As Paul says: see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.
The reason we are taken captive is because the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Therefore, scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the ungodly.
Yes, there are some things in scripture that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction.
But...
Far from criticising the Bible for containing things which are hard to understand, Peter criticises those who find those words hard and instead of working at understanding them they twist them, they distort them and make them out to say what they were not intended to say! It’s not the intellectual difficulty which is the problem though… it’s the emotional, the spiritual, the visceral reaction to finding out you're a sinner, the aversion to having our guilt revealed. And they become scripture twisters and conjure up another gospel.
These scoffers pretend like judgement never happened in the past to convince themselves it won’t happen in the future, and thus lead themselves to destruction. No flood. No fire. No fire means no judgement. No judgement means no sin. No sin means no guilt. And no guilt means holiness is whatever you want it to be (indeed it must be). And that’s how fig leaves become fashion.
So, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
And would we abandon that richness by keeping our heads out of our bibles?
Brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Yet the world we are in routinely abandons truth, redefines honour, disregards justice and has nothing but disdain for purity. Very little of commendation, no requirement for excellence, therefore no reason to praise. But blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. As the Lord commands “do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right hand or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them”.
Rather, make confession to the Lord, the God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. Under Ezra's leadership the Israelites dissolved their unholy unions. We too should dissolve our unholy unions with the profane. Its language and practises. This is why he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. So that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. The world has nothing to offer us. But the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. Have you forgotten that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.
And friends, they creep in unnoticed!! ‘They’ not ‘it’. False teachers bring the false teaching on purpose, with intent.
So, let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile”.
Well then, these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
There is no requirement for us to be so studious with the world’s ways…
So take care, and keep your soul diligently. Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God. Take care lest you forget the Lord. Take care lest you forget the Lord your God. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them. Take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, “How did these nations serve their gods”?
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
But also don’t forget…
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.
Of course, the heavens do declare. And we can and should enjoy the things of earth. But as shadows and types and pointers. Our experience of the created order is there to train us how to enjoy and love the Lord himself.
I urge you, become so familiar with that sweet honey flavour of God’s word, that you will instantly notice the comparative bitterness of worldliness when it’s served to you. This is what a Christian should be most concerned with. Because the word is also a person. Which is why it has been written: “this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent”. All that we could possibly need is in Jesus. All that anyone else could possibly need is also in Jesus.
But if we’re like this, friends, we will be far from useless. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Good works that benefit both sinner and saint!
Friends, I'm not saying we remain completely ignorant of philosophy according to human tradition. Paul knew about the worship of angels. But he warns us: 'If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations—“Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”'.
Should we be governed by the world? Now that holiness is whatever people want it to be, if we seek to handle, taste and touch, we will be told how to handle, taste and touch. But to play by the world's rules is to not play by God’s.
Should we not instead be governed by God’s word? Well, then, how about do not play with strange fire?
And of course, we understand this warning not to be at odds with our task of making disciples of all nations. As Paul says ‘I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome. We too are under obligation. But like Paul, it’s an obligation to preach the gospel. Not to acclimatise to the world. We are to prophesy over these bones not to lie down with them as a reminder of what it's like to be dead in our sins... Prophecy brings life. Empathy is just playing dead.
Now, we absolutely must remember that we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. And sympathy is indeed a key component of being a good priest. And a good evangelist, for that matter. But sympathy isn’t going to save. It will make us pay attention and move us to proclaim the gospel that saves, sure. "As I [Paul] passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you".
It’s good to observe, but what is most important for us is to be able to say to people "this I proclaim to you" and then proclaim. The world is constantly proclaiming to us, telling us what to believe. But we should be so slow to accept what comes from those who are prone to suppressing the truth…
Sympathy for the person, yes. Sympathy for the sin; for the worldview; the practices, no!
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. The truth, do you see? The truth as revealed by God in his word is so much more the thing to focus on, become familiar with, to learn, to understand, to love to trust. When truth is suppressed so eagerly and so forcefully, why should we entertain - or be entertained by - anything else?
Upholding the truth is hard enough on its own, not to mention deadly when we compromise. The wrath of God comes precisely because of this suppression.
Because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
That does not mean we should ignore the word and fight our battles on natural law grounds. Quite the opposite in fact. The created order removes the excuse but it does not provide the solution. Apologetics also isn’t going to save…
Now, we absolutely need to become, as the Church, much, much better natural law theologians. It’s a lost art. Jonathan Edwards would not be pleased!! We are a big letdown in this area. We find it so hard to connect verses 1-6 with verse 7-14 of Psalm 19. But the key to knowing how and why the heavens proclaim the glory of God is understanding how perfect the law of the Lord is. The Bible has its own categories it wants us to use. And we must be careful not to make the same category mistakes as the world does. The great exchange was not just truth for a lie in the abstract. It was done deep down in the details.
Shameless acts became ‘gay’! Day became ‘age’. Male and female became ‘transgender’. The sixth day became ‘millions of years’. These are the generations of became ‘evolution’. Abomination became ‘abortion’. Husband of one wife became ‘husband or his wife’.
See? The only solution for the world to cope with having the law written on their hearts is to reimagine nature, affirmed by the invention of a new code! Indeed it calls evil good and good evil. And so we must be oh, so careful. Have we forgotten that we are sheep in the midst of wolves? Be innocent as doves, for sure. But be wise as serpents in equal measure.
Do we not realise that to mess with Genesis 1 is to mess with John 1?!
It seems not… pride is no longer a sin but an event. The world’s attempt to save itself. Ignore Genesis and there’s no need for John… The world has blessed itself and sees no need to repent. No need to even seek the opportunity and certainly won’t shed a tear for the lack of one.
Do we really want to take on the language of the world and absorb our thinking into its new categories - categories forged in darkness?
By no means! Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret (oh that they were still secret). But faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
And might I add, faith doesn’t just come, it is sustained and maintained, through hearing the word of Christ. Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away. And if it’s taken away, we’re no use to anyone…
No, Christian, we must be like Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. For but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion.
And like the Psalmist…
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Truly we must pray open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law and Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain! Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. And take not the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, for my hope is in your rules.
Then…
I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame, for I find my delight in your commandments, which I love. And I will be emboldened to ask: remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
If we can say “Oh how I love your law” we are safe. Because my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
The Bible. That is where the wondrous things are found. And we must prioritise the learning of these wondrous things. Fearfully wondrous things. But we can be ever thankful that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. What a wonderful fear it is, and we gain this fear through HIS WORD which John Bunyan calls the rule and director of our fear. Glory.
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