Introduction: An anonymous widow cried unto the prophet Elisha because her sons are going to be taken away and made bondmen as payment for a debt. If this occurs, then the widow’s prospects are grim. Equally grim is the state of affairs in the divided nation of Israel. King David died and so did King Solomon, but now wicked men rule the nation and now death is everywhere in the land. However, there is hope for the nation, a hope presented in the story of the widow who God delivers through the miraculous pouring of oil from one vessel into many vessels. And the hope is this – place your faith in YHWH who is the deliverer and Lord of life.

Context: The story of 1 & 2 Kings is a prophetic and political story of Israel’s rebellion against YHWH; a story of the transition from holiness/life to sin/death. When godly men rule the land justice is in the land; but when wicked men rule people cannot appeal to a king for justice, rather they have to appeal to the prophets of God, like the anonymous widow does.

The widow’s sons are going to be taken away as payment for a debt by her creditors, but this is not a just avenue. Although the Law did allow temporary servitude for defaulted charity loans to the impoverished (Leviticus 25), Israel was given instructions to care for widows and orphans (Exodus 22). The creditors have the ability to forgive the debt, to be merciful; but instead, they are wicked, like the priests and scribes that devoured homes of widows (Matthew 23:1-14).

Widow Cried Unto Elisha: So, the widows goes to Elisha, she cries out to the prophet of God for help.

Elisha’s Reply: What shall I do for thee? What do you have in your home? He wants to know if she has anything she could sell to pay off the debt. All she has a single vessel of oil, but even though oil is valuable it is not enough to pay off the debt. So, Elisha tells her to go collect empty vessels from her neighbors and to bring them back to her house, and to then, from the secrecy behind her closed door, to begin to pour oil into the empty vessels.

Widow’s Response: The widow obeys to the letter. She gathers pots and begins to pour, and she pours until all of the pots are full. She then returns to the prophet to notify him that she now has many vessels with oil. It is important to note that she does not presume upon the word of the prophet, she does not go out and sell the oil without his instructing her to do so.

Elisha’s Command: Go and sell the oil. You will pay off your debt and there will also be profits left over for you and your sons to live on. Notice that YHWH has not only delivered this widow, but he has also provided retribution in addition to the sons who have been figuratively returned to her, the sons who were going to be stolen from her by her wicked creditors

Application: We need to “wear our theology” – we need to “wear” the story of the widow who cried unto Elisha – have true faith like she did. In her time of need, in the midst of pain (her husband has died) and hardship (sons will be taken away as payment for a debt), she appeals to the prophet of God (ultimately to God!) for justice and deliverance. The widow had true faith, she obeyed the word of the Lord to the letter (she goes out and appears foolish, collecting empty vessels, and returns to her home and begins to pour).

We must have faith like this widow because the Gospel is true. Our circumstances are equally grim; because of sin our circumstances are grim. However, God has provided deliverance to us through the instrument of faith by the grace and atoning work of Jesus Christ. We must take God at his word, like the widow, and trust and obey. So, put on and exercise real faith, just like the anonymous widow who cried unto Elisha.

We know that God exists because of innate knowledge. But why? How is it that knowledge of God is innate? What makes that the case? To find the answer we must consider two things about our creaturehood.

1. How are we made? God “spoke” creation into existence ex nihilo, out of nothing. God spoke the scientific things we call “space” and “time” and “matter” into existence, and then like a potter does with a pot, he formed that stuff into things. God formed man out of the dirt of the earth and breathed life into him. This is how God created man.

2. What are we made of? Since God spoke the world into existence and created it out of nothing, that is, he merely spoke and it was so, this means that man is made out of God’s spoken word! This means that everything is made out of God’s spoken words, which are so powerful that the thing said becomes the thing. Divine speech is truly creative and powerful!

What are we made of? Raw material that God spoke into existence, out of nothing. And it is God’s voice that sustains us. As N D Wilson says, we are God’s spoken world. It would make sense then that knowledge of God is innate knowledge.

How should Christians “do” Apologetics? If we are going to craft some arguments for the existence, nature, and attributes of the Triune God, then where should we begin? To do so, we need not look any further than Paul’s opening chapter from Romans.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.

Man, therefore, knows that God exists. This presupposition is where Christians must start to “do” Apologetics.

An Evangelical-Apologetic, in order to be effective, must be Biblical. A Christian Apologist must start with Scripture (man knows God exists), and, from the outset, consider it a settled matter that, in regards to the men and women with whom he will be conversing, all non-believers have “vain imaginations” and “darkened foolish hearts”. Iniquity is wrapped up inside of them. Hence, if a Christian appeals to the ontological or empirical arguments as the primary defense for the existence of God, then he is merely wasting time. God is the base of epistemology (knowledge) because he is the source of all things (the Creator of Creation). This means that knowledge of God’s existence is innate knowledge.

True conversion occurs when men and women take their creaturehood seriously and admit “that which may be known of God is manifest in them.” When men and women take their creaturehood seriously they stop thirsting for “objective” truth or self-discovered truth, and they stop making their perceptions the measure of all things. They need to be humble before the Lord, whose very image they bear as creatures, and put on the mind of a servant and glorify God and be thankful! The aim of Apologetics is to convert non-believers, to tell ingrates to take their creaturehood seriously by “waking up and smelling the coffee”, by tasting and seeing and knowing that the Lord is good!

So, the take away message is this: never concede to an unbeliever that they do not know that God exists. They may begin to shout, they may begin to hop around, and you will begin to think they are doing a rain-dance, but don’t allow this to distract you or dull your wits. God says they do know that He exists! If they say they don’t know that God exits, then they are both an ingrate and a liar.

“The correct theological term for many who label themselves “liberal” or “left-wing” or “progressive” theologians is “heretics.” By definition, a heretic is one who dissents from an essential doctrine (from the Greek haireomai, “to pick out for oneself”). Since most heretics today no longer believe in the very idea of essential doctrines, they do not accept the label” (Peter Kreeft & Ronald Keith Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, 25).

“Western civilization is for the first time in its history in danger of dying. The reason is spiritual. It is losing its life, its soul; that soul was the Christian faith. The infection killing it is not multiculturalism—other faiths—but the monoculturalism of secularism—no faith, no soul. Our century has been marked by genocide, sexual chaos, and money-worship. Unless all the prophets are liars, we are doomed unless we repent and “turn back the clock” (not technologically but spiritually). The church of Christ will never die, but our civilization will. If the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, this world certainly won’t. We do apologetics not to save the church but to save the world” (Peter Kreeft & Ronald Keith Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics, 23-24).

Christ is all: Christian ministers must preach and live Christ (“Christ is the mainspring both of doctrinal and practical Christianity” (J. C. Ryle, Holiness, 309). Christ is all: Christian ministers must give hope and truth to the church by washing her in the Word. The timeless foundation for making Christ all is clinging to the voice of Christ echoing in the Scriptures; in order for the church to make Christ all, she must listen to the voice of her Beloved. Therefore, a Christian minister must never exchange the voice of his own clever ideas for the voice of Christ in the Scriptures!

Salvation is by grace. Salvation is ουκ εξ εργων, not of works. A Christian Minister’s job is to preach salvation by grace by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). Christian preaching is not of works. For a minister, preaching and theology must walk hand in hand; the content of the message (grace) should characterize the mode (preaching done by grace and not of works). Otherwise, a minister will never make Christ “all.”

“I might show how Christ ought to be all in a ministry. The great work which ordained men are intended to do, is to lift up Christ. We are to be like the pole on which the brazen serpent was hung. We are useful so long as we exalt the great object of faith, but useful no further. We are to be ambassadors to carry tidings to a rebellious world about the King’s Son, and if we teach men to think more about us and our office than about Him, we are not fit for our place. The Spirit will never honour that minister who does not testify of Christ—who does not make Christ “all.”

“I might show how language seems exhausted in the Bible, in describing Christ’s various offices. I might describe how figures seem endless which are employed in unfolding Christ’s fullness. The High Priest, the Mediator, the Redeemer, the Saviour, the Advocate, the Shepherd, the Physician, the Bridegroom, the head, the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Way, the Door, the Vine, the Rock, the Fountain, the Sun of Righteousness, the Forerunner, the Surety, the Captain, the Prince of Life, the Amen, the Almighty, the Author and Finisher of Faith, the Lamb Of God, the King of Saints, the Wonderful, The Mighty God, The Counselor, the Bishop of Souls—all, these, and many more, are names given to Christ in Scripture. Each is a fountain of instruction and comfort for everyone who is willing to drink of it. Each supplies matter for useful meditation” (J. C. Ryle, Holiness (James Clarke & Co., LTD., 1977), 321).

Wrapped up four position papers for ministerial training. And now I am ready for a week of Christmas respite. Hopefully I will read a good novel; hoping that novel will be Melville’s Moby Dick. So.

The first paper is on evangelization; I argue that evangelization is comprised of two tenets, missions and evangelism, and that these are distinct from one another because of differences in evangelistic intent and whether the evangelist shares/does not share native cultural spaces with the audience.

The second paper is on the doctrine of man; I believe it is important to have biblical doctrine of man nailed down in our minds (meaning, don’t have a clumsy anthropology). Why? Because the divine perfections are best displayed in man (leaned heavily upon John Calvin’s Institutes ).

The third paper is on the importance of and necessity for cultivating the Christian virtue of hope. Why? Because it is hope that engenders and sustains faith.

Lastly, I summarized and argued for the importance of the Reformed/Federal Theology distinction of the covenant of works/covenant of grace. I believe that our understanding of God’s covenant with man is of the utmost importance, since our view of the covenant of redemption/covenant of grace will determine our understanding of the Atonement and human salvation.

My wife and I watched Lars and the Real Girl this week. The movie is about human emotions, relationships; the take away message for the movie is (sacrificial) love. There were a couple lines of dialogue that were stellar, the best being:

Lars Lindstrom (main character): I was hoping winter was over.
Margo (Lars’ coworker): No, it’s just a thaw – winter isn’t over till Easter.