Why Does this President of the United States Remain Popular?

If the Republicans had even a slightly better candidate than Mitt Romney for President in 2012, I believe they would have won the election.  I say this because of the after-election reports that conservatives did not show up.  Less people voted than 2008, so a big Republican turn-out could have swung the election the other direction.  It still would have been close, but Republicans could have won.  Two big reasons conservatives stayed home in substantial numbers were, first, Romney's lack of conservatism -- conservatives didn't want another McCain-like candidate -- and, second, Mormonism -- many evangelicals wouldn't pull the lever for a Mormon.

On the other hand, the election shouldn't have been close because of how bad the economy was.  Early in his first term, President Obama himself said that if the unemployment numbers weren't lower, the voters should vote him out.  He didn't deserve to be reelected.  The economy started poorly under Obama, got worse, and didn't improve.   Here we are another half year in and the unemployment numbers just went up again last month.  I think most people know that the percentage of total employment is the lowest in decades, because people had even stopped looking for jobs.

Now we have multiple scandals unlike anything like I've seen in my lifetime.  We've had scandals before, but not so many going at one time.  You can correct me if you think I'm wrong, but it seems we now have four (or five) of them at one time:  Benghazi, IRS, AP Reporters/James Rosin, and now the NSA snooping.  These scandals are really bad and they should be enough to sink this Presidency -- maybe they will -- but the President still maintains around a 45-47% approval rating.  There doesn't seem to be any good reason for him to retain such an approval.  What are people approving of?

This is all just my opinion, but in my opinion there are two positive reasons President Obama stays popular:  his even temperament (or what some would call his "cool") and then his family.  The President looks like he has a solid family.   It looks very normal in comparison especially to other White House families.  He's married to the same woman and has two daughters that seem normal.  He looks unflappable and his family looks normal.  Those two help keep him popular.  We see family scandals among politicians and Obama doesn't have those.  I don't think those two should be enough, but they do contribute to keeping the approval rating as high as it is.

The 45-47% approval rating should hearken back to the campaign with the Romney slip about the 47%.  As much as people mocked Romney about that faux pas, he has looked very prophetic with it.  I think people know that what he said was actually correct.  I'm not saying that Obama couldn't move below that 45-47%.   He could have an exodus, especially if people start giving up on his economic philosophy because of their own personal pain.  They could "see the light" so-to-speak, if there is a massive standard of living drop in the country.

However, again, it's still at 45-47 in pretty bad conditions.  What keeps it there?  The media is still a major factor.   You know that if George W. Bush had these scandals, he would get far worse treatment, to put it lightly.  The media has been more negative, but they're still defensive of the President with the exception of Fox News.  But the 45-47 don't watch Fox News.  They don't listen to conservative talk shows on the radio.  The media is still an advocate of the Obama administration in a blatantly hypocritical way.  We still haven't heard Benghazi truth.  We still don't know how high up the IRS situation had gone.  There is still no resolution to the James Rosin issue.  A good example of the media capitulation is the relative silence on Gosnell, the abortion doctor in Philadelphia, killing babies after they were born.  The media left that one alone.  Gosnell was simply taking the same position that Obama defended while he was a state senator in Illinois.  The media essentially supports killing babies after botched abortions.  It's morally consistent for them as a whole.  And even if they don't like it, they are so pro-abortion that they can't make abortion look bad.  The media doesn't show the curiosity and doesn't do the digging on Obama.  There is a lot fishy about his birth, his parents, his associations, and his college records, but they were unwilling to get to the bottom of it.

Comedians, a part of the media, have a big impact in this culture.  They shouldn't, but they do.  When people think someone is a national joke, that person becomes sort of radioactive as a politician.  You can see this having happened to Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin, and George W. Bush.  It's also one reason why Joe Biden won't be president.  Those people were mocked so regularly that it became uncool to like them any more.  The comedians don't joke about Obama.  I don't have cable or an antennae, but I read the comedy in transcripts, and now only and finally do we get some jokes from Jay Leno.  Still the other comedians leave Obama alone.  They either don't want to hurt him, because they support him, or they are too afraid to joke about him, because of the charge of racism.

So, the media still supports Obama.  I'm going to wrap all the other reasons into one other reason, the second, which is the coalition of special interests.  Here they are, not necessarily in any order:  women, homosexuals, blacks, unions, the NEA, other teacher's unions, students at the liberal colleges, government dependents, environmentalists, animal rights activists, hispanic illegal immigration supporters, the Jewish vote, and atheists and agnostics.   There are probably more.   A lot of these groups live in urban areas, which explains the blueness of metropolitan locations.  Some don't fit into any of these groups, but they are in affinity with those who are in them, and the media supports these groups, which influences others who are not in them.  The Democrats have cobbled together a core Democrat voting bloc based on self-interest that guarantees Obama a base amount of approval, as long as he does not transgress the basic party line, which he essentially does not.  There are some contradictions between some of these groups.  A lot of blacks oppose homosexuality, for instance, so they'll vote for Obama but not for homosexual marriage.  Windmills, a pet of the environmentalists, kill birds in great numbers, which offends the animal rights activists, but they're both still in the pocket of Obama.

More than any other of the above list, the most influential, I believe, is women.  Women keep Obama afloat more than any one group.  Women are more liberal than ever, they have the majority of votes in this country, and they're not that happy with men.  A recent study says that 40% of the breadwinners in families are now women.  You probably know that the Republicans win the male vote and the Democrats win the female vote.  It is the women who win the Democrats their elections. Women are essentially in charge in this country.

What I've described above also gauges the spiritual condition of the country.  In many cases, churches are not countering the downward trend, but contextualizing their message and approach to fit into it.  Things won't change because many churches aren't addressing the problem.  They are capitulating to it.

Origin of the Universe and Life: Random or Designed

Genesis 1:1 starts:  "In the beginning God."  The most basic understanding of world view comes down to whether you support those four English words or not.  If you accept them, that changes everything for you.  You are no longer free to assign meaning and value to the world.  God does that for you.  Since there is a beginning, there's also an ending.  Everything begins and ends with God.

The alternative to design is random.  And the alternative to random is design.  That's why if the evidence and probability is against random, then the scientific conclusion is design.  You don't have a third choice.  If everything is random, then no objective meaning can be assigned to the universe or life.  Everything came about by accident.  If everything is an accident, there can't be right or wrong.  The consistent position of a random universe and life is amorality.   Nothing can be said to be right or wrong.  There is no truth, no goodness, and no beauty.

No accident, which is what everything would be in a random universe, could be responsible for anything.  I understand that the world doesn't look like an accident, but that is beside the point.  Many people today say that it is the result of blind chance and yet we can also make moral judgments.  In other words, they choose to borrow a theistic (Christian) world view to argue for some type of morality.  They choose what they want for their world, in that world there is no controlling authority, and yet there is sufficient morality for their own convenience.

No random universe and life advocate should argue right or wrong.  He has no basis to do so.  When he does, he capitulates to a designed or created universe or life.   Or  in other words, he has conceded to a theistic world view.   So everyone lives according to a design origin.  They can't live otherwise, because there is no other alternative.  There is no choice between random and design.  It's a false choice, because design is all that exists.

The random side says that with enough chance and time, the universe and life could have originated and evolved.  To start, this ignores the second law of thermodynamics.  The energy necessary to sustain the repeated accidents until one sustainable useful, correct event occurred has depleted to the extent that the possibilities are increasingly remote.  It also ignores the law of biogenesis,  Life comes from life, not non-life.   When life is "created" in a laboratory, it always interacts with life of some sort.  Never has life randomly risen from non-life.

It's not just that one jackpot must be hit in the lottery of the universe and life, but those correct accidents must occur repeatedly in a very short, compact period of time.  Winning the lottery is possible, but this isn't about winning the lottery, but about choosing the right numbers day after day for months and years.  No one should believe that.   He should instead believe what he observes, which is a universe and life of design, truth, goodness, and beauty.

Has God Made Numerical Church Growth Difficult to Figure Out or Hard to Understand?

The church in Jerusalem grew.   As it grew, it built bigger buildings, its leaders became famous, were approached for book contracts, and scheduled for large conferences, and many came from all over to visit to find its secret.  No.  Nothing like that.  Its members fled for their lives and nearly all its leaders were killed.

God has a different agenda with growth.  He separates unto Himself a people who will glorify Him forever.   He is building a kingdom and using the church to do it.  A church could attract numerous attendees in different manners and do more damage to the kingdom than if it never existed, at the same time getting great credit from evangelicalism or fundamentalism for doing a great work.

During last presidential election, President Obama said the now famous "you didn't build that" statement.  When it comes to a church, he would actually be right.  And if it's true that you didn't build it, then you're actually doing a good job.

I was reading tonight about how hard it is to build a business in the United States today.  It's harder doing business in America than ever.  It's not unusual for people to want to make a quick buck, explaining the popularity of the lottery.  This also explains the Great Depression, the dot.com bubble, and the mortgage crisis.  People bought overvalued Facebook stock with hopes of a future Apple or Microsoft.  Men are also looking for an angle for church growth, which explains the popularity of the conferences and books intended to explain it.

Actual church growth doesn't take a seminar.  There is no secret.  Whoever complicates church growth with lengthy explanations, as is often the case today, isn't telling the truth about it.  It is not difficult to figure out.  The secret now really is that there is no secret.  It was never intended to be secret or complicated.  It is so simple that anyone can figure it out.  It's very simple --  it's just not popular.  The means of growth wasn't intended to make sense, because God is the one who takes care of it.  What's contradictory about modern church growth is that it does make sense and it is more complicated.  You need seminars for it, or even a D. Min. to figure it out.  Church growth today is much harder to understand than the Bible.

As I said, the biblical way doesn't make sense.  But how could modern church growth be more complicated and yet make more sense?  It makes sense to men for something to be more complicated.  But simplicity is what it is, whether that makes sense or not.  When it is complicated, more complicated than the Bible, and you're the one who understands it, well, you know who gets the credit for that.

Recently I've been listening to, watching, and reading Tim Keller.  He went to New York City as a middle aged man in the late 1980s and started from scratch, and by reports, Redeemer Presbyterian has 4,000 gathering on Sundays there now.   As I read him, four thoughts stick out to me, in no particular order.

One, he needed to go to New York City to change in his thinking about church growth.  He would not have rethought church growth without being in such an impossible place for typical church growth to start.  By the way, why would someone, who had read through the New Testament, and knows it, be rethinking church growth?  How could there be something new about church growth after 2,000 years of the church?   That doesn't make sense at all to me, in every way that I judge in the most obvious fashion.  And yet it does make sense to many people.  It reminds me of the James Carville, Bill Clinton, presidential compaign for the 1992 election:  change and not more of the same.  More of the same doesn't make sense.  Change does.  That's why it makes sense to people that there's something different to be learned about church growth after 2,000 years that had been missed.  Change is a key.  Not really, but really.

And number one does connect to number two.  Number two is a new look at Luke 15.  Keller calls it "the third way" and he explains that in his book, The Prodigal God, and then his church growth book, Center Church (I'll be writing some more about this idea in future posts hopefully).  That transformed his thinking about how churches grow.  People were approaching this thing all wrong, who didn't have this particular understanding of Luke 15.  The third way is Clintonian too.  Clintonian triangulation, the Sister Souljah moment in the campaign.  The third way was a new way to do politics and Keller is also offering a type of triangulation.  The Center Church is in the center for a reason, centrist.  Keller has tapped into a third way, which is a new way, which has been his key to church growth there, which he wouldn't have known without going to New York City.   Is there a secret way, a way we hadn't really known before, that is found in Luke 15?  

The third part of it is that people don't want to work without results.  Little known is that your labor is in fact in vain without the numbers.  I know what the Bible says, but trust me.  They want the secret for doing God's work and seeing the results they want to see.  One of the merits of Keller's way, which isn't the first recent innovation in church growth, is that you don't have to totally sell out on doctrine to get it done.  When people attend Redeemer, they feel like they just got something the equivalent of a very good about 35 minute classroom lecture.  I can take a very good 55 minute classroom lecture, but you don't want to press this too far (from what I've read, 35 minutes is about 15 minutes longer than the typical PCA sermon today).   This approach does not insult anyone's intelligence.  Not everyone is seeking after signs.  There is a way to attract those people, especially who look like they walked off a Friends episode, but it is quite a bit messier, and you can find yourself feeling like the circus-master.  Grimy.  Lowest common denominator.  Either way, the attraction is the results.  He's got them, and as Jack Hyles once said, "I've got more people in my bathrooms at any one service than you do in your auditorium."  So there.

The fourth part is everything that comes along with numbers.   Can you see yourself putting up with missing all that?

No, church growth comes from means clearly spelled out in the Bible.  The biggest problem as you read those means in scripture is that people won't like them.  Modern church growth is about turning this process into something attractive, and then justifying that by piecing it together with a bewildering extrapolation of verses.  Facepalm.  Why couldn't I have seen that?  But who am I to question the results?  Those are easy to see.  And I wouldn't want to criticize these professions just because of my own sour grapes.  And the body is a diverse group of parts.  And they might differ on the non-essentials, but we're all the same on what really matters, so let's just welcome what's happening.  Hope the best.

The above means are not how Jesus or Paul did it.  The simplicity is preach the gospel to everybody.  A few will want it and most will not.  Those who do not want it will in general hate you.  You'll have a lot of people hating you.  Your church will be way different than the world.  You won't be able to explain the growth because of those big differences.  Something supernatural has obviously taken place.  You keep teaching the Bible to the converts, they grow, they preach to others.  More preaching occurs until everyone in your area hears.  All of those saved keep assembling and worshiping the Lord to His glory.

There is no guaranteed way that your church will get big in number with a scriptural means.  The Bible reads mainly the opposite.  Keller and others sort of offer a guarantee.  There's a way that will work if you implement it correctly.  That's what you need seminars for.   Numerical church growth is actually simple to understand and not hard to figure out.  It's a matter of whether the churches and their leaders will obey it.

“The just shall live by faith”— A Study of the Relationship of Faith to Salvation in its Justifying, Sanctifying, and Glorifying Fulness, part 14

The peitho word group[i] supplies further light on the nature of Christian faith.[ii]  The verb means “to come to believe the certainty of something on the basis of being convinced—‘to be certain, to be sure, to be convinced,’” or “to believe in something or someone to the extent of placing reliance or trust in or on—‘to rely on, to trust in, to depend on, to have (complete) confidence in, confidence, trust.’”[iii]  Coming to saving faith, to believing, is to be persuaded[iv] of the truth about Christ and the gospel, and consequently, turning from all false confidences,[v] to trust or place one’s confidence[vi] in Him alone.  Related words signify persuasive, convincing,[vii] persuasion,[viii] and confidence or trust.[ix]  Paul, as a pattern true for every Christian, testified:  “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”[x]  The saving faith of the Old Testament saints, set forth as a paradigm for those in the dispensation of grace, possessed, in addition to knowledge, persuasion of the truth concerning Christ and the promises about Him as a constituent element, which resulted in an embrace of the promises and He who was offered in them.[xi]  Persuasion, confidence, trust, and assurance that Christ will indeed save those who come to Him are elements of saving faith.[xii]  Since “[t]o be convinced and to believe is finally to obey,”^[xiii] peitho consequently passes over from confidence and trust to obedience.[xiv]  The idea obey is clearly present in the word group.[xv]  The people of God are those who believingly trust and consequently obey[xvi]—thus, the verb disbelieve or disobey[xvii] is never used of them, nor are its related noun[xviii] or adjective.[xix]  Saving faith is an entrusting of oneself to Christ which results in obedience.

This post is part of the complete study here.

-TDR

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[i] pei÷qw, Matthew 27:20, 43; 28:14; Mark 10:24; Luke 11:22; 16:31; 18:9; 20:6; Acts 5:36–37, 40; 12:20; 13:43; 14:19; 17:4; 18:4; 19:8, 26; 21:14; 23:21; 26:26, 28; 27:11; 28:23–24; Romans 2:8, 19; 8:38; 14:14; 15:14; 2 Corinthians 1:9; 2:3; 5:11; 10:7; Galatians 1:10; 3:1; 5:7, 10; Philippians 1:6, 14, 25; 2:24; 3:3–4; 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Timothy 1:5, 12; Philemon 1:21; Hebrews 2:13; 6:9; 11:13; 13:17–18; James 3:3; 1 John 3:19 (the only use in the Johannine corpus;  John 3:36 is the only other use in the entire word group); pepoi÷qhsiß, 2 Corinthians 1:15; 3:4; 8:22; 10:2; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:4; peiqo/ß, 1 Corinthians 2:4; peismonh/, Galatians 5:8; peiqarce÷w, Acts 5:29, 32; 27:21; Titus 3:1; aÓpeiqh/ß, Luke 1:17; Acts 26:19; Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:16; 3:3; aÓpeiqe÷w, John 3:36; Acts 14:2; 17:5; 19:9; Romans 2:8; 10:21; 11:30–31; 15:31; Hebrews 3:18; 11:31; 1 Peter 2:7–8; 3:1, 20; 4:17; aÓpei÷qeia, Romans 11:30, 32; Ephesians 2:2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6; Hebrews 4:6, 11.

[ii] “pei÷qw . . . [is] allied with pistis, fides, foedus, etc.” (Thayer, Greek Lexicon, on pei÷qw).  “Constructs in pist- derive from the dep. pei÷qomai” (pg. 175, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, vol. 6, Kittel).  Note the parallelism between pei÷qw and pisteu/w in John 3:36 (oJ pisteu/wn . . . oJ de« aÓpeiqw◊n).

[iii] Louw-Nida 31.46, 31.82.  The breakdown in BDAG is very helpful.

[iv] Acts 17:4 (aorist passive); 28:24 (imperfect passive); cf. Luke 16:31; Acts 18:4; 19:8, 26; 26:28; 28:23; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Galatians 1:10.  Paul persuaded men to turn from their sins and entrust themselves to Christ, and then continue in the grace of God (Acts 13:43).

[v] E. g., riches, Mark 10:24, themselves, 2 Corinthians 1:9, their own righteousness, Luke 18:9, or the flesh and religious ceremonies Philippians 3:3-4.

[vi] 2 Corinthians 1:9; Philippians 2:24; 3:3-4; Hebrews 2:13 (Christ as the Son of Man, identified and in union with his human brethren, perfectly trusted in God, as do they, Psalm 18:2, albeit imperfectly;  also Matthew 27:43 & Psalm 22:8); 13:8.  See also Luke 11:22.

[vii] peiqo/ß, “pertaining to being able to persuade or convince—‘persuasive, convincing.’” (Louw-Nida).

[viii] peismonh/, “the means by which someone is caused to believe—‘that which persuades, the means of convincing’ . . . [or] the actual process of persuasion” (Louw-Nida), that is, “peismonh/ . . . like the English ‘persuasion,’ may be either active or passive; ‘the act of persuading’ . . . or ‘the state of one persuaded’” (St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians, J. B. Lightfoot on Galatians 5:8).

[ix] pepoi÷qhsiß, “1. a state of certainty about something to the extent of placing reliance on, trust, confidence.” (BDAG).

[x] 2 Timothy 1:12, oi•da ga»r wˆ— pepi÷steuka, kai« pe÷peismai o¢ti dunato/ß e˙sti th\n paraqh/khn mou fula¿xai ei˙ß e˙kei÷nhn th\n hJme÷ran.  Paul had entrusted himself to the Lord Jesus, at which moment he came to be persuaded that Christ was able to keep him from spiritual destruction, and his entrusting and persuasion continued to the time of his statement.

[xi] Hebrews 11:13, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” Kata» pi÷stin aÓpe÷qanon ou∞toi pa¿nteß, mh\ labo/nteß ta»ß e˙paggeli÷aß, aÓlla» po/rrwqen aujta»ß i˙do/nteß, kai« peisqe÷nteß, kai« aÓspasa¿menoi, kai« oJmologh/santeß o¢ti xe÷noi kai« parepi÷dhmoi÷ ei˙sin e˙pi« thvß ghvß.  Their faith included knowledge of the promises (“having seem them afar off,”), persuasion, and a trusting embrace of the promises, which resulted in confession.

[xii] The ideas of persuasion and confident assurance are found in the New Testament in many texts where the specific act of justifying faith is not under consideration.  For persuasion, consider Matthew 27:20; 28:14; Luke 20:6; Acts 5:40 (aorist passive is rendered “agreed”); 12:20 (the chamberlain persuaded, convinced, won over, cf. 2 Maccabees 4:45, h¡dh de« leleimme÷noß oJ Mene÷laoß e˙phggei÷lato crh/mata i˚kana» tw◊ˆ Ptolemai÷wˆ Dorume÷nouß pro\ß to\ pei√sai to\n basile÷a, “But Menelaus, being now convicted, promised Ptolemee the son of Dorymenes to give him much money, if he would pacify the king toward him.”); 14:19; 21:14; 23:21 (being persuaded results in yielding); 26:26; 27:11 (“believed”); Romans 8:38; 14:14; 15:14; 2 Timothy 1:5; Hebrews 6:9; 1 John 3:19.  For confident assurance and trust, consider Romans 2:19; 8:38; 15:14; 2 Corinthians 2:3; 10:7; Galatians 5:10; Philippians 1:6, 14, 25, 2 Thessalonians 3:4; 2 Timothy 1:5; Philemon 21; 1 John 3:19.

It is one thing—and a truth—to say that saving faith is inherently assured of the sufficiency of Christ and the truth of the Divine promises in the Gospel.  It is another—and a falsehood—to say that saving faith involves within it the assurance that one is personally converted.  Assurance in this latter sense belongs to the well-being, not the essence, of Christian faith.

^[xiii] πείθω, πείθομαι, πειθός, πεισμονή, πεποίθησις, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, vol. 3, Spicq & Earnest, pg. 67.

[xiv] Acts 5:36-37; Romans 2:8 (note the pei÷qw/aÓpeiqe÷w contrast in the me÷n/de÷ clause); Galatians 3:1; 5:7; Hebrews 13:16; James 3:3.

[xv] As evidenced, e. g., in the uses of peiqarce÷w, Acts 5:29, 32; 27:21; Titus 3:1.  The “verb is ordinarily translated ‘obey,’ . . . [with] the peculiar nuance of . . . voluntary consent” (Theological Lexicon, Spicq).

[xvi] In none of its 55 uses in the New Testament are the people of God ever said to be people devoid of pei÷qw. Galatians 3:1 & 5:7 would be the only texts that might appear to indicate otherwise.  However, in these verses false teachers were seeking to lead the Galatians to apostatize from the gospel, but in both verses “that ye should not obey the truth” (thØv aÓlhqei÷aˆ mh\ pei÷qesqai) is a purpose clause, specifying, respectively, the purpose the false teachers had in their bewitching (3:1) and the purpose of the false teachers in their hindering the Galatians’ running well (5:7).  While many of the regenerate members of the church at Galatia had been influenced by these false teachers, so that, no doubt, their understanding and obedience were being shaken, neither in Galatians 3:1 nor 5:7 does Paul make the affirmation that they had actually become people who were rejectors of the truth or people who had now apostatized and become people of unbelief and disobedience.  He simply states the purpose of the false teachers with the infinitive pei÷qesqai.

[xvii]  aÓpeiqe÷w is used for those who disbelieve in or disobey the Son instead of believing (pisteu/w) in Him and not being condemned (John 3:36), for unbelieving and disobedient Jews (Acts 14:2; 17:5), for hardened people who do not believe or obey the gospel (Acts 19:9), for the unregenerate who disobey and disbelieve the truth (Romans 2:8), as unconverted Israel disbelieves and disobeys (Romans 10:21; 15:31) and the Gentiles disbelieved and disobeyed before their conversion, but did not do so after their salvation (Romans 11:30-31), and for those who disbelieve and disobey so that they do not enter into spiritual rest but eternally perish (Hebrews 3:18; 11:31).  Christ is precious to those who believe (pisteu/w), but to the disbelieving and disobedient He is a stone of stumbling (1 Peter 2:7-8; cf. John 3:36).  A non-Christian husband is disobedient and disbelieving in the Word (1 Peter 3:1), as the ungodly in Noah’s day who died in the flood were disbelieving and disobedient (1 Peter 3:20).  A terrible end will come upon the disbelieving and disobedient (1 Peter 4:17)—the lake of fire.

[xviii] aÓpei÷qeia;  The lost are in unbelief or disobedience (Romans 11:30, 32), for they are the sons of disobedience and unbelief (Ephesians 2:2; 5:6; Colossians 3:6), and they will fall because of their unbelief and disobedience (Hebrews 4:6, 11).

[xix] aÓpeiqh/ß;  The unsaved are the disobedient (Luke 1:17), disobeying both God (Titus 1:16; 3:3) and their parents (Romans 1:30; 2 Timothy 3:2).  Paul, in contrast, was not disobedient (Acts 26:19).

What Can We Conclude from How Big Churches Get or How Small They Are?

This week I was reading the tale of a pastor in which he compared his time of pastoring a small congregation with little to no numerical growth to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.  The idea was that God was putting him to death, crucifying him, through this experience of staying small despite his sincerity, intentions, and work.  Implicit was that God held back growth for the purpose of accomplishing the crucifixion of his life.  If his church had grown through the various strategies and innovations that he's tried through the five years, he would have missed out on the suffering that is pastoring a small church.  This death included the financial difficulties that would threaten him with secular work, while pastoring, what some call being bi-vocational.  He is crucified by the crushing disappointment of a small gathering of people.  He took all the books by church growth gurus and tried to implement them, and when they didn't work like they were supposed to, this was personally hurtful to him.

Many men quit their pastorates over small congregation size and slow to non-existent growth.  If they don't quit, they function with frustration that often leads to anger and depression.  Much to most of these bitter consequences could be avoided with a change in thinking, to believe different about evangelism, discipleship, church growth, and success.  Most negative emotions arise from unmet expectations, which produce different kinds of discontentment.  Discontentment is another word for covetousness.  Men covet something God doesn't promise and it slowly destroys them.  It comes from a disordered love -- instead of loving God, loving popularity, position, power, prominence, that is, self.

The Bible reveals what to expect from ministry and explains church growth and its relation to us.  On the other hand, wrong viewpoints with this regard have infiltrated, then grown, and finally haunted churches for awhile, even as manifested by the story of the above pastor.

Over the years, I've heard people say that a church might not grow because the pastor isn't ready to lead a large congregation.   Fathom the thought of God punishing a pastor by not saving people where he lives.  The people not getting saved, who will go to hell, are getting the worst end of the stick in that deal.  It's an interesting idea that is nowhere in the Bible.  It's mere speculation.  Is it true that the big churches are those God can entrust to the man who leads them, and the small ones are some kind of punishment or chastisement or path to maturity to men who aren't ready? That's not what scripture says.

Someone asked the exact question that we're talking about with this post in Luke 13:23.  In the next verse, we read Jesus' answer:  "Strive to enter in at the strait gate."   People are not striving to get in.  Men are not seeking the Lord while He may be found.  That answer fits with the parable of the soils. Hard hearts, superficial hearts, and worldly hearts will not receive the saving message in a saving fashion.  And that answer fits with what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 3:7:  "Neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase."  The ones planting and watering are nothing.  You are irrelevant to the results -- you just sow and water.   So if you sow and water, and you don't have someone striving to get in, if you don't have someone wanting to find it (Mt 7:14), then it's not going to happen.  If you faithfully sow good seed (the seed is not one of the differentiating factors in the parable of soils), you might not see any growth.  Jesus Himself was not welcome by entire villages or towns.

Zero actual church growth or real conversions occur because of natural charisma, good looks, business savvy, and dynamic or magnetic personalities.  None.   The one sowing and the one watering are nothing.  Paul said it had nothing to do with those natural circumstances in 1 Corinthians 1-2.   My church is not smaller than someone else's because of some innate ability that another guy has that I don't have.  I could be a more interesting speaker and a better leader, but those are not the factors for a church being small.  We've got to get over that.

I recognize that the bigger churches and those who pastor them get the most attention.  People want to know "how they did it."  They want to find out the key or keys.  They want to study them.  Rick Warren says that is what he did.  He got the formula for what he did from studying other mega-churches.  Many churches that exploded with numbers were led by men who studied under Jack Hyles and the Hyles church manual.  People buy the church growth books written by men with big churches.  They do not seek the books on church growth written by men whose churches haven't gotten big.  Despite all of that, the Bible tells us everything we need to know to get as big as we're ever going to get.

Are there are any factors that we can control that could change the size of our church?  I don't expect any Calvinist or reformed guy to say "yes" to that.  He shouldn't.  God has predetermined that.  I believe there are factors that "could."  I said "could."  Even if you have every one of your most favorable factors working on all cylinders, it still doesn't guarantee anything.  If you go to a town where zero people are seeking, and they are all hard, thorny, or stony soil, you can try everything and there won't be any growth.  That's why Jesus said you do in fact dust your feet on entire towns.

There are two factors that could change the size of your church.  One, your church boldly evangelizes more people.  The gospel is the power of God unto salvation, so the more people that hear it, the greater possibility of people being saved.  In the techniques of modern church growth advocates, bold preaching is a turn-off, and many of their churches got bigger by not evangelizing boldly, but exercising a timid, mitigated strategy.   I know our church gets to more people with the gospel than any other in our area, and yet our church is smaller than several.   Some would interpret that as meaning bold evangelism doesn't work as well as other means of church growth.

The second factor is obedience to God.  When a church obeys all of the Bible in a consistent way, that could affect the size of the church.  As many people as would receive Christ would be discipled. The congregation would hear a lot of scriptural teaching.  The church would be pastored.  Purity would be maintained.  All of these strengthen the Christians to do greater ministry for the Lord.  Disobedience hurts true church growth.  Obedience helps it.  As much as I believe that, the bigger churches will be more disobedient to God than many smaller churches.  You can't relate size of a church to obedience.  We just know by faith that obedience is more helpful than hurtful to all good results for a church.

I understand a pastor wanting his church to grow.  If you evangelize your entire community and keep trying to talk to every person, you are giving your church the best opportunity to grow.  That doesn't mean that it will, because the one variable is the condition of the hearts of those you preach to.  You can't control that.  You can't change it.  God has to change that.  If you go to a town and preach to everyone and end with a small church, then that is your church.  We should rejoice in the task of pastoring that church, if we have it.  If we don't, that's not our fault either.

All things being equal means all things being biblical and God's Word being practiced to the same extent.  So, all things being equal, a church will be bigger because of the condition of the hearts of the hearers.  Period.   It's sad today that people think the key is man's ability.  That only gives glory to man.  And that is in fact what the discouraged pastor himself said, that is, that church growth comes because of natural ability.  It's not true.

For instance, some will say, "If you start a bus ministry, that's the key to church growth."  Or, "what kind of music you use will most greatly affect the size of a church."  Or, "being conservative doctrinally and liberal culturally will cause your church to get bigger."  None of those are true with relations to biblical or actual church growth.   You might argue that they do.  I don't believe it.  Why?  It's not what God says about it in His Word, and I just believe Him.  If you will walk by faith, and please God, you've got to trust what He said.

Even if a church has more people, it doesn't mean that church is even bigger.  They might have a high percentage of unbelievers in their congregation.   They might have less saved people in their church than you do.  Just because a church uses a particular method, and then gets bigger, does it mean that church is bigger because of that method?  No.  It might be bigger through compromise or some humanistic technique or strategy that doesn't and will not glorify God.  We just can't judge some things.  We can't always answer why.  We've got to be satisfied with what God said and how He taught us to do it.  That is living by faith, which pleases God.

I'm not saying that men even with the right philosophy of pastoring won't get discouraged or disappointed with how big their churches are.  However, if they do, it's not based upon anything other than the kind of selfish desire that Baruch had in Jeremiah 45:5, to which God said:  "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not."  Our disappointments come because we are seeking great things for ourselves.  God commanded, "Seek them not."

Graduation Address from our M.Div Recipient

We had an M.Div. graduate in our theology program, and here is David Warner's commencement address.

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First, I want to say that I count it an honor and privilege to serve the Lord with these two men, who have partaken in bringing me to this point.  I enjoy their fellowship in the ministry of Jesus Christ.  They have taught and exemplified to me to know the content of the Scriptures and to be strong in it.  I appreciate their endorsement of God’s Word and the practice thereof.

The Master of Divinity trains a person to be more efficient in the ministry of the Lord, providing a framework of knowledge and resourcefulness to find the answers to the most neglected questions, but yet the most needed ones.  The divinity from our church is not about mere religion and catechisms, but examination and carefulness of Scriptural and historical doctrine with the intent of distribution to others for their benefit and God’s greater glory.  It concerns the application of theology to live illustrations.  It concerns deeper consideration of one’s beliefs from Scripture, requiring him to live out the life of God’s ministry.  Its benefit to me is beyond compare.  But why did I choose this master?  What makes it so great?  What would drive me to learn and master this level of true doctrine?

Even though I know that this divinity will take me no where higher and no where nobler in this world that values the interests of mortal man more than the interests of the eternal God, will bring me no earthly eloquence, elegance, and extravagance, and will allot me no handsome career according to man’s commendation, this I know, it will leave me able to perform a career that cannot be measured by the values of earth—the career of the Lord Jesus Christ, who taught the truth of the Scriptures, brought the gospel of the Kingdom everywhere He went, fought the errors of man-made religion, and sought to rescue wearied ones from the oppression of sin and devilish religion.  The career of Christ is a much higher and nobler work, issued by heaven’s throne, and not by man’s own will, esteemed by the One who sits upon that throne, and most hated by the greatest enemy the world will ever know.  

If any man were to think less of this master, I want him to remember that a medical doctor can save only a human body, but the career of Christ can save a human soul forever; a lawyer can change a criminal to only a prisoner, but the truth can change a criminal to a Christian; a firefighter can save a man from only a house of fire, but the truth can save a man from the fires of hell; an astronomer knows only the stars of the universe, but I know what’s beyond the universe; an archaeologist knows only the artifacts of the past, but I know the Architect of the past; and a soldier knows how to fight only a war, but I know how to fight the war that will end all wars.  This is the career I am trained to do, to give man the answers he doesn’t want to hear, but the only answers that will allow him to see reality and the better meaning of his existence to God.

It is time to quit chasing dreams that die and start chasing reality that remains reality.  It is time to cancel slumber parties, and to work the service of the Lord until the day dawns upon us.  It is time to leave behind the fading glories of day and night and to learn the eternal glorious light of a new heaven and a new earth.  Instead of being a resident in this Sleepy Hollow of death, why not be an ambassador passing through and onward to the New Jerusalem?  Instead of taking my fill on a midnight snack, why not work up my appetite for the marriage feast of the Lamb of God?  The ministry of Christ’s work deserves a flood of life, not drizzles of time; a hurricane, not a small breeze of wind; an earthquake of mass destruction, not little tremors on the Richter scale; a tsunami, not small ripples of a quiet lake; a burning forest, not a little camp fire at night; a wild tempest, not just another day of overcast.

If I had any goal, any ambition in life, it would be the career of Christ.  I don’t expect to be some great name on earth, but I do expect to be a basic carrier of the truth.  I don’t expect amazing miracles and experiences to occur, besides the conversion of souls to Christ, but I do expect a biblical Christianity.  I don’t expect breath-taking effects or paramount results, but I do expect a bold certainty and blazing continuance in the ministry.  I may not be the Shakespeare of writing, or the General MacArthur of war, or the Bill Gates of Microsoft; but I will always be me, a trained worker in the career of Christ, another graduate from the “school of the prophets,” another fisher of the souls of men among fishermen.  I know, according to Scripture, that being me is all God needs to accomplish His work; and if I at any moment in life appear to be great, observe it as the glorious career of Christ, that shines into the dark, confounds the wise, and wins the victory.

“The just shall live by faith”— A Study of the Relationship of Faith to Salvation in its Justifying, Sanctifying, and Glorifying Fulness, part 13

The Apostle Paul also taught that a believer’s continuing faith played a role in his sanctification, both as an instrument to enable specific ministry and as a conduit for receipt of Divine grace and transformation in general.  As in the Old Testament king David, despite trial and affliction (Psalm 116:1-9), spoke for the Lord because he believed (Psalm 116:10), so Paul and other preachers speak and preach the truth and endure persecution (2 Corinthians 4:8-12) because of their continuing faith in Christ (2 Corinthians 4:13) arising out of their conversion.  That is, Christian ministry, specifically bold preaching of the gospel in the face of tremendous hostility and opposition, arises out of the continuing faith and confidence of the believer in the risen Christ, his Redeemer (2 Corinthians 4:14).  Paul also taught that God fills believers with all joy and peace as they believe and by means of their faith (Romans 15:13); faith is the human response through which God makes the believer holy, filling him with the holy attributes of hope, peace, and joy.  The Apostle Paul taught that faith was the necessary foundation for boldness and perseverance in gospel ministry and the means through which God transforms believers into His image.  Thus, as the verb believe illuminates the believer’s greater entrustment of himself to Christ in progressive sanctification, so the noun faith illuminates the role of faith in the spiritual life of the regenerate.[i]  Faith prompts the believer to perform specific spiritual ministries, such as speaking for Christ (2 Corinthians 4:13), for power from the Holy Spirit arises out of the “hearing of faith.”[ii]  Faith prompts generous sharing of physical goods with other believers (Philemon 5-7).  Saving faith will always result in good works (James 2).[iii]  Furthermore, faith is indeed essential for spiritual life and growth, because whatever does not proceed out of, whatever is not sourced in faith is sin (Romans 14:23).[iv]  A strong faith will trust in God and His promises despite human impossibilities, while a weak faith will stagger in such situations (Romans 4:19-20).[v]  The degree of weakness or strength of faith leads the believer to its respective degree of proneness to wander and susceptability to fall or to stedfastness and faithfulness (Romans 14).  Patience is produced by faith that is successfully tried and tested.[vi]  It is not surprising, then, that by “taking[vii] the shield of faith” and the “breastplate of faith and love,” the Christian can “quench all the fiery darts of the wicked,” “stand,”[viii] and “resist . . . the devil . . . steadfast in the faith”[ix]—faith is key to resisting sin and Satan.  Indeed, God continually keeps, preserves, and guards His people through faith, and so brings them to ultimate salvation.[x]  Those with faith are the regenerate, and all such people definitively overcame the world at the moment of their conversion, are overcoming now, and will ultimately and finally overcome the world and enter the eternal kingdom.[xi]  Faith in both its initial bestowal and its increase in sanctification is not an autonomous product of man, but is initially created and subsequently strengthened by the supernatural efficacy of the Holy Spirit,[xii] although not the Spirit alone, but also the Father and the Son, and therefore, the entire Trinity, give believers both initial faith (2 Peter 1:1) and ever greater measures of faith, love, and other spiritual graces (Ephesians 6:23).  Through the efficacious working of God, the believer’s faith is established, strengthened, and confirmed, with the result that it abounds[xiii] and “groweth exceedingly.”[xiv]  God produces this increase of faith through the Scripture, for faith, while ultimately resting on God, proximately rests upon His revelation of Himself in the Word.  While God produces faith, believers are responsible to “add to their faith” virtue, knowledge, and other holy graces, which develop out of the root of faith;  believers are to diligently and industriously pursue the means to obtain what they desire God to bestow upon them,[xv] and in this manner their faith, knowledge, godliness, charity, and other holy graces will be in them all the more, increasing and abounding, with the result that they bear spiritual fruit.[xvi]  Sanctification takes place as one is “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine,” inspired words that both produce faith and sound doctrine and which describe and delimit what such faith and doctrine are.[xvii]  Believers are to “stand fast in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13), for Paul writes, “by faith ye stand” (2 Corinthians 1:24).  Indeed, believers “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7),[xviii] so the spiritual life of the Christian is a walk of faith, specifically, faith in the Son of God (Galatians 2:20),[xix] through whom believers are strengthened by the Spirit to employ their free, gracious, and confident access by faith to the Father.[xx]  Rather than Jewish ceremonial, faith that works by and is being energized by love is what matters (Galatians 5:6).[xxi]  The believer’s faith can grow in quantity, resulting in his proper exercise of his spiritual giftedness and in holy living (Romans 12:3-21), for the more faith the believer has, the more spiritual joy and other holy graces he has, and the greater progress he makes in holiness (Philippians 1:25).[xxii]  An increase of faith will result in an increase in good works, in the “work of faith.”[xxiii]  Indeed, while all believers already have Christ in them,[xxiv] the Father grants that believers, as they are spiritually strengthened, have Christ dwelling[xxv] in their hearts by faith in an ever greater way, and as His special presence in them increases, they are rooted and grounded in love for their brethren, experientially know the love of Christ, and are filled with ever greater degrees of the fulness of God.[xxvi]

This post is part of the complete study here.

-TDR

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[i] The first part of this paragraph examines uses of pi÷steuw, and the latter half uses of pi÷stiß;  similarity of content justifies bringing the two together.

[ii] Galatians 3:5, cf. 3:2.  Spiritual gifts, such as the first century sign gift of miracle working power mentioned in 3:5, are a product which developed out of the continuing hearing of faith (e˙x aÓkohvß pi÷stewß).  The Spirit Himself was received at the moment of conversion and regeneration by the hearing of faith, e˙x aÓkohvß pi÷stewß, 3:2, and His gifts are bestowed in the same manner, 3:5.

[iii] James 2; pi÷stiß appears in 2:1, 5, 14, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26.

[iv] pa◊n de« o§ oujk e˙k pi÷stewß, aJmarti÷a e˙sti÷n (Romans 14:23b). While the specific issue in context is faith in eating certain foods (Romans 14:22-23a), Christian life is a life e˙k pi÷stewß, for oJ di÷kaioß e˙k pi÷stewß zh/setai, Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.

[v] That the faith of the Christian life is an outflow of the initial entrustment to Christ of the people of God is evident in Romans 4:19-20’s placement within a context of many instances of pi÷stiß that refer to the moment of justification.

[vi] James 1:3; cf. 1 Peter 1:7.

[vii] The command of Ephesians 6:13, aÓnala¿bete th\n panopli÷an, is to take up the armor to use it in battle, here in spiritual battle. 

[viii] Ephesians 6:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:8.  The shield of faith can by no means be neglected; “above all,” e˙pi« pa◊sin, (cf. Colossians 3:14; Luke 3:20; not the tiny minority text reading e˙n pa◊sin), “taking the shield of faith.”

[ix] 1 Peter 5:8-9. oJ . . . dia¿boloß . . . wˆ— aÓnti÷sthte stereoi« thØv pi÷stei.

[x] God has a certain inheritance reserved in heaven (klhronomi÷an . . . tethrhme÷nhn e˙n oujranoi√ß) for those whom He keeps by His power through faith unto eschatological salvation, tou\ß e˙n duna¿mei Qeouv frouroume÷nouß dia» pi÷stewß ei˙ß swthri÷an e˚toi÷mhn aÓpokalufqhvnai e˙n kairwˆ◊ e˙sca¿twˆ, 1 Peter 1:5-6, so that they will certainly receive the end of their faith (to\ te÷loß thvß pi÷stewß), the salvation of their souls (1 Peter 1:9), even if God tries their precious faith (1 Peter 1:7). Sanctifying faith, which is the continuation of initial justifying faith, reaches its ultimate issue in glorification.

[xi] 1 John 5:4-5, o¢ti pa◊n to\ gegennhme÷non e˙k touv Qeouv nikaˆ◊ to\n ko/smon: kai« au¢th e˙sti«n hJ ni÷kh hJ nikh/sasa to\n ko/smon, hJ pi÷stiß hJmw◊n. ti÷ß e˙stin oJ nikw◊n to\n ko/smon, ei˙ mh\ oJ pisteu/wn o¢ti ∆Ihsouvß e˙sti«n oJ ui˚o\ß touv Qeouv;  Those who have been and consequently are born of God (to\ gegennhme÷non e˙k touv Qeouv) are having victories, are overcoming (nikaˆ◊) the world, because the root of that victory, through which the world was at its fundamental level overcome, hJ ni÷kh hJ nikh/sasa to\n ko/smon, (cf. 1 John 2:13; 4:4 with nika¿w in the perfect) took place at the moment of faith, pi÷stiß, and regeneration, through which they were brought into union with that Christ who has overcome (neni÷khka) the world (John 16:33), and gives them His Spirit to destroy their sinfulness and sinning, so that those who believe are those who are overcoming now (oJ nikw◊n to\n ko/smon . . . . e˙stin . . . oJ pisteu/wn), the root of faith in Jesus Christ continuing to powerfully produce results, so that these will ultimately, finally, and completely overcome the world.  Faith “is the victory” as a metonomy for the means through which victory was obtained;  because faith unites believers with Christ, faith is the means through which victory is achieved.

It is noteworthy that 1 John 5:4 is the only instance of the noun pi÷stiß in either John’s Gospel or his three Epistles, although he uses the word several times in Revelation.

[xii] That is, faith is a fruit of the Spirit, something that originates in Him, in contrast to the works of the flesh, which are indeed products originating with the fallen human person, rather than with God (Galatians 5:19-23).

[xiii] bebaiou/menoi e˙n thØv pi÷stei . . . perisseu/onteß e˙n aujthØv, Colossians 2:7.  Compare the other bebaio/w texts in the New Testament: Mark 16:20; Romans 15:8; 1 Corinthians 1:6, 8; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Colossians 2:7; Hebrews 2:3; 13:9.

[xiv] 2 Thessalonians 1:3, uJperauxa¿nei hJ pi÷stiß;  a continuing action, resulting in strength to endure persecutions and tribulations, 1:4, and set in contrast to a faith that is “lacking” or deficient (uJste÷rhma, 1 Thessalonians 3:10).

[xv] 2 Peter 1:5-7.  Believers are to add or supply (e˙picorhge÷w) such virtues to their faith, but God gives (corhge÷w, 1 Peter 4:11; cf. 2 Peter 1:1, 3) the faith in the first place.  Compare the e˙picorhge÷w/ corhge÷w in 2 Corinthians 9:10.  By adding or ministering additionally (e˙picorhge÷w) to their faith, an entrance into God’s eternal kingdom will be given or ministered additionally (e˙picorhge÷w) to them, 2 Peter 1:11.

[xvi] 2 Peter 1:8, “these things” (tauvta) the holy graces of the previous verses, can be in them and be increasing or abounding (uJpa¿rconta kai« pleona¿zonta), and they will make them (kaqi÷sthsin) not to be unfruitful (oujk aÓrgou\ß oujde« aÓka¿rpouß).

[xvii] In 1 Timothy 4:6, rather than giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, through his faithful warning ministry Timothy will “be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine,” kalo\ß e¶shØ dia¿konoß ∆Ihsouv Cristouv, e˙ntrefo/menoß toi√ß lo/goiß thvß pi÷stewß, kai« thvß kalhvß didaskali÷aß.  The articular thvß pi÷stewß is not limited to a body of teaching or truth rather than personally possessed and exercised faith because:  1.) Elsewhere in the pastoral epistles a distinction between articular and nonarticular pi÷stiß as, respectively, a body of truth and personally exercised faith, cannot be maintained;  see, e. g., 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:10.   2.) thvß pi÷stewß is in the second attributive position, and “[e]specially when the article is used to denote the second attributive position would we say that it has almost no semantic meaning” (pg. 239, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, Wallace).  3.) The personal exercise of faith is intimately associated with the body of doctrine in which faith is exercised.  4.) Being “nourished up” in the realm and by the instrumentality of “the words of faith” supports the idea that personal faith is in view.  5.) Other portions of Scripture indicate that faith is produced by the Word (Romans 10:17, cf. v. 8).  Compare also “faith in Him,” to\n lo/gon thvß ei˙ß aujto\n pi÷stewß, Dialogue with Trypho 40.

[xviii] Note that there is nothing in the context of 2 Corinthians 5:7 that suggests that only a subcategory of Christians who have discovered the secret of the Higher Life walk by faith, while the rest of God’s people do not do so, nor that believers enter into a walk of faith at some point subsequent to their conversion, from which they can fall by not walking by faith but then re-enter by starting to walk by faith again.  It is certain that the faith of believers can vary in its strength, and believers can certainly fail to exercise faith in specific situations, but nothing like the distinctive Higher Life theology is supported by 2 Corinthians 5:7 in its context.

[xix] e˙n pi÷stei zw◊ thØv touv ui˚ouv touv Qeouv is clearly an objective genitive construction.

[xx] Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; 3:12.  Access (prosagwgh/) was obtained at the moment of faith and regeneration, and continues always to be available to the believer (note the perfect tense e˙sch/kamen in Romans 5:2).

[xxi] e˙n ga»r Cristwˆ◊ ∆Ihsouv ou¡te peritomh/ ti i˙scu/ei, ou¡te aÓkrobusti÷a, aÓlla» pi÷stiß di∆ aÓga¿phß e˙nergoume÷nh.  Note the rather frequent association of faith and love: 1 Corinthians 13:2, 13; 2 Corinthians 8:7; Galatians 5:6, 22; Ephesians 1:15; 3:17; 6:23; Colossians1:4; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 3:6; 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 1 Timothy 1:5, 14; 2:15; 4:12; 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:13; 2:22; 3:10; Titus 2:2; Philemon 5; Revelation 2:19.

[xxii] In Philippians 1:25’s th\n uJmw◊n prokoph\n kai« cara»n thvß pi÷stewß, pi÷stewß and uJmw◊n modify both prokoph\n and cara»n; compare 1:20.  The connection between joy and faith is also affirmed in Romans 15:13.

[xxiii] 1 Thessalonians 1:3.  In the “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope” (touv e¶rgou thvß pi÷stewß, kai« touv ko/pou thvß aÓga¿phß, kai« thvß uJpomonhvß thvß e˙lpi÷doß) the genitives all produce what is signified by the head noun.  God works to fulfill in believers “the work of faith with power,” 2 Thessalonians 1:11; oJ Qeo\ß . . . plhrw¿shØ pa◊san eujdoki÷an aÓgaqwsu/nhß kai« e¶rgon pi÷stewß e˙n duna¿mei.

[xxiv] Colossians 1:27; 2 Corinthians 13:5.

[xxv] Ephesians 3:17, katoike÷w.  Paul teaches that all believers have the Holy Spirit (and consequently the undivided Trinity) dwelling (oi˙ke÷w, Romans 8:9, 11; cf. 1 Corinthians 3:16) in them, but Christ’s presence dwelling (katoike÷w) in them can increase, so that their personal possession of the Divine presence can grow towards that of Christ the Mediator, in whom dwells (katoike÷w) all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Colossians 1:19; 2:9), and who dispenses of that fulness to them (John 1:16).  (The truth here stated does not, and should not be employed to by any means deny the absoute uniqueness of the hypostatic union as properly confessed at Chalcedon, nor should any attempt being made to reduce the union of natures in the undivided Person of Christ to a mere Nestorianizing indwelling of God in the human Christ.)  Compare the greater strength of katoike÷w as compared with oi˙ke÷w in the LXX in Genesis 19:30; Jeremiah 31:28 (Eng. 48:28); Ezekiel 38:11; Judith 5:5; cf. also Justin Martyr’s Dialogue with Trypho 78; Theophilus to Autolycus 2:3, and Philo, Flaccus 55.

[xxvi] Ephesians 3:14-19.  A greater degree of the presence of the Son in the believer necessitates a greater presence of the Trinitarian God, for the Divine essence is undivided.