The Most Wonderful Book

My philosophy of reading has been largely informed and shaped by C. S. Lewis, Mortimer Adler, and J. R. R. Tolkien. I read books, primarily, in order to find the books I want to re-read regularly for the rest of my life. The most significant books are re-read every year. These include Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Lewis’s Ransom and Narnia series as well as The Great Divorce, Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, Chesterton’s Orthodoxy, and several others. Other books are re-read every few years, including Homer, Dickens, Melville, and Defoe. Everything else I read is part of the search for great books or to complete a reading assignment or simply because something caught my interest or was recommended. The most wonderful books, those that are truly “great,” are the ones that continue to teach, challenge, and delight no matter how many times they are read. In fact, they are the ones that give more the more often they are re-read. Several readings are required to be able to recognize the real lessons they are designed to teach. These are the books I want to dominate my reading life and my mind at unoccupied moments. But of all the books I have read and read again each year, none can compare to the wonder and profit of the Holy Bible.

I have read the Bible more times, by far, than any other book. Once a year is not nearly enough. The Scriptures both deserve and demand far more extensive and intensive reading if one desires to read them well. A professor once told me, “You cannot know what a [Bible] text means until you know what it says.” I have found this to be true. And reading it once, or even a few times, is no guarantee one knows what it says. The Lord’s thoughts and ways are high above us (Isa. 55:8-9), beyond the limited grasp of our creaturely comprehension, so the Bible must be read, re-read, and meditated upon, constantly, over many years, if one hopes to gain its true and greatest benefit. Even then, those who make the most progress in learning and understanding the Bible will admit they are but beginners when they come to the end of their life in this present world.

Perhaps this post is inadequate and cliche. What else is a preacher going to say? Of course I love the Bible. But I really do. It fires my soul, comforts my heart, stretches my mind, and orders my life beyond any other book, teacher, or experience ever has or can. I look forward to journeying with Frodo every year, to visiting Narnia with the friends of that land, to trekking with Christian, to being awed by the noumenal with Dr. Ransom, and to walking gingerly on hard grass with sore feet, longing to belong to that land and to share and enjoy the firm reality of its glory. But it is the Bible that best prepares me to love and appreciate all of these stories, and many more. More than that, it is God’s written Word, the Bible, that teaches me the true myth, the one to which all other true stories point, and that assures me that my own story is connected to theirs. –JME

Roe v. Wade and Winsomeness

The Supreme Court of the United States has struck down the abomination that was the Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey decisions of 1973 and 1992, respectively. This has the effect of returning regulation of abortion to the states which will, inevitably, result in banning or severely restricting the practice in a number of states, thirty of which had laws against abortion on the books when the Court made its first, infamous, decision to legalize and federally protect it fifty years ago. The reversal of these decisions is a tremendous victory for constitutional law and is the result of decades of diligent pro-life advocacy and countless prayers. Even liberal jurists who supported the practice of abortion acknowledged that Roe was badly decided. While the Supreme Court’s decision is far from national repentance for the great evil of half a century of sanctioned bloodshed, it is a critical moment in restoring just laws and reversing federal overreach and protection of violence against the innocent. There is more work to be done, but overturning Roe and Casey is a major step in the right direction.

Since the decision was announced on Friday morning, many winsome and irenic Christians have winsomely and irenically offered wisdom online to help their barbarian, fundamentalist brethren navigate the contours of this issue, nuancing our discussions of infanticide in a way that shows sympathy, empathy, and wimpathy to our neighbor orcs. Their wise counsel may be helpful in discovering other areas where Christians have been unsympathetic and unwinsome, viewing morally complex issues with the reductionistic language of truth and right and wrong, and going so far as to assert that our views are more just and moral than those of unbelievers. So in the interest of being similarly winsome, I would like to take a moment to encourage us all to be a bit more nuanced in how we think and speak about the Holocaust.

First, we should acknowledge that, speaking as Christians, we think that mass murder and genocide are wrong and sinful. I am not speaking to public policy, and my comments should not be taken as trying to bind the conscience of others based on my own religious convictions. But as a private citizen, I am entitled to have my own moral convictions, so long as I agree to keep them private. And I am here to state quietly but fairly clearly that I think rounding up Jews and other minority groups in order to incarcerate, torture, machine gun, or gas them is a very bad thing.

Second, we should be very aware of and concerned about the dangers of pride. It would be easy to look down on the Nazis and say, “God, I thank you that I am not like them!” We must not deceive ourselves. After all, who among us has not fantasized about conquering an entire continent and attempting to exterminate entire people groups from the face of the earth?

Third, we should remember that not all Germans were Nazis, not all Nazis were bad people, and even many of the Nazi soldiers, surgeons, and executioners who did bad things may have been very sincere, albeit misguided, in their beliefs and actions. Beware of thinking that it is obvious that raping women, separating families, transporting refugees in cattle cars, torturing the vulnerable, and sending millions to their death by gunning them down in mass graves or marching them into gas chambers is morally inappropriate. Many of those who did such things probably had difficult childhoods, undiagnosed trauma in the aftermath of the First World War, or found themselves in need of work and unsure of how else to provide for themselves. We need more sympathy, empathy, and wimpathy for those who found themselves in the difficult but completely understandable position of torturing and murdering the helpless.

Fourth, we should not be so crass and reductionistic as to imagine that the Holocaust was only about terminating de-humanized minorities. The Nazi regime was the largest provider of healthcare services in eastern Europe. Their relocation camps provided affordable housing for millions of refugees. Their government service programs employed hundreds of thousands of people. And their programs stimulated the American economy, ended the Great Depression, and created a boom in federal and military industrial complex production.  It would be hard to calculate how much good this regime did for the world economy.

Fifth, we should remember that while the Church has special revelation to guide her thinking on matters of morality and faith, the common kingdom is governed by natural law as perceived, understood, and applied by unregenerate people. Yes, there is a moral law, but it’s too much to expect unbelievers to know that it forbids things like murder. The Church is not to intrude in matters of the State, nor is the pulpit an appropriate place for politics. It is not the Church’s place to offer opinions on national policies for populations in places where it hopes to expand. Who are we to say what a government should do? Romans 13, after all. What we need is less moralizing application in the sermon and more reminders that we are only a pilgrim people and that while the gospel is God’s power to save, it isn’t very powerful beyond that.

Sixth and finally, Christians should never rejoice when wicked men are defeated. Do not boast when the wicked city which shed the blood of the innocent is cast down (Rev. 18:21-19:6). Do not pray for God to slay wicked and bloodthirsty men (Psa. 94; 139:19). Do not hate those who hate the Lord (Psa. 139:21-22), but rather love them, befriend them, and help them to see that we are allies who share the same values and concerns (2Chr. 19:2). The way some unenlightened Christians are celebrating right now, you would think they rejoice in vengeance and almost expect them to want to bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked (Psa. 58:10)!

Does this offend you? I truly hope so. You can be sure that when you speak about abortion in these ways, many of us are equally ashamed of you. –JME

Racism and the 2022 OPC General Assembly

I did not attend the 2022 General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church which met at Eastern University on June 8-14. I was honored and grateful to be chosen by our presbytery as a commissioner, but the sudden onset of severe illness landed me in the Emergency Room less than 24 hours before my scheduled departure, and I remained sick and weak beyond the conclusion of the Assembly. It was a hard providence, moreso because this year’s GA was accompanied by controversy which will continue to be the subject of conversation for months, and perhaps years, to come.

Many reports have been made about the allegations of racism and the Assembly’s subsequent statements which were published online. You can read summaries of the incident in the OPC Daily Report, by a commissioner HERE, by a non-commissioned minister HERE, and in an article from Christianity Today HERE. Ministers in the OPC were also informed of the events in a letter from the denomination’s Stated Clerk on June 17th. Students and staff at Eastern University alleged four incidents of racial disparagement by commissioners of the OPC. These were reported to the Assembly on Thursday, June 9th. The GA was also informed such behavior could be grounds for canceling their contract and disbanding the Assembly. The next day, Friday, June 10th, the Assembly was presented with a “statement of regret and sorrow.” According to multiple reports, which have not been disputed to my knowledge, the Assembly was asked not to debate the motion which was then adopted without dissent.

“The 88th (2022) General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church hereby expresses to the faculty, staff, and students of Eastern University its grief, sorrow, and disgust regarding four recent incidents of racial disparagement reported being made by some present at our Assembly. There is no place in the church for such conduct. 

“The church seeks to magnify and honor Christ as the Creator of every human being, each one reflecting dignity and value as the image of God. Therefore, in accordance with God’s Word and the two great laws of love, we repudiate and condemn all sins of racism, hatred, and prejudice, as transgressions against our Holy God, who calls us to love and honor all people. In keeping with the law of God and the right order of the church for Christ’s honor, we resolve to deal directly and biblically with any such sins of hatred committed by members of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In keeping with the gospel, we resolve to offer our assistance to Eastern University to confront offender(s) and seek reconciliation.”

The statement was delivered to the University which accepted it and considered the matter closed. It was also published immediately online via the OPC’s social media accounts, a decision which had not been discussed or disclosed to the Assembly when the statement was presented on the floor.

There has been a firestorm of criticism and controversy online since the allegations were made and the Assembly’s statement of regret was published. Critics of the OPC have seen this as further evidence that the denomination is racist and compromised. Others take the way in which the controversy played out as evidence of a different sort of compromise in the OPC, the sort of compromise that operates from the fear of man and hopes to placate angry mobs with winsome words and assurance that they really do hate the same things.

On the last day of the Assembly, Tuesday, June 14th, the moderator updated commissioners on the earlier allegations. As reported by the OPC on her website and social media outlets:

1. Regarding the four incidents of reported racism on campus, I am thankful to report that the individual responsible for the first two incidents surrounding remarks about the 13th Amendment has been identified. He was ashamed to come forward on his own, as his statements were a misunderstood attempt at humor. They were not intended as a racist remark. He desires and is seeking to apologize to those offended. Please pray for those hurt by his careless words and for this brother’s heart in all of this. 

2. The one responsible for the third and most egregious statement has not been seen on campus since the incident. That means we know it’s not a commissioner. We frankly have no idea who it is. 

3. Regarding the fourth incident, we were able to better understand what transpired in the cafeteria. It was not words spoken, but was an action that we now understand as confusion over how the cafeteria is organized, whether it was self-service or whether we would be served by the staff. We are seeking to work this out with those who were offended.

Four allegations of racially disparaging remarks were made. The alleged offenders were not identified. No corroborating evidence was presented. The allegations were unsubstantiated and uninvestigated. But the GA approved and published a statement of regret and sorrow. Some have said such a statement is always appropriate, that no specific apology was offered and no admission of guilt was made. The sincerity of those defending the statement is not in question. Some of them are personal friends, and I hold them in love and esteem. But one does become concerned that if they spin any faster they are bound to get dizzy and fall down.

The Assembly was in a difficult position. What is a man supposed to say when he is asked, “Are you still beating your wife?” The OPC chose to answer: “We express our grief, sorrow, and disgust regarding recent incidents of wife beating reported being done by some members of our Assembly.” No specific admission of guilt, only a general expression of hatred for what we all agree is a grievous sin. Surely that will convince everyone that we really are good people, right? Christianity Today moved quickly to report: “The General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC) apologized Friday for four racist incidents at its annual gathering” (source). “But we didn’t really apologize. After all, an apology is kind of an admission that we did something wrong.” As it turns out, the Assembly did do something wrong, it tried to placate angry people before it understood the game that was being played.

The GA’s statement of regret and sorrow satisfied Eastern University which allowed them to continue their work and remain to the end of their contract. But it only inflamed those committed to denouncing the OPC as racist and compromised. The careful wording of the statement was denounced by critics as not really an apology for anything at all, while others like Christianity Today characterized it as tantamount to an admission of guilt. The OPC was trapped, but the power brokers within the denomination did not seem to know it. “Are you still beating your wife?” It doesn’t matter what you say next. The allegation itself is the evidence which is accepted as sufficient for a conviction.

No one that I am aware of has said publicly what the “third and most egregious statement” alleged was, and that is because it involved naughty words that are not to be publicly uttered, even if the poor DA is only reading a persecuted actor’s own text messages aloud. The GA is not to be faulted for being in a difficult position. No one can control the kinds of allegations that are made, especially in our current climate. Anyone can allege anything. But the Assembly was at fault for failing to recognize the game being played, and that one allegation should have clearly indicated it, even if they didn’t recognize it from the others.

If a commissioner at GA violated God’s law—if he spoke or acted unjustly, demeaned or slandered someone, or was malicious and hateful—then he should be confronted, charged, and publicly disciplined. But to issue a public statement of regret in response to unsubstantiated, uninvestigated, and ultimately unfounded allegations of wrongdoing is unwise to the point of absurdity. It may have been well-meant, but it was an error, one that is now too late to correct. In today’s climate a person can claim to be offended by almost anything. Some of the same people most opposed to making public statements as an Assembly on the priority of public worship and the evil of statist tyranny in the aftermath of COVID lockdowns were the most willing to issue a public statement of regret because someone claimed to be offended. Now we discover their wounded feelings might not have been truly wounded after all.

The GA did not err in expressing abhorrence of racism. They erred in giving credibility to allegations of offense without exercising due diligence in understanding what was going on. This was contrary to the duties of the ninth commandment which requires “the preserving and promoting of truth between man and man, and the good name of our neighbor… unwillingness to admit of an evil report… discouraging talebearers… and slanderers; [and] love and care of our own good name, and defending it when need requireth” (WLC 144). The GA failed to be “wise as serpents,” and by admitting an evil report, encouraging slander, and failing to love and care for the OPC’s good name, they likewise failed to be “harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). Issuing a public statement of regret before knowing the facts or investigating the allegations inadvertently but shamefully prejudiced “the truth, and the good name of our neighbors, as well as our own” (WLC 145). The GA’s actions were also contrary to the OPC’s Book of Discipline which requires a specific charge to be stated, specifications supporting the charge, credible corroboration of the charge, and a preliminary investigation to determine the substance of the allegation (BD III). Both Scripture and the Book of Discipline require that no charge “be admitted against an elder, unless it is brought by two or more persons” (BD III.1; 1Tim. 5:19).

The game should be familiar by now, but evidently it isn’t. So let’s review the rules. There are no rules. This is how the game is played. An allegation is made. It does not have to be credible; the alleged offense simply has to be egregious. Social virtue requires the allegation be accepted at face value. Not taken seriously and investigated, but accepted as self-attesting. Believe all women, except the women who say such a standard is unjust and absurd. In this case, believe all victims of racism, even if there is no evidence they are victims of racism. If they say they are, if they feel they are, if they identify as such, you are obligated to believe them. If you don’t believe them, if you withhold judgment until you can investigate the claim, then you are a racist. If you accept their claim without evidence and express your regret and sorrow, you are admitting that you are a racist. Whether you respond with regret or reserve comment, you are a racist, because they said you are. That’s not fair, you may say. But that is the game.

The Devil once challenged Jesus to turn stones into bread. What could be wrong with doing so? He multiplied bread on other occasions so that his disciples might eat. Skilled theologians will point out that such a miracle is inconsistent with Jesus’s mission and the Father’s authority. It is not the proper way to exercise the Spirit’s power and thus is a temptation to depart from the work the Father gave the Son to do. All of this is true, but there is also a more basic answer. It is always wrong to do something the Devil asks you to do.

The OPC does not need greater sensitivity to the grievances of professional victims, she needs a greater measure of the wisdom and discernment of Nehemiah.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, the fifth time, with an open letter in his hand. In it was written:

It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together. 

Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart.” 

For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will not be done.” 

Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. (Neh. 6:5-9)

--JME

A Reminder on the Distinction between Common and Corporate Worship

Tomorrow is the Lord’s Day. I expected to be in Philadelphia last Sunday. Instead, I found myself sitting in my recliner with my Bible and hymnal and following along with the live stream as Dane led worship at ROPC. I’ve never liked missing corporate worship on the Lord’s Day. It puts me in a bad mood and dims considerably the experiential joy of the holy day. The deficiencies of my unsanctified attitude notwithstanding, even when absence is necessary, it is distressing, and that is as it should be. If COVID had not thrown us all for a bit of a loop initially, our Session probably never would have started live streaming our services. It was something we had done a long time ago, at an earlier stage of our congregation’s story, and none of us seemed particularly keen to return to the practice. But COVID did happen, and for better or worse, we turned on the live stream. It’s not the same as being in the assembly of saints, and it must not be treated as a substitute or adequate replacement for it. But when providentially hindered, the opportunity to participate in the songs, readings, and prayers, albeit from afar, is unquestionably a blessing.

Live streaming corporate worship is not ideal—and not just because I have a face for radio and a voice for silent film. It is problematic because while those in the assembly are engaged in corporate worship, those who are following along online are engaged in common worship. These two are not the same thing. They are both precious. They are both biblical. They should both be a regular part of every Christian’s life. But they are not the same. We engage in common worship when we sing the same songs, read the same scriptures, and pray the same prayers asynchronously with our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Those of us who are accustomed to using the Book of Common Prayer for daily worship will readily understand the distinction. Those of you who make a practice of reading-singing-chanting the psalms every month on the traditional schedule understand that millions of Christians are doing so around the world in the same twenty four hour period with you. When you pray the weekly collect, when you read the Bible according to the lectionary published in the bulletin, you are doing so in common with your brothers and sisters at ROPC (and elsewhere), but you are not doing it corporately, even if you have those texts and disciplines in common.

We need to understand both common worship and corporate worship and actively engage in both. Your “quiet time” or “daily devotions” are not supposed to be yours. We need less individualism in our daily prayers and a greater sense of the commonality, catholicity, and concurrence of the Body of Christ as she prays each day. We also need to understand why common worship can never be enough. We are not made, ultimately, to worship separately. We are designed and destined to be united to Christ and in him to one another, to all believers, to join our voices together around the throne of God as we sing Holy, Holy, Holy. The Lord’s Day gathering is penultimate and incomplete. We do not see the entire Body of Christ visibly in our assembly each week. But we see many saints gather, and our gathering together anticipates the greater gathering toward which we are aimed and to which we already belong. –JME

One Last Time

This short essay is an expansion and significant revision of a shorter post I made in April 2020.

I am a preacher. It is my vocation and has been my full-time occupation for more than twenty-three years. Every week I write sermons, new sermons, sometimes one, sometimes three, and I have done so continuously for almost a quarter of a century. That is a lot of sermons, literally thousands. Not all of them have been good. Some have been very bad. Quite a few I would gladly disown and dissent from what I taught in them. But I wrote every one, for better or worse, and preached them to thousands of people who came to hear a word from God.

When I finish writing my sermons for the week, it puts me in a somber but peaceful mood. This is not because the work is done. In one sense, it never is. As E. B. White said somewhere, writing is never done but is only due. I have a deadline to meet whether I am happy with the product or not. But I am somber when the last line is written and a final Amen is tacked onto the end because I am mindful that this may be the last sermon I ever write.

Some people never discover their mortality until relatively late in life, perhaps when a parent dies or they have a mid-life health scare. I became acquainted with mine when I was ten years old, and I have lived with it ever since. It has been my closest companion. Not a day goes by that I do not think about my own death. Memento mori is not merely a slogan; it has been, necessarily, my way of life.

For several years I preached without notes of any kind, simply studying the text intensely during the week, planning the general outline of what I wanted to say, and then delivering the message extemporaneously. Several years ago I decided to manuscript almost all of my sermons, and I have maintained that discipline ever since. It requires a much greater level of precision and attention. I do not adhere rigidly to the manuscript in the pulpit; I do not merely read it. But I am disciplined in what I want to say and how I want to say it. My earlier unscripted lessons had a fresh, powerful feel that some of my later messages may lack, but what the later sermons lack in extemporaneity, I hope they make up for in substance, structure, and longevity. One of the reasons I began manuscripting my sermons is that I did not want their content to depend on my delivery. So every week once the manuscript is complete, I think about the fact that if I die before the Lord’s Day, my wife and children will be able to read what I planned to say.

In “A Last Lecture: On Essays and Letters,” James Schall reflects on being invited to present his “last lecture.” He observes: “We would want our ‘last’ lecture to be ‘serious,’ but only in the sense that it pointed to the highest things and to our place within them.” And again: “We naturally suppose that anyone would want, on such an occasion, to leave something lasting, something profound, something altogether serious, though not neglecting the delight of being and the amusement of our lot.” It is not only academic lectures and sermons that ought to be reflected on in this way, but our entire lives. I enjoy running, but I have laid in a hospital bed three times expecting not to be breathing when I left it, so every time I finish I run, I thank God for the opportunity to run one more time. Are conversations with my wife and children any less precious? A sense of our own mortality is essential to gaining “a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12).

Death is a certainty, unless the Lord returns first. Being born is terminal. We need to live as people that know it. Someday I will preach my last sermon. It may be when I am old. It may be many years from now. Or it may have already happened, and I do not know it yet. We cannot live every day as if it were our last. That would be unworkable. But we can resolve as Jonathan Edwards did many years ago “never to do anything, which I should be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life,” “that I will live so as I shall wish I had done when I come to die,” and “to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.” The writer of Ecclesiastes teaches us it is “better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart” (Ecc. 7:2).

One day each of us will make our final contribution or enjoy one last act of participation in the areas that have occupied and largely defined our lives. The last lecture, the last sermon, the last run, the last family dinner, the last kiss with your wife, the last conversation with your child. Few of us will know when the last one has arrived. So resolve to make each one count. Thinking of the certainty of our death should not make us sad but joyfully somber. It can make us more contemplative, more productive, more humble, and more grateful people. –JME

[1] James Schall, On the Unseriousness of Human Affairs (Wilmington, DE: ISI, 2012), 139.

[2] “The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards,” Desiring God (Dec. 30, 2006) <https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-resolutions-of-jonathan-edwards> (accessed June 9, 2022).

God’s Book and Great Books

The Great Books are central to humane learning and study of the liberal arts. While there will remain some dispute over exactly which books ought to be in the canon of Great Books, the list contains those volumes which have most profoundly influenced western civilization over time. They include works by Plato, Aristotle, and Aeschylus; Augustine, Anselm, and Aquinas; Nietzche, Marx, and Freud. The Great Books include philosophy and poetry, theological treatises and plays, scientific works and novels. All have contributed to human understanding; each one has captured some aspect of human learning in the pursuit of wisdom.

Ultimately, however, the Great Books can only be a mirror, summary, and exposition of the truth found in the greatest book of all, God’s Word, the Bible. Jesus affirmed in his High Priestly prayer: “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17). The Scriptures are “breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work” (2Tim. 3:16-17). Moreover, “every word of God proves true” (Prov. 30:5), “the words of Yahweh are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times” (Psa. 12:6), “the entirety of [his] word is truth” (Psa. 119:160). The Bible’s claim is not merely to be true but to reveal and be the truth, objectively. Therefore, to whatever extent truth is found in the Great Books, it is a reflection and elaboration of truths made known in the Bible.

This is not to say that the Scriptures reveal all the truth that can be known. The Bible affirms that God’s glory is known both in God’s Law (Psa. 19:7-11) and in the natural world which he created (Psa. 19:1-6). Therefore, truth may be discovered outside of the Scriptures, but not which is contrary to the Scriptures. “God is responsible for all good things: of some, like the blessings of the Old and New Covenants, directly; of others, like the riches of philosophy, indirectly” (Clement of Alexandria, 169). Students of the humanities may plunder the wealth of the Greeks and Romans, Stoics and Epicureans, sufi and samurai, even skeptics, in a manner reminiscent of Israel’s plundering of the Egyptians (cf. Origen, 177-179).

Wisdom may be acquired in various ways: from personal experience, from shared human experience, and from hearing God's Word with godly fear. But perfect wisdom, true wisdom, comes from divine revelation received in the fear of God (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). The “wisdom of this world” is actually foolishness insofar as it contradicts godly fear and divine revelation (1Cor. 1:18-2:16). As Clement of Alexandria rightly observed: “The Savior’s teaching is sufficient without additional help, for it is ‘the power and wisdom of God.’ The addition of Greek philosophy does not add more power to the truth” (175). Worldly “truth” that defies biblical truth is not true. Worldly “wisdom” that shuns the fear of God is not wise. But to say that extra-biblical literature is unnecessary is not to say it is unhelpful. Unbelievers may be very wise, in a worldly way, and there is much that can be learned from them in the Great Books and the story of their lives. But their wisdom and insight can never match or correct the perfect wisdom and truth revealed by God in the greatest book of all, the Bible.

How then are we to read and learn from Great Books? We must do so by reading them through the lens of God’s book. As Basil the Great counseled young men in the 4th century: “You should not surrender to these men [authors of great literature] once for all the rudders of your mind, as if of a ship, and follow them whithersoever they lead; rather, accepting from them only that which is useful, you should know that which ought to be overlooked” (182-183). The insights of the best ancient authors are like “the reflection of the sun in water” (Ibid.), the sun itself being God’s own revelation. Basil goes on to describe how one ought to imitate what he finds to be virtuous in pagan literature and shun what is evil (183-187). He admits that “we Christians shall doubtless learn all these things more thoroughly in our own literature” (187), referring to the Christian Scriptures, but the great theologian and Church Father recognized the opportunity and advantage of learning virtue from the pagan writers whose works amply illustrate it (188).

Many will demur and insist that the Bible is, at most, only one more contribution to the great conversation and not the greatest of all. But this is not the general consensus of the last two thousand years during which even skeptical and agnostic authors have acknowledged the foundational nature of Scripture’s influence upon western civilization and the crucial role it has played in informing western thought. Whether the Bible’s own testimony of itself is accepted or not, the impact it has had is undeniable. A student of the humanities would do well to read with the Bible in one hand and the Great Books in the other. The one who does so may soon discover that in God’s own revelation “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col. 2:3).

–JME

All quotations are from The Great Tradition: Classic Readings on What It Means to Be an Educated Human Being, edited by Richard M. Gamble (Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2017).

Meditation on the Church and Spiritual Conflict

I write a brief meditation for our church to us on Saturday evenings as we prepare for worship. This is the one for June 11, 2022.

The Lord’s Church can be thought of in different aspects. There is the invisible Church which consists of “the whole number of the elect, that have been, are, or shall be gathered into one, under Christ” (WCF 25.1) and also the visible Church which consists of “all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children” (WCF 25.2). We can also think of these two as being the Church considered eternally and eschatologically, on one hand, and the Church considered temporally and historically, one the other. This is because the invisible and visible are not two different churches but only two aspects of the same one Body of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We can also consider the Church from the standpoint of two locations, even if location isn’t the best word to use in this case. There is the Church in heaven and the Church on earth, the saints who have been glorified and are now with Christ awaiting the Judgment of the last day, and the saints who remain on the battlefield here below, waging war against the world, the flesh, and the Devil. These have been called the Church in Glory and the Church on Earth or the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant. Again we should emphasize, these are not two separate churches but two aspects of the one Body of our Lord.

I have never been to war, not as a soldier enlisted or commissioned in a national army. But every one of us who are blood-bought, baptized, Spirit-filled believers in Jesus have been elected, mustered, and deployed in the greatest battle in the history of the world. Every Christian is engaged in spiritual warfare. That Christ has won the ultimate victory does not change the reality that there is a Dragon hunting us every day (Rev. 12:10-17). The whole universe is embroiled in war, and the followers of Christ are active participants in the conflict. You may have thought when you gave your life to Jesus that you were settling the affairs of the afterlife. In fact, you were being awakened and summoned to the contest that will occupy you for the rest of your life, only ending when your body returns to the dust of the ground.

“The brave things in the old tales and songs, Mr. Frodo: adventures, as I used to call them. I used to think that they were things the wonderful folk of the stories went out and looked for, because they wanted them, because they were exciting and life was a bit dull, a kind of a sport, as you might say. But that’s not the way of it with the tales that really mattered, or the ones that stay in the mind. Folk seem to have been just landed in them, usually – their paths were laid that way, as you put it. But I expect they had lots of chances, like us, of turning back, only they didn’t. And if they had, we shouldn’t know, because they’d have been forgotten.” –Sam Gamgee in The Two Towers

I will resist the urge to elaborate on Tolkien’s doctrine of divine sovereignty governing human moral agency. Suffice it to say this quote, and others, demonstrate that Brother Tolkien understood that God is not only in charge, he is in control. But the point here is that real adventures aren’t experiences people seek out. They don’t sign-up online or buy a Groupon for them. They simply find themselves there. And here you are, in the middle of one, even if you don’t know it, and if you don’t, you better figure it out.

We need to know who we are, whose we are, where we are, and what we are supposed to do during the time that we are here. We may be the Church visible and militant, but we belong to the Church invisible and triumphant. We are Christ’s Body on earth, but we are truly, spiritually, and eternally joined to Christ’s Body in glory. We are called to battle, to fight manfully and joyfully, until the sword cleaves to our hand and we fall, exhausted but victorious, even in death.

The Oracle at Delphi enjoined visitors: “Know Thyself,” and Calvin began his Institutes of the Christian Religion by affirming that “true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves” (I.1.1). As we gather for worship on the Lord’s Day, we must come as those who know ourselves. We are sinners saved by grace alone, adopted sons and heirs of the Father, servants of a risen and glorious King, soldiers called to valor in the army of our Lord. –JME