Separation from Uncertainty
By comparing what we read and hear beside a good Confession and Scripture, we will discover the worth of a Confession, and then through its use arrive at the strong conviction that is necessary for us to be impactful. A man who is tossed back and forth by shifting winds of doctrine will be of little use in helping others. He may be admired and followed; but he will raise nothing more by his nomadic mind than scatterbrained sheep. The word of God will not have power through us unless we are unwavering in setting this word forth. A Christian is not meant to believe with anything less than certain confidence. He will not be unwaveringly convinced until he studies. He should, therefore, study the best material. A search for that will lead him to Creeds and Confessions, the works of the men who composed them, and the works of the men who have followed the men who composed them. A pastor or teacher whose ideas are not fixed will have an unstable congregation. When a crisis occurs, the members will topple instead of stand; or if they stand, it will be uncertainly or for the wrong side of a cause. Without creedal guidance, a pastor sets his people up to be what the Bible calls ‘discomfited’ and ‘astonied,’ like when an army is suddenly overtaken by a terrible force. That terrible force may be Satan (by his temptations), the World (by its influences), God (by his tests), or even all three forces together like in what happened to Old Testament Job. Truth is an impenetrable fortress. But none of us can believe in truth to perfection; we all err on some points. Our fortress, practically speaking, is whatever body of doctrines we have come to believe in; in other words, our dogma. Do we have all of the essential bricks and blocks? Are they in their proper places? Unless our fortress is strong and secure, we risk being besieged, and then taken hostage by falsehoods. Through the careful use of a Confession, we begin to see that the Confession is true to Scripture and that many tricky books are proven to be farther from Scripture than our Confession is. This increases our trust in truth, and the doctrines begin to take hold of us in a deeper way. Through an able use of a Confession, by which we learn to withstand and confute the clever books that others are deceived by, we begin to understand the necessity of using one.
This poisonous book that was found wanting alongside the Westminster Confession of Faith and Scripture—this pestilent Biblical Balance on Election & Free Will—was given to me by my spiritual mentor, a man who, because of his intemperate love for Brethrenism, was deceived by it. This shows with what care we must live our lives. Through this good and holy man I was almost duped to dismiss the facts from eternity that underlie the facts from history that I am saved by. It is because of an election from eternity that a sinner is saved by faith in Christ. It is because of predestination that a person’s lot is determined. It is because of facts like these that a sinner is awed about his salvation from sin. These facts are not unimportant. Because they emphasize something as notable as God’s eternal blueprint, we must know them, believe them, and be deeply convinced of their factuality. May God convince us of the importance of strong conviction! The use of Confessions, and the use of books written by men who have respected faithful creedal formulas, develops a well-ordered conviction in what we believe:
“I question whether we have preached the whole counsel of God, unless predestination with all its solemnity and sureness be continually declared—unless election be boldly and nakedly taught as being one of the truths revealed of God. It is the minister’s duty, beginning from this fountainhead, to trace all the other streams; dwelling on effectual calling, maintaining justification by faith, insisting upon the certain perseverance of the believer, and delighting to proclaim that gracious covenant in which all these things are contained, and which is sure to all the chosen, blood-bought seed. There is a tendency in this age to throw doctrinal truth into the shade. Too many preachers are offended with that stern truth which the Covenanters held, and to which the Puritans testified in the midst of a licentious age…The faithful minister must be plain, simple, pointed, with regard to these doctrines. There must be no dispute about whether he believes them or not” (C. H. Spurgeon, The Minister’s Farewell.)
Are we not struck by the doubtless tone in a passage like that? A man who is certain about what he believes, provided that what he believes is true, is more likely to be used by God than a man who is afraid of sounding dogmatic. No Christian has a right to be ashamed of God’s word, even if that word teaches the Calvinistic beliefs that are never in favor with easily offended, mushy Christians. Spurgeon knew better than to soak the pristine doctrines of Election and Sovereignty in the muddy waters of modernism, which was already a rushing tide in his day. He preached responsibility beside predestination; and, because he was confirmed in truth, he was not troubled in the least by the apparent disharmony. The Spirit descended upon his ministry, in large part, because of his theological convictions.
Another well-known example of the salutary effect of confidence is the life of Francis Schaeffer, the Christian philosopher, who happens to have been a creedal Calvinist as well. He was not used by God in a thorough way until he had a crisis about truth, which crisis catapulted him back to the beginning to reexamine everything. He came out of this trial with the same beliefs; but he was renewed through knowing for certain that he had been right. Then the shelter that he opened in the Alps became the place of refuge for people seeking philosophical answers to the great questions of life. I have often read his account of that crisis, for it is a lesson on how a great work is born:
“In 1951 and 1952 I faced a spiritual crisis in my own life…I told Edith that for the sake of honesty I had to go all the way back to my agnosticism and think through the whole matter…I walked, prayed, and thought through what the Scriptures taught as well as reviewing my own reasons for being a Christian…Gradually the sun came out and the song came…This was and is the real basis of L’Abri. Teaching the historic Christian answers and giving honest answers to honest questions are crucial, but it was out of these struggles that the reality came, without which an incisive work like L’Abri would not have been possible” (Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality, Preface.)
After L’Abri was begun, a dispute erupted between Francis and his wife about whether Francis should go on the lecture circuit. “I have the answers. I know I have the answers,” Francis exclaimed, pounding the wall. A person can possess the truth and yet be uncertain; a person is rendered certain when he is possessed by the truth. The Holy Spirit has a central role in this. He can and sometimes does, drop truth on the soul like a snowflake on the nose when we do not expect it to come down. But usually he fixes truth by leading into temptation, which trial prompts prayer, thought, and hard work. Doubts must be dealt with. And it takes a big man, especially after having been a minister, to acknowledge the need to reexamine his belief system. The point must be arrived at, where, like Spurgeon and Schaeffer, we know that our Confession is right. Can we say, concerning our worldview, that we are so certain of its truth that we must not only speak for it and stand for it, but suffer for it if it comes to that? I do not speak only of basic truths like the existence of God and the recent historicity of creation, or even of justification by faith and redemption by blood, but also those truths that are associate to what we believe in the main—those truths that mark us out as belonging to this or that dogmatic camp. It is not mere theism that God calls Christians to accept and convey. Neither is it mere Christianity. The doctrines of unconditional election and irresistible grace, for example, are essential to an acceptable understanding of the plan of salvation. Falsehoods concerning the doctrines of election and grace are numerous and nuanced. We need the help of a good Confession to sort our doctrines out and to get them right. The Westminster Assembly met, of course, in the Puritan age. The Westminster documents are the work of theologians of that epoch. What often impresses me when I read biographies of these saints is how disinterested they were concerning their sermons or treatises being published. Sermons were for preaching before congregations. A treatise or tractate was often no more than a personal attempt to clarify a doctrine, or it was an answer to an objection, or it was a rebuttal of a heresy, as in John Bunyan’s Reprobation Asserted, the full title of which continues like so: The Doctrine of Eternal Election and Reprobation Promiscuously Handled, in Eleven Chapters; and the subtitle of which runs like so: Wherein the Most Material Objections Made by the Opposers of this Doctrine, are Fully Answered; Several Doubts Removed, and Sundry Cases of Conscience Resolved. There was no mass market for books in that day. These men were not motivated by anything but learning aright and convincing their few correspondents of the truth, and glorifying God thereby. The typical Puritan writer, as learned and brilliant as he was, was content to let God order the outcome of his labors and to preserve some writings if he willed. We should not be surprised when a selfless, trusting person like that has the answers that we need. The Puritan had confidence that his beliefs were true; and because his beliefs were centered in the character of God as he is revealed in the Bible, his confidence was settled.
To be separate from uncertainty concerning our beliefs yields relief, peace, and joy, but also strength, focus, and determination. We know that this has happened when we perceive that the weight of truth has settled into us. I liken this aplomb to the appearance and gait of a rhinoceros. Winds of false doctrine should no more unsettle our beliefs than a zephyr could topple that noble beast. The weight of his gut roots him to the ground; the weight of truth should hold us fast. We should become as immovable in our beliefs as a rhino cannot be pushed aside. Like the rhino, when we run, it should be straight forward, not left, not right, but straight on through as if nothing can stand in our way. This is what having conviction is like—there is no uncertainty. This is how truth is carried when it has landed to the bottom. It is a profound mobility. While others are getting blown over by each wind of doctrine, we should be slicing through the same contrary winds with truth, and with the dignified air of a rhino. When a rhino stands, you can’t move him; when he moves, you can’t stop him. If a Christian is like that, he will get something done for sure.
