This is from packer's great little book
Affirming the Apostles' Creed.
In the intro he writes:
Created and animated by the Holy Spirit,
the church is the community of believers living through God
and to God, the Father and the Son, in a sustained pattern
of worship, work, and witness. (This is why the church is
called “holy,” which means set apart for God.) It is the worldwide
people of God and body of Christ, in whose faith and
fellowship social, racial, gender, age, educational, professional,
and political distinctions cease to count; all are “one
in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). (This is why the church is
called “catholic,” which means comprehensive, or inclusive,
in both extent and quality.) Knowing and uniting with the
Lord Jesus Christ according to the gospel is the dynamic basis
of the church’s inner unity and togetherness.
(to see more from Packer, go to bottom of this post)
So, here's the line of thought:
1.) To say "i believe in the holy catholic church" is confusing to some (many?) in the congregation of CCC because it may mean that we are giving a shout-out only to the ROMAN catholic church.
2.) The word catholic, when the creed started, meant something far different to the average Joe than it does today.
Insert dangerous illustration here:
Imagine the creed were written back when "gay" tended to mean "happy or joyful". And the writers said, "We believe in the gay church."
That would connote something very different to the average person in 2010.
I'm only saying something about the way words can change in their common usage. Nothing more.
So, we'll say, "I believe in the worldwide church." At least on Sunday. And hope to experience together the joy of being a part of God's worldwide mission.
More from Packer:
�IIt is by strict theological logic that the Creed confesses faith
in the Holy Spirit before proceeding to the church and that
it speaks of the church before mentioning personal salvation
(forgiveness, resurrection, everlasting life). For though Father
and Son have loved the church and the Son has redeemed it,
it is the Holy Spirit who actually creates it, by inducing faith;
and it is in the church, through its ministry and fellowship,
that personal salvation ordinarily comes to be enjoyed.
Unhappily, there is at this point a parting of the ways.
Roman Catholics and Protestants both say the Creed, yet they
are divided. Why? Basically, because of divergent understandings
of “I believe in the holy catholic church”—”one holy
catholic and apostolic church,” as the true text of the Nicene
Creed has it.
Official Roman Catholic teaching presents the church of
Christ as the one organized body of baptized persons who
are in communion with the Pope and acknowledge the
teaching and ruling authority of the episcopal hierarchy. It is
holy because it produces saintly folk and is kept from radical
sin, catholic because in its worldwide spread it holds the full
faith in trust for everyone, and apostolic because its ministerial
orders stem from the apostles, and its faith (including
such non-biblical items as the assumption of Mary and her
immaculate conception, the Mass-sacrifice, and papal infallibility)
is a sound growth from apostolic roots. Non-Roman
bodies, however church-like, are not strictly part of the
church at all.
Protestants challenge this from the Bible. In Scripture
(they say) the church is the one worldwide fellowship of
believing people whose Head is Christ. It is holy because it
is consecrated to God (though it is capable nonetheless of
grievous sin); it is catholic because it embraces all Christians
everywhere; and it is apostolic because it seeks to maintain
the apostles’ doctrine unmixed. Pope, hierarchy, and extrabiblical
doctrines are not merely nonessential but actually
deforming; if Rome is a church (which some Reformers
doubted) she is so despite the extras, not because of them. In particular, infallibility belongs to God speaking in the Bible,
not to the church or to any of its officers, and any teaching
given in or by the church must be open to correction by
“God’s word written.”1
Some Protestants have taken the clause “the communion
of saints,” which follows “the holy catholic church,” as
the Creed’s own elucidation of what the church is; namely,
Christians in fellowship with each other—just that, without
regard for any particular hierarchical structure. But it is usual
to treat this phrase as affirming the real union in Christ of
the church “militant here on earth” with the church triumphant,
as is indicated in Hebrews 12:22–24; and it may be
that the clause was originally meant to signify communion in
holy things (Word, sacrament, worship, prayers) and to make
the true but distinct point that in the church there is a real
sharing in the life of God. The “spiritual” view of the church
as being a fellowship before it is an institution can, however,
be confirmed from Scripture without appeal to this phrase,
whatever its sense, being needed.
That the New Testament presents the Protestant view is
hardly open to dispute (the dispute is over whether the New
Testament is final!). The church appears in Trinitarian relationships as the family of God the Father, the body of Christ
the Son, and the temple (dwelling-place) of the Holy Spirit,
and so long as the dominical sacraments are administered
and ministerial oversight is exercised, no organizational
norms are insisted on at all. The church is the supernatural
society of God’s redeemed and baptized people, looking back
to Christ’s first coming with gratitude and on to his second
coming with hope. “Your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will
appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:3–4)—such is the
church’s present state and future prospect. To this hope both
sacraments point, baptism prefiguring final resurrection, the
Lord’s Supper anticipating “the marriage supper of the Lamb”
(Revelation 19:9).
For the present, however, all churches (like those in
Corinth, Colosse, Galatia, and Thessalonica, to look no further)
are prone to err in both faith and morals and need constant correction
and re-formation at all levels (intellectual, devotional,
structural, liturgical) by the Spirit through God’s Word.
The evangelical theology of revival, first spelled out in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and the present-day emergence
of “charismatic renewal” on a worldwide scale remind us
of something that Roman Catholic and Protestant disputers, in
their concentration on doctrinal truth, tended to miss—namely,
that the church must always be open to the immediacy of the
Spirit’s Lordship and that disorderly vigor in a congregation is
infinitely preferable to a correct and tidy deadness.
The acid test of the church’s state is what happens in the
local congregation. Each congregation is a visible outcrop
of the one church universal, called to serve God and men in
humility and, perhaps, humiliation while living in prospect of
glory. Spirit-filled for worship and witness, active in love and
care for insiders and outsiders alike, self-supporting and selfpropagating,
each congregation is to be a spearhead of divine
counterattack for the recapture of a rebel world.
Here is a question for you: how is your congregation
getting on?
---Packer
Thursday, October 21, 2010
From tedium to Te Deum
Incredible:
From tedium to Te Deum
the tedium of slavery, to Pharoah or to ourselves/sin
Found this in a footnote on Tremper's book "How to read Exodus". (CANNOT BELIEVE it was relegated to footnote, this should be a title or subtitle to a book on exodus!!)
What is the Te Deum? Good overview here at wikipedia
Basically it is a hymn of praise, ascribing all glory and affection to our Triune God. Which, by the way, is WHY God saved Israel from Egypt and you and me from our sin!! Our lives a Te Deum of praise to God as we love Him and our neighbor.
Here is the text, from the book of common prayer
(Note: In the Book of Common Prayer, verse is written in half-lines, at which reading pauses, indicated by colons in the text.)
We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people :
and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted :
let me never be confounded.
and then, i think you could go on and on that tedium from tedium to Te Deum involves the removal of "i"
you don't have to get all watchman nee-ish (and unbiblical) that I cease to exist and I'm not important et al
but you can say that sin, in many ways is pride (Lewis called this the "greatest sin", see Mere Xnity) is a focus on ourselves, a being bent in on ourselves; SELFishness; and to be free is to "lose your life"
So, from tedium to Te Deum---by a blow to the "i"
(Andrew, Olivia, Joppa---- I hope one day this kind of post is helpful to you. By the way, see Jerram Barrs and McCauley book BEING HUMAN to show the beauty of bible's teaching against Nee and idea that you cease to exist when you follow Christ)
From tedium to Te Deum
the tedium of slavery, to Pharoah or to ourselves/sin
Found this in a footnote on Tremper's book "How to read Exodus". (CANNOT BELIEVE it was relegated to footnote, this should be a title or subtitle to a book on exodus!!)
What is the Te Deum? Good overview here at wikipedia
Basically it is a hymn of praise, ascribing all glory and affection to our Triune God. Which, by the way, is WHY God saved Israel from Egypt and you and me from our sin!! Our lives a Te Deum of praise to God as we love Him and our neighbor.
Here is the text, from the book of common prayer
(Note: In the Book of Common Prayer, verse is written in half-lines, at which reading pauses, indicated by colons in the text.)
We praise thee, O God :
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee :
the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud :
the Heavens, and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubin and Seraphin :
continually do cry,
Holy, Holy, Holy :
Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the Majesty :
of thy glory.
The glorious company of the Apostles : praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the Prophets : praise thee.
The noble army of Martyrs : praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world :
doth acknowledge thee;
The Father : of an infinite Majesty;
Thine honourable, true : and only Son;
Also the Holy Ghost : the Comforter.
Thou art the King of Glory : O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son : of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man :
thou didst not abhor the Virgin's womb.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death :
thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God : in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come : to be our Judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants :
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy Saints : in glory everlasting.
O Lord, save thy people :
and bless thine heritage.
Govern them : and lift them up for ever.
Day by day : we magnify thee;
And we worship thy Name : ever world without end.
Vouchsafe, O Lord : to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us : have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let thy mercy lighten upon us :
as our trust is in thee.
O Lord, in thee have I trusted :
let me never be confounded.
and then, i think you could go on and on that tedium from tedium to Te Deum involves the removal of "i"
you don't have to get all watchman nee-ish (and unbiblical) that I cease to exist and I'm not important et al
but you can say that sin, in many ways is pride (Lewis called this the "greatest sin", see Mere Xnity) is a focus on ourselves, a being bent in on ourselves; SELFishness; and to be free is to "lose your life"
So, from tedium to Te Deum---by a blow to the "i"
(Andrew, Olivia, Joppa---- I hope one day this kind of post is helpful to you. By the way, see Jerram Barrs and McCauley book BEING HUMAN to show the beauty of bible's teaching against Nee and idea that you cease to exist when you follow Christ)
Saturday, October 16, 2010
wrong soaked all through me, take 2
A scene from one of
George MacDonald's children's books — called The Princess and Curdie—
illustrates this point.
Early in the novel the young boy Curdie thoughtlessly
shoots an arrow into a white pigeon. Suddenly overcome by remorse, he
carries the wounded bird to an old, old princess to see if anything can be done
to save it. But the woman is even more concerned about the boy than she is
about the bird. Gently she tries to help Curdie recognize that his evil deed
sprang from the all-pervasive wickedness of his heart. When finally he confesses
his sinful condition, he says, "I see now that I have been doing wrong
the whole day, and such a many days besides! Indeed, I don't know when I
ever did right. . . .
When I killed your bird I did not know I was doing wrong,
just because I was always doing wrong, and the wrong had soaked all
through me."
The problem, however, is not simply that we keep committing this or
that sin; the problem is that we are sinners to the very core. Until we surrender
to Jesus Christ, our entire orientation is sinful.
--Phil Ryken
wrong soaked all through me
A scene from one of
George MacDonald's children's books — called The Princess and Curdie—
illustrates this point. Early in the novel the young boy Curdie thoughtlessly
shoots an arrow into a white pigeon. Suddenly overcome by remorse, he
carries the wounded bird to an old, old princess to see if anything can be done
to save it. But the woman is even more concerned about the boy than she is
about the bird. Gently she tries to help Curdie recognize that his evil deed
sprang from the all-pervasive wickedness of his heart. When finally he confesses
his sinful condition, he says, "I see now that I have been doing wrong
the whole day, and such a many days besides! Indeed, I don't know when I
ever did right. . . . When I killed your bird I did not know I was doing wrong,
just because I was always doing wrong, and the wrong had soaked all
through me."
Egyptian Slaves
They worked out in the hot Egyptian sun all day (often in temperatures over
100°), driven to optimum production by their taskmasters. They had no hats
to protect their heads and wore nothing but a brief kilt or apron on their
bodies. . . . A wealthy Egyptian father talked with his son about the condition
of their bricklayers. He observed that their “kidneys suffer because
they are out in the sun . . . with no clothes on.” Their hands are “torn to
ribbons by the cruel work.” And they have to “knead all sorts of muck.”
Certainly no one stood by to give the workers a drink every few minutes.
It does not take much imagination to conclude that the severe “rigor”
imposed on the Hebrews resulted in many of them dying of dehydration,
heat prostration, heatstroke and the like.
Howard F. Vos, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Manners and Customs: How the People
of the Bible Really Lived (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), p. 61.
of the Bible Really Lived (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1999), p. 61.
Friday, October 15, 2010
the 3 day festival request
An ancient manuscript at the
Louvre, dating to the time of Rameses II, indicates that Egyptian slaves
were sometimes given time off to worship their gods.* There is also a limestone
tablet from the same period listing the names of slaves, together with
reasons for their absence from work, including the phrase, “has sacrificed
to the god.”*^
Louvre, dating to the time of Rameses II, indicates that Egyptian slaves
were sometimes given time off to worship their gods.* There is also a limestone
tablet from the same period listing the names of slaves, together with
reasons for their absence from work, including the phrase, “has sacrificed
to the god.”*^
What this proves is that the Pharaohs sometimes honored the
kind of request that Moses and Aaron were making. Asking for three days
of religious freedom was a reasonable demand that God used to expose the
unbelief in Pharaoh’s heart.
kind of request that Moses and Aaron were making. Asking for three days
of religious freedom was a reasonable demand that God used to expose the
unbelief in Pharaoh’s heart.
* James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 1999),
p. 115.
*^J. Cerny and A. H. Gardiner, Hieratic Ostraca I (Oxford, England: Printed for the Griffith
Institute at the University Press by Charles Batey, 1957), pp. 22, 23, plates 83, 84.
Thursday, October 07, 2010
Sonship of Israel, Jesus, and us
Sonship has its origins in the Old Testament, where God reveals himself
as a father who desires a son to serve him. However, his son always
proved a disappointment. This was true during the exodus, when Israel grumbled
against Moses and complained about God’s fatherly care. The Old
Testament people of God never lived up to the demands of their sonship.
This is why God sent his only Son to be our Savior. The New Testament
presents Jesus Christ as God’s perfect Son, the one who served his Father
with absolute devotion. Jesus was everything God had ever wanted in a
Son, on one level accomplishing what Israel was supposed to accomplish.
The Gospels make this connection explicit by describing the life of Christ
as a new exodus. Not long after he was born, Jesus was sent down to Egypt,
as a father who desires a son to serve him. However, his son always
proved a disappointment. This was true during the exodus, when Israel grumbled
against Moses and complained about God’s fatherly care. The Old
Testament people of God never lived up to the demands of their sonship.
This is why God sent his only Son to be our Savior. The New Testament
presents Jesus Christ as God’s perfect Son, the one who served his Father
with absolute devotion. Jesus was everything God had ever wanted in a
Son, on one level accomplishing what Israel was supposed to accomplish.
The Gospels make this connection explicit by describing the life of Christ
as a new exodus. Not long after he was born, Jesus was sent down to Egypt,
where he remained until the death of King Herod. His subsequent return to
Israel reminded Matthew of the Old Testament promise: “Out of Egypt I
called my son” (Matt. 2:15, quoting Hos. 11:1). It was Matthew’s way of saying
that Jesus is the true Israel, God’s firstborn Son. This was confirmed when
Jesus was baptized, and the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love”
(Matt. 3:17). The promise of sonship was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The amazing thing is that everyone who comes to Christ in faith
becomes a true child of God. The work of Christ is to bring the slaves of sin
into the liberty of sonship. Charles Spurgeon writes, “The Lord Jesus comes,
identifies himself with the enslaved family, bears the curse, fulfils the law,
and then on the ground of simple justice demands for them full and perfect
liberty, having for them fulfilled the precept, and for them endured the
penalty.”* The Bible thus calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers”
(Rom. 8:29) — “many brothers” because every believer is a child of God. As
the Bible also says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
(Gal. 3:26). To know Jesus as Savior is to know God as Father, and the exodus
teaches us what kind of Father he is. He is not like human fathers, with
all their failings. Rather, he is a good Father, always faithful to his children.
In his tender compassion he cares for them and rescues them from every danger.
Israel reminded Matthew of the Old Testament promise: “Out of Egypt I
called my son” (Matt. 2:15, quoting Hos. 11:1). It was Matthew’s way of saying
that Jesus is the true Israel, God’s firstborn Son. This was confirmed when
Jesus was baptized, and the Father said, “This is my Son, whom I love”
(Matt. 3:17). The promise of sonship was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
The amazing thing is that everyone who comes to Christ in faith
becomes a true child of God. The work of Christ is to bring the slaves of sin
into the liberty of sonship. Charles Spurgeon writes, “The Lord Jesus comes,
identifies himself with the enslaved family, bears the curse, fulfils the law,
and then on the ground of simple justice demands for them full and perfect
liberty, having for them fulfilled the precept, and for them endured the
penalty.”* The Bible thus calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers”
(Rom. 8:29) — “many brothers” because every believer is a child of God. As
the Bible also says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
(Gal. 3:26). To know Jesus as Savior is to know God as Father, and the exodus
teaches us what kind of Father he is. He is not like human fathers, with
all their failings. Rather, he is a good Father, always faithful to his children.
In his tender compassion he cares for them and rescues them from every danger.
--Phil Ryken
*from Spurgeon's sermon, The Great Emancipator
God's Firstborn Son
The sovereignty of God’s will is such a great mystery that it causes some people
to fear God — not simply to revere him, but actually to be afraid of
him. However, God’s people should never be afraid, because God’s sovereignty
includes our sonship. The reason God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was
to prove his love for his own children. God said to Moses, “Then say to
Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told
you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him
go; so I will kill your firstborn son’” (Exod. 4:22, 23).
These two verses disclose the very heart of the exodus. They explain
why God cared what happened to the Israelites, why out of all the nations
in the world he went to the trouble of rescuing them from slavery. They had
little to be proud of from a worldly point of view, and thus God seemingly
had little reason to save them. But Israel was the son of God’s choice. At
the very deepest spiritual level, the exodus is a story about sonship, about a
Father’s love for his only son. Israel’s deliverance is the true history of a
loving Father who rescued his children so they could be together as a family. Thus it is not simply a story of emancipation — the release of a slave
— but also of repatriation, the return of an only son to his father’s loving
care.4 Later, when God reminisced about the exodus, he said, “When Israel
was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).
Israel’s status as God’s firstborn son explains why God had a quarrel
with Pharaoh. To Pharaoh the Hebrews were lowly slaves, but to God they
were beloved sons. Thus the problem with Pharaoh was not simply that he
was a slaveholder (although that was bad enough), but that he was preventing
God’s children from serving their Father. Instead of being free to call God
“Father,” the Israelites were forced to call Pharaoh “Master.” So in order to
reassert his claim on Israel, God said to Pharaoh, “Let my son go, so he
may worship [or serve] me” (Exod. 4:23a). God demanded that Israel be
released from Pharaoh’s bondage so that his son would be free to serve him
once again. More specifically, he wanted the worship of his firstborn son.
This is the grand theme of the exodus: God saving his sons from slavery so
that they could serve him.
to fear God — not simply to revere him, but actually to be afraid of
him. However, God’s people should never be afraid, because God’s sovereignty
includes our sonship. The reason God hardened Pharaoh’s heart was
to prove his love for his own children. God said to Moses, “Then say to
Pharaoh, ‘This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told
you, “Let my son go, so he may worship me.” But you refused to let him
go; so I will kill your firstborn son’” (Exod. 4:22, 23).
These two verses disclose the very heart of the exodus. They explain
why God cared what happened to the Israelites, why out of all the nations
in the world he went to the trouble of rescuing them from slavery. They had
little to be proud of from a worldly point of view, and thus God seemingly
had little reason to save them. But Israel was the son of God’s choice. At
the very deepest spiritual level, the exodus is a story about sonship, about a
Father’s love for his only son. Israel’s deliverance is the true history of a
loving Father who rescued his children so they could be together as a family. Thus it is not simply a story of emancipation — the release of a slave
— but also of repatriation, the return of an only son to his father’s loving
care.4 Later, when God reminisced about the exodus, he said, “When Israel
was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son” (Hos. 11:1).
Israel’s status as God’s firstborn son explains why God had a quarrel
with Pharaoh. To Pharaoh the Hebrews were lowly slaves, but to God they
were beloved sons. Thus the problem with Pharaoh was not simply that he
was a slaveholder (although that was bad enough), but that he was preventing
God’s children from serving their Father. Instead of being free to call God
“Father,” the Israelites were forced to call Pharaoh “Master.” So in order to
reassert his claim on Israel, God said to Pharaoh, “Let my son go, so he
may worship [or serve] me” (Exod. 4:23a). God demanded that Israel be
released from Pharaoh’s bondage so that his son would be free to serve him
once again. More specifically, he wanted the worship of his firstborn son.
This is the grand theme of the exodus: God saving his sons from slavery so
that they could serve him.
Pharoah's Hard Heart
from Phil Ryken's great commentary on Exodus
The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is an important theme in the book of
Exodus, and it has much to teach us about the sovereignty of God’s will.
We will encounter this theme again, because Exodus mentions Pharaoh’s
hardness of heart some twenty times, describing it in one of three different
ways. Sometimes the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart:
“When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would
not listen to Moses” (Exod. 8:15). Other times the Bible says that Pharaoh’s
heart was hardened, without specifying who did the hardening: “Pharaoh’s
heart became hard and he would not listen” (Exod. 7:13). There are also
instances — like the one here in Exodus 4 — where God identifies himself
as the one who hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
Taken together, what these statements show is that Pharaoh’s heart was
doubly hard. He hardened his own heart; nevertheless, God hardened his
heart for him. Both of these statements are true, and there is no contradiction
between them. Pharaoh’s will was also God’s will. God not only knew
that Pharaoh would refuse to let his people go, but he actually ordained it.
This is the paradox of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, which
is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be adored. As human beings
made in the image of God, we make a real choice to accept or reject God,
but even the choice we make is governed by God’s sovereign and eternal
will. The Old Testament scholar S. R. Driver rightly observed, “The means
by which God hardens a man is not necessarily by any extraordinary intervention
on His part; it may be by the ordinary experiences of life, operating
through the principles and character of human nature, which are of His
appointment.”
The writer of Exodus understood this, which is why he
described the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart as both the will of Pharaoh and
the will of God.
From beginning to end, the entire exodus was the result of God’s sovereign
decree. The whole agonizing and then exhilarating experience of slavery
and freedom was part of his perfect will. It was God’s will to bring his
people out of Egypt. It was also his good pleasure to keep them there as
long as he did, which is proved by his hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Peter
Enns writes, “The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is entirely God’s doing
and under his complete control. The impending Exodus is a play in which
God is author, producer, director, and principal actor.” Even when Pharaoh
took his turn on stage, God received all the applause. Like everything else
that God has ever done, the exodus was all for his glory.
The hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is an important theme in the book of
Exodus, and it has much to teach us about the sovereignty of God’s will.
We will encounter this theme again, because Exodus mentions Pharaoh’s
hardness of heart some twenty times, describing it in one of three different
ways. Sometimes the Bible says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart:
“When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would
not listen to Moses” (Exod. 8:15). Other times the Bible says that Pharaoh’s
heart was hardened, without specifying who did the hardening: “Pharaoh’s
heart became hard and he would not listen” (Exod. 7:13). There are also
instances — like the one here in Exodus 4 — where God identifies himself
as the one who hardens Pharaoh’s heart.
Taken together, what these statements show is that Pharaoh’s heart was
doubly hard. He hardened his own heart; nevertheless, God hardened his
heart for him. Both of these statements are true, and there is no contradiction
between them. Pharaoh’s will was also God’s will. God not only knew
that Pharaoh would refuse to let his people go, but he actually ordained it.
This is the paradox of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, which
is not a puzzle to be solved but a mystery to be adored. As human beings
made in the image of God, we make a real choice to accept or reject God,
but even the choice we make is governed by God’s sovereign and eternal
will. The Old Testament scholar S. R. Driver rightly observed, “The means
by which God hardens a man is not necessarily by any extraordinary intervention
on His part; it may be by the ordinary experiences of life, operating
through the principles and character of human nature, which are of His
appointment.”
The writer of Exodus understood this, which is why he
described the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart as both the will of Pharaoh and
the will of God.
From beginning to end, the entire exodus was the result of God’s sovereign
decree. The whole agonizing and then exhilarating experience of slavery
and freedom was part of his perfect will. It was God’s will to bring his
people out of Egypt. It was also his good pleasure to keep them there as
long as he did, which is proved by his hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. Peter
Enns writes, “The deliverance of Israel from Egypt is entirely God’s doing
and under his complete control. The impending Exodus is a play in which
God is author, producer, director, and principal actor.” Even when Pharaoh
took his turn on stage, God received all the applause. Like everything else
that God has ever done, the exodus was all for his glory.
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