Not worth dying for
I haven’t had time to read the excerpt from Rob Bell’s book, “Sex God”, that’s in Christianity Today… I have a lot to read and that piece just was at the pit in terms of priority. That was the case until last night, when I was compelled to read what in the world Bell has said. Understand this, it is in typical emerging ooze fashion that Bell’s written theology causes many people to discuss his eye-brow raising ideas, and of course, igniting much controversy with those who don’t embrace such a version of emerging Christianity.
With that said, I must refute the premise of that entire article/book chapter: people are not worth dying for. This may be off topic and out of context from the chapter’s main point, but I must lovingly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to His saints.
Our theology of love, death, sacrifice and giving becomes awfully skewed when we think that we are worthy of Christ’s sufferings and sacrifice, when we consider ourselves worthy for somebody to risk their lives to save us from a falling/burning building, when we feel we deserve somebody to get something from somebody. Our understanding of God becomes twisted towards apostasy and heresy when we think we are worthy of the Lord submitting to the Father’s wrath in our place.
We don’t deserve God crushing His one and only begotten son, our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not deserve to have our sins to taken off our shoulders and onto Jesus. We are completely and utterly unworthy of God’s atoning sacrifice (or anybody else’s for that matter). Whenever somebody comes along and tells you that you are worth dying for, run and hide and shut your ears from hearing the man-centered gospel of human merit.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
I have nothing personal against Rob Bell, but here, I am personally offended by his comments that I am worthy of God (or you) dying for me. Because I am not worthy; I have no value that would make such an investment profitable. Mark Driscoll at the 2006 DG National Conference mentioned this skewed analogy that he heard on Christian radio… a radio evangelist saying that the Gospel is like investment banking: God investing in us, taking a risk, in hopes of having a great Return on Investment in the end.
However, when we carefully consider the logic of this analogy, we’ll find that it is incorrect and severely flawed–because we are the worst investment that God could ever make (if he were to make such an investment), for there will not be any ROI from us. We are sinners who will more than likely continue to sin, without any shadow of a doubt. A sacrifice is a sacrifice because you would never, ever get anything in return–a giving without receiving. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) The essence of agape is sacrificicial giving, for the receiver is indeed radically unworthy of the gift of love.
We will never be made right with God, righteous in His eyes, by our own trying to be godly. For by ourselves and apart from the Spirit, we are ungodly and unrighteous. We cannot be justified by striving to become a worthy person; we can only be justified by faith in Christ’s atoning blood.
“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?”
1 Corinthians 4:6-7
That’s the truth, and that’s the Gospel–the good news of Jesus Christ. We have NOTHING that we did not receive, and we should not be boasting as if we earned it by our own efforts. Everything that we do have is by grace; all things in life that we possess, including life itself, is an unmerited gift from God given freely to us. What more is that in our hearts there are sinful tendencies, desires, and dispositions with which we are all born into (”original sin”), and consequently, morally ruined characters which we inherited. Like fools who say there is no God, we are–in and of ourselves–corrupt and abominable in our deeds. Just as the Psalmist said, “there is none who does good“ ( Psalm 14:1).
When we zoom out and take a long, hard at our lives, that is the very the doctrine of sin that is directly connected with the doctrine of salvation and sactification. For Adam’s sins are credited to us and thus we are deserving of the same punishment that was due for his sins; we are guilty of his rebellion as well. Without us sinning ourselves, this “imputed sin” still ruins of our standing before God. Together with original sin, it places us under the holy and righteous judgment of God: sinners in the hands of an angry God–not worthy to be loved, but worthy of His furious wrath, eternal separation from God and everlasting torment in a lake of fire.
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
Romans 5:12-14
But praise be to God for being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which HE loved us. Even when we were dead in our trespasses, deserving of nothing but everlasting death, He made us alive together with Christ, and thus by grace we have been saved. In our unworthiness, He gave us what we did not deserve (=grace) and withheld that which we did (=mercy), hence imputing to us the hope of glory–an assurance that one day, we will stand before the Judge of all and have Him smile at us as His holy and faithful ones.
I suppose this is why I strive to preach the Gospel to myself everyday, because I know I am totally unworthy of His loving kindness and forbearance. When friends come to me with their sorrows and sadness seeking spiritual guidance from me, the only thing I know how to do is to retell the Gospel story. I pray for them, and tell them that even with their inherent value as the image of God, inherent also is our sinful nature and thus the subsequent need for redemption in Christ by faith in His grace. That is all I know. I often think I know my life is from Divine accomplishment and not human achievement… but honestly, if I truly embraced Sovereign grace then Satan wouldn’t be able to drag me down in self-pity.
And so, it is the only thing I can do to keep me afloat every day–to count myself as dead to sin and alive to Christ. Because more than often, Satan’s schemes causes me to forget.
“YOU are WORTHY to be praised, forever and a day!“
Greetings Alex,
Did you see my article about Symphony of Scripture:
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2007/03/symphony_of_scr.html
It’s a joint venture with some guys in Australia exactly your age. Maybe you could contribute there once and a while. Just link your articles over there as well as here. Something to pray about as these guys see through the postmodern smokescreen also.
Just a quick warning you might take some incoming rounds for this:
http://christianresearchnetwork.com/?p=1138
Your welcome my young brother - ha!
Still, let us ride to the sound of the enemy’s guns!
I think this is one of the great paradoxes of the atonement. Sinful man is not worth dying for. The fact that Christ had to die for us shows just how worthless we are in our sin. If salvation could come any other way, then Christ died in vain. He died, because there was no other way.
At the same time, the image of God in man is what God loves. And that makes man worth dying for … not because of what man is because of sin, but because of what he is by creation.
So I think there are two sides to this that are worthy of consideration. On the one hand, we are very bad … worthless and hopeless. On the other hand, we are greatly loved because of the image of God in us.
Thanks for the reminder, Larry. I was thinking the very same thing last night when I was thinking through what I was planning to say.
It is indeed a paradox, but one that we must understand with a full-orbed biblical theology. In the beginning when God first made all things in Christ, including Adam and Eve, and it was indeed good (Gen 1). But such goodness was once for all time tainted by the rebellion of our first parents. We acknowledge the LORD’s anguish when He said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” (Gen 6)
But THANK GOD for the words of Paul in Romans 5 v18 onward:
Thus, any worthiness to be loved that we have in us, any beauty, any good, any chance at glory–it is Christ Himself–He is the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages past, that is, Christ IN us, our only hope of justification, sanctification and glorification!
“On the other hand, we are greatly loved because of the image of God in us.”
Politely, the elect are but they can only come to Christ if God draws them and they still aren’t worthy. God loves those He deems as the elect because He sees us IN Christ.
Now, we don’t know who these are and must love all men as ourselves, but even that we can’t do on our own as we only love because God first loved us.
I taught on Romans 5 here:
http://www.apprising.org/archives/2006/11/the_fear_of_god_1.html
Alex, though I agree with some of what you say, you are using Rob Bell as a stepping stool to make an argument/express a sentiment that you could have made on your own. You don’t need to try and manufacture a faux-outrage to justify yourself. One of your opening statements says it all: “This MAY BE OFF TOPIC and OUT OF CONTEXT from the chapter’s main point, but I must lovingly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to His saints.” If what you are saying is off the topic and out of the context that Bell intended in the chapter of his book, then what you have just done is generate a false basis for your disagreement. If Bell didn’t present a particular argument, BUT you want to make a rebuttal argument based on pretending as though he did make an argument (which he didn’t), then your argument is simply taking something out of context to create a false sense of outrage for the sake of giving yourself something to take issue with. Perhaps you have been reading too much of the ill-conceived, poorly-reasoned, context-twisting, proof-texting argumentation used by the likes of the “President” of Apprising Ministries.
And speaking of Apprising Ministries, each time I read thoughts from Ken (such as what he expressed above), I become more and more convinced that either he is a poor representative of the Calvinist position, or the Calvinist position in and of itself is a poor position to take. Sorry, but look at how his idea renders out when spelled out completely: ONLY the Elect are greatly loved by God because of the image of God in them…and the Elect by definition are ONLY those who can come to Christ if God draws them…and God ONLY loves and draws those in whom He sees Christ His son…which makes them the Elect. It is a hoop of theological circular reasoning that ignores verses like 2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” I know that the debate between the Calvinist and Arminian camps can be one of nuanced argumentation…so luckily the TULIP crowd isn’t depending on Ken to carry the standard (or are they).
Alex,
Congrats on being accepted to SBTS! And with Scott’s arrival, unfortunately welcome to the internet wars of ad hominem and arrogance. Now you are being instructed how to write your own post. You did well in using a contemporary example of twisted Arminianism in Rob Bell for your illustration. This foolish idea of man’s inherent worth plays well to the flesh and has all but crippled the American Christian Church.
The Lord knows who are His. And as Dr. John MacArthur has pointed out the doctrine of election begins in the Old Testament. “Israel, Mine elect.” God chose them, they didn’t choose Him. Christ chose His disciples, they didn’t choose Him. And God chose us, we didn’t choose Him. Those who have been given eyes to see and ears to hear…know…
So Ken, let’s be clear here on what you believe: You do not believe that the image of God has inherent worth. Is that correct?
To say that God only loves the elect really doesn’t square with Scripture. I am a five-point Calvinist who recognizes that Scripture simply does not say that. It is true that God loves the elect in a way different than the non-elect, but it is not true that he does not the non-elect.
The Bible teaches that God both hates the sinner and loves the sinner. So those committed to the Bible affirm both. Those who do not affirm both show that they are not really committed to the Bible.
Thanks Larry,
I’m not going to argue so I’ll just say I’m committed to the Bible so I have no problem with what you say here. I pray this helps because I was not criticizing your view but simply counter-balancing what the Church in general teaches today. In what I am willing to concede is a well-meaning attempt to “win” people to Christ they all too often over-emphasize God’s love for mankind.
Please know I don’t think you were, I am just trying to help others see that Rob Bell’s type of twisited Arminianism (it’s not classis Arminsianism) loves man more than God. So again there would be no need for me to argue with you. Right now mankind is going to increasing experience God’s judgments and I am only trying to help prepare them that men like Bell only make things worse.
Food for thought, from The Council of Orange (529 AD):
Scott, the basis for my argument is that Bell himself didn’t have any good basis for stating and affirming again and again that “people are worth dying for.” His unprofessional writting style (completely unacceptable in academia) and lack of perspecuity in his arguments (again, unacceptable in academia) makes it hard for any biblical Christians to figure out what he is really talking about.
It is in typical, emerging narrative form that Bell presents his arguments, and thus, considering it is the very title of the chapter (?) excerpted in CT, the exegesis of Eph 5 nowhwere appears to support the titled argument. His quotation of John 15:13 near the end of the first section of the excerpt in the context foreshadows to the Christ’s own sacrifice–His penal substitutionary atonement for undeserving sinners whom He has chosen to save: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide… v.16 (=Sovereign election that Pastor Ken is referring to.)
In short, I just found no biblical ground in the CT excerpt to support his proclamation that “people are worth dying for.” Indeed if hypothetically ALL people are worthy, then why are there people who damned to eternal punishment?!
…if I truly embraced Sovereign grace then Satan wouldn’t be able to drag me down in self-pity
Amen! God be praised for your willingness to preach the gospel in EVERY situation. that is what people need! Whether they think it is what they need or not.
Great post.