Christ, that is, after the Creator, not after knowledge and belief of the traditions purported by sinful men and a fallen created-universe.)
However, God freely chose to make a “covenant of grace” with Jesus Christ, the second Adam, the obedient prophet, priest, and king. Jesus Christ was obedient, he had covenantal faithfulness and entirely fulfilled the ethical obligations of God’s law as prophet, priest, and king. Jesus Christ, therefore, faithfully interprets, dedicates, and rules the world for the glory of God!
So, what we know about God by way of the covenant is that God is not only the Lord who created the universe, but that he is also the Lord who mercifully restores sinful men and renews creation. God does that by adopting sinners through propitiation, that is, through the obedient and atoning prophetic, priestly, and kingly work of Jesus Christ, with whom God made a “covenant of grace” – wherein God “offers unto sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ; requiring of them faith in Him, that they may be saved” (Westminster Confession of Faith, VII.III).
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Conflict: Van Til & Barth at Logos.com
Logos (the Bible software company) recently posted an article on Cornelius Van Til and Karl Barth; the article commemorates their birthdays and highlights the theological conflict that existed between the two of them. Also, there are coupon codes for Van Til's and Barth's works.
The following is an excerpt from the short article:
The following is an excerpt from the short article:
It remains an open question whether the evangelicalism of Van Til and Barth have room for friendship or will remain foes, especially within the various branches of the Reformed tradition within the United States. Despite this, we can still be diligent in our efforts to understand the thinking of each man on his own terms by going back to the sources. Finally, we should be encouraged by Barth’s gesture to Van Til in 1962. Previously, Barth had been rude toward Van Til. However, he took a step towards reconciliation when he was visiting Princeton to give a series of lectures. Van Til used the opportunity to write to Barth: “When you came to Princeton I called up the Seminary and asked whether I could see you but was discouraged from doing so. When I looked for an opportunity to shake hands with you after your Princeton lectures [the Warfield lectures] you were hurried away. When at last I did come near to you in the hallway and somebody called your attention to my presence and you graciously shook hands with me, saying: ‘You said some bad things about me but I forgive you, I forgive you,’ I was too overwhelmed to reply.”
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Centrality of Doctrine of the Trinity
Is the doctrine of the Trinity the central part of your Christian worldview and worship?
Ralph Smith believes it should be. Commenting on the lack of emphasis of the doctrine of the Trinity in contemporary, apologetic and/or Christian worldview writings penned by Evangelicals (e.g., He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer, The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire, Worldviews in Conflict by Ronald H. Nash, War of the Worldviews by Gary DeMar, and Lifeviews by R. C. Sproul), Smith says,
Ralph Smith believes it should be. Commenting on the lack of emphasis of the doctrine of the Trinity in contemporary, apologetic and/or Christian worldview writings penned by Evangelicals (e.g., He is There and He is Not Silent by Francis Schaeffer, The Universe Next Door by James W. Sire, Worldviews in Conflict by Ronald H. Nash, War of the Worldviews by Gary DeMar, and Lifeviews by R. C. Sproul), Smith says,
But if the fact of God's triunity is essential to our worldview, that fact needs to be demonstrated and then expounded so that Christians can see what the doctrine of the Trinity means for Christian thought and life (Paradox and Truth: Rethinking Van Til on the Trinity by Comparing Van Til, Plantinga, and Kuyper, Canon Press, 17).Smith echoes Rahner and Moltmann. Both commented on the displacement of the Doctrine of the Trinity in modern/contemporary theology. I remember my theology professor, Dr. Chris Bounds, at university also discussed this issue at length in Introduction to Theology. He frequently mentioned how the centrality of the doctrine of the Trinity had been eroded. For evidence he cited the fact that books dealing with Christian Theology were being published which lacked a section dedicated to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit. Thus, primers on Christian Theology that were not structured or outlined by the very structure of the Economic Trinity.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Cornelius "One Liner" Van Til, Again
In October, I posted a handful of Van Til "one liners" from his Introduction to Systematic Theology. This month I am posting another handful from his Christian Apologetics.
"[S]ystematic theology . . . takes all the truths brought to light from Scripture by the biblical studies and forms them into one organic whole" (21).
"The unity and the diversity in God are equally basic and mutually dependent upon one another" (25).
"No creature can detract from his [God] glory; all creatures, willingly or unwillingly add to his glory" (28).
"God is absolute" (29).
"He [God] is autonomous" (29).
"The diversity and the unity in the Godhead are therefore equally ultimate; they are exhaustively correlative to one another and not correlative to anything else" (29).
"The most basic distinction of Christianity is that of God's being as self-contained, and created being as dependent upon him" (30).
"Christianity is committed for better or for worse to a two-layer theory of reality or being" (31).
"Truth out of all relationship to any mind is a pure meaningless abstraction" (34).
"The idea of disinterested or neutral knowledge is out of accord with the basic ideas of Christianity" (40).
"Christ came to bring man back to God" (46).
"In Christ man realizes that he is a creature of God and that he should not seek underived comprehensive knowledge" (48).
"Christ is our wisdom" (48).
"What Christ did while he was on earth is only a beginning of his work" (51).
"Sin being what it is we may be certain that all our preaching and all our reasoning with men will be in vain unless God brings men through it to himself" (53).
"Belief in the promises of God with respect to our eternal salvation is meaningless unless God controls the future" (53).
"Scripture gives definite information of a most fundamental character about all the facts and principles with which philosophy and science deal" (61).
"They [General and Special Revelation] are aspects of one general philosophy of history" (66).
"It was in the mother promise that God gave the answer to nature's cry (Gen. 3:15)" (75).
"At every stage in history God's revelation in nature is sufficient for the purpose it was meant to serve, that of being the playground for the process of differentiation between those who would and those who would not serve God" (75-76).
"Created man may see clearly what is revealed clearly even if he cannot see exhaustively" (77).
"Nature can and does reveal nothing but the one comprehensive plan of God" (78).
"No one can become a theist unless he becomes a Christian" (79).
"Any god that is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not God but an idol" (79).
"Hodge, following the lead of Calvin, stressed the fact that the whole set of sinful man needs to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit" (94).
"For Adam in paradise, God-consciousness could not come in at the end of a syllogistic process of reasoning" (115).
"Roman Catholic notion of authority seems at first sight to be very absolute--in fact even more absolute than that of Protestantism--it is in reality not absolute at all. Its idea of autonomy wins out in every case. And so it comes to pass that the Roman Catholic doctrines of faith are in every instance adjusted to the idea of human autonomy" (181).
"It follows that on the question of Scripture, as on every other question, the only possible way for the Christian to reason with the non-believer is by way of presupposition" (197).
All quotes from Christian Apologetics (P&R Publishing, 2003), edited by William Edgar.
"[S]ystematic theology . . . takes all the truths brought to light from Scripture by the biblical studies and forms them into one organic whole" (21).
"The unity and the diversity in God are equally basic and mutually dependent upon one another" (25).
"No creature can detract from his [God] glory; all creatures, willingly or unwillingly add to his glory" (28).
"God is absolute" (29).
"He [God] is autonomous" (29).
"The diversity and the unity in the Godhead are therefore equally ultimate; they are exhaustively correlative to one another and not correlative to anything else" (29).
"The most basic distinction of Christianity is that of God's being as self-contained, and created being as dependent upon him" (30).
"Christianity is committed for better or for worse to a two-layer theory of reality or being" (31).
"Truth out of all relationship to any mind is a pure meaningless abstraction" (34).
"The idea of disinterested or neutral knowledge is out of accord with the basic ideas of Christianity" (40).
"Christ came to bring man back to God" (46).
"In Christ man realizes that he is a creature of God and that he should not seek underived comprehensive knowledge" (48).
"Christ is our wisdom" (48).
"What Christ did while he was on earth is only a beginning of his work" (51).
"Sin being what it is we may be certain that all our preaching and all our reasoning with men will be in vain unless God brings men through it to himself" (53).
"Belief in the promises of God with respect to our eternal salvation is meaningless unless God controls the future" (53).
"Scripture gives definite information of a most fundamental character about all the facts and principles with which philosophy and science deal" (61).
"They [General and Special Revelation] are aspects of one general philosophy of history" (66).
"It was in the mother promise that God gave the answer to nature's cry (Gen. 3:15)" (75).
"At every stage in history God's revelation in nature is sufficient for the purpose it was meant to serve, that of being the playground for the process of differentiation between those who would and those who would not serve God" (75-76).
"Created man may see clearly what is revealed clearly even if he cannot see exhaustively" (77).
"Nature can and does reveal nothing but the one comprehensive plan of God" (78).
"No one can become a theist unless he becomes a Christian" (79).
"Any god that is not the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is not God but an idol" (79).
"Hodge, following the lead of Calvin, stressed the fact that the whole set of sinful man needs to be renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit" (94).
"For Adam in paradise, God-consciousness could not come in at the end of a syllogistic process of reasoning" (115).
"Roman Catholic notion of authority seems at first sight to be very absolute--in fact even more absolute than that of Protestantism--it is in reality not absolute at all. Its idea of autonomy wins out in every case. And so it comes to pass that the Roman Catholic doctrines of faith are in every instance adjusted to the idea of human autonomy" (181).
"It follows that on the question of Scripture, as on every other question, the only possible way for the Christian to reason with the non-believer is by way of presupposition" (197).
All quotes from Christian Apologetics (P&R Publishing, 2003), edited by William Edgar.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Cornelius "One Liner" Van Til
"When the enemy attacks the foundations, we must be able to protect these foundations" (24).
"The church's doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God is based upon and is the logical consequence of God's absolute self-existence" (33).
"It is really only the Christian who can speak of implication, because no one but him really takes the idea of an absolute system seriously" (35).
"The proper way to begin with facts is therefore to claim that unless they are what Christians say they are, they are unintelligible" (41).
"All men are either in covenant with Satan or in covenant with God" (68).
"Once man has sinned, his intellect is disturbed no less than are his emotions or his will" (75).
"The average philosopher and scientist today holds to a nontheistic conception of reason and therefore also to a nontheistic conception of evidence" (87).
"Surely the Christian, who believes in the doctrine of creation, cannot share the Greek depreciation of the things of the sense world" (93).
"Either man is created by God, or he is not" (97).
"The assurance of the truth of revelation is the work of the internal testimony of the Spirit" (103).
"Without the testimony of the Spirit, even Adam and Eve in Paradise would have lived in uncertainty and doubt" (104).
"Revelation is always testimony . . . . [i]t is always authoritative testimony and as such requires obedience" (114).
"The revelation of God was deposited in the whole of creation . . . . [m]an was to be God's reinterpreter, that is, God's prophet on earth" (129).
"Nature cannot be studied fruitfully except in combination with man. Man is the reinterpreter of God's universe" (134) [I know. I know. This is a two-liner.]
"The Christian can obtain his philosophy of fact from no other source than Scripture" (152).
"Man is and remains God's self-conscious creature" [cf. Romans 1:19] (160).
"The created personality is the highest manifestation of the personality of God" (160).
"No sinner can interpret reality aright" (164).
"Revelation in nature is but a limiting concept, a concept incomplete without its correlative [correlative concept is what is needed for a limiting concept to be understood] as found in supernatural communication" (171).
"The foolishness of the denial of the Creator lies precisely in the fact that this Creator confronts man in every fact so that no fact has any meaning for man except it be seen as God's creation" (174).
"Salvation means that man, the sinner, must be brought back to the knowledge of himself as the creature of God and therefore, to the knowledge of God as the Creator" (195).
"It is a common mistake of modern theology to mix the categories of the ethical and the metaphysical" (209).
"The distinction between Creator and creature has not been changed in the least by the incarnation of Christ" (212)."
"When sin came, it would have destroyed true prophecy. Then God gave the mother promise" [Genesis 3:15] (213).
"The central miracle of Christianity, as it is in the person and work of Christ, is necessary not because man is man, but because man is a sinner" (219).
"Man needs true interpretation, but he also needs to be made a new creature" (219).
"[A] healed soul in a healed body needs a healed nature in which to live" (220).
"Now God, in special revelation, actually brings the true interpretation into the possession of the souls of those whom he has chosen" (222).
"Revelation had to be historically mediated" (224).
"Jesus was the greatest religious expert that ever lived. Accordingly, we ought to attach great weight to his words" (231).
"It was necessary that the ethical alienation should be removed in order that the original metaphysical relation be able to function normally again" (232).
"Scripture needs no additional revelation" (240).
"[O]nly God himself can testify to the revelation that he has given of himself. Special revelation must, in the nature of the case, be self-testified" (243).
All quotes from An Introduction to Systematic Theology: Prolegomena and the Doctrines of Revelation, Scripture, and God (P&R, 2007).
"The church's doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God is based upon and is the logical consequence of God's absolute self-existence" (33).
"It is really only the Christian who can speak of implication, because no one but him really takes the idea of an absolute system seriously" (35).
"The proper way to begin with facts is therefore to claim that unless they are what Christians say they are, they are unintelligible" (41).
"All men are either in covenant with Satan or in covenant with God" (68).
"Once man has sinned, his intellect is disturbed no less than are his emotions or his will" (75).
"The average philosopher and scientist today holds to a nontheistic conception of reason and therefore also to a nontheistic conception of evidence" (87).
"Surely the Christian, who believes in the doctrine of creation, cannot share the Greek depreciation of the things of the sense world" (93).
"Either man is created by God, or he is not" (97).
"The assurance of the truth of revelation is the work of the internal testimony of the Spirit" (103).
"Without the testimony of the Spirit, even Adam and Eve in Paradise would have lived in uncertainty and doubt" (104).
"Revelation is always testimony . . . . [i]t is always authoritative testimony and as such requires obedience" (114).
"The revelation of God was deposited in the whole of creation . . . . [m]an was to be God's reinterpreter, that is, God's prophet on earth" (129).
"Nature cannot be studied fruitfully except in combination with man. Man is the reinterpreter of God's universe" (134) [I know. I know. This is a two-liner.]
"The Christian can obtain his philosophy of fact from no other source than Scripture" (152).
"Man is and remains God's self-conscious creature" [cf. Romans 1:19] (160).
"The created personality is the highest manifestation of the personality of God" (160).
"No sinner can interpret reality aright" (164).
"Revelation in nature is but a limiting concept, a concept incomplete without its correlative [correlative concept is what is needed for a limiting concept to be understood] as found in supernatural communication" (171).
"The foolishness of the denial of the Creator lies precisely in the fact that this Creator confronts man in every fact so that no fact has any meaning for man except it be seen as God's creation" (174).
"Salvation means that man, the sinner, must be brought back to the knowledge of himself as the creature of God and therefore, to the knowledge of God as the Creator" (195).
"It is a common mistake of modern theology to mix the categories of the ethical and the metaphysical" (209).
"The distinction between Creator and creature has not been changed in the least by the incarnation of Christ" (212)."
"When sin came, it would have destroyed true prophecy. Then God gave the mother promise" [Genesis 3:15] (213).
"The central miracle of Christianity, as it is in the person and work of Christ, is necessary not because man is man, but because man is a sinner" (219).
"Man needs true interpretation, but he also needs to be made a new creature" (219).
"[A] healed soul in a healed body needs a healed nature in which to live" (220).
"Now God, in special revelation, actually brings the true interpretation into the possession of the souls of those whom he has chosen" (222).
"Revelation had to be historically mediated" (224).
"Jesus was the greatest religious expert that ever lived. Accordingly, we ought to attach great weight to his words" (231).
"It was necessary that the ethical alienation should be removed in order that the original metaphysical relation be able to function normally again" (232).
"Scripture needs no additional revelation" (240).
"[O]nly God himself can testify to the revelation that he has given of himself. Special revelation must, in the nature of the case, be self-testified" (243).
All quotes from An Introduction to Systematic Theology: Prolegomena and the Doctrines of Revelation, Scripture, and God (P&R, 2007).
Monday, October 8, 2012
An Introduction to Systematic Theology - Van Til - Chap. 3
Notes on Preface and Chap. 1.
Notes on Chap. 2.
So, what is the place of reason in theology? (And we ask this question understanding that there is a difference between the thinking and mind of a Christian and non-Christian, a difference between those in covenant with God and those in covenant with Satan, a difference between those regenerated with the Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented and those with their fallen, depraved, and non-regenerate consciousness that is not restored and is without supplement.) God is changing our minds so that “every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” and “we use our minds, our intellect, our reason, our consciousness in order to receive and reinterpret the revelation God has given of himself in Scripture. That is the proper place of reason in theology. There is no conflict between this reason and faith since faith is the impelling power that urges reason to interpret aright” (69).
Notes on Chap. 2.
Chapter 3 - Christian Epistemology
What is the function of reason in Christian theology?
Non-Christians fail to account for the effects of the fall upon human reason.
These are the noetic effects of sin; the effects of sin upon our
thinking and our minds. Human thinking, human reasoning do not exist as an
“entity apart from God.” Non-Christians error because they think human
reasoning is a valid starting point.
What is the object of our knowledge? “If we hold with Paul
(Rom. 11:36) that 'of him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for
ever,' we see clearly that the existence and meaning of every fact in this
universe must in the last analysis be related to the self-conscious and
eternally self-subsistent God of the Scriptures” (58). So, the only way our
thinking and reasoning will make any sense is if we remember that, “to have coherence
in our experience, there must be a correspondence of our experience to the
eternally coherent experience of God. Human knowledge ultimately rests upon the
internal coherence within the Godhead; our knowledge rests upon the ontological
Trinity as its presupposition” (59).
What is the subject of our knowledge? Nothing is mysterious
for God, for “God as the absolute Light is back of the facts of the universe.
We hold that the atom [insert any mysterious thing about reality] is mysterious
for us, but not for God. . . . non-Christian thought argues that, because man
cannot comprehend something in its knowledge, to that extend his
knowledge is not true. Christians say that we as creatures do not need to and
should not expect to comprehend anything fully. God comprehends fully, and that
is enough for us. God's full comprehension gives validity to our partial
comprehension.” Van Til continues by relating this to Christian worship: “When
a Christian sees the atom surrounded by mystery, he worship God; when the
non-Christian scientist sees the atom surrounded by mystery, he worship the
void” (61).
Creator. Creature. Acknowledge you are the latter, or kick against the goads and attempt to be the former: “All men are either in covenant with Satan or in covenant with God” (68). Those who are in covenant with God have their “Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented, but restored and supplemented in principle or standing only” (69). Those who are in covenant with God “confess their ethical depravity” and can “discern spiritual good” because God has regenerated them.
Creator. Creature. Acknowledge you are the latter, or kick against the goads and attempt to be the former: “All men are either in covenant with Satan or in covenant with God” (68). Those who are in covenant with God have their “Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented, but restored and supplemented in principle or standing only” (69). Those who are in covenant with God “confess their ethical depravity” and can “discern spiritual good” because God has regenerated them.
So, what is the place of reason in theology? (And we ask this question understanding that there is a difference between the thinking and mind of a Christian and non-Christian, a difference between those in covenant with God and those in covenant with Satan, a difference between those regenerated with the Adamic consciousness restored and supplemented and those with their fallen, depraved, and non-regenerate consciousness that is not restored and is without supplement.) God is changing our minds so that “every thought is brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” and “we use our minds, our intellect, our reason, our consciousness in order to receive and reinterpret the revelation God has given of himself in Scripture. That is the proper place of reason in theology. There is no conflict between this reason and faith since faith is the impelling power that urges reason to interpret aright” (69).
Thursday, October 4, 2012
An Introduction to Systematic Theology - Van Til - Chap. 2
Continuing to read through Van Til's An Introduction to Systematic Theology.
Notes on Preface and Chap. 1.
Chapter 2
Our method of systematic theology is foundational. Van Til says that Christian theism "has a methodology quite distinct from other general interpretations of reality" (27).
Nothing is neutral. This includes our methods. Christian theism presupposes the existence of God. Our initial position, our starting posture is founded upon the God who is there.
The God who is there has always existed. He existed before the world. A world that He created ex nihilo. God is God and we are part of creation, therefore, God is incomprehensible to us (but he is not incomprehensible to himself). "Man's inability to comprehend God is founded on the very fact that God is completely self-comprehensive. God is absolute rationality." To be more specific, the Triune God is full rationality. The Trinity has exhaustive knowledge. Nothing is a novelty to the Trinity. This God, the Triune God, reveals himself to the creation. By way of special revelation the Triune God reveals himself to the image bearers.
Man does not have comprehensive knowledge. A Christian theist believes in the Trinity and knows that in order to have any knowledge it must be analogical to the knowledge of the Triune God. "The distinguishing characteristic between the very non-Christian theory of knowledge, on the one hand, and the Christian concept of knowledge, on the other hand, is therefore that in all non-Christian theories men reason univocally, while in Christianity men reason analogically" (31). By this Van Til means that non-Christians assume that space, time, man, and God are on the same plane, and that God and man are correlative, both working beneath a higher system of logic, etc. That is false. God existed before everything created; God is "self-conscious and self-consistent" and the created beings (creation) "cannot furnish a novelty element that is to stand on a par with the element of permanency furnished by the Creator" (32). To elaborate, "Christians believe in two levels of existence, the level of God's existence as self-contained and the level of man's existence as derived from the level of God's existence. For this reason, Christians must also believe in two levels of knowledge, the level of God's knowledge, which is absolutely comprehensive and self-contained, and the level of man's knowledge, which is not comprehensive but is derivative and reinterpretative. Hence we say that as Christians we believe that man's knowledge is analogical of God's knowledge" (CCS emphasis) (32).
"As man's existence is dependent upon an act of voluntary creation on the part of God, so man's knowledge depends upon an act of voluntary revelation of God to man. Even the voluntary creation of man is already a revelation of God to man" (34-35).
Van Til, therefore, calls our method for systematic theology a method of implication. "It is really only the Christian who can speak of implication, because no one but him really takes the idea of an absolute system seriously" (35). This method of implication may be referred to as transcendental, but not in the modern philosophic sense. It is a transcendental method because God is the method's point of reference. "It is only the Christian who really interprets reality in exclusively eternal categories because only he believes in God as self-sufficient and not dependent upon time reality" (36).
This analogical knowledge is theological knowledge. Analogical knowledge makes God the point of reference, and all other knowledge and methods make man himself the final point of reference. Analogical knowledge is the only true Christian position or approach to true knowledge--"When consistently expressed, it posits God's self-existence and plan, as well as self-contained self-knowledge, as the presupposition of all created existence and knowledge. In that case, all facts show forth and thus prove the existence of God and his plan. In that case, too, all human knowledge should be self-consciously subordinated to that plan. it's task in systematics is to order as far as possible the facts of God's revelation" (42-43).
Systematics does not, however, attempt to make an exact delineation point-by-point of the doctrine of the knowledge of God. That is not the point of systematics. If you collapse the sign of human knowledge into the signified (God's knowledge), you break the proper relationship between the creature and the Creator. It would no longer be derivative but one in the same, "And when this dependence is broken man's knowledge is thought as self-sufficient" (43). The method of systematic theology must be harmonious with the world-reality of the creature conducting the method, a creature (servant) who's life and knowledge is derivative.
As John Frame put it, a servant-thinker is one who “adopts God’s world as his own." Therefore, “the believer [servant-thinker] . . . is affirming creation as it really is; he is accepting creation as the world that God made, and he is accepting the responsibility to live in that world as it really is" (The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 28). That is our method of systematic theology. A method of implication, a method of transcendence, a method that accepts the creation of the world that God made.
Notes on Preface and Chap. 1.
Chapter 2
Our method of systematic theology is foundational. Van Til says that Christian theism "has a methodology quite distinct from other general interpretations of reality" (27).
Nothing is neutral. This includes our methods. Christian theism presupposes the existence of God. Our initial position, our starting posture is founded upon the God who is there.
The God who is there has always existed. He existed before the world. A world that He created ex nihilo. God is God and we are part of creation, therefore, God is incomprehensible to us (but he is not incomprehensible to himself). "Man's inability to comprehend God is founded on the very fact that God is completely self-comprehensive. God is absolute rationality." To be more specific, the Triune God is full rationality. The Trinity has exhaustive knowledge. Nothing is a novelty to the Trinity. This God, the Triune God, reveals himself to the creation. By way of special revelation the Triune God reveals himself to the image bearers.
Man does not have comprehensive knowledge. A Christian theist believes in the Trinity and knows that in order to have any knowledge it must be analogical to the knowledge of the Triune God. "The distinguishing characteristic between the very non-Christian theory of knowledge, on the one hand, and the Christian concept of knowledge, on the other hand, is therefore that in all non-Christian theories men reason univocally, while in Christianity men reason analogically" (31). By this Van Til means that non-Christians assume that space, time, man, and God are on the same plane, and that God and man are correlative, both working beneath a higher system of logic, etc. That is false. God existed before everything created; God is "self-conscious and self-consistent" and the created beings (creation) "cannot furnish a novelty element that is to stand on a par with the element of permanency furnished by the Creator" (32). To elaborate, "Christians believe in two levels of existence, the level of God's existence as self-contained and the level of man's existence as derived from the level of God's existence. For this reason, Christians must also believe in two levels of knowledge, the level of God's knowledge, which is absolutely comprehensive and self-contained, and the level of man's knowledge, which is not comprehensive but is derivative and reinterpretative. Hence we say that as Christians we believe that man's knowledge is analogical of God's knowledge" (CCS emphasis) (32).
"As man's existence is dependent upon an act of voluntary creation on the part of God, so man's knowledge depends upon an act of voluntary revelation of God to man. Even the voluntary creation of man is already a revelation of God to man" (34-35).
Van Til, therefore, calls our method for systematic theology a method of implication. "It is really only the Christian who can speak of implication, because no one but him really takes the idea of an absolute system seriously" (35). This method of implication may be referred to as transcendental, but not in the modern philosophic sense. It is a transcendental method because God is the method's point of reference. "It is only the Christian who really interprets reality in exclusively eternal categories because only he believes in God as self-sufficient and not dependent upon time reality" (36).
This analogical knowledge is theological knowledge. Analogical knowledge makes God the point of reference, and all other knowledge and methods make man himself the final point of reference. Analogical knowledge is the only true Christian position or approach to true knowledge--"When consistently expressed, it posits God's self-existence and plan, as well as self-contained self-knowledge, as the presupposition of all created existence and knowledge. In that case, all facts show forth and thus prove the existence of God and his plan. In that case, too, all human knowledge should be self-consciously subordinated to that plan. it's task in systematics is to order as far as possible the facts of God's revelation" (42-43).
Systematics does not, however, attempt to make an exact delineation point-by-point of the doctrine of the knowledge of God. That is not the point of systematics. If you collapse the sign of human knowledge into the signified (God's knowledge), you break the proper relationship between the creature and the Creator. It would no longer be derivative but one in the same, "And when this dependence is broken man's knowledge is thought as self-sufficient" (43). The method of systematic theology must be harmonious with the world-reality of the creature conducting the method, a creature (servant) who's life and knowledge is derivative.
As John Frame put it, a servant-thinker is one who “adopts God’s world as his own." Therefore, “the believer [servant-thinker] . . . is affirming creation as it really is; he is accepting creation as the world that God made, and he is accepting the responsibility to live in that world as it really is" (The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God, 28). That is our method of systematic theology. A method of implication, a method of transcendence, a method that accepts the creation of the world that God made.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
An Introduction to Systematic Theology - Van Til
Beginning to read through Van Til's An Introduction to Systematic Theology. The plan is to jot down brief thoughts, quotations, etc. I do not intend for this to be a review per se, therefore, it will probably be a fragmentation of loose thoughts.
Preface
This book is a published syllabus that "has an apologetic intent running through it. A Reformed theology needs to be supplemented by a Reformed method of apologetics. This involves relating the historic Christian position to that of modern philosophy, as well as theology" (12). Author admits his indebtedness to Louis Berkhof, Herman Bavinck, and Abraham Kuyper.
Chapter 1
Systematic theology seeks to teach truth about God taught in the Bible in a unified system. Theology is about God, that is, the Trinity, therefore, it theology should be God-centered (contra Barth's Christomonism).
Ministers need to be students of the Bible and systematics. "But systematics helps minsters to preach the whole counsel of God, and thus to make God central in their work" (22). And, "Well-rounded preaching teaches us to use the things of this world because they are the gifts of God, and it teaches us to possess them as not possessing them, inasmuch as they must be used in subordination to the one supreme purpose of man's existence, namely the glory of God" (22).
Commenting on modern antithesis, "The fight between Christianity and non-Christianity is, in modern times, no piece-meal affair. It is the life-and-death struggle between two mutually opposed life-and-world views" (22). We must know our systematics because "When the enemy attacks the foundations, we must be able to protect these foundations" (24). Therefore, ministers and theologians must "undertake [their] work in a spirit of deep dependence upon God and in a spirit of prayer that he may use [them] as his instruments for his glory" (25).
Preface
This book is a published syllabus that "has an apologetic intent running through it. A Reformed theology needs to be supplemented by a Reformed method of apologetics. This involves relating the historic Christian position to that of modern philosophy, as well as theology" (12). Author admits his indebtedness to Louis Berkhof, Herman Bavinck, and Abraham Kuyper.
Chapter 1
Systematic theology seeks to teach truth about God taught in the Bible in a unified system. Theology is about God, that is, the Trinity, therefore, it theology should be God-centered (contra Barth's Christomonism).
Van Til clearly believes in doctrinal development. However, for this to occur the exegetical and systematic work must be accomplished up front, leading to additional clarity and precision to the creeds of the church. Doctrinal development is invalid if it is "retrogressive", a stripping away creedal tenets.Exegesis takes the Scriptures and analyzes each part of it in detail. Biblical theology takes the fruits of exegesis and organizes them into various units and traces the revelation of God in Scripture in its historical development. It brings out the theology of each part of God's Word as it has been brought to us at different stages, by means of various authors. Systematic theology then uses the fruits of the labors of exegetical and biblical theology and brings them together into a concatenated system. Apologetics seeks to defend this system of biblical truth against false philosophy and false science. Practical theology seeks to show how to preach and teach this system of biblical truth, while church history traces the reception of this system of truth in the course of the centuries (17).
Ministers need to be students of the Bible and systematics. "But systematics helps minsters to preach the whole counsel of God, and thus to make God central in their work" (22). And, "Well-rounded preaching teaches us to use the things of this world because they are the gifts of God, and it teaches us to possess them as not possessing them, inasmuch as they must be used in subordination to the one supreme purpose of man's existence, namely the glory of God" (22).
Commenting on modern antithesis, "The fight between Christianity and non-Christianity is, in modern times, no piece-meal affair. It is the life-and-death struggle between two mutually opposed life-and-world views" (22). We must know our systematics because "When the enemy attacks the foundations, we must be able to protect these foundations" (24). Therefore, ministers and theologians must "undertake [their] work in a spirit of deep dependence upon God and in a spirit of prayer that he may use [them] as his instruments for his glory" (25).
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Bad Postmodern Models by Christians
From William Edgar's Introduction to the Second Edition of Van Til's An Introduction to Systematic Theology: Prolegomena and the Doctrines of Revelation, Scripture, and God:
Various post-evangelical Protestants espouse their own versions of these schools [Christian alliance with kinds of post-Kantian views, that is, postmodern philosophy]. Stanley Grenz was drawn to postmodern models advocating, as he did, a christological center and a "non-linear" outline for redemption, over against the older creation-fall-redemption ground motive. The problem with such accommodations is that they are not able to relate the human creature with God the Creator in objective categories. Lacking a true theology of the Creator-creature relationship, they cannot assert the historical nature of the fall into sin from the state of integrity. And because of this they cannot fully appreciate the moral revolution that led to the fall, and so the problem in the human condition is not so much moral guilt as it is finitude, at least to some extent. As a result, redemption is not fully of God's mercy, with a transition from wrath to grace in history, through Christ. Instead they must grope after divine liberation, turning revelation into a project of the self, rather than seeing it as God's merciful self-disclosure to fallen humanity (3).
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Laughing Out Loud: July 19, 2012
Today I went to McDonalds during my lunch break to grab a drink and read. I was in line ready to place my order, John R. Muether's biography of Cornelius Van Til in my left hand, and the lady taking my order struck up a conversation:
Lady: What are you reading?
CCS: A biography on Cornelius Van Til.
Lady: Who is that?
CCS: He lived in Indiana for a while when he was young, he was a Reformed Apologist and taught at Westminster Theological Seminary for several decades.
Lady: An anthropologist?
CCS: No. I said he was a Reformed Apologist.
Lady: What?
CCS: A Christian Apologist.
Lady: Like a philosopher?
CCS: Uhm, sort of.
Lady: Ah, okay. So, like Schopenhauer?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)