What was it like for Paul?

Paul wrote most of the books in the New Testament. He didn’t walk the earth with Christ but he had an encounter with him. His teaching was vital to the growth of the church, to getting the message to God’s people.

But he didn’t start out that way.

9 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Not only wasn’t Paul…then called Saul…not a Christian but he was against Christians. He was out to get as many as he could and was willing to travel to do so. He even asked to be sent out so that if he found any Christians along the way he could bring them bound to Jerusalem.

Why?

What was so offensive about Christians that Paul was breathing threats and murder? Paul was clearly evil. He had a hatred for Christians in his heart and was willing to do what it took to get rid of them.

What had caused him to have such a hatred of them? Was it his upbringing? His family beliefs? His education? Society? Where and when did he develop such hatred for Christians? What kind of man was he? When he wasn’t arresting Christians who was he? Was he loud and boastful of his conquests? Was he filled with anger? Did the evil that he had done eat at him even if he wouldn’t acknowledge it? What kind of man was he?

Whatever kind of man he was, whatever his personality, the Lord was about to change him.

³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.

Imagine going down the road and all of a sudden being surrounded by a light. What did Paul think as it surrounded him? Was he afraid? Astounded? Amazed? What kind of light was it? Did it bring warmth with it as the sun does or was it just a bright light? The only answer we have lies in Paul’s reaction…

⁴ And falling to the ground…

Why did he fall to the ground? Was the light so bright that he was blinded by it? We know that when he got up he was unable to see…

Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.

But was he blinded by the light? Was he so shocked at the light that surrounded him that he fell to the ground? Was the light so hot that he sought to escape it? What about the light made him fall to the ground?

And what did he think when…

 he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

There, surrounded by light, Paul heard the voice of the Lord. Did it send fear through him? He knew what he had been doing. Was he afraid that the Lord was retaliating? Did he know the fear of God in that moment? What did he think, feel, as he lay/sat on the ground surrounded by light? How long did it take him for form his answer?

⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”

Did he realize as he voiced the question that he had answered himself? Who are you, Lord. He knew to whom he was speaking even as he asked. Did he have some belief in Christ already to have called Him Lord?

And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Was he shocked that Jesus said he was persecuting Him and not the Christians he had been targeting? What thoughts and feelings went through him as he was accused of persecuting Christ? Had he adjusted to that accusation before he was told what to do?

⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

Did he fear what was to come when he got into the city? Was he afraid that he was about to be stoned or killed in some horrid way? Did he fear being imprisoned? Did he hesitate to do as he was told or did he quickly scramble to his feet?

⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.

Did he panic when he realized he was blind? Did he cry out ‘I can’t see’? Did he wave his arms around and try to get his bearings. Or did he stand in fear, frozen in place, silent?

So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

How did he feel being led around like a small child, unable to see? He had so recently been a soldier, a warrior, hunting down Christians, arresting them, taking them in, and here he was unable to walk by himself. Had he been prideful before? Was he humbled then? Was he humiliated? Was he angry and bitter? Quiet?

⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Did he fear in those three days that he would never see again? Was he worried and stressed, his stomach tied in knots so that he couldn’t eat or drink? Did he stop eating and drinking as a way to fast? Was he so filled with shame, remorse, hurt, that he simply couldn’t eat for the disgust of what he had done? Or did he give up? Did he decide that if he couldn’t see, if he couldn’t be the man he was, that he didn’t want to go on?

Years ago I read a book where one of the men in it had been injured and paralyzed in an accident while working far from home. He was engaged to be married. The accident happened before the book started so when I came into the story it had already taken place. His fiancé rushed to him when she found out that he had been hurt. Upon her arrival she found him wounded but very much alive. Her worry turned to gratitude to discover the man she loved, the man she wanted to spend her life with, was still alive. That was her thoughts and feelings as she entered his hospital room.

His reaction to seeing her was completely different. He got angry, ended their engagement and sent her away. Because of his injuries he felt that he wasn’t the man he had been, felt that he couldn’t be a proper husband to her.

Did Paul react that way? Did he get angry and resentful? Did he feel that he wasn’t the man he had been and if he had to go through life without sight that he’d rather not live? Was that why he quit eating and drinking?

What was it like in those dark days? When he didn’t know what his future was, when he was dependent on others, what did he think and feel? Was his spirit broken? Did his heart hurt? Was he afraid? Angry?

What was it like for Paul?

…look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying,

In those dark days Paul turned to prayer. Was he crying out to God for forgiveness? For healing? In anguish did he beg God to save him?

What did Paul think when someone’s hands touched him? Was he afraid of what was to come? Did he hope his anguish was almost over? Did he dread what was to come? Or did he think…let’s get it over with?

¹⁷ So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

Was Paul happy to hear those words? Was he excited at the thought of seeing again? Was he glad to know the Lord didn’t intend harm for him?

 ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight.

How happy was he to be able to see again? Did he understand the changes that were happening to him? Did he welcome the Holy Spirit?

What was it like for Paul to go through such a huge change in his beliefs? Did he fear what others would do to him? Did he look forward to the task he was given?

What was it like for Paul?

 

It's not them, it's me

I think of the many, many Sunday services I’ve sat through in my life and I think of all that I was taught in the buildings where those services were held…or at least I think of all the things I can remember learning in those buildings. I have very fond memories of time spent in both the ‘church’ buildings and in the services but as I sit here now, thinking back, I must admit what I didn’t know then.

 

Sitting through a Sunday service is much like sitting in the midst of a movie theater on opening day. You’re surrounded by people that all have different reasons for being there and different beliefs. Most of those around you would all claim to have the same beliefs and yet so many of them live for gods that aren’t the God they’re supposedly worshipping. Even the very god of the service in most of those ‘church’ buildings isn’t the God of the Bible.

 

I know I’ve covered this topic before but it’s a topic that worth repeating. Over and over again if that’s what it takes. I don’t write these posts for any reason but for myself to have a place to gather my thoughts and for my husband to be able to read those thoughts. And a hope that someday one of my children might share my faith and wish to read those same thoughts and ideas. If anyone else gains anything from what I am writing then I’m grateful to be able to touch their life.

 

And so…here I am revisiting a topic that I’ve written on before and will most likely write on again. And again.

 

I think of the ‘church’ I sometimes go to and of all the people that fill it every Sunday. I think of the outward showing of their belief. Of the people that sit or stand at the back of the building with crossed arms, obviously uncomfortable with their location. I think of the woman that kneels in the middle of the aisle during the music, both hands raised above her head. I think of those that show up with sayings about Jesus on their shirts and those that dress like they’re ready for a night on the town.

 

And I think of the Jesus they serve that isn’t the Jesus of the Bible. And I wonder…how many of them know they’re serving an idol? How many of them, like myself, may be sitting in the crowd cringing and silently correcting the teachings of the preacher on the stage? How many of them know the real Christ, the real God, the real Scripture…and are there for reasons that have little to do with the service being presented?

 

The god being taught from the stage before me as I sit in that crowd isn’t the God I serve. I go for other reasons than to serve my God. Where I once found it easy to sit in the crowd and listen to the preacher, I now find it difficult. Because it is much like sitting in the midst of a group of people worshipping a god made of stone. The words are there, the feelings are there, the lesson is there, but my Lord is being pushed aside in favor of the Jesus that isn’t the Christ of the Bible.

 

I read a book many years ago in which the believers…or Christians…had a seal upon them that could be seen only by other Christians. There were many, many times after reading that book that I wished it was that way in real life. How great would it be if we could look at someone and know if they are regenerate? How great would it be to be able to pick the true children of Christ out of a crowd no matter where we were?

 

But then I think of what my husband and daughter said a few months back about what it would be like if we could know the date of death for everyone but ourselves…and I think maybe to be able to know whether or not a person was regenerate simply by looking at them would somehow be much that way. We could rejoice in knowing we’ve met another child of Christ but what of all those that might not hold that distinction? How much would our hearts hurt for them?

 

How saddened would we be if we walked into a Sunday service and could find no one there that was regenerate? How elated would we be if we walked in and everyone was?

 

As I write this I know I will be visiting that ‘church’ building where I sometimes go in the next few weeks. I also know that I will have a hard time sitting through the service. And I know…that it isn’t them…it’s me. I see things so differently than they do that what they value, what I once valued, no longer has the same appeal to me.

 

And I wonder…if I had the opportunity to go to that ‘church’ building every Sunday the way I once did…would I make it through very many services? Could I continue to sit through services that teach something I can’t believe in? Could I continue to go, continue to expose my children, to something I believe teaches false doctrine?

 

As I ponder those questions I suspect the answer to all of them would be no. No…I couldn’t go week after week. No…I couldn’t expose my children to false teachings continuously.

 

Still I know…it’s not them…it’s me.

 

 

It's called Christianity

In a comment left on my latest post (http://journeyingtochrist.blogspot.com/2015/10/persecution.html?showComment=1444509683448#c3565648826104761334) I was reminded of just how far our country has come. Not in progress, not in technology, not in…anything good…but in the very real truth that ‘Christians’ in America are so used to their comforts and conveniences that they need them even as they worship.

The ‘church’ building I sometimes attend holds a sunrise service every year on Easter, despite being a ‘church’ building that has many activities outdoors that Easter morning service is the only outdoor service they hold. Every other service is held indoors under air conditioning or heating where those in attendance can sit on padded chairs. Not only that but there is a concession stand inside the very room where the service is held. No one need even go without their coffee as they sit through the service. Donuts and cake are served too.

In case children should become too much of a disturbance or if the parents just don’t want to have to care for them…there’s a nursery for those under three and children’s ‘church’ for all the rest.

Sadly, this isn’t an unusual happening. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a ‘church’ building that didn’t offer a nursery. Children’s church is less of an expected service but it is offered in many ‘church’ buildings. I was in a ‘church’ building once where the leaders of such children’s programs all but pried my babies out of my arms trying to take them to the nursery. There was a status to be kept and babies in the ‘sanctuary’ ruined that status. My baby did not go to the nursery but I did receive many an ugly look for keeping her with me.

American’s have become so accustomed to our comforts that we can’t imagine life without them. I have a cousin that was going to the store only a couple of blocks from where she was at the time. When her sister suggested they walk, this cousin replied with ‘I don’t walk.’ And why would she? In our society driving is seen as the best way to get from place to place, even if the distance to that place can be counted in feet.

That same mindset can be seen in most ‘church’ buildings. How many of the people that attend those services would stay if they had to do so in the middle of summer with no air conditioning? Or in the midst of winter if there was no heat?

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing…we don’t need to be in the midst of a group of people inside a building to worship Christ. Worship shouldn’t be contained to those Sunday services but personal comforts shouldn’t be so much of the requirement for attendance either. How much does it cost to cool a room, that’s big enough to hold 1500 people, to a temperature where those people sit around in sweaters? And what better use could the ‘church’ put that money too?

Whatever they use the money for it was the statement in that comment along with something I read elsewhere that has me thinking further on this topic. In a country where a preacher will stand before thousands…knowing everything he says will be shared on the internet…and say that persecution is the loss of a tax exempt status, is it any wonder that his followers…and the millions in ‘church’ buildings across the nation…would require air conditioning, heating, padded seats, paved parking spots, and even child care?

While ‘Christians’ in America enjoy luxury accommodations in their places of worship there are Christians in this world that have no homes. In some cases they have no home because they’re too poor to acquire one, in other cases their homes have been taken from them, and in still other cases they don’t have a home because having one gives those in authority the ability to find and target them.

In countries where Christians are persecuted children often turn their parents over to authorities, brothers and sisters report their siblings, even husbands and wives turn each other in.

            In my own life I have seen the amazing ability of a shared Spiritual faith to draw people together. I have seen this happen, have been a part of it myself, in a country that is swimming in ‘Christians’. This has happened in a time and place when we are free to worship Christ.

            In reading about persecution I came across something where someone wrote of that spiritual connection to other believers. When your very life depends on the people that know you not turning you in to those looking to persecute you…how deep could those spiritual connections go? Would you cling to your earthly family or would you cling to those that share your faith?

            Not only do Christians in persecuted areas cling tighter to each other but they have ‘church’ services unlike those we encounter in America. Far from the heated and cooled buildings with padded seats, refreshments, and childcare, many of these Christians meet deep in the woods or in underground rooms where warmth or cool air is but a luxury they can’t imagine.

            When you may not have a home and those ready to imprison or kill you could come at any moment and take you away…what does air conditioning or heat matter? But they go far beyond that.

Here in America many of our ‘church’ buildings have preachers that have been ‘properly’ trained to run a ‘church’. They go to special schools for preachers and they take special classes on the ‘art of preaching’. They stand in front of their ‘audiences’ having practiced the sermon they intend to deliver…and that sermon was written to their target audience using things the people that will be hearing it can relate to.

Many Christians in persecuted countries have preachers that have never been to school, they may not own a Bible, they may have never heard a preacher give a sermon. Yet they meet with Christians and share what they know.

I’ve never traveled outside the United States so I can’t attest to any of this myself. What I know of this topic comes only from what I’ve read. But for anyone that cares to do the research there is plenty out there to read.

Imagine having a preacher that knows nothing of theology, that has never been to ‘church’, that may have never heard a sermon. What if that same preacher doesn’t own a Bible? What if he hasn’t even seen a Bible in years? And more than that…he may know only a handful of verses.

This happens. There are countries where Bibles are illegal. In those countries…what training does a preacher have? And where does he get his topic for his sermon…if he hasn’t seen a Bible in years?

Within these ‘church’ groups faith may be all they have.

And they risk their lives to share that faith with others.

In America we often hear sermons based off trivial topics…sermons that barely scratch the surface of Truth…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

The Lord has a purpose for these ‘churches’ that do not teach the truth. He has a reason for letting the ‘church’ buildings continue as they do. But I, for one, would much rather listen to a Christian that knows only a handful of Scripture and has never held a Bible than to listen to a preacher that holds the entire Bible in his hands and twists and mangles the few verses that he uses to the point that anyone that really knows Scripture won’t recognize the point he’s trying to make.

In America most ‘church’ buildings require their preachers to be seminary trained. These men…and unfortunately sometimes women…go to big fancy schools to learn…whatever it is they teach in places like that. I do know they are taught the ‘art of preaching’ and how to target their audience.

I’ve heard that some such seminary’s teach that creation isn’t true, that Adam wasn’t real, and the flood didn’t happen but I can’t say if this is true or not. I would be inclined to believe there are seminaries that really do teach that sort of thing though. I do know that there are ‘Christians’ that believe those very real Biblical happenings didn’t exist. I’ve heard of ‘Christians’ that believe in evolution and of ‘Christians’ that discount entire sections of the Bible.

They believe those things…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

‘Christians’ sit in their temperature controlled buildings, indulging on their refreshments, not even watching their own children, while they listen to a sermon given by what amounts to a trained performer…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

At the very same time there are people hiding away like hunted animals, desperate for just one look at a Bible, or one conversation with someone that might tell them of the Bible and Christ…and it’s called Christianity.

‘Christians’ sit in their big buildings and speak of being persecuted because they might lose their tax exempt status…and it’s called ‘Christianity’

Christians are killed because they believe in Christ…and it’s called Christianity.

‘Christians’ are swimming in Bibles...able to find them by the dozens in thrift stores in every town across America. They have Bibles in their homes that are never read…and it’s called ‘Christianity’.

Christians in countries where the Bible is illegal are desperate to see a Bible, die for having one in their possession. And…

It’s called Christianity.

 

1400 years

I’ve been asked twice now in the last week what people believed prior to John Calvin, or more specifically I was asked what happed in the ‘1400 years’ before Calvin instituted his beliefs and influenced the world with them.

 

That, I must admit, was a question I didn’t know the answer to. It was a question that didn’t bring about much interest in me the first time it was asked but the second time…it sent me looking for the answers.

 

Let me first say, that as I understood the question, the person asking it was saying that what I believed was based off what John Calvin taught and that ‘men’ were where my beliefs came from.

 

Before I go into what happened before Calvin I want to explain what happened for me. I’ve written numerous times of how ‘the light was flipped on for me’ so that I was able to see what I was believing, to see what had been hazy before I understood what exactly it was that I was seeing. But let me explain where ‘what I was seeing’ came from.

 

The truth is…if I look only at the world and what’s in it…I have no idea. I wasn’t reading books on Christianity, wasn’t watching movies, wasn’t talking to other people. Truth be told I wasn’t even reading the Bible all that much. I had read it all the way through, cover to cover, but I did it for the sole purpose of being able to say that I had read the entire Bible, and so I simply read it…I studied nothing in it. I did read it from time to time for enjoyment or because I felt the need to do so, did study it sometimes, but I wasn’t doing so daily and I wasn’t doing so to look for any certain thing.

 

Where and how did my beliefs become what they are now?

 

I have no idea…except that they came from the Lord. And Scripture backs that up.

But back to what I used to know and not know…I had no idea who Calvin was before I understood what it was that I believe. I didn’t know anything about the reformation or church history. Not only did I know nothing of those things but I had no interest in them.

 

How then could my beliefs have come from any man?

 

They didn’t.

 

And yet I gained those beliefs anyway. The only explanation I can give is that they came from the Lord and had little, if any, influence from the thoughts, teachings, or theologies of man. In fact I had zero interest in anything labeled as theology. If someone had tried to get me to discuss the subject I would have quickly exited the conversation. I said often that I believed the Bible and only the Bible.

 

I still hold to that belief.

 

I do, however, now understand what it is that I saw in Scripture. As a result I now understand what labels are put on what I believe. Which means I know how to go looking for others that share the same, or similar, beliefs that I have.

 

But knowing all that now only means I know how to find people of similar beliefs if I want to listen to, or read, something by someone that believes as I do. It doesn’t mean that my beliefs came about because of the beliefs of any man (or woman).

 

And it sure meant I couldn’t answer the question of what happened in the 1400 years before Calvin and his beliefs. As I pondered the question I realized that I couldn’t answer it and not just because I didn’t know the information. The thing is I have no interest in knowing what happened before Calvin…be it one year or 1400. The more I thought on the question the more I realized that …for me…the question wasn’t what happened before Calvin but what happened after Paul and the apostles.

 

The question may be the same but…for me…it’s vastly different. Since my beliefs didn’t come from a theory written by any man…even a theory taken straight from Scripture…but from the Bible itself, I don’t want to start with that man and work backwards but start with Scripture and work forward.

 

And so…that’s what I’m going to attempt to do. I don’t mind in the least admitting that it’s a task I feel ill equipped to tackle. But I’m going to try.

 

In so doing I’m going to start with Christ…that is, after all, where all of Christianity should start and end. Around the year 30 Ad Christ instituted a new covenant with His people. This covenant completely overturned the law and the old covenant. The Lord’s people were no longer under the law but under grace…under Christ.

 

This new covenant is the whole of how we are to believe and follow Christ today. Because we live under the new covenant we are no longer bound by the old covenant. Which means the Old Testament holds different meaning for us today than it did before Christ brought in the new covenant.

 

I had someone tell me once that 2 Timothy 2:15…

 

…rightly dividing the word of truth.

 

Is the dividing line between the old covenant and the new covenant. It’s the difference of whether we live under the law of the Old Testament or the grace of the New Testament. We must…as that verse says…rightly divide Scripture. We must know where the line between the two is and we must be able to see the difference. Now, the person that told me that went on to point out exactly when and where that dividing line came into play. I don’t think it’s so important that we understand exactly when it happened so much as we must understand that it did happen and that we are either on one side of that divide or the other.

 

Do we live under the law or do we live under grace? Do we live under the Old covenant or do we live under the new covenant?

 

The line has already been drawn. We need do nothing but understand that it’s there and know that there’s a difference in the Old Testament and the New.

 

That line was drawn by Christ Himself somewhere around the year 30 Ad. With the drawing of that line He instituted a whole new life for all believers.

 

The disciples understood that. The apostles understood it. They lived on one side of the line and referenced to the other side as the need arose.

 

Scripture takes us only so far on the new covenant side of that line. Sadly…it ends with Revelation. Our ability to see life through the words of Scripture ends with the final book of the Bible. From there we are forced to view life…all of history…through the eyes of Scripture as we are able to apply our understanding to time. In other words we cease to be able to look at time as the Lord laid it out for us and we begin to have to look at it through the understanding we gain through reading the Scriptures.

 

We know from Scripture…from Paul that there were men in the Bible days that were ‘peddling’ Christ. They were using the gospel to line their own pockets. They were trading it for what they could get out of it, making it work for them instead of them working for it. In other words they were making Christ serve them instead of them serving Him.

 

For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ. 2 Corinthians 2:17

 

That is a very important thing to take note of because it shows us that even in the days when the apostles walked the earth, teaching and preaching of Christ, that there were men that were changing…distorting…the truth to make it what they wanted to make of it. I have a blog post where I wrote on the subject of ‘it preaches good’. Today, so many preachers preach what sounds good, what hits their target audience with the best impact. They are twisting the truth and filling in the holes as they see fit so that it preaches good. Paul told us that men of his time were doing the same thing. We don’t know exactly what they were preaching but we know that they were preaching…peddling…God’s word not out of sincerity as Paul and the others were doing but as a ways of selling it…or making it work for them.

 

So even as the apostles walked the earth earnestly….sincerely…passionately…proclaiming the word of God, there were men that were twisting that very word into something that was insincere. This isn’t a new concept. It didn’t start with the prosperity gospel mega ‘churches’, it didn’t start with the catholic ‘church’, it started with men in Paul’s day.

 

At the last page of the Bible we can no longer look to Scripture to tell us what was happening. We lose the best history text we will ever have and we begin to have to look to history as man has recorded it. The Bible takes us through time until about the year 100 Ad.

 

We know that while the apostles walked the earth we had Christianity as the Lord designed it. And…per Paul…we know we had it as he did not design it.

 

From what I was able to gather we then have a time lapse of about 100 years. I don’t know what happened in those years. If I had to guess I would say that most likely both sides continued to grow and flourish. From my own understanding of how mans minds work I’m inclined to say that the closer we are in time to when Christ was on earth the more likely we are to have the gospel being given…and therefore having people believing…in it’s truth without men’s ideas added into it.

 

It’s like with anything else. Our minds remember things more accurately the closer we are in time to when something happened. Time has a way of fading the details. There’s a popular children’s game that would better explain this. It’s called telephone. A group of kids sits in a circle and one of them whispers something in the next child’s ear. Each child takes a turn whispering to the child beside them until it gets to the last child. Now the first child may have said ‘I love ice cream’ but by the time it makes it down the line to the last child it very well could be ‘I like ivy and dreams.’ The thing is…the more people the story goes through, the greater the chance that it will be distorted from the original version.

 

The Lord retained His word, His truth, through all of that. He has preserved His word through the ages for His people. But how many people handled that word that weren’t His and therefore mangled it to the point that it looks little like the Truth as it was originally spoken.

 

And so…even though I can’t prove it…I would assume that…as with today…the Truth of Christ was passed from person to person, sometimes it stayed Scripturally accurate and sometimes it was probably mangled to the point where we couldn’t recognize truth in it if we tried.

 

I’m not referring to the written Scriptures here but of what was taught from person to person.

 

As Scripture ended and time without Biblical record began I had to look to the records kept by man which took me to what is referred to as the ‘church fathers’. I won’t go into why I believe labeling these men as ‘church fathers’ is wrong. Instead I wish to turn to the beliefs they held. Starting with Augustine.

 

St. Augustine is called, rightly, the Doctor of Grace…Augustine showed very well our total dependence on God…Every good work, even good will, is the work of God:… For not only has God given us our ability and helps it, but He even works [brings about] willing and acting in us; not that we do not will or that we do not act, but that without His help we neither will anything good nor do it"—

 

That is a very brief excerpt on Augustine’s beliefs from…http://www.ewtn.com/library/THEOLOGY/AUGUSTIN.HTM

 

I read elsewhere that Augustine believed in predestination. For anyone that wishes to say predestination is not in the Bible please look to what Paul teaches in Ephesians 1, particularly verses 4 and 11.

 

There are men that claim to be Calvinists….or reformed…that have said they are Augustinians.

R. C. Sproul is one of these men. He has written that he is in fact an ‘Augustinian.’ I point this out only to show that Augustine would have to have held the same basic beliefs as what is known as Calvinism today.

 

The fact that those beliefs weren’t written out until Calvin did so does not mean that no one believed that way before Calvin, nor does it mean that Calvin invented that way of believing.

 

Clement is another ‘church father’ that lived about the same time as Augustiheld to similar beliefs.

 

Clement (A.D. 80-140): So all of them received honor and greatness, not through themselves or their own deeds or the right things they did, but through his will. And we, therefore, who by his will have been called in Jesus Christ, are not justified of ourselves or by our wisdom or insight of religious devotion or the holy deeds we have done from the heart, but by that faith by which almighty God has justified all men from the very beginning. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen. (Clement, Clement's First Letter, 32.3-4)

 

Now, I understand that there are those that will say that until Augustine there was no such Biblical truth as predestination taught. I have no idea what happened from the end of the Bible to what it written of Augustine. But I would again point anyone that wants to say that there is no predestination in Scripture to Ephesians 1. And just to be on the safe side I’m going to post them here from the Greek text…

 

Vs 4… just as he chose us in him before [the] foundation of [the] world to be for us holy and blameless before him in love

 

Vs 5…having predestined us for divine adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of the will of him

 

Vs 11…in him in whom also we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to [the] purpose of the [one] –all things working according to the counsel of the will of him

 

That is the English wording of the interlinear Bible where it translates those verses from Greek to English. The word predestined is in not only our modern translations but it was in the Greek translations.

 

Let me pause for just a minute to say that in my research on the ‘church’ fathers I’m coming across some differences in times for some of them. I’ve seen dates on Augustine that put him around 100 AD and around 300 AD. I can’t know which is right and since my purpose is to gather together what they believed and not an exact on when they lived I’m not going to delve deeper into their time frames. For that reason I may give a time on someone that may be inaccurate but if I do so it’s because I found that date in an article on that person.

 

As I understand it the early ‘church fathers’ had certain terms that differed from those of the people during the reformation. Those differing terms made them, at times, seem to have different beliefs than the reformers…or those labeled as Calvinists. For instance regeneration to the early ‘church fathers’ meant ‘the entirety of the Christian life’. Whereas today it means the first step of conversion…or salvation.

 

            This difference of terms may make it seem that ‘Calvinism’ wasn’t around until Calvin coined the belief but that isn’t how it worked. As I pointed out above both Augustine and Clement held ‘Calvinist’ beliefs. So much so that today’s Calvinists sometimes claim to be Augustinians.

 

            The fact is that Christ was a ‘Calvinist’ if we must put the term on each person that holds to those beliefs. He said ‘those that the father gives me’. He didn’t say ‘those that choose me’. Paul was a ‘Calvinist’ that openly spoke of predestination. He spoke of the elect. He spoke of the chosen.

 

Even in the old testament we see many times where Scripture talks of ‘my people.’ It’s all laid out there before us if we can only see it.

 

The early ‘church fathers’ saw it and taught it. They taught the same gospel that Christ taught. The same gospel that Paul taught. Whether we’re talking about Augustine, Gottschalk, Luther, Calvin, the Puritans, or those that are labeled as ‘Calvinists’ today.

 

Here are some of the beliefs held by what is called the early ‘church fathers’…

 

Total depravity

 

Barnabas (A.D. 70): “Learn: before we believed in God, the habitation of our heart was corrupt and weak.”


Justin Martyr (A.D. 150): “Mankind by Adam fell under death, and the deception of the serpent; we are born sinners…No good thing dwells in us…For neither by nature, nor by human understanding is it possible for me to acquire the knowledge of things so great and so divine, but by the energy of the Divine Spirit…Of ourselves it is impossible to enter the kingdom of God…He has convicted us of the impossibility of our nature to obtain life…Free will has destroyed us; we who were free are become slaves and for our sin are sold…Being pressed down by our sins, we cannot move upward toward God; we are like birds who have wings, but are unable to fly.”


Origen: “Our free will…or human nature is not sufficient to seek God in any manner.”


Augustine (A.D. 370): “If, therefore, they are servants of sin (2 Cor. 3:17), why do they boast of free will?…O, man! Learn from the precept what you ought to do; learn from correction, that it is your own fault you have not the power…Let human effort, which perished by Adam, here be silent, and let the grace of God reign by Jesus Christ…What God promises, we ourselves do not through free will of human nature, but He Himself does by grace within us…Men labor to find in our own will something that is our own, and not God’s; how can they find it, I know not.”


 


Unconditional election:


Clement Of Rome (A.D. 69): “Let us therefore approach Him in holiness of soul, lifting up pure and undefiled hands unto Him, with love towards our gentle and compassionate Father because He made us an elect portion unto Himself…Seeing then that we are the special elect portion of a Holy God, let us do all things that pertain unto holiness…There was given a declaration of blessedness upon them that have been elected by God through Jesus Christ our Lord…Jesus Christ is the hope of the elect…”


Barnabas (A.D. 70): “We are elected to hope, committed by God unto faith, appointed to salvation.”


Ignatius: “To the predestined ones before all ages, that is, before the world began, united and elect in a true passion, by the eternal will of the Father…”


Justin Martyr: “In all these discourses I have brought all my proofs out of your own holy and prophetic writings, hoping that some of you may be found of the elect number which through the grace that comes from the Lord of Sabaoth, is left or reserved [set apart] for everlasting salvation.”


Irenaeus (A.D. 198): “God hath completed the number which He before determined with Himself, all those who are written, or ordained unto eternal life…Being predestined indeed according to the love of the Father that we would belong to Him forever.”


Clement Of Alexandria (A.D. 190): “Through faith the elect of God are saved. The generation of those who seek God is the elect nation, not [an earthly] place, but the congregation of the elect, which I call the Church…If every person had known the truth, they would all have leaped into the way, and there would have been no election…You are those who are chosen from among men and as those who are predestined from among men, and in His own time called, faithful, and elect, those who before the foundation of the world are known intimately by God unto faith; that is, are appointed by Him to faith, grow beyond babyhood.”


Cyprian (A.D. 250): “This is therefore the predestination which we faithfully and humbly preach.”


Ambrose Of Milan (A.D. 380): “In predestination the Church of God has always existed.”


Augustine (A.D. 380): “Here certainly, there is no place for the vain argument of those who defend the foreknowledge of God against the grace of God, and accordingly maintain that we were elected before the foundation of the world because God foreknew that we would be good, not that He Himself would make us good. This is not the language of Him who said, ‘You did not choose Me, but I chose you’ (John 15:16).”


 


And a few more quotes by a few of the ‘church fathers’…


 


Clement Of Rome (A.D. 69): “It is the will of God that all whom He loves should partake of repentance, and so not perish with the unbelieving and impenitent. He has established it by His almighty will. But if any of those whom God wills should partake of the grace of repentance, should afterwards perish, where is His almighty will? And how is this matter settled and established by such a will of His?”


Clement Of Alexandria (A.D. 190): “Such a soul [of a Christian] shall never at any time be separated from God…Faith, I say, is something divine, which cannot be pulled asunder by any other worldly friendship, nor be dissolved by present fear.”


Tertullian: “God forbid that we should believe that the soul of any saint should be drawn out by the devil…For what is of God is never extinguished.”


Augustine: “Of these believers no one perishes, because they were all elected. And they were elected because they were called according to the purpose–the purpose, however, not their own, but God’s…Obedience then is God’s gift…To this, indeed, we are not able to deny, that perseverance in good, progressing even to the end, is also a great gift of God.”


 


As we can see by the quotes I’ve given the ‘church fathers’ not only believed in predestination and election, they also believed in the Lord’s sovereignty and not in man’s free will.


That brings us to around 350-400 AD…and shows that ‘Calvinism’ did exist before Calvin coined the theory.


 


That brings us to the dark ages when the Roman Catholic church dominated so much of the world’s beliefs. There were pockets of true believers that held to the same beliefs as the ‘church fathers’ and today’s modern ‘Calvinists’.


The Waldensains were a group that held to at least some of those beliefs. They’re the first group I came across specific information on their beliefs after the ‘church fathers’ and before the reformation era. Without going too deep into what they believed (see that here… http://journeyingtochrist.blogspot.com/2015/08/the-waldensains.html) a French man experienced a dramatic conversion…so much so that he gave up his business and threw his money into the street…and began to follow the teachings of Jesus from the Gospels.


 


I was unable to find anything that said for certain whether or not this group was actually ‘Calvinist’ in their beliefs but the fact that they were persecuted and killed for their beliefs would indicate to me that they held something of those beliefs. The Waldensains covered the time between 1100’s and the 1500’s which brings us to the time of the reformers and  to Calvin.


 


That is a quick history of the ‘Calvinists’ beliefs. Calvin didn’t invent the beliefs, he only wrote them out. The beliefs behind Calvin’s doctrines weren’t man-made but Biblical.


 


I went into the time between Scripture and Calvin because I wanted to be able to answer the question of what happened in those ‘1400 years’ but for me…I don’t need to know the answer to that question. I need only to know that John said…


 


But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him. 1 John 2:27