The Westminster Larger Catechism Q3

Question 3: What is the Word of God?

Answer: The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, the only rule of faith and obedience.

Again the Westminster Divines have given us some foundational stuff on which to build the rest of the Catechism. How can we venture forward into the deep truths of the Lord, unless we know what foundation it is being built upon? The Word of God is that foundation. God has told us the story, and in the process made a provision for us. His Word is the well spring of life, the source of wisdom, and the means of grace. We would only have a general revelation of God without His Word; sufficient to damn us certainly, but it is His Word that delivers the revelation necessary to save us.

With the importance of God's Word in mind, it is worth noting that the very fact of its foundational position targets it for frequent attack. We see this at the beginning when Satan asked Eve "Did God really say..." in Genesis 3:1. We see that today as those opposed to the message of Christ attempt to use any means available to prove the text of God's Word wrong. The most recent failed attempt is chronicled in the Jesus Family Tomb documentary produced by James Cameron.

Why do they try so hard? Simple, if they can prove the word of God wrong, they prove Christianity wrong. In all the media interviews and hype surrounding this latest attack, it was sad to have heard many people disassociate their faith from the truth claims of the Bible. I’m sure that some thought that they were standing up for Christianity, but in reality they were sharing that they have no faith in the Bible and therefore the message it proclaims. Statements about how the discovery of Jesus’ tomb wouldn’t affect their faith, points to a lack of understanding of what the “rule of faith and obedience” says. These individuals have reduced Christianity to a psychology, a lifestyle drug that gets them through the day. How very sad.

The Word of God is about history. It makes a claim. Prove that claim wrong and we have all been wasting our time in church. Question 3 reaffirms the authority of scripture and sets another foundation block for the systematic discussions ahead in the Catechism. Please, I beg you. If you claim to be a Christian, delve into what you say you believe. Understand its foundations; explore the only rule for faith and obedience.

The Westminster Larger Catechism Q2

Question 2: How doth it appear that there is a God?

Answer: The very light of nature in man, and the works of God,
declare plainly that there is a God; but his word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation.

So how do we know that there is a God? I mean really, how can you know for sure? I think every person has asked this question in some form during his or her life. Curious to see what was out there, I did a quick Google search on the internet. It seems that there are many well meaning and thoughtful people who want to use science and nature to prove that God exists. I applaud them in their efforts to a degree. They are merely expanding and commenting on Paul’s statement in Romans 1:19 –20,

19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

I only wish that those who invest so much time on the debate on God’s existence would focus equal or more amounts of energy on the second part of the answer to Catechism question 2. What I mean is that the first part of the answer, when viewed through Romans 1 does nothing more than raise our culpability level. It plainly says that we all know that God exists (The very light of nature in man, and the works of God) and are without excuse. We can’t stand before the Lord and say “look God, I really didn’t know about you so how can you sentence me to Hell?” When we start to focus on the second half of the answer “; but his word and Spirit only do sufficiently and effectually reveal him unto men for their salvation”, we start to really define the God we are to believe in. His existence is proven, but knowing that God exists is not enough for salvation. Thankfully He has spoken to us and told us effectually and sufficiently in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

The Westminster Larger Catechism Q1

Question 1: What is the chief and highest end of man?

Answer: Man's chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

Why did the Westminster Assembly of Divines choose this to be the first question in the larger catechism? Interesting thought, at least to me. I must admit I have not completed enough research or gained enough insight into the actual workings of the assembly to say I know the answer, but I will present some conjecture on my interpretation. Let me start with an examination of the words they used in their documents. I do this because specific words are used for specific reasons. I think that many times modern readers don't quite understand the language of the past and so they just assume certain things. The nuance of language needs to be taken seriously, especially in documents of religious import (though not as important as actual scripture.)

The first question in the Westminster Catechism asks what mans chief end is. The word "man" is not used to exclude women, but is used to identify the whole of humanity. Many today would use this term humanity or perhaps humankind in a politically correct pattern of speech. Regardless, the Divines are saying that we are all included. Those born male and female are part of this discussion.

The phrase “chief and highest end” isn't that widely used in modern day speech, so it could be hard for us to understand its meaning in today’s vernacular. I looked the word "end" up in the Webster’s online dictionary. The definitions that I believe apply are below:

• 2a: c (2) the ultimate state
• 4a: an outcome worked toward b: the object by virtue of or for the sake of which an event takes place

These definitions inform our understanding of the statement above. Man's highest "state" or our highest "outcome, or objective" is what the question seeks to determine. I can remember many examples in books and movies in which this very same concept is explored. It surprises me at how many times this theme is explored in the pages of science fiction. For example, the very first Star Trek movie is a tale that deals with a sentient machine that wants to understand who it is in regards to the universe. What was its chief end? What was its purpose for existence? Many if not most of the time, these authors and storytellers get the answer wrong and look to the internal person for the answer.

In the catechism's first question, the Divines feel that we need to get this out of the way first so that we are not examining the rest of the catechism from a selfish internal point of view. It is rightly establishing from the beginning that our understanding and experience of Christ centered theology is just that, centered on Him and not us. There is no room for self at the center, only the Trinity. Our chief end is to worship God first and then to enjoy him. His purpose is not for us to enjoy Him, and then give Him worship because of that enjoyment. He deserves the worship regardless of our enjoyment, but through his purposes the result of that worship is a benefit to us in enjoyment. The moment we take the Trinity from the center of our focus and place it elsewhere, we have moved ourselves into the place of honor. Then the chief end is to glorify self. Our selfishness moves us away from the truth and helps perpetuate the lie that leads to separation from and inability to satisfy our real chief end...."to Glorify God and fully to enjoy Him forever."

Lord, help me to realize that my chief end is not to glorify myself. My goal in life is the expansion of Your worship in my own life and the lives of others through to declaration of Your Gospel. Allow me to constantly enjoy you through discovery and rediscovery of the depth of your grace and mercy revealed through worshipping you in my daily life, not just the Sunday service. Be lifted up Lord as we bow down.

New Blog Series

Hello Friends,
I have decided that there are some things that I want to do this year and things that I have to do this year. Here is a quick recap:

1. War on Debt
2. Teach/Lead a program on leadership to our teens at church
3. Loss more weight
4. Continue to grow in my faith and maturity
5. Be more disciplined

And there are many others. To help me with #4 I have decided to work through a study of the Westminster Confession of Faith as well as the Catechism. I constantly want to know what I beleive and why I beleive it (to quote one of my favorite programs "The White Horse Inn"). So I figured I would blog my way through the questions. I'll try to do at least one a week, if not more frequently. If you don't know what the Catechism on the confession are, here is a link to some historic context.