From the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q11. BUT isn't God also merciful?

A: God is certainly merciful, BUT he is also just. HIs justice demands that sin against his supreme majesty be punished with a supreme penalty--eternal punishment of body and soul.

This reminds me of one of my favorite all-time movie lines. It comes from the Rambo movies. One of Rambo's antagonists confronts Colonel Troutman, "You speak of this Rambo like he's some sort of a god." Troutman replied, "No. God would have mercy on you. Rambo won't."

As mentioned last time, we are turning a corner in the Catechism. We've been focusing on man's depravity and we've concluded that there is nothing man can, in and of himself, accomplish to right his situation before God. And here is the perfect place for a but--the soul cries out, 'Yes, but... didn't we hear of God that he is merciful?'

This is the beginning of the good news. God is indeed merciful. 

Another but. While he is merciful, we must realize he is also just. Somehow a payment for sin must be made. And Q&A11 makes it clear--the cost is supreme. What, or better who, could make such a payment? Can we pay the debt ourselves? Can the blood of an animal suffice? Can a mere human being pay the price? These are the questions we will consider next. The answers--no.  

I suppose I'm in a movie mood. 1999's Brokedown Palace told the story of two American teenagers who were framed on drug charges while visiting Thailand. Eventually they were led to believe that if they confessed to a crime they didn't commit, the legal system would pardon them. So they signed confessions. When they came before the judge he announced, "No pardons for confessed drug smugglers!" The girls would each serve 30 year sentences. They'd be middle-aged women before they were freed. In the movie's climactic final seen (and yes, I'm about to ruin it for you) one of the teens runs and throws herself on the floor in front of the judge, begging him for mercy. Realizing that he could extend mercy if he wanted to, and also that he was demanding justice, the girl offered to serve both sentences--60 years--if the judge would show mercy to her friend. Merciful yes. But also just. So with this mercy there must be a compliment--a payment in full.

What, or better who, will meet the just requirement of our God on my (your) behalf? This is the question as we turn to the next section of the Heidelberg Catechism.

KNOWLEDGE OF SELF

A look in the mirror.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, BUT their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.

General revelation accomplishes more than making us aware of God. It also provides us with a certain knowledge of ourselves. It begins by planting the questions, 'Where did I come from?' and 'How did I get here?' As a human being, wonder and awe at all we see compels us to ponder, 'What is this all about?' or as Sam asks Froto in The Lord of the Rings, "What sort of a tale have we fallen into?" From the beginning, really, we're cognisant of our self and something other. This is the work of God's first book--general revelation--upon us.

Look again at the lyrics of the song Hallelujahs I posted as entry 2.2 in this series. Do you see how the artist/lyricist makes mention of those things external, the waves and whales, and also the things internal, the beating of his own heart? Do you see how he testifies that there is no language where this testimony of God cannot be heard? Beautiful picture, isn't it? And do you see how he depicts its effect on us--knowledge of self? It draws us to respond with hallelujahs. But...

We come to the verse that starts this post, from Romans chapter one. The context there paints a picture: It is not that God is impossible to find and know, but (great word, eh?) it is that human beings willfully reject him. The consequence of that rejection is that human hearts move further from, while growing colder toward God. They tend not to sing those hallelujahs, in fact, they tend not to acknowledge or thank him, but ignore him.

Proverbs 1:7 offers us this basic truth: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. We cannot be wise and knowledgeable people, unless we see ourselves in relation to God. That proverb continues, ...BUT fools despise wisdom and knowledge. As Paul points out in Romans, we've no one to blame but ourselves. Look at the person next to you and say, 'What up, fool?'

The picture that general revelation offers us and humanity's response make it clear that our problem is not a lack of knowledge about God, but rather a refusal to act on that knowledge and live in response to it. As the Proverbs verse and Romans text explain--we've exchanged knowledge for folly.

Have you done the assigned readings thus far? Genesis 1 & 2, Psalm 19, and Romans 1? If you did the reading you've seen, that's not all that humanity has exchanged. We've exchanged a walk in the garden with our God for enmity toward him. We've exchanged intimacy with our God for all sorts of attempts at false intimacy; affection for lesser affections. We've exchanged how it was intended to be for what we wanted.

Knowledge of God and knowledge of self via what is revealed through general revelation (all that we see and experience), paints a picture of our need for God--and our accountability before him. 

Read Genesis 3 and spend some time meditating on a handful of verses within Psalm 119 for next time.

No buts in the lyric, but it fits the series based on buts, so...

In the spirit of the Apostle Paul, in Acts 17, offering "as your own poets have said" in his sharing with the Athenians, I offer these beautifully poetic words from Chris Rice. Note particularly the words in the refrain, "There is no language where you can't be heard."

A purple sky to close the day 
I wade the surf where dolphins play 
The taste of salt, the dance of waves 
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs 

A lightning flash, my pounding heart 
A breaching whale, a shooting star 
Give testimony that You are 
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs 

Oh praise Him all His mighty works 
There is no language where you can't be heard 
Your song goes out to all the earth 
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! 

O cratered moon and sparrows wings 
O thunder's boom and Saturn's rings 
Unveil our Father as you sing 
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs 

The pulse of life within my wrist 
A fallen snow, a rising mist 
There is no higher praise than this 
And my soul wells up with hallelujahs 

Oh praise Him all His mighty works 
There is no language where you can't be heard 
Your song goes out to all the earth 
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah! 
O hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah!

From the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q8: BUT are we so corrupt that we are totally unable to do any good and inclined toward all evil?

A: Yes, unless we are born again, by the Spirit of God.

This appearance of but begins the question. It's a good idea to look back and see what preceded this conjunction. Question 6 explains that God created human beings good, so that they might know their God and walk with him. Question 7 explains that the fall of mankind changed all of that. "This fall has so poisoned our nature," it states, "that we are born sinners--corrupt from conception." To this the catechism replies, But...

Is man so totally corrupt that he cannot remedy this predicament? Can't he purpose to be good, to do good? Certainly you don't mean that man is fallen, and he can't get up!

That's exactly what it means.

This Q&A in the catechism prepares us to turn a corner. Over the next few we'll move from man's depravity (the extent of his fall) to God's mercy--and indeed, God's remedy. But (there's that word) key to all of this will be recognizing it is God's remedy. Man cannot do it on his own. He is so totally corrupt that he needs a Savior. So this is a big but setting our course. We're headed toward the good news. Let's keep following the buts.

Here's another nugget from history concerning the conjunction but.

It was March of 1923. The 5th Pan American Conference was called to order in Santiago, Chile. The New York Times had declared that this conference promised to be the most important to date, as serious issues between South American countries were coming to a head, and Argentina, Brazil and Chile were in an arms race of sorts, mustering military muscle.

President Warren G. Harding's contingent from the United States was headed by Secretary of State Charles Evans Hughes.  The United States' man, Hughes, was looked upon by ambassadors for the various nations as a mediator or sorts.  He would have to be very clear on all parties and their positions, a trick to say the least, as the majority of the dialogue would be Spanish and Portugese, and come to Hughes through interpretation.

Hughes, it is recorded, gave these instructions to his language interpretors: "While a running translation is ample for my purposes, I want you to take great care to give me every word after any speaker says 'but'."

Wise man.

This is a re-deux of a popular post from November 2009.

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

So what do we know?

Man does not live on bread alone, BUT on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

We tend to hear that verse and think of the setting in Matthew 4 where Jesus is being tempted. The reference, however, harkens back to Deuteronomy 8 where Moses is reminding the people that God allowed them to hunger and then provided manna from heaven, so that they would recognize He is what ultimately satisfies their longing. 

The passage we began with in the Introduction—Paul’s message to the people of Athens from Acts 17—demonstrates that the people were, already, before Paul engaged them, a religious people. He noted their religious zeal in that they had erected temples and idols to every deity imaginable, including one to ‘An Unknown God.’ The intention was that, when they made rounds bowing to every god, if they left an offering for the Unknown, they’d have covered all bases. There wouldn’t be some unnamed deity out there to feel slighted and take vengeance. He offered, “Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.”

What caused these people to be religiously leaning? The big but above, whether you view it in Deuteronomy or Matthew’s setting, lends insight. We human beings were created with a void for the Divine. There is an internal longing for more than the things of this world. Temporal things offer satisfaction that is fleeting. It all points to a deeper hunger and thirst for the eternal. Our souls cry out.

Theologians have spoken of General Revelation—things that testify to every soul that there is a God. Paul spoke of this, too, when he addressed the Athenians, as he mentioned their lives, their settings, and the times that they found themselves in. Look around, in other words—none of this is by accident.

As you read through Genesis 1 you noted that, at each turn in the creation story, God declared things to be good. There was intention and design in creation. The picture was coming together just as planned. As you read Psalm 19, especially the first 6 verses, you noted how this coming together of creation testified to the existence of God—or at the very least, an intelligent being setting it all in place. The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard.

These things speak of outward General Revelation—what we observe of the systems and the order of creation, all around us, that witnesses of God. The Apostle Paul spoke to people in Romans 1 about this, saying, “What may be known about God is plain, because God made it plain. 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.”

You saw this observation of creation in the Athenian’s religious fervor—they had made temples and idols representing various ‘gods’, the god of the harvest, the god of fertility, the god of the sea, and so on. They saw the systems and order and attributed it all to higher beings. Then they wanted to be sure to bow to all of those supposed beings so as to stay in their good graces. In other words, they were compelled to live in response to deity. General Revelation—internal and external—that appetite within that longed to connect with something ‘other’ and the testimony of all that is seen that something ‘other’ exists that is the master of it all, work hand in hand to lead us into a pursuit to acquire a knowledge of God.

So we embark on an expedition. Give Genesis 2 and Romans 1:18-32 a read for next time. Pay particular attention to the buts you come across.

INTRODUCTION

The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth, and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own prophets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

With these words recorded in Acts chapter 17, the Apostle Paul declared to the people of first century Athens that God is, and that they are—whether they recognized him as God or as an unknown deity—living within his unfolding story. He offered the conclusion of some of the Athenian’s own poets and philosophers as evidence, as if to say the voices of your own culture and times agree.

God is. He doesn’t need you. Rather, you need him. And he’s set this very scene you find yourself in so that you might seek him. Our lives are lived within his context.

Theology is important. Contrary to the idea that theology is ultimately personal—to each his own—and it doesn’t really matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere in it, the story we find ourselves in calls us to inquire after thetruth. Who is this God? How is it that I am in relation and proximity to him?

Some suggest that theology divides. I’d offer that theology unites. Think of the great Creeds of Christendom down through the years. Followers of Jesus have been able to unite over certain truths—recognize themselves to be brothers and sisters in Christ no matter the particular label or flavor under which they regard themselves—stated in agreed upon clarity, an orthodoxy that gives life to a common orthopraxy: following after Jesus Christ.

As I begin this study, the voices of our culture and times offer a new challenge. Whether it’s the rise of Islam in our nation and questions about whether a Muslim’s Allah is akin to the Christian’s God, or it’s the potential of a Mormon becoming President, and questioning whether the Jesus Christ of Mormonism is the same Jesus Christ of Christianity, the setting we find ourselves in calls us to seek, to reach out, and to find.

Sed Theologia? It means ‘theology of buts.’ For years I’ve advocated for paying close attention to the little three-letter conjunction but as it appears in the bible. So often when it appears it sets a contrast or comparison that can bring clarity or lend emphasis—if we don’t miss it—to the overall context. Think of all the lessons Jesus taught within the Sermon on the Mount which he began,‘You’ve heard it said… BUT now I say unto you.’ Those buts are all big and important. They set the teachings of Jesus on those subjects in stark contrast to the religious understandings of the day. They call for a change of heart and a change of mind—a reorientation. But is an important and helpful little word.

In Latin? Sure. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? Like Origen’s De Principiis, Tertullian’s Apologeticus, Aquinas’ Summa Theologae—Mr. Holland’s Opus—this is my Latin title, Sed Theologia.

Theology is often thought of as imposing—diving deep and getting in over the layman’s head. Don’t believe it. How imposing is the word but? You use it in almost every conversation. What follows is a theological study built around appearances of the word but in scripture. God, man, fall, sin, salvation, grace—they all have some pretty big buts. What do you say we take a peek? And let’s have some fun doing it. Let’s allow the words to come off the page and turn them over in our lives for a bit.Sound theology is absolutely within our reach. He set you here, that you might seek and find him—for he is not far from any of us.

I hope you'll join me in the study.

{If you'd like a headstart in our study, give Genesis 1 and Psalm 19 a read. What? No buts?}

Emily Elliott penned this classic Christmas hymn for children, specifically intended to teach them about Jesus Christ's birth. She constructed each verse of the song around contrasts--four wonderful uses of the word but and a final verse around but's close cousin, yet. 

Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown when Thou camest to earth for me; BUT in Bethlehem's home there was found no room for Thy holy nativity.

Heaven's arches rang when the angels sang, proclaiming Thy royal decree; BUT of lowly birth didst Thou come to earth and in great humility.

The foxes found rest, and the birds their nest, in the shade of the forest tree; BUT Thy couch was the sod, O Thou Son of God, in the deserts of Galilee.

Thou camest O Lord, with the living Word, that should set Thy people free; BUT with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn, they bore Thee to Calvary.

Each verse of this marvelous song is responded to in refrain: O come to my heart, Lord Jesus--there is room in my heart for Thee. 

Then comes the final verse. Look how marvelously the story turns:

When the heav'ns shall ring and the angels sing, at Thy coming in victory; Let Thy voice call me home, saying, "YET there is room--there is room at My side for thee."

May this song speak to your soul this Advent Season. Merry Christmas!